Two Reform Rabbis And Prophet Muhammad – OpEd
Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810–74), the most influential of the founders of Reform Judaism, was also the first university trained rabbi to write a book about Judaism and Islam, in the same year that he received his doctorate (1833) from the University of Bonn, when he was already a rabbi in Wiesbaden. In his memory the Abraham Geiger College at the University of Potsdam was founded in 1999 as Germany’s first rabbinical seminary in Germany after the Holocaust.
Rabbi Geiger was a prominent German Jewish scholar who advocated for changes in Jewish practice that would make it easier for Jews to live Jewish lives in a modern society. His reforms included shortening the orthodox prayerbook, permitting instrumental music in the synagogue service and praying in the vernacular.
However, he opposed Sunday worship and refused to serve any congregation that broke with the established Jewish community. The issue of change is one that constantly challenges all faiths: how much can be altered to accommodate new lifestyles and attitudes? In 1870 he became chief rabbi of the Berlin Reform/Liberal congregations and director of the newly established seminary for the academic study of Judaism.
Many early Western Christian scholars of Islam believed that Jewish acquaintances of Prophet Muhammad were the source behind a number of Biblical and rabbinic narratives that are also found in the Qur’an. Perhaps the most common Jewish source that figures in the borrowing theory is the Midrash [rabbinic expansion of Biblical verses] Pirke de-Rabbi Eli`ezer.
The earliest person to popularize the hypothesis of borrowing from this midrashic text into the Qur’an was Rabbi Abraham Geiger in his 1833 book “Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?” which was translated into English with an erroneous ‘Judaism and Islam’ title in 1896 by missionaries in India 22 years after Geiger’s death. Aufgenommen does not mean borrow or copy. It means to absorb interactively or synergistically.
Rabbi Geiger’s book was not a comparison of the similarities in general of the two religions; rather it was about those events within the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature that were also shared by the Qur’an with somewhat different insight perspectives.
Subsequent orientalists, apologists and missionaries claimed that while Prophet Muhammad was compiling the verses of the Qur’an, he utilized Jewish source material from Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer that he acquired from some ‘Jewish friends’ which led to deviations in the Qur’an text [from the Bible text], culminating in various verses concerning Cain and Abel, the golden calf, Moses “leprous” hand, and Pharaoh’s repentance. More recent authors merely repeat Geiger’s original claims.
For example, in the narration about Cain and Able the Qur’an states: “The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones. Then Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother’s (corpus). “Woe is me!” said he; “Was I not even able to be like this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?” then he became full of regrets. [5:30-31]
This burial part of the story of Cain and Abel in the Qur’an being borrowed from the Pirke de-Rabbi Eli`ezer is the most popular of all the alleged borrowing claims. It appears in almost all the Christian missionary literature dealing with the Qur’an and Islam, either in the form of published books or on the web.
The actual story in Pirke de-Rabbi Eli`ezer reads: “Adam and his helpmate were sitting and weeping and mourning for him, and they did not know what to do (with Abel corpus), for they were unaccustomed to burial. A raven (came), one of its fellow birds was dead (at its side). (The raven) said: I will teach this man what to do. It took its fellow and dug in the earth, hid it and buried it before them. Adam said: Like this raven will I act. He took the corpse of Abel and dug in the earth and buried it. [Friedlander, Pirke De Rabbi Eliezer, 1916, p. 156]
Comparing the two narrations of Cain and Abel in the Qur’an and in the Jewish text Pirke de-Rabbi Eli`ezer, Rabbi Geiger says:”The one event mentioned is their sacrifice and the murder it lead to. Muhammad makes them hold a conversation before the murder, and one is likewise given in the Jerusalem Targum on the strength of the words in Genesis, “Cain said unto Abel his brother.”
Still, the matter of the conversation is given so differently in each case that we do not consider it worthwhile to compare the two passages more closely.” That was Geiger’s error.
The Hebrew Bible text says “Now Cain talked to Abel his brother; and when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” (Genesis 4:8) but there is no statement of what Cain said; so both the Jerusalem Targum (translation into Aramaic) and the Arabic Qur’an provided the missing words.
Geiger should have discussed the two different insight perspectives equally, instead of the small difference between what is attributed to Cain in the Qur’an and what is ascribed by rabbinic Jews to his parents as in Pirke de-Rabbi Eli`ezer.
As an unOrthodox Reform Rabbi I follow a different model by following an important principle is the next ayah which states: “Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for [murdering another] soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain all of mankind. And whoever saves one [person]- it is as if he had saved all of mankind. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, were transgressors throughout the land.” (Qur’an 5:32)
Both of these verses are very important, yet many academic scholars, both religious and non-religious, get into vigorous arguments over 5:31 and 5:32 because there are statements in Jewish rabbinic literature which are similar to these verses: 5:31 and 5:32.
Unfortunately, academics who treat other religions academically usually do not believe that other scriptures are actually Divinely inspired. Indeed, many academics do not believe that even their own sacred scriptures are Divinely inspired. They use the same kinds of explanations to understand a revealed religion that they would use to explain all secular history and literature.
The Mishnah (an early third century compilation of the oral Torah), states, “Adam was created as an individual to teach you that anyone who destroys a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as if he destroyed the whole world.” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5)
And the Quran states, “One who kills a human being, unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, would be as if he slew the whole people, and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.” (Qur’an 5:32)
Academics explain the similarity of the two statements by assuming that since the Jewish statement is four centuries earlier than the Qur’anic one, Prophet Muhammad must have heard it from a Rabbi or other educated Jew in Medina.
But I believe Prophet Muhammad was a prophet of God who confirms the Torah of Prophet Moses. Prophet Muhammad has no need to learn this statement from another human being. Academics might reply that the statement is not found in the written Torah; it appears in the oral Torah written by the Rabbis in the Mishnah more than 1,000 years after Moses.
The Rabbis maintain that the Mishnah is part of the oral Torah that was passed down from Moses through many generations just as ahadith have been passed down orally through several generations before being written down. Indeed, the Quran itself introduces this statement as follows, “It is because of this that We ordained for the Children of Israel “one who kills a human being … (Quran, 5:32)
No prophet of God needs to be informed by another human what should be written in Holy Scripture. God is the source of all Divine inspiration. There are several verses in the Qur’an that mention things from the oral Torah.
My perspective is that Prophets and Holy Scriptures cannot in reality oppose one another because they all come from one source. Prophets are all brothers; it is as if they have the same “father” (God) and different “mothers” (motherlands, mother tongues, nations, cultures and historical eras).
All of these factors produce different rituals and legal systems, but in theology they can differ only in unessential details. Religions differ because the circumstances of each nation receiving them differ. Where sacred Scriptures differ they do not nullify each other; they only cast additional light on each other.
I studied Islam at UCLA 64 years ago, and then again while I was in Rabbinical school. Over the years I continued to read the Qur’an and other Islamic books. I read these books as the Prophet taught his followers in a Hadith: “not as a believer, and not as a disbeliever.” What does that mean?
The Qur’an, of course, is sacred scripture for Muslims. A disciple of Muhammad named Abu Hurayra related, “The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah’s Apostle said [to the Muslims]. “Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, ‘We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.'” (Saḥîḥ Al-Buhârî 7362)
Following Muhammad’s teaching I likewise commit neither to believing nor disbelieving in the Qur’an. If I believed in the Qur’an, I would be a member of the Muslim Ummah (community). On the other hand, I cannot disbelieve in the Qur’an because I believe that Muhammad was a prophet and I respect the Qur’an as a kindred revelation, first revealed to a kindred people, in a kindred language. In fact, the people, the language and the theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other on earth.
Thus, I feel that I am an Islamic Jew, meaning that I am a faithful Jew submitting to the will of God, in keeping with being a Reform Jewish Rabbi. As a Rabbi I am faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham, the first Jew to be a Muslim, and I submit to be bound by the covenant and commandments that God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.
Furthermore, as a Reform Rabbi I believe that Rabbis should modify ancient Jewish traditions to prevent them from making religion hard to practice. This important teaching in the Qur’an was taught by Prophet Muhammad twelve centuries before the rise of Reform Judaism in early 19th century Germany. An often recited Muslim prayer at the end of Sura 2 of the Qur’an says, “Our Lord …, charge us not with a burden such as you laid upon those before us” (Quran 2:286).
Islamic commentators say that this refers to the stringent expansion of the Torah’s Passover, Shabbat and Kosher laws, which are a hard burden, in contrast to the Muslim Shariah, which, in the words of a hadith, is “easy. For “Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship.” (Qur’an, 2:185)
As Abu Huraira related, Prophet Muhammad said, “Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded….” (Saḥîḥ Al-Bukhârî 39)
Rabbi Geiger should have discussed this Hadith: “Abu Dharr narrated that one day he asked the Messenger of Allah: How many prophets are there in all? He replied: One hundred and twenty four thousand. He then asked: How many of them were messenger prophets? He replied: Three hundred thirteen from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam…The first prophet among Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them was Isa and they were in all six hundred (Jewish) prophets.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32)
We know the names of some of the prophets sent to the Israelite people, but we do not know the names of many others. The Rabbis taught that 48 male prophets and 7 female prophets prophesied in Israel: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Hulda and Queen Esther.
“And it is thus that We appointed [chose] you (Muslims) to be the community of the middle way, so that you might be witnesses to all mankind, and the Messenger might be a witness to you.” (Qur’an 2:143) or “And who is better in religion than one who submits himself to Allah while being a doer of good and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.” (4:125)
