PA Mufti Hussein defends his speech citing Hadith about killing Jews, exposed by PMW

On Jan. 9, 2012, PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein, delivered a speech presenting the killing of Jews by as a religious Islamic goal. PMW's exposure of the Mufti's speech brought Israeli and international condemnation of the Mufti and the PA. PA TV program Good Morning Jerusalem interviews PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein concerning Netanyahu's attack on him in the wake of his statements:

PA TV host: "We adhere to the Sunna (Islamic tradition) of the Prophet – especially during this period, when, unfortunately, there are sometimes reactions to the Prophet’s hadiths (tradition attributed to Muhammad) that are perhaps not understood – specifically your own recent comments in Ramallah that were misunderstood, and that generated a great many responses on the Islamic and Arab level on the one hand, and from the Israeli side [on the other] that blew the issue out of proportion. It reached the point of threats, and even reached the top of the pyramid in Israel. This isn't limited to the extremist Right; even the Israeli Prime Minister himself intervened in this matter, and there were threats of a kind, related to this matter. Firstly, let's clarify for the viewers the nature of what was said, and whether indeed, as some people say, this matter does not apply to the situation today, and in general."

Hussein: "Unfortunately, the truth is that this is an honorable Hadith that was brought in the context of a long speech [delivered] at the 47th anniversary of the outbreak of the modern Palestinian revolution. I spoke about our people's problems; I spoke about our people's resolve; and I spoke about our people's suffering, on that occasion. The speech led me, naturally, to talk about this people remaining on this land. It came as a message that this nation will continue to pursue Ribat (religious conflict/war to defend Islamic territory) on this land, and mention was made of this Hadith that, to tell the truth, talks about things which will happen at the End of Days. However, by the nature of things, [if we take] religious texts, and separate them, take them out of context and understand them out of context, then certainly, someone who wants to malign, to create propaganda and to blow things out of proportion – will take a piece of what he wants. That's why they took part of [my] speech, and said [what they said]. For instance, everything that was said in the Israeli media, and what many high-level, senior Israelis said – in truth, they said that this Sheikh (i.e., the Mufti) is Antisemitic and is encouraging hatred and racism…. What I mean is – how can we be Antisemitic when we [ourselves] are Semites? ... Someone who wants to pass judgment about a subject, about a [mode of] behavior, or about a position, must take all the texts together; he must take all the statements together, and [only] then pass judgment. But someone who takes [just] certain parts – and, as you said, this is referring to things that will happen at the End of Days in the future. This exists not only in Islam, but also in the other religions."

Host: "Even in the Bible."

Hussein: "Both the Bible and the New Testament talk about the Last Day and about the situation on the Last Day. The Last Day is, originally, [a concept] from the hidden world, and therefore we can't decide whether this event which is foretold [in the Hadith] will be tomorrow or the next day, in 10 years' time, or a hundred years. "