The Quran and the Jewish faith:
This doesn't quite fit in with my theme but as this issue largely stems from this chapter and chapter 9 I thought we would deal with it anyway. I will invite BB & Dauer to comment if they like.
Speaking of Jews the Quran says:
When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected." (6:177)
There is debate among the scholars as to whether this means they were literally turned into apes or their characters became as apes. Either way this verse is speaking of one group of Jews that broke the Sabbath, not all Jewish people for all time. This can be clearly shown in verse 2:65
And ye know of those of you who broke the Sabbath, how We said unto them: Be ye apes, despised and hated! (2:65)
Do you see how easy it is to take a single verse and misuse it to hate a group of people or suggest Islam teaches hate toward those people?
The first thing I would like you to ask yourself is why Islam allows a Muslim man to marry a Jewess or Christian woman if Allah wants us to hate and kill Jews and Christians? These ladies are permitted to retain and practice their faith but should accept that their children follow the faith of the father (ie Islam, which is why a Muslim woman cannot marry a man of another faith or her children could not be Muslim). The future of mankind is about having children, so why on earth would Muslims be allowed to marry 'the enemies of Islam' and to allow them to bear our children if we see non Muslims as 'evil' or something hateful? It just does not make sense does it - kill them wherever you find them, unless you want to marry them in which case you must allow them to go to church or synagogue??
Much is said about the Jewish faith in the Quran and some of it makes very unpleasant reading if you do not put context around the verses. I happen to love a man called Dr Jamal Badawi, who has spent his life putting context around these verses and hadiths and searching for peace and dialogue between faiths. One of his main complaints is the 'cut and paste' practice of Muslims and non Muslims alike, where people use part of a verse or a whole verse, ignoring the surrounding verses and historical context. I would urge anyone (Muslims and non Muslims) to take the time to watch these 7 films of Dr Badawi speaking about misunderstood Quranic verses. This is the first film but will link to the other 6, all are about 10 minutes long:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yMfWURGcvBI&mode=related&search=Islam Quran Jamal Badawi Bible
Also have a read of this short article by Dr Badawi on Muslim & non Muslim relations:
IslamOnline - Contemporary Section
So why does the Quran contain verses that teach hatred and violence toward the Jewish faith? Simply - it does not. The verses refer to certain groups of Jews in the Arabian Steppes at the time of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh), which I believe BB or Dauer would suggest were not exactly 'practicing Judaism'.
You will find on such websites as Islam watch such utter drivel as this:
This is the story of the tragic end of the Jews of Medina. A case of ethnic cleansing, betrayal and genocide carried out by the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). The prophet raided the 2000 year old Jewish communities of Medina, killed their men, confiscated their properties, enslaved their wives and children and banished the unwanted with no provocation on the part of he Jews. The holy Prophet's sole motive was greed for their wealth and lust for their women.
Why do I call this utter rubbish? Because the Muslim community in Mecca was being persecuted and killed by the Quraysh, so were invited by the pagan Arabs to move to Yathrib (called Medina by the Muslims). About 70 Muslims and their families escaped to Medina. However, it was some time before the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) arrived with one single companion, leaving Mecca on the night the pagans tried to assaninate the Prophet. ERMMM, so he and his single companion obviously charged across the desert and wiped out the Jewish community?! This sort of sensationalist rubbish builds hatred between people, as well a total lie about historical facts.
So what realy happened in Medina? Medina was an oasis which is why it had attracted people of different faiths and Jews had chosen to live together with pagan Arabs in order for the tribes to benefit from life at the oasis. Medina had 3 groups of Jewish merchants (Banu Quinuqah, Banu Nadhir and Banu Quraizah) living there and had shared their belief in a single G-d with the Arab pagan tribes. This is why they were more willing to accept the Muslims and their rejection of pagan gods than the Meccans had been. Things started out quite well after the arrival of Mohammad, the Muslims were instructed to pray toward Jerusalem, 3 times a day as the Jews did. Muslim men were allowed to marry Jewish women and follow their dietry requirements. Prophet Mohammad made a treaty with the Jews and pagans, which allowed all religious freedom.
Over time things began to sour between the Jews and Muslims. There are two reasons for this: 1) Religious differences, some Jews would go into the mosque and laugh while Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was speaking, they had more knowledge of Scripture so would pick holes in his stories of previous Prophets (needless to say this didn't go down well with the Prophet or his believers) and 2) Political. By this time Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had converted most of the Arab pagans and the Ummah (Muslims) had become very politically powerful in Medina. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had written what is believed to be the worlds first ever constitution which dealt with government, defence, 'foreign policy', social insurance and freedom of religion (which did include a tax for non Muslims to pay for their defence).
Not all the Jews of Medina treated the Prophet in this way, some had formed friendships with the Muslims and would teach them about the Torah and indeed about the Gospels. They even showed them how to argue against his critics by using the Scriptures. The most important thing the Prophet learned from the friendly Jews was the story of Ishmael, which meant the Arabs were also sons of Abraham.
In 624 the Prophet Mohammad declared the Muslims' independence from the Jews, he made Muslims pray toward Mecca and the Kabah (believed to be where Abraham prayed to Allah). This all goes against this idea that the Muslims marched on Medina, killed the men, raped the women and took the oasis by force.
The Banu Qainuqah tribe of Jews had been banished from Medina after breaking the treaty, they went to settle in Syria. After refusing to renew the treaty and attempting to assaninate the Prophet Mohammad, the Jewish Banu Nadhir tribe were also exiled from Medina for breaking the treaty.
The pagan tribes of Mecca marched on Medina to kill the Muslims 3 times (battle of Badr in 623 and battle of Uhud in 624). The third battle was called The battle of the Trench (Battle of Ahzab) in 626. Around 10,000 Meccan fighters and their allies marched on Medina, an overwhelming number. Now comes the traitorous actions of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza and the verses of the Quran that refer to these particular Jews. There was no way that the army of Medina could win a war against 10,000 Meccans so they decided on a defensive strategy. They dug a huge trench around the city of Medina. They created a siege situation, never before heard of in Arabia and totally confusing for the Meccans. The siege lasted a full month.
During this siege the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe tried to stay neutral. They had supplied equipment for digging the trench but neither assisted or planned to join any battle. Their tribe shared a border with Medina to the south but no defensive measures had been taken here because of the treaty. However, the leader of the exiled Banu Nadhir Jewish tribe was with the Meccans and came to the Qurayza tribe to seek their support against the Muslims. He persuaded them that if they attacked from the south the Muslims would be defeated and the Jews could again control Medina. The Muslims caught wind of this betrayal and in the 3rd week of the siege the Jewish tribe signalled their readiness to join the Meccans in fighting the Muslims. The Jewish tribe insisted that the Meccans give them hostages, so they could not turn aginst the Jews but the Meccans refused. To the horror of the Qurayza tribe the Meccans gave up the siege at the end of the fourth week and left the Jews to face the consequences of betraying the treaty and planning to wipe ou the Muslims.
The Jews of Quaryza were charged with treason and all the men beheaded and all the women enslaved (other than those that converted to Islam). Were the verses refer to 'not trusting Jews' and 'hunt them and kill them wherever you find them' these verses are talking about these treasonous tribes. You can see from this that the references to Jewish people is not in relation to religious beliefs or practices but simply to political matters (therefore Jewish heritage rather than faith). Is it indicative of Jewish behaviour - No. BB or Dauer could shed more light about the practices of these Jewish tribes at that time in Arabia but it is my belief they had gone astray from their faith. This is also where we have many verses about not taking Jews or Christians as 'friends' (which can translate into leaders or teachers in faith).
To conclude, did Muslims and Jewish people throughout time go around hugging each other? No, treaties were made between tribes, the stronger being paid a tax to defend the weaker. These are political issues and were quite a new concept at the time. If you look at the constitution of Medina you can see that the Jews are also called an Ummah (a group of believers, alongside Muslims).
Bernard Lewis (an author recommended to me by BB) states that this idea of 'awful dhimmitude' of the Jews is a myth but so is the 'golden era' of peaceful co-existence and respect. The truth is in the middle somewhere, Jews and Muslims found ways to co-exist relatively peacefully, while accepting their theological differences. For anyone to take those verses of the Quran, be they Muslim or non Muslim and say 'look the Muslims must hate the Jews' has either not bothered to read about the context or is just looking for a reason to spread hatred.
