[Bet you didn’t know:
“Jews and Christians are sometimes referred to in the Qur’an by Arabic translations of these names, but they are also referred to as “People of the Book.” This term originates in the Qur’an, and it comes from the recognition that Jews and Christians were recipients of scripture before the revelation of the Qur’an.”
This, you might have known:
“The Arabic term for one who surrenders or submits is muslim, and submission to God’s will is a core principle of Islam.”
Bet this one you don’t know:
“Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but was a monotheist, a submitter [muslim], not an idolater.”
Or perhaps this?
“In theory, at least, there is a place for the covenanted chosenness of Judaism and Christianity within Islam.”
Where is this leading to?
The topic of this post: Chosenness and Covenant in the Qur’an, the 5th chapter of our MUST READ/MUST OWN Who are the REAL Chosen People? – by Reuven Firestone. What is great about Reuven Firestone is — he simply says it like it is, with no judgment nor moralizing, and this kind of scholar is the kind to learn from (and emulate!) for the likes of us who came from religions/cultures that point the finger at one another and say “I’m right and you’re wrong.” Let the reader, the audience, decide, right? But first, give everyone a hearing!
Reformatted and highlighted for this post.—Admin1]
Image from www.vu39.com
The Qur’an represents the divine message spoken by God through his angel Gabriel to Muhammad, who then recited the words he received to the people. In fact, the meaning of the word, Qur’an, is ”recitation”—divine revelation delivered through the recitations of God’s prophet Muhammad. The Qu’ran emerges into history in the seventh century CE in the west-Central Arabian region called the Hijaz.
Islam and the Religious Context of Arabia
The Roman Empire never controlled Arabia; neither did the Persian Empire or any other foreign power. Arabia remained outside the control of empire, but foreign cultures and religions nevertheless had a significant impact on community customs and the local way of life.
The establishment religions that opposed the emergence of the new religious movement of Islam were three:
- Arabian polytheism,
- Judaism,
- and Christianity.
Jews and Christians had lived in Arabia for centuries and had attracted local Arabs to join their religions through conversion. Arabian Jews and Christians were thus highly acculturated to the local language and cultural practices and functioned, for all intents and purposes, as Arabs practicing local versions of Judaism and Christianity.
Of the three establishment religious communities, the polytheists were the greatest obstacle to the emergence of Islam, and the Qur’an directs its resentment and anger mostly toward the indigenous religion of the Arabs and those who practiced it.
- The most common term for idolatry in the Qur’an is the word shirk, which has the sense of “sharing, participating, associating.” That term carries something of the notion of polytheism known in the Israelite world as well, since polytheist are assumed to associate divinity in things other than God, and worship them in addition to the deity.
- One who associates other powers with God is a mushrik.
- Another term for those who did not follow Muhammad and accept the validity of the Qur’an is kafir, which has the sense of “denying,” as in denying the truth of God. This term has often been translated as “infidel,” though in modern Qur’an translation it is more often translated as “unbeliever.”
When the Qur’an refers to unbelievers, it may be referring to practitioners of traditional Arabian Polytheism (mushriks) or it may be referring to Jews and Christian.
The Qur’an notes that unbelievers tried actively to destroy the new movement.
”When you go forth in the land, its is no sin to cut back in your prayers if you fear that the unbelievers will attack you, for the unbelievers are clearly an enemy” (4:101).
This verse is followed with divine instruction about how to protect the community that had been previously attacked while engaging in prayer. This is followed by the words,
“The unbelievers want you to neglect your arms and your belongings so they may attack you once and for all… take precaution! (4:102).
According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad began receiving divine revelation in his hometown of Mecca, a major polytheistic religious center in his day. Beginning about the age of forty, he began to receive revelations and continued to do so intermittently until his death nearly twenty-three years later. He performed no miracles, but his extraordinary charisma attracted many followers. His community was dedicated to a simple ethical way of life under the authority of the One Great God, the same God that had given prior revelation through the Israelite prophets and Jesus.
There is no evidence that there were Jewish or Christian communities living in Mecca in the seventh century. The reason is most likely that they did not feel comfortable living in a center of polytheistic religious practice, though individuals would regularly go there in order to trade. On the other hand, there was a large Christian community living in the region called Najran to the south, and a large Jewish community living in Yathrib to the north. Mecca’s status as religious center attracted tribes from throughout the region to make pilgrimage to it in order to worship the deities that were represented there by figures and pillars and images and temples. This was an important cultural and religious aspect of life in the region, and what we would call the “religious pilgrimage industry” was a mainstay of the Meccan economy.
Trading fairs rose up around Mecca during the height of the pilgrimage season, and entire extended families and clans would move into Mecca and the surrounding area for a numbers of days. They would go to the markets to trade, and they would need materials for sacrifices and guides to instruct them through the many varied rituals.
When Muhammad began to attract followers to monotheism who then shunned the traditional religious practices in favor of simple prayer to the One Great God, he attracted the ire of the religious establishment. The threat was not merely one of competing religious ideology, but of competing business as well. The new religious movement soon grew large enough to represent a danger to the religious and the economic establishment of Mecca. He was vigorously opposed. The Qur’an contains passages that reproduce some of the accusations that were leveled against Muhammad by the polytheists of Mecca.
So they were surprised that a warner has come to them from their midst. Those unbelievers say, “This is a lying conjuror! Has he made the deities into one God? This is indeed a strange thing!” The chiefs among them go around saying, “Go, and remain faithful to your gods. This is certainly something concocted. We have not heard such a thing among people recently. It is only a fabrication.” (38:4-7)
God reassured Mohammed and supported him in his struggle. “And while the unbelievers plot against you to arrest you, kill you or drive you out, God plots too; and God is the better of the planners” (8:30). But Muhammad’s status in Mecca continued to deteriorate and eventually became so precarious that his life was in danger. He needed to find refuge from the relentless harassment of the Meccan establishment that opposed him.
An opportunity presented itself for him to move with his followers to the town of Yathrib, where Jews had a powerful presence. He agreed to make the move and in 622 CE he arrived in Yathrib, after which the town began to be called Medina, a shortened form of Madinat al-Nabi (City of the Prophet).
Competition and the “People of the Book”
Muhammad naturally expected the Jews of Medina to recognize his prophethood. After all, the idolatrous Meccans may have been hopelessly steeped in their worship of false gods, but it was well known in Arabia that the Jews were an ancient people with a history of prophets and revelations that were not unlike the revelations that he had received.
Muhammad was sorely disappointed. From the perspective of the Jews, he was simply the leader of a threatening new religious movement. They accepted neither his prophetic teachings nor his prophetic status, just as their forebears in the Holy Land accepted neither the teachings nor the special status that Jesus claimed. Rather than an authentic prophet, Muhammad represented a threat to them and, unsurprisingly, they opposed him.
Jews and Christians are sometimes referred to in the Qur’an by Arabic translations of these names, but they are also referred to as “People of the Book.” This term originates in the Qur’an, and it comes from the recognition that Jews and Christians were recipients of scripture before the revelation of the Qur’an. The Qur’an makes it quite clear that Jews and Christians were not happy with the presence of a new form of monotheism in their midst.
“Many of the People of the Book would like to render you again unbelievers after your having believed, because of envy on their part after the truth has become clear to them. But forgive and be indulgent until God gives His commands, for God is the Power over everything” (2:109).
Because Muhammad lived in Medina where a large Jewish community had settled rather that in Najran or another area highly populated with Christians, most scholars believe that this and a number of similar verses are directed against Jews that he had encountered and who opposed him. This is also likely the reason why the Qur’an contains more criticism of Jews than Christians. Had Muhammad moved to a Christian area, the Christians would have opposed his claim to religious authority no less than the Jews. And in fact, in subsequent generations when Islam expanded beyond the Arabian peninsula, the Christian Byzantine Empire was the Muslims’ most dangerous enemy, both as competing empire and as representative of competing religion.
Abraham and authenticity
The Qur’an shares many symbols and ideas with the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and like them, it associates Abraham with its central symbols and religious values. Abraham is loyal, earnest, and witness to the absolute unity of God in the Qur’an, and he submits unceasingly to the divine will.
Like the New Testament, the Qur’an provides its own answer to the mystery of why God chose Abraham. According to the Qur’an, Abraham’s merit is found first in his ability to find God through reason. In polytheistic systems, celestial bodies such as the moon or stars and constellations were often worshiped. According to a passage in the Qur’an, as a young man, Abraham became attracted to the stars, which were soon eclipsed by the moon and then brightness of the sum. When Abraham observed the cycle of rising and setting, he realized that one great creator must have brought them all into existence, and it is to that God that Abraham must turn (3:75-79).
The Qur’anic Abraham is the dedicated monotheist. He resisted the oppression of his own people in order to demonstrate the unity of God. He physically demolished the idols of his father and his people, and when they responded by threatening to kill him for destroying the idols, he fled in search of God (37:83-99). One cannot help but see the parallel between Muhammad’s difficulties in Mecca and Abraham’s stalwart insistence on monotheism despite the religious oppression of his own people. They both bring down the idols of their own community and are forced to flee for their devotion and commitment.
Abraham is depicted in the Qur’an as establishing the foundations of Islam’s holiest shrine in Mecca along with his son Ishmael. This is consistent with his building of altars and sacred sites in the Holy Land according to the Bible (Gen. 12:7-8), and the Qur’an tells us that he prayed that his descendents be loyal to God and follow the ritual and theological requirements that would epitomize the religion of Islam.
And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising up the foundations of the House [they prayed]:
“Our Lord, Accept [this] from us, for You are the Hearer, the Knower. Our Lord, Make us submitters [muslimayn] to You and our progeny a submissive people to You. Show us the ritual places and turn toward us, for You are the most relenting, the Merciful. Our Lord, send them a messenger from among them who will recite for them Your signs and teach them the Book and wisdom and make them pure and good. For You are the Mighty, the Wise.” Who could dislike the religion of Abraham other than those who fool themselves? We have chosen him in [this] world. And in the hereafter, he is among the righteous. When the Lord said to him: Surrender [aslim]! He answered: “I surrender to the Lord of the universe.” Abraham charged his sons, as did Jacob: “O my sons! God has chosen [the right] religion for you. [When you die,] die in submitters [to God]. (2:127-132)
Abraham proclaimed that God had chosen true religion, and that religion is represented in the passage with Abraham’s devotion. The first thing that Abraham prayed for was that he and his descendants remain “submitters” to God. The Arabic term for one who surrenders or submits is muslim, and submission to God’s will is a core principle of Islam. But even beyond the notion of submission as a key to Muslim identity is the symbolism of the actual word used to convey the notion. The difference in English transliteration between muslim as “submitter” and Muslim as a member of Islamic religion is conveyed by the use of lower or uppercase letters. In Arabic, there is no lower or upper forms, and therefore, no difference at all.
Abraham, then, though he existed long before the emergence of Islam, represents the the quintessential Muslim because he submitted fully to God. He symbolizes and authenticates some of the most iconic features of Islam in this passage: worship at the Ka’ba (House) in Mecca and submission to the divine will.
As in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Abraham appears in the Qur’an as God’s “friend.” He thus represents for all three faith systems the pinnacle of relationship with God.
“Who is better in religion than one who surrenders to God [using the same word, muslim] while being righteous and following the tradition of Abraham the monotheist. God chose Abraham as friend” (4:125).
Given Abraham’s pivotal role as quintessential monotheist, it is not surprising that he figures deeply in Qur’anic polemic against not only polytheism, but also the establishment monotheism of the day. When in another passage Abraham prays that his descendants receive the same blessings as him, God answers, “My covenant does not include wrongdoers” (2:124). This is a critique of Jewish claims to chosenness based on their kinship with Abraham, a critique that we also observed in the New Testament. The most striking example of Abraham’s role in the polemics of all three expressions of monotheism, however, is in Qur’an 3:65-67:
O People of Scripture! Why do you argue about Abraham, when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? Have you no sense? Do you not argue about things of which you have knowledge? Why, then, argue about things of which you have no knowledge! God knows, but you know not! Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but was a monotheist, a submitter [muslim], not an idolater.
In this one short passage, the Qur’an makes an end–run around Jewish and Christian claims in order to claim Abraham for Islam. According to the logic expressed here, Abraham could not have been a Jew or a Christian because the very definition for these two religious categories is based on the receipt of scriptural revelation.
Jews are Jews because they follow the Torah, and Christians are Christians because they follow Jesus, whose mission is detailed in the Gospel.
The definition of muslim, however, is simply “one who submits [to God],” and its meaning is not dependent on any scripture. Abraham was, by definition, a (small m) muslim because he submitted to the divine will. Since he lived before the revelations that would define Judaism and Christianity, he could not truly be claimed for either.
Whether a non-Muslim would agree with this argument or consider it merely an issue of semantics, the point here is that Abraham becomes a symbol of the natural competition between newly emerging religious and establishment religions. He appears in the important role of legitimizing each religious system because he so powerfully represents the relationship between God and humanity. And as we have observed, he appears in all three scriptures in roles that endorse some very specific and particular traits of each religion.
When the three are compared, however, we cannot help but find that he authenticates religions that have different, even conflicting views on some of the most basic issues. Abraham, therefore, is not exactly the same person in the three scriptures.
- In the Hebrew Bible he represents ultimate obedience to the divine call despite his occasional doubt (as in Gen.17:17-18).
- In the New Testament he symbolizes absolute faith in God even before he was called, and thus serves as a role model for the necessary faith in Christ.
- And in the Qur’an Abraham authenticates the sanctity of Islamic religious practice and epitomizes the need for humanity to submit humbly to the will of God.
His role as God’s chosen, God’s love or intimate friend, makes him the variable symbol of right religion for each religious tradition. His character and personality thus become central and basic to each as a means of authentication and legitimization.
Qur’anic expressions of the chosenness of Islam are not dependent only on the figure of Abraham. Plenty of other expressions may be found to demonstrate God’s choice as well.
- For example, in a discussion on permitted foods that finds some parallels with the dietary laws found in the Hebrew Bible is the statement,
“This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion” (5:3).
- And in reproof directed against the People of the Book who were harassing the new community of believers, God assures Muhammad’s followers,
“You are the best community that has been brought forth for humanity, commanding the reputable and forbidding the disreputable and believing in God. If the People of the Book had believed it would have been better for them. Some of them are believers, but most are degenerate” (3:110).
In this passage, the elite status that is conveyed upon the new community of believers is dependent on engaging in proper behaviors.
In the following passage it is the combination of proper behavior and proper faith that merits the inheritance of the special status previously reserved for others.
“God has promised those of you who believe and do good works that He will make them heirs of the land, just as He made those before them to be heirs, and He will surely establish for them their religion that He has approved for them, exchanging security for them in a place of fear. They shall worship me and not associate anything with Me. Those who disbelieve after that are the reprobate” (24:55).
The message here is consistent with the repeated Qur’anic critique of the earlier covenants. Membership within a covenanted community is never static in the Qur’an. You must validate your membership through belief and action, a criterion that allows for Muslims to inherit the status of Jews and Christians, who are accused of neglecting or abandoning the requirements that were earlier placed upon them.
Supersession or Correction?
These passages illustrate how concerned the Qur’an is with the covenantal claims of Jews and Christians. But it does not claim to supersede them as the New Testament claims to supersede the “old” covenant of the Hebrew Bible. The Qur’an certainly excludes most Jews and Christians from the very covenants they claim to represent and uphold by citing their lack of commitment to them (2:124, 4:54-55, 5:12-14), but it does not claim to replace them. Rather, it claims to “correct” them and to provide a means of bringing errant monotheists (not to mention polytheists!) back to the proper path to God.
Abraham, for example, epitomized the true monotheist who submitted himself fully to God’s will. According to the Qur’an, most Jews and Christians have lost sight of the true essence of the Abrahamic commitment.
Despite the passages that claim to represent Islam as God’s chosen religion and its followers as God’s chosen community, the Qur’an is not actually as preoccupied with the chosenness issue as the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are. Recall that the competition for chosen status between Jews and Christians was a “zero-sum” situation based on the unique nature of monotheism in a world that was overwhelmingly polytheistic. It was inconceivable in that environment to think that there could be more than one divinely chosen community. Jews and Christians at the time argued over which one was the chosen one.
By the seventh century, however, much had changed in the Near East. The Roman Empire had become the Christians’ Byzantine Empire, and Jews and Christians had become increasingly dispersed throughout the region. These two developments encouraged a huge influx of erstwhile polytheist into one or another of these two monotheistic systems.
Moreover, Christianity had produced many different expressions and denominations, and Judaism also existed in a variety of forms between the Holy Land, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Historical demographers believe that the overwhelming majority of peoples in the Near East at this time were monotheist of one form or another, while a significant minority was represented by Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrianism is an ancient religious system that emerged independently of either Judaism or Christianity, and it is not monotheistic. Nevertheless, it was the state religion of the Persian Empire and was extremely sophisticated and impressive, represented by great literatures and theologies, administered by a highly educated priesthood, and organized around beautiful temples and monumental structures. All three great religious systems represented high religious civilization to the old, indigenous polytheisms. In fact, only a few pockets of traditional polytheism remained in the Near East at this time. The largest seems to have been in Arabia.
In other words, it was no longer so unique in the Near East of the late seventh century to believe in the one Great God. Even Arabia had a well-known population of monotheists, and when Arabs traded beyond the borders of Arabia, most of the people they came into contact with were monotheist as well. Islam was thus born in a world that was radically different from either the world of emerging biblical monotheism or the world of emerging Christianity.
As Islam emerged into its own religious world, its devotees could not claim exclusive truth as monotheists in a world of polytheism, as did ancient Israel. Neither could they claim sole possession of the ultimate relationship with the one Great God in a simple bilateral competition with the Jews, as did Christianity. The Muslim community encountered a multi-monotheist playing field in which the goal had to be, simply, to demonstrate superiority in its claim for share of the market.
The religious fellowship of Islam, the umma in Qur’anic parlance as articulated in Qur’an 3:110, is “the best community that has been brought forth for humanity,” but only as long as its members would “command the reputable and forbid the disreputable, and believe in God.”
Exactly what was meant by these requirements was not articulated unambiguously in the Qur’an. That is to say, would successfully fulfilling these three obligations be possible only within an Islamic framework? Or could Jews and Christians acceptably command the reputable and forbid the disreputable within their own religious system?
Some Qur’anic passages such as 2:62, say that they may:
“Those who believe, and who are Jews, and Christians and Sabaeans—whoever believes in God and the Last Day and who work righteousness—they have their reward with their Lord, they shall not fear nor should they grieve.”
The identical message is given again in 5:69 although debatable, 22:17 might even include Zoroastrians among those approved by God.
Other verses, such as 9:29, talked a different position, which according to many interpreters is considered to have abrogated the more welcoming verses mentioned above.
”Fight those given scripture who do not believe in God or in the Last Day and do not make forbidden what God and His messenger have made forbidden, and do not practice the religion of truth, until they pay tribute willingly, in a humbled state.”
This verse may be interpreted as condemning only those People of the Book who are not true to their own scriptural traditions, or it may be interpreted to mean that all those who have been given prior scripture have become unbelievers and rebels against the very divine revelation that they received. However, one may interpret this verse, it places monotheist represented by the religions of the book in a secondary positions to Muslims. It is an elitist position, but it is not supersecessionist. Even in exclusivist readings of the Qur’an, chosenness is shared among all monotheists.
In theory, at least, there is a place for the covenanted chosenness of Judaism and Christianity within Islam.