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{{Short description|Views of the Jewish religion on the Islamic prophet Muhammad}}
{{Weasel|date=March 2009}}
{{Unreferenced|date=June 2008}}
{{Incomplete|date=January 2010}}
{{Muhammad}} {{Muhammad}}
{{see|Muhammad and Jews|Islam and Judaism}}
'''Judaism''' has no special or particular '''view of Muhammad''', with very few currently available texts in ] directly referring to or taking note of ]. Judaism finds no ] ] making reference to him, in contrast to ]'s beliefs that they contain prophecies of Muhammad. Most streams of the traditional ] take a strong stand against Muhammad's self-proclamation of receiving divine revelations from ], labelling him instead as a ]. One of the most important ] is the belief that ] was superior to all preceding and succeeding ]s, and that the ] transmitted to Moses at Sinai remains uncorrupted due to Judaism's strict ].


Very few texts in ] refer to or take note of the Islamic prophet, ]. Those that do generally reject Muhammad's proclamation of receiving divine revelations from ].
==Background==


==References to Muhammad==
In the ], a prophet was seen as a person who was selected by, and spoke as a formal representative of ]; the intention of the message being for the purpose of effecting a social change as conforming to God's desired standards initially specified in the ] as dictated to ] who is held to be the greatest prophet of all until the ].


In the Middle Ages, it was common for ] writers to describe Muhammad as ''ha-meshuggah'' ("the madman"), a term frequently used in the Bible for those who believe themselves to be prophets.<ref name="Stillman1979">{{cite book|author=Norman A. Stillman|title=The Jews of Arab lands: a history and source book|url=https://archive.org/details/jewsofarablands00stil|url-access=registration|accessdate=26 December 2011|year=1979|publisher=Jewish Publication Society|isbn=978-0-8276-0198-7|page=}}</ref><ref></ref><ref></ref>
A prophet with a message had to confirm his status as a prophet by giving signs in the form of predictions of near events, which upon their occurrence would verify his status as a prophet, and without their occurrence would mandate his execution as a ].


⚫ ===Maimonides===
Muhammad gave signs of the near future and the situations occured, confirming his claim of ].
A prominent ] Jewish theologian of the 12th century, Rabbi ], wrote in his philosophical treatise Bustan al-Uqul ("Garden of Wisdom") that God sends prophets to establish religions for other nations, which don't have to conform to the precepts of the Jewish Torah. Thus, Rabbi Nethanel explicitly considered Muhammad a true prophet, who was sent from Heaven with a particular message that applies to the Arabs, but not to the Jews.


] referred to Muhammad as a false prophet and an insane man. In his '']'' he wrote, "After arose the Madman who emulated his precursor , since he paved the way for him. But he added the further objective of procuring rule and submission and he invented what was well known ."<ref name=Roth1994p218>Norman Roth. ''Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict'', ], 1994, p. 218.</ref>
Rabbi Nethanel ibn al-Fayyumi's view of religion can be compared to the pluralistic approach of the contemporary Rabbi ] and has gained some popularity in ] Jewish circles.


In his authoritative work of law, the '']'' (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12), Maimonides indicated that, nevertheless, Muhammad was part of God's plan of preparing the world for the coming of the ]: "All those words of Jesus of Nazareth and of this Ishmaelite who arose after him are only to make straight the path for the messianic king and to prepare the whole world to serve the Lord together. As it is said: 'For then I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech so that all of them shall call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord' (Zephaniah 3:9)."<ref name=Rudin128-129>]. ''Christians & Jews Faith to Faith: Tragic History, Promising Present, Fragile Future'', Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010, pp. 128–129.</ref>
Quite a few medieval Rabbis in Islamic lands quote the ] as a valuable source of theological, ethical or philosophical knowledge. However, it does not necessarily mean that those Rabbis accepted Muhammad as a prophet, because they also refer from time to time to the works of ], ], ] and other philosophers, whom they considered wise men, but clearly not prophets. Some prominent medieval Rabbis also embraced some elements of the ] mysticism, or even Sufism as a whole. However, they believed that Sufi practices originated from the Biblical prophets, and not from ].


===Obscure and indirect references===
==Judaism's worldview and Muhammad==
], a prominent 12th-century ] rabbi and theologian, and the founder of what is sometimes called "]," wrote in his philosophical treatise ''Bustan al-Uqul'' ("Garden of the minds") that God sends prophets to establish religions for other nations, which do not have to conform to the precepts of the Jewish Torah. Nethanel explicitly considered Muhammad a true prophet who was sent from Heaven with a particular message that applies to the Arabs but not to the Jews.<ref>''The Bustan al-Ukul, by Nathanael ibn al-Fayyumi,'' edited and translated by David Levine, Columbia University Oriental Studies Vol. VI, p. 105</ref><ref>''Gan ha-Sekhalim'', ed. Kafih (Jerusalem, 1984), ch. 6.</ref> Al-Fayyumi's explicit acceptance of Muhammad's prophecy was rare and virtually unknown until recent times beyond his native ].<ref>''Abraham's children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in conversation,'' by Norman Solomon, Richard Harries, Tim Winter, T&T Clark Int'l, 2006, {{ISBN|0-567-08161-3}}, p. 137 ''Netanel's work was virtually unknown beyond his native Yemen until modern times, so had little influence on later Jewish thought.''</ref>
===Judaism's view of Prophets and Prophecy===


The ] ] '']'' compares Muhammad to the Jewish ]. According to this text, ascribed to the famous 1st-century sage and mystic ], and thought to have been written at the beginning of the Muslim conquest or in the 8th century,<ref>''The History of Jerusalem: The Early Muslim Period'', by Joshua Prawer and Haggai Ben-Shammai, NYU Press, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0814766392}}, p. 304</ref> Muhammad's role as a prophet includes redeeming the Jews from the Christian ("Roman" or "Edomite") oppression and playing a positive role in the messianic process.<ref>''Abraham's children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in conversation,'' by Norman Solomon, Richard Harries, Tim Winter, T&T Clark Int'l, 2006, {{ISBN|0-567-08161-3}}, p. 133 ''"Nistarot" places the Muslim conquests in an eschatological context, and implies that Muhammad had a positive role to play in the messianic process.''</ref>
Prophets were seen as having attained the highest degree of holiness, scholarship and closeness to God and set the standards for human perfection. The Talmud reports that there were more than a million prophets, but most of the prophets conveyed messages that were intended solely for their own generation and were not reported in Scripture.


A number of stories from the Islamic tradition about Muhammad entered mainstream Jewish thought incidentally due to the great cultural convergence in ] from the 9th to 12th centuries, known as the ] of ]. For example, Rabbi ], one of the early ] mystics, wrote that one pious man (''hasid'') taught that the internal struggle against the evil inclination is greater than external battle, quoting ]'s popular treatise ''].'' In the ] original version of that book, Bahya Ibn Paquda refers to both external and internal battles as ] and the "pious man" about whom the story is told initially is Muhammad, though the author does not mention his source by name.<ref>''A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Bahya ibn Paquda's Duties of the Heart,'' by Diana Lobel, University of Pennsylvania Press, {{ISBN|0-8122-3953-9}}, p. ix "How does a perennially popular manual of Jewish piety come to be quoting Islamic traditions about the Prophet Muhammad? Muslim Spain of the tenth through twelfth century, known as the "Golden Age" of Hispano-Jewish poetry and letters, is a time of great convergence and cultural creativity."</ref>
A prophet is not necessarily a Jew with a prophetic message for Jews: the Talmud reports that there were prophets among the gentiles (most notably ], whose story is told in ] 22, and ], who is considered a non-Jew by most rabbinical opinions). The prophet ] was sent on a mission to speak to the gentiles of the city of ].



==Muhammad's life==
⚫ ===Muhammad and the Jews===
{{See also|Muhammad and the Jews}}

⚫ ===Maimonides' Mishneh Torah===
==See also== ==See also==
*] * ]
* ]
*]
⚫ * ]
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
<references />


{{DEFAULTSORT:Judaism's View Of Muhammad}} ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]

Latest revision as of 00:22, 19 December 2024

Views of the Jewish religion on the Islamic prophet Muhammad
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Very few texts in Judaism refer to or take note of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Those that do generally reject Muhammad's proclamation of receiving divine revelations from God.

References to Muhammad

In the Middle Ages, it was common for Jewish writers to describe Muhammad as ha-meshuggah ("the madman"), a term frequently used in the Bible for those who believe themselves to be prophets.

Maimonides

Maimonides referred to Muhammad as a false prophet and an insane man. In his Epistle to Yemen he wrote, "After arose the Madman who emulated his precursor , since he paved the way for him. But he added the further objective of procuring rule and submission and he invented what was well known ."

In his authoritative work of law, the Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Melakhim 11:10–12), Maimonides indicated that, nevertheless, Muhammad was part of God's plan of preparing the world for the coming of the Jewish Messiah: "All those words of Jesus of Nazareth and of this Ishmaelite who arose after him are only to make straight the path for the messianic king and to prepare the whole world to serve the Lord together. As it is said: 'For then I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech so that all of them shall call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord' (Zephaniah 3:9)."

Obscure and indirect references

Natan'el al-Fayyumi, a prominent 12th-century Yemenite rabbi and theologian, and the founder of what is sometimes called "Jewish Ismailism," wrote in his philosophical treatise Bustan al-Uqul ("Garden of the minds") that God sends prophets to establish religions for other nations, which do not have to conform to the precepts of the Jewish Torah. Nethanel explicitly considered Muhammad a true prophet who was sent from Heaven with a particular message that applies to the Arabs but not to the Jews. Al-Fayyumi's explicit acceptance of Muhammad's prophecy was rare and virtually unknown until recent times beyond his native Yemen.

The apocalyptic Midrash The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yohai compares Muhammad to the Jewish Messiah. According to this text, ascribed to the famous 1st-century sage and mystic Simeon bar Yochai, and thought to have been written at the beginning of the Muslim conquest or in the 8th century, Muhammad's role as a prophet includes redeeming the Jews from the Christian ("Roman" or "Edomite") oppression and playing a positive role in the messianic process.

A number of stories from the Islamic tradition about Muhammad entered mainstream Jewish thought incidentally due to the great cultural convergence in Al-Andalus from the 9th to 12th centuries, known as the Golden Age of Iberian Jewry. For example, Rabbi Jacob Joseph of Polonne, one of the early Hasidic mystics, wrote that one pious man (hasid) taught that the internal struggle against the evil inclination is greater than external battle, quoting Bahya ibn Paquda's popular treatise Chovot HaLevavot. In the Judeo-Arabic original version of that book, Bahya Ibn Paquda refers to both external and internal battles as jihad and the "pious man" about whom the story is told initially is Muhammad, though the author does not mention his source by name.

See also

References

  1. Norman A. Stillman (1979). The Jews of Arab lands: a history and source book. Jewish Publication Society. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-8276-0198-7. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  2. Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism By Ibn Warraq Page 255
  3. The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History page 21
  4. Norman Roth. Jews, Visigoths, and Muslims in Medieval Spain: Cooperation and Conflict, BRILL, 1994, p. 218.
  5. A. James Rudin. Christians & Jews Faith to Faith: Tragic History, Promising Present, Fragile Future, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010, pp. 128–129.
  6. The Bustan al-Ukul, by Nathanael ibn al-Fayyumi, edited and translated by David Levine, Columbia University Oriental Studies Vol. VI, p. 105
  7. Gan ha-Sekhalim, ed. Kafih (Jerusalem, 1984), ch. 6.
  8. Abraham's children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in conversation, by Norman Solomon, Richard Harries, Tim Winter, T&T Clark Int'l, 2006, ISBN 0-567-08161-3, p. 137 Netanel's work was virtually unknown beyond his native Yemen until modern times, so had little influence on later Jewish thought.
  9. The History of Jerusalem: The Early Muslim Period, by Joshua Prawer and Haggai Ben-Shammai, NYU Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0814766392, p. 304
  10. Abraham's children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in conversation, by Norman Solomon, Richard Harries, Tim Winter, T&T Clark Int'l, 2006, ISBN 0-567-08161-3, p. 133 "Nistarot" places the Muslim conquests in an eschatological context, and implies that Muhammad had a positive role to play in the messianic process.
  11. A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue: Philosophy and Mysticism in Bahya ibn Paquda's Duties of the Heart, by Diana Lobel, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0-8122-3953-9, p. ix "How does a perennially popular manual of Jewish piety come to be quoting Islamic traditions about the Prophet Muhammad? Muslim Spain of the tenth through twelfth century, known as the "Golden Age" of Hispano-Jewish poetry and letters, is a time of great convergence and cultural creativity."
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