Muhammad and The Jews — Page 3
lNTRODUCTJON reasonable to assume that in his early years Muhammad had close contact with Jews, who were not very different from those portrayed in the Talmudic literature" 1. Consequently the beliefs of the Apostle's Jewish neighbours and the nature of his contact with them had a direct bearing on the substance of what he borrowed from Judaism. West- ern scholarship is, however, mainly confined to these factors. Its research work has helped us in understanding the Apostle's relations with the Jews of the I;l. ijaz and specially those of Yathrib. But some of the reports on which this research depends have not been critically examined. Scholars have also not paid sufficient attention to the socio-political aspects of intergroup relations. Rabbi Geiger, whose book is "still valuable" 2 bad both the advantage and disadvantage of working without the vast Arabic literature the modern orientalist has at his disposal. 3 But Al-Mukhta(iar ff Ta 0 rlkh al-Bashar4 of Abii al-Fida 0 (672 / 1273 - 732 /1331) was available to him through J. Gagnier, De vita Mohammedis (Oxford, 1723), J. J. Reiske and J. G. Chr. Adler's Anna/es Moslemici (Leipzig, 1754 and Copenhagen, 1789-94) and Historia Anteislamica. He was also acquainted with al-Bay<;liiwi's commentary on the Qur"an and the "excellent unpublished commentary by Elpherar which begins with the 7th Surah". 5 He dealt with his subject fairly extensively. From his point of view the nature of the Apostle's relationship with the Jews of Yathrib was not pertinent. He made a passing reference to the Banii Qaynuqii~, the Banii al-Na<;lir and also to the Jews of Khaybar, but did not mention the Banii Quray~ah. He must have known about them not only through Abft al-Fida. , but also through the commentary on the Qur"an. If he had thought it necessary he had the material at hand to deal with the struggle "forced on the Jews and Mubammad", which according to Goitein, "has left its mark on the Holy Book of Islam. " 6 1 S. D. Goitein, Jeu's and Arabs, p. 56. 2 Ibid. , p. 237. 3 Such works as Ibn Hishiim's Sirah, al-Waqidi's Maghiizi, and lbn Sacd's Tobaqiir were neither published by then nor probably known to him. 4 It is a universal history covering the pre-Islamic period and Muslim history down to 729/1329. 5 Geiger, p. VII Yabya b. Ziyad b. cAbd Allah b. Man?lir (144/761-207/822) known as al-Farrii. 0 wrote a commentary on the Qur 0 an, Ma~iini al-Qur 0 iin ; which is still in manuscript form. 6 Goitein, p. 64. 3