Muhammad and the Jews

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There are many writen account of Muhammad having had contact with many Jews from tribes living in and arround Medina. Mohammd have many battles with Jewish tribes such as the Banu Nadir and took concubines from them, including Safiyya bint Huyayy who became his wife and Rayhana bint Zayd who is said to have poisened him.

[edit] Muhammad and the Jewish tribes of Medina

In the course of Muhammad's proselytizing in Mecca, he viewed Christians and Jews (whom he referred to as "People of the Book") as natural allies, sharing the core principles of his teachings, and anticipated their acceptance and support. Muslims, like Jews, were at that time praying towards Jerusalem.^[1] Muhammad was very excited to move to Medina, where the Jewish community there had long worshiped the one God.^[2]

Many Medinans converted to the faith of the Meccan immigrants, but the Jewish tribes did not. Much to Muhammad's disappointment, they rejected his status as a prophet.^[1] Their opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons". ^[3] According to Watt, "Jews would normally be unwilling to admit that a non-Jew could be a prophet."^[4] Mark Cohen adds that Muhammad was appearing "centuries after the cessation of biblical prophecy" and "couched his message in a verbiage foreign to Judaism both in its format and rhetoric." ^[5] As Muhammad taught that his message was identical to those of previous prophets (such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus), the Jews were furthermore in the position to make some Muslims doubt about his prophethood; the Jews, according to Watt, could argue that "some passages in the Qur'an contradicted their ancient scriptures". ^[4] Mark Cohen states that "Muhammad could only have appeared to [Jews] as an impostor whose... message bore but a skewed resemblance to biblical and rabbinic Judaism." ^[5] On political reasons, Esposito writes that "the Jewish tribes, which had long lived in Medina and had political ties with the Quraysh ... cooperated with (Muhammad's) Meccan enemies."^[1] Watt states that many of the Jews had close links with Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy^[4] , "the potential prince of Medina" who "is said that but for the arrival of Muhammad, had not become" ^[6] the chief arbitrator of the community. The Jews may have hoped for greater influence if Ubayy had become a ruler. ^{[4] [4]} Watt writes that the Islamic response to these criticisms was: ^[4]

The Qur'an, met these intellectual criticisms by developing the conception of the religion of Abraham. While the knowledge of Abraham came from the Old Testament and material based on that, Abraham could be regarded as the ancestor of the Arabs through Ishmael. It was also an undeniable fact that he was not a Jew or Christian, since the Jews are either to be taken as the followers of Moses or as the descendants of Abraham's grandson, Jacob. At the same time Abraham had stood for the worship of God alone. The Qur'an therefore claimed that it was restoring the pure monotheism of Abraham which had been corrupted in various, clearly specified, ways by Jews and Christians.

Watt states that the charge of altering the scripture may mean no more than giving false interpretations to some passages, though in later Islam it was taken to mean that parts of the Bible are corrupt. Muslims were also arguing that there was nothing surprising in Muhammad's rejection by Jews, as that had had occurred to other prophets mentioned in Jewish scripture. Watt claims that the Quran "also went on to criticize Jewish exaggerations of their claim to be the chosen people"^[7] and argued against the supposed claim of the Jews of Medina "that they alone had a true knowledge of God" (Watt, Muslim-Christian Encounters, p.14). The Qur'an also criticized the Jews for believing that Ezra is the Son of God, a claim unattested either in Jewish or other extra-Qur'anic sources. (Kate Zebiri, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, The Qur'an and Polemics) David Waines opines that the Qur'an is mirroring contemporary popular beliefs many of which probably bordered on heresy. (David Waines, An Introduction to Islam, p.27) Michael Cook considers the charge of considering Ezra as the Son of God to be petty or obscure. (Michael Cook, Muhammad, p.34)

In the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad demanded the Jews' political loyalty in return for religious and cultural autonomy.^[1] However, after each major battle with the Medinans, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery (See 2:100). After Badr and Uhud, the Banu Qainuqa and Banu Nadir, respectively, were expelled "with their families and possessions" from Medina. After the Battle of the Trench in 627, the Jews of Banu Qurayza were accused of conspiring with the Meccans; Qurayza men were beheaded, women and children enslaved, and their properties confiscated.^[8] Watt writes that some of the Arab tribe of Aws wanted to honour their old alliance with Qurayza, are said to asked Muhammad to forgive the Qurayza for their sake as Muhammad had previously forgiven the Nadir for the sake of Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy. Muhammad met this feeling by suggesting that the fate of Qurayza should be decided by one of their Muslim allies and thereby avoiding any likelihood of blood-feud. A suggestion to which the Jews agreed. Muhammad appointed Sa'd ibn Mua'dh, a leading man among Aws, who passed execution sentence against Qurayza. Watt states that there is no need to suppose that Muhammad brought pressure on Sa'd ibn Mua'dh: Those of the Aws who wanted leniency for Qurayza seems to have been regarded Qurayza unfaithful only to Muhammad and not to Aws; the old Arab tradition required support of an ally, independent of the ally's conduct to other people. But Sa'd didn't want to allow tribal allegiance to come before the Islamic allegiance. ^[9]

The Banu Qurayza incident has generated much controversy in the centuries since, and is therefore worth examining more closely here. Watt writes that "during the siege of Medina, Muhammad became anxious about their conduct and sent some of the leading Muslims to talk to them [the Jewish tribes]; the result was disquieting.^[10] Though Qurayza does not appear to have committed any overt hostile act^[10] and been overtly correct in their behaviour^[11], they had almost certainly^[11][probably ^[10]] been involved in negotiations with the enemy ^[10] and would have attacked Muhammad in the rear had there been an opportunity. ^[12]" Marco Scholler believes the Banu Qurayza were "openly, probably actively," supporting Meccans and their allies.^[13] Finally, Welch states that Muslims "discovered, or perhaps became suspected" that the Jews were conspiring with the enemy.^[14]" A minority of academic scholars reject the incident holding that Ibn Ishaq, the first biographer of Muhammad, supposedly gathered many details of the incident from descendants of the Qurayza Jews themselves. These descendants allegedly embellished or manufactured details of the incident by borrowing from histories of Jewish persecutions during Roman times.^[15] Watt, however, finds this argument "not entirely convincing."^[16]

The motivation for Muhammad's actions was political rather than racial or theological.^[1] John Esposito writes that the massacre of traitors was common practice, "neither alien to Arab customs nor to that of the Hebrew prophets." Watt writes that in Arab eyes, the massacre "wasn't barbarous but a mark of strength, since it showed that the Muslims were not afraid of blood reprisals."^[17]

In Watt's view, the "Jews had opposed Muhammad to the utmost of their abilities and they were utterly crushed." Watt speculates that had Jews come to terms with Muhammad instead of opposing him, they had become partners in the Arab Empire and Islam a sect of Jewry. They could have secured very favourable terms with him, including religious autonomy. A great opportunity that was lost. ^[18]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Esposito, John. 1998. Islam: the Straight Path, extended edition. Oxford university press, p.17
2. ^ Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition, Lindsay Jones, Muhammad article, ISBN 0-02-865742-X
3. ^ Gerhard Endress, Islam, Columbia University Press, p.29
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} The Cambridge History of Islam, p.43-44
5. ^ ^{a b} Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, p.23, Princeton University Press
6. ^ The Cambridge History of Islam, p.40
7. ^ Watt, Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman, p.116
8. ^ Esposito, “Islam: the straight path”, extended edition, Oxford university press, p.10-11
9. ^ Watt, Muhammmad: The prophet and Statesman, p. 173-174
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Watt in Encyclopedia of Islam, Banu Qurayza Article
11. ^ ^{a b} The Cambridge History of Islam, p.49
12. ^ Watt, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman, Oxford University Press, p.171
13. ^ Qurayza article, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, vol. 4, p.334
14. ^ Welch in Encyclopedia of Islam, Muhammad Article
15. ^ W. N. Arafat, "Did Prophet Muhammad ordered 900 Jews killed?", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland(JRAS), pp. 100-107, 1976.
16. ^ Watt in Encyclopedia of Islam, Banu Qurayza Article
17. ^ The Cambridge History of Islam, p.49
18. ^ Watt, "Muhammad, the prophet and statesman", p.191