'The Jewish Foundation of Islam' (1933) by Charles Cutler Torrey
Excerpts:
“Unquestionably the first impression gained by a reader of the quran Koran is that
Muhammad Mohammed had received the material of his new faith and practice mainly from the Jews of the Hijaz. On almost every page are encountered either episodes of Hebrew history, or familiar Jewish legends, or details of rabbinical law or usage, or arguments which say in effect that Islam is the faith of Abraham and Moses.....”
“These facts, if taken by themselves, would obviously indicate that
the Arabian prophet's religious education had been thoroughly Jewish.....”
“'This quran quranic Koranic teaching is Gnostic,' or 'This is Manichaean'-in our dense ignorance of the type of Christianity that was known in the Hijaz, and especially,
the type of Judaism that was actually present in Mekka in muhammad Mohammed's time, and from which we know him to have derived such a very large proportion of what we find in the quran Koran......”
“....there is no clear evidence that muhammad Mohammed had ever received instruction from a Christian teacher, while many facts testify emphatically to the contrary; and that, on the other hand, the evidence
that he gained his Christian material either from Jews in Mekka, or from what was well known and handed about in the Arabian cities, is clear, consistent, and convincing....”
“...The fact of the Israelite city of Khaibar, "the richest city of the Hijaz," is one very significant item among many. Such a civilization is not produced in a short time. Native Arab tribes "converted" in the manner supposed would have been certain, we should imagine, to welcome and accept the prophet of their own number who
promised them a truly Arabian continuation of Judaism adapted to their own special needs, while based squarely on the Hebrew scriptures. But the Jews of Mekka, Medina, and the rest of the Hijaz knew better, and would not yield an inch....I have thus far been speaking mainly of the great number of Arabs professing the Israelite faith, in muhammad Mohammed's time.....”
“....
The quran Koran repeatedly speaks of "the children of Israel" as the most favored people on earth-up to the time of Islam; and in addressing them the prophet always reminds them that they know their scriptures.....”
“Far more important, however, is the testimony contained in the quran Koran. The Israelite tribes with their rabbis, their books, sacred and secular, their community of faith and action, and their living contact with the past, are there; they are no phantom. All through the quran Koran there is evidence of
a Jewish culture, which muhammad Mohammed greatly admired, and of Jewish learning, which he very imperfectly assimilated.”
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