[JihadWatch] The final two verses of the Fatiha ask Allah:
Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray.
The traditional Islamic understanding of this is that the "straight path" is Islam — cf. Islamic apologist John Esposito’s book Islam: The Straight Path — while the path "of those who have evoked Allah’s anger" are the Jews, and those who have gone "astray" are the Christians.
The classic Qur’anic commentator Ibn Kathir explains that "the two paths He described here are both misguided," and that those "two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why ’anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as ’led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians."
| Jacob Blake, Sr. chanted the thing in Arabic. Because “[his] family is very diverse.“ Had he read it in English, that would be one thing. But to have the knowledge and comfort to chant it in a foreign language — that should raise questions. The Indian Express adds to the confusion by clarifying: |
According to a report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper, Blake was raised in Evanston, a town outside the city of Chicago. He, later moved to to Kenosha several years ago for a job and for his family. His family have a long history of community activism. The victim’s grandfather, Jacob Blake Sr., was a prominent minister and civil rights leader in the Chicago area who helped organise a march in support of a comprehensive housing law in Evanston, Illinois, days after the 1968 slaying of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
| Why on earth is a Christian minister chanting an anti-Christian verse in Arabic? |
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