Questions about Judaism answered by a Jew!

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace ;

You can edit them into your first post by uisng the "edit" button below your post.'



I don't think their is a punishment in Jewish law for being a liar.

----what about adultery ? What's the punishment for that ? When Jesus (p) was born miraculously , Jews did not believe in that miracle birth . So, nobody got any punishment regarding Jews law for that sin ?

Please provide me with the scripture. I have never heard any mention of that.

-----Ok, Insha Allah , i will try to collect more info later. Compu is still very slow .

 

[rav]

-----Ok, Insha Allah , i will try to collect more info later. Compu is still very slow .

Do not worry, I found it. And I edited it up. He is killed by radicals who do not wish to follow Jewish law, when he tells them to do so.

----what about adultery ? What's the punishment for that ? When Jesus (p) was born miraculously , Jews did not believe in that miracle birth . So, nobody got any punishment regarding Jews law for that sin ?

I doubt any punishment was carried out because everyone probably thought she was a liar and she had sex with her husband.

 

[Malaikah]

Hi,

Do Jews know approximately when their Holy Book was written?

Do you believe it was written by Prophet Musa (Moses)? Are their any historical records to confirm this belief?

Thanks...

 

[Grace Seeker]

Rav, I have a feeling that Muslim Woman is probably talking about Zechariah the father of John the Baptist and uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I do not think she was referring to the Zechariah who was one of the prophets.

If she is there is no mention of how he died in any Christian scriptures, I don't know about Jewish tradition. I would doubt if he is even mentioned.

 

[Malaikah]

Rav, I have a feeling that Muslim Woman is probably talking about Zechariah the father of John the Baptist and uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I do not think she was referring to the Zechariah who was one of the prophets.

What do you mean here? They are the same person, the prophet Zacheriah was the father of John the Baptist (Prophet Yahya), that is the Islamic teaching anyway.

 

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

Rav, I have a feeling that Muslim Woman is probably talking about Zechariah the father of John the Baptist and uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and I do not think she was referring to the Zechariah who was one of the prophets.

I m referring to Prophet Zakaria (p) who was also uncle of Mother Mary (p) . I don't remember now if he was father of Prophet John(p).

I read in an article that Prophet Zakaria(p) was murdered because of adultery charge as many people did not believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus (p).

 

[Malaikah]

^Sis, it is the same person, his son was Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist):

(Allâh said) "O Zakariya! Verily, We give you the glad tidings of a son, His name will be Yahya (John). We have given that name to none before (him)."

[Verse 7, Chapter Maryam]​

 

[YusufNoor]

^Sis, it is the same person, his son was Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist):

(Allâh said) "O Zakariya! Verily, We give you the glad tidings of a son, His name will be Yahya (John). We have given that name to none before (him)."

[Verse 7, Chapter Maryam]​

Assalamu 'alaykum,

A`udhu Billahi mina Shaytanir Rajeem,

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

My Dear Sister in Islam,

there IS a Prophet named Zechariah in the "Prophets" (also called Nevi'im)section of the Tanakh (Old Testament). his tenure was approximately 300 to 400 years before the commom era.

here's a link to an online version of the Tanakh:

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm

My apologies to our Jewish Brethren for jumping in here!

Peace,



Yusuf

 

[Malaikah]

So there are TWO of them?!:exhausted

 

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace ;

......
My apologies to our Jewish Brethren for jumping in here!

Peace,



Yusuf

I think , they should welcome u here

If u know so much about their religion , there is nothing wrong to share ur knowledge with us


well , i heard that one of the reasons Jews were cursed in the past was that they killed many Prophets (p). I m curious , what Jewish holy books say about this ? Do they believe they were cursed ?

 

[rav]

Wow I come here after Shabbos and there is a page of questions!

Hi,

Do Jews know approximately when their Holy Book was written?

Do you believe it was written by Prophet Musa (Moses)? Are their any historical records to confirm this belief?

Thanks...

We believe the Torah was written by G-d who dictated each word to Moshe on the mountain. If you have anymore questions on this I will happily answer you about them. What you may be confused about is the last verses of devarim. Many people are, and it has already been answered here by me, so if you wish I an link you to that post.

I m referring to Prophet Zakaria (p) who was also uncle of Mother Mary (p) . I don't remember now if he was father of Prophet John(p).

I read in an article that Prophet Zakaria(p) was murdered because of adultery charge as many people did not believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus (p).

I have no idea what you are talking about. We dont study or care about Mary to be honest with you. I have never learned about Mary because she is basically completly irrelevant.

there IS a Prophet named Zechariah in the "Prophets" (also called Nevi'im)section of the Tanakh (Old Testament). his tenure was approximately 300 to 400 years before the commom era.

Correct.

here's a link to an online version of the Tanakh:

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm

My apologies to our Jewish Brethren for jumping in here!

You should read the artscroll version, the JPS Tanakh is based off the Christian versions and not directly translated from the Hebrew like the artscroll is.

If you wish I could provide you a link to a better translation, might not be artscroll though.

So there are TWO of them?!

I guess. Other than the prophet who has a book in the Tanakh, I have no idea who you are refering to.

u know so much about their religion , there is nothing wrong to share ur knowledge with us

There is, because although he may know a lot, he is not Jewish, but is welcome to create a "Questions about Judaism, answered by a Muslim!" thread. I'm sorry to be so foward, but this thread should continue to be answered by members of the Jewish faith.

well , i heard that one of the reasons Jews were cursed in the past was that they killed many Prophets (p). I m curious , what Jewish holy books say about this ? Do they believe they were cursed ?

The Jews were never cursed, we continue to be blessed by G-d.

 

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam/peace;

The Jews were never cursed, we continue to be blessed by G-d.

---no offence , pl. We do respect Jews as people of the Holy Book. I m asking 'cause i want to know. Hope i m not hurting ur feelings.

Muslims believed that Jews lost the way in desert & stayed there for ......most probably 40 years.....? Was it a kind of punishment ? Another belief is that some Jews broke the law of Sabath & became ape & later they died. Do Jews believe in these stories ?

 

[rav]

---no offence , pl. We do respect Jews as people of the Holy Book. I m asking 'cause i want to know. Hope i m not hurting ur feelings.

Believe me, you will not hurt my feelings.

Muslims believed that Jews lost the way in desert & stayed there for ......most probably 40 years.....? Was it a kind of punishment ?

In a way, even Moshe the greatest prophet was not aloud to enter the land of Israel. This was because of the "sin of the spies". Basically, spies wers spying in the land of Israel for 40 days and 40 nights, looking around, and ten of them said that there was no way the Israelites could win a war against the other armies. This was basically saying that they did not think they could win, even though they would have G-d's help, as seen in these verses:

But the men who went up with him said, "We are unable to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. They spread an [evil] report about the land which they had scouted, telling the children of Israel, "The land we passed through to explore is a land that consumes its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of stature. There we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, descended from the giants. In our eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eye.
(Numbers 13:31-34)
​

They then complained to Moshe saying:

The entire community raised their voices and shouted, and the people wept on that night. All the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the entire congregation said, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this desert.
(Numbers 14:1-2)
​

Therefore, G-d responded saying that since they did not trust in his power after all the miracles he achieved, he was not going to let that generation live in the land of Israel:

"How much longer will this evil congregation who are causing to complain against Me [exist]? The complaints of the children of Israel which they caused them to complain against Me, I have heard. Say to them, 'As I live,' says the L-rd, 'if not as you have spoken in My ears, so will I do to you. In this desert, your corpses shall fall; your entire number, all those from the age of twenty and up, who were counted, because you complained against Me. You shall [not] come into the Land concerning which I raised My hand that you would settle in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. As for your infants, of whom you said that they will be as spoils, I will bring them [there], and they will come to know the Land which You despised. But as for you, your corpses shall fall in this desert. Your children shall wander in the desert for forty years and bear your defection until the last of your corpses has fallen in the desert.
(Numbers 14:27-33)​

Therfore, it is clear, that the generation that cried "we were better off in Egypt" was never to see the land, but their children will inherrit the land of Israel, and they did, once the last member of the generation that cried out against G-d saying they did not want the land died, the children of this generation entered the land of Israel and it became their land.

Another belief is that some Jews broke the law of Sabath & became ape & later they died. Do Jews believe in these stories ?

Became apes? I have no idea what your saying, I know in the Quran you compare us to animals, but we certainly do not. We never turned into apes for not following the Sabbath.

 

[Abu Zakariya]

I know in the Quran you compare us to animals, but we certainly do not.

Where if I may ask?

 

[rav]

Where if I may ask?

007.166YUSUFALI: When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected."

 

[Abu Zakariya]

007.166YUSUFALI: When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected."

But you said that it compared you to animals. That Ayah does no such thing. It's just stating that some of the people that refused to obey Allah were punished in this way, while others... well, just read the Ayah that preceded the one you quoted:

We rescued those who forbade evil, but with a severe torment We seized those who did wrong, because they used to rebel against Allah's command.

So what you said isn't true. It doesn't compare you to animals, unless there's another Ayah you feel does that?

 

[YusufNoor]

Assalamu 'alaykum,

A`udhu Billahi mina Shaytanir Rajeem,

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Shalom rav,

You should read the artscroll version, the JPS Tanakh is based off the Christian versions and not directly translated from the Hebrew like the artscroll is.

If you wish I could provide you a link to a better translation, might not be artscroll though.

i actually have quite a collection of Artscroll books. i think the Stone Chumash is OUTSTANDING and really lead me back to studying Scripture again! i can't recommend that Muslims read it, although ANY Muslim with the spare brain power should! ALL Christians should DEFINATELY read it. i really like the anthologized 2 part Bereishis, you know, the ones with the pretty covers. and the 5 set RASHI Torah series kicks major booty! i have the BEREISHIS set of RAMBAN, but became Muslim shortly after the release of part 2. now i see part 1 of SHEMOS is done. if i didn't have so much to learn about Islam, i would stop and read them...

feel free to post a link to translations, ALWAYS! i like to use the source of those i'm discussing with unless and until i have a problem with it. i'm from New Hampshire! people use to like to discuss important issues there.

Peace,



Yusuf

 

[Grace Seeker]

What do you mean here? They are the same person, the prophet Zacheriah was the father of John the Baptist (Prophet Yahya), that is the Islamic teaching anyway.

Just to expand on what Yusuf wrote above.


There is more than one Zechariah in the Bible. In fact there are about 28 men who have the name Zechariah, Zachariah, or Zacharias (depending on which spelling you use) in the Christian Bible and almost that many in the Jewish Bible or Tanakh. Remember they are basically the same Bible until Christians start talking about Jesus, and from that time on none of what is in that portion of the Christian Bible (that portion is referred to as the New Testament by Christians) is in the Tanakh. But the entire Tanakh is in the Christian Bible where it is referred to as the Old Testament.


The one I thought Rav was probably referring to was a prohpet Zechariah (son of Berechiah) who brought a message to the nation of Judah and who was an enthusiast for the rebuilding of Solomon's temple following the Jews return from captivity around 520 BCE, and whose writings are recorded in a book bearing his name in both the Jewish and Christian bibles. Obviously this man, could not be the same Zechariah who was the father of John the Baptist for then he would have had to have been several hundred years old. The Zechariah, who was John the Baptist's father (and who was also the uncle of Mary, the mother of Jesus), was an old man when John was born, but he was not several hunderd years old. The Jewish bible, having been completed some 400 years before the time of Jesus, would not mention any of Jesus' contemporaries, including John the Baptist, nor John's father Zechariah (who was also Mary's uncle). It is this latter Zechariah, whoever, that I understood Muslim Woman to be asking about. Thus, a case where coming from two different traditions, the question about the prophet Zakariah that Muslim Woman asked is going to be referring to one person, but when answered by Rav he is going to be thinking of a different person.

I was just trying to point out that Muslim Woman and Rav were asking about and answering regarding two completely different Zechariahs, who lived about 500 years apart.

I hope all of that has helped to clarify. Or have I muddied the waters?

 

[rav]

But you said that it compared you to animals. That Ayah does no such thing. It's just stating that some of the people that refused to obey Allah were punished in this way, while others... well, just read the Ayah that preceded the one you quoted:

We rescued those who forbade evil, but with a severe torment We seized those who did wrong, because they used to rebel against Allah's command.

So what you said isn't true. It doesn't compare you to animals, unless there's another Ayah you feel does that?

Yes, there actually is one more verse in the Quran that I would like cleared up:

Translation: Yusufali

[al-Baqarah 2:65] And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected."

The Jews are compare to apes and pigs by this Islamic video as well:

http://memritv.org/View.asp?P1=670


But we are getting off topic now, so I will hear your response, and then we will move on.

So basically, Muslim women, we do not at all believe these stories, I think it pretty insulting, but I have one question, since the Quran says people who transgress the Sabbath are apes, are Muslims not apes or do Muslims follow the Sabbath? certainly do.

 

[YusufNoor]

Translation: Yusufali

[al-Baqarah 2:65] And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected."

Assalamu 'alaykum,

A`udhu Billahi mina Shaytanir Rajeem,

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

Shalom rav,

You won’t find too many “flattering” interpretations of that Ayah. Here’s how M. Asad translates and explains it:

A`udhu Billahi mina Shaytanir Rajeem,

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

2:65 For you are well aware of those from among you who profaned the Sabbath, whereupon We said unto them, “Be as apes despicable”

the notes in part: for the…metaphorical allusion to “apes” see Surah 7, vv 163 –166

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

7:163 And ask them about that town which stood by the sea: how it’s people would profane the Sabbath whenever the fish came to them, breaking the water’s surface, on a day on which the ought to have kept the Sabbath – because they would not come to them on other than the Sabbath Days! Thus did we try them by means of their [own] iniquitous doings. {end 7:163} And whenever some people among them asked [those who tried to restrain the Sabbath-breakers], “Why do you preach to people whom G-d is about to destroy or [at least] to chastise with suffering severe?” – the pious ones would answer, “In order to be free from blame before your Sustainer, and that these [transgressors, too] might become conscious of Him” {end 7:164}

And thereupon, when those [sinners] had forgotten all that they had been told to take to heart, We saved those who had tried to prevent the doing of evil, and overwhelmed those who had been bent on evildoing, and with dreadful suffering for all their iniquity; {end 7:165} and then, when they disdainfully persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said unto them: “Be as apes despicable!” {end 7:166}

Notes on 7:166 …As for the substance of G-d’s decree, “Be as apes despicable”, the famous tabi’i Mujahid explains it thus: “[Only] their hearts were transformed, that is, they were not really transformed into apes: this is but a metaphor (mathal) coined by G-d with regard to them, similar to the metaphor of ‘the ass carrying books’…A similar explanation is given by Raghib. It should be born in mind that the expression “like an ape” is ofeten used in Classical Arabic to describe a person who is unable to restrain his gross appetites or passions.

Pp.259 to 260 of The Message of THE QUR’AN The Full Account Of The Revealed Arabic Text Accompanied by Parallel Transliteration Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad. Co 2003 the Book Foundation

Don’t know if that helps or not…

Peace,



Yusuf