It is stated in a verse that "the People of the Book will show their backs if they fight" and in another verse that "shame is pitched on the People of the Book". Is it not clear that this is not valid today?

The following is stated in verse 3/111 (Aal-i Imran): "The People of the Book will show their backs if they fight." The following is stated in verse 3/112 (Aal-i Imran): " Shame is pitched on the People of the Book." – Israel attacks Palestine-Lebanon, and America attacks Iraq and Afghanistan easily nowadays. This situation contradicts those verses. How would you interpret it?  - Christians and Jews work and read more than us today. – Dhillah (shame/abasement/contempt) is mentioned in the verse. What is meant by dhillah? Are the People of the Book in dhillah today? They are superior to Muslims in technology and human rights.

Dear Brother / Sister,

According to what scholars like Muqatil state, verse 111 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran is about the Jews living in that age. Some leaders of the Jews like Kab, Adi, Numan, Abu Rafi, Abu Yasir and Kinana Ibn Suriyya harassed verbally and practically the Muslims that were converted from Judaism like Abdullah b. Salam and his friends.  

Thereupon, the following verse was sent down and it consoled them by giving them the following glad tiding:

“They will do you no harm, barring a trifling annoyance. If they come out to fight you, they will show you their backs and no help shall they get.” (see Qurtubi, the interpretation of the verse in question)

This is a clear miracle of the Prophet (pbuh) since it gives information about what is ghayb (unknown).

The group of people mentioned in verse 112 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran is Jews. (see Nasafî, the interpretation of the verse in question)

The verse in question is as follows:

“Shame is pitched over them (Like a tent) wherever they are found, except when under a covenant (of protection) from Allah and from men; they draw on themselves wrath from Allah, and pitched over them is (the tent of) destitution. This because they rejected the Signs of Allah, and slew the prophets in defiance of right; this because they rebelled and transgressed beyond bounds.”

"Dhillah" (shame/contempt) mentioned in the verse has been one of the indispensable qualities of Jews throughout history. It is a clear evidence showing that they were exposed to Allah’s wrath. They were always despised by many countries because of the feeling of revenge they nurtured in the countries where they lived and they caused all kinds of mischief and chaos throughout history, especially after they lost their state more than two thousand years ago. Two of the examples are as follows: Some of them were killed by Nebuchadnezzar and some of them were exiled to Babylon.

There are two exceptions to it in the verse: One of them is they were saved from this contempt and shame when they held onto Allah’s rope tight. We can give the periods of Hz. Musa (Moses), Hz. Dawud, and Hz. Sulayman as examples. The second exception is “under a covenant from men...”. This covenant is the hand of humanity reached out to them by the ummah of Islam. The last example is when the Ottoman State gave refuge to 500.000 Jews who faced death in Spain.

The following explanation of Badiüzzaman Said Nursi will shed light on the issue:

“The Jewish nation has always been excessive in its love of life and this world, and has therefore deserved the blows of abasement and misery it has received every century. However, in the Palestine question it is not love of life and this world, but a significant sort of national and religious feeling because Palestine is where the prophets of the Children of Israel are buried, and the prophets belonged to their nation. In consequence they have received no swift blows. A small group could never otherwise have held out in the midst of the vast Arab lands; it would quickly have been humiliated.” (Şualar, On Dördüncü Şua).

“Greed brings about disappointment, deficiency, and humiliation; it is the cause of deprivation and abjection. The humiliation and abjection of the Jewish people who have leaped greedily upon the world, is a decisive proof of this truth.” (Mektubat, Yirmi İkinci Mektup, İkinci Mebhas).

Being rich does not always eliminate dhillah. What matters is the determination of the state in the legitimate field. The state of the Zionists who fulfill things illegitimately with tricks and deceptions is different. 

“Also, Jewish people finding through greed, usury, and trickery their degrading, miserable, illicit sustenance only at subsistence level…” (Lem'alar, On Dokuzuncu Lem'a)

The statement above gives important clues regarding the issue.

We can say that the aggressiveness of today’s Israel-Zionist administration originates from their cowardice, their waywardness from their contempt, their resorting to terror from their meanness, and their wealth from interest and usury. Nevertheless, were it not for America and some other Western countries, they would die of hunger.

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