Why Were Banu Israel The Only Ongoing Monotheistic Community? – OpEd

During the thousands of years before Prophet Abraham, Allah sent tens of thousands of prophets to all the bands, tribes, nations and empires on the earth, and not one of God’s Prophets was able to establish an ongoing to the present imageless monotheistic community. I do not know why polytheism and idol worship were so attractive to all the bands, tribes, nations and empires on earth, but it was. 

Prophet Muhammad said, “Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise.” (Sahih Bukhari 50:894) 

The unknown ‘minus one’ might be Prophet Muhammad’s reference to the too sacred to be uttered YHVH name revealed to Messenger Moses: “God also said to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. ‘ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exodus 3:15). 

“God said to Moshe: Ahiah Asher Ahiah “I WILL BECOME what I WANT TO BE, and He said, thus say to the children of Israel: Ahiah – “I WILL BECOME” has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14

In the Zabur of Prophet David, King of  Israel David says to the One God: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” (Psalms 5:11)

As the Quran states: (17:110): “Call Upon Allah, or call upon Rahman (the Compassionate One): By whatever name you call upon Him: For to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.”

There is not a single agreed-upon list that includes only 99 names, and many scholars feel that such a list was never explicitly given by Prophet Muhammad.

In Arabic, Allah means the One True Imageless God worthy of all devotion. Jewish and Christian Arabs refer to God as Allah, and He is the same One True Imageless God referred to in the Biblical passage “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God , the Lord is One”.  (Deuteronomy 6.4 & Mark 12.29)

“Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah, (the only) One. Allah, the Eternal (one). He does not beget, nor was He begotten; and there is none co-equal or comparable to Him.” (Quran 112)

“Allah!  To Him belong the Best Names.” (Quran 20:8)

“And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who believe or deny (against) His Names.” (Quran 7:180)

Say ˹O Prophet˺ “Allah! Lord over all authorities! You give authority to whoever You please and remove it from who You please; You honor whoever You please and disgrace who You please—all good is in Your Hands. Surely You ˹alone˺ are Most Capable of everything.” (Qur’an 3:26)

The Kādhōsh name means “holy” and it is found often in Prophet Isaiah and Prophet David’s Psalms, and occasionally in the other prophets. It appears usually in the phrase ḳedhōsh yisrā’ēl , “The Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 40:25; 43:3; 48:17)

The Yahweh  name was first made known at the burning bush of Moses (Exodus 3:13-16; 6:2-8). It means, “I WILL BE WHATEVER I WANT TO BE or BECOME” i.e. I am a Dynamic God of potentials. It is the name most distinctive of God as the God of Israel  (יהוה , a combination of the four letters (YHWH) with the vowels of ‘Ǎdhōnāy, transliterated as Yehōwāh but said aloud by Jews as ‘ădhōnāy).”  A short version of YHVH is Yah as in Exodus 15:2 “Yah is my strength and my might.” Yah is a frequent refrain in Prophet David’s Psalms as part of a cheer Hallelujah-Praise Yah. 

The Shadday name occurs sometimes in the compound ‘ēl shadday, sometimes alone. El Shaddy means “Sufficient God”.Tsūr (Rock) – The word צוּר ,  “Rock,” is used as a title of God. It appears 5 times in the “Song” of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:4 ,15 , 18, 30, 31) and it is found also in the Psalms, Isaiah and poetical passages of other books of the Bible. 

During the many centuries between Prophet Adam and Prophet Abraham, God’s Prophets focused totally on teaching the Divine truth of imageless monotheism. And for thousands of years before Prophet Abraham, the prophets who God sent to the thousands of tribes and nations on the earth spreading the Divine truth of imageless monotheism; not one of them was able to establish an ongoing imageless monotheistic community that lasted for more than a few generations. 

“And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them, a party of the people who were given the Book threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs, as if they did not know it!” (Qur’an 2:101)

And: “The people of Noah denied before them, and the companions of the well and Thamūd; and ʿAad and Pharaoh and the brothers [neighbors] of Lot; and the companions of the forest, and the people of Tubbaʿ. All denied the messengers [Allah sent to them] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [50:12-14]

So God decided to do things in a radically different and unique way. Instead of the theology truth of imageless monotheism, God decided to make a partnership loyalty covenant with a small tribe, and send six hundred of his prophets to this small tribe; and work continually for centuries with the people of this tribe, until they were able to establish an ongoing loyal community that would always have a core of righteous and loyal believers.

Qur’an 5:20-21 states: “Moses said to his people: O, my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when he appointed among you prophets and made you possessors [of the Land of Israel] and gave you what he had not given anyone among the worlds. O my people, enter the holy land which Allah has assigned to you.”

The Hebrew Bible makes reference to several different kinds of a partnership loyalty covenants (Hebrew: בְּרִיתוֹת) with God. These include the Noahic Covenant set out in Genesis 9, which was decreed between God and all living creatures, as well as a number of more specific covenants with Prophet Abraham, and with the whole Israelite people.

This is why for over a thousand years the Banu Israel (children of Prophet Jacob-Israel) were the only ongoing, anti-idol worship, monotheistic community. 

The success of this unique ongoing partnership covenant with Abraham’s descendants explains why the God of the Hebrews publicly and spectacularly defeated Egypt’s Pharaoh; and why Prophet Jesus only needed to perform smaller healings as signs of his faith; and why Prophet Muhammad hardly did miracles at all.