Much confusion about belief and ethnicity. Let me clarify for those unfamiliar with our religions. A person becomes a Muslim by making a statement of faith, the Shahada. They state there is no other god than Allah and that Mohammed is his prophet, before two witnesses. 1/10

If a person becomes an atheist (secular), in sharia they are liable for death. There’s only one way out of Islam. The issue is belief. Saying you’re a secular Muslim is a peculiarly Western phenomenon. In 13 Muslim countries you would be dead. 2/10

Being Muslim is being part of the “ummah” or nation, - a concept derived from the idea of Jewish ethnicity - but it’s all belief based as above. Those Muslims who don’t believe are made not to exist, in Islamic law. Muslim Ethnicity doesn’t exist. Belief is all. 3/10

Jews are born of a Jewish mother. The ethnic dimension. Yet we accept converts. Confusing? No. We adopt them as if they were children of Abraham and Sarah. They accept our Jewish responsibilities. Men get circumcized. They dip in a mikveh. 4/10

Thing is, conversion to Judaism isn’t easy. We turn converts away, it takes years. You undertake to keep all the rules. Forever. Your children are highly likely to marry other Jews. This means they marry into our ethnicity; their children will too. 5/10

Our ethnicity derives from our origins in Judea, central Israel today. Jews were exiled from there several times from 586 BCE. We had a common genetic background marked by Jewish Levantine DNA, a distinct type present in born Jews. The Christian Jesus was a Jew, Judean. 6/10

When people quibble by posting that Jews can be from different racial groups they ignore our common origins, history and genetics, focusing on the most malleable aspect - human apoearance - which changes easily. Remember, Meghan Windsor is black. Colour is only skin deep. 7/10

The real reason people seek to undermine our ethnicity is politics. By denying our ethnicity people seek to deny our right to live in the land of Israel, our indigenous rights. They are arguing with the above facts; they think undermining reality will help Palestinians. 8/10

People of Muslim background who no longer practice Islam subscribe to a culture, rather like those of Christian background who celebrate Christmas and Easter without the beliefs. They have ceased to be meaningfully Muslim or Christian. Secular Jews don’t stop being Jews. 9/10

@threadreaderapp please unroll

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