Muhammad Abduh’Sreading of Q1:7 and Its Implications Forcurrent Muslim-Jewish Relations

Israel Shrenzel Against the Mainstream: Muhammad Abduh’sReading of Q1:7 and its Implications forCurrent Muslim-Jewish Relations Abduh and the Tafsir al-Manar Egyptian scholarMuhammad Abduh (1849–1905) is of course awell-known fig- ure in Muslim circlesand beyond.¹ It is suffice to mention that he is considered the founding father of Islamic Modernism, the school of thought that preached a deep reform of the dominant attitudes of Muslims, in order to narrowsignificant- ly the gapbetween Islamic values and Western thought.This led to his readiness to borrow ideas and practices from the West,like democracy, rule of law, educa- tional reform, free thought and research, improvingthe status of women, and relations with believers from other faiths. He was an al-Azhar graduateand then asenior teacher at that institute, and in his last years, he was also the Mufti of Egypt.Animportant pillar of his project was to provethat all these changes are authorized and even mandated by Islam- ic sources—the Qur’an, Hadith, and the models of behavior exemplified by the Salaf—the ancient fathers of Islam, roughly, the first threegenerations after the Prophet.Those sources are to go through aprocess of Ijtihad, are-interpre- tation; thus, they willbetotallycompetent to deal with the challenges confront- ing Muslims in the modern era. The main tool used by Abduh to spread his views was the periodical al- Manar [TheLighthouse]established by his disciple Rashid Rida in 1898. After Ab- duh’sdeath, al-Manar continued its regular publication until Rida’sdeath, in Abduh’sIdeas and impact arediscussed in almost every book on modern Islam. The onlybi- ographydedicated to him is M. Sedgwick, Muhammad Abduh (Oxford: Oneworld, 2009), where thereisonlyabrief mention of his exegetical contribution. This is discussed,also briefly, in R. Wielandt, “Exegesis: Modern,” in Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān,ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Lei- den: Brill, 2002), 2:124–40.For another assessment of Abduh’scontributions and an interesting correspondence between him and LeoTolstoy, see my review of Sedgwick’sbook, I. Shrenzel, “Haadam ba laolam kdeile-hatzmiah yeda” [“Man Came to the World to Create Knowledge”], Haaretz,January 13,2012. http://www.haaretz.co.il/literature/safrut/print/1.1616379[Hebrew]. OpenAccess. ©2020 Israel Shrenzel, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110671773-013 210 Israel Shrenzel 1935.Rida, as is well known, came to be avery important scholar on his own merit. From time to time, al-Manar also contained Abduh’slectures on the first four Surasofthe Qur’an. He presented them orallytoagroup of his students almost every week, and they weretransformed into awritten version by Rida, which in some cases added his remarks,clearlydistinguishable from Abduh’swords. After Abduh’sdeath, Rida continued the Tafsir,namelyexegesis, now well known as Tafsir al-Manar in 12 tomes, through Sura 12. In line with his life-long project,described brieflyabove, the prefacetothe Tafsir states: This is the only Tafsir that combines tradition and rational thought … that clarifies that the Qur’an is the guide for Humanity at all times,and evaluates the situation of the Muslims in current times, includingtheir deviation fromthe rightful guidanceofthe Qur’an.² Abduh’sideas werenot fullyaccepted even by those who sawhim as their men- tor,orwished to portray him as such. Actually, two trends can be traced among them: One that adopted avery pro-Western, even secular approach, and another, most prominent among its supporters are Rida himself, and the “Muslim Broth- ers,” that preached avery suspicious attitude towards Western values,rejected what they perceivedasthe “Western cultural invasion” and prioritized the Jihad against colonialism and Zionism, over internal reforms and changes. In re- cent years, in the background of the tremendousideological and political tur- moil in the Arab and Muslim world, and more than one hundred years after his passing away,wewitness acertain measure of revivalregardingAbduh’sac- ceptance. There is now agrowingreadiness to reconsider his moderate ideas, as will be demonstrated later.Because the coreissue of the article is Abduh’satti- tude of a “Jewish” verse from the Qur’an, we shall present now the basic attitudes of the Qur’an towardthe Jews. M. Abduhand R. Rida, Tafsir al-Manar,12vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Marifa), 1:1. Against the Mainstream 211 Some Verses regarding the Jews and Short Remarksonthese Verses³ When theQur’an relatesexplicitlytothe Jews,the reference to them isdivided into threeterms:ChildrenofIsrael(“BanuIsrail”), theJews(“al-Yahud”), and “thePeo- pleofthe Book,” atermthatrelates to Jews andChristiansalike.The firstcategory dealswiththe biblical Israelitesand almost always echoes thebiblicalstory,in many casesaddingmaterials from thevastJewishliterature of interpretations andlegends that do notappearinthe Bible, mostly from theMidrash. The vast majority of the verses are utterlypejorative,and it is easy to under- stand whyand how they wereused to justify antisemitic Muslim attitudes, past and present.Inthe first category,the stories stress the severe sins of the Israel- ites,mainlytheir disobedience of God and their prophets,and the harsh punishments that weretheir share throughout their long history of suffering.Someof the punishments are about to haunt them forever,accordingtosome verses. The tales are shaped so that asimilarity is maintainedbetween the fate of the biblical Prophets and the situation of Muhammad vis-à-vis the heathen Arabs and the Jews that rejected him. Thissetting puts Muhammad on equal footing with Mosesand Jesus, for example, and also provides him with adivine promise that in spite of all obstacles, his wayand messagewould finallyprevail. In thesecondand thirdcategories,harsh allegationsare directed againstthe Jews whoconfrontedMuhammadand refusedtojoinhis newreligion. Theseare basicallyversesofbitterpolemic regardingthe beliefsand actionsofthoseJews. We have scantinformation aboutthe nature of theJewsinArabiaatthe time,but themost-acceptedassumptionisthattheyweremainstreamRabbinicalJewswho refusedtoadmit that Muhammad couldbeatrue prophet, becausethe firm Jewish tradition is that Prophecy stoppedcompletelyinthe era of theSecondTemple. More than that, even if Muhammad were to be aprophetfor theArabs,why should it oblige theJewstoconvert andjoinhis community? So themostfrequentguilt of theJewsofthattimeisthe intentionalfalsificationoftheir ownScriptures, thus denyingthe missionofMuhammadthatisallegedly mentionedthere. 3 Thissection is based mostly on U. Rubin, “Jews and Judaism,” in Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 3:21–34, and on M. Lecker, Muhammad ve Hayehudim [Muhammad and the Jews](Jerusalem: YadBen Tzvi, 2014) [Hebrew]. This book is averycomprehensive, detailed,and updated analysis of the actual reality and events in the framework of Muhammad’srelations with the Jews of al-Madinaand its vicinity.Itproves, inter alia, how important the social and economic reasons werefor the animosity between the two parties. An English versionwill be published, hopefully,inthe nearfuture. 212 Israel Shrenzel As arule, the Qur’an lacks anymention of the specific context of the reve- lation.Nevertheless, the “Jewish” verses usually conform to the basic historical sequence created by Muslim tradition and widelyaccepted todaybyWestern scholarship. So, roughlyspeaking,wefind afew tolerant verses, dating probably to the period when Muhammad still hoped to gain the support of the Jews and/or lacked the power to act directlyagainst them, using violent means. They are relevant also to the period when he wished to convince his own Meccan tribe that he was God’sMessenger.Eventhen, and also in further stages, negative verses regardingthe Israelites are included. The polemicalverses date mainlytothe years after the Hijratoal-Medina in 622, when he encountered in the city and its surroundingsatangible Jewish, Arabicized communities or tribes. Gradually, Muhammad lost hope to gain Jewish support and pavedthe waytothe expulsion of manyJewishcommunities,tothe looting of their land and properties and to the slaughter committed against the males of the tribe of Quraiza. The main pre- text for these measures was the claim that the Jews did not live up to the obli- gations they took upon themselvesinthe treaties they had signed with the Arab tribes, who now became loyal allies of Muhammad. Hence, some verses easilyfit with the actual siegeand fight by the Muslims against the Jews and stress the divine encouragement to theiranti-Jewish military campaigns. In what follows there is asmall selection of relevant verses. Anti-JewishVerses⁴ The people of Moses took to them, after him, of their ornaments aCalf—amerebodythat lowed. Did they not see it spokenot to them, neither guided them upon anyway?Yet they took it to them, and were evildoers.(7:145 – 146) So, for their breakingthe compact,and disbelievinginthe signs of God, and slayingthe Prophets without right,and for their saying, “Our hearts are uncircumcised”—nay, but God sealed them for their unbelief, so they believenot,except afew.(4:154–155) And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: “Youshall do corruption in the earth twice.”… So, when the promise of the first of these came to pass,We sent against youservants of Ours,men of great might,and they went throughthe habitations, and it was apromise per- formed. Then We

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