By: Hossein Shariatmadari
     The term "Holocaust, which is Greek for "burnt offering”, has long been misused in modern history, especially in the aftermath of World War 2 by the Zionists who coined the myth of the alleged massacre of 6 million Jews by the German Nazis in Europe, when in fact no such thing occurred in the 1940s and moreover, the entire Jewish population throughout Europe including Russia was far short of the mythical 6 million figure of the supposedly killed Jews.
    Interestingly, a historical research on genocide related to religious persecution reveals that the actual Holocaust has been carried out over a millennium-and-a-half years ago by the Jews who dug up a blazing trench and threw the followers of Prophet Jesus (peace upon him) in Yemen into it.
    Perhaps, this is among the reasons that the Zionist propaganda machine that unfortunately controls the minds of the present day West has placed a complete ban on any academic research and scientific probe of the myth of the supposed Holocaust of World War 2 on whose flimsy basis Israel was illegally planted on the soil of Palestine in 1948.
     To remind readers of this column, on November 1, Saturday, in my Viewpoint titled "Short Words Great Meanings” regarding the Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s latest message to the French youth in the aftermath of the printing of sacrilegious caricatures attributed to the Prophet of Islam and the blasphemous support for this profanity by President Emmanuel Macron of France, I had said Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei "has put his finger on one of the sensitive aching nerves of France to expose as fallacious the claim to democracy and freedom of expression in France and other European countries” by saying:
     "Ask your President why the questioning of the Holocaust is a crime, but it is lawful to insult the Prophet (of Islam)?”
     I had said in the closing lines of that Viewpoint that in due course I will surely elaborate on another important point of the myth of the Holocaust. Now, in keeping with my promise, which over the past fortnight has made curious readers to enquire what I mean to write, I wish to draw the attention to the real Holocaust that the Israelites (read progenitors of the Zionists) had perpetrated over a millennium-and-a-half ago, and which horrific crime remains an eternal stigma on the foreheads of the Zionists – and not the Jews.
    In Ayahs 4 to 7 of "Surah al-Burooj” of the Holy Qur’an, God Almighty mentions the fate of "As-haab al-Okhdoud” or "People of the Trench”, saying:
     "By the heaven with its Houses,
    "By the Promised Day,
     "By the Witness and the Witnessed:
     "Perish the People of the Ditch!
     "The fire abounding in fuel,
     "Above which they sat
     "As they were themselves witnesses to what they did to the faithful.
     "They were vindictive towards them only because they had faith in Allah, the All-Mighty and the All-Laudable.”
     This refers to Dhu Nawas, the last of the Himyarite kings of Yemen who adopted what he deemed to be Jewish religion and imposed it on the people – although conversion is illegal in Judaism. At that time the people of Najran in northern Yemen (presently under Saudi occupation) were monotheist followers of Prophet Jesus (peace upon him), and when Dhu Nawas ordered them to adopt his creed they refused saying they will never abandon belief in the teachings of the Virgin-born Messiah.
     Angered, Dhu Nawas ordered the digging of a large trench, filled it with firewood and threw all the followers of Prophet Jesus (peace upon him) into it, including men, women, and children. He beheaded the rest, and as confirmed by historians the number of those who perished in the Holocaust was 20,000.
     This has been confirmed by many non-Muslim historians, Christian monks, and is mentioned in Syriac and Abyssinian sources of the time, citing eyewitness accounts detailing the whole Holocaust. One of the oldest accounts in this regard is the epistle of Simon the Syrian bishop of Beth Arsham who resided in Hira in what is now Iraq and has mentioned it in 524 AD, that is, 86 years before Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) proclaimed his universal mission of Islam as God’s Last and Greatest Messenger.
     Christian historians, while describing the horrific event and the crime of the progenitor of Zionists, have also pointed out that in that story, saying that one of the Christians of Najran, who managed to escape, reached the court of the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople and complained about Dhu Nawas and the crimes he had committed against the followers of Prophet Jesus (AS).
    The Roman emperor wrote a letter to King Negus of Abyssinia, who was a Christian and an ally of the Roman Empire, asking him to avenge the blood of the innocent martyrs. Bishop Simon states that King Negus was furious on hearing of the Holocaust and dispatched an army to Yemen which defeated the army of Dhu Nawas and took control of Yemen.
     In the November 1 Viewpoint I had cited the indisputable documents proving the myth of the Jewish Holocaust by the Germans as a big lie, and this is the reason any investigation of it is considered a crime in Europe today.
    Here, by quoting the Ayahs of the Holy Qur’an as well as the accounts of the Christian historians and monks, I have proved beyond an iota of doubt that the actual Holocaust (burning people alive) happened once in history, and it was perpetrated by the progenitors of the Zionists in Najran, Yemen.
     Hopefully, committed filmmakers and cinematographers would focus on presenting the real Holocaust as a historical occurrence with documented evidence, while disproving as a myth the Zionists lie of the supposed Holocaust in Europe during World War 2.
    May, Allah the Most Merciful bless the soul of our dear brother, the Late Farjahullah, who filmed the accounts of some of the Prophets and Imams. The deceased was eager to make a film on the life of Prophet Moses (peace upon him), and was also planning to film the historical story of the "As-haab al-Okhdoud”.
   Yesterday, we learned that the TV serial on Prophet Moses (peace upon him) is to be made in 50 episodes under the direction of our dear and capable brother, Ibrahim Hatamikia, and we hope that the story of the real Holocaust in Yemen before the advent of Islam will have a special place in it.