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Dr. Tawfik Hamid: Reformist Muslim, friend of Israel

What am I doing here? Studying with a Talmudic commentator on the Koran?

With a Muslim who bumped into a rabbi in an airport and was taken with midrash? Who is this man: a former Islamic radical? a medical doctor? a guy with two million likes on Facebook (in Arabic)? a fearless defender of Israel? a sociologist of contemporary Islam worldwide? a medical educator with a website that 43,000 doctors subscribe to (“I post once a week or so on recent advances”)?

As Dr. Tawfik Hamid and I speak we range too far afield to contain all of his thoughts in a single narrative. For clarity’s sake, I separate out Dr. Tawfik Hamid’s reformist method of commentary on the Koran [see addendum at end of post, “Hamid’s commentary on the Koran”].

Tawfik was in Denver last week to speak about Israel at a lecture arranged by ActionIsrael at BMH-BJ. Tawfik is pro-Israel. But we found ourselves speaking about much more than Israel. I wanted to get inside the mind and life of a reformist Muslim, as he describes himself.

He sets before me a few basic facts:

Tawfik Hamid was born in Cairo in 1961, joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1979, and left it in 1981. He had an awakening of conscience when he was asked to engage in violence against an innocent person — to kidnap and bury alive an Egyptian policeman. He did not take part.

Meanwhile, he completed his medical studies and specialized in internal medicine.

As he broke from radical Islam, he eventually set out on a path to reform Islam mainly through a modern commentary on the Koran, particularly its difficult passages, such as “Kill the infidels wherever you find them” [see addendum at end of post].

He is at pains to emphasize that he left radical Islam long before 9/11. His was not just a political departure, but a theological one.

Five Categories of Muslim Culture

However Tawfik situates himself in the Muslim world today, seeing it whole in order to figure out where he fits in. He delineates six categories of Muslim culture:

1. Cultural Muslims.

They celebrate Ramadan, the major rites of Islam, but otherwise don’t practice and don’t study deeply.

2. Ritual Muslims.

They focus on the five pillars of Islam: the Hajj (visit to Mecca), prayer five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, tzedakah, belief that there is no G-d but Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet.

3. Theological Muslims.

They want to implement the Sha’aria Law today, which, he says, includes killing apostates or converts out of Islam, beating women and engaging in jihad to spread Islam. But they don’t use violence to impose Sha’aria on others.

They use more gradual tactics, gradual infiltration of the political system, putting more Muslims in certain locations, increasing their numbers (in Europe, for example).

4. Radical Islamists.

They justify the use of violence to enforce beliefs on others; they force women to wear the hijab, close down shops that sell alcohol, etc.

5. Terrorist Islamists.

They explode places and engage in other terrorists acts.

In his view, of the 1.5 billion in the world today, approximately 5% are radicals, with 20% close to radicals, and 75% who are not radicals but approve of what they do; and 35-40% are theological Muslims.

Here is how he reclassifies these categories in geographical terms:

“There are more radicals and terrorists in the Arab world, more theological Muslims in the West, and more cultural Muslims in southeast Asia.”

He says he posts on Facebook in Arabic because it is the Arab world that is the source of the problem of radical Islam.

Sixth Category: Reformist Islam

And Hamid himself? He is in the sixth category: reformist Islam. This, he says, is a form of Islam that is against any form of violence against others, against subjugating others to any Islamic belief system; and that promotes the values of peaceful coexistence, religious freedom, and fighting hatred. “Of course a person has the right to convert out of Islam,” Hamid says forcefully.

“I have my own ways of understanding and observance of Islam, different from the mainstream traditional group. For example, my relation to G-d is to love your G-d in your heart and to be good to your neighbor, irrespective of his belief, nationality or color — these are my principles in life.

“I consider the rituals not to be the ultimate goal. I do not go to mosques controlled by radical Islamists.”

Is Tawfik Hamid lonely?

“I know some people in the same direction as I, but so far it is a one-man show. But it has an effect on millions of people through Facebook.

“My commentary on the Koran, with the goal of peaceful coexistence, has more than two million likes; and I appear on many news channels in the Middle East: Al-Jazeera more than 200 times (my videos have two million views); the Pan Arab Skynews; the Saudi-owned website Al-Aribeia; Fox News; op-eds in the Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post, New York Daily News; and my blog (“Inside Islam”) in NewsMax.com.”

Does Hamid live in fear?

“I’m used to it, so I don’t fear anymore. I believe in historical responsibility, that I must continue.”

The way Tawfik tells his story, I’m sure it’s longer than I can uncover or than he could tell in the short time we have together. He hands me his book, Inside Jihad.

He describes his recoil at being asked to bury alive an Egyptian police officer “my first impulse to leave the radical group.

“The officer was with the government, and they saw the government of Egypt as an infidel system, the enemy of Islam, because it doesn’t implement the Sha’aria laws.

“I said, I can’t do this, and I started to think about whether it was right or wrong to join this group. Gradually, I started to think, and left.

“I regained my critical thinking.”

Two-Stage Solution

I have been to Israel three times. I was blessed and honored to go. I love Israel.

“One time, the American Jewish Committee invited me. Another time, a miliary think tank in Israel invited me. And the third time I was invited by Shimon Peres, G-d bless his soul, for a ‘future Summit.’”

What does Hamid think when Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map?

“Evil. It’s a real threat. We have to take it seriously. We should not underestimate them.”

Does Hamid subscribe to the two-state solution?

“I have a two-stage solution,” he responds.

“Stage 1: The Arab world must first change its educational system and media and stop promoting hatred against Jewish people and Israel at all levels of information, from youth to adults, for several years. Then and only then we can go to Stage 2:

“Stage 2: Discussing politics and lands and all this stuff. There is no value in discussing this without Stage 1. Egypt got land in 1982, but anti-Semitism is so full in Egypt. Giving land didn’t work. It did stop the wars, but that could be temporary. If these people with anti-Semitic beliefs reach power in Egypt, then you will see an Iran on the other side of Israel.”

But didn’t the Israel-Egypt peace treaty have a positive effect?

“Yes, but it was not a real solution. It is not real peace. You can’t classify it as real peace.

“A one-state solution is different because you can’t have millions of people who want to kill every Jew. A democratic one-state solution would be a big threat. A two-state solution is a reward for hatred. So we need a two-stage solution.”

Hamid’s commentary on the Koran

A verse in the Koran states, “Kill the infidels wherever you find them.”

“Literally, this means: cause violence. The traditional commentaries say that this means that Muslims must fight the infidel to subjugate them to Islam, or kill them. This is mainstream teaching.

“This is my interpretation:

“Look at the ‘the’ before ‘infidels.’ The reference to ‘the infidels’ must mean a specific group of infidels. If it meant all infidels, the verse would read, ‘Kill infidels’ or ‘Kill all infidels.’ So when it says ‘Kill the infidels’ it must mean a specific group of infidels.

“Which group of infidels was targeted? Those infidels who expelled Muhammad from Mecca in the early stages of Islam and tortured his followers. This is the only group to whom this ‘Kill’ is addressed — those are the infidels to be killed, no one else.

“Now, the early believers in Islam were a small religious minority and their torturers were to be killed. From this we can learn that we must not discriminate against any small religious minority. Otherwise, we will be the torturers.

“We are not to do to any small religious minority what was done to the early followers of Muhammad. I am trying to understand the Koran in a peaceful way.”

Hamid’s 660-page Arabic commentary on the Koran is published on Amazon, he says.

Hamid reports with relish a chance meeting he had in an airport with a rabbi. Waiting for a flight, Hamid offered to stand up to give the rabbi a seat. The rabbi demurred, and insisted that Hamid keep his seat.

They started talking. “We became friends in a very short time, and exchanged information, to keep in touch.

“Then we looked up our seat numbers. I was in 36A. He was in 36B. We were destined to meet!

“On the flight he introduced me to the idea that there are many levels of interpretation of Scripture. And he gave me an example.

“My commentary on the parts of the Koran that encourage jihad or that are used to promote anti-Semitism — I reinterpreted them on a different level. It allows for peaceful coexistence, as in my example above.

“I put out my commentary on Facebook rather than be dependent on some professors’s approval.

“Al Ahzar [the central Isalmic university in Cairo] will not allow a commentary on Koran that challenges the religious authorities to be published in the Arab world.

“Years ago, the number of scholars who would be willing to change was very small. Now, the number is growing.”

I ask Hamid: If a critic of you were sitting in the room with us right now, what would he say?
“That I am a heretic. I am changing the traditional understanding that existed for 1,000 years or more, and I am challenging the well known scholars.”

I ask Hamid: Do you have any critics whom you respect although you disagree with them?

“Actually,” he says, “the situation is black and white. I can’t respect someone who opposes peaceful teaching. The only other understanding is violence. I cannot respect that.

“My work is to prevent radicalization.”

Copyright © 2019 by the Intermountain Jewish News



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IJN Executive Editor | [email protected]


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