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According to Ahmad Adwan's recent explanation of Sura 5, it appears that the Qur'an designates Israel as the land of the Jews and that until Judgement day, is not to be touched. Is this an accurate explanation (and if not, how so)?

Source for Ahmad Adwan's explanation: www.alquds.co.uk

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The verses claimed by Adwan are these:

And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building. http://tanzil.net/#7:137

In this verse the world land first should be proved that is what land. eve if we assume this is Palestine land then it does not say this land is for Jews. but say it is for "the people who had been oppressed". it should be proved who has been these people. even if we assume these people have been some people at thousands of years ago then what is the relation to current Jews? extending this to current Jews needs prove.

Another claimed verse is:

Thus. And We caused to inherit it the Children of Israel. http://tanzil.net/#26:59

In this verse there is no name of the any land. this claim should be prove that this verse is talking about the Palestine land. and also it should be proved this includes current Jews and not only the Bani Israel tribe of thousands years ago.

Another claimed verse is this:

O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah 's cause] and [thus] become losers." http://tanzil.net/#5:21

Again in this verse it should people be proved what is relation of "O my people" to current Zionist Jews who have occupied Palestine.

Also it should be noted about the validity of this explain that:

O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people. http://tanzil.net/#5:51

So it is not suitable for a Muslim scholar to be allied with Jews and have travel and friendship with Jew occupiers of Palestinian land of Muslims.

For better understanding the interpretations it is better to know the interpreter firstly and his biography and his view and alliance. also it is better to read explanations from different views. for example:

Tafsir Almizan

Pooya/M.A. Ali Commentary

Tafsir Noor

Also there is an important note about Palestinian Muslims. the original Palestinian Muslims are in fact the Bani Israel. but they converted to Muslim when messenger of Allah SAWW came and Islam was entered to Palestine. Muslims conquered Palestine but did not enforce Jew and Christians of Bani Israel living there convert to Muslim. but in stead the Islamic state left people to have any religion they prefer. but still most of them converted to Muslim and population of Jews was less than 5%. when messenger of Allah Jesus a.s. came to Palestine many of Bani Israel converted to Christian and some remained Jew. and when prophet Muhammad SAWW came many of Bani Israel living in Palestine converted to Muslim. so Palestinian Muslims are the same Bani Israel and if we assume this land is promised to Bani Isarel so the Palestinian Muslims are Bani Israel too and they should not be expelled out from their homes and lands. now more than 70% of Palestinian Muslims are living in other countries as refugees and are waiting to come back to their homes and lands.

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tl;dr version: This is a complex issue which requires an understanding of the exact terms under which God gave the Jews the land of Israel in the first place. In short, they probably don't have any divine claim on it until the Messiah explicitly gives it back to them.


According to the Biblical record, the land of Israel was originally promised to the descendants of Abraham, which was later established through Jacob/Israel and entrenched according to the Mosaic Law. While not explicitly spelt out, this appears to be part of the same covenant referenced in the Qur'an, and to which God says "My covenant does not include the wrongdoers."

There is no shortage of evidence (again according to the Biblical record) of the land of Israel being taken away from the Jews in response to their disobedience, and returned to them when they returned to righteousness. The Hebrew Bible basically ends with God exiling and scattering them until the Messiah comes to re-establish the proper state of Israel.

So just because the Jews during the time of Moses were considered worthy of claiming the Holy Land (as referenced in Al-Ma'idah 20-21) doesn't mean that modern Jews are. Many Jews still consider themselves in exile and don't even consider the current state of Israel to be part of this divine covenant; until the Messiah comes and gathers all the Jews, rebuilds the Temple, and reigns over them with the authority of David's line, it's just a secular state that happens to be in the same physical location.

From a Muslim perspective, one interpretation is that the Jews are no longer entitled to the land of Israel at all, if only due to their outright rejection of at least two major prophets (one of whom was their promised Messiah), and that God has given it to the Ishmaelites instead (which could either mean Arabs in general, or Muslims in particular given that Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) was a direct descendant of Ishmael). As Ishmael was also a son of Abraham, it could be understood that the original Abrahamic covenant applied to him as well as Isaac (through whom the Jews claim their right). This interpretation is somewhat supported by the Qur'an, which says, "the most worthy of Abraham among the people are those who followed him and this prophet, and those who believe."

Another possible interpretation, which is more in line with Sheikh Adwan's claim, is that the land of Israel is still the promised land of the Jews. However, this would still be contingent of them being able to reclaim it according to God's will, which was traditionally one of the roles of the promised Messiah. From an Islamic perspective, while it is difficult (although probably not impossible) to argue that any modern Jew who has rejected the Messiah (i.e. Christ Jesus) outright can have any claim to the promised land, this could well apply to any who either choose to follow him during his return (which, insofar as he hasn't returned yet, doesn't really apply to the modern state of Israel), or those of Jewish descent who have already embraced Islam (or, at the very least, accepted Christ Jesus as the Messiah).

A third interpretation is that, until the Messiah returns to set things straight and explicitly give the land of Israel to those it is promised to (be they Jews, Muslims, or other), it's just a secular land like any other with no divine claims to worry about.

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    why answering by distorted Biblical record in this Islam site?! are not Islamic resources enough? Biblical record is on topic here? Feb 7, 2014 at 8:10
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    @BattleofKarbala The Covenant was established in the previous scriptures, for the people who followed those previous scriptures. I felt that failing to include that context would be doing a grave disservice to the answer.
    – goldPseudo
    Feb 7, 2014 at 8:17
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يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ

O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah 's cause] and [thus] become losers."

سورة المائدة

The interpretation that this land is the land of the jews until Judgement Day, is incorrect. The meaning in this Ayah is that it was obligated on them to enter it to purify it form the unrighteous the corrupt, and that does not mean that it was for them for all time or that the land was their right.

It is also said that it means it was promised to them or given to them, and even under this meaning there is no hint in the Quran that it was promised for them until the Day of Judgment. And His promise was under the condition of their obedience to the commands and not spreading corruption, but if they do then this land is not of their right, and they do not even deserve it.

This interpretation that you mentioned in your question, contradicts the condition of worship and obedience to God, which the majority of them did not fulfill at all and in fact disobeyed every command and broke every covenants and spread corruption, and that is why they fell the first time. And when they rise again for the second and last time, they would be thrown out again, (See Surat Al Isra' Ayah 1-8).

This interpretation also contradicts the fact the right of authority was given to the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) and his nation, and that Allah says that He has promised to grant the right of authority and succession on this earth to those that believed like He did for those before us:

وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ

Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that - then those are the defiantly disobedient.

سورة النور

And this right does of course include the land of Palestine. So to conclude, such interpretation is incorrect/not accurate at all, because there is nothing in the Quran to suggest that this promise was for ever and that this land is their right until the Day of Judgement. And also because it has a number of contradictions I have mentioned above. I end with that.

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  • The meaning of الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ is what Allah has written for you. In Arabic Maktoob means written from Allah and unchangeable, thus came the term مقدر ومكتوب.
    – user12537
    May 3, 2015 at 14:50
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Those people who posted that the land belongs to the Jews above are totally in accordance with Allah (God) and His Qur’an. Those who down vote and remove their answers are the enimeis of God and His Holy Qur’an. Those who manipulate the Holy Text for their certain agenda are liars. Do you think God is a God of war? No. Islam is a peaceful religion. Prophet Mohammad, may peace be upon him married a Jew. He had no argument with the Jews because Mecca is ours and Jerusalem is theirs. This was the way God set it up in the Qur’an. There’s No question. If you have a problem with this, don’t take it up with Ahmad and send him death threats, point to the sky and scream at God. The land belongs to the Jews. Any other interpretation belongs to a piewit. You take a Jew one person at a time. No race can be judged, everyone has an equal share. Just as leaves on a tree do not all fall at once, neither can we hold all Jews responsible as not all Jew come from the same tree.

Sheikh Ahmad Adwan‘s interpretations are correct; the revers is wrong. We do not support ISIS or any other terror organization. And those that do; know that Allah will sweep you off the map. They are not Muslims but criminals. Qur’an says, to save a life, just one life, is as if the whole world was saved. Do not pretend you know more than Ahmad. Salam.

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And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building.
[Al-A'raf 137]

This clearly states the land belongs to the jews. Can you show me some where in Koran Allah has distinguished between the old Jews and the new Jews? arent the jews people of the book? it means people who follow the Torah of Moses, such as modern jews and the Zionist Jews? Don't you believe in miracles by allah? don't you think creation of the state of Israel is a allah given miracle and a muslim who fights allahs wish is rebelling against him?

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    That ayah clearly states that the land belonged to the Jews after they were rescued from Pharaoh (the "people who had been oppressed" clearly inherited the land, but they've been dead for millennia and the quoted ayah gives zero details who inherited it after them); you provide no argument as to why this would continue to apply now. Rather than actually answering the question, all you're really doing here is shifting the burden of proof, which is a fallacy.
    – goldPseudo
    Feb 3, 2015 at 1:26
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It states clearly that the land belongs to the Jews. Of course children inherit from fathers according to both Islamic and Jewish law. So what's the question? The concept of exile just means no rebuilding of their temple till Messiah.

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    could you try to explain it further more along with some references if possible.... Apr 4, 2015 at 6:24

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