We already know that the Qur'an has some negative verses about Jews describing most of them as disobedient to god and his teachings, changing scriptures and conspiring against Islam. It is not unexpected that Muslims show animosity to the Jews due to what the they are taught. Islamic teachings show two faces - on the one hand they respect Jews (and Christians) as "People of the Book" and on the other hand they detest them as "Murderers of the Prophets". As I go through the Islamic literature corpus I will be posting some of the things that they say about the Jews in a series of blog posts.
We start off with a story pre-dating Muhammed, from the biography of Abdul Muttalib as related in the book Hayat Al-Qulub of Allamah Majlisi1, which although is quite modern (~1650AD) is written by a highly respected and prolific Shia author of Islamic jurisprudence and hadith books. His book Hayat Al-Qulub collects stories, narrations and teachings from older trusted books and some of these stories can be found in Sunni Islamic history and hadith collections such as related by Ibn Kathir and Tabari's history books and the 6 recognised 'sahih books'.
Abdul Muttalib is the paternal grandfather of prophet Muhammed and was the official custodian of the Kaabah, the house of god. He was alive in the early part of Muhammed's life and looked after him between the ages of 6 and 8 after his mother died.
According to some narrations Abdul Muttalib was born with some white hair and was called Shaibatul Hamd (white hair of the praised) by his mother. Like his grandson Muhammed after him, he was born with only his mother to look after him. Hayat Al-Qulub tells us:
"The newborn began to walk after only two months. When the Jews saw him, their hearts overflowed with enmity and jealousy because they knew that the Noor displayed by him was the Noor of the Prophet of the last era who was to slay those Jews and to nullify their religions."The 'noor' or light they are speaking of is the divine light of Allah which, if you read the book from the beginning, was the light of the spirit of Muhammed and was entered into the loins of Adam and passed on from one person to the other through his ancestors. It's sign is a physical effulgence emitting from the forehead or kidney region (this is to do with the Muslim belief in a Quranic scientific error from verse 86.7 that sperm is formed in or near the kidneys!) of the carrier just before it enters the womb the woman to bear the next holy child. I recommend reading the amusing narration about the angels standing behind Adam in the first chapter of Hayat Al-Qulub.
The quote above claims a miracle of the baby walking at 2 months. This is nonsense, because the baby at that age can barely hold the weight of its own head up let alone walk! If you have ever held a baby that young you will know this. The youngest any baby has been recorded walking is at 6 months when their body has grown and they have stronger muscles and better control of their bodies. I won't elaborate further here on any other crazy things the book says because there is a lot!
The quote shows the enmity of Muslim writers to Jews, claiming that they were hateful and jealous of a little baby because he carried the holy spirit of Muhammed, as if they knew anything about his personage! More than that, it claims the Jews had an ancient belief that a prophet was coming and they must assassinate him before he comes to destroy them. This, of course is nonsense and likely offensive for Jews to hear. As someone who has read the Old Testament and has read up on Jewish beliefs, the thought of some internal conspiracy of the Jews to murder their own prophets is ludicrous. How could they call themselves believers in god, Abraham, Noah and Moses and the other prophets if they were on a mission to kill them? God had already sent them many prophets to guide them, then why would god suddenly warn them he was sending a prophet to destroy them? What kind of god spends all that time and effort on a people for centuries then decides to destroy them by sending a prophet? Also, if Jews were secretly enemies of god and his prophets then why would they hold on to the religion of Judaism, observed the rules and teachings and revere the prophets for thousands of years if they actually hated god and his prophets? And considering Muslims believe god knows everything, then he would have foreseen the Jews becoming his enemies and not bothered with them at all from the very beginning... So you see, such accusations that are prominent in Islamic literature just don't make any sense!
Shaibatul Hamd spent his early years in Medina but was smuggled away to Makkah at the age of 7. The story tells us that while travelling to Makkah they were followed by a tribe of Jews from Medina out to kill the child!
"So when they (Jews) heard that he (Shaibah) was going to Mecca [Makkah], they called out to other Jews saying that the boy was going alone with his uncle to Mecca. Let us follow him and slay him and be safe from his evil. Seventy Jews armed themselves and followed the camel of Muttalib who heard the noise of their horses at night. So he said: “My son, the feared ones have arrived.” Shaibah said: “Change the route.” Muttalib said: “My son, the radiance on your forehead will show us to them wherever we go.” Shaibah said: “Hide my face, perhaps the light will stop shining.” Muttalib put a threefold cloth on his head but the brightness did not decrease...
[When the Jews caught up with them the approached Shaibah and his uncle Muttalib saying]: "O righteous gentlemen! We have not come here to harm you.” We only request you to send Shaibah to his mother, because he is a light, bliss and a sign of luck for our city.” Shaibah said: “We are well aware of your conspiracies and intrigues. Now as the Might of Allah has overpowered you, you are talking in this way.” Upon this the Jews returned disappointed and disgraced. After walking a little distance, Daahiyaa’s son Latiya said: “Perhaps you don’t know that they are magicians, who have made us spellbound. Let us go back on foot and kill them.”
"Then they drew out their swords and rushed to Muttalib and Shaibah (a.s.). Seeing it Muttalib said: “Now your intention has become quite clear and a Jihad against you has become obligatory.” Saying this, he took up his bow and shot some youths with arrows. Then all of them attacked jointly. Muttalib too, uttering the name of Allah, started fighting with them fiercely.
"Shaibah was praying tearfully to Allah. Suddenly a dust storm arose from far off and along with it the noise of running horses and dangling arms. When they came close, Muttalib saw that Salma has arrived along with her father and four thousand warriors of Aws and Khazraj to take back Shaibah. When Salma saw the Jews fighting with Muttalib, she cried out: “Woe upon you! What is this meanness?” Latiya began to run on hearing this. Salma said: “O enemy of Allah, where are you going?” She then cut him into two with one blow of the sword. The warriors of Aws and Khazraj then attacked the Jews and finished them all."
Shaibatul Hamd initially lived a quiet life under the guise of a slave or servant boy of his uncle Muttalib, hence the moniker Abdul Muttalib (slave of Muttalib). This was to keep the boy safe from any malevolent Jews until he was old enough to fend for himself. The young Abdul Muttalib lived in the household of his uncle and was likely adopted as his son and was therefore accorded the same rights as a biological son, even though his true identity was kept secret. In later life he became head of the Bani Hashim tribe of Makkah and custodian of the holy Kaabah and its sacred well, Zamzam.
As a young Muslim child I was taught that one of the proofs of Muhammed's prophethood was that his coming was promised in many prophecies revealed to the Jews and the Christians. We were taught the Jews had moved from Jerusalem to go live in Medina in haste to await the coming of the next or final prophet of god, to be blessed and guided by him. But when he came they rejected him. Why these prophecies were never written down and we have no proof of them outside of Islamic claims is something to wonder about. The story we read above claims the Jews moved away from their holy land with a malicious intent and were contending with god almighty to murder his future prophet for the purpose of self-preservation of the Jewish peoples! This is a clear contradiction between what I was taught and what is written in Muslim books. When, as an adult, I go through Muslim literature I recognise the contradictions between the rosy, friendly and pleasant Islam I was taught as a youngster and the dark, violent and offensive Islam that I read in the original books.
The things we were taught as youngsters and which we read in the Qur'an and hear from preachers and elders leaves many Muslims thoroughly confused about the Jews - on the one hand they claim that the Jews knew that there was a prophet of Jehova coming and were seeking to meet him and be guided, and then again they say the Jews were the enemies of Jehova and killers of prophets. The positive belief is that the Jews are a respectable people who believe in god, were sent the holy Torah and follow the law of god and the prophets, and that is why we call them "people of the book". The negative belief is that the Jews, although they believe in god and his prophesies, actually hate him and his prophets, have an insatiable desire to murder them for some strange reason and actually think they can change god's plans without retribution. How anyone can believe in both these accounts simultaneously is beyond my comprehension. It is contradictory, yet it is what Muslims are taught.
I think, considering the amount of negative and offensive things present in the Qur'an and Islamic literature, Islam does in fact have a serious problem with bigotry and hatred of Jews. It did not need the Palestine-Israel conflict to exacerbate it because the bigotry and hatred existed before the formation of the modern Jewish state. The claims that the Jews killed the prophets of god, that they were arrogant, that they were always disobedient to god and mocked his prophets, that they worshipped other gods (like the golden calf and Uzair), that they altered the text of the Torah to hide the truth, that they were proud to have killed Jesus, that they didn't follow the laws of god, that they were scheming and enemies of Islam - doesn't all this promote animosity towards them?! And with a Quranic verse as strong as 5:82 it is not exactly subtle! I really find it strange that the Muslims expected the Jews to accept Islam when Muhammed came to them with a new religion unlike Judaism with new beliefs, doctrines and stories quite obviously built on top of a Jewish framework, and requested that they believe in it or else pay the jizyah tax and forever have no say in how they lived their lives; and if they refused to live under the humiliation of the Islamic state they would be considered renegades and be fought against and killed [Qur'an 9:29-30]. It is incredible to think how any Jew with any sense of dignity and a brain in their head would have accepted the message of Muhammed. The religious among them would have considered him a false prophet and out of reverence to Jehova and the Jewish religion would have rejected his religion and new scripture that claimed to be from Jehova but with a different style, different personality of god with a different name, different belief system, and most of all the Qur'an insulted the Jews and told outright lies about them! When the Jews read the Qur'an it would have surely lead to anger and rejection of the message of Islam, so one would be compelled to ask: was this really the best way that Allah could think of to guide the Jews to Islam?
1. Hayat Al-Qulub, Vol 2, Ch: Ancestry of the Holy Prophet (S) and circumstances of his Forefathers, by Allamah Muhammad Baqir Majlisi.
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