Why Qur’an Uses ‘We’ And Torah Uses Anthropomorphic Metaphors – OpEd

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Professor Carl S. Ehrlich points out in an article in the Times of Israel (4/25/23) that much religious language is metaphorical. In the Bible, metaphors for God are drawn from a wide variety of areas: God may be a “rock,” a mother-bird hovering over its young, or a king. Some of these divine metaphors are derived from the realm of the family, where God is described as a parent, typically but not always a father, or as Israel’s husband (but never wife). 

This latter metaphor, which emphasizes the seemingly sexual intimacy between God and Israel, is central to the prophecies of Hosea, one of the earliest classical prophets, who was active in the northern kingdom of Israel around 730 BCE.

His use of this image has influenced countless generations after him. Both Prophet Jeremiah (particularly in chaps. 2-4) and Prophet Ezekiel (16 and 23) pick up on this theme and develop it further; and presumably the inclusion of the erotically charged Biblical book Song of Songs into sacred scripture was made possible by Rabbi Akiba’s allegorical religious interpretation of its contents, based on the marriage metaphor found in Hosea.

Professor Ehrlich states that Western thought typically distinguishes between several types of love, especially between eros—erotic love, and agape—platonic love. (Both “eros” and “agape” are loan words from Greek.)

This distinction was especially important in early Christianity, since the New Testament often uses agape, but never uses eros in its description of the relationship between the nascent Christian community and God or Jesus. 

Given Hosea’s sexually charged depiction of the relationship between God and Israel, it is evident that here the Hebrew Bible and later rabbinic Judaism differ greatly from the Christianity reflected in the New Testament, in that Jews can view the love of God as erotic.

As has been demonstrated by scholars such as Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, erotic love, is basic to a Jewish understanding of divine love, while platonic love, (agape) which plays such an important role in Christian theology as the higher form of love, is much less important to the Jewish understanding. Hosea’s use of erotic love has made these chapters so powerful and enduring throughout the ages, since this type of love speaks to the most basic and visceral experience of the human condition.

The Hebrew Bible proclaims that God cares very much about humans in general and Prophet Abraham descendants in particular. God is not an uncaring power or law of nature, reason, karma or philosophy. God’s feelings are closer to a parent or a partner than He is to an unmoved mover. 

By the time of Prophet Muhammad all Jews and Christians knew that God cared very much. 
That is why God had to send 600 prophets to the descendants of Prophets Issac and Jacob, and only one (Prophet Muhammad) to the idol worshipping polytheist descendants of Prophet Ishmael. The Qur’an can now use “We” without fearing that the royal We will be heard as the plural Gods speaking. 

It is narrated from Abu Dharr 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 (who proclaim a sacred text) prophets? He replied: Three hundred thirteen from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam…The first prophet from Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them (the Jewish Prophets) was Isa (Prophet Jesus) and they were in all six hundred (Jewish) prophets.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32)

That is also why the Sacred Scriptures of the  three Abrahamic religions become shorter and shorter. The Hebrew Sacred Scriptures are a vast collection (305,358 Hebrew words) of Divinely inspired books written over a period of almost a thousand years, by 48 male prophets and 7 female prophetesses (Talmud Megillah 14a); plus many more anonymous God inspired Historians, Poets, and Philosophers who were also Prophets. As the Qur’an states, “Of some messengers we have already told you the story; of others we have not; – and to Moses God spoke (the Torah) directly” (Qur’an 4:164).

The Greek New Testament is much shorter (a total of 138,162 Greek words); and was written over a period of less than 70 years, by four biographers plus maybe a half dozen other writers who all wrote in a language (Greek) that Prophet Jesus and Prophet John never spoke.

The Arabic Qur’an is still shorter (a total of 77,934 Arabic words) recited only by the last one (Prophet Muhammad) during a period of less than two dozen years and written down by his own disciples.

The most shocking thing that a rabbi notices when reading the Qur’an is that Allah continually refers to himself as “We”. This reiteration of the pronoun ‘We’ referring to God; occurs over 2100 times in the Qur’an. 

In the Hebrew Scriptures the royal “we’ is very rarely used for God, except most noticeably in the creation narrative. All the Jewish Prophets declare God’s words using ‘I’. Of course, I know that ‘we’ in the Qur’an never means that God is plural or trinitarian. It is a matter of speaking   style that might also be meant as an important correction to the error that many of Prophet Jesus’ disciples entered into.

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Allen Maller retired in 2006 after 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Calif. He is the author of an introduction to Jewish mysticism. God. Sex and Kabbalah and editor of the Tikun series of High Holy Day prayerbooks.

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