Prophet Ishmael was also a Hebrew monotheist

If open-minded Muslims or Christians want to understand Banu Israel better, I urge them to read the first and last of the five books of Prophet Moses and the book of Exodus chapter 1-24 & 32-34. In Genesis 11:16–26, Abram is described as a descendant of Eber, from whom the ethnic tribal designation Hebrew was derived.

Yet in Genesis 14:13, Abraham is described as Avram Ha-Ivri (“Abram the Hebrew”), which translates literally as “Abram, the one who crossed over [the river Jordan or Euphrates] from the other side i.e. a migrant. (see Qur’an 21:71-73)

The term ivri (the Hebrew) first appears in the Torah, when Prophet Abraham is called “the Hebrew: “And it was told to Abram the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13) Prophet Joseph uses the name as both a geographical and an socio-ethnic term: “I was kidnapped from the land of the ivrim” (Genesis 40:15), and “The Egyptians could not eat with the ivrim, since that would be an abomination” (Genesis 43:32)

The Israelites are the descendants of Israel, originally named Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Eber, an ancestor of Israel/Jacob (seven generations removed), is a distant ancestor of many national tribes including the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites and Moabites.

This may be why some rabbis stated that Prophet Ishmael was also a Hebrew monotheist.

For example, Rabbi Yochanan ben Nappacha said that (Prophet) Ishmael lived for a time as a polytheist but returned to his Hebrew monotheism before Prophet Abraham died: “Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Ishmael repented in the lifetime of his father, as stated: “Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, (jointly) buried him” (Genesis 25:9).

“The fact that Ishmael allowed Isaac to precede him demonstrates that he had repented and accepted his (Isaac’s Hebrew tribal) authority.” (Talmud Baba Batra 16b)

Also the third century C.E. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said that Machalat the daughter of Ishmael (Genesis 28:8-9) was Jewish; and when Esau married her he thought about accepting Hebrew monotheism, until his polytheistic Canaanite wives dissuaded him. (Midrash Genesis Rabba 67:13)

In the Qur’an, God calls upon people to “follow the religion of Abraham” (Qur’an 3:95). The religion of Prophet Abraham was not yet Judaism; that did not come until the generation of Prophets Moses and Aaron. Hebrew refers to a language and a nation; who looked back to their original ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Talmud in Brachot 56b states: “One who sees Ishmael in a dream, it is an omen that his prayer will be heard just as (Prophet) Ishmael’s prayer was heard. The Talmud notes: This refers specifically to one who saw Ishmael son of Abraham.”

So Prophet Ishmael represents cousins, long separated, but always related as can be seen from the Qur’an: “Say: we believe in God and in what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma’il: Isaac, Jacob and The Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus and the Prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another, among them, and to God do we bow our will.” (Qur’an 3:84)

The Qur’an 3:67 states: “He (Abraham) was not Yahuudiyyan, “a Jew”, nor Nasraaniyyan, “a Christian”, but rather a Haniifan.”, i.e. “a monotheistic Hebrew believer submitting (Islam) to the one imageless God who created all space and time; and whose first born son Prophet Ishmael was also a Hebrew who married an Arab women, and whose descendants merged into the Arab tribes and became polytheists and idol worshippers.

Abraham’s descendants through Prophets Isaac and Jacob (Israel), became a great multitude of monotheists  called the People of Israel-Banu Israel.

For1200+ years after Prophet Moses, the Banu Israel was the only ongoing monotheistic community in the world. “Similarly, no Messenger came to the People before them, but they said (of him) “A sorcerer, or one possessed’”! (Qur’an 51:52) As the Qur’an states: “The people of Noah denied before them, and the companions of the well and Thamūd; and ʿAad and Pharaoh and the brothers [neighbors] of Lot; and the companions of the forest, and the people of Tubbaʿ. All denied the messengers [Allah sent to them] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [50:12-14]

Unlike all the other monotheistic communities that rose and then fell during those many centuries; most, but not all, of Banu Israel remained loyal to the covenant God made with them at Mount Sinai.

Then in the generations following two major revolts against Roman rule (66-70 C.E. and 132-135 C.E.) thousands of Jews moved south from the Land of Israel into the Arabian peninsula all the way south to the Yemen.

After the Roman Empire became a Christian ruled society, and persecutions of Jews became normative, the polytheistic Arabs in Arabia looked better and better so the rabbis saw them more favorably. Many Arabs married Jews and became Jewish to the point that Yathrib was often called the city of the Jews, much as New York City is today.

The Constitution, Charter or Covenant of Medina pre-dated the English Magna Carta by almost six centuries. About 45-55% of the total population in Medina consisted of pagan Arabs, 30-35% consisted of Jews, and less than 15% were Muslims, at the start of this treaty.

So Prophet Muhammad’s Charter/Covenant of Medina was designed to govern a multi-religious pluralistic society in a manner allowing religious freedom for all. As the Qur’an states: (49: 13) “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know (respect) each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)”.

The Charter’s 47 clauses protect human rights for all citizens, including equality, cooperation, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Clause 25 specifically states that Jews and pagan Arabs are entitled to practice their own faith without any restrictions: “The Jews of the Banu ‘Auf are one community with the Muslim believers, their freedmen and their persons, except those who behave unjustly and sinfully for they hurt but themselves, and their families.

(26-35) The same applies to the Jews of the Banu al-Najjar, Banu al-Harith, Banu Sai’ida, Banu Jusham, Banu al-Aus, Banu Tha’laba, and the Jafna, a clan of the Tha‘laba and the Banu al-Shutayba. Loyalty is a protection against treachery. The freedmen of Tha‘laba are as themselves. The close friends of the Jews are as themselves. So the Covenant of Medina was the first political document in history to establish religious freedom as a fundamental constitutional right.

The “Charter of Medina” created a new multi-tribal ummah/community soon after the Prophet’s arrival at Medina (Yathrib) in 622 CE. The term “constitution” is a misnomer. The treaty was more like the American Articles of Confederation that proceeded the U.S. Constitution because it mainly dealt with tribal matters such as the organization and leadership of the participating tribal groups, warfare, the ransoming of captives, and war expenditure.

Two recensions of the document (henceforth, “the treaty”) are found in Ibn Ishaq’s Biography of Muḥammad (sira) and Abu ʿUbayd’s Book of State Finance (Kitāb al-amwāl). Some argue the final document actually comprises several treaties concluded at different times.

According to Arjomand, the treaty is a “proto-Islamic public law.” Some clauses in the second part of the treaty, or the treaty of the Jews section (namely clauses 53–64), form a pact with the Jewish Qurayza tribe that was incorporated in this treaty at a later stage. However, clause 44 (“Incumbent upon the Jews is their expenditure and upon the muslimun theirs”) and, clause 45 (“They will aid each other against whosoever is at war with the people of this treaty”) clearly were part of the original pact.

According to Denny, the ummah of the Constitution is made up of Muslims and Jews; although the Jews also constitute a separate ummah “alongside” the Muslims. The treaty was a political-military document of agreement designed to make Yathrib and its people more secure. The Jewish tribes were a party to it as a special group, a “sub-ummah” with its own din (religion and law).

Yathrib was to be “sacred for the people of this document,” which adds a factor of locality and religion. Kinship was not to be the main binding tie of the new ummah; for monotheistic religion was of much greater importance. The ummah is the tribe, a super-tribe, with God and Prophet Muhammad as arbiters and authorities.

According to Goto, the three main Jewish tribes—Nadir, Qurayza, and Qaynuqaʿ had agreements with Prophet Muhammad that were separate. Peophet Muhammad himself made a document or documents for the three major Jewish tribes. The six Jewish groups called “yahud bani so-and-so” mentioned in the treaty were not the three large Jewish tribes, but refer to significant groups of Arab converts to Judaism within the pagan Arab tribes of Medina (since most Jews married other Jews these groups grew into large clans within the larger pagan Arab tribe of which they were a part).

According to Rubin, the Jewish participants were not the three main Jewish tribes, but Jewish groups that unlike the three main tribes, had neither a territory of their own nor a separate Jewish tribal affinity, because they were families and clans of converts to Judaism within the various pagan Arab tribes.

Muhammad’s ummah was a unity sharing the same religious orientation (monotheism) and included the Jews as “an umma of believers.” They were entitled to complete protection for themselves that also included their din (religion and law).

The Qur’an strongly supports religious pluralism and wasatia, a religious term in Islam for the middle path of temperance and reconciliation. Extremists who deny the value of wasatia should read Prophet Muhammad’s original Covenant of Medina, as well as the “The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World”.

Perhaps this is why Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told Israeli journalists at the U.S. Mideast peace conference in Manama that; “Israel is part of this heritage of this whole region, historically. So, the Jewish people have a place among us.”

As the Qur’an states: “Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever truly believes in God and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve.” (Quran 2:62)

The term Yehudi, in the singular, is rare in the Bible. The word appears eight times in the book of Esther, but only twice more elsewhere, in Jeremiah 34:9 and Zechariah 8:23. While the plural version of this term is more common, appearing 65 times in the Bible, 44 of these appearances are in the book of Esther. Jew is clearly a diaspora name for those from the Judean tribe.