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The word ahl means those who occupy with one the same tent, the family or inmates, relative, folk, kin, kinfolk, people, members, followers, etc. Under these meanings, the word ahl occurs 31 times in the Koran. According to another view, it is derived from ahala, meaning to demonstrate (the family).

The word kitab, comes from the root word kataba, meaning to write down. The word kitaba occurs in the Koran for the Divine Books revealed to various prophets.

The term ahl al-kitab means possessors of the scriptures or people of the Book. This term in Koran denotes the Jews and Christians, the repositories of the earlier Books, al-Tawrat (the Torah), al-Zabur (the Psalms), and al-Injil (the Gospel).

The phrase yahud or hud occurs 9 times in the Koran for the Jews, the Sabi’un (the Sabians, a Jewish-Christian sect in Iraq) occurs three times. The name Christian means follower of Christ. Once in the Koran, the Christians are called ahl al-injil (People of Gospel) in 5:47. Some 14 times the Christians are referred to al-nasara (sing. al-nasrani).

The word ahl al-kitab is used 54 times in the Koran for Jews and Christians as believers of a revealed religion to distinguish them from the heathens (ummiyun) who lived in Arab. Koran says: "And a party of the people of the scripture say: Believe in that which hath been revealed unto those who believe at the opening of the day, and disbelieve at the end thereof, in order that they may return" (3:72). The reference here is to some Jews of Medina. Koran further says: "O people of the scripture! You have naught (of guidance) till you observe the Torah and Gospel and that which was revealed unto you from your Lord.
Surely that which has been sent down to unto thee (Prophet Muhammad) from thy Lord will increase the contumacy and disbelief of many of them. But grieve not for the disobeying folk" (5:68)

For the Ahl al-Kitab, the term Awwal Kitabi (possessors of Books at first) is used by Pir Sadruddin, who also says in Buj Birinjan that,
Cha’r mazhab barhaq kari jane’, cha’r kitab ku sahi pichhane’ (Part 33)
“Concede four religions, (also) consider four books as true.”

These four heavenly Books revealed upon four Prophets are as under:-
Moses David Jesus Muhammad
↕ ↕ ↕ ↕
Tawrat Zabur Injil Koran

Old and New Testaments: The Old Testament contains the scriptures of the Jewish faith, while the Christianity draws on both Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament sets up the story, beginning with the creation of the world. The New Testament is the conclusion with the revealing of Jesus.
Gospel: (god = good + spel = news). It originally is meant the Christian message. The good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman Imperial Cult and today in Christianity, the Gospel is a message about salvation.
Bible: It means “books.” It contains Old and New Testaments meaning Books.

In short, both Tawrat and Zabur are Old Testament, while Injil is New Testament.

MITHAQ-I MEDINA OR COVENANT OF MEDINA

The important task before the Prophet after migration to Medina was to determine and clarify the relations between the various tribes and the Muslims. The Jews held absolute power in Medina. It appears that they were however the Arabs by descent, but formed a distinct unit by reason of their adoption of Judaism. They were subdivided into three clans: Banu Qainuqa, Banu Nazir and Banu Quraiza. The other inhabitants of the town were Banu Aws and Banu Khazraj, always at war with each other. Of the two chief clans of the Jews, Banu Quraiza were the allies of Banu Aws, while Banu Nazir joined the Banu Khazraj. Now it so happened that the major portion of the Banu Khazraj and Banu Aws embraced Islam. So the Prophet concluded a pact with the Jews, known as the Covenant of Medina (mithaq-i-Medina), whose terms were as follow: -

Firstly, the Muslims and Jews shall live as one people.

Secondly, each one of the parties shall keep to its own faith, and neither shall interfere with that of the other.

Thirdly, in the event of a war with a third party, each was bound to come to the assistance of the other, provided the latter were the party aggrieved and not the aggressors.

Fourth: in the event of an attack on Medina, both shall join hands to defend it.

Fifth: peace, when desirable, shall be made after consultation with each other.

Sixth: Medina shall be regarded as a sacred by both, all bloodshed being forbidden therein. Seventhly, Muhammad shall be the final court of appeal in cases of dispute. In modern term, the Prophet was the President of Medina. James A. Michener writes in Islam: The Misunderstood Religion (New York, 1955, p. 68) that, "Muhammad thus became head of the state and the testimony even of his enemies is that he administered wisely. The wisdom he displayed in judging intricate cases became the basis for the religious law that governs Islam today."

This document is truly the first of its kind in the history of religious freedom and cornerstone in declaring them the human rights which mankind strove for centuries to acquire. The Prophet seems to have never held any grievance against the people of the scripture. The Prophet said, "He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have myself as his accuser on the day of judgement" (Baladhuri, p. 162).

As a matter of fact, the Prophet never forced any of the followers of the scriptures to change their religion and accept Islam. Notwithstanding, the people of the Book have different Divine Books, they have one common belief among them, they are believers in the Unity of God means monotheists.

Mawlana Hazar Imam made this point quite explicit when said: "I would remind my jamat that the meaning of ahl al-kitab, the people of the Book, is the acceptance by not only Muslims but non-Muslims of the Unity of God, Monotheism. Those of you who know the history of Islam will recognize this, that it is said that Muslims should build bridges with people who are the people of the Book and that is a statement which is made in many circumstances not only in the Hadith but in the Koran itself" (London: April 24, 1985).

The Imam repeated this important message in the western regions between 1983 and 1987, such as in Chicago (13th June, 1983), New York (14th June, 1983), Los Angeles (15th June, 1983), London (5th July, 1983), London (7th July, 1983), Paris (9th July, 1983), Houston Texas (8th November, 1986), New York (10th November, 1986), New York (11th November, 1986 and Lisbon (9th April, 1987).

When the Imam asks to build bridges between them and others, he wants to use these bridges as a vehicle to transfer the best of their tradition in order to assist in building a healthy society in which they have made their homes. This should be done without fear or apprehension because the Muslims and other people of the Book have many things in common.

HARMONY BETWEEN ISLAM AND JUDAISM & CHRISTINITY: Judaism and Islam are called Abrahamic Religions. Both Judaism and Islam are
staunchly monotheistic, believing in the existence of One and only One God. Judaism and Islam accept the idea that God communicates directly to humanity through the agency of prophets, or human beings chosen by God to serve as mouthpieces through whom the divine will may be communicated to human communities.

For Judaism, Moses is the prophet par excellence, since it was through Moses that God revealed the Torah, the extensive body of binding commandments that serve as the basis for the divine covenant established between God and the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The first five books of the Bible, which contain this material, are collectively referred to as the Torah (or alternatively as “the five books of Moses”). The second or middle section of the Hebrew Bible, known as Nevi’im (“the Prophets”) contains accounts of such important subsequent prophets in later Israelite history as Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and many others.

or Islam, Prophet Muhammad is the prophet through whom God revealed Koran, the holy book which Muslims revere as the literal word of God and as the final divine revelation to be bequeathed to humankind; Prophet Muhammad is therefore regarded by Muslims as the last prophet through whom God will speak to humanity. Islam recognizes the reality and validity of previous divine revelations from God to other peoples in other times; the Koran recognizes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Jesus, and other biblical figures (along with some additional, non-biblical figures) as true prophets through whom God spoke to his creation, even while it then goes on to add Prophet Muhammad as the final figure in that list, after whom prophecy and revelation come to a close.

Of course, for all they may share in common with regard to revelation and prophecy, there remain important differences among the three Abrahamic faiths.

While Islam accepts the legitimacy of such previous divine revelations as those which resulted in the Jewish and the Christian scriptures, it maintains that those scriptures have become so distorted over the course of the intervening centuries that the Torah and the gospels, as they have come down to us (and as we have them now), no longer accurately reflect the actual content of those original formative revelations. It means that the Jewish and Christian scriptures as they now exist are no longer accurate or reliable, and insofar as Judaism and Christianity are based upon those scriptures, those religions have become riddled with errors. In the Muslim view, the revelation of the Koran served to correct all of those errors and distortions that had crept into those older scriptures for example, clearing up the erroneous Christian view of Jesus as being an incarnation of God, or the Son of God, or a resurrected divine savior; Muslims believe Jesus was a great prophet or messenger of God, but certainly not God himself, or in any sense divine. Judaism and Islam agree that Jesus was not a divine savior, or God incarnate or Son of God.

Judaism and Islam believe in the resurrection of the dead, in a day of judgement, and in heaven and hell. Christians share these beliefs as well, making them a commonality among all three Abrahamic religions. While the specific details (and particular interpretations thereof) may vary among individual sects, branches, and denominations, probably most Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in some variant of this whole package or cluster of related religious ideas about the afterlife and the end of time (or the end of the world, at least as we know it). The generally accepted idea, which developed initially within Judaism and then was subsequently inherited by both Christianity and Islam is that all who are deemed adequately righteous in God’s eyes, those who have sufficiently satisfied the necessary divine criteria will enjoy eternal bliss in heaven. Conversely, all whom God deems unrighteous are judged and sentenced accordingly; those who are found irredeemably guilty of having failed to meet the divinely mandated minimum standards will instead suffer eternal torment in hell.

It would be difficult to overstate the central importance for Judaism of the city of Jerusalem. The capital of Israel today and one of the world’s oldest cities, Jerusalem was originally established (according to biblical tradition) by King David as his capital city approximately three thousand years ago (circa 1000 B.C.). David’s son, King Solomon, established the first Temple there, making Jerusalem the religious center of the Jewish universe, a status which the ancient city continues to enjoy today, despite the Temple having been destroyed twice (the First Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians; the rebuilt Second Temple was subsequently destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D). Even though the Temple remains a long-vanished thing of the past, Jerusalem today remains a city of profound religious history and meaning.

The city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia is, of course, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, and also the locus of the well-known Hajj or annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It should therefore come as no surprise that, in Islam, Mecca is regarded as the holiest city. The nearby city of Medina, home to the Prophet’s tomb and a refuge to which he and his companions were forced to flee due to increasing persecution in Mecca, a watershed event in the birth of Islam, referred to as the Hijra (migration) is an optional addition to the Hajj which many Muslim pilgrims also undertake. Medina is therefore understandably revered as the second holiest city in Islam.

For Muslims, Jerusalem is also a sacred site; in fact, it ranks as Islam’s third holiest city, right after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem figured prominently as a holy cities to those earlier prophets. Jerusalem also figures prominently in the event of the Prophet’s night journey and ascension, according to which the archangel Jibril (Gabriel) transported him first from Mecca to Jerusalem and then from Jerusalem to heaven, all in a single night. Jerusalem was also the first qibla (direction) that Muslims were instructed to face during their prayers, until a later divine revelation received by the Prophet subsequently resulted in changing the direction faced for Islamic prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. Today, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the sacred site not only of the Western Wall, the sole remaining remnant of Judaism’s Second Temple, but also of Islam’s al-Aqsa mosque, as well as its Dome of the Rock shrine.

In the Bible, Abraham was commanded by God to undergo circumcision, as a sign of the divine covenant established between them. This requirement was subsequently inherited by all of Abraham’s male descendants; accordingly, it has since remained an established practice throughout the long history of Judaism. According to Torah, the male Jewish newborns are to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. This occasion is commonly known as a bris (short for “covenant of circumcision”), and has the status of a religious ceremony. The actual procedure is performed by a trained Jewish specialist known as a mohel (circumciser), and a celebratory meal follows the ritual. Although it is not mentioned in the Koran, male circumcision is mentioned approvingly in hadith collections. Consequently, male circumcision (known as khitan or tahara) has been a common standard practice, a virtual requirement in Islam since its earliest days.

Ritual circumcision of male is considered a customary practice among Oriental Christian denominations such as the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox churches, as well as some other African churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church calls for circumcision, with near-universal prevalence among Orthodox men in Ethiopia. The Nomiya church in Kenya requires circumcision for membership. MATRIMONIAL RELATION WITH JEW AND CHRISTIAN It goes without saying that the marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man is one of the main taboo issues in debates on Islam. According to a broad consensus religiously sterile, a Muslim woman is formally forbidden to marry a non-Muslim regardless of his religion, while a Muslim man is allowed to marry with a non-Muslim woman, mainly a Jew or Christian.

What does the Koran address this issue and how does it deal with the marriage of Muslim men and women to non-Muslims? God says: “Do not marry idolatresses (mushrikāt) till they believe; and certainly a believing slave woman is better than an idolatress even though she would please you; and do not marry idolaters (mushrikin) till they believe (hata yūminū), and certainly a believing slave is better than an idolater, even though he would please you. These invite to the Fire, and God invites to the Garden and to forgiveness by His grace, and makes clear His revelations to mankind so that they may remember.” (2:221-2).

Through this Koranic order, the verse clearly forbids the marriage of the believing men and women to polytheists, called at the time mushrikin We should be aware of the fact that this order made sense because it was revealed at the time when polytheists (mushrikīn) were engaged in a merciless war against the believing Muslims. It is also worth reminding that polytheists were belonging to an aristocratic class of obscene wealth and indecent conduct, and whose lifestyle was reconsidered by the new social values of fairness and equity of Islam. While the Koran acknowledges the possibility of a mutual attraction between a believer, man or woman, and a polytheist, it strongly recommends against such alliance.

The verse seems to urge Muslim men and women to choose the modest believing slaves over the rich arrogant polytheists even if the latter would look more attractive than the poor slaves. The commentators, henceforth, stipulate that Muslim men are allowed to marry women belonging to “People of the Book” (ahl al kitāb), i.e. Christian or Jewish women who are considered by the majority of the same commentators as believers. Most of the exegetes defend their opinion by referring to another verse that legitimates the first verse and proves that Muslim men are allowed to marry Christian or Jewish women who are not included in the concept of disbelief or Kufr. Indeed, this Koranic verse that many commentators allude to says: “As to marriage, you are allowed to marry the chaste from among the believing women and the chaste from among those who have been given the Book before you (are lawful for you); provided that you have given them their dowries, and live with them in honor, not in fornication, nor taking them as secret concubines.”(5:5). Thus, the Companions of the Prophet married with the Jew and Christian women, notably Uthman, Talha, Ibn Abbas, Hudhaifah and their pupils like Sa’id bin Musayyib, Sa’id bin Zubayr, al-Hasan, Mujahid, Tawus, Ikrama etc.

IMAM - SUPREME AUTHORITY

On 10th May, 1950, Princess Fatemeh (1928-1987), the sister of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahelvi (1919-1980), the emperor of Persia wedded with an American doctor, Beta Vincent Lee Hillyer (1924-1999) of California under the Muslim law in the office of the Persian embassy in Paris. Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah played an outstanding role therein. Their marriage created an important religious issue because Islam allows a man to marry a woman of Ahel Kitab (people of the revealed Books) and she also can adhere to her religion, but a Muslim woman is restricted to marry out of her religion. On that occasion, Hiliyar needed to embrace Islam at first. Kadar Bengay’bit, the pesh imam of Paris however forbade Hiliyar to embrace Islam, arguing that it is complicated and lengthy process to make him a Muslim. One who is desirous to marry a Muslim woman with ordinary reason, the marriage cannot be solemnized.

On that juncture, Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah strongly nullified the fatwa (verdict) of the pesh-imam and applied his authorized ruling that, “One who is a Muslim, its right is with me to ask him whether he is a Muslim or not. If he replies in affirmative, I will accept his commitment; because I know what is in one’s heart is genuinely known only to God. It indicates that when one confesses that he believes in One God and Muhammad is His Prophet, means he has recited the Kalima (into English), then he has absolute right to claim being a Muslim. His faith then should not be interrogated.” Eventually, the pesh-imam of the Paris accepted the divine verdict and when Hiliyar recited the above commitment, he was admitted in Islamic fold. Hence, his marriage was actualized and the Imam signed as his witness.

DIETARY – RULES AND REGULATIONS

Most people who know anything at all about Judaism have at least heard about the fact that observant Jews “keep kosher,” mainly meaning that they eat only “kosher foods.” Pork, for example, is avoided, because pork is “not kosher.” In a similar manner, Muslims are also required to eat only certain kinds of food (known as halal foods), and to avoid certain other kinds of food (haram foods). In the U.S., when passing through neighborhoods with a significant Jewish or Muslim population, one may often see signs in shop windows advertising themselves as kosher butchers or halal grocers, for instance.

The term kosher means “ritually correct.” Jewish religious laws, derived from the Torah mandate that both food selection and food preparation be “ritually correct.” In practice, this can get quite complicated, but observant Jews are religiously obligated to abide by all of the specific food laws, which are collectively known as the laws of kashrut (correct or proper), that are enumerated in the Torah. Certain kinds of food are forbidden altogether, such as pork and shellfish, because they are ritually impure.

In Islam, there are also a number of religiously mandated dietary restrictions. The Koran expressly forbids both eating pork and drinking wine. Islamic religious law has sifted further through the Koran and extracted additional guidelines, working out a basic division between types of foods which are classified as either halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden). Alcohol, pork, blood, improperly slaughtered animals, and a number of other types of food are classed as haram or impermissible. There are both similarities and differences between kosher and halal lists of foods. For example, both Jews and Muslims are forbidden to eat pork.

On the other hand, Jews cannot eat shellfish, but most Muslims can (depending upon the specific sect); by contrast, Muslims cannot drink alcohol, but Jews can (so long as the beverage is kosher; some drinks may contain non-kosher ingredients).
Abdul Wahhab Khallaf, the Egyptian theologian writes in Liwa al-Islam (Cairo, 1949, p.131) that, “The cattle and all other animals which the Christians and Jews slaughter in a manner which makes it lawful for them to eat according to their religions, are lawful for Muslims to eat.” In his al-Bahrul Muhit (3:431), Abu Hayyan Gharnatiy writes, “The first and prime view is that their (the Christians and Jews) foods are lawful for the Muslims whether they have mentioned the name of God over it or any other name.”

The Mufti of Jordan said, “The jurists have agreed that a Muslim is allowed to eat meat offered by a man of Ahl al-Kitab. It is not right for him to suspect the method of their slaughtering, whether or not the name of God has been invoked at the time of slaughtering. It is not even good to make an enquiry on that matter, because the verses in the Koran are absolute without any restriction (mutlaq). A considerable number of religious doctors have said that animals cut by a man of Ahl al-Kitab are permitted for Muslims to eat, whatever may be the method of slaughtering. The Prophet was offered some roast lamb by some Jews, and he ate without querying its method of slaughter. His Companions also observed his custom by eating meat offered by Christian when they were in Syria. Those who do not eat their meat in Europe and the U.S.A. according to opinions held by some who are against the above mentioned views, have no reason for doing so, save illusion (wahm).” (cf. al-Muslimun, Geneva, 1964, p. 111).

The qadi of Medina, Ata (d. 721 A.D.) and Rabee’ah and al-Laythi (d. 791 A.D.), the Mufti of Egypt made similar verdict in this context. In his Mabsoot, Sarakhsiy (d. 899 A.D.) writes, “The flesh of animal slaughtered by a Christian is always lawful for the Muslim to eat, whether or not the Christian has invoked the Trinity when slaughtering the animal.” KOSHER MEAL IS LAWFUL The Koran says, “This day, all good things are made lawful for you. And the food of those who have been given the Book is lawful for you and yours is lawful for them” (5:5). The word tayyibat means many good things, most specifically food.
Hossein Nasr comments in The Study Quran (New York, 2017, p. 277), “This verse permits Muslims to eat of the food of the People of Book, understood by most to mean the meat slaughtered by Jews and Christians.” The kosher is used by the Jews, means that this food is in accordance with the dietary laws followed in their religion. Based on that, there is nothing wrong with a Muslim eating this food unless he knows that they have put alcohol in it. We will quote here a reliable text from a study of the Jewish religion in a book called Mawsu‘ah al-Yahud wa’l-Yahudiyyah wa’l-Suhyuniyyah by Dr. Abd al-Wahhab al-Masiri, who spent a decade of his life compiling and researching it. In this text he gives a detailed explanation on the issue of food and dietary laws in Judaism. In this book he says: “The laws having to do with food are called in Hebrew kashrut, which is derived from the word kosher; what it means is appropriate or befitting.

This word is used to refer to the set of laws that have to do with food, preparation methods and the lawful manner of slaughter in Judaism.” These are laws the origin of which is the Torah, and food that follows the laws of kashrut is called kosher. What this word means is food that is permissible to eat according to the Jewish perspective.

While travelling, the Kosher Airline Meal is served, which is lawful for the Muslims.

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Karachi: May, 2023