User:Yahel Guhan/Islam and Judaism
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[edit] Islamic view on Jews
[edit] Qur'an
There are forty-three specific mentions of the term "Banū Isrāʾīl" (meaning the Children of Israel) in the Qur'an. [1] The Arabic term "yahud", denoting Jews, and its variants ("hud", "yahudi") occur eleven times in the Qur'an. The verbal form (hāda, meaning “to be a Jew/Jewish.”) occurs ten times. [2]
The Qur'an references Jews in a number of places; with varying views. According to Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry, these references are "mostly negative",[3] but according to Tahir Abbas the general references to Jews are favorable, only those addressed to a particular group of Jews contain harsh criticisms.[4] According to Bernard Lewis, many of these passages reflect the struggles Muhammad had with the Jews of Medina, depicting negative pictures of the Jews. Other passages, however, speak more respectfully of them as the possessors of an earlier divine revelation and accord them with a degree of tolerance.[5] According to Laqueur, conflicting statements about Jews in the Quran have defined Muslim attitudes towards Jews to this day, especially during periods of rising Islamic fundamentalism.[6]
[edit] Attacks on Jews
The Qur'an contains attacks on Jews[7][8][9] for their refusal to recognize Muhammad as a prophet of God.[7] "The Quran is engaged mainly in dealing with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament."[10] The Muslim holy text defined the Arab and Muslim attitude towards Jews to this day, especially in the periods when Islamic fundamentalism was on the rise.[11]
The words "humility" and "humiliation" are used frequently in the Qur'an and later Muslim literature to describe the condition to which Jews must be reduced as a just punishment for their past rebelliousness, the punishment that shows itself in the defeat they suffered at the hands of Christians and Muslims.
The standard Quranic reference to Jews is the verse [Qur'an 2:61].[12] It says:
And abasement and poverty were pitched upon them, and they were laden with the burden of God's anger; that, because they had disbelieved the signs of God and slain the Prophets unrightfully; that, because they disobeyed, and were transgressors.[13]
Cowardice, greed, and chicanery are a few of the characteristics that the Qur'an ascribes to the Jews.[14] The Qur'an further associates Jews with interconfessional strife and rivalry (Qur'an [Qur'an 2:113]). It claims that Jews believe that they alone are beloved of God (Qur'an [Qur'an 5:18]), and that only they will achieve salvation ([Qur'an 2:111]).
The Qur'an gives credence to the Christian claim of Jews scheming against Jesus, " ... but God also schemed, and God is the best of schemers."(Qur'an [Qur'an 3:54]) In the Muslim view, the crucifixion of Jesus was an illusion, and thus the Jewish plots against him ended in failure.[15] In numerous verses ([Qur'an 3:63]; [Qur'an 3:71]; [Qur'an 4:46]; [Qur'an 4:160-161]; [Qur'an 5:41-44], [Qur'an 5:63-64], [Qur'an 5:82]; [Qur'an 6:92])[16] the Qur'an accuses Jews of obscuring and perverting the Scripture.[17]
[edit] Jews transformed into apes and pigs
The Qur'an refers to some Jews being punished by God and transformed into apes or pigs, in Suras [Qur'an 5:60],[Qur'an 2:65], and [Qur'an 7:166]: [18]
And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected. Qur'an [Qur'an 2:65]
Say: "Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, (as judged) by the treatment it received from Allah? Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshiped evil;- these are (many times) worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path! Qur'an [Qur'an 5:60]
When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected. Qur'an [Qur'an 7:166]
Khaleel Mohammed suggests that these verses are a polemic, addressed to those who "who were making fun of Islamic beliefs". He further suggests that the source of these stories of transformation may be midrashic works (including the Talmud) and Jewish oral tradition. Further he argues that the verse does not stereotype all Jews but only those who violated Sabbath.[19]
According to Lewis, the language of abuse was often quite strong among Muslims and the conventional epithets for Jews are apes, and for Christians are pigs.[20] Johannes J. G. Jansen states that many modern preachers have applied this term to the Jews of twentieth century.[21]
[edit] Interpretations of the attacks on Jews
Poliakov and Uri Rubin agree that the Qur'an differentiates between "good and bad" Jews.[22] Rubin further states that the attacks deal mainly "with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament."[23]
Tahir Abbas states that the Qur'an speaks favourably of Jews. It also criticizes them for not being grateful of God's blessing on them. The harsh criticisms, Tahir says, were only addressed towards a particular group of Jews, as it is clear from the context of the Qur'anic verses, but the translations usually confuse this by using the general term "Jews". Abbas says that to judge Jews based on the deeds of some of their ancestors is an anti-Qur'anic idea. [4]
Khaleel Mohammad suggests that the attacks on Jews should be considered in the context of the Quran. He says many of the attacks are due to the Quran's assumption that Jews are not observing Judaism. He claims that this is due to the fact that Judaism was not a monolithic construct during the time of Muhammad. Thus the Quran reflects arguments between different Jewish groups, says Mohammed. He argues that the attacks on Jews are not at all directed at all Jews but only towards those who committed certain transgressions.
Mohammed further claims that criticism of the Jews is not unique to the Quran. The Hebrew Bible and Jewish oral tradition, he says, make similar arguments, blaming the suffering of the Jews because they "transgressed against the covenant".[24]
[edit] Tolerance for Jews
Khaleel Mohammed[25] suggests that the Quran respects Judaism. He claims that the Quran refers to the Torah as a book of light, ([Qur'an 5:44]) and tells the Jews that they are entitled to the kingdom of heaven. ([Qur'an 2:47], [Qur'an 2:62], [Qur'an 3:33], [Qur'an 5:20])
Ali S. Asani suggests that the Quran endorses the establishment of religiously and culturally plural societies and this endorsement has affected the treatment of religious minorities in Muslim lands throughout history. He cites the endorsement of pluralism to explain why violent forms of anti-Semitism generated in medieval and modern Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, never occurred in regions under Muslim rule.[26]
Lacqueur also agrees, stating that some verses of the Quran, notably [Qur'an 2:256], preach tolerance towards members of the Jewish faith. [27]
[edit] Muhammad and hadith
- See also Muhammad and the Jews of Medina
During Muhammad's life, Jews lived in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in and around Medina. According to Koppel Pinson and Samuel Rosenblatt, although they initially swore friendship and peace with Muhammad, they later taunted and mocked him, charging him with ignorance.[28][29] After each major battle, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery and attacked it. Two Jewish tribes were expelled and the last one was wiped out. [30][27] Pinson and Rosenblatt state that these incidents were not part of policies directed exclusively against Jews, and that Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen than foreigner monotheists.[28] According to Lewis, since the clash of Judaism and Islam was resolved and ended during Muhammad's lifetime with Muhammad's victory, no Muslim equivalent of the still unresolved theological dispute between Church and Israel fueled antisemitism.[31] Schweitzer and Perry give significance to the fact that the death of Muhammad was not caused by Jews.[3]
[edit] Hadith
The hadith (recordings of deeds and sayings attributed to Muhammad) use both the terms Banu Israil and Yahud in relation to Jews, the latter term becoming ever more frequent and appearing mostly in negative context. According to Norman Stillman:
Jews in Medina are singled out as “men whose malice and enmity was aimed at the Apostle of God”. The Yahūd in this literature appear not only as malicious, but also deceitful, cowardly and totally lacking resolve. However, they have none of the demonic qualities attributed to them in mediaeval Christian literature, neither is there anything comparable to the overwhelming preoccupation with Jews and Judaism (except perhaps in the narratives on Muhammad’s encounters with Medinan Jewry) in Muslim traditional literature. Except for a few notable exceptions... the Jews in the Sira and the Maghazi are even heroic villains. Their ignominy stands in marked contrast to Muslim heroism, and in general, conforms to the Qura'nic image of “wretchedness and baseness stamped upon them”[32]
Muhammad said, "He who wrongs a Jew or Christian will have myself as his indicter on the Day of Judgment."[28]
Another hadith says: "A Jew will not be found alone with a Muslim without plotting to kill him."[33] According to another hadith, Muhammad said: "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.'" [34]. This hadith has been quoted countless times, and it has become a part of the charter of Hamas.[35]
According to Schweitzer and Perry, the hadith are "even more scathing (than the Qur'an) in attacking the Jews":
They are debased, cursed, anathematized forever by God and so can never repent and be forgiven; they are cheats and traitors; defiant and stubborn; they killed the prophets; they are liars who falsify scripture and take bribes; as infidels they are ritually unclean, a foul odor emanating from them - such is the image of the Jew in classical Islam, degraded and malevolent.[3]
[edit] The Qur'an on dhimmis
There are many statements in the Qur'an that promote tolerance towards People of The Book. For example:
- And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him do we submit. [Qur'an 29:46]
There are also many statements that promote an adversarial relationship. For example:
- Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor hold forbidden that which hath been forbidden by God and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. [Qur'an 9:29]
- O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for rulers/patrons ; they are protectors of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a ruler/patron, then surely he is one of them; surely God does not guide the unjust people. [Qur'an 5:51]
- And ye know of those of you who broke the Sabbath, how We said unto them: Be ye apes, despised and hated! [Qur'an 2:65]
In other places the Qur'an says:
- Not all of them are alike; a party of the people of the Scripture stand for the right, they recite the Verses of God during the hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. They believe in God and the Last Day; they enjoin Al-Ma'rûf and forbid Al-Munkar ; and they hasten in (all) good works; and they are among the righteous. And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for God knows well those who are Al-Muttaqûn .(3:113-115)
- And there are, certainly, among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), those who believe in God and in that which has been revealed to you, and in that which has been revealed to them, humbling themselves before God. They do not sell the Verses of God for a little price, for them is a reward with their Lord. Surely, God is Swift in account. '(3:199)'
- Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve . [Qur'an 2:62]
- Say (O Muhammad ): "O people of the Scripture : Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but God, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides God. [Qur'an 3:64]
Throughout Islamic history, Muslims have used these ayah (verses) to justify a variety of positions towards non-Muslims. In some places and times, Muslims showed a great deal of tolerance towards non-Muslims; in other places and times non-Muslims were treated as enemies and persecuted. Islamic law demands that Muslims treat Jews and Christians as dhimmis, protected citizens who have a number of rights.
One ayah in the Qur'an can even be interpreted to encourage a neutral position toward non-Muslims. This ayah says, "Those who follow the Jewish and the Sabi'een, Christians, Magians and Polythesists — Allah will judge them On the Day of Judgement:" (22:17). The acceptance of Zoroastrians as dhimmis is partly because of this ayah, as the Magians were Zurvanist Zoroastrians, and this verse, specifically mentions them alongside other People of the Book, and lists them ahead of polytheists.
