Judeo-Islamic tradition

The phrase Judeo-Islamic tradition is used to refer to similar ideas in Judaism and in Islam. Some similarities include the following:

• They both teach monotheism, the belief in One God. Both teach that God is one and indivisable. Both religions reject any form of trinitarianism, duality, gnosticism, atheism and polytheism.

• Most adherents of both faiths believe that God is omnipotent and omniscient.

• Both believe that the Jewish prophets received revelations from God.

• Both religions have religious dietary laws. Both forbid the consumption of pork or any products that come from pigs. Jewish dietary standards are stricter than Muslim ones, hence orthodox Muslims are permitted by their religion to consume Kosher foods (foods prepared according to the Jewish regulations), but orthodox Jews are not normally permitted to consume Halal foods (which were prepared according to Muslim guidelines).

• There was much agreement between the medieval Jewish and Muslim scholars on philosophy of religion, especially in the area of reinterpreting their faiths according to neo-Aristotelian rationalism. Polemical writings of the time often stress the differences, but comparative scholars of religion who look back at these two traditions see many lines of agreement and parallel reasoning. See the articles on Jewish philosophy, Early Muslim philosophy, Islamic philosophy, and Modern Islamic philosophy for examples of the rich interplay of ideas between these two religions.

• Both religions have a core text that is interpreted through the lens of an evolving oral law. The Jewish core text is the Torah, and the writings of its oral law are contained in the Mishnah, the two Talmuds, and the evolving responsa literature. The Muslim core text is the Quran, and the initial writings of its oral law are contained in a number of Hadith collections. Further clarification of these laws are contained in books written by the various schools of jurisprudence, which include Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanafi, and Hanbali in Sunni Islam.

• Both practice daily prayer; praying multiple times each day, facing their respective holy cities. Jewish prayers are contained in a prayerbook known as the siddur.

• All branches of Judaism, and most branches of Islam, hold that male circumcision is a religious requirement.

• Both consider Jerusalem to be a holy city. [1] (http://bismikaallahuma.org/History/Al-Quds/haraam.htm)

• The core religious texts of these religions were transmitted to their respective prophets in semitic languages, one language being Hebrew, the other being Arabic. There is disagreement over whether this is significant. This disagreement might stem from religious beliefs, or from political motives to either associate or dissociate the two religions.

There are also significant theological differences between the two religions, which include the following:

• Judaism does not recognise Muhammad as a prophet; Islam recognises Muhammad as a prophet who brought a new revelation from God which superseded and clarified older teachings. Muhammad's new teaching is said to be contained in the Quran, which is said to contain the words of God, and the Sunnah, which are examples of how God's instructions were applied by his messenger.

• Muslims pray towards Mecca, holding Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem to be holy cities. Jews pray towards Jerusalem. Historically, Muslims used to pray towards Jerusalem as well, until almost seventeen months after the Hijra (migration), when Muslims received new instructions to pray towards Mecca. [2] (http://bismikaallahuma.org/History/Al-Quds/haraam.htm)

• According to the Quran, the leaders of Judaism deliberately altered the true word of God by rewriting the Torah (five books of Moses) and the rest of the Hebrew Bible. In the Quran, God charges the Jewish people with "falsehood" (Sura 3:71), distortion (4:46), and of being "corrupters of Scripture." Some parts of the Quran attribute this to tahri fi-manawi, a "corruption of the meaning" of the words. In this view, the Jewish Bible was true and unaltered, but the Jews misunderstood the meaning of it, and thus needed the Quran for clarification. However, later parts of the Quran state that the Jews deliberately altered their Bible. This idea was developed further in medieval Islamic polemics, and is an accepted teaching in both Sunni and Shiite Islam today.

See also: Judaism, Islam, Religious pluralism

---

While the terms Judeo-Islamic and Judeo-Islamic traditions are not widely used, some examples of these terms can be found here:

[3] (http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~kiener/UCHEB397.htm) [4] (http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/views_faith4.html) [5] (http://www.wiko-berlin.de/kolleg/projekte/AKMI/hermeneutik?hpl=2) [6] (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~bvon/pages/history_2000_us.html) [7] (http://www.ainsof.com/zionism.htm) [8] (http://www.law.mq.edu.au/HTML/staff/istewart/Beershev.doc) [9] (http://www.slowcrack.com/personal/dawoud.html) [10] (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9706/public.html) [11] (http://bangladesh-web.com/news/dec/13/g13122002.htm) [12] (http://viwabbit.web1000.com/intern/ispal/ispal701.htm) [13] (http://www.arts.cornell.edu/nes/faculty.htm) [14] (http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/programs/mideast/events.htm) [15] (http://www.geocities.com/quietzephyrus/halloween/halloween.html) [16] (http://www.jewish-languages.org/nstillman.html) [17] (http://depts.washington.edu/nelc/events/Brann_NELC%20seminar_03.htm) [18] (http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/6.13.02/Olin_panel.html) [19] (http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/7384.html) [20] (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9508/articles/davies.html)