traditions of Islam, not in texts by Hitler or other European exponents of Nazism and fascism.
On February 6,1941, Berlin radio returned to the connection between the erosion of religious faith and political decline, on one hand, and religious revival and political strength, on the other.
Oh Muslims, you have been in a deep sleep and amnesia for a long time. In that time, you became prey for all, for you permitted everything. You experienced this weakness and decline because you turned away from the correct path of your religion and because you acted contrary to it and did what was forbidden. You've done much injustice and many bad deeds and filled your minds with empty notions. Therefore you've become a community that no longer has any bonds. The wealthy among you use the weak, and the ignorant among you raise themselves with pride over the learned. Therefore your strength is divided and your weapons have become dull. The word of the Koran now applies to you. "You have forgotten God. Therefore he himself has forgotten you and thus you now are among the guilty." Oh Muslims, I should show you a way that will rescue you from this torture. "Believe in God and his prophets and fight for God with your goods and your Soul ."51
Belief in God, according to Berlin's Arabic broadcast, was "the foundation for all good deeds." It had been "unshakable among the earlier Muslims" and helped them "overcome all misfortune." God, the broadcast continued, told the Muslims to fight for him with their goods and souls. The result was a battle "of the soul and the sword" without which a nation cannot exist. So long as Muslims fought both battles "they were strong and were able to frighten God's enemies.
God's religion became widespread, and a powerful state emerged. Today, however, Muslims believe with their tongues but not with their hearts. They have turned away from the battle for God and turned to the unbelievers in hopes that they will get help from them in their hour of need. Now, however, the hour has struck. Oh Muslims, wake up from your long sleep and show the world that you are God's followers, firmly defend his religion and always recall that "God sees all who only do good and that those who do evil will be seen by God." This is the path I call you to take. May God give you work that satisfies you. May he take you on the path of good and help you against your enemies. Truly, he is all power- ful.52
As a rich body of scholarship has informed us, the relationship between Christianity and Nazism was closer than postwar denunciations of its atheist or pagan character suggested.53 Although Hitler presented himself as a prophet, his anti-Semitism drew on centuries of Christian-inspired hatred, and the liturgy of Nazi mass rallies drew on older religious themes, National Socialism was fundamentally a secular political ideology. Mein Kampf, not the New Testament, was its bible.54 But in its appeals to Arabs and Muslims, Nazi radio advocated a Muslim religious revival. Its message echoed the appeals of Muslim fundamentalists for an awakening from an alleged "long sleep" and a return to the message of the Koran as a precondition for Islamic political resurgence.
On February 20,1941, in a broadcast on "Renewal and Superstition in Islam," Berlin radio returned to themes of decline and renewal while also offering a reading of the Koran that focused on its anti-Jewish passages: "Oh Muslims! Many of you have departed from your religion and follow your personal desires. Religion has become an empty name for you. Your deeds and words, your intentions and qualities of character are free from Islam and no longer have anything to do with it." Now "ignorant Muslims and unbelievers" have suggested ideas about Islam that really had nothing to do with it. Most of these superstitions come from those "who secretly fight against Islam. It is above all the Jews, who in the past pretended to have adopted Islam but in fact were very far from it." The broadcast
On February 6,1941, Berlin radio returned to the connection between the erosion of religious faith and political decline, on one hand, and religious revival and political strength, on the other.
Oh Muslims, you have been in a deep sleep and amnesia for a long time. In that time, you became prey for all, for you permitted everything. You experienced this weakness and decline because you turned away from the correct path of your religion and because you acted contrary to it and did what was forbidden. You've done much injustice and many bad deeds and filled your minds with empty notions. Therefore you've become a community that no longer has any bonds. The wealthy among you use the weak, and the ignorant among you raise themselves with pride over the learned. Therefore your strength is divided and your weapons have become dull. The word of the Koran now applies to you. "You have forgotten God. Therefore he himself has forgotten you and thus you now are among the guilty." Oh Muslims, I should show you a way that will rescue you from this torture. "Believe in God and his prophets and fight for God with your goods and your Soul ."51
Belief in God, according to Berlin's Arabic broadcast, was "the foundation for all good deeds." It had been "unshakable among the earlier Muslims" and helped them "overcome all misfortune." God, the broadcast continued, told the Muslims to fight for him with their goods and souls. The result was a battle "of the soul and the sword" without which a nation cannot exist. So long as Muslims fought both battles "they were strong and were able to frighten God's enemies.
God's religion became widespread, and a powerful state emerged. Today, however, Muslims believe with their tongues but not with their hearts. They have turned away from the battle for God and turned to the unbelievers in hopes that they will get help from them in their hour of need. Now, however, the hour has struck. Oh Muslims, wake up from your long sleep and show the world that you are God's followers, firmly defend his religion and always recall that "God sees all who only do good and that those who do evil will be seen by God." This is the path I call you to take. May God give you work that satisfies you. May he take you on the path of good and help you against your enemies. Truly, he is all power- ful.52
As a rich body of scholarship has informed us, the relationship between Christianity and Nazism was closer than postwar denunciations of its atheist or pagan character suggested.53 Although Hitler presented himself as a prophet, his anti-Semitism drew on centuries of Christian-inspired hatred, and the liturgy of Nazi mass rallies drew on older religious themes, National Socialism was fundamentally a secular political ideology. Mein Kampf, not the New Testament, was its bible.54 But in its appeals to Arabs and Muslims, Nazi radio advocated a Muslim religious revival. Its message echoed the appeals of Muslim fundamentalists for an awakening from an alleged "long sleep" and a return to the message of the Koran as a precondition for Islamic political resurgence.
On February 20,1941, in a broadcast on "Renewal and Superstition in Islam," Berlin radio returned to themes of decline and renewal while also offering a reading of the Koran that focused on its anti-Jewish passages: "Oh Muslims! Many of you have departed from your religion and follow your personal desires. Religion has become an empty name for you. Your deeds and words, your intentions and qualities of character are free from Islam and no longer have anything to do with it." Now "ignorant Muslims and unbelievers" have suggested ideas about Islam that really had nothing to do with it. Most of these superstitions come from those "who secretly fight against Islam. It is above all the Jews, who in the past pretended to have adopted Islam but in fact were very far from it." The broadcast
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