Judaism's view of Muhammad

Judaism has no special or particular view of Muhammad, and very few texts in Judaism directly refer to or take note of Muhammad. Contrary to numerous arguments proposed by Muslim scholars about prophecies referring to the advent of Muhammad in Jewish scriptures, Judaism takes a strong stand against his self proclamation of receiving divine revelations from God and labels him instead as a False prophet. One of the most important Jewish principles of faith is the belief that Moses was superior to all preceding and succeeding prophets, and that the Torah transmitted to Moses at Sinai remains uncorrupted due to Judaism's strict scribal laws.

Background

In the Tanakh, a prophet was seen as a person who was selected by, and spoke as a formal representative of God; the intention of the message being for the purpose of effecting a social change as conforming to God's desired standards initially specified in the Torah as dictated to Moses who is held to be the greatest prophet of all until the Messiah.

A prophet with a message had to confirm his status as a prophet by giving a sign in the form of a prediction of a near event, which upon its occurrence would verify his status as a prophet, and without its occurrence would mandate his execution for being a false prophet. Prophecy remains as a potential level of achievement for any person only so long there stands a Temple in Jerusalem.

Thus, the belief in Muhammad as a prophet was contested to be incompatible with Judaism according to the Jews of his time and today.

Judaism's worldview and Muhammad

Judaism's view of Prophets and Prophecy

Prophets were seen as having attained the highest degree of holiness, scholarship and closeness to God and set the standards as the epitome of human perfection. The Talmud reports that there were more than a million prophets: twice as many as the number of people who left Egypt, which was 600,000. But most of the prophets conveyed messages that were intended solely for their own generation and were not reported in scripture. The scripture also states that in the Messianic age, all Jews will attain a level of prophecy.

A prophet is not necessarily a man, the scripture records the stories of seven female prophets, and the Talmud claims that Sarah's prophetic ability was superior to Abraham's; nor is a prophet necessarily a Jew with a prophetic message for Jews, the Talmud reports that there were prophets among the gentiles (most notably Balaam, whose story is told in Numbers 22, although they were not as elevated as the prophets of Israel, as the story of Balaam demonstrates). The prophet Jonah, was sent on missions to speak to the gentiles.

Contradictions between the Torah and the Qur'an

Muhammad's life

Muhammad and the Jews

Authoritative texts of Judaism that mention Muhammad

Maimonides' Mishneh Torah

ee also

*Islam and Judaism
*Safiyya bint Huyayy
*Chapter 'Maryam' in the Qur'an
*Judaism's view of Jesus

References

External links

* [http://www.islamicity.com/Mosque/Muhammad_Bible.HTM Muhammad in the Bible] by Jamal Badawi
* [http://media.isnet.org/off/Islam/Deedat/bib_muha.html#Three%20Unlikes 'That Prophet'] by Sheikh Ahmed Deedat