Islamic–Jewish relations
Religious ties between Muslims and the Jewish people have existed since the founding of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century; Muhammad's views on Jews were shaped by his extensive contact with the Jewish tribes of Arabia during his lifetime. Islam shares similar values, guidelines, and principles with the Jewish religion, and also incorporates Jewish history as a part of its own. Muslims regard the Israelites, to whom Jews and Samaritans trace their ethnic ancestry, as an important religious concept; they are referenced around 43 times in the Quran, excluding individual prophets, and in many accounts of hadith. Similarly, Moses, the most important Jewish prophet, is also regarded by Muslims as an Islamic prophet and messenger ; his name is mentioned in the Quran 136 times—more than any other individual—and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. The Torah, which is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is also held by Muslims as an Islamic holy book that was revealed by God through various Israelite prophets and messengers. Later rabbinic authorities and Jewish scholars, such as Maimonides, engaged in discussions concerning the relationship between Islam and Jewish religious law. Maimonides himself, it has been argued, was influenced by Islamic legal thought while living in the caliphates of his time.
Although the origins of Judaism go back to the time of the ancient Hebrews, it is considered to have started becoming a distinct religion in its own right in the Kingdom of Judah, where it developed as a strictly monotheistic outgrowth of Yahwism. Thus, with a difference of at least 2,000 years, Judaism and Islam share a common geographical origin in what is known today as the Middle East, with the former from the Southern Levant and the latter from the Hejaz. Additionally, both religions claim Abraham as their spiritual patriarch and are thereby classified as Abrahamic religions. Islam was strongly influenced by Judaism in its fundamental religious outlook, structure, jurisprudence, and practice. Because of this similarity, as well as through the influence of Islamic culture and philosophy on the Jewish populations in the Muslim world, there has been considerable and continued physical, theological, and political overlap between the two religions since Islam's founding. Notably, the first Islamic Waqf was donated by a Jew named Mukhayriq, who was a rabbi in the city of Medina. In 1027, the Jewish polymath Samuel ibn Naghrillah became top advisor and military general of the Taifa of Granada in the Muslim-controlled Iberian Peninsula.
The Jewish people are among the three original "People of the Book" of Islam, which recognizes them, Christians, and Sabians as followers of the pre-Islamic revelations of Allah. Ties between the two communities have been marked by periods of cooperation, of ambivalence, and of open conflict. The early Muslims fought battles with a number of the Jewish tribes of Arabia, such as the Banu Qurayza, and Jews were persecuted at times under Muslim rule in subsequent centuries. Most recently, the Arab–Israeli conflict has resulted in heightened tensions between the Jewish world and the Muslim world, including the perpetuation of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Religious figures
The term "Semitic" is due to the legendary derivation of the peoples so called from Shem, son of Noah. Hebreaic and Arabian peoples are generally classified as Semitic, a racialist concept derived from Biblical accounts of the origins of the cultures known to the ancient Hebrews. Those closest to them in culture and language were generally deemed to be descended from their forefather Shem, one of the sons of Noah. Enemies were often said to be descendants of his cursed nephew Canaan, grandson of Noah, son of Ham. Modern historians confirm the affinity of ancient Hebrews and Arabs based on characteristics that are usually transmitted from parent to child, such as genes and habits, with the most well-studied criterion being language. Similarities between Semitic languages and their differences with those spoken by other adjacent people confirm the common origin of Hebrews and Arabs among other Semitic nations.Around the 12th century BC, Judaism developed as a monotheistic religion. According to Jewish religious tradition, the history of Judaism begins with the Covenant between God and Abraham, who is considered a Hebrew. The Hebrew Bible occasionally refers to Arvi peoples, translated as "Arab" or "Arabian" deriving from "Arava" plain, the dwellers of plains. Some Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula are considered descendants of Ismael, the first son of Abraham. While the commonly held view among historians is that Islam originated in Arabia in the 7th century AD, in Islam's view, Adam was the first Muslim. Islam also shares many traits with Judaism, like the belief in and reverence for common prophets, such as Moses and Abraham, who are recognized in all three Abrahamic religions.
Abraham
Judaism and Islam are known as "Abrahamic religions". The first Abrahamic religion was Judaism as practiced in the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula subsequent to the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt and continuing as the Hebrews entered the land of Canaan to conquer and settle it. The kingdom eventually split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah prior to the Babylonian Exile, at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. The firstborn son of Abraham, Ishmael, is considered by Muslims to be the Father of the Arabs. Abraham's second son Isaac is called Father of the Hebrews. In Islamic tradition Isaac is viewed as the grandfather of all Israelites and the promised son of Ibraham from his barren wife Sarah. In the Hadith, Muhammad says that some twenty five thousand prophets and messengers came from Abraham's seed, most of these being from Isaac, and that the last one in this line was Jesus. In the Jewish tradition Abraham is called Avraham Avinu or "Our Father Abraham". For Muslims, he is considered an important prophet of Islam and the ancestor of Muhammad through Ishmael. Ibrahim is regarded as one of the prophets of Islam alongside Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, among others. The narrative of his life in the Quran is similar to that seen in the Tanakh.Moses
As in Judaism and Christianity, Moses is regarded in Islam as one of the most prominent prophets. His story is frequently recounted in both the Meccan and Medinan chapters, some of which are long. Although there are differences in the Quranic and Biblical accounts, the remaining narratives are similar. They agree on the events of Moses' infancy, exile to Midian, plagues and miracles, deliverage of the Israelites, parting of the Red Sea, the revelation of the tablets, the incident of the Golden Calf and the 40 years of wandering.According to Noegel and Wheeler some scholars think there is a parallel between the status of Aaron in Moses' narrative and Umar in the narrative of Muhammad. In both the Biblical and Quranic accounts, Moses is accompanied by Aaron. In both accounts Moses is portrayed more actively. The Quranic and Biblical accounts differ on the nus of responsibility for the Golden Calf incident. The Bible accuses Aaron, whereas the Quranic narrative defends him.
Muhammad
In the course of Muhammad's proselytizing in Mecca, he initially viewed Christians and Jews as natural allies, sharing the core principles of his teachings, and anticipated their acceptance and support. Ten years after his first revelation in Mount Hira, a delegation consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina pledged to physically protect Muhammad and invited him as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as chief arbitrator for the entire community, which had been fighting with each other for around a hundred years and was in need of an authority.Among the things Muhammad did in order to settle the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina. The community defined in the Constitution of Medina had a religious outlook but was also shaped by the practical considerations and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes. Muhammad also adopted some features of the Jewish worship and customs such as fasting on the Yom Kippur day. According to Alford Welch, the Jewish practice of having three daily prayer rituals appears to have been a factor in the introduction of the Islamic midday prayer, but Muhammad's adoption of facing north toward Jerusalem, Islam's first Qiblah or direction of prayer, when performing the daily prayers, was practiced among other groups in Arabia.
Many Medinans converted to the faith of the Meccan immigrants, particularly pagan and polytheist tribes, but there were fewer Jewish converts. The Jews rejected Muhammad's claim to prophethood, and further argued that some passages in the Qur'an contradicted the Torah. Their opposition was due to political as well as religious reasons, as many Jews in Medina had close links with Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy, who was partial to the Jews and would have been Medina's prince if not for Muhammad's arrival.
Mark Cohen adds that Muhammad appeared "centuries after the cessation of biblical prophecy" and "couched his message in a verbiage foreign to Judaism both in its format and rhetoric." Maimonides, a Jewish scholar, referred to Muhammad as a false prophet. Moreover, Maimonides asserted that Muhammad's claim to prophethood was in itself what disqualified him, because it contradicted the prophecy of Moses, the Torah and the Oral Tradition. His argument further asserted that Muhammad being illiterate also disqualified him from being a prophet.
In the Constitution of Medina, Jews were given equality to Muslims in exchange for political loyalty and were allowed to practice their own culture and religion. A significant narrative symbolising the inter-faith harmony between early Muslims and Jews is that of the Rabbi Mukhayriq. The Rabbi was from Banu Nadir and fought alongside Muslims at the Battle of Uhud and bequeathed his entire wealth to Muhammad in the case of his death. He was subsequently called "the best of the Jews" by Muhammad. Later, as Muhammad encountered opposition from the Jews, Muslims began to adopt a more negative view on the Jews, seeing them as something of a fifth column. Jewish violations of the Constitution of Medina, by aiding the enemies of the community, finally brought on major battles of Badr and Uhud which resulted in Muslim victories and the exile of the Banu Qainuqa and Banu Nadir, two of the main three Jewish tribes from Medina, and the mass slaughtering of all male adults of Banu Qurayza.