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JUDAISM AND ISLAM
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The coincidence of Chanukkah and Christmas has once again focussed attention
on the problems faced by Jews in a predominantly Christian society.
Fortunate—
ly they are not very serious, at least in this country, and sometimes they seem
almost non-existent.
Last week, for instafige, we held a confirmation conference
at a Church of England conference centre in Chislehurst.
over, but there was no sign of it.
place had been tactfully removed.
Christmas was barely
Whatever festive emblems had adorned the
Instead, it blazed every evening with the
light of 25 chanukkixzot and resofinded with the tune of Maoz Tzur and other
Jewish songs.
Such is the measure of our freedom.
contrived situation.
Of course it was an unusual,
In other times and-places there are conflicts, and the
relationship between Judaism and Christianity will undoubtedly continue to
engage our minds from time to time.
But what about the relationship between Judaisfi and Islam?
has been almost total silence.
About that there
And yet there are almost as many Muslims in the
worid as Christians, 500 million in fact.
Well over a million of them now live
in this country, and not least in this vicinity, which is now dominated archi-
tecturally by the Regents Park Mosque.
vitally affect the State of Israel.
Furthermore, Jewish—Muslim relations
And in addition, it loogsfas if Islam
will become an increasingly powerful factor in world affairs as a result of
what is happening in Iran which may well bring iytoigffice a new regime less
CIOSely linked with the West and pursuing a more independent policy based on
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orthodox religious teachiégs, and this in turn may encourage Mgslim selfassertion and militancy in other countries.
For all these reasons the time is ripe if not overdue to break the silence
and to consider our relationship, not only with Christianity, but with Islam
as well.
It is of course a huge subject, but let us make a start this morning.
-2Like Christianity, Islam is in many ways a daughter-religion of qgéaism.
For Muhammad had many contacts with Jews, as well as Christians, nét only in
his native Arabia, but eISewhcre in the Middle East, for as a caravan steward
he travelled extensively.
And as the early Christians were influenced mainly
by peripheral Jewish sects, such as the Essenes, so Muhammad was influenced
mainly by fringe and popular rather than mainstream and official versions of
Judaism, so that what he absorbed of Judaism tended to be simplistic and
folkloristic and sometimes'képkiéa.
When, therefore, he began to have prophetic
visions, he readily identified his heavenly mentor with the archangel Gabriel
who featured prominently in Jewish and Christian folklore.
As a result of these
visions he gradually constructed in his mind a new religious system which he
taught his disciples and which, like the Gospels and the Talmud, was at first
transmitted orally and only later committed to writing, when it became the
"Holy Qur'an".
In the year 622 he made the famous journey from his native
Mecca to Medina, where he proclaimed the new religion.
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And from that time it
spread like wildfire throughout thediziiééwggfi;éven as far as Spain in the WQst
and China in the East.
So fig; Eontact between Judaism and Islam existed from the very beginning and
continued through the ages.
At first Muhammad hoped to convert the Jews of
his own country, and their refusal embittered him, so that there are some
hostile remarks abogt Judaism to be found in the Qur'an.
repudiate Judaism because he owed too much to it.
But he could not wholly;
Indeed, he taught that
Abraham and Moses, among others, were true prophets; and though he claimed that
the Jews had distorted their own Scriptures, he had to admit that they contained
a
great deal of truth.
So it became Islamic policy to regard Jews, as well as
Christians, as "people of the book" and to accord to them a large measure of
tolerance.
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Indeed, Jews generally fared better under Muslim than under Christian rule.
Occasionaliy they were persecuted by a fanatical Muslim sect, és happened to
the family of Maimonides in Spain and Algeria, but usually they were left in
peace as tolerated second—class citizens, and sometimes they were allowed to
attain prominence in the cultural, economic and even political{£ife of thegr
host countries.
Thus they learnt much from Muslim theology and poetry, and by
translating Arabic literature into Hebrew, which enabled Christian scholars to
translate it into Latin, they helped to transmit ancientifihfiiééophy, mathematics,
medicine and so forth to the Western world.
,
agdeed, without a prior Islamic
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Renaissance, there could hardly have been a Chéistian Renaissance.
When the Jews were expelled from Spain inifigbé?a afifiinjustice which has only
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just been formally rectified - it was a Spain reconquered by Christianityifhgt
expelled them, and most of them found refuge in the Turkish empire which h;;J
itself become Muslim by then.
So the story of Jewish-Muslim relations is
a relatively positive on;, and perhaps the best proof of that is that more
classical works of Jewish litprature have been written in Arabic than in any
other language except Hebrew.
It is only in réégét times, with the rise of
Jewish and Arab nationalism, and the clash between them over Palestine, that
the relationship has been seriously damaged, and we must therefore hope that
that is only a passing phase.
But the surest basis for friendship between Jews and Muslims is not so much
the history of their relations as the nature of Islam itself, which has so much
in common with Judaism, perhaps more so than Christianity.
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First and foremost
it is a strictlyffigfiothefibtic religion, every bit as uncompromising as Judaism
in its insistence on the absolute unity and transcendent majesty of God and
in its opposition, not only to any kind of idolatry, but also to such doctrines
as the Trinity.
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.
Secondly, like JudaiSm and unlike Christianity, it is a religion without
a priesthood, a démocratic religion in which all are equal, for the Imam, like
the Rabbi, is a teacher, not a priest. 'He derives his authority only from his
learning.
Therefore in a mosque, as in
a
synagogue, there is no altar, and the
focus of attention is a book, in Islam the Qur'an, the reading of which is the
central feature of Muslim worship.
There is indeed éreat emphasis on prayer,
too, and five times daily at that.
But a Muslim does not have to go to the
mosque to pray.
He may pray anywhere, as a Jew may also.
Thirdly, Islam is a strongly ethical religion, with emphasis on honesty,
justize, respect for parents, hospitality and not least charity, which is the
fourth of the five "Pillars of Islam".
Moreover, Islam does not regulate only
inter-personal relations but has developed a system of law, called sharia, which,
like the halachah, aims to govern every aspect of life, including the social.
$fiére are many other resemblances in matters of detail which one could
men;ion.
In Méslim as in Jewish tradition there are 99 names for God.
is the ideal of praying "from the heart".
on abstaining from péék, and on fasting.
There
There is an emphasis on circumcision,
There is the same meditation before
the performance of a rehigious duty, beginning "Behold, I am prepared and ready..fl
There is a Mislim responsa literature very similar in form to that of Judaism.
There is the concept of a Messiah yet to come, and of a last judgment located
in Jerusalem.
There are indeed aspects of Islam which are less pleasing from a Jewish and
especially from a Progressive Jewish point of view. For while Islam emphasises
nevertheless
human responsibility, it XXEK inclines towards the belief that everything is
divinely predetermined.
It takes rather seriously the belief in miracles, in
angels, in heaven and hell.
And it permits polygamy.
Above all, though it does
of the Prophets",
not deify Muhammad, it venerates him uncritically as "the Sgal
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and therefore views the Qur'an with a fundamentalism and literalism far
exceeding that of the most Orthodox Jews in relation to the Torah.
It is
héééféhat Islam has yet to face the greatest challenge: that of modern
historical and critical scholarship.
For its theological colleges and
universities are still medieval like the Gateshead Yeshivah.
What will
happen when Muslim scholars begin to discover that Muhammad was(:allible
and sometimes mistaken, that the story of his ascent to heaven is a mere
legend, that the Qur'an went through various phases of redaction, and that
it is a mixture of truth aag fiction, and of the sublime and the ridiculous,
one can hardly imagine.
Presumably there will then be a reformation, such
as Christianity and Judaism have already experienced; and if we dare speculate
about the very distant future, perhaps there will emerge a liberal Islam
which will find itself not only in sympathy, but largely in agreement, with
liberal Judaism and liberal Christianity.
Meanwhile we should be sensitive to, and grateful for, the fundamental
agreements which already exist between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and
which make them allies as well as rivals.
And perhaps they come closest to
each other in spirit in the area of mysticism, precisely because it attempts
to penetrate into realities deeper than law or dogma.
Certainly Muslim
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mysticism, known as Sufism, contains much that is profound and beautiful,
including some poetry of the highest quality.
The best known of the Sufi
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poems to English réaders is of course Omar Khayyam, *\who lived in Persia in;:
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certainly the most revered in Iran, is Jalal ad—Din ar-Rumi, who lived in
Afghanistan in the 13th century and of whom Dr. Geoffrey Parrinder, a great
authority on Comparative Religion, once said in a radio talk: "Rumi sought
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by his expressions of the love of God to find a place within the divine love
for all lost and wayward souls...Similar1y the sectarian divisions within Islam
would only be solved by love, as Rumi said, for 'love alone comes to the rescue
Perhaps one of the applications
when you cry for help against their arguments'.
of Rumi's reconciling work that appeals most to men today is his search beyond
the differences of the various religions of the world for the one true Light that
is within them all" (The Listener, 7th January, 1965).
This spirit of reconcilittion is illustrated for us, as between man and man,
by our Torah portion, which brings to an end the long estrangement between
and
Jo§e§h and his bpnhhers, and as between one section of the Jewish people
another, by Ezekiel's vision, in the Haftarah, of the reunification of the two
kingdoms.
But as the world religions enter into ever closer contact with each
other, there isla need for reconciliation on that level also.
Reconciliation
does not mean abandoning or whittling down our distinctiveness. On the contrary,
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each tradition must preserve its own<::/j insights, so that it may ultimately
contribute them to "the one true Light".
But reconciliation does mean that we
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should seek to understand one another,<§§§§:£EEF'We
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to learn from one another, and that we should build bridges of respect, trust
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and friendship across the denominational boundaries that divide us.
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And as Jews
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we
shoaié—ee¥$aéa;§_noi_be_ihs—}ast to take the initiative in the developmenfi 3f
such a new relationship, not only with Christianity, but with Islam as well.
Let me end with the old legend of the three rings as told by Gotthold Ephraim
Lessing in his play "Nathan the Wise".
A man haé an heirloom in the form of a
ring which possessed the magical quality of causing its owner to be loved by all
his fellow men.
However, he also had three sons and did not know to which of them
to leave the ring.
So he commissioned a jeweller to make two replicas of it,
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and they turned out so perfect that nofiody could tell the difference.
When
the father died, and the three sons found that he had left a ring to each of
them, and that they mre exactly alike, they went to the wisest judge in the
land and asked him to adjudicate which was the original ring, the one with
the magic property.
And the judge said to the three brothers: There is only
one way of deciding the issue.
You just each endeavour so to live that you
will win the respect and affection of all your xx fellow human beings.
Then,
whoever succeeds best will thereby prove that he is the possessor of the true
ring.
But if you should succeed equally, then even if #KfiXMKfiKXXKXKKXKKKfiZX
the case were re-submitted to another judge, infinitely wiser than I, a
thousand years hence, his fierdict would still be: “I can tell no difference".
In Lessing's play the three rings represent Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
And the moral is plain: Let each religion prove its worth by the quality of
the lives it inspires.
It is a challenge which we must accept.
no more decisive test.
If we fail to pass this test, then all our protestations
For there is
about the excellence of our teachings and practices are merely empty talk.
if we succeed, then we shall have proved the truth of our claim in the only
convincing way it can be proved.
In the words of the Grace after meals,
V'nimtza chen v'sechel tov b'eyney elohim v'adam, "Then we shall find grace
and favour in the sight of God and man.”
But