Egyptian-American Imam Shaker Elsayed delivered a sermon at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Fairfax County, Virginia, in which he said that the "children of Israel" had killed the prophets Zachariah, John the Baptist, and Elijah, as well as many other prophets, and that they claimed to have killed Jesus. "When you say the word 'Jews,' it is not equal to 'Israelites'," he said, adding that "we are dealing with manipulation as well." The sermon was delivered on March 31, and was posted on Dar Al-Hijrah's YouTube channel.

Shaker Elsayed: There is a difference between Bani Israil [the Israelites], the historical community of the children of Prophet Jacob - whose name is also Israel - and the current Jewish community, as we know it. These are not one and the same. So when you say the word "Jews," it is not equal to "Israelites."

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It has been very smart for the Jews of today to call the state they occupied "Israel." It is giving it a name that is significant, important, and honored by Muslims. So now, if you speak against Israel, the state, they construe it as if you are talking against Jacob and his children, and against your own Book. But we have to understand what we are dealing with. We are dealing with manipulation as well. I hope somebody doesn't call me antisemitic, because I am more Semitic than those who claim to be Semitic.

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We Muslims really need to wrap our heads around these two issues: Number one is the response of the children of Israel to four previous prophets. What was their response? The Quran summarizes it: "But is it not true that every time a Messenger brought to you something that was not to your liking, you acted arrogantly: you called some Messengers liars and killed others?" Isn't it true that whenever a messenger comes to you with something you don't like, you either kill or killed some and you belied some. You rejected some, and you killed some. Right? So they killed Prophet Zakariya, named Zechariah in their Book, They killed his son Yahya, John the Baptist in their Book. They killed Elias [Elijah], who has the same name in their Book. [They killed] three of them consecutively and concurrently, right before Jesus. So those three were finished.

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So they are saying: "If anyone comes with a message that we reject, we will kill him." So they get rid of the prophet and the message, and it is finished. So they did this, and Jesus was saying that they were going to try to kill him, as they did to Elijah. An amazing prophecy. And it happened - they delivered him to be crucified. So after killing four prophets in a row... Jesus was an attempt - it was not fulfilled, according to the Quran, but they take pride in it anyway. [According to the Quran], they say: [According to the Quran], they say: And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but [another] was made to resemble him." So they still take pride that they are a community of zealotry and commitment, and they are willing to go all the way, to do anything. And they proved that. Their history is like that.

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This is one big reason - what happened to these four prophets, besides many other prophets before, that we don't know the details of what was done to them.

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