California Imam Slammed For ‘Annihilate The Jews’ Sermon On Jerusalem
Imam Ammar Shahin, of the Islamic Center of Davis, CA. Image by YouTube
By Ari Feldman July 26, 2017
A California imam is being accused of anti-Semitism after a video of a July 21 sermon in which he called for a war between Jews and Muslims was published on YouTube. Imam Ammar Shahin’s sermon at the Islamic Center of Davis, in Davis, Cali., was in response to the Israeli government’s placement of metal detectors at the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Shahin quoted an apocalyptic hadith, or oral tradition, envisioning a final war between Muslims and Jews. Shahin called for Allah to “liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews” and “annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.”
Shahin’s sermon has been heavily criticized.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein, directors of the Simon Wiesenthal center, called for an investigation of Shahin.
The mosque said it doesn’t condone Jew-hatred.
“We have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or any other form of bigotry,” the Islamic Center of Davis said in a statement.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
