Publication: "...And narrate from the children of Israel and there is no harm...": Making sense of the use of isra'iliyyat Muslim scholarship
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Date
2016
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Publisher
Usuli Faqih Research Center PLT
Abstract
Islam has a relationship with the other Abrahamic faiths, namely Judaism and Christianity,
through the concept of Wiḥdah al-Dīn. This concept affects Islam in many ways. Not only it
affects in the principal matters of faith, such as the belief in the other prophets, but it also
affects belief in the previous sacred revelations, such as the Tawrāh, Zabūr and Injīl. From this
belief in the previous sacred revelations, some Muslims resort to the Isrā’īliyyāt to understand
Islam. Nevertheless, to use sources from other religions to understand Islam, specifically in
this case of Isrā’īliyyāt, seems confusing and perplexing. Chronologically, polemic on the use
of Isrā’īliyyāt had begun since the age of the Prophet Muhammad. This issue is not only
restricted to the Muslim circle, but it also prompts questions from the Jews and the Christians
as to why Muslims would source the Torah and the Bible to understand Islam. This paper
highlights issues related to the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim scholarship by exposing some
positions in the Islamic rulings and the sharī
cah justifications for these positions. These
positions in the Islamic rulings and its sharīcah justifications are extracted through the use of
textual analysis methodology. It is suggested that from understanding these justifications that
one can make sense of the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim Scholarship. It is also suggested that
from this principal understanding of the use of Isrā’īliyyāt in Muslim scholarship, the Biblical
interpretation in the Islamic contexts should be developed and discussed by the present and
future scholars of Muslim-Christian studies.
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Keywords
Israliiyyat, Wihdah al-Din, Children of Israel, Muslim Scholarship and Comparative Study of Religions