Banu Israil fi Daw al-Islam
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- al-Jāmi‘ah al-Islāmiyyah bi-al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah
Banu Israil fi Daw al-Islam (The Children of Israel in the Light of Islam) is a scholarly treatise by Muhammad Amin Salim, an instructor at Ma'had Imam al-Da'wah in Riyadh, examining the history, religious status, and Qur'anic depiction of the Children of Israel .
Overview and Composition
The treatise was published as an academic research article in issue 27 of the Journal of the Islamic University of Madinah (Majallat al-Jami'ah al-Islamiyyah bi-al-Madinah al-Munawwarah) . Salim structures the work by first providing a historical overview of the Israelites and their moral dispositions as illuminated by the Quran, followed by an examination of their interactions with the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, their subsequent expulsion from the Arabian Peninsula, and concluding with a theological and geopolitical commentary on modern affairs .
Historical Survey of the Israelites
Salim begins with the lineage of the Israelites, tracing them back to Jacob (Israel), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, who migrated from Iraq to Palestine . He discusses the migration of Jacob and his twelve sons to Egypt during the time of Joseph, where the Israelites remained for an estimated 600 years under Egyptian rule before falling into subjugation and enslavement by Pharaoh .
The text recounts their deliverance under Moses, the drowning of Pharaoh's forces, their worship of the golden calf, and their refusal to fight to enter the Holy Land, which led to forty years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula . Under the leadership of Talut (Saul) and subsequent reign of kings David and Solomon, the Israelites experienced their "golden age," wherein political sovereignty was united with prophecy .
Following Solomon's death, their kingdom fractured and fell subject to successive foreign conquests by the Assyrians, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, the Persians under Cyrus, the Seleucid Greeks, and finally the Romans, culminating in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and their dispersal . Addressing contemporary historical arguments over Palestine, Salim notes that various empires ruled the land—including the Greeks for approximately three centuries, the Romans for seven centuries, and the Crusaders for two centuries—while Jewish self-rule lasted less than two centuries, compared to over twenty centuries of continuous Arab and Muslim presence and rule .
Relations with the Prophet Muhammad in Medina
The author describes the migration of Jewish tribes to the Hijaz (settling in Medina and Khaybar) in anticipation of the arrival of the final prophet mentioned in their scriptures . Despite recognizing the Prophet Muhammad upon his arrival—as reflected in the report of Huyayy ibn Akhtab and his brother Abu Yasir—the leadership largely rejected him out of envy that prophecy had arisen among the descendants of Ishmael . Prominent exceptions included Jewish scholars such as Abdullah ibn Salam and Mukhayriq, who embraced Islam, the latter fighting and dying alongside Muslims at the Battle of Uhud .
Salim details various methods employed by Jewish groups in Medina to oppose the nascent Muslim community:
- Denying prophecies they had previously proclaimed .
- Devising tactical apostasy (feigning belief in the morning and renouncing it by evening) to create doubt among believers .
- Claiming to Qurayshi polytheists that idol worship was superior to Islamic monotheism .
- Mocking Islamic tenets and posing theological riddles .
- Repeated assassination attempts and military treachery, leading sequentially to the expulsion of the Banu Qaynuqa', Banu al-Nadir, and the punishment of the Banu Qurayzah following the Battle of the Trench .
Theological Analysis and Exegesis
Salim notes that extensive portions of the Qur'an address the Children of Israel—such as verses 40 to 133 of Surah al-Baqarah—arguing that divine favor was historically conditional on adherence to God's covenant and obedience to His messengers, rather than an unconditional racial prerogative .
He addresses theological misconceptions regarding salvation, analyzing إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالنَّصَارَى وَالصَّابِئِينَ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ("Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans—those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness—will have their reward with their Lord") [al-Baqarah: 62] in conjunction with verses such as al-A'raf: 156–157 and al-Nisa': 150–151 . He explains that salvation requires belief in all revealed messengers without distinction, meaning that after the mission of Muhammad, faith in him is essential for salvation, whereas earlier righteous followers of prior prophets were rewarded in their respective historical eras .
Contemporary Commentary
Salim concludes by warning Muslims against falling into the same pitfalls as previous communities by adopting nominal religious identity without practical adherence to Islamic law, or by embracing secular ideologies such as communism, Ba'athism, nationalism, and socialism . He offers an analysis of Western political support for Zionism, framing it as a strategy to deflect Zionist influence from Western societies while countering Islamic revival, and calls upon leaders of the Muslim world to unify and build military and spiritual preparedness .
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