Conspiracies of the Jews

The Jews' Sabotage

The Jews, like Christians, were aware of the advent of the Holy Prophet. In the word of the Holy Qur'¡n, the people of the Book considered the Holy Prophet their own child:

Those whom We have given the Book recognize him as they recognize their sons. (2:146)

They had seen his attributes in the Torah and the Gospel;[1] they were therefore expected to become Muslims even earlier than the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, because the Jews had threatened them that they would take revenge on them when the Promised Prophet would come with the Divine Mission. However, only a few of them accepted Islam. At the beginning of Hegira, however, their relationships with Muslims were usual as is concluded from their signing of the nonaggression pact with the Holy Prophet. However, this tranquility did not last long; after a while, they started quarrelling. Among their sabotages was their denial of the Holy Prophet's unique attributes by claiming that they could not find Mu¦ammad's traits and characteristics in their Book and that the attributes of the Promised Prophet could not be identified in the Holy Prophet.[2] The Holy Qur'¡n has condemned this approach:

And when there came to them a Book from Allah verifying that which they have, and for a time they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve. But when there came to them (prophet) that which they did not recognize, they disbelieved in him; so Allah's curse is on the unbelievers. (2:89)

The Jews engaged in sabotage through different approaches:

(1) They had irrational and illogical demands, such as receiving a letter from the skies.[3]

(2) They put out complicated religious questions to disturb the Muslims' thoughts and minds.[4] However, they always received strong reactions and answers from the Holy Prophet.

(3) They endeavored to weaken the base of the Muslims' faith by saying:

Avow belief in that which has been revealed to those who believe, in the first part of the day, and disbelieve at the end of it, perhaps they go back on their religion. (3:72)

(4) They attempted to bring about division and turbulence among Muslims. Sha's Ibn Qays, a Jew, tried to enliven once again the old hatreds among Aws and Khazraj. However, this act became futile through the proper act of the Holy Prophet.[5]

Motives of the Jews' Oppositions

The Jews were generally interest-seeking, greedy and stubborn people.[6] The Holy Qur'¡n regards the polytheists and them as the most violent enemies of Islam:

Certainly you will find the most violent of people in enmity for those who believe to be the Jews and those who are polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who believe to be those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly. (5:82)

This was because these two groups were not rational beings and they did not stop showing their animosities and aggressions against Islam. The Jews opposed Islam for the following reasons:

(1) The Jews treated the Holy Prophet racially; they were jealous because he was Jew; rather an Arab.[7]

(2) Prior to the influence of Islam in Yathrib, the Jews enjoyed a better socio-economic status because they had had control over the economy of the city through crafts, industry, agriculture,[8] and usury.[9] At the same time, taking advantage of the differences between Aws and Khazraj, the Jews weakened their powers. Through their contracts with Ban£-Qaynuq¡` who belonged to the tribe of Khazraj and through unity with Ban£’l-Na¤¢r and Ban£-Quray¨ah who belonged to the tribe of Aws, they could easily created animosity between these two tribes.[10] After the Holy Prophet's migration, the two tribes united and went under the banner of Islam thus increasing the power of Islam tremendously. The Jews realized that the dominating power would very soon be in the hands of Muslims and they would inevitably be the big losers. This situation was quite unbearable for them.

(3) The Jewish clerks and rabbis were prestigious; they enjoyed a lot of respect among the illiterate people who blindly followed them without questioning. At times, these clerks and rabbis issued orders contrary to God's. Nevertheless, people followed them without asking.[11] Furthermore, they used to receive a lot of gifts and charities as the protectors of the Torah. They therefore feared that they might lose this source of income with the progress of Islam.[12]

(4) They showed animosity to Archangel Gabriel who brought God's messages to Mu¦ammad (¥);[13] they used this as an excuse to antagonize the Holy Prophet.

(5) The Holy Qur'¡n condemned many of the Jews' acts and behaviors and many of the Torah’s instructions[14] and disagreed with the Jews in many ordinances.[15] This issue had its roots in the past. Prior to Islam, they were culturally superior to the idolaters and they were respected by the unbelievers.[16] After the advent of Islam, this trend, more or less, continued; some times Muslims in Medina used to ask them some religious questions and they translated the Torah into Arabic for Muslims, while their religious data were mostly skewed and erroneous. For this reason, the Holy Prophet recommended Muslims not to accept their statements.[17] Once, the Holy Prophet told `Umar ibn al-Kha§§¡b, “I swear to God in Whose hands is my soul that if Moses were alive now, he would follow me.”[18] These issues added to the Jews' hatred and enmity towards Islam; they sometimes used to say, “This man has planned to disagree with all of our plans.”[19]