Islam and Antisemitism

From the Religious Perspective and the History of Muslims rescuing Jews under Persecution

by Dr. Zahid Aziz

Chapter 4. Downfall of the Israelites, but Water to come from Rocks

یٰبَنِیۡۤ اِسۡرَآءِیۡلَ اذۡکُرُوۡا نِعۡمَتِیَ الَّتِیۡۤ اَنۡعَمۡتُ عَلَیۡکُمۡ وَ اَنِّیۡ فَضَّلۡتُکُمۡ عَلَی الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ﴿۴۷﴾

“O Children of Israel, call to mind My favour which I (God) bestowed on you and that I made you excel the nations.” (The Holy Quran, 2:47)

ثُمَّ قَسَتۡ قُلُوۡبُکُمۡ مِّنۡۢ بَعۡدِ ذٰلِکَ فَہِیَ کَالۡحِجَارَۃِ اَوۡ اَشَدُّ قَسۡوَۃً ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنَ الۡحِجَارَۃِ لَمَا یَتَفَجَّرُ مِنۡہُ الۡاَنۡہٰرُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنۡہَا لَمَا یَشَّقَّقُ فَیَخۡرُجُ مِنۡہُ الۡمَآءُ ؕ وَ اِنَّ مِنۡہَا لَمَا یَہۡبِطُ مِنۡ خَشۡیَۃِ اللّٰہِ ؕوَ مَا اللّٰہُ بِغَافِلٍ عَمَّا تَعۡمَلُوۡنَ ﴿۷۴﴾

“Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, in fact worse in hardness. And surely there are some rocks from which streams burst forth; and there are some of them which split apart so water flows from them; and there are some of them which fall down in awe of Allah. And Allah is not heedless of what you do.” (The Holy Quran, 2:74)

Israelites made to Excel other Nations:

The Holy Quran, close to the beginning of its second chapter, deals with the history of the Israelites (Banī Isrāīl or the Jews). It begins this history in v. 40 with the words:

یٰبَنِیۡۤ اِسۡرَآءِیۡلَ اذۡکُرُوۡا نِعۡمَتِیَ الَّتِیۡۤ اَنۡعَمۡتُ عَلَیۡکُمۡ

“O Children of Israel, call to mind My favour which I bestowed on you. …” (The Holy Quran, 2:40)

Then in v. 47, which I quoted above, and later in v. 122, it adds to it these words:

وَ اَنِّیۡ فَضَّلۡتُکُمۡ عَلَی الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ

“and that I made you excel the nations.” (The Holy Quran, 2:47, 122)

A nation on whom Allah bestowed His own favour, or ni‘mat, and He made it to excel other nations, cannot be regarded as bad in its origin, no matter what wrong form its later deeds may have taken. The favour which God has mentioned begins with Him saving them from the Pharaoh, drowning this tyrant and his army, and bringing the Israelites to safety across the sea. This was then followed by the great favour of granting a scripture and a law to them through Moses. They were also granted rule in the land under David and Solomon, with Solomon ruling over an extensive territory. Prophets appeared among them one after another. In terms of these favours, God made them excel other nations.

The Arab idol-worshippers, who were opponents of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, in fact his kinsmen, said that the revelation received by Moses and that received by the Holy Prophet Muhammad were just two false books deceiving people, but supporting each other, and that they disbelieved in both revelations. The Quran directed the Holy Prophet to reply as follows:

“Then bring some (other) Book from Allah which is a better guide than these two, I will follow it.” (The Holy Quran, 28:49)

Although prophets appeared among all nations, yet it seems that they were more numerous among the Israelites up to the time of their last prophet, Jesus, than other nations, and that before the Quran came into the world the books of the Israelites were the best guide among the books of other scriptures.

The excelling of the Jews over other nations, as mentioned in the Quran, may also be interpreted in another way. In the past one thousand years or so, Jews have made a vast contribution in many fields of life, such as science, art, literature, philosophy, etc. First, they made these contributions while living and prospering under Muslim rule under the Khalifas [Caliphs] in Baghdad and under Muslim rule in Spain. Later they made these contributions under modern Western civilisation. Their contributions were much more than would be expected from their small population as compared to other communities. Thus, the statement in the Quran is fulfilled in this way as well.

Their Deviation and Downfall:

Then the Quran gives an account of the repeated deviation of the Israelites from the teachings of their prophets, even during the time of Moses, the founder of their law. They preached good but did not practise it, as the Quran says of them:

اَتَاۡمُرُوۡنَ النَّاسَ بِالۡبِرِّ وَ تَنۡسَوۡنَ اَنۡفُسَکُمۡ وَ اَنۡتُمۡ تَتۡلُوۡنَ الۡکِتٰبَ ؕ اَفَلَا تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ ﴿۴۴﴾

“Do you tell people to be good and neglect your own souls while you read the Book? Have you then no sense?” (The Holy Quran, 2:44)

They turned to the worship of man-made gods and idols, they were reluctant to believe in God unless He appeared before their eyes, they complained about any hardship they were required to undergo for the sake of their religion, and they opposed and even tried to kill their own prophets.

These are not accusations made against them only by the Quran but were already stated against them in their own scriptures by their own prophets. In fact, their own prophets used very strong language against their repeated turning to idol-worship. Some of their prophets told the Israelites that they were like God’s bride and He was a devoted and loving husband to them. But they, the bride, deserted Him repeatedly for one man after another. A Christian commentator of the Bible explains about the prophet Ezekiel¹ that God revealed to him that the Israelites were originally like a helpless baby whom God rescued, then this baby girl was engaged and married to her rescuer, but then this prophet says that the wife turned into a prostitute and baby killer. All this is of course a metaphorical description.

The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hosea denounce the people of Israel for their degenerate condition in the strongest terms. Isaiah described them as:

“… the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned² the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.” (Isaiah, 1:4 (NIV))

God said to the prophet Jeremiah:

“Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.” (Jeremiah, 3:6 (NKJV))

This refers to their worship of idols and performing the rituals of idol-worshipping nations, and this word ‘harlot’, meaning ‘prostitute’, is used numerous times in the Bible to condemn the Israelites for this misdeed.

God revealed to the prophet Hosea to say to the children of Israel about their ills and evils:

“There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.” (Hosea, 4:1–2 (NKJV))

As to killing their prophets, when Jesus arose among the Israelites he told their religious leaders that they were hypocrites because, he said:

“You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. … Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you…” (Matthew, 23:29–31, 37)

There is thus no justification for accusing the Quran of speaking badly about the Jews. The Quran is simply referring to the wrongs they committed against God as mentioned and denounced by their own scriptures in detail in very strong language.

Muslims to Degenerate like the Israelites:

It should also be remembered that many Muslim scholars of the Quran have expressed the view that the reason why the Quran recounts the moral downfall and degeneration of the Israelites is to warn the Muslims that they would suffer a similar downfall. Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maudoodi, the famous orthodox, Sunni religious leader, in his commentary of the Quran, Tafhim-ul-Quran, writes under these verses which start at v. 40 of chapter 2 that while it is the Jews who are mentioned and addressed here:

“it is also meant to forewarn the Muslimsagainst the pitfalls of degeneration into which the followers of the former Prophets had fallen. That is why, on the one hand, the moral weaknesses of the Jews, their wrong notions about religion, their wrong ways of thinking and living, have been pointed out, one by one, while, on the other, the demands of the true faith have been stated so that the Muslims are able to see the Right Way clearly and avoid wrong ways. The Holy Prophet knew by Divine inspiration that, by and by, the Muslims also would follow the same ways … Therefore, according to a hadith, he forewarned that they would discard the Guidance and follow, step by step, the communities of the former Prophets, that is, the Jews and the Christians, in their wrong ways.”

Forgiveness for the Israelites and “Water from Rocks”:

In the account given in the Quran at the beginning of chapter 2, it is stated that again and again God forgave the disobedience of the Jews. To quote:

ثُمَّ عَفَوۡنَا عَنۡکُمۡ مِّنۡۢ بَعۡدِ ذٰلِکَ لَعَلَّکُمۡ تَشۡکُرُوۡنَ ﴿۵۲﴾

“Then We pardoned you after that so that you may give thanks.” (The Holy Quran, 2:52)

فَتَابَ عَلَیۡکُمۡ ؕ اِنَّہٗ ہُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِیۡمُ ﴿۵۴﴾

“So He turned to you mercifully. Surely He is the Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful.” (The Holy Quran, 2:54)

قُوۡلُوۡا حِطَّۃٌ نَّغۡفِرۡ لَکُمۡ خَطٰیٰکُمۡ ؕ وَ سَنَزِیۡدُ الۡمُحۡسِنِیۡنَ ﴿۵۸﴾

“… make petition for forgiveness. We will forgive you your wrongs and increase the reward of those who do good (to others).” (The Holy Quran, 2:58)

Then the Quran tells us what happened when they repeated their sins after being forgiven each time. This is in the second verse I quoted at the head of this section:

“Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, in fact worse in hardness. And surely there are some rocks from which streams burst forth; and there are some of them which split apart so water flows from them; and there are some of them which fall down in awe of (or reverence for) Allah. And Allah is not heedless of what you do.” (The Holy Quran, 2:74)

Commenting on this verse, Maulana Muhammad Ali writes:

“The hardened hearts are likened to rocks, and then metaphorically spoken of as bursting forth so that streams of water flow from them; others are spoken of as splitting apart so that water flows from them; others still as falling down for fear of Allah. The significance is clear; even hardened hearts would receive life — nay more, they would give life to others, be a source of spiritual life for others as water and streams are sources of life in the physical world.”³

A famous scientific achievement of the modern state of Israel is that it has performed the amazing feat of creating farms in its desert and turned sand into green fields. Its desert agriculture is renowned in the world. Israel produces more fruit per year than the much bigger country of Pakistan, and its tomato yield for every acre planted is six times the average per acre for the world as a whole. All this is due to its water management and extensive, record-breaking recycling of waste water. And as a well-known international magazine put it:

“the country has become one of the world’s leaders in how to wring the most out of parsimonious amounts of rainfall and turn a parched landscape into a productive garden.”⁴

This is like the picture portrayed in the above verse of the Quran, of streams of water coming from hard rocks and water flowing from them. The Quran is clearly saying that just as this happens in the physical sense, it can happen also in the spiritual sense, so that hearts would also no longer remain hard and spiritual deserts. The hearts would open up, they would fall before Allah in awe and gratitude, the water of truth of the Quran would flow inside them and they would become the sources for spreading its truth to others in the world.

Sounds impossible for the present-day state of Israel, doesn’t it? It is when such prophesied apparent impossibilities become reality that the Quran is proved to be the Word of God.

Footnotes:

See: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-commentary/bible-commentary-ezekiel-16 on Ezekiel, ch. 16. ↩︎
In the New King James Version of the Bible, instead of “they have spurned” it says: “They have provoked to anger”. ↩︎
The Holy Quran, Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary by Maulana Muhammad Ali (2002 reprint), under 2:74. ↩︎
The Christian Science Monitor, June 2015. ↩︎

Top