PALESTINE: CHARTING A PEACEFUL COURSE In Light of Quranic Guidance

that the Jews who were living in the Diaspora would return to Palestine. After 1948, when a number of these Jews who were living in different countries came to Palestine, the Arabs demonstrated a strong adverse reaction to them. The greatest organization of Arabs, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood), was formed due to these hostile feelings for the Jews. At that time, the slogan of the Arab leaders was ‘We will drive the Jews into the sea.’ The settlement was strenuously opposed by Arab and non-Arab Muslim leaders alike, to the point where the entire Muslim world had turned against the Jews. All kinds of violence, including suicide bombing, were held to be lawful against them. But all these activities targeting the Jews proved to be counterproductive. Muslims and Jews both have equally incurred the loss resulting from violent activities. In such cases, the Quran states, ‘If you have suffered a wound, they too have suffered a similar wound. We bring these days to men by turns’ (3:140). In other words, according to the divine scheme of things, Allah himself gives every nation political power by turns to test them.