From: dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren)
Subject: On Arab Jews and on the Role of Biblical Prophets in Islam
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 17:12:03 GMT

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I am posting this for Muhammad Ali Habib Rahmatullah Siddiqui, who does
not have access to the net. His e-mail is RBNXHS@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com

-Danny Keren
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Danny,
      You are wrong about Iran. In the Iranian parliament, there are
Jewish members, who were elected in a due process. As far as Syria is
concerned, it is under a military oligarchy, nothing to do with democracy
or Islam. There is no voting except the presidential election, and the
only person who contests (if there is any term for it in a totalitarian
regime) is the President, Hafez al-Assad. By the way, he is not a Muslim,
he belongs to the Nusayri cult. So the present practices of the government
cannot be looked upon as representing Islam, despite the fact that over-
whelming majority of its people are Muslims. In those countries which
have democracies, everyone is allowed to vote (it is a shame that most
don't have democratic institutions), irrespective of gender or religion
or race. Islam traditionally has given the right to its people to vote
14 centuries ago (yes, to both the sexes), 1000+ years before the West. The
current govts. in the Muslim world represent the legacy of their colonial
past, where authorities have been transferred to stooges. In a few place
like Algeria where revolutionary leaders took over, the situation did not
improve either, because of their adherency to communistic principles.
The West has also found it comfortable to deal with these despots, ruling
under the banner of socialisim/Marxism, they are afraid of dealing with
true Islamic govts. (based on their Crusadic experience). As such, we see
how the West condoned the recent happenings in Algeria where Islamists
won the election genuinely.
      As to your other question posted under a different header, let me
also respond. According to Qur'an, all the prophets who were sent for the
guidance of mankind, from Adam to Noah to Abraham to to Moses to David to
Isaiah to Ezekiel to Jesus to Muhammad (alaihe was salam), were Muslims,
and the religion with God had always been total submission to the will of
God to live in peace with himself, his neighbor, his family and the naturet
(which is Islam). And in that belief, there is no room for worship of anything
except God (Allah). Mankind, unfortunately, did stray from this true path
from time to time, which necessiated sending His messengers to different parts
at different junctures in the history. God's mercy is not locked up with any
particular group, but it is for anyone who carries out His commandments.
With time, certain restrictions, however, were either relaxed or kept, and
others imposed. For example, drinking wine was Halal (allowed) until the
prophethood of Muhammad (AWS). The fundamental laws (concerning worship
or devotion to God) were never changed. Slavery was condoned before the
coming of Muhammad (AWS), but the Qur'an asked for its adherents to free them.
In the traditional sense, one would, therefore, see more similarities between
the various semitic religions than there are differences (most of these
differences are because of the time factor on secondarary matters). Christiani-
ty, despite its origin among the Semites, adopted customs which are foreign to
its inner taste, as such, there is a good amount of polytheism in it now
(thanks to Pauline christians). The other problem which is more important
than anything else, which makes Islam to be differnt than others, has to do
with the preservation of the original writings/revelations of the prophets.
There is no denying that none of the religious books (Torah, Avesta, Gospels,
etc.), except Qur'an can be traced back to its relator(s) with authenticity.
Yes, the Qur'an has maintained its textual purity for the last 14 centuries
(a claim which cannot be shared by other scriptures). This purity of the
Qur'an makes the Muslims very comfortable about their belief. The Muslims
consider the Prophets to be all guided and make no distinction between them.
      If you have further questions, please, feel free to ask. You may like to
post this response of mine (my side of the computer has problems posting
articles) in the Net. I shall be obliged. Salam alaykum.
- Siddiqui.


Danny,
      I traced back your article in order to find if I had missed any of
your questions in my previous reply. I surely did, and that's why trying
to respond back again.
      About the age of Ishmael (the son of Abraham, who was according to
Muslim belief meant for sacrifice), I don't remember mentioning the age
in the Qur'an, but it does mention that he was of sound mind and intelligence
when he agreed to be sacrificed (just as you mentioned what the Bible said).
I don't have the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) book handy with me
to dig up further on that. In that the story of Ishmael is elaborated further
(probably with age also). My personal understanding is he was probably about
12 years old (I can't back up my statement for not having any Hadith book
with me).
      The Qur'an does not mention all the Prophets of the old, only a few
are mentioned. Some of them are Idris (Enoch), Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Job
Solomon, Lut (Lot), Isaiah, Elisha, Ezekiel (Zhul Kifl), Isaac (Ishaq), Aaron
(Haroon),Ishmael (Ismail), Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Zakariya, Yahya (John
the Baptist), Jonah, Jesus (^Isa) and Muhammad. And there are others which you
cannot find in the Bible, e.g., Shuayeb, Saleh, Hud, and others. There is
also a mention about Khidr (not by this name though), who some identify
with Elijah (we are not sure who he is, except that he met Moses). And
probably there are some more which I missed. Of these, a few are mentioned
more often than others, e.g., Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and
Muhammad.
      As I mentioned earlier, yes, we believe in their teachings and consider
them to be rightly guided Prophets from Allah. The Biblical codes (including
the ten commandments) are incorporated within the Islamic codes (as explained
earlier) and we live by it, so there is no conflict here. Only in matters of
certain foods there is some difference (don't forget we don't eat, consume
anything that is connected with pig; and that our males are circumcised
following the covenant between Abraham and God). The concept of 'chosen
people' (as the Jews believe that it is eternally locked up for them) is
however rejected. It is worthwhile mentioning that Qur'an says that any
person who carries out God's commandments as shown by the Prophet(s)
has truly attained higher status and is promised Paradise in the hereafter.
As such, the rightly-guided followers of the Prophets of God (e.g., bani-
Israil and bani-Ishamel) are Muslims.
      You may post my response in the Net. Shalom/salam/peace/shanti.
- Siddiqui.

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