Muslims & Jews: Different Creeds?
JMD Morgan
There is a lot of controversy between the Islamic society and the Judaic
society. Why? Is there some kind of doctrinal battle? Everyone keeps
citing the verse 2:96, but it is out of context. What is the context
surrounding the statement made there, and didn't Muhammad treat the Jews
like brothers? Muhammad believed that we were all children of God, and
that this was more important than nationality or tribal heredity. So why
is it that so many Muslims have such a problem with the Israelites, and
why do so many Jews seem to hate the Muslims? Will there be peace
between Muslims, Jews, and Christians? Will Jews go to hell like pagans
and other unbelievers?
Salam, Conner.
Thank you very much for your question.
From the point of view of Islam, Jews deserve special consideration and
affection as members of Ahl Al-Kitab, that is, people who received
scriptures from God. Both religions emphasize faith in the One and Only
Creator and Sustainer of the universe. And both religions teach the need
for establishing the Law of God on earth, so that there will be peace
and harmony flourishing everywhere.
As we have a Shariah (Law) to live by, the Jews too have the Law,
comparable to ours. The Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) is our prophet
too. And all the other prophets mentioned in the Jewish scripture are
our prophets too.
Particularly we consider Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) as our
Patriarch too. The Quran calls him an "ummah" or a nation by himself. To
Muslims, he is an eternal model, who received a special blessing of God.
And you may know there is no Quranic story that is mentioned so many
times, with so much of emphasis as Moses' story. The places the Jews
hold holy are holy for Muslims too.
To Muslims, the first and the foremost article of faith is the belief in
the One and Only God, and this belief is called, tawheed (monotheism)
which emphasizes not only the Oneness of God, but also the oneness of
the universe and the oneness of humanity, or the brotherhood of man.
The Oneness of God is basic to Judaism too. But the Jews also hold the
view that they are the "chosen people" of God, and so they are superior
to all other human beings. From this angle, they do not approve of the
brotherhood of man.
The key issue of Palestine is closely related to this idea of the
Chosen-ness of the Children of Israel. In fact the Torah speaks of God's
gift of Palestine to the Children of Abraham.
But the Jews believe that since they are the "chosen people" of God, the
other children of Abraham have no right to the land. Particularly, they
argue that the children of the firstborn of Abraham have no right to
this land, since their mother happened to be a slave.
That is to say, Judaism as it is practiced now insists on the birth of a
person to determine his identity as a Jew, as is evident from Jewish
writings which explain who a Jew is:
It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you
believe or what you do. A person born to non-Jewish parents who believes
everything that Jews believe and observes every law and custom of
Judaism is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal
reformists of Judaism. And a person born to a Jewish mother who is an
atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in
the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox. In this sense, Judaism is more like a
nationality than like other religions, and being Jewish is like a
citizenship. (Who Is A Jew?, last accessed April 16, 2008)
The Jewishness of a person, according to this view, is determined by
birth and not by belief and practice. For this reason, a Jew is claimed
to be a very special person in the world; and this so-called special
nationality of the Jews based on birth amounts to racism.
In fact, Islam acknowledges the idea of the chosen-ness of the Children
of Israel, but in a different sense. Allah chose the Children of Israel
to be the carriers of His Message, by appointing a large number of His
prophets from among them.
But as a people, the Children of Israel were not grateful to God for His
special blessings � blessings like their miraculous rescue from the
tyranny of the Pharaoh.
They continued committing transgressions and devising ingenious ways of
circumventing God's commands. This was mainly because of their belief
that as the Chosen People they had an exclusive right to get God's
reward despite their excesses.
They had been taking undue advantage of the special blessings they had
received. Indeed they were squandering the grace of God. They
misinterpreted the grace of God as their own exclusive right denied to
other humans. But God is Just and Merciful; He does not prefer one race
of people over others based on birth. He looks into the beliefs and
actions of people. And He does not leave in the lurch any of His sincere
devotees, irrespective of the tribal or social status they possess in
this world.
In fact, it is the exclusive claim of the Jews that is referred to in
verse 2:96 of the Quran. To understand its full meaning, we should read
the previous verses too:
*{Say (to the Children of Israel): "If an afterlife with God is to be
for you alone, to the exclusion of all other people, then you should
long for death-if what you say is true.
But never will they long for it, because [they are aware] of what their
hands have sent ahead in this world: and God has full knowledge of
evildoers.
And you wilt most certainly find that they cling to life more eagerly
than any other people, even more than those who are bent on ascribing
divinity to other beings beside God: every one of them would love to
live a thousand years, although the grant of long life could not save
him from suffering [in the Hereafter]: for God sees all that they do.}*
(Al-Baqarah 2:94-96)
Because of the continued defiance of God's commandments by the Children
of Israel, God dispersed them throughout the earth. But the Quran
teaches that Allah is Merciful and He turns in kindness to those of His
servants who repent and return to the good path:
*{Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish
(scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in
Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward
with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.}*
(Al-Baqarah 2:62)
This verse underscores the benevolence and compassion of the
All-Merciful God. Allah's mercy is open to all His servants, and all
forms of racism and tribalism are rejected:
*{O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female,
and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not
that you may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the
sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has
full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).}* (Al-Hujurat
49:13)
The foregoing means the following:
1. Muslims hold the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) as their
own brothers; and they honor Moses and Jesus as their own prophets. This
is in accordance with the teachings of the Quran and the example of the
Prophet.
2. The Quranic passages (as well as those in the Hadith) that criticize
the People of the Book do not apply to all Jews and Christians. They
apply only to the transgressors among them. The same indictment applies
to the Muslims as well, when they commit excesses; this is evident to
any reader of the Quran.
3. The Quranic verses quoted above (2:62 and 49:13) clearly show that
God's judgment of humans will be perfectly just, irrespective of factors
like race, nationality and such other externalities. And that is why we
can say that Islam is universal and for all time.
4. Also I would like to underscore a major aspect of Muslims as a
community. Generally, they (i.e. the pious ones compared to the pious
ones in other religions) are careful to spend a great deal of their
waking time in prayers, fasts and other forms of worship.
They attach more value to the other world, and comparatively much less
importance to the matters of this world than others. One of the positive
things about Muslims is their fear of Divine punishment in the other
world. This, along with the hope of rewards from Allah, keeps them safe
from many of the evil temptations of this world.
Will There Be Peace?
Unfortunately, in spite of it all, instead of developing mutual love and
respect between Muslims and Jews as a result of all these common
grounds, we find mutual animosity and hatred. The reasons must be
obvious to any one who studies the formation of Israel and the
systematic expulsion of the Palestinians from the land of their birth.
Even a cursory comparison between the Israelis and the Palestinians �
how they live, what rights they enjoy, and so on, should enable an
objective observer to find out the causes of the conflict.
You have asked, "Will there be peace between Muslims, Jews, and Christians?"
I am an optimist and therefore my answer is: Yes, there will be peace
between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, though I am not sure how it
becomes a reality.
As for your question, "Will Jews go to hell like pagans and other
unbelievers?", my answer is: It depends on the Jews themselves, just as
it depends on the Muslims too, whether they go to Hell or to Heaven in
the end.
Here is a Quranic verse that means more or less the same as 2:62:
"Those who believe (in the Quran), those who follow the Jewish
(scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians, any who believe in
Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no
fear, nor shall they grieve.." (Al-Ma'idah 5:69)
I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.
Salam.
yansimon52
> how they live, what rights they enjoy, and so on, should enable an
> objective observer to find out the causes of the conflict.
>
> You have asked, "Will there be peace between Muslims, Jews, and Christians?"
>
> I am an optimist and therefore my answer is: Yes, there will be peace
> between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, though I am not sure how it
> becomes a reality.
>
> As for your question, "Will Jews go to hell like pagans and other
> unbelievers?", my answer is: It depends on the Jews themselves, just as
> it depends on the Muslims too, whether they go to Hell or to Heaven in
> the end.
>
> Here is a Quranic verse that means more or less the same as 2:62:
>
> "Those who believe (in the Quran), those who follow the Jewish
> (scriptures), and the Sabians and the Christians, any who believe in
> Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no
> fear, nor shall they grieve.." (Al-Ma'idah 5:69)
>
> I hope this answers your question. Please keep in touch.
>
> Salam.
>
If those medicine-man/voodoo practitioners/taoist medium/aborigines/
korean sharma ppl were born during the BC era.........we would be
seeing more kind of Jesus or Muhamad in our present days...
Nighthawk
about religion and race and creed and colour and live together as one.
We should are pay respect to John Lennon and his gurus.
"JMD Morgan" <John...@email.non> wrote in message
news:n9qdnRwVdZy7FZHX...@giganews.com...
> special blessings � blessings like their miraculous rescue from the
> Even a cursory comparison between the Israelis and the Palestinians �
Kayu Manis
between Islam, Jews and Christian?
If you ask me I will give you a straight answer, and that is that I hate
what Muhammad did twisting stories in the Bible. For instance, I was shocked
when a Muslim reader told me that according to the Qur'an it was Ishmael who
was to be sacrified by Abraham, and not Isaac. Look, the story about
Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael were already written thousand of years before
Muhammad was born, and lo and behold when Muhammad came he twisted the whole
story backward, not only about Isaac and Ishmael, but also about the
creation of the earth, etc, etc, etc. Why does Muhammad have to piss off the
Christians and the Jews by messing with the Bible? Why does Muhammad have to
fuck around with our Bible and Torah? If he wants to mess up or twist his
Al-Qur'an, we DON'T care! Just stay away from our Bible.
Jews and Christian live peacefully not only with each other, but we also
live peacefully wth the Hindus, Budshist, Shintos, every religion in the
world. Why? Because we don't mess around with each other's holy book. Now,
if Muhammad did not mess around with our Bible, I have no reason to post
anything here about Islam. I do that because I am not happy, and to show
that Islam is FAR from good, never mind about being better than the pagan
worshipper.
Many Muslims think that they are superior spiritually than non-Muslims. Why?
You know why John and I don't need to explain to you. Attitudes and demeanor
like this results in friction between people of faith.
Look, why do you guys hate the Ahmadiyah people so much? Because you believe
that they messed up your Qur'an, right? Now how do you think we feel seeing
Muhammad messing up with our Bible, telling people that God has no son, for
instance? That's not even his business, does he know that? And twisting
stories in our Bible? Don't do that if you guys want to live peacefully with
the Christians and Jews, understand?
"JMD Morgan" <John...@email.non> wrote in message
news:n9qdnRwVdZy7FZHX...@giganews.com...
> special blessings � blessings like their miraculous rescue from the
> Even a cursory comparison between the Israelis and the Palestinians �
�Do�g�T
news:guj68l$jfu$1...@news.motzarella.org...
The muslimes don't want to live peaceably with anyone not muslime (i.e.
kafir). Why?
Because, mad Mo and allah made it so:
(Quran 8:12): Remember Thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I
am with you: give firmness to the believers, I will instill terror into the
hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye above their necks and smite all their
finger tips of them."
(Quran 5:49-51) O YOU WHO BELIEVE! DO NOT TAKE THE JEWS AND THE CHRISTIANS
FOR FRIENDS; THEY ARE FRIENDS OF EACH OTHER; AND WHOEVER AMONGST YOU TAKES
THEM FOR A FRIEND, THEN SURELY HE IS ONE OF THEM; SURELY ALLAH DOES NOT
GUIDE THE UNJUST PEOPLE.
[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor
do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the
religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay
the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of
subjugation.
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say:
The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they
imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them;
how they are turned away!
[2.191] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence
they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not
fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if
they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the
unbelievers.
Kayu Manis
common expression to show utmost surprise and shock...Are you saying that
John Morgan is lying when he wrote in one of his postings that king Muhammad
love Jews?
So this makes three liars..."Angel" Gabriel (Jibril) lied when it said that
Ishmael was offered as sacrifice by Abraham instead of Isaac. Mohammad lied
when he said that he loves the Jews, according to John Morgan. And John
Morgan lied when he said that Muhammad loves the Jews when really he hated
the Jews (Qur'an 5:49-51)
Bujuuur busyeeet.....and billions are still following THE king of Liars?
"�Do�g�T" <na...@muerto.com> wrote in message
news:OJiPl.16642$pr6....@flpi149.ffdc.sbc.com...
The Cynic
> controversy between Islam, Jews and Christian?
> If you ask me I will give you a straight answer, and that is that I hate
> what Muhammad did twisting stories in the Bible.
What is there to twist in fables and myths? Aren't they all fictitious?
(Rest of rubbish deleted)