The history of the close relations between Judaism and Islam started with the emergence of the latter. The activity of Judaic communities in the area of the origination and foundation of Islam appeared quite high. In the Arabia on the 6-7th centuries, Judaism had mostly a proselytizing character, and the Judaic communities in Hijaz and Yemen included ethic Arabian people that were converted to Judaism. After the year of 622, in the city of Medina, many Judaic and Islamic communities were merged with each other to establish a united faithful society (Aharoni, Aḥituv 136-138). Mohammed hoped for the future unification of Christians, Jews and his followers in a single community. However, Medina soon witnessed collisions between Mohammed and Judaic teachers who denied and mocked the Revelation given to him, basing on its contradiction to the Torah. Therefore, the initial conflict with Jews had both a dogmatic and personal character. The state of things were worsened by the subsequent political disloyalty of the Judaic communities in Medina, which led to the break of Mohammed's fraternity with Judaism, and would later find its reflection in the Quran (Neusner et al, 2000).
The dogmatic contradiction with Judaism bear more or less principled character, especially if to compare it with the Islamic-Christian relations. The main contradiction between Islam and Judaism come to the following:
different interpretations of the holy history;
discrepancies in traditions;
Jews' disavowal of Mohammed's prophetic mission and the revelations of the Quran;
Muslims' acceptance of the Christian traditions, as well as the adoption of its universalism;
Muslims' disapproval of Jews as the people chose by God;
the criticism of anthropomorphism in the Judaic image of God.
With that, the key point of the Islamic interpretation of Judaism was the principle of the elimination of the former Revelation by the subsequent one. According to this principle, Christ's Revelation cancelled the Torah in terms of the parts that proved controversial to the New Testament, with the Quran abolishing the contradicting parts of both the Torah and the New Testament.
Furthermore, the concepts of Islam regarding God's reward for human actions differs greatly from the corresponding teachings of Judaism, since Islam completely denies freedom of will. While the Bible makes attempts to solve this difficult challenge in an ethical way and to reconcile the information gained from experience with the requirements of morality, Islam appears to be standing at the point of promoting predetermination. The Quran is filled with admonitions to stick to the path of righteousness and faith, because pious people are rewarded and sinners are punished. At the same time, Islam lacks the basis of moral - freedom of will. The Arabian religious philosophy tried to eradicate this difficulty afterwards, since it could not liberate itself from the corresponding clear statements of the Quran.
Predetermination inevitably implies the existence of the teaching about a merciful choice, as the teaching is already preached in the messages of Paul the Apostle. This is the point where the influence of Christianity must be acknowledged. In Islam, on the other hand, God's mercy appears the source of all goodness, and the destiny of a person depends on the merciful choice of God. Thus, the successive teaching of the merciful choice found in Islam appears in total contradiction with Judaism, but closely adjoins the explanation of a social phenomenon that many pious people live hard on Earth, while sinners often find themselves to be surrounded with nice conditions. On the contrary, the true reward is given not during the secular life of a person, but after his death. Few merits that a sinner has find approval while he lives; however, in the future afterlife he will be met with eternal punishment for his misdeeds. So, a pious person bears punishment for his few trespasses during his life to have the possibility to enjoy heavenly happiness afterwards, and a similar testament is found in the Talmud.
Likewise, the Islamic conceptions regarding Hell and Paradise play a major role in the moral foundation of this religion. Hence, Islam also promotes its primary idea represented by the future retaliation for a person's deeds, and the very picture of the systems of Hell and Paradise is borrowed from the Judaic Haggadah, though often in its rough understanding, and is equated to the notions of Arabic people (Hary, Brinner, 2000). Moreover, the concepts of the reward and retaliation in the afterlife bear so many parallels with the Haggadah that there even be found the repetitions of the Haggadah comparisons and depictions of the afterworld. The Quran, for instance, states that the pious ones enjoys an absolute happiness after death, contemplating their God (Neusner et al, 2000). Likewise, the depiction of the resurrection and Judgment Day are borrowed from Judaism by Islam. As written in Quran scriptures, on the day of resurrection and Last Judgment, the soul of a sinner will act as a prosecutor against itself; on that day a person will try to find refuge from God's punishment, but there exists no such refuge, and on that day that person will be informed about his deeds, and he himself will be the witness of his deeds despite his justifications. The same concepts about God's punishment can be found in Judaic Apocrypha, namely, in the Mishnah and Talmud. Furthermore, sinners' suffering are depicted by Quran with colors and moods that were borrowed from Judaic essays and legends, at the same time constantly referring to Biblical images when describing Last Judgment. The Judaic Haggadah dealt with the issue regarding whether the resurrection from the death would be complete, that is, whether the bodies of the deceased would also be resurrected (Hary, Brinner, 2000). With that, echoes of these discourses can also be found in Islam, where it introduces the conception about the physical resurrection of the pious ones. Thus, Mohammed is known for his declaration that the dead will arise in the apparels in which they were buried. With that, a number of burial rituals peculiar for both Judaism and Islam can be explained only the commonality of the mentioned conceptions.
On the whole, Judaism played the same role for Islam as Christianity, since namely through the use of Judaism Islam marked its own boundaries. Only the break of Jews pushed Muslims to the complete awareness of their otherness. Hence, for both Christianity and Islam, Judaism proves to be that other aspect that initiates self-conscience that Islam seems to have lacked for such a long time.
Works Cited
Aharoni, Y., & Aḥituv, S. (2006). The Jewish People: An Illustrated History (pp. 136-138). New York: Continuum.
Hary, B. H., & Brinner, W. M. (2000). Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communications and Interaction: Essays in Honor of William M. Brinner. Leiden: Brill.
Neusner, J., Sonn, T., & Brockopp, J. E. (2000). Judaism and Islam in Practice: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.
