Origins and development

Chapter One Judaism

Its Origin and Development

The Jews are the followers of Moses (peace be upon him), and their book is the Torah. In addition they are called the Children of Israel and the Hebrews. All of these, as we have said, are conventional names whose origin is disputed:

"Judaism":

Many interpretations have been offered about the origin of this name, the most important of which are:

1 - Al-Shahrastani, who holds to linguistic derivation, says: "Hada al-rajul means the man returned and repented. This name became attached to them because of the words of Moses (peace be upon him): [We have turned back (hudna) to You], that is, we have returned and humbly entreated"⁽¹⁾.

In fact, a name derived in this way fits the history of the Jews to a great extent. Whoever leafs through their religious books is astonished at how quickly they rebelled against and disobeyed their prophets, to the point of killing them, then repented, then rebelled, then repented. It is enough that the Torah mentions that they apostatised eight times from their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (peace be upon him) until their entry into Palestine under Saul, a period of no more than one hundred and fifty years, and many of those times they apostatised were in the lifetime of Moses (peace be upon him) himself.

Thus there is a continuous chain of disobedience and repentance. This is regarded as a psychological phenomenon governing the conduct of the Jews throughout the whole of their religious history, and the Noble Qur'an agrees with their sacred books in bringing this phenomenon to light.

(1) Al-Milal wa al-Nihal (Religions and Sects): 1/192, edited by Muhammad Fath Allah Badran, 2nd ed., Maktabat al-Anglo al-Arabiyya, Cairo 1956.

2 - Many historians hold that Judaism is named after "Judah", one of the sons of Jacob (peace be upon him). This opinion is supported by the fact that the tribe of Judah had great standing in the history of the Jews, and it was this tribe that founded the strongest state they had in Palestine.

3 - Another group holds that it is a late name, given to them by the Persians when they occupied Palestine in about the sixth century BC; they called their creed Judaism to distinguish them from other peoples. From that time the word "Jews" came to mean whoever embraced Judaism, even if he was not of the Children of Israel⁽²⁾.

"The Children of Israel"

This is the title that the Qur'an, and the Torah too, often gave to the Jews. It is also a title in which the Israelites take great pride, because it is the title by which they affirm or display their descent from Abraham (peace be upon him). Lineage is among the matters to which the Israelites attach the utmost importance and which they are keen to display; by it they mean to affirm the authenticity of their descent and the antiquity of their roots, with the aim of entrenching the idea that they are God's chosen people. For this reason we find their religious books fond of recounting their genealogies in detail and never tiring of repeating them. The Torah relates that Abraham (peace be upon him) took a wife named "Sarah", who bore him Isaac (peace be upon him), and a bondwoman named "Hagar" the Egyptian, who bore him Ishmael (peace be upon him). Isaac (peace be upon him) married a woman named "Rebekah", who bore him twins: the first of them was thick with hair, so they named him Esau, and he became his father's firstborn; after him the second came out with his hand grasping Esau's heel, so they called him Jacob. He is the one named Israel, and hence his sons were called the Children of Israel.

With him the real history of the Children of Israel begins, and it is strange that this history should begin with cunning and deceit. In recounting this beginning the Torah seems to want to establish the principle "the end justifies the means" as a moral value. Here is what the Torah says, so that you may see this for yourselves.

The Torah says, in "the Book of Genesis" [27:1-36]:

"And it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called Esau his elder son and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Here I am. And he said, I have now grown old and I do not know

(2) See Muqaranat al-Adyan: al-Yahudiyya (Comparative Religion: Judaism), p. 88, Ahmad Shalabi, 4th ed., Maktabat Nahdat Misr, Cairo

1974.

the day of my death. Now therefore take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and make me savoury food such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.

And Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and bring it. But Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying, Bring me game and make me savoury food, that I may eat and bless you before the Lord before my death. Now therefore, my son, listen to my voice in what I command you. Go to the flock and bring me from there two good kids of the goats, and I will make them savoury food for your father such as he loves, and you shall bring it to your father that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to him a mocker, and I shall bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing. And his mother said to him, Upon me be your curse, my son; only listen to my voice, and go, bring them to me. So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savoury food such as his father loved. And Rebekah took the fine garments of Esau her elder son which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob her younger son, and she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth of his neck, and she gave the savoury food and the bread that she had made into the hand of Jacob her son.

And he came to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am; who are you, my son? And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Rise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son, How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it easy for me. And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not. So Jacob came near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not recognise him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother; so he blessed him. And he said, Are you really my son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son's game, so that my soul may bless you. So he brought it near to him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank. And Isaac his father said to him, Come near now and kiss me, my son. So he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you and tribes bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.

And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He too made savoury food and brought it to his father, and said to his father, Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that your soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled with a very great trembling and said, Who then is he that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of all of it before you came, and I blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed. When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me, me also, O my father. And he said, Your brother came with guile and has taken away your blessing. And he said, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing."

The significance of this text is not hidden: it shows the standards that govern the conduct of the Children of Israel, whether in their internal or their external relations, and that have shaped their psychological and moral make-up to this day.

Then Jacob (peace be upon him) married the two daughters of his maternal uncle:

Leah, who bore him Reuben, Simeon, Levi (from whose line came Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them both), Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

Rachel, who bore him Joseph and Benjamin.

Then he had a bondwoman named Zilpah, who bore him Gad and Asher.

And by another slave-woman named Bilhah he fathered Dan and Naphtali.

Thus Jacob had twelve sons, and they are the heads of the tribes who entered Egypt with their father Jacob (peace be upon him) in about the sixteenth century BC, when Joseph (peace be upon him) brought them there. Their story is told in full in Surat Yusuf, and it does not differ much from what the Torah, in the Book of Genesis, says.

The illustration on the following page shows the family tree of the Children of Israel down to Moses (peace be upon him).

"The Hebrews"

There is general agreement that this name applies to those descended from the offspring of Abraham (peace be upon him), but there is disagreement about its meaning and derivation:

1 - Ibri (Hebrew) is derived from the verb abara, which in Hebrew, as in Arabic, means to cross a stage of a road or a valley. It was applied to Abraham (peace be upon him) because he crossed the river and the desert fleeing from his people.

2 - Or it refers to Abraham's remote ancestor Eber, son of Shem, son of Noah, as mentioned in the Book of Genesis, chapter 13, and Abraham (peace be upon him) was known by this title, as stated in the same book, chapter 14.

3 - Or it comes from nomadic life, because the Children of Israel were Bedouin who moved and travelled a great deal in search of pasture and grazing for their livestock. The word ibri is thus like the word badawi (Bedouin), that is, a dweller of the desert and the wilderness, as opposed to hadari, a dweller of cities. It was the civilised nations, the Egyptians, the Canaanites and others, who gave them this title to distinguish them from settled people, since the Israelites came to them from the depths of the desert. For this reason the Jews greatly dislike the name and prefer to be called Israelites or Jews.

Whatever the origin of these titles by which they were known, they are all names that confirm the point we intend: that they are conventional, man-made names reserved for the followers of Moses (peace be upon him).

[Family tree]

• Abraham
• Ishmael
• Isaac
  • Jacob, who is named Israel
  • Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali
    • (from Levi) Kohath
    • Amram
      • Moses, Aaron
  • Esau