Muhammad s
Inspiration
by
Judaism
*
Lawrence
Kostoris
Lecture,
read
at
the
Institute
ofJewish
Studies,
Manchester,
on
30th
June
1958.
 
UHAMMAD S
indebtedness
to
Judaismand
his
relations
with
lVl
the
Jews
of
Arabia
have
been
studied
in
many
books
and
articles.
However,
as
Professor
Arthur
Jeffrey
rightly
remarked
in
a
recent
article
on
qoranic
research,
we
still
haveno
satisfactory
comprehen-
sive
study
on
the
subject.
In
addition,
most
of
the
work
done
con-
cerns
Muhammad s
relations
with
the
Jewsof
al-Madina,
to
whom
indeed
countless
references
are
made
in
thechronologically
later
parts
of
the
Qor an,
aswell
as
in
the
historical
records
and
the
religious
literature
of
the
Muslims.
It
is,
however,
the
beginnings
of
Muhammad s
prophetical
career,
his
original
inspiration
and
his
preaching
in
his
native
town
of
Mecca,which
count.
To
this
period
and
to
the
questions
how,and
how
far,
Muhammad
was
inspired
at
that
time
by
Jews
and
Judaism,our
lecture
today
is
devoted.
Although
I
am
addressing
an
Institute
of
Jewish
Studies,
I
may
be
allowed
to
approach
the
subject
from
the
point
of
view
of
the
Islamist.
My
mainand
original
concern
is
a
true
understanding
of
the
Qor an.
What
I
am
trying
to
do
is
to
find
a
plausible,
coherent
explanation
for
the
many
puzzling
and
seemingly
contradictory
facts
which
emanate
from
a
minute
analysis
of
our
sources
about
Muham-
mad s
beginnings.
For
this
purpose
we
ask:
Did
Muhammad
have
personal
contact
with
a
member
or
members
of
another
religionin
his
native
town
of
Mecca
in
the
crucialyears
when
he
became
a
prophet?
Who
were
his
mentors?
And,
if
these
were
Jews,
what
kind
of
Judaism
was
represented
by
them?
Thus
our
study,
although
originally
undertaken
to
provide
an
explanation
of
problematic
pass-
ages
occurring
in
the
Qor an,
will
not
only
scrutinise
the
relations
of
Islam
to
the
older
religions,
but
form
an
inquiry
into
a
most
inter-esting
and
significant
phase
of
Judaism
itself.
Our
knowledge
about
the
Jews
in
Arabia
before
Muhammad
(a)
from
talmudic
literature
(b)
from
epigraphic
evidence
(c)
from
Christian
and
particularly
Muslim
sources,
is
very
considerable,
and
hasbeen
elucidated
by
many
studies.
Still
a
new,
synthetic,
and
critical
investigation
of
this
subject,
too,
would
be
highly
desirable.
Of
course,
this
cannot
be
undertaken
in
this
lecture.
However,
itis
*The
lecture
is
printed
here
as
it
was
read,
and
therefore
no
annotations
are
provided.
The
author
will
treat
the
subject
in
a
wider
context,
accompanied
by
full
documentation,
on
another
occasion.
149
 
THE
JOURNAL
OF
JEWISH
STUDIES
imperative
to
mention
a
few
salient
facts,
in
order
to
put
our
inquiry
into
the
proper
historical
context.
In
the
Sifre,
a
tannaitic
Midrash
to
Deuteronomy
(xxxii:
2),
we
read:
 When
God
revealed
Himself
to
give
the
Torah
to
Israel,
he
did
so
not
in
one
language,
but
in
four:
in
Hebrew,
in
Greek,
in
Arabic,
and
in
Aramaic.
This
clearly
shows
that
at
theearly
date
of
this
source-second
or
third
century-the
Torahhad
been
translated
not
only
into
Greek
and
into
the
language
of
the
Targum,
Aramaic,
but
also
into
Arabic.
That
translation
most
probably
was
not
committed
towriting;
however,
this
doesnot
mean
that
it
was
not
fixed
by
oral
tradition,justas
were
the
later
Sharks,
or
Arabic
bible
translations,
which
were
popular
among
Jews
in
Islamic
times,
in
addition
to
the
classical
Arabic
bible
translation
of
Sa adya.
The
testimony
of
the
Sifre
is
corroborated
even
by
an
older
source;
I
am
referring,
of
course,tothe
New
Testament;
in
the
Acts
of
the
Apostles
(ii:
11),
from
the
story
of
the
miracle
of
Pentecost,
we
learnthat
Arabic-speaking
Jews
and
proselytes
had
made
the
pilgrimage
to
Jerusalem
already
at
a
time
before
thedestruction
of
the
Second
Temple.
There
seems
to
be
an
allusion
to
an
Arabic
bible
translation
in
the
Qor an
itself.
In
Sura
xli:
43/4,
Allah
addresses
Muhammad
with
the
following
words:
 Nothing
has
been
saidto
you
that
hasnot
been
said
to
the
messengers
before
you
 
..
If
We
(i.e.,
Allah)
had
made
it
(i.e.,
the
Qor an)
in
a
foreign
language,
they
would
have
said:
 Why
are
its
verses
not
made
distinct,
foreign
and
Arabic?
Obviously,
this
passage
makes
sense
only
on
the
assumption
that
both
Muhammad
and
his
audience
knew,
as
a
matter
of
normal
routine,
that
the
Torah
was
read
in
Hebrewand
translated
verse
by
verse
into
Arabic.
However,
in
Judaism,
the
most
telling
indication
of
any
pheno-
menon
is
always
to
be
sought
in
religious
law.
In
fact,
the
Halakhah
makes
special
provisions
for
the
Jews
in
Arabia,
both
with
regard
to
ritual
law,
the
observation
of
the
Sabbath,
and
family
law,the
mar-
riage
contract.
It
allows
Jewish
women
in
Arabia
to
go
out
on
the
holy
Sabbathbedecked
with
their
heavy
jewellery
and
stipulatesthat
in
Arabia,
where
at
that
time
the
Jews,
unlike
their
co-religionists
in
Palestine,
normally
didnot
possess
land,
camels
and
incense
might
serveas
a
securityfor
the
sums
to
be
paid
in
the
case
of
a
divorce
or
a
husband s
death.
Nothing
could
illustrate
more
effectively
how
important
a
section
of
the
Jewish
people
lived
in
Arabia
at
thattime.
150
 
MUHAMMAD S
INSPIRATION
BYJUDAISM
The
epigraphic
evidence
is
of
different
kinds.
I
confine
myself
here
to
one,
the
old
South-Arabian,
Sabaean-from
Sheba,
which
is
Yemen-or
Himyaritic
inscriptions.
They
tell
us
about
judaized
South-Arabian
kings,
i.e.
kings
who
didnot
invoke
any
more,
as
had
been
usual,
a
plurality
of
gods,
but
one
God,
who
was
called
Rahmdn,
the
All-merciful-as
is
well
known,
the
official
name
of
God
in
the
Babylonian
Talmud.
In
two
inscriptions,
this
Rahmndn
is
styled
expressly
as
Rabb-Hfid
or
Yahfid,
the
God
of
the
Jews.
Our
knowledge
of
this
epigraphic
material
has
been
enormously
enlarged
through
the
discoveries
made
by
the
Anglo-Belgian
expedition
to
Arabia
in
1951/2
and
the
subsequent
publication
of
the
newly
found
inscriptions
by
Gonzague
Ryckmans,
of
Louvain,
Belgium.
We
have
now
inscrip-
tions,in
considerable
number,
of
judaized
Himyarites
from
both
the
middle
of
the
fifth
century
and
from
the
beginnings
of
the
sixth,
about
fifty
years
before
Muhammad s
birth.
The
importance
of
theseinscriptions
consists
not
only
intheir
number
and
geographical
and
chronological
distribution
but
in
the
missionary
zeal
and
drivefor
expansion
expressed
in
them.Thus,
inscription
Ryckmans
No.
508,
after
having
told
much
about
wars,
bloodshed
and
even
the
destruction
of
churches
by
the
Jewish
king,
Joseph
 As ar,
formerly
known
only
by
his
Arabic
nickname
Dhu-
Nuwas,
concludes
with
theprayer:
 May
Thy
mercy,
Thou
Merciful
One,
embrace
the
whole
world,
for
Thou
art
the
Lord.
Inanother
inscription,
R.
520,
the
dedicators
pray
for
a
good
life
and
a
good
death,
which
implies
a
belief
in
a
world
to
come,
as
well
asfor
sons
fighting
for
the
name
of
the
All-merciful-the
first
indication
of
the
idea
of
the
Holy
War
on
Arab
soil.
In
connection
with
the
judaized
South-Arabian
King
Joseph,Christian
sources
tell
us
about
Jewish
rabbis
from
Tiberias-then
the
capital
ofJewish
Palestine-who
guided
and
instructed
the
king.
Muslim
accounts
of
the
Jews
of
Arabia
are,
of
course,
our
main
source
of
information.
They
reveal
to
us
that
an
unbroken
chain
of
Jewish
settlements
stretched
from
the
border
of
Palestine
to
al-
Madina,which
originally
was
a
town
of
K,5hanim
and
still
was
inhabited
at
the
time
of
Muhammad
by,
among
others,
two
priestly
clans.
That
Ko5haninz
should
live
together
was
nothing
exceptional
at
that
time,
when
the
re-erection
of
the
Temple
was
still
a
tangible
hopeand
the
prieststried
to
preserve,
to
a
certain
extent,
the
laws
of
priestlypurity.
Such
priestly
townswere
found
not
only
in
Palestine
but
even
in
such
far
away
places
as
the
isle
of
Jerba
off
the
coast
of
151
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