The essential deviation of Judaism was to elevate the material success of the Jewish race to being the core religious value, overriding all other concerns. This manifests itself in a number of key differences to Islam...
Islamic monotheism refutes this god-like position of the Jewish race and by making Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) a prophet, Allah showed that the promise of spiritual leadership was with Abraham, not the Jewish race as such. This is because Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a descendant of Abraham through his firstborn son Ishmael, and because Abraham was not a Jew. (The very word "Judaism" – and "Jewish" - associates the religion with the people from Judea and that is a long time after Abraham)Jews a crafty, greedy, exclusive, usurious "race"; Islam moral, inclusive, forbids usury: call me nutty, but that sounds a lot like something Hitler's pal the Grand Mufti might have written, no? (Plus ca change, as they say.)
Islam, in contrast, promotes and prescribes universal morality, applicable to and achievable by all human beings. No person is better than another in Allah's sight except through their seeking to obey Allah:
This is the Islamic framework for understanding Judaism as well as for explaining the essential difference between Islam and Judaism. Other differences are often manifestations of this core difference.O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).Surah 49 Verse 13
A particular well known example of the way their teachings favored the Jewish race is in their law about usury (interest). This forbids Jews from lending money to one another with usury but allowed them to lend to non-Jews (Goyim) based on interest. This led to the European stereotype of Shylock the despised Jewish money lender – found in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice"...
1 comment:
Inter-religious comparisons are not usually very useful. There is too much at stake and too many counter-examples, interpretations etc.
The killer argument for me, is this: Judaism has about 14m adherents whereas Christians and Muslims outnumber Jews by 100 to 1 or more each despite existing only 1/2 to 1/3 of the time.
One can go into the reasons for this: forced conversions etc. but one must see that in the big picture, Judaism is harmless.
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