While I’ve heard of Jewish Christians, I’ve never heard of any Jewish Moslems- that is, Jews who maintain their religious and ethnic identity as Jews but also accept the Quran and that Mohammed was a prophet of God. Are there any such persons, or does the Islamic faith contradict remaining Jewish?
While my knowledge of the subject is admittedly imperfect, my understanding of Islam is that being a Muslim would emphatically preclude your being Jewish. I’ve never heard of self-identifying Jewish Christians, though, and you apparently have. I would think that being Christian would automatically make you a non-Jew as well…either you think Jesus was the Messiah or you don’t.
Slight hijack:
David Brudnoy, a talk show host in the Boston area, was talking about the Arabic culture. He said that while most Arabs were Muslims, not all were. There are Christian Arabs (I knew that), but also Jewish Arabs, at least according to him. So, are there Jewish Arabs?
You are confusing being a Jew as only being a religion. Being a Jew can also be an ethicity, a race if you will. In fact, some Jews have “Jewish” listed on their birth/death certificate as their race.
A person can be a Jew and a Christian.
I think the OP is asking if there are “Jews for Mohammed” the same way there are “Jews for Jesus”. I’d like to know too. And yes, I’m aware of the great debate as to whether “J for J” are really jews or not.
OK, if you say so. In that case, I guess a person could be a Jew (ethnically) and Christian, or Muslim, or Druid for that matter (in a religious sense).
I always thought, though, that the traditional identity of “Jewish” was inseperable from the religious experience…being the descendants of the people Moses led out of slavery, God’s chosen people, etc, etc. Apparently what I think is wrong, though, if these people identify themselves as being of the Jewish “race”, but not necessarily religion. Ignorance loses another one.
BTW, I’m one of those people that finds the concept of “races” of humanity outdated. Ethnic/cultural groups, I believe in.
Got any info on Jewish Arabs?
For reference, here is an old thread with some excellent info on the Jewish race/religion question: Jewishness - Religion or race?
Here is a related Mailbag question: Can you be an atheist and still be Jewish?
Arjuna34
The Encyclopedia Judica says
1)A person born to a Jewish mother is a Jew. (regardless of the father)
2)A person converted to Judaism becomes a Jew by religion.
3)Children born to a mother CONVERTED to Judaism are considered to be Jews by birth.
4)If a Jew stops practicing(sp?) Judaism he remains a Jew.
5)If a Jew stops practicing Judaism and VOLENTARILY(sp?) starts practicing another religion he CEASES to be a Jew.
6)If the above is true a Jew who was CHRISTIAN needs to be RECONVERTED to become a Jew again.
The facts above confilct implying Jews are a ethnicity AND a religion or either or.
The Encyclopedia Judica also defines Judaism as the only religion praced by ONE PEOPLES the Jews.
Since Jews for Jesus is not a form of Judaism it appears that they are NOT Jews by Jewish Law.
Confused???
Yep.
(Note to self: no more “religion” threads.)
Prior to WW II there were minority Jewish enclaves in many countries of the Near and Middle East. The Qu’ran teaches tolerance and respect for Christianity and Judaism, as earlier revelations from Allah. After WW II and the creation of the state of Israel (or, in many Muslim’s eyes, the imposition of the state of Israel onto Muslim lands by the Christian West), many Jews left their homes in Islamic lands, either to go to Israel, and/or to escape new persecution / discrimination. A few remain, but those enclaves have grown very very small. (I seem to recall reading that there were still some Jews in Tehran, but their numbers had dwindled to about half a dozen septugenarians. Standard discalimers for faulty memory apply.)
These people are of Jewish faith. I could be mistaken, but I suspect they are not of Jewish “ethnicity.” Some very likely are Arabs. They cannot be called “Islamic” in any sense of the word.
– Beruang
I don’t know what the size of the Iranian Jewish community is, but it’s definitely bigger than a few septuaginarians.
This is an article from 1997 on the Iranian Jewish community. Since then, the biggest news story with regards to Iranian Jews has been the spying case, in which 13 Iranian Jews were accused of spying for Israel.
A side point - I don’t think that (even the Islamic) Iranians are Arabs, which is an ethinicity rather than a religion.
As far as I know, there are no “Jews for Mohammed” in the sense that there are “Jews for J”.
No doubt there are a few people of Jewish origin who have converted to Islam. I doubt that any of those practiced Judaism very religiously prior to their conversion.
No. Iranians are Persians, and their language is an indo-european one.
And concerning the Arab ethnicity : Arabs were a tiny minority in the countries they invaded. Now, are usually considered “Arabs” people who use an Arabic dialect. For instance, in North Africa, Berbers and Kabyls aren’t Arabs. They are thoses amongst the descendants of the people who lived originally there who retained their customs (not religion) and language. And the Arabs themselves in these countries probably have very few real “Arab” ancestry, actually, despite possible claims to the contrary.