Pakistani religious leader supports normalization with Israel

Author: Web Desk

Pakistani political and religious leader of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani announced Saturday that he supports the normalization of his country with Israel, according to a report by British-Pakistani writer Noor Dahri.

Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani advocates normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel. He expressed his views during an interview with a local TV, part of which was shared by Noor Dahri, a UK-based pro-Israel scholar on Twitter.

“This is an international issue, I support recognition of Israel,” Sherani said. “Educated Muslims need to understand that the Quran and history prove to us that the Land of Israel belongs only to the Jews. King David built the house of God in Jerusalem for the Israelis and not for the Palestinians.”

When a question has been released about his position on possible Pakistani recognition of Israel, he replied: “This is an international issue, and I support the recognition of the State of Israel.”

Sherani added, “It is worthy of the intellectuals Muslims to read the Holy Qur’an when the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said to the Prophet Moses, We have given land in your name or we have given land to your followers.” claiming that the Holy Qur’an and history prove that the land of Israel is only for Jews.

His statements came less than a week after the news saying that a mission from a large Islamic country from Asia, which had no diplomatic relations with Israel, had visited Tel Aviv aiming to an expected normalization. “These are rumors aim at creating chaos to harm Pakistan’s image in the Islamic world,” Taher Ashrafi, the advisor of the Pakistani Prime Minister said.

Earlier, a popular Pakistani TV anchor, Mubasher Lucman appeared on an Israeli TV channel i24NEWS and also expressed support for ties between Pakistan and Israel based on direct diplomacy and mutual national interests.