Jews, Christians and Muslims
Jews, Christians and
Muslims
By
Sumaira Feroz [1]
There was a time when everyone in the world was savage.
Almost every human in society regularly killed each other without any fear. If
an influential person noticed any unproductive and weak person, he heartlessly
beheaded them. It was a dilemma of ancient times that children, women, and
other vulnerable individuals were considered the best property. And it seems
that life had no meanings and purposes except killing others. There was no rule
of law and concept of humanity, only was barbarism. The people had the vague
idea of God and the powerful ones imagined themselves as a god and others were
used to worship idols, and some did not believe in any such superior power that
is called God.
People were spending their life in the deep
darkness. Then, at last, the almighty ‘Yahweh, God or Allah showered his mercy
upon them and sent His chosen people to show them the right path, the path of
humanity and peace. So, around 4,000 years ago, a man among them known as
‘Abraham’ was the first Jew and the father of all monotheists[2]. The followers of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam are monotheists. These people believe in the existence
of one God, distinguished from polytheism (the belief in the presence of many
gods) and atheism (the belief that there is no god). However, Judaism and
Christianity trace their tie to Abraham through his son Isaac and while Islam
traces through his son Ismael. [3]
This first Hebrew maverick man Abraham who lived in the
Middle East (Canaan modern-day Palestine) had impacted humankind unprecedently
that he was close to his creator and broke all the idols placed in his home
without thinking about what his sculptor father would do with him and he dared
to challenged his ancestors’ belief system.
And one day, God made a special covenant with Abraham
that if he left this hometown Ur (Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq) and follow
God’s instructions, he would be among the chosen people who would create a
profound nation ahead.
Allah fulfilled his promise. His son prophet Isaac,
prophet Ismael, and grandson prophet Jacob lead the legacy of prophet Ibraham
and spread everywhere on the land.[4]
The prophet Jacob took the name Israel, and his
future generations become Israelites. When Hebrews continued to multiply, they
were taken as a threat in Egypt.[5] The king of that time
could not tolerate their demographic dominance in the kingdom. Thus, the Pharoh
took drastic but insensitive measures to counter this issue and ordered that
each newborn male be killed, or the infant be drowned in the river.
The Pharaoh even did not want to see the faces of Jew
children. He was so afraid and insecure that one of them might become the
reason for his downfall and hardship. He decided to kill innocent newborns or
even he never left those in the womb of their mothers.
All parents were in great sorrow and cursing their fate.
However, there was a young jew couple from the tribe of Levi who had saved
their baby from the Egyptians’ ire by the tricks successfully. This kid was a
Moses who grew under the roof of Pharaoh with the excellent care of Pharaoh
daughter, who adopted him.
So, Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s palace. Even though
Moses brought up here, he did not lose a strong sense of kinship with the
Hebrew slaves. So, Moses stood up against the king of Egypt and fought for his
people. Then the king sent him away from the premises of the palace. But he
made his mind to save his people from the cruelty and oppression of the king
with the help of God.[6]
This is prove that God helped his people in every
difficult situation. Beliver says that He never left his people alone. He has
promised that He will never leave us alone because every believer has a close connection with Him. Hence, Jews
are the oldest civilizations that God chose them to interact with first. They
belong to that nation (Jews) that experienced the divine revelation on Mount
Sinai and was given the book of Torah from God. However, historically their
holy book is known as the Tanakh or the “Hebrew Bible.” It contains the same
books as the Old Testament in the Christian Bible, but there is a slight
difference in the chronic organization of the books that is sometimes also
called the Pentateuch. According to Islamic tradition, Abraham's son
Ishmael is the direct lineal ancestor of the twelve Arab tribes known as the
Ishmaelites on the Arabian Peninsula.[7] And the conflict among
these belivers arise with this thought of
the most superior and chosen ones. Will this fight end forever or ever? And
when will co-existence triumph over war and conflict?
I would say that the values and history of the Jewish people
hold a significant part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions. We all
are the chosen people who have consistently contributed world by taking social
responsibility, admitting the dignity of humanity. Then who spread he hate
among us?
[1]
Miss Sumaira Feroz is a teacher and former Research Intern to Dr Huma Baqai.
She has done master in International Relations and English Language Teaching
(ELT) and can be reached at sumairasomi47@gmail.com
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