Dr. Khaleel Mohammed was phenomenal this evening. He is a first class scholar in Sunni and Shia Islam and has done extensive research on the imagery of the Jew in classical Islamic literature. He gave a brief 45 minute overview of Jewish/Islamic relations based on theology, history and the role of Israel as a nation. Prominent local Muslim and Jewish scholars facilitated questions from the audience for another half hour.
The points he made that struck me:
The theology of the Koran is similar to and compatible with Judaism. Mohammed (the prophet) revered Jewish and Christian teachings and brought those teachings to the Arab (Saudi peninsula) world in an Arab context. He gives an example of how the Koran mentions the sacrifice of Abraham's son - but not by name since it was assumed that all understood it was Isaac since this is based on Jewish teachings that Mohammed consistently referred to. Common Muslim culture presumes Ishmael (no little of which is due to tradition).
He compared the Jewish oral teachings (in historical context in 500 AD the Jewish population was an oppressed minority needing to codify the practical answers needed by the dispersed community) with the Islamic oral teachings (Hadith - written during the zenith of Islamic dominance where the writings had a perspective of dominance).
He also discussed references in the Koran that declare that Israel belongs to the Jews and that early Islamic exegesis saw the Jews returning to the land of Israel at 'the end of times'. He then discussed how that has been supplanted by later oral traditions that had other motivations. He pointed out that oral traditions are even 'ranked' by their trustworthiness (my term) since they are not considered divine or even reputable.
He also brought up some of the Jewish and Christian polemic but put them in context (the 'new religion' has to find fault with the 'old' one - so Christianity found fault with Judaism, as Islam did with Christianity and Judaism).
Though soft spoken, he does offer provocative statements, such as Islam is not a pacifist religion since it follows the Jewish (Torah) tradition, which is to say that the Koran does not condone aggressive unprovoked behavior, but like Judaism says attempt reconciliation but if you are attacked retaliate in full measure.
When asked whether Sunni or Shia Islam is more likely to accept rapprochement with Judaism, he reflected that Sunni is more likely since structurally Shia and Judaism are so similar the competitiveness or need to show contrast exerts itself.
Dr. Mohammed is no idealist, he sees the Islamic reformation just beginning and needing generations to evolve. I fear that just like the Christian reformation the byproduct is centuries of extreme violence and instability throughout the world.
He sees that real dialog between the three faiths is difficult because of the perceived potential to convert the other. My belief is that given Dr. Mohammed's understanding (much like the late Rabbi Sigal's work discussing the overwhelming affinity between 1st century Judaism and early Christianity) is that in their core each of these three religions is fully compatible with each other and capable of helping us build positive relationships. This is a future that is possible to build.
Interesting. Bernard Lewis has a lot in his writings on the relationship between the three great monotheistic religions - Judaism is tied to each of the universalist rivals that mirror one another's claims.
Posted by: mark safranski | January 31, 2005 at 09:15 PM
I am so happy to see that my talk favorably impressed you. Yet, for all the history that I talked about...that of origins etc...I am worried now more than ever. For I see that the rising anti-Semitism in france, England etc will encourage radical islamists (and others) to see support for their Jew-hatred. As a Muslim, I am concerned primarily with how those who follow my professed faith impact the world....and for all our protestations of innocence and the classical line that the radicals are a miniscule minority...I find it really scary when on my travels throughout the US I find evidence that the divide between radicalism and "orthodoxy" is getting somewhat elastic.
Hopefully, my humble contributions to scholarship will bring focus not by outsiders, but by Muslims themselves to the already full-blown crisis that is developing into something much more problematic.
Posted by: khaleel mohammed | April 12, 2005 at 08:35 PM