Examining Judaism from an Islamic Perspective

Judaism is called "Al Yahudiyya" in Arabic. There is no authentic evidence as to decisively decide as to how this name was derived.  Muslim scholars say that it might be derived from the following:

• "Al Hawd"  which means repentance. This is from Musa (AS) statement in the Quran: “We have repented to You”.
• "Tahweed" which means prolonging the sound and chanting. The rabbis used to chant when they recited their book to their people in order to convince them that what they were reciting to the people was from the book. The Quran says: “They change their tongues with the book in order for you to think that it is from the book, but it is not from the book”
• Judah or "Yahuda" who was the brother of Prophet Yusuf (AS). He was the elder son of Yaqoub (AS). The use of this word is not accurate to describe all Jews as the word refers to the children of Judah and not that of his father, Yaqoub (AS).
• "Muhawada"  which means appointment and refers to Allah's meeting with Musa (AS)  for 40 days.

Jews claim to be followers of Musa (AS). The word Jew is not used as a complement in the Quran. The word was not used during the time of Musa (AS). In his time they used the terms Bani Israeel (Children of Israel) and Qawm Musa (People of Musa).

Who are the Jews today?

Today, most people look at Jewishness as a cultural connection to the Israeli people more than a religion and a belief system. There are some Jews who no longer believe in the religious principles and practices but consider themselves as Semitic, ethnic and cultural group that connects with one another to protect and preserve their common heritage and Jewish identity.

Most important  elements of the Jewish religion is the Torah.  In Hebrew the word means“Law”. There are 5 sections /chapters in the Torah. Jews think that Musa (AS) wrote it with his own hand. In the Christian tradition, the Torah includes all the books that are collected together in the Old Testament. These books that describe the prophets of Bani Israel and the history of their judges and kings whether the author is known or unknown. Muslims believe that Torah was the original book written on the tablets that was given to Musa (AS) by Allah. Muslims used to refer to Torah as the books of old times which is not limited to the Torah – included revelations to other prophets of Bani Israel. From the Islamic perspective, the Torah is no longer available in its original and true form. It was distorted in two ways:

• .      Verbal wording of the Torah. The actual words of Allah were replaced by that of humans. “Woe on them who write the books with their own hands and say this is from Allah. In order to exchange a little price for it.”"Do you hope for them to believe you after a party of them used to hear the words of Allah and distorted it after they understood it while they know”
•         Contextually through re-interpretation. The rabbis used to hear the true Torah and changed the words and when they taught it to the people they used to substitute another other meaning. " A party of them would cause their tongues to pronounce differently the words for you to think that it is from Allah, but it is not from Allah and they say of Allah a lie and they know.”

People who looked into the 5 sections of Torah found a great deal of discrepancies confirming that it is not in its authentic form.

The Torah was lost in some part of the Jewish history.  This is not subject to debate among Jews themselves, As Muslims we believe that The Torah was not removed completely but some of it was distorted. There are still some rules in it which are from the authentic Torah e.g. the punishment of stoning of the adulterer and taking the life of a murderer. Nevertheless, the Jews have even ignored these rules. This explains the verses of the Quran to the Jews to apply their book. If the applied their book they would have found agreement with the Prophet (SWAS) and became Muslim. As Musa (AS) said to them:

“And I am giving you a glad tiding of a messenger who will come after me and his name is Ahmed”

The modern Torah contains many distortions and elements of falsehood. These include:

• Calling Ezra the son of Allah.
• Yaqoub (AS) wrestling with Allah.
• Lut (AS) drinking liquor and committing adultery with his daughters.
• David being casted away and disliked by Allah.
• David committed adultery.
• “We have no responsibility towards what we do to the gentiles”
• Allah said: “I shall make the man in my form – in the like of me”
• After Allah created the 7 heavens and earth in 6 days, Allah became tired and rested on the 7^th day. The Quran says: “We certainly created the heavens and the earth wand what is between them in 6 days and We did not become tired” 
• The Torah implies that Allah lacks knowledge about the future. When Allah created man and the evil of man spread on the earth, Allah became sad and regretted His action. This is referred to in Arabic as attributing "Al Badaa" to Allah, i.e. Allah does not know the future before it happens. 

As Muslims, we realize that the above teachings cannot be the authentic word of Allah.

Another major element of Judaism is the Talmud which means “order”. It is a work of jurisprudence of the rabbis. It is considered to be the rules/interpretations/explanations of the Torah. It is composed of two main sections. Some of the derived principles of the Talmud are not true, These include:

• Jews are more beloved to Allah than angels. 
• Jews are made from Allah. 
• One who harms Jews will be harming Allah. 
• A gentile is to be put in a position where his life is to be wasted if he harms a Jew. 
• If it was not for the Jews on Earth, blessings would be removed from it and the sun would be partitioned. 
• Jews are better than the rest of the humanity. 
• The difference of the Jews and gentiles is like man and animal.  
• Gentiles are enemies of Allah. 
• Jews are the chosen people of Allah. 
• They are the children of Allah. 
• They are Allah’s beloved. 
• Allah does not accept worship of anyone except if he is a Jew. 
• Allah gave Jews human form as an honor. The rest are created in Satanic form.