FAQ in dawah: Judaism

What is the Tanakh (Old Testament)?

• It's a collection of books written by different people
• Bible is made up of Hebrew Bible (known as 'Tanakh' or 'Old Testament') and New Testament
• Tanakh made up of Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim. TaNaKh is an acronym of the 3
• Torah, also known as 'Five Books of Moses' or 'Pentateuch', revealed to Moses (born over 3,300 years ago in c.1393 BCE and died aged 120)
• Prophet Moses (Moshe in Hebrew, Musa in Arabic) given Torah by God in Mount Sinai, Egypt, along with two tablets containing the Ten Commandments
• According to Jewish tradition, people heard first two commandments from God, but then were unable to handle God's speech, so Moses repeated Ten Commandments to them
• Talmud is the oral law which help Jews better understand the laws and teaching set out in Tanakh. It's a written collection of teachings that were originally spoken among Jewish scholars and rabbis. Talmud is split into 2 parts: Mishnah (which explains how to apply the commandments in Torah) and Gemara (which discusses Mishnah in further detail)
• We Muslims consider both Old and New Testament to be corrupted and not the original revelation sent to Moses and Jesus respectively

Oldest manuscript, Dead Sea Scrolls, written over 1,100 years after Moses

• Made up of over 800 documents, most of which written between 200 BCE and 70 CE
• Written by unknown sources. We don't know the authors
• Found over a period of 9 years, between 1947-1956, in eleven caves near Khirbet Qumran, Palestine
• Approximately 2,000 years old, dating from 3rd century BCE to 1st century CE (according to Israel Museum, Jerusalem)
• Most scrolls survived as fragments and later reconstructed by scholars into approximately 950 different manuscripts of various lengths

Preservation of Torah

• Preservation of a religion is a must for the religion to be true. Preservation alone is not enough for the religion to be true as many religions can claim it is preserved
• Jews don't accept all of Dead Sea Scrolls. There are things they reject (saying it's 'not canon')
• Some differences between oral Torah and Dead Sea Scrolls
• Where's the evidence for the witnesses, testimonies, and manuscripts from the time of Moses to the Dead Sea Scrolls?
• Mass transmission claims of Torah being memorised and tradition being passed are just claims. There's no evidence to back it up. Unlike the Science of Hadith where we know biographies of each transmitter (i.e. if person is reliable, who teacher was, their family - it's not a big book of their biography but contains core details) where we can categorise if it's strong or weak hadith
• For oral tradition you need chain of narration. In Judaism there's only one chain, and this has long gaps of 200-300 years from one individual to another
• Jewish exegesis (or tafseer) was written 300-400 years after Jesus himself. This is according to Jacob Neusner, a scholar of Judaism who wrote around 900 books, arguably the most by an author
• Islamic chain of narration goes back to the companions who were around the prophet. Not 200 years after him. Some of them even wrote account e.g. Abu Bakr, Umar. It was a state effort to codify the Sunnah. Bukhari and other hadith writers came after
• How can you trust Jewish canons if it's not preserved?

What do Jews think of Jesus (Yeshua) and Mary (Miriam)?

• Jesus is not (explicitly) mentioned in Torah
• They reject Jesus as a prophet of God or Messiah
• All Jewish prophets in Tanakh, such as Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, etc., never mentioned Messiah will be god incarnate or god was 3-in-1 (i.e. Trinity). They mentioned God is one, infinite, and non-material
• Messiah will come once, not twice, and he'll complete his mission of getting Jews back to Israel, rebuilding the temple, and establishing peace. But Jesus didn't do this and was murdered (crucified). So Jews are still waiting for the coming of the Messiah
• Mary was not a virgin
• Isaiah 7:14 does not mean Mary was a virgin. Hebrew word for virgin is 'betulah' whereas the verse uses 'alma' meaning young woman (it doesn't state whether she's a virgin or not)
• Isaiah 7:14 is not even a messianic prophecy. Instead it's referring to birth of Hezekiah (c. 8th century BCE), a dominant king at the time of Isaiah who successfully deflected Assyrian attack on Jerusalem
• Isaiah 53 is not about Jesus' crucifixion or suffering of an individual but instead about the suffering of the Jewish people, persecuted over centuries and bearing the sins of the world. The suffering servant is the nation of Israel itself (Isaiah 49:3)
• New Testament claims God abrogated his covenant with Israel and that God has replaced the Sinaitic Revelation with Justification by Faith - an innovation by Paul where a person gets redemption by faith not their action - is inconsistent with teaching of Torah
• In New Testament Jesus implies certain commandments are no longer binding, and Paul believed none of the commandments were binding. But Jews believe the Messiah will not abrogate or replace the Torah
• A lot of Jews throughout history have been killed in the name of Christ by Christians. As such some present-day Jews hate Jesus and also Mary for giving birth to him

"People heard God speak with Moses (in the fire incident). Nobody heard God speak with Muhammad"

• This criterion is based on the premise that there should be other people listening to the revelation of the God
• Instead in Islam we have narration of the physical effect that the revelations would have on Muhammad (e.g. he'd sweat heavily on a cold day, there’d be loud ringing noise, when prophet was on a camel and revelation came that camel would sink, or when Jibrail came as a form of a man that man would be witnessed by other companions, etc.). So others witnessed the physical effect of revelation on Muhammad
• There's even mass transmission on the miracles of the Prophet (e.g. moon splitting, small amount of food turning to many, etc.)
• We have more miracles with better chain of transmission that has been historically verified, and critical method applied to that, than those the Jews ascribe to Moses
• Our frequency and quantity of miracles and the bio-data of the witnesses is superior
• All prophets before Muhammad, had something to see and/or hear that would make them believe the religion is true. Qur'an could not be like that because Allah said Muhammad sent for whole of humankind. So if the miracle was confined to the people they'd have an advantage to verify than we do possibly leading to them believe with others not believing
• Hence the evidence ('ayat' in Arabic roughly translates to 'evidence' as each verse is an evidence) of Qur'an are things that we today can analyse
• If something is supposed to be for all people and all time, the facilitation of the evidence should be for all people all time as well. That's why we say the greatest miracle is the Qur'an itself

"Laws cannot be abrogated (abolished)"

• They can
• It doesn't contradict the Majesty of God to give commandments and injunctions in one place and time which differ from commandments and injunctions in another place and time
• For example, Abraham (pbuh) thought he had to sacrifice his son but when the Angel told him not to do it he didn't go ahead with it and sacrificed an animal instead. So if a new prophet comes and gives new command, for example fast during Ramadan even on days of Sabbath, then it's okay
• A prophet can make concession as he has access to God (and Angels), normal man doesn't
• Moses himself abrogated some laws of Noah and those who came before him. And it can be abrogated again in the future after Moses as long as that prophet can proof or indicate he's greater than Moses (as mentioned by 15th century Jewish philosopher and rabbi Joseph Albo in his work Sefer ha Ikkarim vol 3 ch. 19 v. 6)
• Muhammad received revelation from God through Angel which provided clarification and filtration of what was in the previous scriptures
• Muhammad never claimed to be greater than Moses (or any prophet for that matter). But the evidence for his prophethood is greater than Moses. His message (i.e. Qur'an) is better preserved than Moses' message (i.e. Torah), his prophecies and miracles are greater in number, there's a stronger chain of narration in Muhammad's activities than Moses, Muhammad's appeal is more global than Moses's
• As Muslims we love all the prophets mentioned by Allah, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them). And don't compare them (Al-Baqarah 2:285)

Muhammad qualifies as a prophet according to Judaism

• Judaism has 3 core criteria which disqualifies a prophet:
  1. Doesn't follow the god Jewish people experienced i.e. one God of Moses (Deuteronomy 13:2)
  2. What he prophecise in the name of Lord does not come true (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)
  3. Turns people away from command of God or urges disloyalty to Him (Deuteronomy 18:5)
• This disqualifies many people who are suppose to be prophets after Moses e.g. Guru Nanak (Sikhi), Joseph Smith (Mormon), Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (Ahmadiyya), etc.
• Jesus according to Paul-line understanding of Bible is disqualified. But Jesus according to Islamic understanding isn't
• Based on these 3 criterion of disqualification Muhammad is a prophet. He called onto the God of Moses, his prophecies came true, and he urged people to follow God's command and guidance

Similarities between Judaism and Islam

• Both monotheistic religions believing in one God, who isn't physical also
• Shared prophets like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Moses (peace be upon them)
• You cannot be Muslim if you don't believe in Moses. His name 'Musa' in Arabic mentioned 136 times in Qur'an
• Jews pray 3 times a day. Muslims pray 5 times a day
• One direction of prayer. Jews pray towards Jerusalem, Palestine. Muslims pray toward Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Previously, Muslims used to pray towards Jerusalem until Muhammad instructed by Allah to change direction to Makkah
• Both wash their hands before praying and bow while praying
• Many values and ethics are similar e.g. women covering their hair (though Jewish ladies do this after marriage only and they can also wear a wig, unlike Muslim women)
• Both greet with 'peace be upon you'. Jews say 'shalom aleichem', Muslim say 'assalamu alaikum'
• Male infants get circumcision
• Men cover hair as a form of humility and identity
• Similar dietary restrictions. Neither can eat pork and both slaughter the animal in a specific way. Jews have set of dietary laws or 'kashrut' telling them what is permissible or 'kosher'. Muslims food needs to be 'halal'. If Muslims can't find halal food they're allowed to eat kosher
• Jews fast for 1 day in Yom Kippur. Muslims fast 30 days in Ramadan
• Both follow lunar calendar
• Both allow a man to have multiple wives (i.e. polygamy) under certain conditions
• Muslims cannot charge or pay interest to anybody. Jews cannot charge or pay interest to a fellow Jew
• Both do pilgrimage. Male Jews do 3 pilgrimages per year in Jerusalem. While male and female Muslims must do one pilgrimage to Makkah once in their lifetime (if they’re able). Interestingly Muslims circle the Kaabah 7 times, while Jews also circle the alter 7 times
• The holy book should be the law of the land. For Jewish countries it's the Torah. For Muslim countries it's the Qur'an
• Hebrew and Arabic languages are similar, though they have different grammar. Both are written right to left
• Jews grateful that Muslims don't blame them for crucifying Jesus like the Christians do (Judas, who snitched on Jesus, is a Jew). Muslims believe Jesus not crucified and taken up to Heaven instead
• Muslims believe the 3 Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are all one story, not three separate stories. It's all connected. Jews are 2 prophets short of the whole story