islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Life of Prophet Muhammad and the Birth of Jihadtoward these faiths suggest that he sought to preach a monotheistic faith among the idolatrous Arabs, whichwould form part of a common faith with Judaism and Christianity. The early verses of the Quran recognizethe Jews as a well-regarded people: ‘And certainly We gave the Book and the wisdom and the prophecy to thechildren of Israel (Jews), and We gave them of the goodly things, and We made them excel the nations’[Quran 45:16]. The Quran says of the Jewish scriptures that it contained God’s "guidance and light" [Quran5:44] and that it was God’s blessing and guidance for the righteous [Quran 6:153–54]. The Quran recognizesPalestine (Jerusalem) as a "blessed land" in multiple places. At the beginning, Muhammad looked uponJerusalem as the centre of his new faith. It is from Jerusalem that he, allegedly, ascended the heaven. Headopted it as the direction of Muslim prayers after migrating to Medina.Muhammad had also copied the Jewish custom of making contribution to charity, gave it an Aramaicname, zakat, and made it one of the five pillars of Islam. Following the Jewish tradition, he also prohibited theeating of pig meat, introduced ceremonial ablutions and purifications, and established the "Sabbathobservance" on Saturdays (later changed to Friday). Also following the Jewish customs and practices, heestablished the fasting of ashura—later changed to Ramadan—another of the five pillars of Islam. He,following Jewish traditions, instituted circumcision for Muslim [Abu Dawud 41:5251] 70 and claimed to havehimself been born circumcised. At the beginning, he used to call himself Navi, the Jewish term for Prophet.Muhammad’s bitterness with the JewsThe Jews ignored the exhortations of Allah and Prophet Muhammad to embrace Islam. There were manyinaccuracies and distortions of Jewish scriptures and traditions in the Quran. For example, Quran 7:157claimed that Muhammad, allegedly a descendent of Abraham’s son Ishmael, was the messiah whose comingwas foretold in the Torah. This claim contradicted earlier revealed verses of the Quran, which clearly said thatprophethood is bestowed upon the children of Israel only [Quran 45:16] and more specifically upon thefamily of Isaac and Jacob [Quran 29:27]. Muhammad was an Arab, not an Israelite and his family-line leadingup to Ishmael was different from those of Isaac and Jacob. The Jewish rabbis easily refuted his claim ofprophethood by pointing to this clear contradiction in the Quran.Moreover, Ishmael was an illegitimate son of Abraham, born of his relation with an Egyptianconcubine, Hagar, of non-Semitic race. He was, therefore, outside God’s covenants with Abraham. The Biblealso described him as "uncouth and violent" [Gen 16:12]. Hence, God could not bestow prophethood uponIshmael’s posterity. Jews also rejected Muhammad’s claim that the Quran was a divine revelation, because itwas not revealed in a sacred language, Hebrew or Syriac, but in Arabic, a language of poets and drunkards.The Jews also pointed to multiple errors in Muhammad’s versions of the events of the Torah and called himignorant of Jewish scriptures, which his revelation claimed to affirm. For example, he wrongly accused theJews of saying that Ezra (Ozayr) was the son of God [Quran 9:30], which they easily refuted. In sum, theJews rejected Muhammad’s claim of prophethood by terming his alleged revelations as garbled, fallaciousand, at times, unintelligible.These bitter arguments and antagonism with the Jews came to a head in about October 623, barelyone year after Muhammad’s arrival in Medina and shortly before the battle of Badr. Having failed to enticethe Jews (also Christians) to Islam, an exasperated and angry Allah now sought to break away from furtherpersuasion of them and revealed: ‘And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until youfollow their religion. Say: Surely Allah’s guidance that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desiresafter the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper’ [Quran2:120].70. References of hadiths (or Sunnah) from the authentic sources, namely Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and SunanAbu Dawud, have been included in the parentheses within the text.32