“Out of context” but in “good faith”

President of French Council of the Muslim Faith claims sermon calling for killing Jews was taken “out of context”

The imam, Mohammed Tataï, “protests firmly and in good faith” the controversy that last month grew around the video of his sermon from December, Boubakeur wrote in a statement Monday. Tatai also “apologizes to anyone who was accidentally offended by the pulling out of context” of the sermon, Boubakeur added.

French watchdog accuses Muslim leader of inciting hatred of Jews

Police complaint filed against the rector of the Grande Mosque of Paris for defending imam who predicted Israel’s demise and a war in which Muslims would kill Jews

No one should be surprised that the “moderate” Dalil Boubakeur is resorting to the tired “out of context” defense in support of the imam Mohammed Tatai, who repeated the notorious genocidal hadith: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: 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: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.” (Sahih Muslim 6985)

After all, it is a canonical hadith. It would be more surprising if Boubakeur repudiated it. The ignorance of Western authorities regarding Islamic texts and teachings, and their false assumptions about what they contain, is leading the West to disaster.

In other news:

Continued:

An update on this story. “French watchdog accuses Muslim leader of inciting hatred of Jews,” JTA, July 6, 2018 (thanks to Lucy):

A prominent watchdog group on anti-Semitism in France filed a police complaint against a leading Muslim community leader for alleged incitement to hatred of Jews.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, filed the complaint Thursday against Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris and the president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, BNVCA said in a statement.

The unusual move against Boubakeur, a highly respected representative of French Muslims, follows his defense Monday of an imam from Toulouse who was filmed speaking during a sermon about Israel’s demise and a war in which Muslims would kill Jews.

The imam, Mohammed Tatai, “protests firmly and in good faith” the controversy that last month grew around the video of his sermon from December, Boubakeur wrote in a statement Monday. Tatai also “apologizes to anyone who was accidentally offended by the pulling out of context” of the sermon, Boubakeur added.

B’nai B’rith France condemned the sermon in a statement on June 27, drawing the attention of media to the video’s existence.

In the video, which Tatai’s own mosque posted on YouTube, he says, “The Prophet Muhammad told us about the final and decisive battle: ‘Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Jews will hide behind the stones and the trees, and the stones and the trees will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him – except for the Gharqad tree, which is one of the trees of the Jews.’” BNVCA also complained to police against the imam.

In an interview for the La Dépêche du Midi daily, Tatai said the video “takes what I said out of context.” He told the daily that during the sermon, he also said that “we must do everything not to arrive” at a Muslim-Jewish war, but the assertion was not recorded in the video.

Boubakeur said Tatai “engages in efforts that promote coexistence” between followers of different faiths….