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==Sunni Islamic interpretation==
==Sunni Islamic interpretation==
Within Sunni Islam, these narrations are understood as part of [[Islamic eschatology|Sunni eschatology]]'s description of a [[Al-Malhama Al-Kubra|great war]] at the [[Eschatology|end times]] against the forces of [[Dajjal]] which should occur after the [[Jesus in Islam#Second coming|second coming Jesus according to Islam]]. Then, according to this [[eschatology]], Jesus will lead an army of [[Muslims]], some of whom are righteous [[Christians]] and righteous Jews converting to Islam in the eve of the battle, to fight the army of Dajjal consisted of Jews believing Dajjal is a god, and if a Jew of Dajjal's army hides behind a stone or a tree, this stone or tree will miraculously talk to Muslims to expose him unless it's a Gharqad tree, because it's "their tree".<ref name="yaqeen_1">[https://yaqeeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FINAL-The-Myth-of-An-Antisemitic-Genocide-In-Muslim-Scripture-1.pdf Yaqeen institute of Islamic research, The Myth of An Antisemitic Genocide In Muslim Scripture, by Omar Suleiman, Nazir Khan and Justin Parrot, 2017].</ref><ref name="quran.com_1">[https://quran.com/en/an-nisa/155/tafsirs quran.com ; tafsir Ibn-Kathir or Surah An-Nisa.].</ref>
Within Sunni Islam, these narrations are understood as part of [[Islamic eschatology|Sunni eschatology]]'s description of a [[Al-Malhama Al-Kubra|great war]] at the [[Eschatology|end times]] against the forces of [[Dajjal]] which should occur after the [[Jesus in Islam#Second coming|second coming Jesus according to Islam]]. Then, according to this [[eschatology]], Jesus will lead an army of [[Muslims]], some of whom are righteous [[Christians]] and righteous Jews converting to Islam in the eve of the battle, to fight the army of Dajjal consisted of Jews believing Dajjal is a god, and if a Jew of Dajjal's army hides behind a stone or a tree, this stone or tree will miraculously talk to Muslims to expose him unless it is a Gharqad tree, because it is "their tree".<ref name="yaqeen_1">{{cite web |url=https://yaqeeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FINAL-The-Myth-of-An-Antisemitic-Genocide-In-Muslim-Scripture-1.pdf |publisher=Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research |title=The Myth of An Antisemitic Genocide In Muslim Scripture |first1=Omar |last1=Suleiman |first2=Nazir |last2=Khan |first3=Justin |last3=Parrot |year=2017}}</ref><ref name="quran.com_1">{{cite web |url=https://quran.com/en/an-nisa/155/tafsirs |website=Quran.com |title=Tafsir Ibn-Kathir or Surah An-Nisa}}</ref>


Sunni moderate writers debate the subject in pedantic eschatological terms, emphasizing that this should happen only in [[Eschatology|the end times]] after the second coming of Jesus in accordance to Sunni thought and should not damage current [[Islamic–Jewish relations]].<ref name="islamqa_1">'''[https://islamqa.info/en/answers/223275/in-the-battle-between-the-jews-and-the-muslims-at-the-end-of-time-the-aggressors-will-be-the-jews In the battle between the Jews and the Muslims at the end of time, the aggressors will be the Jews]'''</ref><ref name="abuaminaelias_1">'''[https://www.abuaminaelias.com/hadith-of-gharqad-tree/ Hadith of Gharqad Tree: A good deed to kill Jews in Islam?]''', By Abu Amina Elias, February 27, 2013</ref>
Sunni moderate writers debate the subject in eschatological terms, emphasizing that this should happen only in [[Eschatology|the end times]] after the second coming of Jesus in accordance with Sunni thought and should not damage current [[Islamic–Jewish relations]].<ref name="islamqa_1">{{cite web |url=https://islamqa.info/en/answers/223275/in-the-battle-between-the-jews-and-the-muslims-at-the-end-of-time-the-aggressors-will-be-the-jews |title=In the battle between the Jews and the Muslims at the end of time, the aggressors will be the Jews |website=Islam Question & Answer |editor-first=Muhammad |editor-last=Al-Munajjid |editor-link=Muhammad Al-Munajjid}}</ref><ref name="abuaminaelias_1">{{cite web |url=https://www.abuaminaelias.com/hadith-of-gharqad-tree/ |title=Hadith of Gharqad Tree: A good deed to kill Jews in Islam? |first=Abu Amina |last=Elias |date=February 27, 2013}}</ref>


According to one Sunni interpretation, Dajjal's army will not consist only of evil Jews, but also of evil Christians and evil Muslims believing Dajjal is a god, fighting as soldiers and not as [[civilians]].<ref name="yaqeen_1"></ref> This specific interpretation was criticized for not referring to Jews alone, while the author noted that "No one disputes that this relates to future events and not to our time".<ref name="Sayffadin_1">Abu Talut Haytham Al Sayfaddin '''[https://archive.org/details/AReplyToTheMythOfAnAntisemeticGenocideInMuslimScripture_201811/A%20Reply%20to%20The%20Myth%20of%20an%20Antisemetic%20Genocide%20in%20Muslim%20Scripture/mode/2up A Reply To The Myth Of An Antisemetic Genocide In Muslim Scripture]''', 2018-11-02, '''P. 14''' and '''P. 49''' | deleted after being archived.</ref>
According to one Sunni interpretation, Dajjal's army will not consist only of evil Jews, but also of evil Christians and evil Muslims believing Dajjal is a god, fighting as soldiers and not as [[civilians]].<ref name="yaqeen_1"></ref> This specific interpretation was criticized for not referring to Jews alone, while the author noted that "No one disputes that this relates to future events and not to our time".<ref name="Sayffadin_1">{{cite book|first=Abu Talut Haytham |last=Al Sayfaddin |url=https://archive.org/details/AReplyToTheMythOfAnAntisemeticGenocideInMuslimScripture_201811/A%20Reply%20to%20The%20Myth%20of%20an%20Antisemetic%20Genocide%20in%20Muslim%20Scripture/mode/2up |title=A Reply To The Myth of an Antisemetic Genocide In Muslim Scripture |date=2018-11-02 |pages=14, 49}}</ref>


The general message of the text is often alleged as a [[prophecy]], but it does not appear in the [[Quran]], which Muslims believe is [[Allah|Allah's]] [[revelation]] to Muhammad.
The general message of the text is often alleged as a [[prophecy]], but it does not appear in the [[Quran]], which Muslims believe is [[Allah|Allah's]] [[revelation]] to Muhammad.


According to [[Memri TV]], [[Yasir Qadhi|Qadhi]] described this text as referring to an end times war which is "a fight between good and evil"<ref name="Memri-Qadhi">[https://www.memri.org/tv/prominent-american-sheikh-yasid-qadhi-defends-antisemitic-hadith-rocks-trees-kill-jews-judgement-day Memri TV, '''American Islamic Scholar Sheikh Yasir Qadhi Defends Antisemitic Comments: MEMRI Jumps on Any Preacher Who Quotes Hadith about the Trees and the Rocks, But the Killing of Jews Is Prediction, Not Prescription; Muslims Cannot Be Antisemites''', Aug 31, 2019]</ref> and that the text is "predictive and not prescriptive".<ref name="Memri-Qadhi"></ref>
According to [[Memri TV]], [[Yasir Qadhi|Qadhi]] described this text as referring to an end times war which is "a fight between good and evil"<ref name="Memri-Qadhi">{{cite web |url=https://www.memri.org/tv/prominent-american-sheikh-yasid-qadhi-defends-antisemitic-hadith-rocks-trees-kill-jews-judgement-day |work=Memri TV |title=American Islamic Scholar Sheikh Yasir Qadhi Defends Antisemitic Comments: MEMRI Jumps on Any Preacher Who Quotes Hadith about the Trees and the Rocks, But the Killing of Jews Is Prediction, Not Prescription; Muslims Cannot Be Antisemites |date=August 31, 2019}}</ref> and that the text is "predictive and not prescriptive".<ref name="Memri-Qadhi"></ref>


==Non-Sunni Islam==
==Non-Sunni Islam==

Revision as of 14:48, 25 November 2023

Nitraria retusa
Nitraria schoberi
Lycium shawii
Lycium schweinfurthii
Some candidates for the gharqad tree.

The term gharqad (Arabic: غرقد) is used in some Islamic hadith to describe a tree which, according to Sunni Islamic eschatology, will protect Jews (يهود) fighting against Muslims in the time of a great war at the end times, specifically after the second coming of Jesus according to Islam.

The actual tree is identified with either the genus Nitraria (nitre bush)[1][2][self-published source?] or the genus Lycium (box-thorn).[3][4]

Sunni Islamic hadith

In Sunni tradition, Abu Huraira reported that the Islamic prophet Muhammad said:[5]

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah!, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" – But the tree Gharqad will not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Narrations that mention the Gharqad tree are:

Narrations that do not mention the Gharqad tree, rather, only mention stones talking or also trees talking, are:

Sunni Islamic interpretation

Within Sunni Islam, these narrations are understood as part of Sunni eschatology's description of a great war at the end times against the forces of Dajjal which should occur after the second coming Jesus according to Islam. Then, according to this eschatology, Jesus will lead an army of Muslims, some of whom are righteous Christians and righteous Jews converting to Islam in the eve of the battle, to fight the army of Dajjal consisted of Jews believing Dajjal is a god, and if a Jew of Dajjal's army hides behind a stone or a tree, this stone or tree will miraculously talk to Muslims to expose him unless it is a Gharqad tree, because it is "their tree".[7][8]

Sunni moderate writers debate the subject in eschatological terms, emphasizing that this should happen only in the end times after the second coming of Jesus in accordance with Sunni thought and should not damage current Islamic–Jewish relations.[9][10]

According to one Sunni interpretation, Dajjal's army will not consist only of evil Jews, but also of evil Christians and evil Muslims believing Dajjal is a god, fighting as soldiers and not as civilians.[7] This specific interpretation was criticized for not referring to Jews alone, while the author noted that "No one disputes that this relates to future events and not to our time".[11]

The general message of the text is often alleged as a prophecy, but it does not appear in the Quran, which Muslims believe is Allah's revelation to Muhammad.

According to Memri TV, Qadhi described this text as referring to an end times war which is "a fight between good and evil"[12] and that the text is "predictive and not prescriptive".[12]

Non-Sunni Islam

Not all Muslims accept all hadith as reliable and may conclude somewhat different eschatology; most Shia Muslims reject Sunni hadith as unreliable and have their own hadith such as The Four Books. While according to Karimov, Zaydi Shia may hold Sunni hadiths with high esteem[13][better source needed], Zaydis have their own main hadith traditions.[14] While some Ibadi Muslims do not consider Sunni hadith as reliable and rely on Tartib al-Musnad, Hoffman noted that contemporary Ibadis often approve of the standard Sunni collections.[15]

Dajani Daoudi concluded that by comprehensive review of the Quran, no such hadith would exist since it openly contradicts Islamic faith and that Muslims believe a hadith is the word of man while the Quran is the word of God.[16] Daoudi added that "this hadith" (that which he quoted) was collected 150 years after the death of Muhammad, that the authenticity of such a hadith is disputed, and that this particular hadith has become controversial for promoting anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims.[17]

Critical assessment

Insignificance of the tree in Judaism

Neither Nitraria nor Lycium have any sanctity in Judaism; they are not one of the four species of Sukkot, they are not one of the Seven Species of the Land of Israel and they are not one of the incense plants of the Torah; they are also not being used for Havdalah and there is no Jewish tradition of eating their fruits in Tu BiShvat.

Fundamentalism around the concept

According to Freyer Stowasser,[18] modernist, deconstructionist approach to the apocalyptic hadith remains largely unacceptable to the traditionalists among the Sunni clerical establishment.

The narratives on the Dajjal’s end time reign and ultimate defeat were unreliable because of: questionable origin and transmitters, weak chains of hadith authentication, internal contradictions on this topic within the hadith corpus as a whole (that invalidate all of its parts), and the fact that these narratives contradict the Qur’anic text

Possible use in incitement

The Gharqad narrations are often quoted alongside faulty generalizations to cause incitement against Jews[19] such as that all Jews anywhere, anytime are "Killers of prophets", "greedy", "arrogant" or "Enemies of god" and alike ("Enemies of humanity before they are enemies of Muslims"[19]), without considering that people of Jewish ancestry have free will to choose a religion or irreligion, may not practice Judaism (rather, another religion or no religion, without self definition as "enemies" of anything), or without an accuser's attempt to understand various different and conflicting Israelite or Jewish perspectives (Pharisees, Sadducees, Rabbanites, Karaites, Reforms and others) on religious issues, or without considering peaceful interpretations of scripture or tolerance, as common in cases of incitement[19] caused by extremist radicals, most often fueled by political conflicts.[19][20]

The claim that Israelis plant Gharqad trees

Some Sunni extremist radicals who strongly oppose the State of Israel have sprung a myth according to which Israeli Jews are planting millions of Gharqad trees all over Palestine in preparation for a dire war,[21][22] although this is evidently false as forests planted by Israeli authorities are typically made of pine and cypress with around 240 million such trees planted.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Olive trees are planted to a lesser extent, but none of the Lycium or Nitraria are cultivated.[31]

See also

External links

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Nitraria retusa, Nitraria tridentata, Salt tree, Hebrew: ימלוח פגום, Arabic: دقرغ/قدرغ". Flowers in Israel.
  2. ^ Johannes Gerloff (May 26, 2021). "'Gharqad', the Tree of the Jews".
  3. ^ Divakar, Madhu C.; Al-Siyabi, Amani; Varghese, Shirley S.; Al Rubaie, Mohammed (July 2016). "The Practice of Ethnomedicine in the Northern and Southern Provinces of Oman". Oman Medical Journal. 31 (4): 245–252. doi:10.5001/omj.2016.49.
  4. ^ Ojalvo, Denis (15 September 2015). "The Jewish Tree 'Gharqad'". Şalom.
  5. ^ According to sunnah.com, it is narrated by Abu Huraira in Sahih Muslim 2922 (Book 54, Hadith 103 ; Book 41, Hadith 6985).
  6. ^ There is a similar version allegedly narrated by Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman mentioned in Aqeedah of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah hadith number 21 according to which "In this way God will cause the Jews to be annihilated and Muslims shall be the victors. They (the Muslims) will break the Cross, slaughter the swine and abolish Jizya".
  7. ^ a b Suleiman, Omar; Khan, Nazir; Parrot, Justin (2017). "The Myth of An Antisemitic Genocide In Muslim Scripture" (PDF). Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research.
  8. ^ "Tafsir Ibn-Kathir or Surah An-Nisa". Quran.com.
  9. ^ Al-Munajjid, Muhammad (ed.). "In the battle between the Jews and the Muslims at the end of time, the aggressors will be the Jews". Islam Question & Answer.
  10. ^ Elias, Abu Amina (February 27, 2013). "Hadith of Gharqad Tree: A good deed to kill Jews in Islam?".
  11. ^ Al Sayfaddin, Abu Talut Haytham (2018-11-02). A Reply To The Myth of an Antisemetic Genocide In Muslim Scripture. pp. 14, 49.
  12. ^ a b "American Islamic Scholar Sheikh Yasir Qadhi Defends Antisemitic Comments: MEMRI Jumps on Any Preacher Who Quotes Hadith about the Trees and the Rocks, But the Killing of Jews Is Prediction, Not Prescription; Muslims Cannot Be Antisemites". Memri TV. August 31, 2019.
  13. ^ Karimov, N.R., 2019. SOME BRIEF INFORMATION ON AL-SIHAH AL-SITTA. Theoretical & Applied Science, (5), pp.611-620.
  14. ^ twelvershia.net, The Zaidi Dilemma: Shia Hadith Sources, March 7, 2019
  15. ^ Hoffman, Valerie Jon (2012). The Essentials of Ibadi Islam. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. p. 3-4. ISBN 9780815650843.
  16. ^ Fikra Forum, On the Significance of Dialogue, by Mohammed Dajani, May 13, 2016
  17. ^ Fikra Forum, Dealing with Hate Sermons, Mohammed Dajani, Sep 5, 2017
  18. ^ The End is Near: Minor and Major Signs of the Hour in Islamic Texts and Contexts, Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Georgetown University
  19. ^ a b c d University of Baltimore Law, Incitement in the Mosques: Testing the Limits of Free Speech and Religious Liberty, by Kenneth Lasson
  20. ^ Michael Edison Hayden, Newsweek90, Three U.S. Imams have Called for Death of Jews Since Trump's Jerusalem Announcement, 01.10.18
  21. ^ Oxford Academic, The Gharqad Tree, by Anne Marie Oliver, Paul F. Steinberg, April 2006, pages 20-24, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305593.003.0007.
  22. ^ Christians for Israel International, Johannes Gerloff, ‘Gharqad’, the Tree of the Jews, 23 August 2021.
  23. ^ The Jerusalem Post, How planting a tree in Israel became controversial, By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ/JTA Published: JANUARY 14, 2022 03:34.
  24. ^ USDA, Biodiversity of wood-inhabiting fungi in Israeli pine forests, by D.L.L. Czederpiltz, K. Wikler, M.R. Radmacher, T.J. Volk, Y. Hadar, J. Micales, 2004
  25. ^ Journal for Nature Conservation, Volume 14, Issues 3–4, 20 September 2006, Pages 207-216, Restoring biodiversity to pine afforestations in Israel, by Paul Ginsberg.
  26. ^ Fred Pearce, In Israel, Questions Are Raised about a Forest that Rises from the Desert, Yale Environment 360, Published at the Yale School of the Environment, SEPTEMBER 30, 2019
  27. ^ https://natureisrael.org/, Don't Plant Any Tree in Israel
  28. ^ https://magazine.isees.org.il/?p=42453
  29. ^ אקו-ויקי, מדבריות האורן
  30. ^ The Ask Project, by Corey Gil-Shuster, Israelis: Are you planting the Gharqad tree?
  31. ^ Tomer Dekel, "Haaretz", Why Israel's Choice for National Tree Is So Destructive, Feb 19, 2021.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gharqad&diff=prev&oldid=1186794881

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