In answer to the video "The Fate of the Jews of Medina (TGP 1)"
The Jews of Medina (former Yathrib) were waiting for their savior to come. The idea of a human salvific figure is absent from the Torah but becomes prominent in the subsequent books which were written and re-written during their times of oppression, destruction. As they always hoped whenever adversity engulfed them from all sides, they would pray for a promised messianic age to be ushered, ruled by a prophet-king, so as to give them and their religion, dominion over the whole world. In Arabia in particular, as they lost their political ascendant over the pagans, they were vulnerable to coalition attacks. The Quran reflects their cries
2:89"..and aforetime they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieved..".
The passage does not speak of a specific person coming to them as a result of their prayers. Had it done so, it would have confirmed their man-made concepts they created as they lived in humiliation and fear following the divine punishements imposed on them. The verse speaks of the revelation coming to them, confirming their own books. Obviously such revelation would come to them through the agency of a messenger, whom the Quran in 7:157 alludes as mentionned in their books. But in the context of divine help, as is here the case in 2:89, the victory of truth over falsehood and the prevailing of the believers over disbelievers, is a concept present throughout their scriptures as well as the Quran. God helps the believers in His commands and revelations, those oppressed for adhering to the truth and who wage battle in His ways. The Quran here is telling them they will be helped out of their situation should they support the call for truth that has reached them and which confirms their scriptures. Yet they denied it and thus remained abased.
The tribes of Aws and Khazraj, who were aforetime dominated by these very Jews but that had now gained the upper hand over them, knew about their anticipations. They logically thought the Jews were the likeliest people to help and support the prophet of God, given that they, as Arab pagans uneducated in divine scriptures, meaning the least likely to accept him, had wholeheartedly adhered to his message and mission.
These Arabs and former pagans thus expected the Jews would welcome and embrace the prophet with much more enthusiasm. Their hopes however quickly shattered and their expectations to see the Jews join the cause of monotheism versus idolatry turned to disappointment.
The Quran on the other hand, and the prophet didnt expect much from them in that regard. The Quran would relate their past history, especially as regards their own prophets, as well as their going astray after having witnessed outstanding miracles, to show that nothing better could be expected of them.
This was a cautious note to the Muslims of Medina, who were liable to be disheartened by this attitude, making them understand that the Jews would not readily accept Muhammad as the Prophet about whom prophecies has been made in their own Books. They are instead expected to resist him, considering their pattern of disbelief and rebellion. They have been chosen after all, above all nations and for all times to come, in terms of spiritual leadership, so why would they be in need of further guidance, especially coming from a non-selected nation
2:88-90""Our hearts are already full of knowledge..but when there came to them that which they did recognize, they disbelieved in it..Evil is that for which they sold their souls - that they should deny what Allah has revealed, out of envy that Allah should send down of His grace on whomsoever of His servants He pleases; so they returned with wrath upon wrath, and there is a disgraceful punishment for the unbelievers".Despite their outright rejection of the revelation and its messenger, the whole Muslim community lived in peace with them, according to the terms of the Medina covenant. But the message of Islam was going against their interests, which added to their bitterness towards him. They were particularly hostile against the prophet's denouncation of the capitalist system and the Jewish money lenders behind it.
The more the Arabs stopped taking loans from them and paying interests, a major source of income for them began drying up. In addition to them having lost political power, their economic grip over the life of Medina was loosening.
Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jarir, Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Abi Hatim and Abu Na'aym (in his Dala'ilu 'n-nubuwwah) have narrated from Ibn `Abbas that he said:
"The Jews used to pray for victory against the Aws and the Khazraj by the right of the Messenger of Allah, before he was sent as prophet. However, when Allah raised him from the Arabs, the same Jews disbelieved in him and denied what they used to say about him. Mu'adh ibn Jabal, Bishr ibn Bara' ibn Ma'rur and Dawud ibn Salamah told them: `O Jews! Fear Allah and accept Islam; because it was you who used to pray for victory against us by the right of Muhammad, while we were polytheists, and you used to tell us that he would (soon) be sent, describing to us his attributes.' Salam ibn Mushkim, one of the tribe of Banu an Nadir, said to them: `He has not brought to us anything we know; and he is not the prophet we were telling you about.'Contrary to the Jewish leaders and notables, the laymen felt attracted to the message of Islam, engaging in constructive exchanges with the Muslims. As they returned full of entusiasm and inquiries to their elders they were instead harshly reprimended for their openness. A community doesn't convert at once, so these elements would fear to be severely ostracized by the rest and thus would most often hide their true feelings
2:76,101"And when they meet those who believe they say: We believe, and when they are alone one with another they say: Do you talk to them of what Allah has disclosed to you that they may contend with you by this before your Lord? Do you not then understand?...And when there came to them an Apostle from Allah verifying that which they have, a party of those who were given the Book threw the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they knew nothing".Their prophet Nehemiah aforetime reprimended this particular behavior with similar wording
Neh9:26"And they disobeyed and rebelled against You, and they cast Your Law behind their backs, and they slew Your prophets who warned them, to bring them back to You, and they committed great provocations".As he started his long, truthful and violent admonition for their transgressions and continuous rebellion, Jesus first laid emphasis on the religious elite's prejudiced handling of scriptural knowledge. That attitude not only hindered the common people from the right path, but also blinded their own hearts
Matt23:13" “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to...".Now that a new revelation came, condemning them not only for their past failures as amply done in their own books, but the present ones as well, drawing a parallel between their past and present attitudes, announcing the consequences of such behavior, the arrogant, blinded by prejudice and attachments to their worldly interests could not reform themselves. They not only rejected the message but also prevented others from it, whether their own people or not, through resorting to manipulations of minds as well as facts, evil incitement, conspiracies and war.
These methods are alluded to in the Quran as well as the history books. This was their attitude towards their own past prophets, so they had no second thoughts at doing the same to a prophet who was a foreigner to them.
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