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Teachings of the Quran and of the Holy Prophet Muhammad about Jews

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 10 October 2025

“Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.”  — ch. 2, Al-Baqarah, v. 62

اِنَّ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَ الَّذِیۡنَ ہَادُوۡا وَ النَّصٰرٰی وَ الصّٰبِئِیۡنَ مَنۡ اٰمَنَ بِاللّٰہِ وَ الۡیَوۡمِ الۡاٰخِرِ وَ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَہُمۡ اَجۡرُہُمۡ عِنۡدَ رَبِّہِمۡ ۪ۚ وَ لَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَیۡہِمۡ وَ لَا ہُمۡ یَحۡزَنُوۡنَ ﴿۶۲﴾

“And of Moses’ people is a party who guide with truth and with it they do justice.” — ch. 7, Al-A‘rāf, v. 159

وَ مِنۡ قَوۡمِ مُوۡسٰۤی اُمَّۃٌ یَّہۡدُوۡنَ بِالۡحَقِّ وَ بِہٖ یَعۡدِلُوۡنَ ﴿۱۵۹﴾

“…And if Allah did not repel some people by others, surely cloisters and churches and synagogues, and mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down. …” — ch. 22, Al-Ḥajj, v. 40

… وَ لَوۡ لَا دَفۡعُ اللّٰہِ النَّاسَ بَعۡضَہُمۡ بِبَعۡضٍ لَّہُدِّمَتۡ صَوَامِعُ وَ بِیَعٌ وَّ صَلَوٰتٌ وَّ مَسٰجِدُ یُذۡکَرُ فِیۡہَا اسۡمُ اللّٰہِ کَثِیۡرًا ؕ…

I have selected this topic for today’s Khutba because a few days ago here in the UK a Muslim attacked Jewish worshippers outside a synagogue in Manchester, causing two deaths. It raised the question of whether such an attack is condoned or approved of in the teachings of Islam, and if the attacker was encouraged or supported by Islam in undertaking his atrocious misdeed.

In the first verse that I recited, the words “those who believe” mean, of course, Muslims. As regards the mention of “Sabians”, it seems these were a people who believed in certain prophets of the Bible but were different from Jews or Christians. What this verse means is that whether it is Muslims or Jews or Christians or followers of any other similar religion, they are only accepted by God if they adhere to belief in God and belief in the accountability of their deeds by God in the Hereafter, and do good deeds. Being a Muslim, Jew, Christian, or having some other name, does not bring salvation from God or save you from your sins. According to this verse, Allah applies the same standard for judging Muslims, Jews and Christians, and here all these groups are mentioned as being in the same category, in that they are all called upon by Allah to fulfil the same requirements.

Even though we believe that Islam has perfected religion and that the Quran contains the absolutely true and most comprehensive teach­ings which lead a person to God, but still it is very possible that a Muslim might be negligent and not have benefitted from those teachings, while a Jew or Christian might have benefitted from his scriptures, and in God’s eyes be a better person than the Muslim. The standard for how God judges is laid down in this verse, that it is by the depth of one’s faith in God, the strength of belief that God will hold us to account for our deeds, and the extent of our good deeds.

This verse occurs quite early on in the Quran, in chapter 2, as verse 62. So, if someone starts reading the Quran from the beginning, that person will come across this verse quite soon. The same statement is also repeated in chapter 5, in verse 69. This chapter 5 is among the last revelations of the Holy Prophet in terms of time. Therefore, it cannot be claimed that this statement, first revealed in chapter 2, was later cancelled. In fact, it was later re-affirmed. The specific mention in it of Jews shows that according to the Quran a Jew is not destined for hell-fire in the next life because of being a Jew. Moreover, a Muslim is not destined for paradise in the next life just for being a Muslim.

The second verse that I quoted says that among the followers of Moses is a group “who guide with truth and with it they do justice”. Such groups will always be found in existence among the Jews: who embrace the truth, who are leaders in guiding people towards the truth, and who do justice on the basis of truth. It is the duty of Muslims to befriend such persons among the Jews and to learn from their example. This verse is verse 159 of chapter 7. Only nine verses later, speaking of the dispersal of the Jews around the world, it is said:

“And We divided them in the earth into (different) groups — some of them are righteous and some of them are other than that.” (7:168)

Here the Quran has not directly applied a bad term to the second kind of Jews, but called them as “other than righteous”. This is a clear indication of the immense fairness of the Quran towards the Jews.

My third recitation was from within a verse of the Quran. The verse before it, 22:39, gave Muslims permission for the first time to fight in war because their enemies were about to launch a war against them. The statement of the Quran which I recited says that if Allah had not allowed one group of people to repel another group, in other words if He had not allowed fighting in self-defence, then various places of worship, which are listed here as “cloisters (or monasteries or retreats of monks) and churches and synagogues, and mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down” by the aggressors.

The Arab enemies of the Muslims were bent on destroying them and their religion, till no Muslims remained in exis­tence, nor any of their places of worship. In this verse Allah is allowing Muslims to fight against that threat. But it expands the subject by adding “monasteries, churches and synagogues”, to say that these places of worship should also be defended. Therefore, when any of these places of worship such as a synagogue is attacked, then to defend it is an act allowed by Allah. In the recent attack on a synagogue in Manchester, those who defended it and tried to save the worshippers were actually doing what Allah in the Quran allows to be done, in fact requires to be done. On the other hand, the person who attacked the synagogue was violating the clear injunction of the Quran. Moreover, these words of the Quran require Muslims to fight to ensure that any threat to destroy “cloisters (or monasteries or retreats of monks) and churches and synagogues, and mosques” is repelled. This means that, according to the Quran, it would also have been the duty of every Muslim to fight, if he could, to repel the attack on this synagogue and on the worshippers in it.

Now let us turn to events from the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It is reported in the most authentic book of Hadith, Sahih Bukhari:

“A funeral procession passed by us and the Prophet stood up for it, and we too stood up with him. We said: Messenger of Allah! This is the funeral procession of a Jew. He said: Whenever you see a funeral pro­cession, stand up.” (hadith 1311)

The next report relates that, at a time after the Muslim con­quest of the Iranian empire, two Companions of the Holy Prophet were once sitting in a street in a city, which is now in modern-day Iraq, when what happened was this:

“A funeral procession passed by them, so they stood up. They were told that the funeral procession was of one of the local inhabi­tants, that is, from among non-Muslims living under the protection of the Muslims (ahl adh-dhimmah). They replied: A funeral pro­cession passed by the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the funeral of a Jew, he said: ‘Is it not a human soul?’ ”  (hadith 1312)

The chapter in Sahih Bukhari in which these two reports are con­tained is headed: “The one who stands for the funeral of a Jew”. After Sahih Bukhari, the next most authentic book of Hadith is Sahih Muslim. Both these reports are also in there, and at the same point in Sahih Muslim there is also a report as follows:

“The Prophet and his Companions kept standing for the funeral procession of a Jew until the coffin dis­appeared from view” (see hadith 960–961).

After the Holy Prophet’s migration to Madinah, a pact was reached by him with the Jewish communities of that city under which he was recognised as the final court of appeal in cases of dispute. One case brought to him was as follows as reported in Bukhari (hadith 2411):

“Two men, a Muslim and a Jew, quarrelled. The Muslim said (as an oath): ‘By Him (i.e., God) Who gave Muhammad superiority over all the people!’ The Jew responded (with the oath): ‘By Him Who gave Moses superiority over all the people!’ At this the Muslim raised his hand and slapped the Jew on the face. The Jew went to the Prophet and informed him of what had happened between him and the Muslim. The Prophet sent for the Muslim and asked him about it. The Muslim informed him of the event. The Prophet said (to the Muslim): ‘Do not give me superiority over Moses’.”

According to another version in Bukhari (hadith 3414–3415), it was the Jew who started the dispute by first saying to a Muslim, “by Him (i.e., God) Who gave Moses superiority over all mortals”, and the Muslim responded by saying: “You say, By Him Who gave Moses superiority over all mortals, while the Prophet (Muhammad) is present amongst us!” Then another Muslim got up and slapped the Jew on the face. This version then continues:

“The Jew went to the Prophet and said: O Abu-l-Qasim! I am under the assurance and contract of security (with you), so what right does so-and-so have to slap me? The Prophet asked (the Muslim): Why have you slapped him? He told him the whole story. The Prophet became angry, till anger showed on his face. Then he said: Do not give superiority to any prophet amongst Allah’s Prophets.”

Let us remember that this incident took place when Jews were living under the protection of the Muslim state of Madinah. That is why this Jew took his complaint to the Holy Prophet, and he had confidence in the Holy Prophet that he would do justice. The dispute in the incident involved the status of the Holy Prophet himself. Someone might expect that the Holy Prophet would be pleased with the Muslim and congra­tulate him on upholding the honour of the Holy Prophet. Instead, the Holy Prophet was angry and reprimanded the Muslim that he should not have said what he did. That was his judgment of this dispute.  Of course, this does not mean that the Holy Prophet is telling Muslims not to believe that he is superior to all other prophets. What it means is that his superiority cannot be established by having this kind of dispute where you start comparing prophets and this leads to a Muslim losing control and striking the other person.

So may Allah enable Muslims to behave towards others in the way that the Quran teaches and in the way the Holy Prophet Muhammad demonstrated in practice — Ameen.

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