The Status of Jews in the Holy Quran (2)

In the Quran, the beginning of the story of the children of Israel is related in the story of Prophet Yusuf (PEACE BE UPON HIM) and in a Surah of the same name. Israel is another name for Jacob (PEACE BE UPON HIM) that consists of two Hebrew words "Isra" means servant and "el" means God, the "servant of God" or Abdullah. Children of this prophet who had migrated to Egypt during the tenure of the Prophet Joseph (PEACE BE UPON HIM), settled there and their population according to some chronicles, reached in about four hundred years to nearly six thousand people.
The emergence of Prophet Moses (PEACE BE UPON HIM) from among this people at the time of the pharaoh and the story of their exodus from Egypt to the previous land is another historic beginning for this nation. Forty years of wandering in the desert of Sinai, entering the Promised Land, boom periods at the time of prophets like Prophet David (PEACE BE UPON HIM) and the Prophet Solomon (PEACE BE UPON HIM), segregation, corruption and subsequent weakness and finally the destruction of Jerusalem, massacre and captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and banishment to Babylon, being freed by Cyrus the Great and repatriation, disobedience and corruption such as murdering Jesus Christ and other prophets, the invasion of the Roman general Titus in 70 AD and its subsequent destruction and captivity and re-displacement and dispersion of the people to other cities like Medina and other cities around the world and continuation of this displacement and dispersion until the end of World War II and finally the establishment of Israel by Zionism supported by global arrogance are the titles and topics that can be observed in the history of this people.
Except their heyday at the time of the prophets like Prophet David (PEACE BE UPON HIM) and Prophet Solomon (PEACE BE UPON HIM), etc. the rest of the history of this nation is full of internal strife, conflict with other nations, corruption and bloodshed. Jews have tasted the flavor of displacement and dispersion more than any other nation and that has been the result and reflection of their own behaviors. Jewish history is the visualization and realization of this divine sayings: they are doomed to be prostrated and wretched; being ungrateful to divine revelations, killing prophets, plumbing and transgression and violation of human and divine limits cannot any result and effect but the wrath of God, humiliation and abjection. Surprisingly, however, throughout their humiliating history, there have always had one claim and that is their claim of superiority and supremacy of Jews over all other nations.
From the beginning of the creation in the story of Joseph (PEACE BE UPON HIM) we can see that self-conceit and jealousy of the children of the Israel lead them to commit crime against their own brother. In different parts of their story in the Quran they show these features. Although in this surah which is called by God “the best of stories”, they acknowledge that “by God, certainly God made you superior over us” and accept the truth, but from that time till now the claim of superiority is heard from them, a claim by whose repetition has turned into a belief and they have committed many crimes and bothered many people in the light of this banner.
With their excessive worldliness, although they have materially achieved some facilities, but spiritually and morally they haven’t taken a step forward from what they had been at the beginning and are still in the valley and claims that they are the superior nation at the beginning of the appearance. They have not learned from their history that when they began to corruption and rebellion in the earth, the result been nothing but destruction and captivity, and wandering and still at this time which appears to have gained property, have started to transgress the rights of the Palestinian people and have been unaware of the unchangeable tradition of God, for those who rebel and transgress the limits of their God, there will be the abjection and prostration. This paper tries to find the roots of this claim, i.e. superiority and dominance of Jewish people to find the causes of the formation of this myth with reference to the verse of the holy Quran.
First, it is necessary to note that the Quran in its sacred verses, never considers all the people of this tribe wrongdoer; and as it is expected from the glorified speech of Allah the Almighty it usually presents the true facts and reports incident in absolute fairness and whenever mentioning vices of this tribe in the Quran uses words such as “a group of them”, “most of them”, “a few of them”, etc. and has made exceptions and does not address all the Jews even when it is praising the righteous people of this tribe which may be seen in any population.
Although in the verse “verily the religion from the view of God is Islam” God introduces Islam and accepts it as the only accepted religion and in several other verses promises to extend its dominance despite the will of polytheists and infidel, but since perfunctory resort and submission does not lead to salvation and faith, faith in God, resurrection and good deeds are introduced as the prerequisites for and the Jews, Christians, and Magi in condition that they possess the above requirements, i.e. the belief in monotheism and resurrection and good deeds will be eligible for rescue. What is important for God is pure heart and reputation is not the requirement for salvation. His extensive mercifulness encompasses those who had been subjected to oppression and thus haven’t been able to accept the religion accepted by Allah. Mass of followers who for whatever reason are not exposed to facts, will be eligible oppressed. God has also advised Jews to pay attention to the common features and wants them to move away from polytheism and gather around monotheism.
Among people who follow different religions, whether Christian, Jewish and Muslim there are sects and divisions. Even it is famous that we Muslims have seventy-three sects and only one of them is right. Followers of any sect consider themselves to be that only one group which is right. Isn’t there really a righteous man among the other sects who believed in monotheism and resurrection and be worthy of salvation.
Is for someone who is namely from the true and original sect, just because he has been born and frown in a family who had followed the true sect, but he is incompetent in his actions and beliefs, will this assignment save him? Surely it can never save him. Apparent attribute to religion and belief in monotheism for true believers, while taking into account the conditions of oppression, will not lead to punishment. It is fair to say that at this time and with the development of means of communication, to what extent Islamic sects have the viability to communicate with each other. And if the saved sect, whichever it is, wants to distribute facts to the masses of its followers of any sect rather than to scholars, how practical it would be?
It is about the cult followers of a religion, and obviously between different religions, communication is more difficult and its responsibility is on any sectarian religious scholars who are knowingly or unknowingly prevent the publication of the facts. Of course, among the most fanatical followers of the Jewish faith there are always healthy consciences like Abdullah bin Salam, Ibn Suria and Saeed ibn Amr ibn who at any time when they hear the true voice of truth, they will accept it. So with these introductions, the author of these lines also inspired by the Holy Quran without any connivance or complimentary is of the opinion that what is written in this article about the Jewish people are not addressed to all Jews. The evidence also shows this, and now in our time, anti-Zionist Jewish movement, are examples of this claim and should be treated differently. Unfortunately, these people are in minority and what is known as Judaism in our time is that majority of which shows itself under the banner of Zionism.
With these introductions we proceed to investigate questions raised in the minds of people which has created misunderstanding using the teachings of the holy Quran. What is in our memory from the Jewish people's history is their obstinacy, stubbornness, treason, war and bloodshed, killing prophets, rebellion and transgression of the divine limits, distortion of the facts, superiority and racism and so on. Can we find in the midst of the foregoing factors, one or more agents to consider them the main causes of other factors? What characteristics can be the origin and cause of the other features which can be applied to these people? What manifests itself more than others in all historical periods is their racism and self-conceitedness.
From the beginning of the story of Prophet Joseph (PEACE BE UPON HIM) and before that in a specific manner in the story of Hagar and Ishmael’s migration and in other important periods of time such as the beginning of the prophet hood of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his progeny where the only excuse of Jews is that Prophet of Islam is not of the race of Israel and descendants of Prophet Isaac (PEACE BE UPON HIM) and until this day that criminal activities are done under the slogan of Zionist’s superiority, all shows that what plays a major role in this people's ignorance is the belief in the superiority of the Jewish race. Now the question arises that where these ideas come from? Is it based on false beliefs or from the other causes? To answer this question we’ll investigate verses from the Holy Quran which are in relation to the Jewish people so that by the will of God in the end achieve a result based on the revelation that is free from human error.
Some believe that the intellectual foundation of the Jewish racism roots from some of their fundamental beliefs; therefore, the verses that express beliefs are investigated first and then move to examine the verses showing that characteristics and other traits of this nation; we leave judgment about whether false beliefs or attributes are the source of Jewish racism after our investigations.
I. Beliefs
1. Belief in the nonintervention of God in the affairs
The Jews say: "(Allah)'s hand is tied up." Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the (blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He gives and spend (of His bounty) as He pleased. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increased in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them we have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah love not those who do mischief (Verse 64 of the Table Spread).
In this verse Allah illuminates the fundamental attitude of Jews toward God and the universe; Jewish people according to this belief, considers involvement in the affairs of the world to be limited and believes that when God created this world, has adjusted its affairs and has left it to itself and after that the world works automatically without the need for skilful act and this is not only in the nature, but also in the history and human communities it is in the same way; if thought that way, God is tied-hands and powerless; in a better word, God is no longer a creator.
Jews saw their abjection and penury instead the unchangeable traditions of God and a reflection of their abusive and inappropriate behavior, believed that their abjection and penury was the preset divine destiny that God himself is not able to change it. That is to say, instead of believing in God's unchangeable law traditions they believe in their unchangeable destiny. In other words, instead of the constant presence of God through his unchanging tradition, they believe in God’s tied-hands and His inability ti change the fate destined for them is made from scratch and in this way the justify their current situation; an idea that was strongly rebuked and Allah speaks of them with curse and keeping them from His mercifulness.
God’s tied hands is the perception that the concept of determinism and submission is understood from it. Determinism is understood from it because it consider that what is happening is inevitable and predetermined destiny and continues without any change; submission is understood because God after the initial creation of the universe has assigned it to itself, the world works automatically and God has no interference in the affairs. Obviously, this kind of thinking about God and the universe is another background for doctrinal and practical deviation. Of course, God in the above verse from the Quran answers this false thinking by His undying power in all states.
The belief, i.e. God's tied-hands, although having no direct role in the creation of the Jewish racist thinking, but is the beginning of the deviation and the context that puts them in the way of untrue thoughts and values. When this type of attitude is accompanied by other vicious thoughts such as being God’s child and friend, the result will be that the world has in fact vested to them and because they are God's children and friends, have merit and deserve it more than other nations.
2. The alleged special relationship with God
(Both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are sons of Allah, and his beloved." Say: "Why then doth He punish you for your sins? Nay, ye are but men, - of the men he hath created: He forgives whom He pleases, and He punishes whom He pleases: and to Allah belonged the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between: and unto Him is the final goal (of all)" (verse 18 of the Table Spread).
In verse 64 of Surah the Table Spread God illustrates the vicious Jewish thinking about the world and in verse 18 of the same Surah expresses false belief of this people about their identity and immediately after the expressing their void claims, invalidate them says if it was so why God will punish you for your sins, because no father punishes his child and no friend bothers his friend.
The origin of this claim is said in verse 30 of surah Repentance: “The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!” At the end of this verse God denies this lie and consider them in line with other false beliefs of previous pagan tribes. Therefore, we can say that what Jews put forward as a belief is just a claim in God’s view-a false claim- but this very claim paves the way for other false claims and positions like superiority over all other nations.