Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Dedication
I dedicate this book to people and places dear to me: to my
birth parents Saleem and Nasrah Shehadeh, my surrogate
parents Owen J and Peggy Thomas, for their immense love and
care; to my numerous brothers and sisters for their love,
support and guidance through life; to my teachers who have
inspired me: my late brother Antione Shehadeh, who
encouraged me to write in my early teens, to my cousin and
headmaster Nadeem Naim Shehadeh who kept my childhood
compositions in a treasure box alongside his sons (now
Professor Naim Nadeem Shehadeh), a unique expression of
faith. To Mary Sabbah, my sister and private tutor; to my
teachers, Jameel Shehadeh and Naif Farah for helping me to
appreciate history, and my teacher and friend Waleed Hazzan,
for being the best English language teacher I could have ever
had; to my Arabic teacher Gabriel Jiryes for his brilliant
encouragement; to my Hebrew teacher Ahmad al-Haj for his
unique teaching abilities. Finally, I dedicate this bok to my
wife Carol for her incalculable support. I dedicate this to two
places, my place of birth Nazareth which being the home town
of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and home to many of my
friends and relatives, will always hold a special place in my
affection; to Kufur Yasief, my home town, of whose people I
am very proud as a model of co-existence between Christians
and Muslims. May it forever shine as a beacon of tolerance
and peaceful co-existence.
Contents
Preface ...................................................................................10
Introduction...........................................................................14
Chapter I .................................................................................21
A Historic Perspective of Anti-Semitism ...........................21
Chapter II ..............................................................................37
Who Are These Arabic-speaking Christians? .....................37
Christian Arabs Preceded the Advent of Islam ...............39
The Lakhmids .................................................................43
Alghassanids ...................................................................47
Banu Taghlib ..................................................................58
Arab Nationalism and Arabic-speaking Christians .........60
Chapter III ............................................................................71
Anti-Arab Anti-Semitism ...................................................71
Massacres of Christians by Jews.....................................72
Disrespect of Arabs.........................................................74
Denial, The Most Effective Tool of Racism ...................88
Christian Anti-Arab Anti-Semitism ..............................101
Chapter IV...........................................................................104
Muslim Anti-Christian Arab Anti-Semitism.....................104
Pre-Islamic Christian Arab Tribes ................................111
Islam and Muslim Rulers ..............................................112
The Umayyad Period ....................................................117
The Abbasid Period ......................................................122
The Ottomans................................................................128
Current Muslim Injustice Against Christian Arabs.......129
Incitement to Violence ..................................................134
Desecration of Christian Holy Places ...........................135
Boycott ..........................................................................136
Unfair Competition .......................................................137
Alienation and Bullying ................................................138
Misappropriation of Christian Land..............................139
Sexual Crimes Against Christian Women ....................140
Demonization of Christians ..........................................142
Extortion .......................................................................142
Intimidation, Vandalism and Violence .........................143
Preface
The purpose of this work, my first ever, is to bring to the
attention of all thinking men and women, of all colours and
creeds, the plight of the Christians of the Middle East. It has
been written over many years, during the busiest period of any
mans life, as a father, a busy physician and an educator.
Though this did not make the work any easier, it did turn it
into an enjoyable diversion from my daily toils.
I recall watching a film once, whose title evades me, in
which a young writer was determined to get published. After
several refusals, she was advised to write something with
which she was familiar. That advice has stayed with me, and I
have been determined ever since to make my first work
conform to this sound piece of advice.
An Arab by race, a Christian by religion, Israeli and British by
nationality, I have chosen a subject close to my heart. One of
my main self-criticisms as an Arab is that we Arabs are guided
more by feelings and emotions than we are by reason and
intellect. I have therefore attempted to be more rational than
emotional, not an easy task when dealing with two thousand
years of persecution of the Christians of the Middle East,
mostly by their own Semitic brethren, initially the Jews, then
the Muslim Arabs, and last but not least by their own spiritual
brothers and sisters in the West.
In doing so, I am aware I have embarked on a difficult
journey fraught with potential pitfalls. Emotions and prejudice,
amongst some of the readership, may confuse and obscure the
intent and the sense of this book. My approach has been
candid, perhaps relatively confrontational in some sense. But
as a physician I have learnt that most human beings prefer
candour. As a physician I have always been careful to define
the problem in hand and to take a detailed history of the
presenting complaint followed by a thorough examination,
Introduction
This book has been born out of many conversations with Jews,
Muslims, Christians and fellow Evangelicals in the UK,
Europe and the USA about the Israeli-Arab conflict over many
years. Most such conversations have left me downhearted,
disappointed and even frustrated. I do not mind admitting that
at times I have felt angry, even furious at some Western
Evangelicals, in particular, because of their level of ignorance,
stark insensitivity towards Arabic-speaking Christians, their
tunnel vision of the geopolitical situation, and their almost
cultic adherence to some rigid and illogical Zionist
interpretation of Scripture. The obsession of some Western
Evangelicals with Israel and the end times has led some to
completely lose sight of the central issue of the Christian faith,
and to abdicate the duty of brotherly love towards suffering
Christians in the largely Muslim Middle East.
Some Evangelical attitudes, particularly the blind support
for Israel and the associated occult, sometimes overt, hatred for
Arabs is one of the biggest obstacles against Evangelism in the
Middle East. As I daily witness ignorant Christian
conversations, and watch ignorant Christian soldiers, blindly
marching off to war, arrogantly boasting about the killing of
rag-heads and the total annihilation of Habib, I often
wonder: Where is your Christian compassion, Christian?
writes an American Muslim (Sunday, February 11, 2007
courier-journal.com). This Muslim has far greater insight into
Christianity than most Evangelical Zionists.
Repeated conversations with some Western Evangelicals
have often caused me to feel totally numb. If you cannot feel
pain, you cannot be affected by it. It is an effective defence
mechanism, often seen in victims of PTSD. Two of the
cardinal symptoms of PTSD are numbing and avoidance. I
out of pain and suffering, and out of jealousy for the body and
bride of Christ.
When I shared the concept of this book with some family
members and some friends, many reacted with a warning
They will call you anti-Semitic they will be after you
watch your back are you sure you can handle their
reaction? I am well aware that closed-minded people will
react unfavourably. I am aware that some will refer to me with
a range of unflattering adjectives. This would only scare me if
I had claimed to be perfect and sinless, which I have never
done. Nor do I believe that one has to attain perfection before
they express their views. If so, no word could have ever been
uttered, or any book written by any human being.
Chapter I
A Historic Perspective of Anti-Semitism
I shall induce anti-Semites to liquidate Jewish wealth The
anti-Semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen
the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-Semites shall
be our best friends (Theodore Herzl).
Interestingly, whilst these words were being uttered, my
maternal grandmother, Miriam Kahaz Musallam, a Christian
Palestinian midwife, was probably delivering a calf or a baby
for her Jewish neighbours near Affoula, free of charge. Who is
the anti-Semite, Mr Herzl or midwife Miriam Kahaz
Musallam?
The simplest definition of an anti-Semite is someone who is
not overly fond of Semites. Therefore it may be prudent to
begin by asking who the Semites are.
The Semites are descendants of Shem, one of the three
sons of Noah. See the tree on the next page.
One of Shems descendants was Eber, who is the father of
all True Arabs, Arabised Arabs and Jews. Eber begat Pheleg,
who after several generations produced Abraham. Eber also
begat Yoktan (Qahtan), one of whose descendants was Yarub,
after whom Arabs are called. Therefore Arabs and Jews are
both Semites. Other Semites include the Edomites
(descendants of Esau), the Moabites and the Ammonites
(descendants of Lot through his two daughters). The great
Assyrian nation, descendants of Ashur, son of Shem have an
equally valid claim on the Semitic title. The Ethiopians, at
least partly Semitic, can also make a valid claim to the Semitic