Michael: Ethnocentrism and the religions from the East (Levant, Mesopotamia and Israel/Palestine)

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Oct 10, 2018 at 14:25

Hi Michael, You wrote

>"And remember that the ethnic God of the Jews is Echad or One. The Jews were very familiar with Greek logic and this is why, as far as I know, the Jews do not claim that their God is anyone else's God! By contrast Muhammad fails because he claimed that his God is the only God for all of humanity and this is why the Jews asked him the Aristotelian question: If Allah created this creation then who created Allah! Muhammad had no answer Did you get it this time?"
Isaiah 45:
[5] I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
[6] That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
"The LORD", of course, is "YHVH" in Hebrew, The proper name of the God of Moses. He doesn't say there is no other "YHVH" besides Himself; He said there is no other "God" beside Himself, anywhere on earth. That seems to refute what you said, about YHVH being merely the "ethnic" god of the Jews.

I'm not a Jewish theologian! However, YHWH is addressing his people the Jews in their language, Hebrew. He is their one God. He is not addressing other tribes/nations of antiquity and late antiquity be it the Romans in Latin, the Greeks in Greek, the Copts in Egyptian (language), the Armenians in Armenian, the Persians in Persian, the Arabs in Arabic, or the Syrians in Aramaic.

And guess what? It makes it to the Qur'an where Q14:4 says that Allah only sends a messenger that speaks the language of his people. Or an Arabic speaking prophet for the Arabs or Islam is the religion of the Arabs only, a Hebrew speaking prophet for the Jews etc... Indeed, it is a very ethnocentric Semitic idea.

And remember the Jews knew very well that someone might ask the same question, if they would have claimed that their God is the only God: If YHWH created this creation then who created YHWH!

The idea of the one ethnic God in Judaism is far superior than the idea of the single universal God of Muhammad

Again, I'm not a Jewish theologian and I realize the old saying: If you listen to two Jews you will get three different opinions.

>"Again, the Qur'an attests that Jesus is a man (prophet), the Logos (Kalimatu Allah) and Allah's Spirit or Roh Allah (al-Roh al-Qudus?) and this is really what the Trinity is all about: A Samad or a Bundle may be?"
Jesus is described as only a human, throughout the New Testament. His statements about being "one" with God (i.e. with "The Father") use the same language that describes our own relationship with Him (John 17). Concerning "Logos", I understand that it refers to the SPOKEN word of God, whereas "The Law", or Torah, refers to His written word. It was the Logos that created everything in Genesis 1. Since EVERYTHING came into being through this Logos, it is not surprizing that Jesus also is said to have acquired humanity this way (as in, "The Logos became flesh"). I do not see this as proclaiming that Jesus somehow IS the Logos; only that he is human, or, as John said, "come in the flesh".

Again this is Muhammad's understanding of the Trinity (another variant of the Trinity in the Qur'an is Allah, Jesus and Mary Yes Mary!) Where we have the man is a prophet, the Logos and Kalimatu Allah in Islam is the word of Allah both spoken and written that becomes Jesus. Also, Jesus in the Qur'an is Roh Allah (The Spirit of Allah or al-Roh al-Qudus?) But Muhammad was also a poor theologian because we are also told by al-Mufasereen (it is not in the Qur'an) that al-Roh al-Qudus is really Gabriel! And to add insult to injury they also tell us that Allah is not a Roh (soul/spirit)!

Now go figure.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".