Can A Rabbi Believe In Prophet Muhammad? |
Yes and No. The most important thing that I believe about Prophets Muhammad and Jesus is that they both were human beings; and no human being, or any other living creature, can be God or a part of God. So I have no difficulty with Prophet Muhammad the man.
But I can tell you that as a Rabbi I cannot believe in Jesus the way most Christians do; as the Son of God.
Actually, according to the Gospels themselves, Jesus almost always referred to himself not as the ‘Son of God’; but as ‘The Son of Man’. The expression “the Son of man” occurs 81 times in the Greek text of the four gospels and only very rarely do even the Gospels claim Jesus directly called himself the ‘Son of God’.
But Jesus, who himself strongly preferred the term ‘Son of Man’, did often refer metaphorically to God as his father when talking to Jews who Jesus knew would never take his words literally. He did not know that non-Jews in the Roman Empire would think he meant it literally.
The Qur’an states: “Allah is only One God. Far be it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth is His. Allah is sufficient as a Defender.” (Quran 4:171) All Jews and Muslims agree that the One God who created the universe is sufficient to provide suitable religious guidance to each and every people on earth without help from anyone else; including a son.
I can and do believe in Jesus as a first century Jewish teacher; a mixture of Reform Rabbi and neo-Hassidic Rabbi. I can and do believe in Jesus as a Prophetic Messianic personality who introduced a large part of humanity to the Hebrew Scriptures.
Since Muhammad himself never claimed, and to this day no normal Muslim would ever claim, that Muhammad was a part of God; can I as a Rabbi believe in Muhammad as a Prophet of the one and only God?
I can and I do; although not exactly the same way that Muslims do. For example, I do not believe, nor do I disbelieve, the doctrine that being the Seal of previous Prophets means Prophet Muhammad is the last of the Prophets who will ever come to Mankind. I follow the instruction of Prophet Muhammad who in a Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira said:
“The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. God’s Apostle said (to the Muslims). “Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, ‘We believe in God, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever was revealed to you.’ ” (Bukhari........