Judaism and Islam
This is an excerpt from the paper...
From its inception Islam was heavily influenced by Judaism. The degree and sources of this influence on Muhammad are sometimes debated. But Muhammad's own words made it clear that he believed that his revelation came as the confirmation of the revelations claimed by both the Jews and Christians. As a result of this and as a result of Muhammad's decisions regarding the Jews during his lifetime, Judaism and Jews occupied a special position in Islamic law. From the beginning the two faiths had a number of shared premises and, as Islam developed, various aspects of its doctrine and lore reflected those of Judaism. But, due to the presence of the great majority of the Jews and their important centers of learning in Muslim lands, Islam also had significant effects on Jews and Judaism. In the beginning this influence was mainly a matter of tolerance or persecution on the part of the Muslims, but in time there was considerable mutual cultural influence as well. Muhammad called the Jews the "People of the Book" or the "Protected People" and the influence of Jewish scripture on his formulation of the precepts of Islam was profound (Lazarus-Yafeh 74). Muhammad was born in Mecca in western Arabia. Throughout his early life Muhammad seems to have been motivated by a search for religious truth. In that time he certainly came in contact with numerous Jews, Christians, and members of other sects. Impressed by the basic concept of the monotheistic religions Muhammad apparently ab
. . .
"continuously and emphatically" referred to in the Koran and they are thematically connected with Muhammad's own revelation regarding "the second creation" which was to arise after the Last Judgment (Goitein 11). The second major concept that Muhammad included that was utterly foreign to Arabia was the notion of "individual responsibility" a topic that he emphasizes incessantly and in a fashion that reminds Goitein of the prophet Ezekiel (12). The other major similarity between Islam and Judaism is one that they do not share with any other religions. Both are monotheistic faiths which, unlike Christianity which is based on redemption through Christ, are religions of commandments. In both Islam and Judaism "the minute observance of ritual and ethical injunctions is intended to sanctify every moment of the believer's life and to make him continuously aware of his being but a servant of God" (Goitein 20-1).
The similarities in practice are extensive as well. Neither Jewish rabbis nor Islamic ulema are ordained priests. Nor are there any "sacraments, altars, ordination, or priestly mediation" in either faith (Lewis 4). There are also extensive similarities between the conceptions of law, and the Islamic and Judaic names for
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jews Arabian, Jews Christians, Banu Qurayza, Iraq Lewis, Islamic Judaic, Christian Jewish, Judaism Jews, Islam Judaism, Jews Koran, Adam Eve, jews christians, monotheistic religions, islamic law, islam judaism, mutual cultural, quoted goitein, muhammad adopted, life muhammad, choice conversion, christians jews,
Approximate Word count = 1830
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
