Bismika Alllahuma

Asif Iqbal

O ponto deste artigo para compreender o elemento do opportunism e do utilitarianism como sendo o elemento chave no desenvolvimento de esperanças Messianic entre os Jews medievais. Existe contagens de “profecias,” as “visões” e os recognitions pelos vários Rabbis medievais e os mystics Jewish, que whole-heartedly identificam e aceitam povos tais como o rei Cyrus de Persia, Alexander o grande, Prophet Muhammad (P) e o segundo `árabe Umar I do caliph (R) como o Messiah Jewish prometido.

Promova nesta consideração, eu apresento no seguinte o extrato pertinente do “Chronographia” do historian e do theologian Christian medievais Theophanes. Ao ler isto, sua polarização Christian tem que ser recordada.

Por exemplo, quando escrever:

“No começo do advent que [de Muhammad] os Jews misguided pensaram que era o Messiah que é esperado por eles”

Embora os incident consultados poderia muito jorrar foi verdadeiras, contudo a descrição daqueles Jews como “misguided” não representa o factuality, mas a polarização Christian do repórter.

O extrato [1] é como segue:

AM 6122 [A.D. 629]

Neste ano morrido Muhammad, o líder e prophet falso [sic!] do Saracens, após ter apontado seu kinsman Abourbacharos [Abu Bakr] para seu chieftainship. Ao mesmo tempo seu repute espalhado no exterior e todos frightened.

No começo de seu advent o misguided[!] Os Jews pensaram que era o Messiah que é esperado por eles, de modo que alguns de seus líderes o juntem e aceitaram de sua religião ao forsaking isso de Moses, que viu o deus.

Aqueles que assim que eram dez no número, e eles remanesceram com ele até seu assassinato. Mas quando o viram comer a carne do camelo, realizaram que não era esse que pensaram dele para ser, e era em uma perda o que a fazer; estando receosos abjurar sua religião, aqueles homens wretched ensinaram-lhe as coisas illicit dirigidas de encontro a nós, aos cristãos, e remanesceram-nos com ele….

Ensinou a seus assuntos que que mata um inimigo ou é matado por um inimigo vai ao Paradise; and he said that this paradise was one of carnal eating and drinking and intercourse with women, and had a river of wine, honey, and milk, and that the women were not like the ones down here, but different ones, and that the intercourse was long lasting and the pleasure continuous; and other things of profligacy and stupidity; also that men should feel sympathy for one another and help those who are wronged.

It would be a classic faux pas to uncritically accept the account of Theophanes. Rest assured that Theophanes’ was a heresy-based account, coloured further by his bias as a Christian theologian as noted earlier.

He were right insofar as he spoke of some Jews having accepted Muhammad(P) as the Messiah because that is attested by other circumstantial evidence as well — but that was it. All other secondary details in his account — details such as the number of those Jews as “ten,” Muhammad’s(P) eating of “camel’s meat” as the cause of those Jews’ reversion, Muhammad’s(P) telling the Jews “illicit things” about the Christians, Muhammad’s(P) “murder”, etc. — were all clearly bigoted mythical stereotypes.

Ironically, it evaded Theophanes’ attention that if (as he claimed) the Jews had rejected the Messiahship of Muhammad(P) because “they saw him eating camel meat”, then there would have been no way those Jews had accepted Jesus(P) as the Messiah, considered what the Gospel attributed to him:

“And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” [Matthew 15:10-11] (KJV)

How could Theophanes have justified the Jewish prohibition of eating camel meat in the presence of this statement of Jesus? And if, as Theophanes states, those Jews had rejected the Messiahship of Muhammad for his violation of the Jewish dietary laws, they would surely have rejected the Messiahship of Jesus as well in light of his contempt for the same laws, as is discernable in the cited verse.

This straw man clearly demonstrates that this whole story was cooked up by Theophanes in order to explain the embarrasing report, which had reached him, of some of the Jews’ acceptance of Muhammad(P) as their promised Messiah.

Reference:

[1] Theophanes, “The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor,” as reproduced in Readings in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook, tr. Cyril Mango and Roger Scott, ed. Michael Maas (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 355