Which Monotheistic Religion of the Three Basic Ones Was First?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Danny Eskow, conservative Jewish man from Brooklyn, New York.  His mother was from Reformed German-Jewish  heritage and father was a Russian-Jewish heritage taxi-driver in Brooklyn.  Danny became a high school history teacher, making Aliyah in 1980.   

                                                                         

Moses views a burning bush:  In the biblical story of Moses and the Burning Bush, God appears to Moses in a miraculous way, using a burning bush that is not consumed by fire. God reveals Himself to Moses, instructs him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and gives him a special name: "I AM WHO I AM". This encounter is a pivotal moment in the story of the Exodus, marking the beginning of Moses's journey as God's chosen leader.         

  Judaism was the first of the three monotheistic religions.  Abraham broke the pattern of believing in a polytheistic religion which his father was brought up in. Abram, as he was named, was born sometime around 1948 BCE in the 2nd millennium BCE (before the common era). That was 4,000 years ago.  Jews were living in Egypt when the Pharaoh enslaved them for 400 years until Moses (1391 BCE-1271 BCE)  came along and led them for 40 years on the Exodus back to their homeland of Judah.  That was 3,296 years ago.

Judaism continues as a religion. The Romans tried to put an end to it by burning down Solomon's Temple and its city of Jerusalem in 70 CE,  when they had starting killing off the Jews by starvation, then by capturing and torturing them along with Christians and taking them as slaves to Rome.  Not all Jews lived in Jerusalem, however, and the rest were hiding out in other further away towns, villages, and cities in Judaea. Israel has been reborn on May 14, 1948.  Judea and Samaria (called West Bank by Jordan) were a part of the original Israel along with 11 other tribal lands.  Israel originally was Jacob who wrestled with an angel, and in winning was named Israel; thus the 12 tribes of Israel.  Our history is also part of Judaism as anything else.  

  

    Christianity was born out of Judaism since his followers worshipped a Jewish man born in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. 

12 Apostles' supper with Jesus during Passover, a Jewish holiday.  The Apostles' supper during Passover, known as the Last Supper, is a significant event in Christianity. It's believed to have been a Passover Seder, a ritual Jewish meal commemorating the Israelites' liberation from Egypt. During this meal, Jesus shared the first communion with his disciples, symbolizing his body and blood, according to the Bible. Three of the first four books of the New Testament (known as the Gospels) identify the Last Supper as a Passover meal.6 There would have been lamb, matzah, and bitter herbs. There were cups; the Gospels tell of two, but we know that many Mishnaic traditions go back to earlier times, so we can reasonably suppose that there were four. In any event, the presence of “cups” shows that traditions had already accrued beyond the bare essentials mandated in the Exodus for the Passover observance.  All this information was said to be written by the  4 Gospel writers of the Gospels New Testament)  some 75 to 200 years later after the fact. It is not found anywhere in Jewish history.  

If there were four cups used in the first century, then the Gospel account in Luke appears to begin with the kiddush, “the first cup” He took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.” (Luke 22:17) The writer, John, was the hardest commenter of the Jewish people.  

 Since Jews of this history write that he died at age 37, historians have the calendar used by most people today start with his birth.  They believe this man, Jesus, who was speaking in public groups of his beliefs, was a rabbi.  Jesus was crucified by the Romans who had overcome Judah, calling Judaea, joining the many thousands that had been punished thusly for  a sundry of minor actions by the Romans.  Jesus was written about almost 100 years later and more by the 4 gospels as having risen from the grave in a cave to give hope to all those who had followed him.  At first it was against the law to be a Christian by the Romans;  and then they all followed. So the year of 1 CE  or 37 CE would be the beginning of Christianity, taken over by the Romans. That was about 2,000 years ago. 

Muslims have the Kaaba, a shrine in Mecca that they strive to visit as often as possible, as it is the holiest site in Islam.  'the Honored Ka'ba'), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  It is  located near the center of the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and considered by Muslims everywhere to be the most sacred spot on Earth. Muslims orient themselves toward this small shrine during the five daily prayers, bury their dead facing its meridian, and cherish the ambition of visiting it on pilgrimage, or hajj, in accord with the command set out in the Qurʾān, their book.

Islam was created through a 3rd man, Mohammed, who was born in Mecca, Arabia about 570 CE and died in 632 and had become a prophet of Islam to his people.  All Muslims aspire to undertake the hajj, or the annual pilgrimage, to the Kaaba once in their life if they are able. Prayer five times a day and the hajj are two of the five pillars of Islam, the most fundamental principles of the faith. 

Mohammed was influenced by Judaism and dependent on Christianity in espousing his new religion. When about 40, he became concerned about the day of Judgement that he had heard about. Mohammed connected to Abraham as being the descendant of  Ishmael, son of Hagar and Abraham and Jacob's  twin brother, Esau.   He had also heard Jewish rabbis speak outside their tents in Medina, Arabia  of the lessons from Judaism. Islam came along about 1,393 years ago.  

 Buddhism originated in India around the 5th century BCE, with Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) being the key figure in its development. Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in Lumbini, modern-day Nepal, is traditionally believed to have lived from 563 to 483 BCE. His teachings, focused on the path to enlightenment and liberation from suffering, laid the foundation for Buddhism. This would have taken place just before Islam.  Buddhism itself started sometime in the fifth century BCE. We now think that the Buddha, who founded the religion, died sometime toward the year 400 BCE. As Buddhism developed, it spread beyond India. A number of different schools emerged.

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kaaba-shrine-Mecca-Saudi-Arabia

Stone Edition of Old Testament:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203&version=NIV

https://jewsforjesus.org/learn/was-jesus-last-supper-a-passover-seder

Update: 7:29am on 5/4/25

 

Rarely Mentioned History of Jews From Saudi Arabia

 Nadene Goldfoot                                   

                                                                                    

Saudi Arabia has a special section they call the Hejaz.  It's a coastal province in NW Arabia. 

 Jews lived there between the 1st and 4th centuries CE.  They are spoken of in poetry of the region, depicted chiefly as traders and wine merchants.  This period is one of uproar in Israel with the Roman Occupation and takeover with Jerusalem falling to them in 70 CE, with the result of barring all Jews returning.  The Jewish General, Bar Kokhba, fought for Jerusalem again from 132 to 135 when he and his army took back their capital, with him dying in battle in 135, ending the fight with thousands of deaths. 

The most important Jewish community in the Hejaz was the town of Medina.  Several Jewish colonies were also found North of Medina including Khaibar, Fadak, Wadi'l-Qura, and Taima.  

The Jewish population increased through the conversion of Arabs to Judaism. There were about 3,000 Jews in Arabia, including  Yemen in the 1st century.  in the south where even some rulers, such as Dhu NuWas embraced Judaism.  In the 6th and early 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, especially in Medina.  Judaism spread from Medina to the South.  Smaller Jewish communities also existed in Bahrein, at Makna on the gulf of Akaba, at Adhruh between Maan and Petra, and further north at Jarba.                                      

There were three main Jewish tribes in Medina before the rise of Islam in Arabia: the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.The Jews had a very rich and flourishing settlement at Yathrib and built strongholds in the city and vicinity. The principal families were the Banu Ḳainuḳa', the Banu Ḳuraiẓa, and the Banu al-Naḍir. The latter two were known as the "Al-Kahinan 'Cohen'," because they traced their descent from Aaron. 

In the 4th century Arab tribes from Yemen began to encroach upon the Jews in Medina. They were divided into two clans, the Banu Aus and the Banu Khazraj. By calling in outside assistance and treacherously massacring at a banquet the principal Jews, these Arab clans finally gained the upper hand at Medina toward the end of the fifth century (for date see "J. Q. R." vii. 175, note).  

The Jewish tribes of Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib until the 7th century, when the men were executed and the women and children were enslaved after they betrayed the pact they made with the Muslims following the Invasion of Banu Qurayza by Muslim armies led by Muhammad.

From then on Jews were 2nd class people, Dhimmis.  Most Jews had gone to Yemen, Hadramaut, and Aden.  the former Jews of northern Arabia in particular, though living in isolated communities had become strongly assimilated to their Arab neighbors not only in languiage and culture but also in manners and customs, social organization, and mentality.  the Arabic verses composed by their poets hardly differed in any respect from other Arabic poetry, and they expressed the contemporary notions, views, and feelings of Arabic society.    

Some Jews also lived in Mecca, at least temporarily, before the rise of Islam.  It is the most important city in Arabia along the trade route, about 50 miles east of the Red Sea. The shrine called the Ka'ba is what makes Mecca a holy city.  The reason is because probably more than 1,000 years before Christ, the Arabs of the area saw a meteor fall from the heavens and, because of this, regarded it as holy.  Their tradition is that Abraham had built the Ka'ba in the first place.  Mecca became the economic and cultural center of central and north Arabia..  the political control of the city was in the hands of the Quraysh tribe of Arabs.   At the time of Mohammad, the Quraysh tribe had passed the zenith of its power and was losing in prestige and control.  They continued to send well-protected caravans north to  Syria, Egypt, and Iran to sell their goods and replenish their stock for the business of the next season.  

As there were Jewish and Christian tribes and settlements in Arabia, the pagan Arabs no doubt knew something about their beliefs.  Among the gods, the Arabs knew the name of Allah the same as El-loh and Elohim of the Old Testament; and in Mecca a small group of people, known by the name of Hanif, seem to have had monotheistic beliefs.                                     

Muhammad, of the Quraysh tribe,  was born in Mecca in 570. His parents,  Abdullah and Amina , died when Muhammad was 6 years old.  His granduncle and then his uncle took care of him.  He became the prophet of his people and created Islam. The Koran was made up of his dictated thoughts. Jews were said to be "People of the Book" and now he could say, "Now you have a book in Arabic." 

After the rise of Islam, these Jews and those of Yemen were allowed to survive on the payment of special taxes having been classified as Dhimmis or 2nd class people. Mohammed married a Jewish girl, Safia, one of his 4 wives.     Shortly after the arrival of Mohammed (570-632) , almost all the Jews of Medina were expelled or massacred.                              

Muslim leader, Umar ibn al-Khattab also known as Umar or Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph. He was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs in history.  

The Mosque of Omar is standing over the Jewish 2nd Temple on the Temple Mount.  The area was taken over after 70 CE when Romans held the siege of Jerusalem and it served as a center of military activity.  A Roman temple was then built on the site, taken over by Omar. After the 67 WAR, Moshe Dayan gave the policing rights to Jordan's religious rights, and since then Jews are again even worse shape than being Dhimmis.  They are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount. There are now several mosques standing.   The Jews can only pray below at the Kotel (Wall-wailing wall).  

 Mohammed subdued the Jewish colonies North of the city but permitted the inhabitants to stay.  Under the reign of OMAR, the Jews were expelled from Khaibar and Fadak and possibly from Wadi 'l-Qura.  In the latter place, however, they reappeared in the 10th century. There are no subsequent traces of Jews in Hejaz. 

In the past centuries, Jews have not been allowed in Saudi Arabia.  They have been able to keep 100% of the population as Muslims only.  It's even classified as an Islamic state whose main sect are Sunnis of the Hanbali main fiqh.  The country counted a population of 27,601,038 in  2011.    

A fairly recent death of the Yeminite singer, Ofra Haza of Israel was very sad.  She was a favorite, certainly my favorite singer. Bat-Sheva Ofra Haza (Hebrew: בת-שבע עפרה חזה; 19 November 1957 – 23 February 2000) was an Israeli singer, songwriter and actress, commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Haza at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. Bat-Sheva or Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Mizrahi Jewish parents from Yemen who had immigrated to Israel in 1949 with eight children. She was the youngest of nine children.  She represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, with the song Chai-"Hi", meaning "Life"  finishing second with 136 points.  I was there watching my TV when she sang this and won.     I cherish her CDs.  She sang Yemenite and modern Israeli music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-McgjMi5W4   Chai-to Life.

Her Yerushalaim Shel Zahav tears at my heart.  "Jerusalem of Gold"  It has that far eastern minor key, reminding us of Yemen's songs.  

          Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud

                                             Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

 

Only a couple of thousand Jews are now left in the entire peninsula of Arabia with nearly all in Yemen.  the overwhelming majority have emigrated to Israel.  Is it not strange that with the loss of Jews, as of 2020, Yemen ranked highest on the Fragile State Index and second-worst on the Global Hunger Index, surpassed only by the Central African Republic. Additionally, it has the lowest Human Development Index out of all non-African countries. They've had nothing but political unrest and killings, all without Jews.  

 None live nor are allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia,1992

Textbook: Middle East Past & Present, Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Saudi_Arabia#:~:text=There%20were%20three%20main%20Jewish,Qainuqa%2C%20and%20the%20Banu%20Qurayza.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofra_Haza

How Islam Was Born Decided Its Outlook

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    
The dictionary defines  religion as:  the service and worship of God or the supernatural;  commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance;  a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices;  scrupulous conformity, conscientiousness, a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.
                                                                     

How Islam was created was quite different from Judaism or Christianity and even Buddhism.  Islam was founded upon conquest.  For nearly 1,000 years, it drew its lifeblood from war and expansion.  What happened to Christianity and Buddhism was that they were minority communities for 300 years at their beginnings and both experienced persecutions that have left indelible marks on them, and then they became oppressive and perpetrated war.

 Judaism started with Abraham's monotheistic belief and his family held onto that pretty much until about 400 years later when Moses led them out of Egypt from slavery.  They had to fight in Canaan to enter there, then settled down to follow the commandments of Moses which were of how to live with each other peacefully and worship G-d.  They would not have fought had they been met with friendly people in Canaan, but that was expecting a lot when 600,000 people entered the land uninvited.

Islam never experienced persecution and never experienced the feeling of a minority group, but only knew victory over other societies.  These facts have helped to create the Muslim attitude of superiority.  It led to making "others" living among them as 2nd class citizens or dhimmis.  From the position it started at with Mohammad, it started with pagan people, not monotheistic people affected by Abraham's revelation.  They were people believing in many gods and used idols that were in the Kaaba.  Mohammad seemed to be the only person recorded who bothered to listen to the stories of the Jews and Christians of Medina.
                                                                               

Christianity's First Crusaders 1096-9 to win Palestine from Moslems, but went through Europe killing the Jews in N. France, Rhineland, massacring them in Mainz, Worms, Speyer, Cologne, etc., later in Prague, Salonica, and etc.  There were about 4 Crusades.  

Judaism had experienced persecution right  from the beginning from Greeks and Romans. Then when Christianity was born about a 1,000 years later, the persecution continued on a grander scale for 2,000 years and it looks like it hasn't really stopped yet if you look at the UN decisions against Israel, for Israel is a Jewish country, attacked by Muslim countries because of its religion.

 Some of the Jewish people still have not shed its slave mentality in trying to appease their "Others."  For being the "Chosen" by G-d, most have never taken on a superiority complex like the Muslims.   Actually, Jews are more like Mr. Spock, in that other religions just don't compute. They are not logical to most Jews.    I guess I'm speaking for myself.  Now, I have Muslim friends, and they all do not act superior about their religion, not until a few have  tried  to convert me to their way of thinking, which has happened.   Jews had started a conversion policy in the beginning but was stopped in their tracks by the new Christian Church laws, and being a minority without a country, couldn't do anything but try to stay alive, so dropped it.
                                                                           

Mecca and the Kabba

 Getting back to Islam, however, Muhammad was not an accepted person in Mecca when he started to teach his new beliefs.  The first to convert was his faithful wife, Khadija.  Next was Ali bin Abu Talib, a little boy 10 years old who later became an important leader of Islam.  Like most who are not a hit in their own home town, and that goes for artists as well often times, he had to move out to Medina in 622 to find his willing. audience.  The largest Jewish community in Arabia was in Medina.  They may have arrived after the fall of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE.   The 3 main Jewish tribes were Banu el Nadir, Banu Kainuka and Banu Kuraiza who made a living by the cultivation of palm-groves and other callings.
                                                                           

He turned on the Jews when they didn't convert willingly.  Eventually, whole tribes of Jews were slaughtered.  Individuals converted.  Mohammad led raids on the large Quraysh caravans coming from Syria full of money and goods and had his followers rob them.  He told them that Allah told his followers to fight fiercely and behead their enemies.  "Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers in fight, smite at their necks...."  He hated the Quraysh, his own tribe, because they had rejected him and so he put a curse on them.  One of those cursed, Uqba, had once  thrown camel dung, blood and intestines on Mohammad when he was praying.  He probably had his head cut off as they did to another, Abu Johl.
                                                                       

Mohammed was born in 570 and died in 632. He was an orphan from the Quraysh tribe, part of the  Banu Hashim clan when but a small child and was raised by his Uncle Abu Talib.  They were pagans.   When a young man, he had accompanied the Meccan trade caravans and often met Jews and Christians who probably whet his interest in religion. The Quraysh, based in Mecca, happened to be the center of trade and pilgrimage as everyone passed through it.  Pilgrims came there to the local shrine, the Ka'bah, which housed many pagan idols-mainly the image of the god, Hubal.  Then there were the local gods as well.  Other idols identified with trees and stones near the Ka'bah.  One of these gods, "Allah," probably was a tribal god of the Quraysh.

 By age 40, he was thinking a lot about God, the hereafter, and the Day of Judgement which he seemed to think was close, just like we think this today.  He had learned that G-d revealed himself through prophets.   He felt he was the one chosen to be the Arab prophet because he said he had been visited by Gabriel, one of the angels.   His mission, he said, was to confirm what had been revealed to earlier prophets and to correct distortions.  He thought there was little difference between Judaism and his Islam and figured that Jews would be his first followers.  He must have been very disappointed when this did not happen.  The Jews of Medina were either eventually annihilated in attacks or expelled from the land.
                                                                         

One of his wives was Safia, (Safia bint Huyayy) , daughter of Huyayy bin Akhtab who had induced the Banu Qurayzah Jews to repudiate their alliance with Muhammad.  Muhammad killed Huyayy and the rest of the men of the Qurayzah tribe.  Safiyya's husband was Kinana ibn Rabi, who had just been tortured and killed by the warriors of Jihad.  She was  a Jewish woman, widow of a slain Jewish chieftain, taken captive, to possible position of slave, freed by Mohammad who married her after she promised to convert to Islam. Safia must have been very beautiful, because the killers of her husband said, "We have not seen the like of her among the captives of war,"  and that she was the chief-mistress of the ladies of the tribes of Quraiza and An-Nadir.    Mohammad had to fight to become recognized by the Arabian fighters and now took the best of the female captives as a wife.

We in the West see Islam in 3 parts;  religion, empire and culture.  The Muslims see themselves in one whole.  They believe Allah ordered their wars and attacks in order to expand.  Their soldiers were God's soldiers.  Muhammad was in the battles leading the charges of which Muslims take pride. They do not separate their religion from their actions.   Their picture of Mohammad is a man with a sword in his hand.  Mohammad was in the battle in 624 of Badr.  The end of the 1000s, Islam's armies did not have any major defeats.  Nobody had stopped their advances.
                                                                       

 The attack  at Khaybar, which is 93 miles from Medina,  in 629 between Muslims and Jews has not been forgotten by the Muslims.  It's their reason for hating Jews, their raison d'etre.    Mohammad led his men against the Khaybar oasis, inhabited by Jews who were exiles from Medina.  93 Jews were killed, farmers who were just working the oasis.  The invaders then looked for the Jews' wealth.  They beheaded the Jew they thought knew where it was hidden who wouldn't tell.  A hadith tells that "the Prophet had their warriors killed, their offspring and women taken as captives."  Later, during the caliphate of Umar (634-644), the Jews who remained at Khaybar were banished to Syria, and the rest of their land was seized.  "According to Francis Edwards Peters, "The Jews also began secretly to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him."  This probably would have happened after  "Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa, one of the three main Jewish tribes."   The "Religion of Peace" has been led by the "Warrior Prophet."  

The background of this story is:  After they were sent into exile in 625 from Medina by Muslim forces, the Banu Nadir had settled in Khaybar. In 627, the Nadir chief Huyayy ibn Akhtab together with his son joined the Meccans and Bedouins besieging Medina during the Battle of the Trench. In addition, the Nadir paid Arabian tribes to go to war against the Muslims. Bribing Banu Ghatafan with half of their harvest, Banu Nadir secured 2,000 men and 300 horsemen from the tribe to attack Muhammad, and similarly persuaded the Bani Asad.  They attempted to get the Banu Sulaym attack the Muslims, but the tribe gave them only 700 men, since some of its leaders were sympathetic towards Islam.   Once the battle started, Huyayy ibn Akhtab persuaded the Banu Qurayza to go against their covenant with Muhammad and turn against him during the battle.   After the defeat of the confederates in the battle, and Qurayza's subsequent surrender, Huyayy (who was at that time in the Qurayza strongholds of Medina) was killed alongside the men of the Qurayza. After Huyayy's death, Abu al-Rafi ibn Abi al-Huqayq took charge of the Banu Nadir at Khaybar. Al-Huqayq soon approached neighboring tribes to raise an army against Muhammad.   After learning this, the Muslims, aided by an Arab with a Jewish dialect, assassinated him.^"
                                                                   

Arabs were overcome finally by the Saljuqs (Seljuks-a Turko-Persian Empire) from 1000 to 1194 whose capital was in Persia (Iran),  and other Turkish tribes had also become devout Muslims  and as it happened, actually helped to strengthen orthodoxy and unity  of the ummah ( the whole community of Muslims bound together by ties of religion.) under the prevailing caliph of Allah.  Every time these Muslims won a battle, they would believe that Allah was with them and that they were invincible.  In 1071 the Saljuqs defeated the Byzantine army in the battle of Manzikert and created a kingdom in Asia Minor.  The Muslims had high expectations.  They believed that their caliph was the first to bring the whole world under the rule of Allah and his Prophet, Mohammad.  One can see that Arabs and Iranian, or Sunni and Shi'as have been competing for about a l,000 years with each other.  

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This must be the premise that IS is acting with.  They have even gone back to those primitive methods of fighting to act this out.  They have robbed banks and even kill Sunni Muslims who are not following the Salafist Way.

It seems that our religious leaders were truly men of primitive days and cultures. Evidently both heard a voice; Moses of G-d and Mohammad of the angel, Gabriel.   Moses had killed an overseer of slaves for his horrid treatment of beating those not working to suit him and then later during the Exodus, to have lost his temper by hitting a rock with a stick.  He, through G-d,  expected his people to show by example the religion of Judaism and that would be a light to the world.   Mohammad led charges in battle, ordered deaths of people and led in robbing caravans of his enemy.  He had ordered his people to convert by the sword.
                                                                             
 Many of his converts try to follow his example by copying his behaviors.  They do not seem to judge as "bad" what we see as "bad"  behaviors. Could it be  because they are not following the same set of laws? Would it also be true that those without any religion, the atheists, also have a different outlook of morality?  We have the idea that anyone, regardless of their religion,  follows basic right and wrong behaviors, that these things are inborn within us.  Perhaps not,  since Moses had to come along and teach such basic things as the 10 Commandments; such things such as killing others was wrong and robbing them and taking their things was also wrong.  

Textbook:  2nd Edition of Middle East Past & Present by Yahya Armajani, Thomas M. Ricks, Chapter 9, Islamic lands on the Defensive.
Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Mohammad
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad
The Truth about Muhammad by Robert Spencer
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/05/gabriel-angel-to-all-three-religions.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khaybar
http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/roark/hate_jews.html
http://www.historynet.com/muhammad-the-warrior-prophet.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safiyya_bint_Huyayy

Following in the Footsteps of Abraham

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

Abram/ Abraham was an Ivri (Hebrew) of the 2nd millennium BCE or 1948 BCE according to the Tanach who came from the East with his people and father, Terah, and settled in Ur of the Chaldees which is in today's Iraq. Ur was an ancient Babylonian city.   

When Abraham was born, the era of desolation (the first 2,000 years from Creation)  had come to an end and the era of Torah had begun when Moses would come to write down the history of his people. It had been desolate because Adam had fallen, Abel had been murdered, idolatry had been introduced to the world, 10 generations had been washed away by the flood, and 10 generations from Noah had failed.   

In Hebrew Ivri  is spelled going from right to left, ayin, bet/vet, raysh which means the other side.  He came from the other side of the Euphrates River.  Looking at this figuratively, it means that he was on the other side of a moral and spiritual divide from the rest of the world.   Possibly not much was known geographically in Abraham's day.  He had heard of the Euphrates River from his father, but not the Tigris that ran so close and parallel to it?  Did they come as far east as the Caspian Sea?  Evidently Terah never mentioned that so they must not have been that far east.  His people descended from Eber, grandson of Shem (Gen. 10:24). I found Eber to be the great grandson of Shem by following the given genealogy.   This meant one who came from the other side of the Euphrates River.  Eber's descendants formed a group of Semitic peoples and tribes including the Israelites, called the Hebrews. The Euphrates is the western of the 2 rivers.  The eastern one is the Tigris.  They enclose Mesopotamia, the Land of the Two Rivers.   The Euphrates was to be the boundary of the Israelites.  Many Jewish communities lay along the Euphrates in talmudic times and after.


 1 Shem . 2 Elam . 2 Asshur . 2 Arpachshad b: in 2 years after flood ..... 3 Shelah ......... 4 Eber ............. 5 Peleg ................. 6 Reu . 2 Lud . 2 Aram ..... 3 Milkah ......... +Levi ......... 4 [2] Jochebed ............. +[1] Amram ............. 5 [3] Aaron d: in Mt. Hor, border of Edom ................. +[4] Elisheba ................. 6 Nadab ................. 6 Abihu ................. 6 Eleazar ..................... +Daughter of Putiel ................. 6 Ithamar ............. 5 [5] Moses b: in Egypt ................. +[6] Zipporah ................. 6 Gershom ................. 6 Elieaer ............. 5 [7] Mirium ......... 4 Gershon ............. 5 Livni Ladan ............. 5 Shimei ......... 4 Kohath ............. 5 [1] Amram ................. +[2] Jochebed ................. 6 [3] Aaron d: in Mt. Hor, border of Edom ..................... +[4] Elisheba ................. 6 [5] Moses b: in Egypt ..................... +[6] Zipporah ................. 6 [7] Mirium ............. 5 Izhar ................. 6 Korah ................. 6 Nepheg ................. 6 Zichri ............. 5 Hebron ............. 5 Uzziel ................. 6 Mishael ................. 6 Elzaphan ................. 6 Sithri ......... 4 Merari ............. 5 Mahli ............. 5 Mushi ..... 3 Uz ..... 3 Hul ..... 3 Gether ..... 3 Mash
                                                             

Terah, his father,  was an idol-maker in Ur. Abraham became the father by his concubine, Hagar, an Egyptian princess who was his wife's handmaid, of Ishmael, and the father of Isaac by his wife, Sarai/Sarah.  Ishmael became the father of the Arab nation and Isaac became the father of the Jewish nation.  Both carried the genetic  haplotype of their father, J1.
                                                                             

 Ivrim (plural ) was sometimes used interchangeably with Israelites (Exod. 9:1) . Jacob, Isaac's son, had 12 sons that became 12 tribes.  Jacob's name was changed by G-d later on to be Israel.  His descendants became the Israelites.  They spoke Hebrew.    HABIRU  and Hebrews must be the same word, just different spellings.    Habiru was the word used for mercenaries or slaves.  Remember, they were slaves for 400 years in Egypt.  The word Habiru was found in the Tel el-Amarna tablets and in other documents of the 15th to 14th centuries BCE.  Many scholars are of the opinion that the word Habiru is identical with Ivri (i)m (Hebrews), and some think that the reference in the threat of the Habiru to the Canaanite cities alludes to one of the stages in the Israelite conquest of Canaan that took place with Joshua later on in about 1,500 BCE.  .

Terah had 3 sons; Abraham, Haran and Nahor.  Abraham took his father and family and moved out of this idol-worshipping city to live among the Canaanite and Philistine people.  Canaan was the name for Syria in the 15th to 13th centuries BCE.  It applied to the coast of the land Jews referred to as Eretz Yisrael.  The land was divided in Abraham's day into small city-states.  The northern part of Eretz Yisrael was called Aram (Syria).

   First Abraham went to Haran, his brother, who lived in Canaan.  Where Haran lived  became a town called Haran.  Haran was the father of Lot. Haran died in Ur Kasdim when his father, Terah, was still alive.  Haran had a daughter, Milcah who married her father's other brother,  Nahor.   Haran was a trading town of NW Mesopotamia, and a center of a moon cult.  Assyrian inscription from this time mention a Habiru (Hebrew?) settlement in the vicinity which some scholars link with Terah's home there.  Terah died in Haran at the age of 205.  .
Abraham left Haran at age 75 with his wife Sarah and Lot, his nephew.   He  visited  Egypt because of famine in the land  and returned to live in Hebron, a city to become a part of Israel.  He was involved with fighting  to help his nephew, Lot,  from the attacks by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, Amraphel who was king of Shinar and their allies.

Hebron, also called Kiriath-Arba, became a city in Judah which was 18 miles south of Jerusalem.  Before Abraham lived there, it was in control of Hittites.  Today a mosque stands on the site.  When Joshua led the 12 tribes into Canaan, he assigned hebron to Caleb, and it became a levitical city and a city of refuge.  King David reigned there for 7 1/2 years before transferring his capital to Jerusalem.   In 1929, Arabs massacred many Jews in Hebron, home of 700 Jews, and the survivors were forced out.  About 30 families returned in 1931.

He talked with G-d in a vision who told him  that his descendants would live in the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River in the East and made a covenanat with him which was shown by circumcision, and tested his loyalty through the sacrifice of Isaac.

When Sarah died, he bought the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as his family burial place. It was near Hebron.   Then he married Keturah.  Abraham died at the age of 175 and was buried by Sarah. So was sIsaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah interred in this cave.   He is considered a prophet by both Jews and Muslims and the founder of monotheism.  (Gen.20:7).  According to Hellenistic legends, he was also king of Damascus.  Arabs say he laid the foundations for the sanctuary at Mecca with the help of his son, Ishmael.

Machpelah was marked by a church during the Byzantine period.  After the Arab conquest by a synagogue, but from the 12th century, Arabs prohibited the enty of non-Moslems except under special circumstances.  Since the 6 Day War, it has been a popular place for Jews to make pilgrimage.  The cave is now blocked but is surrounded by a building, the foundations of which date back to the 2nd Temple times.
                                                                             

Supposedly, according to Islam, which started in c630, Abraham had gone to Saudi Arabia's Mecca and there built the Kabba.                                          

. Arabs knew that in Mohammad's day there were many Jewish tribes living in Medina.  They were probably the descendants of Assyria's attack on Israel in  721 BCE when they carried away 10 of the 12 tribes into slavery after destroying the Temple in Jerusalem.  Or they could have been tribes from the Babylon conquest when they conquered Jerusalem again in  586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar and took slaves.
                                                                         

 Since Abraham lived almost 3,000 years before Mohammad (570-632) I wonder when he could have traveled there.  It was to have happened when he was still in touch with Ishmael, who he had sent away. The distance from Jerusalem to Mecca is 2,119.1 km or 1,216.75 miles.  This would be going to Cairo and traveling south all the way along the Red Sea to Mecca.  The means of Abraham's transportation would have been by Dromedary camels who could travel 80 to 120 miles per day carrying a rider.  He would have wanted 3 of them; for Abraham, Ishmael and food, water and other  necessary supplies.  This trip would have taken at least, going on the average of 100 miles per day, at least 13 days or at least 2 weeks.  How long would it have taken to create the Kaaba?   This trip is not recorded in Jewish literature.  "According to Muslim belief, an angel spoke to the prophet Abraham, and told him to institute the rite of the stone in the hajj at Mecca."

The biblical commentator, Rashi, said that Abraham faced 10 trials in his life.
1.  He hid underground for 13 years from King Nimrod, a Cushite, who wanted to kill him.A strong hunter, had a kingdom made of Babylon, Erech, Accad, etc.  Assyria was known as the land of Nimrod.  An ancient Babylonian king is assumed, not proven.  Assyrian war-god Ninurata could be base of story.
2. Nimrod flung Abraham into a burning furnace.
3. Abraham was commanded to leave his family and homeland.
4. Almost as soon as he arrived in Canaan, he was forced to leave to escape a famine.
5. Sarah was kidnapped by Pharaoh's officials for Abimelech, king of Gerar (Philistines), less corrupt than Egypt was,  to be part of a harem; corruption in Egypt.
6. The kings captured Lot, and Abraham was forced to go to war to rescue him.
7. G-d told Abraham that his offspring would suffer under 4 monarchies.
8. At an advanced age, he was commanded to circumcise himself and his son.
9. He was commanded to drive away Ishmael and Hagar.
10. The binding of Isaac on the altar, his only child at that time, to sacrifice to G-d.

Chronology shows that Isaac was 37 at the time.  This proved to G-d that Abraham and Isaac were determined to serve G-d no matter how difficult te circumstances, which is the very reason for Israel's continued existence.  Abraham could not understand this as Isaac did not deserve to die because he had been found unworthy or had become evil.  He knew this was not the case.  This happened on Mount Moriah which is where the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was built.

G-d called Jerusalem "Yerushalayim.'  The original name of the place was Shalem, a name given to the village by Shem, son of Noah---whom the Sages identify with Malchizedek, king of Jerusalem.  After the sacrifice of Isaac that was stopped by G-d, Abraham called the village as Yireh (Hashem will see).  In deference to both Shem and Abraham, G-d put both names together and called it Yerushalayim.

Resource:  The New Standarad Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach (Old Testament) the Stone Edition, ArtScroll Series.
http://www.allsinai.info/sites/fauna/camel.htm
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/archaeologists-discovery-may-be-abrahams-home-city-of-ur/2013/04/05/
https://www.google.com/search?q=idols+found+in+Ur,+Iraq,+pictures&biw=1024&bih=634&tbm=isch&imgil=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%253BdwVeHfOczmcV4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%25252FAH1L03.htm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%252CdwVeHfOczmcV4M%252C_&usg=__OX0VqQOOxcm9bAFUyUjFXmMSyUg%3D&ved=0CDkQyjc&ei=MuE2VKSmHomwjALT5IC4BQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=TueMyRizFtrNRM%253A%3BdwVeHfOczmcV4M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%252Fimages%252FAH1L03Idol3.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sandrashaw.com%252FAH1L03.htm%3B191%3B440
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/05/discord-in-abrahams-tent-over-control.html
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2013/03/from-abraham-back-to-noah-and-our.html