Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | RELATIONS WITH OTHER RELIGIONSThe Christian claim that Jesus Christ is the son of God is well known. This hasbeen their belief ever since Paul distorted the Christian faith. On the other hand, theclaim by the Jews that Ezra was the son of God is not known today. What we findtoday in Jewish religious writings about Ezra is a description which shows him as askilful scribe of the Torah and that he dedicated himself to the pursuit of knowledgeof the Lord’s law. Nevertheless, the fact that the Qur’ān attributes to them thisassertion that Ezra was the son of God is irrefutable evidence that at least some ofthem, particularly the Jews of Madinah, used to believe so and that this wascommonly accepted among them. The Qur’ān faced the Jews and the Christians in anopen and clear way. Had there been anything untrue in what it attributed to them,they would have found in it a valid argument to support their denial of the truth ofthe Prophet’s message.The late Shaikh Rashīd Riđā’ gives a useful summary about Ezra’s position andstatus as viewed by the Jews and adds his own comments. It is useful to quote a fewof these paragraphs here so that we have an insight into what the Jews believe. 24The Jewish Encyclopaedia (1903 edition) mentions that Ezra marks thespringtime in the national history of Judaism. “The flowers appear on theearth” refers to Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra was worthy of being the vehicle ofthe Law, had it not been already given through Moses. It was forgotten butEzra restored it. But for its sins, Israel in the time of Ezra would havewitnessed miracles as in the time of Joshua... Ezra re-established the text ofthe Pentateuch, introducing therein the Assyrian or square characters,apparently as a polemical measure against the Samaritans. He showed hisdoubts concerning the correctness of some words of the text by placing pointsover them... the beginnings of the Jewish calendar are traced back to him.In the Dictionary of the Bible, Dr George Box says that Ezra was a Jewish priest,a famous scribe who lived for a time in Babylon in the reign of Artaxerxes, ofthe long hands. In the seventh year of his reign he permitted Ezra to take alarge number of the Jewish people to Jerusalem around 457 BC. (Ezra p. 7)The journey took them four months...`In Jewish tradition, Ezra’s position is comparable to that of Moses and Iliya.It is said that he founded the large assembly, collected the books of the Holy24 This quotation is translated from Arabic. It contains portions which were originally in English orother languages. I have tried hard to find the quoted parts in their original language, but I met withonly little success. What also hampered my efforts was the fact that in the early part of the twentiethcentury, when Shaikh Riđā’was writing, referencing in Arabic writings lacked any standard pattern.Besides, we often find a quoted text unmarked because it was sufficient that an author mentions thename of the author he was quoting. Moreover, the spelling of many of the names mentioned could beeasily mistaken. — Editor's note.101