The Movement for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Romain, new Chairman of the Assembly of Rabbis and Rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue is a respected writer and broadcaster, frequently asked to comment on news issues on radio and television.

In a new feature he addresses your concerns, giving responses to modern issues and queries.

This week he answers the question 'What do Judaism and Islam have in common?'

The two faiths share many core tenets : Muslims believe in the one God who acts both as creator and revealer, and who demands that his followers adhere to moral values in their everyday conduct.. In this respect, it counts alongside Judaism as a religion of ethical monotheism. Both faiths trace their roots to Abraham, although they then diverge, with Jews being descended from his Son by Sarah, Isaac, and Muslims from his son by Hagar, Ishmael.

They share similar rituals, including circumcision for all males (for Muslims, it is not done specifically at eight days but any time before the child's thirteenth birthday). Halal meat is similar to kosher meat in the method of slaughter (in fact, the proximity is such that Muslims are allowed to eat kosher meat if no halal is available, although the reverse does not apply), while the concept of  having types of forbidden and permitted foods also links Jews and Muslims. Christians, by contrast, have very few everyday rituals or domestic laws.

You may be familiar with the Five Pillars of Islam : first is belief in God; second is the obligation of prayer (for them, five times a day, compared to Judaism's traditional three daily prayers); third is charity; fourth is fasting (from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadam); fifth is the haj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims should make at least once in their lives. The first three are very similar to Jewish thinking, while the last two are not that far removed from our experience :w may not have a month-long fast, but do fast at specific occasions (Yom Kippur, Tisha B'Av and other occasions).We do not have any sense of pilgrimage today, but in biblical times there was an obligation for all adult males to make a journey to the Temple in Jerusalem three times a year - at Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot. That is why they became known, and are still referred to today, as the ‘Shalosh raglayim' -the Three Pilgrim Festivals.

The way the literature of both faiths has developed, with both a Written Law and an Oral Law (which was later written down too) is also parallel: just as we have the Bible which was then interpreted by the rabbis in the form of the Talmud, so Muslims have the Koran which was then interpreted to meet new situations in the Hadith. Moreover, our concepts of religious law - Halacha - is exactly matched by their concept of Sharia.
        
Still, there are also differences : on the surface in the rituals we each perform, and also in attitudes. Islam believes it has superseded Judaism, although it recognizes Jews as ‘people of the book' who once had God's revelation and who (along with Christians) are on a higher religious plain that other non-Muslims. Thus Moses is recognized as a prophet, but not as great as Mohammed. Another striking difference is that whereas the Bible is the reflection of a long religious development from Abraham to Moses, and written only after Judaism had been established, Islam starts with the revelation of the Koran and is a religion based on a pre-existing text subsequently spread by Mohammed.

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed