The book “The Divine Promise: Different Religious, Scientific, and Political Visions,” prepared and edited by Magdy Al-Shamali, presents a multi-angle approach to the issue of the “Divine Promise” and the “Promised Land,” focusing on the religious, historical, scientific, political, and legal dimensions of these concepts.The importance of the book, according to what its authors present, stems from the attempt to dismantle the political use of some religious interpretations that are called upon to justify contemporary positions on Palestine, especially those related to Christian Zionism and some readings that link the texts of the Old Testament with the political reality of the State of Israel.The book does not deal with the issue from one angle, but rather attempts to approach it through Christian, Islamic, and Jewish interpretations, in addition to archaeology, history, anthropology, and genetic studies, all the way to law and politics.
The book dwells at length on the concept of “God’s chosen people,” and discusses the way in which this concept has been employed in some modern religious and political readings.The authors believe that reducing the concept of divine choice to an ethnic or national bond fixed over thousands of years represents a selective reading of religious texts, especially in light of the transformations witnessed by the Jewish and Christian traditions in interpreting the concepts of covenant, choice, and promise.On the other hand, the book points out that modern political Zionism was not just a simple extension of ancient religious traditions, but rather it was a modern political project that was formed in complex European, national and colonial contexts, and then benefited from some religious symbols and texts in building its narrative.
Here one of the central ideas in the book emerges: the distinction between the religious text in its historical context and its political use in the modern era.The book devotes important space to Christian Zionism, as one of the paths in which certain theological readings met the political Zionist project.
The book moves to an Islamic reading of the concept of promise, based on a number of Qur’anic verses that deal with the Children of Israel and the Holy Land.
Among this reasoning, the Almighty says: “And We have written in the Psalms after the remembrance that the earth is inherited by My righteous servants,” and by the Almighty’s saying: “O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has ordained for you.”Naturally, some of the theses discussed in the book remain a matter of controversy among researchers, especially those related to the history of the biblical narratives, the nature of the relationship between Judaism and national identity, the interpretation of ancient texts, and the role of religion in the emergence of modern Zionism. Therefore, the most important value of the book may not lie in providing a final answer to all these questions, but rather in re-posing them outside the ready-made templates.
