People of the Book: Difference between revisions

In the [[Qur'an]] and [[Hadith]], the term '''People of the Book''' (أهل الكتاب‎ ′Ahl al-Kitāb) is used to refer to followers of certain [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] faiths which pre-date the advent of [[Islam]]. In particular, it refers to the Christian, Jewish, and Sabian faiths.<ref>"...''Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians''..." - {{Quran|2|62}}</ref> This page contains summaries of articles discussing the relationship between Islam and the People of the Book.

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===The Qur'an===

The ''Qur'ān'' (القرآن) is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. The best-known chapter of the Qur'an is al-Fatiha ‘The Opening’. This surah is recited as part of all the mandatory daily prayers and repeated within each prayer. A faithful Muslim who said all their prayers would recite this surah at least seventeen times a day, and over five thousand times a year.  

It is remarkable that the daily prayers of every Muslim, part of the core of Islam, include a rejection of Christians and Jews as misguided and objects of Allah’s wrath.

{{ quote | {{Quran|2|79}}|'''Shakir:''' Woe, then, to those who write the book with their hands and then say: This is from Allah, so that they may take for it a small price; therefore woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.}}

   

===Contradictions in Qur'anic Christology===

*and Abraham & the idols.  

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==Biblical and Islamic Figures==

===God===

According to Islam, ''Allāh'' is the Creator of the Universe. Allah does not mean 'God' but rather '' 'the God' ''<ref name=EM/> and is thus one of the remnants of Islam's polytheistic origins. In the pre-Islamic era, Allah was the supreme creator god of the Arabs, a moon god who lived in a rock located in the Ka'aba. <ref name=EM>[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/allah.html "Allah"] - Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online; Accessed June 15, 2007.</ref> Yet he was still only one god among the many others they believed in.<ref name=MG>[http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm "Moon God"]- Allah - the Moon God.</ref> The goddesses; ''Allāt'' (the feminine form of “Allah”, meaning '' 'the goddess' ''),<ref>Arne A. Ambros, and Stephan Procházka - [http://jis.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/3/400.extract A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic (p. 306)] - Weisbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3895004006</ref> ''Manat'', and ''al-Uzza'' were Allah's daughters.<ref name=EM/>  

===Jesus Christ===

In Islam, ''Isa al-Masih'' (عيسى المسي usually translated as ''Jesus Christ'') is not believed to be the Son of God, but simply a 'messenger', inferior in status to Muhammad. While Muslims will claim they "love Jesus", it is clearly evident that they do not love ''Yasū‘'' (يسوع the actual Arabic term for ''Jesus'', which is used by Arab Christians),<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isa_(name)&oldid=325004433 Isa (name) - Etymology]</ref> but love the Islamic Isa who, when studied, shares little in common with the founder of Christianity.

===The Virgin Mary===

The Qur'anic verses 21:91 and 66:12 in conjunction with the tafsir's, tell us the angel Jibreel was sent to breathe Allah's spirit into ''Maryam'''s (مريم Mary's) vagina. {{Quran|5|116}} tells us the Trinity consists of three separate gods, which are the Father (God), the Mother (Virgin Mary) and the Son (Jesus), and due to this abysmal ignorance of the Trinity doctrine, Muslims consider all Trinitarian Christians to be polytheists. Also according to Muhammad, Mary will be one of his wives in paradise.

===The Angel Gabriel===

According to Islamic scriptures, ''Jibreel'' (جبريل Gabriel) is the angel who first appeared to Muhammad in the cave of Hijra and taught Muhammad the Qur'an. The initial experience frightened Muhammad, and originally thinking he was possessed by a demon, the Islamic prophet became suicidal.

===Dhimmitude===

The term ''Dhimmitude'' is derived from ''Dhimmi'', which means a non-Muslim living in an Islamic country. Robert Spencer has defined it as "the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians". According to orthodox Islamic law, those who are qualified for the second-class Dhimmi status within the Muslim society are the free (i.e non-slave) Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, who agree to pay the jizyah. Adherents of other religions, as well as those without religion, are asked to convert to Islam; if they refuse, they are to be forced to convert.

===Jizyah Tax===

{{Quote|Umar ibn al-Khattab during the conquest of al-Basrah (636 CE)|Summon the people to God; those who respond to your call, accept it from them, but those who refuse must pay the poll tax out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency. Fear God with regard to what you have been entrusted.<ref>Al-Tabari, ''The History of al-Tabari (Ta'rikh al rusul wa'l-muluk)'', vol. 12: ''The Battle of Qadissiyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine,'' trans. Yohanan Friedman (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), p. 167.</ref>}}

===Forced Conversion===

This article simply provides information about the Islamic use of forced conversion and forced submission or expulsion as evidenced by Islamic scripture and historical and contemporary writings. For example, According to the respected scholar, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, jihad should be waged against Jews and Christians because they are guilty of committing shirk (one of the gravest sins in Islam), their beliefs about the Day of Judgement are not Islamic, and they do not follow the laws of Islam revealed to Muhammad.<ref>[http://www.englishtafsir.com/Quran/9/index.html#sdfootnote27sym Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an (Quran 9:29, Footnotes 26 & 27)]</ref>

===The Destruction of Non-Muslim Worship Places===

===The Pact of Umar===

Much has been said of the ''Pact of Umar'',<ref>Paul Halsall - [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.html The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule]- Medieval Sourcebook, January, 1996</ref> and much of it distinctly positive. Its non-Muslim admirers gleefully compare its contents to the treatment of religious minorities in Medieval Europe, while ignoring its influence and conformity with Islamic scriptural sources which still govern the treatment of minorities in the East today. Some non-Muslim scholars of early Islam doubt the pact's authenticity, highlighting the fact that the Islamic traditions surrounding the writing of the pact are a few hundred years removed from the actual events described, and that no contemporary sources refers to it at all. ''Sophronius''' (560  - 638 AD) authentic extant writings also refer to the Muslim conquerors in a very negative way, putting further doubts on the Muslim recollections of events.<ref> Robert Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It'' (Princeton, 1996) p. 69-71</ref> Nevertheless, this article will accept its authenticity and analyse the rights and limitations placed on the Syrians, to see just how free non-Muslims really were under the Rightly-guided Caliph.

===The Genocide of Banu Qurayza===

Hijra year 5 (627 AD), Almost nine hundred Jews (including children) of a Medinan tribe named Banu Qurayza were massacred by Muslims in one day. Muhammad was the lead spectator of this atrocious butchery which began early in the day, ending in torchlight. Those who escaped death were taken captive by Muslims and sold in slave markets. This genocide is known in history as the Banu Qurayza incident.

===Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?===

{{Main|Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?}}

But is that really the case? Does Hebrew violence in the ancient era, and Christian violence in the medieval era compare to, explain away or even legitimize the tenacity of Muslim violence in the modern era?

===Pedophilia and the Tu Quoque Defense===

{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:People of the Book}}

When Royalty assign a task to someone in person, it is often denoted as a great privilege and is considered as an honor to whom it is the Royal addressed. Conversely, when a subject is deemed unfit to associate with in a personal manner, the undesirable task may be assigned to a servant. With this in mind, it is surprising to learn that, according to the Qur'an, Musa and Isa (commonly identified with the Judeo-Christian Moses and Jesus) received revelations directly from Allah while Muhammad did not.

==See Also==

*[[People of the Book (Translations of Arabic/Islamic Media)]]

'''Multimedia'''

* [[Islam and Propaganda]]

* [[Islam and Science]]

* [[Islam and Women]]

==References==

[[Category:People of the Book]]

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