Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed Speaks

On the American Embassy in Israel

December 6, 2017

QUESTION: I know that you have not spoken on any public issues in awhile. I thought that given the seriousness of the issue that many people would benefit from your thoughts on the moving of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

IMAM EARL ABDULMALIK MOHAMMED: I must say that I would be much more at ease addressing this question as a free citizen. I hope you will ask this of me again when I am free. I do plan to speak to these concerns representing our Islamic tradition that would be issues that the late leader of our tradition and community—Imam W. Deen Mohammed would not have ignored, once I am free.

It is important and complex especially for its direct implications of those whose lives will be at risk or affected because of it. For us, the Bilalian people or African-American community of Muslims in the following of Muhammed the Prophet and those following the guided tradition of Imam Warithuddin Mohammed, we should be perceiving it from Islamic teachings and also our affinity for the causes and suffering of oppressed peoples and the issues of justice that are due or are the entitlement all human beings and human communities. The Palestinian people are in my thoughts and prayers and I am also aware of and thinking of the so-called Rohingya -a Muslim people of Burma who have been displaced - and I say so-called Rohingya because I do not know that they approve of this identification, and all who have been made weak by the schemes against their human life and dignity.

The modern city as we understand it now is not the focus of Islamic teachings, that is the present-day city of Jerusalem. But what is in focus is that place that the Muslims call Al-Quds as an orientation for our human life as described in our religions or traditions of faith. That may be surprising for some who are not familiar with Islamic teaching. What I mean is the life we believe G-d planned for all of us to enjoy as human beings in this existence we have on this earth. That precinct that the Muslims have called Haram Shareef and the Qur'an calls Masjid al-Aqsa is a representative space for those who believe that G-d loves, respects, and planned the best life for humanity.

Allah says in the Qur'an that that place is a blessed place and that it is associated with the light of understanding for man's purpose and that it is a sign of that enlightenment. What I am saying now is directly from the Qur'an. It is a blessed place and that blessing is for all people, not one or another people. That blessing is not or cannot be claimed by one people to the exclusion of another. It is to us a symbol for Islam's view of the universal rights and destiny of man on this earth. We all share in these blessings, and we would say that the religious communities that cherish the tradition of guidance we have in revealed knowledge—our Holy Books, are the custodians to guarantee or secure these blessings in society.

This is why other nations in the world do not place their embassies there. They are saying that place is not exclusive to the state of Israel, it belongs to all people. Those nations are saying our relationship with the state of Israel is a separate matter from our recognition of this area as special place above our national political authority or national political interests as a designation for the citizenship rights of all human beings—the way in which human beings are entitled to be treated as G-d intended regardless of their national orientation or identity. Now they are saying it with a political understanding and using political language, but essentially it is recognizing the claim of all people to the blessings of that precinct and what it means for the big picture of human entitlement to the human worth and identity G-d made and planned. Prophet Muhammed, the prayers and the peace be on him, claimed that entitlement to human worth and in his life we see it demonstrated under his leadership in Madinah al-Munawwarah—the Enlightened, and also associated with the the Sacred House, the Ka'aba at Makkah, the Blessed or al-Mukarramah. That house at Makkah satisfied for Muhammed what the precinct at Jerusalem symbolizes.

This is why Makkah and Madinah, though they are in the modern nation named Saudi Arabia, would never be the capital of that nation. What those blessed precincts represent for the universal rights of man supersede the political interests of any one people. Al-Islam explains that high, special recognition as a tribute to man's dignity both as an individual or with individual human rights, and as a society and rights demanded by individuals in society. Islamic teachings enshrine its respect for the human individual and the human society in these special precincts.

Personally, I am not satisfied that those making the decision to place the American Embassy in Jerusalem are appreciating the argument that it stands for this universal recognition. I don't think that the parties involved representing the state of Israel who insist on this are respecting that this precinct as a symbol is not exclusive to the citizens of Israel. It belongs to the citizens of Israel in the sense of their claim to be respected as a people in community just as it belongs to the Palestinian people in their identical claim. It also belongs to all people who make the claim to human identity and human excellence in community. I believe the American people with a majority of Christians, if they were brought to understand more clearly what principles Muslims see as being preserved there, they would not accept that our Embassy be placed there. Above the political interests our past leaders saw this conflict for placing the Embassy there.

We cannot answer this question without also thinking of the Palestinian people and the potential for them to be further humiliated in their natural desire for dignity and self-determination. The record of history shows them to be victimized by oppressive conditions and the vicious machinery of war and brutality. As with all of the world's oppressed our prayers to Allah for relief and establishment are with them always. I pray also that we do not see desperation and the rise of those who stoke violence and manipulate the innocent lives of the people for selfish aims.