The relationship between Islam, Judaism and the Land of Israel is often presented as though Muslims and Jews hold fundamentally incompatible religious claims to the region. Yet the Islamic intellectual tradition contains interpretations that recognize the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the land — and, in the modern period, have led some Muslim scholars to support Jewish national rights and recognition of the State of Israel.

These voices are not representative of every Muslim scholar, nor do they erase the legitimate political and humanitarian concerns surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nevertheless, they demonstrate an important point: support for Jewish existence, Jewish historical rights and the legitimacy of Israel can be articulated from within an Islamic theological framework.

Several Muslim religious figures have gone further, arguing that Muslims should accept Israel as an independent and sovereign state and reject religious hostility toward Jews. Their arguments, examined below, draw on scripture, history and a shared prophetic lineage that Islam and Judaism have never fully severed.

Voices from within the tradition

Across Pakistan, Jordan, Italy, Britain and the United States, a small but consistent group of Islamic scholars has staked out a position that runs against the grain of much religious rhetoric on Israel. Their biographies and arguments differ, but their conclusion converges.

The Qur’anic foundation

At the heart of these arguments are several Qur’anic passages concerning the Children of Israel and their relationship to the Holy Land.

“O my people! Enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you.” Qur’an 5:21

Another frequently cited passage, Qur’an 17:104, refers to the Children of Israel dwelling in the land. Scholars differ on how to interpret these verses, but their presence demonstrates that the Qur’an contains an extensive theological and historical narrative concerning the Children of Israel, their prophets and their relationship with the Holy Land — one that, for these scholars, makes recognition of Jewish historical ties “not foreign to Islam.”

Recognition without erasure

One of the most important conclusions to emerge from these scholars is that Muslims do not necessarily have to choose between Islam and recognition of Israel. Islam can recognize the religious history of the Children of Israel while modern Muslims recognize the State of Israel as an independent sovereign state — two propositions that need not be treated as mutually exclusive.

Jerusalem, in this reading, can be sacred to Muslims through its connection to the prophets of Islam while remaining profoundly significant to Jews through the Temple, the Davidic kingdom, and thousands of years of religious and historical attachment. Palazzi has specifically argued that Islamic recognition of Jerusalem’s sanctity does not require denying its Jewish significance.

Recognition is not the same thing as agreement with every action of an Israeli government.

Just as recognizing Pakistan does not require approving every policy of the Pakistani government, recognizing Israel does not require Muslims to approve every decision made by an Israeli administration. Recognition establishes something more fundamental: that the Jewish people have a right to national existence, security and self-determination, and that Israel is a legitimate sovereign state. Once that principle is accepted, disagreements over borders, settlements, Jerusalem and Palestinian statehood can be addressed through diplomacy rather than religious rejection or violence.

A shared prophetic lineage

There is also a deeper religious argument beneath the political one. Judaism is not an alien religion from an Islamic perspective — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David and Solomon are also recognized as prophets or central figures in Islamic tradition. Muslims, in this view, do not have to reject Jewish history to affirm Islam; recognizing the Jewish people as a historic community of revelation can instead provide a theological foundation for greater Muslim-Jewish understanding.

From this perspective, hostility toward Jews simply because they are Jews is incompatible with the principle of peaceful coexistence. The appropriate Muslim response, these scholars argue, should distinguish between Judaism, Jewish people, Israeli citizens, the State of Israel, and individual Israeli government policies — categories too often collapsed into one another.

Four principles

Conclusion

Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani’s position is particularly noteworthy because it emerged from within Pakistan’s own religious and political environment, where recognition of Israel has historically been a highly sensitive question. Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi offers an even more explicit theological case for Jewish sovereignty and Muslim recognition of Israel. Together with al-Adwan, Al-Hussaini and Drammeh, they demonstrate that an Islamic intellectual tradition exists that is willing to say openly: Jews have a legitimate historical and religious connection to the Land of Israel, Jews have the right to live there in security, and the State of Israel has the right to exist as an independent and sovereign nation.

The existence of this Muslim perspective does not end the Israeli-Palestinian debate. But it does challenge the idea that rejection of Israel is the only possible Islamic position. A future built on mutual recognition — Israelis recognizing Palestinian national aspirations, and Palestinians and the wider Muslim world recognizing Israel’s permanent right to exist — offers a fundamentally different framework from perpetual religious confrontation. For Muslims and Jews alike, recognition does not require surrendering faith. It can instead become the starting point for coexistence, dialogue and peace.