For decades, Hindu nationalism has been labelled fascist, yet history exposes the irony. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the first Indian politician to recognize Israel, while the Arab world idolized Hitler as a rockstar messiah—the heir of Prophet Muhammad, the reincarnation of Imam Ali, and even Al-Mahdi—believing that he was on a divine mission to exterminate the Jews.
In ‘Hitler: The Proclaimed Messiah of the Palestinian Cause’ (Ink), bestselling author and historian Aabhas Maldahiyar dismantles long-held assumptions about fascism and Hindu nationalism. Bold and meticulously researched, this groundbreaking work brings to light a suppressed chapter of history—the ideological alliance between Nazism and Islamism—that has been largely forgotten or ignored by mainstream discourse.
Based on declassified archives, Maldahiyar uncovers a shocking alliance between Nazi Germany and Islamist groups—challenging long-held beliefs and shedding light on a forgotten chapter of history.
Aabhas Maldahiyar, acclaimed for Babur: The Quest for Hindustan, once again redefines the contours of historical debate.
In this exposé, Aabhas Maldahiyar uncovers a trove of explosive material, including declassified documents from German, American, and British archives, revealing the Nazi–Islamist alliance that history tried to erase. From the Grand Mufti urging Hitler to export the Holocaust to the Middle East, to the Muslim Brotherhood treating Mein Kampf like a second Quran, this book shatters the myth that fascism and jihad were ever at odds.
Even Hitler fantasized about an Islamic Europe, admiring jihad as the perfect war machine, while Himmler cuddled up with a Quran as if it were a bedtime storybook.
Maldahiyar also decodes Islamofascism, Zionism, and a straightforward history of Israel, dispelling myths at every turn.
A fearless, darkly witty, and unfiltered account of history’s most dangerous love affair.
Aabhas Maldahiyar is an architect, urban designer, and historian. He is a founding member of the Foundation for Indian Historical and Cultural Research, which reshapes historical discourse through rigorous, source-driven scholarship.
His body of work includes, Babur: The Quest for Hindustan, Babur: The Chessboard King, and #Modi Again: An Ex-Communist’s Manifesto (2019).
His passion for history is tied to his architectural vision, viewing structures as living testaments to past civilizations. A skilled reader of Persian manuscripts, Aabhas offers a unique historical perspective, challenging conventional narratives.
In a detailed conversation with Sonakshi Datta of GoaChronicle, Aabhas delved deep into the unexplored and deliberately ignored alliance between Nazism and Islamism, answering a few questions posed to him.
‘Hitler: The Proclaimed Messiah of the Palestinian Cause
What aspects, according to you, make it crystal clear that fascism is distant from Hindu nationalism, and rather, there is a strong ideological alliance between real fascism and Islam?
Without peeling endless layers, let me rest on hard evidence—because ‘Pratyaksha ko pramāṇ kī āvaśyaktā nahī̃ hotī hai’ (emperical evidence needs no proof).
Veer Damodar Savarkar—the fountainhead of Hindu nationalism in modern times—was the first Indian politician to openly and wholeheartedly support the Jewish homeland. If Hindutva were ever aligned with Nazism (say Fascism), why would its torchbearer endorse the survival and flourishing of Jews, the very community Hitler sought to annihilate? The contradiction exposes the propaganda.
History too testifies: Hindus have never persecuted Jews. In fact, Jews acknowledge that Bharat gave them refuge without violence for millennia. Hindu–Jewish relations stand on respect, not bloodshed. To equate Hindutva with Nazism or Fascism is not just false—it is malicious distortion.
Now contrast this with Islamism. The central idea of Islam is total solution—which in practice means total control over human life. Fascism and Nazism too were totalitarian projects, regimenting civilian existence. Both shared an obsession with othering and annihilation.
Nazism targeted Jews on the basis of race; Islam divides the world into Momins and Kafirs—with contempt for polytheists and non-Muslims, often prescribing their submission or destruction. Hitler wanted Jews wiped out; Islamic eschatology declares Judgment Day cannot come without their annihilation. The parallel is chilling.
And this is not theoretical. We have historical proof of Nazi–Islamist collaboration in the Arab world—bound by a single, toxic common enemy: the Jews.
The close ties between Nazism and Islam have been ignored and forgotten for long now, what factors do you reckon played their part for this phenomenon to develop and become prolific? Till what extent do you believe this ignorance and lack of realization has been fanned intentionally by certain stakeholders in the global society?
The close ties between Nazism and Islam have been brushed aside, even buried, for decades. The question is—why? What forces ensured that one of history’s ugliest flings was reduced to a footnote rather than a headline?
First, let us state the fact plainly: the Nazi–Islamist alliance was real, dangerous, and consequential. It was not some passing convenience; it helped fertilize the soil for movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, and in its later avatars, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Hamas. Yet, this dark liaison rarely finds space in mainstream discourse.
Why? Because silence was convenient. After World War II, as oil became the bloodline of global geopolitics, the West chose comfort over confrontation. The Arab world was too important to antagonize, so its wartime flirtations with fascism were politely ignored.
Then came the Marxist and post-modern frameworks, which systematically recast Islam as the eternal ‘oppressed’. Critiquing its history or political theology became taboo, quickly labelled as Islamophobia. The result? A carefully curated ignorance. An ignorance not accidental, but manufactured.
India offers a parallel. The barbarism of Islamic invasions was sanitized, whitewashed, or erased in the name of secular harmony. What happened in textbooks here happened in international narratives too: the aggressor was painted as victim, the critique silenced as bigotry.
Thus, the forgetting of the Nazi–Islamist nexus was not just a byproduct of negligence rather it was a deliberate project, fanned by geopolitics, ideology, and fear.
How would you describe and explain the alliance between Nazi Germany and Islamist groups? What long-held beliefs does this alliance counter?
The Nazi–Islamist alliance was not incidental; it was strategic, ideological, and deeply consequential. During World War II, Nazi Germany actively sought alliances with Islamist leaders and movements across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Shared Enemy – The Jews: The most obvious binding factor was the mutual hatred of Jews. For Hitler, Jews represented a racial enemy to be exterminated; for Islamist ideologues, particularly those shaped by Qur’anic eschatology and classical jurisprudence, Jews were not only ‘enemies of Islam’, but also obstacles to the fulfilment of apocalyptic prophecies. This convergence created a powerful ideological bridge.
Collaboration in Propaganda and Mobilization: Nazi Germany invested heavily in Arabic-language propaganda. Radio Berlin broadcasted anti-British, anti-Jewish, and pro-Islamic content, often quoting the Qur’an to appeal to Arab audiences. Pamphlets and speeches equated Hitler’s war with a broader jihad against colonial powers and Jews. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, became the most notorious symbol of this alliance—meeting Hitler personally, recruiting Muslim units for the SS (like the Handschar Division in the Balkans), and openly supporting the Final Solution.
Strategic Utility: For Nazis, Islamists were useful in destabilizing British and French colonies by invoking jihad. For Islamist leaders, Nazi Germany appeared as a powerful patron against colonial rulers and Jewish immigration to Palestine. This was less about opportunism and more about a genuine ideological synergy wrapped in political convenience.
The existence of this alliance shatters several comfortable myths: The ‘Victimhood-Only’ Narrative of Islam: Postcolonial discourse has long painted Islamic societies as perpetual victims of Western imperialism. The Nazi–Islamist alliance exposes the falsity of this one-dimensional narrative, showing how sections of Islamic leadership were not helpless victims but active collaborators in one of history’s greatest genocides.
The Myth of Islamic–Jewish Harmony: A popular claim—often repeated in academia and politics—is that Muslims and Jews lived in harmony until Israel was created in 1948. But the alliance with Nazi Germany, rooted in pre-existing anti-Jewish sentiment in Islamic texts and movements, proves hostility existed well before modern Zionism. The Nazi partnership amplified, not created, this hatred.
The Assumption of Hindutva–Fascism Parallels: Critics often equate Hindu nationalism with Fascism or Nazism. Yet history shows a starkly different reality: while Savarkar supported a homeland for Jews, Islamists allied with Hitler. This historical fact undermines lazy parallels that seek to demonize Hindutva while whitewashing Islamism.
The Notion of ‘Accidental Extremism’: Many argue Islamist radicalism is purely a reaction to Western actions (colonialism, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan). The Nazi–Islamist nexus predates all these modern triggers, proving that Islamism had an independent ideological hostility—one that found common cause with Nazism long before America invaded Iraq or Israel existed as a state.
What do you believe must have led to Hitler admiring ‘Jihad’ as the perfect war-machine, and fantasizing about an ‘Islamic Europe’? What role did the Quran play in shaping this ‘Jihad-loving’ ideology of Hitler and his associates like Himmler?
Hitler’s admiration for Islam—and specifically for jihad—was neither accidental nor superficial. In Table Talk (his private conversations recorded between 1941–44), he repeatedly contrasted Islam with Christianity. He mocked Christianity as weak, ‘meek’, and overly compassionate, but praised Islam as a religion of warriors, discipline, and conquest. He went so far as to fantasize that Europe would have been stronger, harder, and more victorious if it had embraced Islam instead of Christianity.
For Hitler, jihad represented the perfect war-machine: A theology that sanctified violence: Unlike the Christian idea of ‘turning the other cheek’, Islam openly mandated warfare against non-believers.
Absolute obedience: The idea of divine command made resistance unthinkable.
Glorification of death in battle: To die while fighting for faith guaranteed eternal paradise—a notion Hitler envied, since he wanted his soldiers to fight with the same fearlessness.
The Qur’an was central to this admiration. Its verses dividing the world into believers and kafirs, demanding the submission or annihilation of the latter, and promising heavenly rewards to martyrs, aligned seamlessly with Nazi ideals of racial struggle. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, studied these aspects deeply. He viewed Islam as a spiritual system that could ‘produce men ready to fight and sacrifice’ more effectively than Christianity.
One element that particularly intrigued Hitler was the Qur’anic depiction of paradise. Accounts from his inner circle suggest he admired the concept of hoors (heavenly virgins) and wine rivers awaiting martyrs. To him, this was a genius psychological device—an incentive structure that turned soldiers into willing instruments of war. Where Christianity spoke of vague, spiritual afterlife, Islam promised sensual, immediate, and material rewards.
He envied how this doctrine created an inexhaustible reservoir of fighters who saw death not as defeat but as the gateway to ecstasy. This, in Hitler’s eyes, was the ultimate mechanism to forge a fearless, obedient army.
What makes ‘Hitler: The Proclaimed Messiah of the Palestinian Cause’, a must-read, especially in the current times of political and cultural misinformation and disinformation spreading like wildfire, and wrongly influencing the global society’s psyche, especially that of the youth?
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israel — killing civilians, taking hostages, and reigniting one of the world’s most enduring and volatile conflicts. What followed was not just a war on the ground, but a war of narratives. In the global court of opinion, Israel’s right to self-defence was swiftly drowned out by slogans, selective outrage, and historical amnesia.
In such a climate, understanding how we got here is not optional — it is essential.
‘Hitler: The Proclaimed Messiah of the Palestinian Cause’ draws upon more than a thousand declassified German, American, and British archives to trace the deep roots of this conflict. It reveals how the ideological DNA of today’s Hamas is directly connected to the Nazi–Islamist alliance of the 20th century — an alliance built on hatred of the Jews and carried forward into modern jihadist movements.
This book shatters myths, counters propaganda, and exposes how history is being twisted to mislead, especially the youth. In an era of disinformation wildfire, it offers not just history but intellectual armour — essential for seeing through the lies that continue to shape the Israel–Palestine debate.
