Zain Khan: Welcome to our show, this is Zain Khan. Today the topic of our show is ‘Similarities between Islam and Judaism’. The guest of our show is Rabbi Ben Abrahamson who has worked his whole life on building bridges between Islam and Judaism. He’s also a research scholar on the topic. Welcome to our show Rabbi Ben, this is Zain Khan, it’s a pleasure to have you on our show.
Ben Abrahamson: It’s very good to be here, thank you.
Zain Khan: Rabbi Ben, let’s get to the first question. What is the concept of God in Judaism, because Islam believes in Tawhid which is the Oneness of God?
Ben Abrahamson: Oh yes, the Islamic Tawhid and Judaism is exactly the same. We believe in one God, with no partner, with nothing else. In fact the term [Oneness] and the way it is used is exactly the same in Judaism and Islam.
Zain Khan: Ben, is Islam mentioned in the Torah, which is the Old Testament?
Ben Abrahamson: Yes, it is. In Exodus when Jethro, Shuyab, [pbuh] the father in law of Moses [pbuh] went and made an offering, the offering that he made was called a Shlamim, or a perfect or complete offering. And all the followers of Shuyab were called in the Torah “Kenites”, but in the translation of the Torah in Aramaic they were always called Salamai, Muslamim. So we have the word Muslamim meaning the Children of Jethro, and it meant much more than that, because it actually meant that these were God fearers. These were the people who were not part of the Children of Israel but believed in One God and followed the commandments of God.
Zain Khan: Rabbi Ben, according to your opinion and your research would Muslims be going to heaven according to the Jewish point of view?
Ben Abrahamson: Yes, we… Judaism believes that there is a basic religion which the whole world must follow. In the Quran it says there is only one religion which is acceptable before Allah SWT which is Islam. We believe there is one faith that’s required by all mankind. And we call it the faith of Noah [pbuh]. This is similar to what is written Surat as-Shura. It says that “He has laid down the same religion for you as He enjoined on Noah: that which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus: ‘Establish the religion and do not make divisions in it.’ " Judaism has the same idea, that there was one religion that was given to Adam. It involved monotheism and it involved basically seven of the ten commandments, that they had to keep. They had to believe in reward and punishment - you had to believe in the last day, had to believe in the prophet of God. This is the religion that is required of all mankind. Its required of Jews, its required of non-Jews. Our sages have ruled that Islam goes way beyond this minimum requirement for a proper religion. So we believe that a Muslim who is keeping his religion properly is guaranteed a place in the world to come, in the hereafter, just like the Children of Israel.
Zain Khan: The the question arises, what is the difference between Judaism and Islam?
Ben Abrahamson: From our point of view, its basically the same religion with different customs, a different shari’ah, a difference covenant. We have sabbath, we have kosher, we have the fast day of Yom Kippur. Islam has the hajj, ramadan and the different pillars of Islam but fundamentally its the same Deen. Its the same basic religion. What’s different is shari’ah, the covenant. We would agree with what Qatada [ibn al-Nu'man (ra)] once said that "al-din wahid wa al-shari’ah mukhtalifah.” There is one Deen, one basic religion for all mankind, and its the shari’ah that differs.
Zain Khan: If what you are saying is correct, then why did not the Jews of Arabia get along with the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him?
Ben Abrahamson: First of all you have to understand that there are different groups of Jews. There’s a hadith that explains there was even seventy-one sects of Jews. In Arabia, Al Jahiz and Ibn Hazm mentioned that there was a group called the Saddukiyya. Who “differing from all other Jews they believed that Uzayr was the son of God” which is not a belief that Rabbinic Jews believe today. It was an entirely different group. It was a group based on the Sadducees of the Second Temple times. They had sacrifices. They wanted to make Arabia like a little Jerusalem, with the sacrifices, the holidays, and they mixed it with the pagan local beliefs to be more acceptable [to the local population]. And it was a mishmash of many things. And these people, when they saw the Prophet [pbuh] coming to reform, and make changes, they resisted the reform. And in fact, they opposed it. But this is not the case of the vast majority of Jews who lived outside of Arabia. Who… I could mention a little bit about it… like when Calif ‘Ali [ra] came to Babylon, to Kufa, originally, 80,000 of the Talmudei Yeshiva, the students, rabbinic Jews came out to meet him, to support him. Calif ‘Umar [ra] deposed the Exilarch who was causing trouble in Arabia based on arguments connected with the separatists. He appointed a Rabbinic Scholar called Bustonai to be his replacement. And essentially made Rabbinic Jews [Judaism] the official form of Judaism throughout the growing Islamic kingdom. And in fact, if Calif ‘Umar [ra] hadn’t supported the Rabbinic Jews by appointed Bustonai, chances are today the majority of Jews would be Karaite or Sadducee. There wouldn’t be the kind of Jews that you see today. The Jews that you see today are the ones that were approved of by Calif ‘Umar [ra].
Zain Khan: Ben, what kind of Jews exist in the present day and age?
Ben Abrahamson: The Jews [found] today are descended of.. they are descended of the students of Hillel, coming from the Pharisaic Jews of the Second Temple times. They are… We are the Jews that believe that when Moses, peace be upon him, was give the Torah, he wasn’t just given a book and left to figure it out. But he was explained how to apply it in every possible way and every possible situation. So we believe the Torah is applicable in every aspect of our lives, in everything that we do, every action that we make, every business deal that we do, every interpersonal relationship we have. We believes that this [Torah] guides our lives, listening and submitting to God. We also believe that God sent many prophets to the world, not just to the Children of Israel. And we believe that God made covenants with other nations. So we have abolutely no problem to say that a Muslim who is observing his religion properly, is guarenteed a portion in the hereafter, in the world to come, just like we are. And the Jews today, we have fasting, tzawm. We have the different prayers… We have raka’ats. We bend down when we say barchu - ruku the same thing. We do sujud. We do 2,4,4,3 and 1 raka’at during a day, whereas the Muslim tradition is to do 2,4,4,3 and 4. So it is very similar. We open and close prayer with raka’ats. At the end of our prayer we turn to the left and say Salaam [osei shalom] and turn to the right and say Salaam [hu ya’aseh shalom]. In the Calendar we have is also very similar. Many of the things we have of Rabbinic Judaism are derived from a common tradition that we share that Abraham [pbuh] gave both to the Children of Israel and the Muslims.
Zain Khan: Rabbi Ben, what are you currently working on now? What are your current projects at the moment?
Ben Abrahamson: Well it is interesting that you should ask that. I am working on right now is the Calendar. I guess I was hoping to do something for the new year just coming, but it will take me a bit longer. One of the interesting similarities between Judaism and Islam is the Calendar. In both Islam and Judaism the calendar is derived from the cycles of the moon. And we begin our month by the sighting of the moon, or calculating when the new moon will be sighted. The beginning of the year, the head of the year, we call Rosh Hashanah, which in Arabic is called Ras as-Sana. Then we have Yom Kippur which corresponds to Ashura. There’s a whole story about when the Prophet [pbuh] came to Medina during the time of Ashura. And then after that you have Passover which corresponds to Lailat al Baraat in the month of Shaban. Sefirat HaOmer corresponds to Ramadan. Shavuot is Eid ul-Fitr. And the 9th of Av which corresponds to the Hajj. So each of the main holidays that we have correspond to Islamic holidays, although the emphasis has been changed, and Allah SWT saw fit to give the Muslims customs which were most suitable and most perfected. There is a correspondence here that we can respect. And we believe… it is nice to know that our fellow co-religionists are worshiping and praying and submitting to God just as we are.
Zain Khan: Rabbi Ben, this program is not political, but this is the last question and it is slightly political in nature. Do you see a peaceful middle east in the future?
Ben Abrahamson: Yes, I am sure of it. I am positive… We have examples from our history, the Constitution of Madinah, the early Caliphate, Fatimid Egypt, Muslim Spain, where this did happen. Peaceful coexistence, and thriving of the communities together. Jews who know their religion properly can see Muslims as following a perfect religion, complete in every way. And Muslims can see Jews, proper Jews, as believers. So if we would only follow the examples of the prophets, peace be upon them, that were assigned to us, I am confident we would see peace.
Zain Khan: Thank you so much Rabbi Ben for being on our show. It was a pleasure having you.
Ben Abrahamson: I was my pleasure to be here. I am thankful for the opportunity to speak.
Zain Khan: This was Rabbi Ben Abrahamson. He spent his whole life researching on Islam and Judaism. He is also a research scholar within the Jewish tradition. We discussed the topic on the Similarities of Islam and Judaism. Until the next episode, this is Zain Khan, take care and good bye.
Source: Rabbi Ben Abrahamson
See also translation of this interview in bahasa Indonesia
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