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Inspired by Islamic studies, I came to wonder about the Jewish community in Mecca (Bakkah) in the time of Muhammad.

What "school of thought" did the Jews of Mecca (or Bakkah) follow that time? Did that school of thought have any major differences with other schools of thoughts (that time or today)? Provide some if possible. If this is impossible to answer, what about trying to speculate: If one collects the information about (some) Jewish "beliefs" which exists in the Quran and other reports, and then analyses it (it has to be interpreted correctly too though), one might draw a conclusion or pinpoint that the result given in the analysis is similar to sect X's understanding or some schools of thought have inclined to similar understandings.

mevaqesh
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Yehoshua Sauer
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  • Related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/55172/8775. – mevaqesh Apr 30 '17 at 19:07
  • prof haggai mazuz has dedicated a lot of ink to jews in arabia during this time. his book (http://www.brill.com/products/book/religious-and-spiritual-life-jews-medina) brings sources that they were rabbinites. he brings some proofs from the talmudh as well https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8F_PW9P6dqlWTBCV2thZXJ2dzA . there is a pseudo intellectual and calls himself(idk must about his rabbinical career, so i assume its just simply a title) "rabbi" ben abrahamson. this is his website http://www.alsadiqin.org/en/index.php?title=Main_Page a bunch of pilpulim and far reaching conclusions there – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:32
  • he states that the jews before bustanai o'sh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bostanai were sadduqim and that is how the quran brings the claim of jews worshipping azra hassofeir. based on the statement of a few medieval muslim scholars stating that the sadduqim were the worshippers of azra and lived in yaman but in their times they were already gone. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8F_PW9P6dqlZl8wXzM5ZkRJNEU – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:36
  • there is very very little evidence to abrahamsons claim. until he brings more evidence i will stick with prof haggai mazuz as i see him to be much more knowledgeable and reliable. some posts from abrahamsons fb to support his claims are: Ben Abrahamson The Jews of Arabia believed that Ezra was the son of God (surely Allah SWT is above that). They were Sadducees. Al Jahiz refers to a Jewish group termed Saduqiyya (Sadducees) which are found in the Yemen, Syria, and Byzantine territory. – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:48
  • He says their name stems from "a man whose name was Zadok (the student of Antigonus of Sokho), and that they held that 'Uzayr was the son of God. Ibn Hazm records ''Al Saduqiyyh: This sect associates itself with a person called Saduq (Zadok). Differing with all other Jews, they regard Uzayr (Ezra) as the son of God. They live in Yemen. (Ibn Hazm's Kitab al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa wa al-Nihal) – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:48
  • Sadducees are considered heretical by Rabbinic Jews (the Jews that are found today) because they mixed Judaism with pagan Greek philosophy. The Jews of Arabia also mixed Judaism with pagan Semitic cults and Babylonian magic to the point that the word for Cohen in Arabic is Kahin, which means soothsayer or fortune teller. – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:48
  • another outlandish claim: Q. You stated that the Jews of Arabia were Sadducees as opposed to those of the Rabbinical orders. Does that mean that the former did not use the title of Rabbi ? A. Yes, they did not use the title Rabbi. In ancient times they used the title Abba (Father), but this was taken over by Christianity. In Arabia they used the title "keeper of the laws of purity" or Haver. This is Ahbar in arabic. When Islam came into contact with Rabbinic Judaism they used the title Hacham (wise one), because Rabbi was too close to ar-Rabb, one of the names for Allah SWT – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:53
  • a response answer he gave to me: Ben Abrahamson I propose the "Jews of the Quran" were mostly descendants of edomite converts to sadducean judaism centuries before, led by communities of levites of indisputable lineage. These Jews, I propose were virtually indistinguishable from the Jews of Palmyra and Edessa. This is a differen community than those who came with the Exilarch, and different yet from the ancient community in Yemen. – MoriDowidhYa3aqov May 01 '17 at 00:56
  • See also the related question that this is an exact copy of except for the names of the locations. – Rish May 03 '17 at 05:42

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According to Dr. Yisrael Ben Ze'ev in his book "The Jews in Arabia" (היהודים בערב), pg. 111, note 13, there was no Jewish community in Mecca during the time of Muhammad, most likely because it was way too much of a big center of idolatry. It is possible that before it became that, there were Jews there. In any case, during Muhammad's time, there may have only been occasional Jewish merchants who passed by the place. It is possible that he received some knowledge of Judaism from them, as well as perhaps from local Christian Arabs, but most of his knowledge of Judaism came from his interactions with the Jews of Medina.

Harel13
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