Israelites are descendants of Prophet Jacob, son of Prophet Ishaq, the second son of Prophet Ibrahim. Prophet Jacob is also named Israel by Allah Tala, which means slave of God. Prophet Ishaq had settled in Syria and Palestine along with his family. With the passage of time, Israelites formed a self-chosen named religion, Judaism, which is not mentioned in The Torah and is based on an intermix of revelation and man-made laws.
Jewish Faith – A Snapshot
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Beliefs |
One God, “YHWH,” (I am what I am), Life After Death, Heaven and Hell, Angels, Prophets, Books |
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Books |
Torah – Revealed to Prophet Moses. However, current version is not entirely the original revealed Torah. Mishna – the Rabbinic Law, likely compiled by Prince Judah Talmud – Rabbinic Teachings, containing Mishna Midrash – Rabbinic Expansion to Mishna Siddur – The prayer book (Muhiyaddin. p. 175 – 177, 184) |
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Prayers |
Shema – Oldest daily prayer recited morning and night mentioned in the Torah. It begins as “Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Birkat Ha-Mazon -- Grace after meals, also mentioned in the Torah. (http://www.jewfaq.org/shemaref.htm )
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Animal Sacrifice |
Oxen, rams, cereals including burnt offerings at altars offered to YHWH. |
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Holidays |
Sabbath, the oldest holiday, refers to Saturday as the holy day of the week. Jews are forbidden to do any worldly act including cooking on that day. Violators were ordered to be punished by death. (Exodus 31:12-17). Other holidays like Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yum Kippur may have been added later.
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Death Penalty (Major examples) |
· Taking other gods · Homosexuality · Cursing of parents · Adultery · Posing as intermediary to YHWH · Marriage with near blood relations (Muhiyaddin. p. 178) |
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Forbidden Food (Some Examples) |
Non-Kosher. Eating blood, dead meat, meat of swine, birds, carnivorous animals |
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Marriage |
· Polygamy is permitted. · Divorce is permitted but cannot remarry even if divorced by another man unlike Islam. (Muhiyaddin. p. 178) |
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Economy |
Usury is forbidden |
Jewish Law
All the Prophets of Allah Tala gave the same fundamental belief system. Establishing Prayer, giving Zakah and spending in the way of Allah Tala were part of the Israelites covenant with Allah Tala as stated in (The Quran, verse 5:12). Jews, however, deviated from that covenant and distorted its meanings. (The Quran, v. 5:13). With the passage of time, the religious scholars, especially in the Rabbinic Judaism, wrote their own commandments and presented them to the masses as commandments from Allah Tala. (The Quran, v. 2:79). One such commandment is the prohibition of eating the meat of camels and rabbits. (Maududi, 2002, 3:93, fn. 77). With spiritual decadence, it became a common belief that just being a Jew is enough for someone to escape fire except possibly a short-sustained touch of fire and then entry into the Heaven, as alluded in (The Quran, v. 2:80).
Moral, Social and Religious Decadence
While in Egypt, Israelites basic beliefs were polluted by cow-worship, which was prevalent in Egypt and Canaan. (Maududi, 2002, Chapter 2, fn. 68). They had become so much infested with cow worship that they had made a calf for worship right after the Exodus in the time of Moses. Their love for cow worship was so strong that they even tried to evade slaughtering a cow even when Prophet Moses ordered them to do so. (The Quran, verses 2:67 – 71). Right after they were miraculously helped to cross the sea and came upon people who worshipped idols, they asked Moses to make a god like their gods. (The Quran, v. 7:138). When Prophet Elijah criticized them for their worship of idol Baal, king Ahab tried to kill him and he had to escape to the mountains. King Ahab also put Prophet Micah in prison for speaking the truth. Prophet Zechariah was stoned to death for speaking against immorality and idol-worship. (Maududi, 2002, Chapter 2, fn. 79).
After the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites lived in Sinai in the open for forty years. Allah Tala took care of them with shelter by clouds, heavenly food of Manna and quails and water from a miraculous spring for each tribe. (Maududi, 2002, Chapter 2, fn. 72).
Israelites entered into Palestine after the death of Prophet Moses. Palestine at that time was inhabited by people from different ethnicities including Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, the Philistines. They were idolatrous people who had made up seventy or so gods and goddesses. They named Ayl as their supreme god, who was described by them as the father of their gods. Their worship houses were filled with immoral practices and became more like places of brothels. Due to intermixing, Israelites were also impacted by such immoralities and evil practices within their own circles.This behavior continued till the time of King Taloot and Prophet David, who eventually succeeded to establish a united kingdom for the Israelites, which helped them revive and return back to Tawhid. (Maududi, 2002. Verse 17:5, fn. 7)
After the death of Prophet Solomon, the Israelites again fell into internal conflicts, moral degeneration and shirk to such an extent that they persecuted, tortured and killed even their own prophets. Their internal fighting caused them to split into two states, Israel with capital in Samaria and Judah with capital in Jerusalem. The split was followed by a series of wars between the two states. Such an attitude and climate continued even till the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) as stated in (The Quran, v. 2:84-85) and (Maududi, 2002. Chapter 2, Fn. 92).
The Israelites not only fell into idol-worship, they also started violating the Sabbath by openly doing business on Saturdays. Magic, sorcery, witchcraft, charms and amulets also became very popular among the masses. In this regard, The Quran mentions the story of the two angels, Harut and Marut, who were sent as a trial for them. Sexual promiscuity and adulterous affairs were so rampant that they were willing to use magic to cause split between husband and wife. (The Quran, v. 2:102). (Maududi, 2002, Chapter 2, fn. 106).
There is also a long history of persecution and torture of their prophets by the Israelities. Prophet Jeremiah was beaten, imprisoned, put in the stock and dropped into a cistern by ropes to be left to die when he warned them against the calamities which can fall on them. Prophet Amos was condemned to exile. Herod, the ruler of Judah, imprisoned John the Baptist, beheaded him at the request of a dancing girl and then his head was presented to the girl on a platter. The worst of all, they plotted against Jesus, the Messenger of Allah and asked the Roman governor, Pilate to crucify him. The corruption of the religious leaders of the Israelites at the time of Jesus may be viewed in a nutshell by the following statement of Prophet Jesus, as taken from (Matthew 23: 2-3) and mentioned in (Maududi, 2002, Chapter 2, fn. 79,82). He told his disciples:
The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practise and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practise.
References
Holy Bible. 1993. Authorized King James Version. Landoll, Ashland, Ohio.
Judaism 101. http://www.jewfaq.org
Maududi, S. A. A. 2002. The Meaning of The Quran. Islamic Publications. Lahore, Pakistan.
Muhiyaddin, M. A. A. Comparative Study of the Religions of Today. Vantage Press. PDF version by The Islamic Online University.