Definitely.

Those who earn evil and are engulfed by their sinfulness, they are
destined for the fire, therein to abide; whereas those who are committed to
Allah[’s power] and what are righteous deeds, they are destined for paradise,
therein to abide (2:81–82).

These yahud are still awaiting their Messiah, who when he arrives, will give them victory
over their enemies. Some years ago before the end of the second Gregorian
millennium, some Christian Dispensationalists were heard to say that prophecy
indicates this is the right time for Jesus (peace be upon him) to come back (the second
coming of Christ) and that when he comes, the faithful will be raptured. Does this
expectation somehow reverse the policies that extinguished the lives of hundreds of
millions of people? Does this reverse the confiscatory economic programs and
predatory lending practices that have heaped a generational debt on all the world’s
peoples? Does this reverse the irresponsible consumption and distribution of resources
that has brought two-thirds of the world’s population to the brink of insolvency, hunger
and starvation? Does this reverse the nation-building model that has brought the world
to the brink of perpetual war? But this is how they think. In spite of their degenerate
moral character and the effects of policies that are rooted in rejecting Allah’s (Exalted
and August is He) authority, they feel they will be saved.

But these are the Israelis. Their justificatory attitude is second nature to their
argumentative aptitude. The legal profession has become a beehive for crass justifiers
and argument afficionados. Yahudi rationalizations have vindicated pimps, rapists, drug
traffickers, arms dealers, extortionists, murderers, defrauders, and organized crime
bosses. Their legal “counsel” has allowed the high, the mighty, the influential, the
wealthy, the presidents and the princes to escape accountability by skating through
loopholes. What loopholes were made available for the blind sheikh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-
Rahman? 66 What justifications were given to keep him out of an American jail? This
Israeli cabal owns the legal profession. Muslims take notice that they have schooled
themselves in this area for thousands of years. Anyone who can have the temerity to
argue with Allah (Exalted and August is He) and kill His prophets (peace be upon them),
will have no problem in convincing human beings to go on the wrong course.

Despite all this deception and trickery, they regard heaven to be their exclusive
property. How warped can you be?! The only one equipped to handle them is Allah
(Exalted and August is He). That is why He has revealed to Muslims, in a detailed
fashion, the very depths of their immoral, racist, elitist, exclusivist, and separtist nature.

This whole outline features humans and their deeds. There is no special treatment for
any human because of his class, rank, family, wealth status, race, ethnicity, color,
gender or place of geographic origin. Every person is identified and defined by what he
does. When a human (Israeli or non-Israeli, so-called Christians and socalled Muslims)
is a component of organized sin regardless of all the worldly justifications and legalities
he may hide behind, and when he integrates into the proliferation of crime and
corruption, he will stand to account for his life’s efforts. No mechanical word or sentence
will exclude him from Allah’s (Exalted and August is He) justice, “…they are cronies of
the fire, where they will dwell indefinitely.”

Following this statement is its corollary, “whereas those who are bound to Allah [’s
power] and do right deeds, they are destined for Heaven, where they will dwell
indefinitely.” Once again it needs emphasizing that there is no such thing as a spiritual
belief in Islam or a creed that stands on its own without it generating good deeds and
righteous action. It is for this reason that the noun Iman or the verb amanu in the Qur’an
are almost always followed by ‘amilu al-salihat, which means with faith there comes, by
necessity, virtuous effort and moral labor.

Truth-seeking Muslims need to take a closer look at this issue because they often
stumble over loaded words that convey explosive counter-meanings. Two of these
words are faith and belief, which are erroneously chosen by most translators to
represent the Qur’anic word iman. Before the word belief can be distinguished from
iman, its meanings in the English secular mind must be examined.

Belief, certainty, conviction refer to acceptance of, or confidence in, an alleged fact or
body of facts as true or right without positive knowledge or proof. Belief is such
acceptance in general, for instance a “belief in astrology.” Certainty indicates
unquestioning belief and positiveness in one’s own mind that something is true; “I know
this for a certainty” is a common expression. Conviction is settled, profound, or earnest
belief that something is right, for example “a conviction that a decision is just.” some
other commonly encountered examples include “statements unworthy of belief;”
confidence, “I believe in my quarterback;” trust, “a child’s belief in his parents;” faith; a
religious tenet or tenets, “the Christian belief.” Therefore, it may be said that belief is a
mental or psychological state that accepts a certain claim, proposition, premise or
position to be true. All these and associated themes have to be rejected forthwith as a
definition for iman. In all these meanings of belief, there is no integrated human action
that contributes to solidifying the relationship with Allah (Exalted and August is He).
Hence, the word belief can never convey the meaning of iman.

In the Islamic terminology, belief breeds certainty which in turn cultivates conviction. But
this is all achieved through the kind of human endeavor, exertion, energy, and effort that
is the product of a symbiotic relationship between theory and practice. In this sense, all
the suffering and adversities that accompany the human condition are incentives for the
solidification of the covenant relationship with Allah (Exalted and August is He).

When the convergence of the psychological and physical (belief and deed) components
in man’s persona becomes indistinguishable, it results in positive and honorable
conduct that brings the ultimate reward of salvation. In other words, for conviction to
be conviction, it must be validated by associated behaviors. The test of time has singled
out Allah’s (Exalted and August is He) final scripture and sunnah as the only heavenly
program that has managed to keep these ingredients together. All other religions of
divine origin have come apart through the years on this particular theme. That is why
yahud, on the one hand, hide behind the “chosen race mentality” and Christians, on the
other hand, claim they are automatically saved if they “believe” in Jesus Christ (peace
be upon him) as “lord” and “saviour.”

And following this escapist route out of the covenant relationship with Allah (Exalted and
August is He), there are some Muslims who claim that by verbalizing the two
shahaedahs (testimonies) they, too, at the end of the day, are saved. All these
Covenant deserters have reneged on the work ethic of iman.

The Muslims are the last ones on planet Earth who still have a sense of this covenant
relationship with Allah (Exalted and August is He). They are the ones who in defiance of
the official and imposed separation of church and state have not, by and large,
accepted the separation between iman and admirable activity. The Muslims have to
realize that they are void of iman when they are vacant of meritorious deeds.

Glossary

‘amilu al-salihat – exerted efforts of merit; this is an honorific phrase that usually
follows the phrase al-ladhina amanu in the Qur’anic discourse. The implication is that
there is a synergy between a secure commitment to Allah (Exalted and August is He)
and the exertion of efforts of merit and rectitude.
iman – secure commitment, covenant; the word is virtually a distillation of amanu (trust)
and amn (security).
sunnah – social laws; this is the word’s Qur’anic meaning in so far as such laws are the
pattern of history, human activities, and nature.
Yahud – political and exclusionary Jews. This is a Qur’anic term that is more precise than
the term Jew or Jewish. What or who a Jew is or represents, is not entirely clear and there
is considerable disagreement even amongst Jewish theologians. Is a Jew an adherent of
Judaism as a religion and culture? But the Talmud clearly makes no distinction between
a “religious Jew” and a “secular Jew.” Is a Jew a genetic (racial) descendant of Yehudah,
the fourth son of Jacob (peace be upon him)? And if so, can someone not of this racial
lineage “become” a Jew? Or, for one to be a Jew, must his mother be a racial descendant
of Yehudah? And within this racial context, can one be a Jew regardless of his moral or
religious character? Or, can one be a Jew without “believing” in God? Furthermore, are
Jews and the Children of Israel one and the same group? Or, are Jews a part of the
Children of Israel? Or, are today’s Jews the Children of Israel? Or, are they simply the
descendants of the historical inhabitants of a geographical area called Judea? Insofar as
the Qur’anic discourse is concerned, all of these questions are largely irrelevant. The term
Yahud refers to a group of people who claimed to be scriptural adherents of the Torah
and who used that scripture to rationalize opposition to Allah (Exalted and August is He),
His Prophet (peace be upon him) and truth and justice. This posture was distinct from the
mushriks of Makkah who did not cite scripture as a basis for hostility against Allah and
His Messenger. By referring their opposition to God, these Yahud gave themselves a
preeminent position amongst the larger body of non-scriptural forces against the Prophet.
Allah, in the Qur’an, attaches a name to a posture or a certain set of behaviors; and
readers need to understand that these groups are enduring power blocs at any time or
place of general human experience. Thus, in today’s world, those Evangelicals, Moral
Majorities and Born Agains who quote the Old and New Testaments as a justification for
colonization, abuse and dispossession, are just as Zionist or just as Israeli as those who
claim to be Jews of the same thought process. All those who use scripture to validate
systems of injustice qualify to be described by the Qur’anic descriptor, Yahud. Does this
description refer to all those who claim to be Jews? Obviously, the Qur’an does not rely
on blanket generalizations; in context, its words are precise as they address specific
issues of injustice. Yahud refers to those whose Judaism and Old Testament have
become corrupted by nationalist, racist, and elitist postures that are generally in cozy
alliance with depraved and unprincipled power structures.
Yahudi – of or pertaining to the Yahud; an individual from the Yahud.