Muhammad was very impressed by Judaism. His Islam is an Arabized form of Judaism, which he imposed upon the Arabs. He adopted the idea of monotheistic God, ambulation, circumcision, fasting and prohibition of pig meat etc. from Judaism. Jewish Jehovah became his Allah. He also declared Jerusalem as Qibla of his prayers. He had even adopted Jewish Yom Kippur fasting, which he later discarded after discord arose with the Jews of Medina, and replaced it with fasting in Ramadan. He was highly impressed by Moses and adopted his tactic for establishing his kingdom. He was half Jewish in heart.
Like Moses’ founding of a Hebrew nation via the establishment of Judaism, Muhammad established the Arab Nation by establishing Islam. Like Moses was a prophet of the Hebrews, Muhammad declared himself Prophet of the Arabs.
Monotheism organizes people under one God and subjugates them to His dictatorial vicegerent on earth. Idol-worship on the other hand, with its pluralities of deities, disorganizes people. With his dictatorial ambition, Muhammad took cues from Judaism. One cannot build a dictatorial kingdom with an unorganized people. To organize people, one needs monotheism and to destroy all that disorganize people, namely Idol-worship and opposing faiths.
Judaism is extremely intolerant toward Idolatry. Here are some verses from Jewish scriptures hateful toward Idol-worship:
- Not to make a graven image; neither to make it oneself nor to have it made by others (Ex. 20:4) (CCN9).
- Not to make any figures for ornament, even if they are not worshipped (Ex. 20:20) (CCN144).
- Not to make idols even for others (Ex. 34:17; Lev. 19:4) (CCN10).
- Not to worship an idol in the way in which it is usually worshipped (Ex. 20:5) (CCN12).
- Not to bow down to an idol, even if that is not its mode of worship (Ex. 20:5) (CCN11). (in Muslim contest i.e. not to bow down to Blackstone even if it is not worshipped)
- Not to prophesy in the name of an idol (Ex. 23:13; Deut. 18:20) (CCN27).
- Not to lead the children of Israel astray to idolatry (Ex. 23:13) (CCN14).
- Not to entice an Israelite to idolatry (Deut. 13:12) (CCN23).
- To destroy idolatry and its appurtenances (Deut. 12:2-3).
- Not to love the enticer to idolatry (Deut. 13:9) (CCN24).
- Not to give up hating the enticer to idolatry (Deut. 13:9) (CCN25).
- Not to save the enticer from capital punishment, but to stand by at his execution (Deut. 13:9)
- A person whom he attempted to entice to idolatry shall not urge pleas for the acquittal of the enticer (Deut. 13:9) (CCN26).
- Not to swear by an idol to its worshipers, nor cause them to swear by it (Ex. 23:13) (CCN13).
- Not to turn one's attention to idolatry (Lev. 19:4) (CCN16).
- Not to remove the entire beard, like the idolaters (Lev. 19:27) (CCN177).
- Not to set up a pillar (for worship) (Deut. 16:22) (CCN162).
- Not to show favor to idolaters (Deut. 7:2) (CCN20).
- Not to settle idolaters in our land (Ex. 23:33) (negative) (CCI26).
- Not to rebuild a city that has been led astray to idolatry (Deut. 13:17)
On reading these verses, you discover a reason why Islam hates Judaism, which is: these verses indirectly show that Islam is not completely free of idolatry. For example, Muslims’ reverence of the Blackstone in the Ka’ba, and their worshipping at graves etc., are tinged with Idolatry.
Moses was against Idol-worship, because he wanted to organize his people under his militant leadership to occupy lands of others for building his Hebrew Nation. Establishing the Hebrew Nation is the central thrust of the Old Testament scriptures. Idol-worship makes society pluralistic, non-dogmatic, non-militant. Idol-worship creates many sub-faiths with it, thus, making society diverse. With diversity of ideas, one person cannot bring the people under his absolute control and command. As Moses, with his wondering people, wanted to build his Hebrew Nation by occupying the lands of the Canaanites, he needed solid control over his people, who will act as one army at his command. Idol worship, which mankind had known as sole form of worship until this time, was counter-productive to his objectives.
The same applies to Islam. Arab tribes, each with their own deity, were disorganized during Muhammad’s time. Muhammad wanted to organize them into a unified kingdom with himself as its dictatorial head. Idol-worship naturally was an impediment to his ambition of building an Arab super-kingdom. Under Muhammad, Islam started out as Arab nationalistic religious creed, like Judaism was for the Hebrews. Nonetheless, with a sudden burst of power, Islam unexpectedly spread far beyond the Arabian borders, which marked the Islamic kingdom under Muhammad. As Islam was originally meant for benefiting Arab nationalism—and Saudi nationalism in today’s reality as Islam was born there—other non-Arab countries that falls under Islam’s sway will have to undergo Arabization, thus losing its identity, nationality. This is because Islam was born to destroy pluralism, not nurture it. So, non-Arab Islamic countries have to lose their own nationality, tradition, culture, and all. Muslims all over the world are adopting tradition and culture of Judo-Arabia in the name of Islam as an ongoing process.
The very essence of Monotheism is one people under one God with one nation, one world, one idea of life. Spiritual aspect, if any, is secondary in it. It is an ideology of nation and life, not one’s spiritual quest for inner longing and tranquility. Islam, in itself, is purely an ideology for building and benefiting the Arab nationhood and life.