Our biblical forefathers- a brief reminder to Kenneth Brander

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Allah, The Exalted, said:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

O mankind, We have created you from a male (Ādam) and female (Eve) (making you all of equal lineage) and We made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another (and fulfil each other’s rights). Verily, the most honourable of you with Allāh is the most pious of you (and not the noblest in lineage or most affluent) (so do not be boastful and belittle others). Indeed, Allāh is all-Knowing, all-Aware. [1]

The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: Indeed, Allah [The Most High] has removed from you the pride of the pre-Islamic period and its boasting about ancestors. One is only a pious believer or a wretched sinner. You are sons of Adam and Adam (was created from) dust. Let the people abandon boasting about their ancestors, for they are merely fuel in Jahannam; or they will become more insignificant in (the sight of) Allah than the beetle which rolls dung with its nose. [2]

The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “Whoever is held back by his deeds, his (nobility) of lineage will not push him forward”. Imam An-Nawawi, may Allah have mercy upon him, said, “Its meaning is that the one whose deeds are deficient and he does not catch up with the performers of (good) deeds, it is obligated to him not to crown himself with nobility of lineage and the virtues of his forefathers, whilst he is lagging behind in (performing good) deeds”. [3]

This article aims to provide the views of a researcher on the origins of the Children of Israel. As previously noted in the sacred texts of the Shariah quoted above, Allah has created humanity with diverse lineages, and no one lineage holds superiority over another, save for those who faithfully follow the teachings of Allah’s Prophets and Messengers, with Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, being the final one. Consequently, no race can assert virtue over another; rather, true virtue is found in one’s commitment to divine guidance. Our objective is not to diminish anyone based on their racial background, as such actions reflect the ignorance prevalent before the advent of Islam, whether aimed at Muslims or non-Muslims alike. We stand firmly against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, recognising that racism is not only a profound moral failing but also a transgression in the eyes of the Creator, who, in His infinite wisdom and justice, has created us with diversity.[Refer to Footnote a] This article is dedicated to research that illustrates how, just as Muslims encompass a variety of races while sharing a common faith, so too do Jews represent a spectrum of ethnicities. However, some among the Jewish community, by virtue of their association with Bani Israel, have made claims that may not be justified. The author of the research we will reference articulates the following:

Some propagate the idea that they are the descendants of the first Israelites who lived in Palestine, and claim that they are the inheritors of those first Israelites who were in Palestine. They strive to disseminate the claim of the purity of this race that it is not mixed with other nations- a race that has maintained, in their claim, its purity. This claim portrays them, in the eyes of Christians, as the children of Yaqub, peace be upon him, and his descendants, thus they are the ones intended for the promises found in the Old Testament to the children of Israel. So, through this, they win the sympathy, kindness, and support of many Christians, especially with knowledge of the fact that the Christians sanctify the Torah and believe that what is in it is a revelation from Allah, The Mighty and Majestic. However, the reality opposess their claim of the purity of their race, and that is because a general observation of their appearance and features shows the difference in their origins. Some of them have European features, some have Arab features, and some have African features. With this difference, it cannot be claimed that their origin is the same, as they must have mixed with other nations from whom they inherited this difference in physical characteristics.

Furthermore, the Jews mentioned in their books that many of them married foreign women and that their women folk were also taken by foreign men, to the point that they attributed this to Prophet Sulayman – peace be upon him – (i.e. that he married women outside his race). It has also been proven historically that a big nation, the people of the Khazar state, converted to Judaism in the eighth century CE. This nation had previously been pagans, a Turkic Aryan people who inhabited the Central Asian region, and their state, named after themselves as the Khazar state, was located in the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It occupies the northern Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Ukrainian regions and the entire South Asian region, up to the borders of Moscow, the capital of Russia. The Caspian Sea was called the Khazar Sea. It is stated in the Jewish Encyclopedia about the Khazars as follows: “The Khazars are a people of Turkish origin, whose life and history are mixed with the beginning of the history of the Jews of Russia. The nomadic tribes of the steppes, on the other hand, forced them to consolidate the foundations of the Khazar kingdom in most parts of southern Russia before the Franks established the Russian monarchy in 855 CE. At this time (855 CE), the Khazar Kingdom was at the height of its power, engaged in constant wars, and at the end of the eighth century, the Khazar king, his nobles, and a large number of his pagan people converted to the Judaism. The Jewish population was large throughout the Khazar province during the period between the 7th and 10th centuries CE, (and) it appears that around the 9th century, all the Khazars had become Jews and that they had converted to Judaism only a short time earlier. Then this country subsequently fell into the hands of the Russians, who occupied it and completely destroyed it, and seized all of its lands. It disappeared from the map of Europe in the thirteenth century CE, and its people were dispersed among the countries of Eastern and Western Europe, and their largest existence in Eastern Europe were Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Russia”. This clearly shows that the Jews who are called Ashkenazi, who are European, have no connection to Prophet Yaqub by lineage. [4] [End of quote]

Nevertheless, it cannot be asserted that there is not a single Jewish individual in the world who is not connected to Yaqub, peace be upon him, by ancestry. If such a connection is proven by any of them, it should not be refuted. 

As for the usage of the word “Israel” concerning the state, it differs from their usage of it when talking about the Sacred Land. They make it obligatory for every Jew to live in the “Chosen Land” because whoever lives in it will have their sins expiated and receive a reward. This is why they said in the Talmud, “Every Jew must live in the Land of Israel, and this obligation is above every other obligation. The Land of Israel is pure and the pious among the Children of Israel must be buried there, and if that is not possible, some of the soil from it should be placed with the shroud. He who walks four cubits on the Land of Israel will not doubt that he is one of the children of the afterlife”. It was written in some of their books, “The people residing therein will be removed from sin”.

[1] https://www.thenoblequran.com/q/#/search/49_13

[2] Sahih Abee Dawud 5116

[3] Sharh Sahih Muslim. Hadith Number 2699. Vol 17. p18

[4] An Excerpt from “Diraasaat Al-Adyaan Al-Yahoodiyyah Wan Nasraaniyyah”. Pages 67-70. 6th Edition 1439AH (2018)