Footage uploaded to social media last month reportedly shows a group of children from a Pennsylvania Islamic Centre singing and citing poetry praising the “martyrs” who sacrificed their lives for Palestine.
According to The Middle East Media Research Institute, the video, depicting the centre’s “Ummah Day” celebrations, was originally shared on Facebook by the Muslim American Society in Philadelphia.
“Glorious steeds call us and lead us [to] Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the translation reads. “The blood of martyrs protects us… Take us, oh ships… until we reach our shores and crush the treacherous ones… Flow, oh rivers of martyrs!”
“We will defend [Palestine] with our bodies… We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque… We will subject them to eternal torture.”
Children in #Philadelphia Muslim Society: We Will Sacrifice Ourselves for #AlAqsa; Will Chop Off Their Heads, Subject Them To Eternal Torture https://t.co/1WFL7vyhSQ pic.twitter.com/RwsfJLhoPY
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 3, 2019
Consider, in contrast, the teaching of Jesus in Luke 6:27-36, in which he commands his followers to: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
“To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. As you wish others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
