AN INTRODUCTION TO Islam FOR JEWS In loving memory of Miles Lerman, who spent a lifetime dedicated to creating a world of understanding, tolerance, and mutual respect among all people. David Lerman, Shelley Wallock, Brooke Lerman, Julia Lerman, and Ted Lerman AN INTRODUCTION TO Islam FOR JEWS Reuven Firestone JPS is a nonprofit educational association and the oldest and foremost pub- lisher of Judaica in English in North America. The mission of JPS is to enhance Jewish culture by promoting the dissemination of religious and secular works, in the United States and abroad, to all individuals and institutions interested in past and contemporary Jewish life. Copyright © 2008 by Reuven Firestone First edition. All rights reserved. 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To Sa`di and Isma`il Abu Sneineh Contents Preface . ix Acknowledgments . xvi PART ONE: A SURVEY OF ISLAMIC HISTORY Chapter 1: Why an Introduction to Islam Specifically for Jews? . 3 Chapter 2: Arabs and Israelites . 5 Chapter 3: Pre-Islamic Origins . 10 Chapter 4: The Emergence of Islam. 17 Chapter 5: Muhammad and the Jews of Medina . 33 Chapter 6: The Death of the Prophet and the Expansion of the Community . 43 Chapter 7: The Conquests . 52 Chapter 8: The Caliphal Dynasties . 60 Chapter 9: The Decline of the Muslim World . 70 PART TWO: GOD, THE QUR’AN, AND ISLAMIC LAW Chapter 10: God . 79 Chapter 11: The Five Doctrines or “Pillars of Faith” . 85 Chapter 12: The Evolution of a Formal Theology . 92 Chapter 13: The Qur’an . 100 Chapter 14: The Interpretive Tradition . 114 Chapter 15: The Prophetic Record . 124 vii viii AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM FOR JEWS Chapter 6: Islamic Law . 34 Chapter 7: The Workings of Sharī`a . 42 PART THREE: THE UMMA: ISLAM IN PRACTICE Chapter 18: The Umma and The Caliphate . 149 Chapter 19: The Five Pillars of Islam . 157 Chapter 20: A Sixth Pillar? Jihad . 176 Chapter 21: The Range of Practice among Muslims . 184 Chapter 22: Sufism . 191 Chapter 23: The Shī`a . 199 Chapter 24: Mosque and Clergy . 202 Chapter 25: The Calendar . 205 Chapter 26: The Muslim Life-Cycle . 210 Chapter 27: Personal Observance . 225 Epilogue . 235 Endnotes . 240 Appendix: Islam and Judaism: Some Related Religious Terminology . 253 Glossary . 254 Bibliography . 269 Scriptural Index: Verses from the Qur’an and the Bible . 273 Subject Index . 282 Preface slam is a complex religious civilization that remains largely unknown to Jews, despite the fact that the future of the Jewish people has become Iprofoundly affected by developments in the Muslim world. For our own personal edification and understanding, therefore, for responsible decision- making within the Jewish community and for a world of greater understand- ing and compassion, writing a book on Islam with the particular interests of Jews in mind is an important undertaking. This book will treat issues and items that are of particular interest to Jews, as well as some that would be of benefit for Jews to understand even if they may not be of obvious interest. It will therefore concentrate on some topics that do not appear in most introduc- tions to Islam. It will likewise omit some subjects found in other introductions that are not of particular importance to Jews. I naturally concentrate on issues of personal interest that I assume are of interest to other Jews as well. I love the languages of Hebrew and Arabic, for example, and I naturally tend to note their similarities in relation to religious issues. I am fascinated by the ways that Islam and Judaism have so many parallels, yet are separate religious systems. Please note: this book is written by an individual and not a scholarly commu- nity, and it is only one single volume. It cannot hope to represent all the various internal perspectives of Muslim groups and all the analyses of scholars of reli- gion. It need not and should not be your only source for information on Islam. As any sensitive reader knows, an author can never dissociate himself or herself from what he or she has written. Because of this truth, it is appropriate to reveal something about myself for the sake of full disclosure. ix x AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM FOR JEWS I am a liberally observant Jew, trained as both a rabbi and an academic. I have lived for some six or seven years in Israel and have raised my children in Jewish day schools in the United States and Israel. We all speak Hebrew in my family, and I am writing this introduction while in Jerusalem. In addition to scholarly works on Islam and its relationship with Judaism and Christianity and pre-Islamic indigenous Arabian culture, I have written an introduction to Judaism for Muslims. I grew up in a household that was deeply Jewish but that respected the wisdom and arts of those who lived outside our own particular religious and cultural framework. Despite sensitivity to the universal value of humanity that I learned from my family, growing up in America naturally instilled within me a number of vague prejudices that were simply imbedded in Jewish or American culture. As a result, when I first traveled to Israel as a naïve American Jewish teenager in 970, I had a vague, unarticulated expectation that the Jewish Israelis would be heroic and upright while the Arabs would be dishonest and deceitful. This evaluation was hazy and indistinct, and I had not thought about it in any kind of conscious way. In fact, it was only some years later that I understood how these prejudices affected my general outlook. I would cer- tainly not define myself as a racist, but like virtually everyone in my genera- tion, I had absorbed vague judgments about self and other that infused my general thinking about the world around me. But soon after arriving in Israel, I was surprised to find some quite un- heroic Israelis and some quite upright Arabs. I found myself living in the Muslim Quarter within the aged Ottoman walls of the “Old City” of Jerusalem, where I remained for a few months exploring its alleys and warrens. I also ventured out into the newer sections of the city both in the east and west as well as the villages in its vicinity. I became particularly close to two young Muslim Arab cousins who had each recently married, and I was privileged to spend quality time with them and their extended families. This was during a very special period in Israel. The Palestinians that had come under Israeli control were relieved to find that the Israelis did not engage in a campaign of rape and pillage as they had feared during the 967 War. They were happy when many of their villages were hooked into the electric grid for the first time, and they enjoyed the fruit of that early period when Israelis swarmed into the territories and spent money freely, thus buoy- ing the economic status of many Palestinian families. There was a general feeling at this time among both Israelis and Palestinians that the situation was temporary, so the two sides encouraged engagement at a variety of levels. I felt welcomed as a Jew in the homes of many Arabs, and I took full advan- tage of that welcome in order to learn something of the culture, the language, the music, and the religious worldview of my new friends. That golden age soon passed. The political situation became increasingly tense and violent PREFACE xi over the years, and misunderstandings and cultural misreadings sometimes caused hurt between my friends and me. But our relationship remained strong and we remain close to this day. That first visit in 970 was not spent entirely among Arabs. I also lived on a border kibbutz for a few months and found a deep personal affinity with the struggles and dreams of Zionism. My experience among Jews deepened my sense of connection with my collective past and aspirations for a com- mon future when Jews would live in peace in the state of Israel. I subsequently returned to Israel many times to study and work and visit, as many American Jews do. But I always spent time with my Arab friends, and I always kept very closely in touch with their developments. It was that profound experience in 970 that forever changed my life. I found myself continually being drawn back to the relationship between Jews and Arabs and between Judaism and Islam.