What is the Qur'anic Criticism on the Jews?

 

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Understanding Islam

 

Question:

I read your answer titled 'Judaism and Islam' and I must say that it was an interesting reading indeed. But exactly what is the criticism of Judaism by Islam? You see, the Qur'an criticises the Christians for believing that Jesus (pbuh) is part of a Trinity. But how about the Jews? I only recall a passage in the Qur'an where it says that the Jews, along with the Christians, take their "rabbis and monks besides God".

I hope you could make the matter clearer.

Wassalam.

Answer:

Some of the major issues regarding which the Qur'an has criticised the Jews are:

1.      Mixing falsehood with truth and hiding the truth and thereby making it difficult for people to find the truth of God (this applies to all the predictions of the Torah relating to the Prophet (pbuh) and Abraham's relation with Arabia and the Ka`bah.) - (Al-Baqarah 2: 42, 159, 173, Aal Imraan 3: 71);

2.      Making additions to the book of God on their own (Al-Baqarah 2: 79);

3.      Forsaking prayers (Maryam 19: 59);

4.      Neither spending in the way of God nor encouraging others to spend in the way of God (Al-Nisaa 4: 37);

5.      Ascribing to the false belief that as they were the chosen ones in this world, they would also be among the selected ones in the hereafter and thus, whatever their deeds be, they would ultimately be blessed with paradise (Al-Baqarah 2: 80, Aal Imraan 3: 24). This belief affected their moralities to the extent that they even became arrogant toward the directives of the Shari`ah;

6.      Ascribing to the false belief that they are only to believe in a prophet who is from amongst the Israelites (Al-Nisaa 53 - 55);

7.      Restricting honesty and moral interaction to their mutual interactions only with other Israelites (Aal Imraan 3: 75);

8.      Wasting a part of the revelation that God gave them (Al-Maaidah 5: 13);

9.      Acting only on that part of the Shari`ah which benefited them (Al-Baqarah 2: 85);

10.  Asking too many questions and thereby making God's Shari`ah more and more difficult to abide by. (Al-Baqarah 2: 67 - 71, 108);

11.  Breaking their promise with God, especially relating to the last Prophet (pbuh) - (Al-Nisaa 4: 155); and

12.  Killing the prophets of God (Al-Nisaa 4: 155).

I hope this helps.

 

 

Source: http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/text.asp?type=question&qid=318&sscatid=115;cf16084CE6=D995C396!MjY4ODY0NTpyYWRzZXJ2ZXI6l0rAQURj8pINhcVHe1W/hg==

 

 

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