Kingdom of heaven or blood? Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It’s quite ironic that in today’s world, the situation between Jews and Muslims is quite different than in the past, before the rise of nationalistic movements and the creation of the Israeli state. It is interesting to note that many scholars believe that Jews supported the creation of Muhammad’s Islam.

But why would Jews encourage such a thing? Could it be because Jews want to spread their monotheistic religious beliefs around the world without forcing the Torah on foreign cultures? That may be the case, but why didn’t they not realize the repercussions of helping to support a religion that now has spread very quickly to become a behemoth that overshadows the tiny Jewish religion.

These two faiths having many similarities are now facing a heated battle on the political level. The creation of the Israeli state destroyed any relationship these two religions once had. Presently, Muslims and Jews are shedding blood for a piece of land that has absolutely nothing to do in rectifying their faiths. The wrongs on both sides are not caused by the practice of their religions but by political actions that have encouraged unfounded religious claims to legitimize their political motives as to be sacred.

Nowhere in the Jewish scriptures does it say that Jews are to politically claim themselves as rightful owners of the lands which are now part of Israel. If that was the case, why hasn’t the Jewish Temple of Solomon been rebuilt? Obviously, this only means that the majority of faithful Jews still do not consider the actions of the Zionist movement legitimate according to Jewish scriptures.

Muslims also face the same problem. Nowhere in the Quran does it emphasize that murdering innocent people with horrendous acts like suicide bombings is an act of Islamic law. If we were to follow the Quran, it grants protected people status to people who believe in God. This consists of all three Abraham religions. Hence, Jews and Christian are not to be harmed, especially in the manner that Muslim extremists are targeting. So in the end, politics not religious faith is determining the final destination of these people.

Unless some people would like to claim that religion is an absolute component of political action. This would mean every political action would have to be judged according to religious law. This is something very hard to do as every religion has many different kinds of interpretation, some of which now have been very popular and used to fuel violence. If these two cousin religions are ever willing to bring peace, it will have to be through peaceful religious practice rather than political action.