Quote:
Originally Posted by ummzayd  Abraham (peace be upon him) was from Ur of Chaldees (in Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq). So he was an Iraqi!
He lived before Judah, from whom the name of 'Jews' comes. He came from a tribe of idol worshippers, but sought after the One God. He was the great-grandfather of Judah, so how can he be said to be 'of the tribe of Judah'? ie Jewish.
Abraham (peace be upon him) is called a 'Hebrew' in the bible, which is not synonymous with 'Jew'. maybe you can research the meaning of 'Hebrew' for yourself if you are interested?
I hope that makes sense to you.
peace |
I think the confusion over Abraham doesn't have to do with how he saw himself. He clearly would not have seen himself as either Jewish or Arab as the concepts did not even exist at his time. But today he is claimed by both Jews and Arabs who, of course, want to consider him one of their own.
As having to be of the tribe of Judah to be Jewish, I don't think that it is necessary. Yes, I understand that this is where we generally think of the term as coming from (though if one reads the posts in the "ask a Jew" thread, I believe I read a different answer there about that a few months back). But that does not take into account that today we have people who are of the tribe of Benjamin (and this would included King David) and of the tribe of Levi (for example all those with the last name of Cohen) who are also considered Jews. So, the term "Jew", as used today, includes more than just the descendants of Judah.