From Qumran to the Qur an Copyright New Dawn Publications 2010 No reproduction, in whole or part, without express written

n permission from the author Mikhah ben David Naziri Jewish Sectarian Origins To Mu.ammad, what would come to be called Islam, was not an extra-Judaic religion. he actions of submission (aslama), is described in the Qur an just as any other verb. The earliest sources make no mention of the Arabs who followed Mu.ammad calling themselves Mu slims or being called such by others.1 Prior to the Umayyad Caliphate, it appears that pr oto-Muslims and Jews were a single Ummah (Nation).2 There is astonishing evidence that the proto -Muslims saw themselves not as followers of a new or distinct religion, but as a competing in terpretation of Judaism. In some fashion, this radical position has been advanced by the school of John Wansbrough, and thus Andrew Rippin, Patricia Crone and Michael Cook,3 as well as Christoph Luxenberg, who has explored alternate Aramaic readings of the Qur an.4 Additionall y, we see similar conclusions from Shelomo Dov Goitein, and Qumran scholar Chaim Rabin, al ong with 1 For centuries there is no written record of the term Muslim being used to define a religion separate from Judaism. Indeed, when Jerusalem was retaken by the Arabs it was with Jewish appr oval and direct assistance. The invading forces were identified by their Arab identity rather than by a separate religious title. This was also the case in Andalusia where Jews and Arabs fought side by side. There is no record that t hese Arabs regarded their faith distinct from that of their Jewish comrades in arms (or, vice versa). For a surv ey of these third-party sources, see the first three chapters of Crone and Cook s Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World . Malta: Cambridge University Press, 1977. 2 Remnants of this reality are even evidenced in the Arabic wording of Ibn Is.aq s record of the Constitution of Medinah. 3 Crone and Cook 10. Though they accept that the Hagarenes were an expression of Jewish messianism, they do not make the deeper connections such as those we find from Chaim Rabin, that the Mu.ammadi community was a sectarian expression of Judaism. 4 Though he is far from the first to do so, drawing from the work of Author Jeff reys, Luxenberg has taken this research to a new level. Page 1 of 62 T

many others.5 Long before their work, however, Orientalists were noting the pres ence of Jewish source material in the Qur an. Fred Donner cites in Mu.ammad and the Believers, th at a little over a century ago, renowned French scholar Ernest Renan (1823-1892) wrote this summation of his findings on Islamic Origins and history: We arrive, then, from all parts at this singular result: that the Mussulman move ment was produced almost without religious faith; that, putting aside a small number of f aithful disciples, Mahomet really worked with but little conviction in Arabia, and never succeeded in overcoming the opposition represented by the Omeyade party.6 Renan s statement represents, Donner claims, an extreme and harsh formulation of his

otherwise accurate observations. The notion that Mu.ammad and his followers were motivated primarily by factors other than faith is certainly too dry and disengaged a conc lusion. Donner calls it a subtler guise which has been embraced by many subsequent scholars in what has been associated with Orientalism. At the same time, however, that the Umayyad famil y, which ruled from 661 to 750, were fundamentally hostile to the essence of Mu.amm ad s movement, is even today widespread in Western scholarship, 7 and is the orthodox S hi`i position, even today. Renan s reductionism notwithstanding, Hubert Grimme and W. Montgomery Watt both argued for a sociological basis for the Mu.ammadi movement and mission. Leo ne Caetani, Carl Heinrich Becker, Bernard Lewis, Patricia Crone and Glen Bowersock, Iram Lap idus and Suliman Bashear have argued for the emergence of Mu.ammad s movement was some sort of 5 Rippin 3 6 Fred M. Donner, Muhammad and the Believers 7 Donner xi Page 2 of 62

nationalistic or nativist activity. Donner rightly rejects this, Mu.ammad s aims wer e no doubt social, but they were not social to the exclusion of also being religious. The f ollowing article will demonstrate the following, as a clarified position on the matter: Mu.ammad viewed himself as participating within the milieu of Jewish sectarianis m. His movement was remarkably similar to Essenic thought and Halakhah, as noted by both Shelomo Dov Goitein and Chaim Rabin. After Mu.ammad we would see a remarkable si milarity between the Jewish `I.uniyyah movement that rose against the Caliphate and what was a developing proto-Shi`ism. In one of the only sustained studies on the `I.uniyim, Israel Friedlaender noted fifteen Shi`itic elements in this Jewish, anti-Caliphate moveme nt. This might indicate a shared perspective if not, more certainly, a common sectarian o rigins. Mu.ammad apparently had many social aims but his movement was socio-religious in nature. He addresses groups associated with Jewish sectarianism: Yahud (Jews) Ya hudan (Judeans), Na.ara (Nazarene Judaic-Christians, never using the contemporaneous t erm Kristiyan ), Sabaeans (which we can locate with some certainty as the Mandaeans of Iraq, a sect originating with the movement of John the Essenic proselyte which took on t his name of Sabaean as well as Elchasaites, the post-Ossaean sect which Mani (2 16 276 CE) was raised in. We will find remarkable evidence that Mu.ammad not only held ideas and terminolo gy in common with the Essenes, but with post-Judean Essenic offshoots. We will find that Mu.ammad preached a verbal Islam, within the context of both his own Essenic Jud aism, but extended as a broader universalism, apparently practicable to Jews of various se cts which he sought to unite, quasi-Judaean offshoots and perhaps even general God-fearing geri m toshavim (monotheistic non-Jews, respected in Jewish tradition and entitled to equal righ ts and coexistence with Jews). Page 3 of 62

Just as the term Islam was not considered a proper noun of some unique, singular r eligion, Mu.ammad himself was merely a messenger according to the Qur an, and never a fundamental tenant of religious faith. Once we strip away the centuries of expla ining the clear words of the Qur an away, we read that Mu.ammad told people NOT to come to him and ask about matters which the Torah had already instructed us on: And why do they come to you for a decision while they have the Torah, in which i s the Decision of God; yet even after that, they turn away. For they are not Believers (Mu'minin/Ma'minim). (5.43) ...... ... ................................................................................ .......................................... Similarly, the Qur an was not intended as a new, written book, but was itself the recitation of previous scriptural material with commentary on it in these sermonic orations. T he Qur an was not a book but a recitation of Scripture according to sa.i. .adith. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya ..... (ra.aHidayat al-Hiyara Ajwibat fi al-Yahud wa al-Na (1292-1350 CE) says in his work ). . . . . . . . ...... . The reference to the Torah therein does not mean the Torah proper, the Book of M oses. The words: Torah, Gospel, and Psalms, are sometimes used to mean the individual Books in themselves, and sometimes they are used to refer to the gender (Holy Books). Thus, the mention of the Qur an may interchangeably be used to express the Psalms (Zabur ), the Torah for the Qur an, and the gospel for the Qur an. In the Authentic Prophetic tradition it is mentioned that the Prophet said: Page 4 of 62

The Qur an was a light burden to David. In the time between saddling his riding ani mal and then riding it, he read the Qur an. The word Qur an here refers to David s book the Psalms (Al-Zabur). The same applies to His saying in the foretold in the Torah: A Prophet I shall raise for t he people of Israel among their brethren. I shall send down upon him a Torah similar to th e Torah of Moses. The same usage of gender applies to the description of his (sal) commun ity as in the former books: their Scriptures are in their hearts .8 It seems that the general Qur anic usage of Torah is to refer to the Torah, but th at is not the primary point of the quote above. The Qur an thus clearly refers to the Jewish scr iptures as Qur an, an obvious use of the common Qiriyat Torah in Judaism. Qur an then refers to the recitation of previous scriptures, besides the Torah, like the Psalms here. The Divorce from Judaism and the Caliphate s Qur anic Vulgate John Wansbrough introduces his Qur anic Studies with the revolutionary statement t hat Once separated from an extensive corpus of prophetical logia, the Islamic revelation became scripture and in time, starting from the fact of itself of literary stabilization, was see n to contain a logical structure of its own. It was from this achievement of canonicity that both the docu ment and identity was assured a kind of independence. 9 8 http://www.archive.org/stream/frq07/062?ui=embed#page/n6/mode/1up 9 Wansbrough 1 Page 5 of 62

On the boundaries of the emerging identity associated with the verbal Islam now reassigned as a noun Annemarie Shimmel opens her work by commenting on a manuscr ipt from Iran, dated to the twelfth century which celebrates the second half of the Sh ahadah in a tangible way, and highlighting the central position of the Prophet in the religion of Islam. The profession of the Unity of God, along with the rest of the Kufic script of Surat u-l-Ikhlas is written in an otherwise beautiful calligraphy, but utterly inferior to that celeb rating Mu.ammad. In this way, Mu.ammad himself comes to define the nationalistic border s defining Islam as a religion .10 Over the course of the centuries, Schimmel asserts the historical personality of Mu.ammad had almost disappeared behind a colorful veil of legends and myths; the bare facts were commonly elaborated in enthusiastic detail, and were rarely if at all seen in their historical perspective. 11 To unearth then the Historical Mu.ammad, we must proceed in a mann er parallel to the scholarship of Christian Origins and the Historical Jesus which similarly had the task of differentiating the Historical Jesus, who lived and died as a Jew from the later mythic figure who was a product of a very anti-Jewish Church. In the same way, following the metho ds of Higher Criticism common to both the Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Quest for th e Historical Mu.ammad, we will find a movement and figure emerging from the milieu of Jewish sectarianism whose principal revivals would come to ascribed his name and moveme nt to their own imperialist and anti-Jewish empire beginning with the dynastic Caliphate of the Umayyads, but really cementing with the Abbasids. In a follow-up book to this one, we will explore the evidence of this from archeology and coinage minted by the early dynasties. 10 Schimmel 3Commenting to this effect, Wilfred Cantwell Smith hits the proverbi al nail on the head, in saying that Muslims will allow attacks on Allah; there are atheists and atheistic publication s, and rationalist societies; but to disparage Mu.ammad will provoke from even the most liberal sections of the communi ty a fanaticism of blazing vehemence Schimmel 4. 11 Ibid 6 Page 6 of 62

Harald Motzki writes, on The Murder of Ibn Abi l-Huqaya: On the Origin and Reliability of Some Maghazi-Reports, that from the viewpoint of historical source criticism, our sources for a biography of the Prophet Mu.ammad must be classified as tradit ions. Motzki explains what every historian knows, that the informative value of the kind of sour ces termed traditions is blurred by several limitation. He explains that this is not unique to the historical Mu.ammad, but nevertheless this quest is not free of these universal limitations . Traditions are subjective due to their choice of what they mention and what not; they put facts into a certain perspective, sequence and connection; and they use topoi or even create facts wh ich have never existed or not in the manner that they describe them. There are thus two approach es with tradition sources, whether related to Mu.ammad or a similar figure. Motzki expla ins they are similar to pieces of a broken mirror, both in their inherent flaws and in that the y can be used to reconstruct historical reality. Hadith Literature and Higher Criticism The Battle of the Trench a tale of pure anti-Jewish polemic as it is conceived i n Islamic Historiography, is pure myth. Moreover, it is a myth that itself traces to a nar rator that even Textual Critics within the mainstream Islamic tradition denounce as unreliable. The Qur.an treats the battle of the Confederates/Trench much like any other battle, telling of no special significance of one of the tribes, the Banu Quray.ah, or violating an oath of al legiance. However, around a century and a half later Ibn Is.aq claimed that after this battle up to 900 Jews of Medinah - every male who had been inspected for and proven to have pubic hair (a nd one woman) - were executed, unarmed, and after the fact of the battle. Page 7 of 62

The original work of Ibn Is.aq, which created this tale, is lost, it survives on ly in the recension of Ibn Hisham (d. 833) and Al-.abari (838-923). Indeed, all accounts o f Islamic history, maghazi battle narrations, and later, subsequent theological and histor ical critique, on this matter of the Banu Quray.ah, trace back to this one fundamentally flawed ac count which finds no earlier parallel, and most damning, no reference in Jewish histories un til well after the wide circulation of the Sirah, centuries later. This narrative of Islamic history is pure fabrication, catalyzed by an emerging reaction to Jewish Messianism of the `I.uniyim12 during the Abbasid Caliphate (750 1258 C.E.). 13 This thesis maintains that this narrative of Ibn Is.aq (d. 767, or 761) ,14 though in itially met with ambivalence and rejection by the author s contemporaries, was invited to remain wi thin the Ummah (Islamic nation) as the attitude towards Jews deteriorated in the Middle E ast. In the centuries since, the problem has remained unchecked as the method of Lower or So urce Criticism, has not only prevailed in Islamic scholarship in the generations that followed, but had remained the outdated default methodology, even by modern scholars of Hadith lit erature. Acknowledging the preference for the Qur an, the Encyclopaedia characterizes it as the most difficult to utilize as a historical source, for understanding Islamic Origi ns. Joseph Schact similarly concludes that traditions alleged to go back to the Prophet or to his C ompanions, are the product of legal, theological and political developments, from the second cent ury following Mu.ammad. Therefore, he surmises, they lack any historical value, in legitimately documenting the historical Mu.ammad or the events of his era.15 12 A reaction to the perceived audacity of the second Jewish Messianic revolt ag ainst the Caliphate, of Serene and then of Abu `Isa Obadiyah, respectively. 13 The Abbasids were the third Caliphate of the Islamicate Empire. The Abbasids dynasty would built their capital in Baghdad following the overthrow of their Umayyad predecessors from all but Andal usian Spain. 14 Neither the date of his birth, nor of his death are agreed upon. 15 Motzki XII Page 8 of 62

The aforementioned Sirah Rasul Allah, composed by Ibn Is.aq (d. ca. 767 770 CE), h as traditionally been regarded as the earliest biography of Mu.ammad. To effectivel y frame this within historical context, we might imagine the first biography of Abraham Linco ln having been written just after the fall of the Twin Towers.16 To complicate the matter furth er, imagine that there was no surviving copy of that biography, only later recensions that did no t even agree on what this late biography said! The Encyclopaedia of Islam authoritatively declares that early accounts of Mu.am mad, requires specialised knowledge and a variety of historical and literary critical methods in order to reach sound conclusions and plausible hypotheses .17 In The Eye of the Beholder , Uri Rubin cites Josef Horovitz s attempt to pinpoint the earliest dating for the legendary M u.ammad of the Sirah accounts.18 Believing that the critical minded reader could distinguish bet ween the legendary and the real Prophet, he asserted one could get inside the mind of the hi storical Mu.ammad, determining how he really thought and acted .19 More recently, Rubin expl ains, Rudolf Sellheim published a literary analysis of Ibn Is.aq s Sirah accounts, creat ing a very clear-cut differentiation between the creation of a literary character and the hi storical Mu.ammad.20 Sellheim refines three major stages in the literary development of the story of Mu.ammad s life, each represented in a different literary layer or schicht. The layer is the most authentic, according to Sellheim, containing traditions which l ead towards 16 Though it was originally written a century and a half after Mu.ammad, the wor k has survived only through the recensions of Ibn Hisham (d. 833) and At-.abari (838-923 CE). Much of the material is parallel in each source. Nevertheless, there are some significant differences. .abari, for instance, is t he source of the infamous Satanic Verses account, and in both cases, Ibn Is.aq tells of the controversial marketpla ce massacre against the Banu Quray.ah. 17 361 18 Rubin 2; Rubin cites here Josef Horovitz, Zur Mu.ammadlegende, Der Islam 5 (191 4), 41-53 19 Rubin cites Horovitz, published in Gottingen in 1932. The English translation by Theophil Menzel is entitled Mohammed, the Man and his Faith (London, 1936); Ibid 20 Ibid Page 9 of 62 ground

actual events. Next there is the first layer. in which the legendary image of Mu.amm ad evidently from reconfigured Jewish, Christian and Persian material. Finally, the re is the second layer in which political interests of various Islamic groups manipulate and embedded within the text.21 Jewish Sectarianism in the Post-Himyarite Hijaaz Montgomery Watt s believes that the colorful tale in the Sirah account, of the mon astic sage Ba.ira, though essentially a legend, also depicts truly the world in which this hist orical Mu.ammad lived. For him, this potential is where the true value of the Sirah lit erature resides. The Sirah and a.adith in general cannot be relied upon for a linear historical n arrative, that much is clear. However, it can give us clues to help in reconstructing the Historical Mu.ammad. Watt reminds us, for instance, that Mu.ammad travelled to Syria with his uncle and gu ardian with Abu .alib, a possible period of intersection with various ideas in Judaism.22 That M u.ammad would, according to Sirah and .adith accounts, retire for lengthy periods of sub terranean hermitage, is clear and also an embarrassment to the orthodox notion of spontane ous revelation. The entry on Mu.ammad in the Encyclopaedia of Islam notes Caetani s argument that Mu.ammad s emergence as a religious reformer was a gradual and involved development with cave retreats of extended periods of meditation and reflection, referred to in th e Sirah literature as ta.annuth .23 Mentioning Mu.ammad s uncle-in-law, the sage Waraqah (said to have been fluent in Hebrew), Watt is content to accept that he was some sort of Christian Arab. Neve rtheless, he paradoxically acknowledges that the average Christian Arab probably had no direct knowledge 21 Ibid 22 Watt 8 23 Watt, Mohammed at Mecca 44 Page 10 of 62

of the scriptures. Indeed there was no Arabic translation of the Bible for more t han a century later. If Christian Arabs were not thought to have direct knowledge of the Gospe l accounts, does Waraqah actually fit the bill? We might consider Rubin s comment that the An.ar 24 of Mu.ammad s movement were said to have been descendants of those Jewish rabbis of the time of the ruler of Y emen, Tuban As`ad Abu Karib,25 namely that they were ansar or helpers from Himyarite Jewry. The tradition from the Egyptian Yunus Ibn Yazid (d. AH 159), also cited by Rubin26 that Waraqa h wrote Hebrew, and used to copy passages from the Injil in Hebrew If this is true, then w hatever sect Waraqah was, it is clear he was not of any known brand of Christianity, instead resembles the `I.uniyyah,27 possibly a Diaspora Essene sectarian form of Judaism which Rabin a ssigns to Mu.ammad. From Qumran to the Qur an Supporting this theory, Chaim Rabin takes this connecting-the-dots-to-Judaism, o ne step further in the first essay in Andrew Rippin s The Qur an: Style and Contents (the original w ork being from a concluding chapter of: Qumran Studies; based on a lecture given at the In stitute of Jewish Studies in Manchester). A researcher in the sectarian milieu of the Second Templ e Era, and the Essene community, Rippin ties the language of the Qur an directly to that found thro ughout the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rabin does not advance this theory without precedent. 24 The Medinan helpers of Muhammad. 25 Rubin 45 26 Rubin 106-7 27 I have here selected an Arabization based upon the Jewish rendering of the wo rd both with Samech and a Nun rather than a Sin and Waw in the belief that the Jewish community was aware of t he identity of this group and thus called them by their proper name. Thus, the `Arabic `Isawiyyah, by which they we re also known, was either a play on words, or simply a mistake by the Muslim community that assumed this was what the similar sounding name meant, due to their acceptance of Jesus (`Isa). This is, however, a large claim and one that is too big to address here, though it is worth mention that Chaim Rabin s conclusion would fit exceedingly wel l with what I am proposing. Page 11 of 62

The possibility of the main Jewish influence on Mu.ammad having been that of a heretical Jewish sect was first put forward by S.D. Goitein in 1933, and elabora ted in 1953, when he specified this sect as one strongly influenced by Christianity. In h is Columbia University lectures of the same year, he suggested that Mu.ammad was in his debate with the Jews of Medina merely carrying on an internal Jewish controversy , being supplied with arguments by his heretical teachers, and also seriously weighed th e possibility of these teachers coming from an offshoot of the community of the Dea d Sea Scrolls. But [Goitein] rejected this, because if it were so, it would not have ha d such close affinities with the Talmudic literature to which the .ur an bears such eloqu ent testimony.28 Rabin, attempting to to remove that objection, 29 reasons that Mu.ammad was linked with the Diaspora Essene sect of Judaism though he has not made the connection with the `I. uniyyah movement. The difficulty from Goitein, that the Qur an is so replete with the sort of Talmudic references that a connection with Qumran seems difficult, only rears its head if we presume that the Qumran exiles did not assimilate and cross-pollinate with rabbinic tradition , beginning in the second century. Whilst apparently maintaining their own sectarian flavor and ide ntity, there is simply no reason to imagine this, or that some of the traditions in the Talmud d id not actually pre-date it. It is, to this end, worthy of reminding the reader that the Essenes were not restricted to Qumran. Contrary to this popular view, they were said to have operated in the thousands in 28 Emphasis mine. Rippin 3 29 Ibid Page 12 of 62

surrounding cities,30 a point that would have greatly strengthened Rabin s thesis. With this missing information on the Essenes Diaspora Essene Jewish community emerges with a higher degree of probability. Rabin tells us, in his Qumran Studies, that the Qumran sect had proselytes among its ranks, 31 cited as ha nilwim `alehem, literally those who join to them. 32 The term pros elytes is itself a Greek equivalent of the word Hebrew or evri, meaning one who crosses ov er. 33 The Arabic equivalent of this term, Rabin asserts, like pseudonymous author Chri stoph Luxenberg, is .anafa, which he defines as to incline, turn; synonymous with the Ar abic lawa, he notes. Torrey deduces that the Arabic word means one who turned away from the surrounding paganism, while Katsh sees ta.annut, the aforementioned condition when the angel appeared to him, being derived from the Hebrew t e.innot, a very common Jewish expression of voluntary devotion. 34 The apt student of the a.adith attributed to t he protoShi ite imami sect will note the words of Ja`faru al-.adiq, when asked Why are the people of Moses called Yahud , that this refers to the Qur anic attribution to the people of Mos es, Verily, we turn (hudna) unto You. Thus, Rabin sees the term .anif, as a synonym for proselyte, or Hebrew, a homonym as those who incline, meaning with the Essenes thos e who 30 While we tend towards thinking of the Qumran Community as the whole of the Es sene faction, Philo writes in Every Good Man is Free, that there were over 4,000 Essenes in Palestinian Syria. He states therein that they live in villages and avoid cities. Pliny noted that Essenes live on the western shore of the Dead Sea above Engeddi. In addition to Philo s claim that thousands of Essenes resided in various small villa ges, the Essenes mentioned by Pliny were not located at the site of Qumran adjacent to caves where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Though the Community Rule makes no mention of women or children, and though all so urces of Antiquity seem to point to celibacy, Josephus describes another group of Essenes who married (J oan E. Taylor, The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism, pp 20) indicating that common pigeonho ling, and infatuation with concise delineations of such groups, may be more wishful thinking than anything historically substantial. Like Philo, Josephus claims, in The Jewish War, that there were many Essenes in every town. 31 Rabin cites gerim, CDC xiv. 6. 32 Rabin notes that this was also used for naturalized Jews of foreign origins c onverts in Isaiah xiv. I; lvi. 2, 6; Zech. Ii. 15 33 The term proselyte would have been no different than an English-speaking cove rt saying Hebrew in English instead of the Hebraic Evri. 34 Katsh 108 Page

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incline towards the teaching of the sect; more specific than general conversion to Second Temple Palestinian Jewry.35 Thus, in approaching tradition sources, whether related to Mu.ammad or any simil ar historical figure, Harald Motzki reminds us that these pieces of a broken mirror c an be used to reconstruct historical reality. 36 When Rabin s thesis is taken with Geiger s initi al examination of the Talmud in the Qur an, the detailed examination of the Suratayn of Al-Baqara h and Al `Imran s use of Talmudic material, in Abraham Katsh s Judaism in Islam, and in recon ciliatory works such as that which is at hand, a very strong composite theory of Islamic o rigins emerges, far more historically probably than the traditional account. 35 Rippin 6-7; Also in Rabin 36 Ibid 171 Page 14 of 62

Part 2: From the Essenes to Ossaeans Essenes, Ossaeans and Elchasaites The Essenes of Second Temple Era Judaism, have always fascinated scholars and la ypeople alike. The nature of their Judaism was so similar, and gives precedence to, othe rwise anomalousseeming figures as John the Baptism, in the pre-Christian tradition, and yet was regarded by all who report on them as wholly within the context of Judaism. This realization alo ne is intriguing, for after the codification of the Talmud, a vision of a more or less unified Jud aism, deriving from Phariseeism, emerges that makes the Essene sect seem even more astonishing. The Talmud seems to refer to the Essenes, only in passing, as the Chassidim Ris honim (Early Pietists). The rabbis, whose words were put down in the Talmudic commenta ries, were not often favorable towards asceticism. While Naziritism (Nazirut) is reported o n in tractates Nedarim and Nazir, we find a general distaste for the practice, and even occasio ns where the rabbi is stumped regarding the practice. Nedarim 19b relays Rabbi Huna ben Yehud ah asked Raba about a nazir shimshon cutting their hair annually like a nazir `olam. Raba says it is not permitted, though the context of why a nazir `olam is permitted annually would s imilarly still apply to a nazir shimshon (for safety, for instance). When Rabbi Ada ben Ahavah explained that he knew of a nazir shimshon who was taught such, Raba replies "if it was taught then it was taught," a figure of speech meaning that he was not aware of this. Though there have been some rabbis over the years who have practiced Nazirut Rav

Kook appears to have been and his disciple David ha Nazir was most have at least f rowned upon it. The Talmud is thus not n zirim reporting on Nazirut, so we have sometimes slightly different formulations between a nazir stam, a nazir `olam, a nazir l`olam, and a nazir shimshon. Page 15 of 62

Amongst these are further descriptions of n zarim who avoided fruits which could b e alcoholic and those who did not. The relationship between the Essenes and Naziritism is a complex one which deser ves an intensive study of its own. While this would be beyond the scope at hand, it sho uld suffice to say that there are Naziritic elements in the sectarian writings and certainly Naziru t would not be unexpected amongst such an ascetic community. Norman Golb argues that vegetarian Nazirut became attractive to survivors of the Essene movement, following the destruction of Jerusalem (and Qumran). Arguing that the Ossaeans were of Essenic origins, Golb believes t he Ossaeans accepted the vegetarianism of the Ossaeanic Elchasaites (which will be addressed in detail later) as a matter of course: The Essenic hostility to the Pharisaic order of sacrifice may well have given ri se to an Ossaean acceptance of the Elchasaitic ban on sacrifice, and these same Essenic

remnants would have been attracted to the vegetarianism of the Elchasaites. 37 While the Essenes are generally not associated with vegetarianism before the rec ords of the Ossaeans, we find allusions to it in the scrolls: They shall atone for sins witho ut the flesh of holocausts and the fat of sacrifice and prayer shall be an acceptable fragrance of righteousness (1QS 9) Pending the rebuilding of the Temple by the group s anticipated Mashiachay im (the dual Messiahs Ben Yosef and Ben David), the Yachad or community would constitute a sanct uary of human beings 38 (1.6) and adherence to the mitzvot would substitute for sacrifi ces39 (1.6-7) without any deficiency (1QS 8.6-10) 37Norman Golb 45-46 The Qumran Covenanters and the Later Jewish Sects. The Journ al of Religion, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 38-50 38 D. Dimant, 4QFlorilegium and the Idea of the Community as Temple, in Hellenica et Judaica (Hommage a V. Nikiprowetzky). edited by A. Caquot, et al. (Leuven, 1986) 165-8939 1QS 8.9-10, 9.3-6, particularly line 5; Hos 14.3; Ps 141.2 Page 16 of 62

The fact that the Essene sectarians did not view animal sacrifice as necessary, whether in Jerusalem at the Temple or elsewhere, potentially complicates a straightforward study of both Nazirut from Talmudic sources, and the potential for at least limited Essenic ve getarianism. They proposed charity for the sin (chatta) sacrifice that normally followed the compl etion of a naziri oath. Thus, when we read in the tractate Nazir on animal sacrifice associated wi th the completion of this oath, we are reading a Pharisee interpretation, not an Essenic one. Furthermore, we must remember that meat would only be kosher if brought to the Temple to be sacrificed. Therefore, to say that at the conclusion of a nadr (oat h) one would bring an animal for sacrifice precludes that meat was not being eaten during the durat ion of the nadr. We see then a probability that the Essenic rejection of the necessity of animal sacrifice at the completion of nadr, or a cycle of Nazirut, indicated a continuation of vegetaria nism, and a rejection of the unnecessary step of animal sacrifice for those who did not eat meat. Otherwise, we cannot conclude that they would offer a charity exception and eat traif meat. Such conclusions become important as we try to identify the sect after the destructio n of Qumran. Golb continues that from Epiphanius we learn not only that the Ossaioi during the third and fourth centuries amalgamated with a sect know as the Sampsaeans , a name which h e believes is probably to be explained as those showing homage to the sun though this may refer to the Nazirut of one who was Talmudically regarded as a nazir shimshon, a Nazirite like Samson. These titles, the Sampsaeans and the Ossaioi became a single group going by one or the other of these titles. 40 40 Norman Golb 45-46 The Qumran Covenanters and the Later Jewish Sects. The Jour nal of Religion, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 38-50 Page 17 of 62

Who Were The Mysterious Second Century Ossaeans? In such a quest for Post-Qumran and Diaspora Essenism we should take notice of t he vegetarian and Nazirite movements of the second century CE and beyond. One group by the nam e of the Ossaeans, is noted by Epiphanius as a Jewish heresy. The Ossaioi spelling is an al ternative version offered by Philo (Hypothetica 11:1-18). They are also described by Epiph anius of Salamis (ca. 310 320 403) as Jewish and on the spectrum of Jewishness, more so tha n the early Nazarene Jewish-Christians. The only non Jewish trait of the Ossaeans was said to be their disregarding of the Chumash (Pentateuch). This description is both subject ive to Epiphanius outsider interpretation and also seems to fit with the Essenic primacy of the Serekh ha Yachad/Rule of the Community as the group s Torah. It seems to me to argue for th eir Essenism. Norman Golb connects the Essenes and Ossaeans, and while this study does not arg ue for Golb s disconnection of the Essenes from the Qumran site,41 he has done exceptiona l work in Judeo-Arabic studies connecting the Essenes to Arabian sects of Late Antiquity a nd in documenting the continuation of Second Temple Era trends (namely proselytism and Essenism) in the Diaspora. In Greek, we see that the term Ossaean is related to a variation of Essenes whic h Philo offers us in the first century. In praxis, the similarities are just as striking between descriptions of the Essenes and Ossaeans. Epiphanius, writing in the fourth century CE (c. 378), tells us of a figure named Elxais,42 who led an offshoot of the Ossaeans that Of those that cam e before [Elxai s] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nazareans. 43 Here there is a con nection made 41 See Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls 42 Hippolytus gives it as Elchasai, Origen as Helkesai, Epiphanius as Elxai or E lkessai, Epiphanius further informs us ( Haer., xix.2) that the name meant the Hidden Power. 43 Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 378). Panarion. 1:19 Page 18 of 62

between the Elchasaites and the Ossaeans from which they were said to have proce eded and the Nazarenes, with which they shared some clear similarities. Regarding the Ossaean s, Epiphanius writes: After this Nazarean sect in turn comes another closely connected with them, call ed the Ossaeans. These are Jews like the former... originally came from Nabataea, Itura ea, Moabitis and Arielis, the lands beyond the basin of what sacred scripture called the Salt Sea Though it is different from the other six of these seven sects, it causes sch ism only by forbidding the books of Moses like the Nazarean.44 The location reveals that in the second century CE, they were present in multipl e places. In the first century, Philo and Josephus wrote that the Essenes were in every city. Philo writes, in Every Good Man Is Free, 45 that there were 4,000 Essenes in Palestinian Syria. He s tates therein that they live in villages and avoid cities. Pliny notes that Essenes li ve on the western shore of the Dead Sea above Engeddi. In addition to Philo s claim that thousands o f Essenes resided in various small villages, the Essenes mentioned by Pliny were not appar ently the same as those presumably located at the site of Qumran, adjacent to the caves where s ome of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Though the Community Rule makes no mention of women or children, and though all sources of Antiquity seem to point to celibacy, Josephus describes another group of Essenes who married;46 indicating that common pigeonholing, and infatuation with concise del ineations of such groups (even by Josephus), may be more wishful thinking than anything histo rically substantial. Josephus, we should remember, demonstrates an obvious disdain for w omen. 44 Panarion. 1.19 45 Every Good Man Is Free, 46 (Judaism, 1997) pp 20 Page 19 of 62 pp 75-91

Essenes who engaged in celibacy, either temporarily or permanently (we cannot kn ow), were apparently his favorite type, as he only mentions in passing that this did not a pply to all of the sect. Like Philo, Josephus also claims, in his The Jewish War, that there were m any Essenes in every town. The question of their presence at Qumran47 is thus a moot point for a discussion of whether or not the sect continued after the site s destruction. The evidence point s decisively towards the fact that they did. Did the Essenes write the Dead Sea Scrolls? One could hardly say with absolute c ertainty that each and every text in the collection was from the same sect. Golb certainl y doubts it. However, the Essenes were known separatists. In understanding this then, it can be seen as peculiar that they would share their cache with other sects who they deemed to n ot truly be Jews, but instead covenant breakers. Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls do indeed identify their community as Essenes or Os saioi in Hebrew, as we read they are the `Ossim ha Torah (1QpHab 8:1). This notion of Ma `asei which is found within 4Q39848 is . . . . ..... is supported by the phrase). . ....(rahoT in juxtaposition to the Covenant Breakers who they do not regard as Jews. The Aram aic equivalent Hesi im known from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested.49 The evid ence for both the Qumran site and the linguistic variation of Ossaioi can be found in a d etailed discussion of Stephen Goranson s, Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Text s, as well as In The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, edited by Peter W. 47 Significantly, though the location of Qumran is never specifies, Epiphanius l ocates the Ossaeans around the Dead Sea too, as does Pliny before him; though the latter gives a different location. This would seem to argue against scholars like Norman Golb who believe the sect to be unrelated to the site. Argu ing for the presence of the Essenes at Qumran, one should consult the magisterial work of Jodi Magness, The Archaeol ogy of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as James Vanderkam and Peter Flint s, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 48 Fragments 14-17 2.3 49 Lightfoot, Joseph Barber (1875). On Some Points Connected with the Essenes . St.

Paul s epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes, and disser tations. London: Macmillan Publishers. OCLC 6150927. Page 20 of 62

Flint and James C. VanderKam, with a focus on the linguistic discussion in Vande rKam s essay therein.50 If we can, however, identify amongst those texts documents of an Essene-sectaria n nature, then this would logically demonstrate the cache to have originated from the sect. In his The Wars of the Jews (2.137 138) Josephus mentions a three year probation peri od for all who would seek admission into the Essene community that we can compare with the description in the Qumran Rule of the Community (1QS; at least two years plus an indetermina te initial catechetical phase, 1QS VI). We will thus take the mainstream scholastic position that the works known as the Dead Sea Scrolls were indeed the product of the sect known as the Essenes. The view t hat the Essenes were unrelated to the Qumran site is in part borne from the belief that the Esse nes as a whole did not marry, and the Qumran site certainly has female and child corpses buried the re. This seems contradicted by their description as a race or some sort of genos. In his two main accounts, Josephus uses the name Essenes to refer to one of the th ree main philosophies of Second Temple Era Judaism. He speaks of giving an account of t he Essenes (Antiquities of the Jews 13.10.6) which he describes further as the Essene genos51 . (Antiquities of the Jews. 13.11.12; The Wars of the Jews 1.3.5); referring to Sim on of the Essaios genos (The Wars of the Jews 2.7.3); and in a parallel account of Simon a m an of the Essaios genos (Antiquities of the Jews 17.13.3). The only other apparent referenc e to a Jewish group being called a genos by Josephus is one reference to the Sadduccees as suc h in Ant. 13.10.6; bearing in mind that they were more of what we might also think of as a genos, insofar as the Sadduccees were Kohenic and represented the aristocratic Hasmonean Koheni m 50 2:534-551 51 A cognate of genus, Page 21 of 62 race, stock, kind and gonos birth, offspring, stock .

ha Gadolim associated with the Temple. Josephus also calls them a moira, or party; a term which he does not use for the Essenes or Pharisees. Was this conscious use of th ese terms? Mason and Chapman, in their Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, note t hat Josephus uses this term genos of then Essenes in 2.113 and follows in 2.119 by u sing the same term genos to refer to his own biological ancestry.52 However, whatever is meant by it, we see that it is not intended in a racial sense, as Josephus tells us that he studied with all three of the major Jewish philosophies, and all sources agree that the group was open to outs iders with the proper ideological and theological orientation. Furthermore, Josephus regards Je ws in general as a phyle (which he uses for people repeatedly) not a genos. We might thus best tran slated the term here as an inter-marrying religious community. (War 3.354; 7.327) We see Chri stianity referred to as a phyle but not a genos,53 by Josephus (Ant. 4.207; Ap. 2.237) in dicating the genos is indeed related to marriage, parentage of descendent, whereas this is not as c lear with phyle. In numerous places of the Wars of the Jews and the Antiquities of the Jews, he r efers to Jews in general as a phyle. He calls the Sadducees (and only the Sadducees) as a Moira. This is a play on words of Fate and Portion as in the portion of casting lots. The pun is effe ctively calling them a Party or Sect while at the same time calling them Fatalists. The Essenes he calls a genos. This last, Essene-specific term is the closest word we could expect for a race back then as this concept of race did not quite exist yet genos means essentially a group re producing with itself. We know that the Essene genos accepted people from all cultures and nations if t hey underwent their three-year mandatory gerut for all other branches of Yahadut (wh ich they regarded as Covenant Breakers ) as well as Greeks, Romans, anyone else. Their genos hus 52 130 53 Steve Mason 169-170; see also S.G. Wilson, Luke and the Law (Cambridge: Cambr idge University Press, 1983) Page 22 of 62

was not a race either, but an inter-marrying-and-reproducing-ideological-group. Je ws in general do not get this designation, but are instead a phyle because they do not marry under such strict ideological guidelines. Phyle is first used in the context of race in 159 0 CE. Joseph Baumgarten writes in his Studies on Qumran Law, that the Dead Sea Scroll 4QpNah excludes proselytes. We do read here v ger as which Baumgarten renders and proselytes. Yadin, however, sees this as impossible and completely contradictory to what we know of Second Temple Judaism and the practices of the Essenes in general.54 The term ger , we know, was used in the past to mean both foreigner, and to mean gerei toshav a nd gerei tzaddiq. Here, there is no qualification as either ger toshav or ger tzaddiq. Th is Pesher on 2 Samuel 7, explains itself. Baumgarten overlooks the context of the Pesher s refere nce in saying v ger. We need not resort to the meaning Yadin gives of this being an adulterer . Thoug h entirely possible, the Pesher reads: an Ammonite and a Moabite and a mamzer55 and an alien (ben nekar), and a ger forever, for his holy ones are there. 56 We read in the ver y next line that this is because Strangers shall not again make it desolate as they desolated it f ormerly, the sanctuary of Israel because of their sins. The context here is clearly referring to the Abomination that causes desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes. He was absolutely not a proselyte, but was indeed a literal ger though not a ger tzaddiq, the term used fo r proselytes in Rabbinic literature, which Baumgarten wishes to imagine applies here. Josephus claimed to have studied with each philosophy of Judaism. With the Essenes , however, he apparently studied with them only through the very beginning of the initiation process, under a teacher named Bannus. Tessa Rajak, in her Josephus, suggests no more than 54 Y. Yadin, "A Midrash on 2 Sam VII," Israel Exploration Journal, IX (1959), p 96 55 The meaning of mamzerut does not have a universal definition. In all cases, i t means a child born of illegal union, such as incest. What that illegal union constitutes varies in interpretation. 56 line 4-6 Page 23 of 62

about three months of training in each group for Josephus. She claims that this was a common Greek practice to study with each group for about three months, in order to gain an understanding of each, before either undergoing conversion or returning home.57 Within this context, we see elaboration that the Essenes were far more open than some might suspect. They had such an influx of strangers who were just there to find out about them, that i t is not at all unlikely that these were those to whom they were referring. Furthermore, just as with Karaitism, which Golb sees as influenced by Diaspora Essenism (which will here be conceded at least as a factor in their development, but not the primary influence), those who became Jew s (mityahadim) as we see in the story of Esther, were simply Jews, and not to be d esignated as any type of gerim. Baumgarten is thus wrong to expect Essenic parlance to mirror tha t of later Talmudic development. Baumgarten rightly comments that there is an affinity between the Qumran interpretation [of Deut. 23.4 excluding certain individuals from the congregation of God ] and that of Philo, who understood the exclusions in Deuteronomy 23 to apply to commu nal assemblies.58 In his De specialibus legibus, we read him say that knowing that in assemblies there are not a few worthless persons who steal their way in and remain unobserv ed in the large numbers which surround them, it guards against this danger by precluding all the unworthy from entering the holy congregation... For it expels those whose generative organs ar e fractured... and it banishes not only harlots, but also the children of harlots. Here we clearly see that Philo s understanding of mamzerut in the first century CE referred to children born of tion, but not harlots. The reasons for these conditions are specula

57 Tessa Rajak. Josephus. (Duckworth Publishers, 2002) 34-36 58 While the rabbis saw this as restricting various intermarriages (m.Yeb 2.4; 6 .1; 8.203; m. Qid 3.12, 4.1; m.Ket 3.1, 11.6; et al), Philo represents a non-Pharisaic view that corrects the modern err or of reading the Dead Sea Scrolls through the spectacles of what became Talmudic, Rabbinic Judaism. Page 24 of 62

. The notion of the forbidding of the Moabites and Ammonites is . . . . . . . . . . restored unascertainable. A child of a harlot would likely be a person raised in shady, eve n criminal contexts. Such a person might suggest that they have devoted themselves to refor m and teshuvah, but in the context of communities - not Jewry in general - this would be an unne cessary risk. A man with crushed genitals would likely be one type of man, a combative man, a sold ier or former soldier, or a thug of some sort. There would undoubtedly be rare exceptio ns to this rule, but the primary contexts of the era, a person with severe physical injuries woul d be former soldiers or thugs. These would be the very sorts of people who often may have po sed problems of infiltration. Yadin notes that the beginning of line 4, in the aforementioned Pesher should be adequately treated in the Talmud. Prohibition Regarding the Ammonites and Moabites We must recall that the Essene community did not set down each of the Dead Sea S crolls to parchment in the first century CE. They were said to have existed by Pliny for o ne thousand generations. While this is clearly an exaggeration, the community and the sect a ssociated with it, were not new. Their Serekh ha Yachad was preserved in several variations, indicati ng that the text and likely others were copies of much older texts which had been recopied. Regarding the other prohibitions, the Torah notoriously forbids an Ammonite or Moabite to enter the assembly of the LORD; permitting the entrance of Egyptians and Edomit es only after the lapse of two generations. Yet there was never any objection to accepti ng converts from these peoples; and we have several specific instances of such on record.59 Thoug h seemingly racial in overtones, it is important to note that if intermarriage was not occur ring (and Egyptians or Edomites were intermarrying with other converts from their same culture), the lapse of two 59 (Bamberger, 1968) pp 33 Page 25 of 62

generations would not change their ethnic make-up, but rather their national and cultural influence would wane and presumably dissolve into Judean assimilation. We must remember that race is a concept far more important to the American experience (and the experience of the Post-Colonial Era), than it was in the day s when Nation and Race were regarded fairly mutually, in an Ethno-National sense. Accordingly, Bamberger notes and comments upon a relevant `Aggadah: Rabbi Eliezer says: he God swore by His throne of glory that if a person of any of t

nations should come desiring to be converted to Judaism, Israel should receive h im; but a person from the house of Amalek they should not receive. been Yet this could not have

invoked halakically in the Rabbinic period as the Amalekites (as with the Caanan ites and Filistines), had disappeared as a separate people.60 Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehudah apply the prohibition of Deuteronomy 23.4 to a mal e. Rabbi Ishmael attributes this to the poor hospitality shown by the male inhabitants du ring the Exodus;61 the very same crime of Sodom and Gomorrah. This position was issued: An Ammonite and a Moabite is forbidden for all time (to marry), but their women are permitted fort hwith. 62 Thus an Ammonite or Moabite63 proselytes is so regarded as Jewish that even the Kohen ha G adol may marry her virgin daughter.64 Importantly, we find Ruth in the Davidic genealogy. 60 Ibid pp 33 61 (Braude, 1940) pp 50 62 See also Pseudo-Jonathan on Deuteronomy 23.4 63 At some time during the centuries of religious mode of assimilating immigrant s into the Jewish community, a procedure wanting in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, came into being (See Kaufamm in Golah We-Nekar 1.226). Once devised, this procedure came gradually to be applied even to those who acco rding to Deuteronomy 23.4 could not come into the community of YHVH. Thus, Raba, a further century Babylonian Amor a, tells us that even David had been threatened with exclusion from the community of YHVH because of his ancestress Ruth the Moabitess. Whereupon Ithra the Israelite donned a sword in the manner of Ishmael and declared: I shall put my sword through him who refuses to accept this law. From the court of Samuel the R amathite I have the rule: An Ammonite is to be excluded but not an Ammonitess: a Moabite but not a Moabitess. It is fair to say that this exegetical invention hints at a vigorous opposition to a newly promulgated and o therwise seemingly non-Biblical

principle. Since in 1 Chron. 2.17 we find: Ishmaelite and in 2 Sam 17.25 Page 26 of 62

And the father of Amasa was Jether the

The rabbis of the apparently pre-Christian and first Christian century did much to minimize the discrimination faced by Ammonite proselytes. Yehudah, an Ammonite p roselyte, appeared in the House of Study, inquiring May I marry a Jewish girl? Rabbi Yehoshu ah ben Hananiah said, You may. However, Rabbi Gamaliel [the second] said, You may not, for Scripture definitely rules against you. Whereupon Rabbi Yehoshuah asked, How can y ou identify the present inhabitants of the other side of the Jordan with the ancien t Ammonites and Moabites? Did not Sennacherib come and put all nations into confusion? To be sure, Rabbi Gamaliel countered, But Scripture says, Afterwards I will return the captivity of Ammon. (Jeremiah 49.6) And now they are back again. Yes, replied Rabbi Yehoshuah, Scripture also tell us, And I will turn again the captivity of my people Yisrael (Amos 9.14) and we are still in exile. The logic of the reply was irrefutable and Yehudah was thus permi tted to marry the Jewish woman he had inquired about. If the mere promise of Ammonite captivit y meant that the contemporary inhabitants were themselves Ammonites then this must similarly mean that the Children of Israel had been permanently restored (when obviously this was not th e case), as the verse reads: I will restore My people Israel. They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit th em Nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them. To the South, the earliest legislation regarding the Edomites and Egyptians read s: Amasa s father is Ithra the Israelite, the rabbis fixation this verbal inconsisten cy and derive there from the legal coup of Bavli Yebamot 77a. Though Raba lived in the fourth century, I am assuming tha t he is transmitting an ancient tradition which reflects controversies and issues of a previous era. (Braude, 19 40) pp 5264 Sifra, Emor, Perek, 2.6 on 21.14, and 95a on Lev. 21.13 Page 27 of 62

You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother, you shall not abhor an E gyptian because you were a stranger in his land. The children of the third generation th at are born unto them may enter into the assembly of the LORD. 65 The conversation between Jesus the chief priest next in seniority to Ananus [the s on of Ananus] and Simon the Edomite chieftain has significant relevance to this subjec t of intermarriage and proselyte rights in the emerging Rabbinic Judaism. At the time the Zealots had begun rebellion in Jerusalem but were an obvious minority. It was then that they requested the martial aid of the Edomites, who did not hesitate in response. Had they been reg arded as any sort of second class citizens; remembering their conversion under the rule of John Hy racanus (135104 BCE), then their own zeal in attending to these militants would almost certainly be unexpected. Jesus ben Ananus spoke of them as kinsmen and offered the opportunit y of entering the city as arbitrators, thus indicating the previously assumed two generations of Edomite wait was no longer perceived as compulsory.66 We are not here dealing with a later exegetical invention (as in the case of Rut h the Moabitess as the ancestor of King David67). Ephraim Maksha`ah (flourishing aroun d 140-165 CE), notes that Obadiyah, the prophet and master of Ahab s household was himself a n Edomite proselyte.68 As we observed in the case of Yehudah the Ammonite, we similarly se e Rabbi Gamaliel the Second ask Will an Egyptian proselyte be dealt with similarly [to Ye hudah the Ammonite]? He was promptly informed at the end of forty years I will gather the Eg yptians from the people where they were scattered. 69 This apparently prevailed as a few y ears later Minyamin, an Egyptian proselyte told his master Rabbi Akiva, of a complicated ma rriage 65 Deuteronomy 23.8-9 66 (Braude, 1940) pp59 67 See footnote 71 68 This was repeated on the authority of Rabbi Meir Sanhedrin 39b, refer to 1 Ki ngs 18.3 69 Ezekiel 29.13 following Talmud Yadaim (2.17-8) 683-4. Page 28 of 62

scheme he had devised, so that his grandson in keeping with Deuteronomy 23.8-9 ould be able to marry a Jewish woman, if he himself married an Egyptian proselyte. Never theless, Rabbi Akiva said that this was entirely unnecessary: Minyamin, my son, you err grievously. Sebbacheriib, the king of Assyria, long ag o had brought about the diffusion of all people. Neither the Ammonites, nor the Moabit es, neither the Egyptians, nor the Edomites are any longer to be found in their orig inal habitations.70

With this in mind, it is entirely unreasonable to imagine that the Essenes had a denigrated status to the proselyte. S. Zeitlin maintains that ger and proselytos do not predate th e first century CE in meaning of one who becomes a naturalized Jew.71 Bearing in mind that most of the scrolls are not thought to have been written in the first century CE, it is unreasonable to translate ger here as anything but foreigner. It is thus more likely that the Essenes, like the Karaites after them, had no differentiation between those born and raised as Jews and those who became Jew s . This would explain why there is no qualifier after v ger in the aforementioned Pesher o n 2 Samuel; ger is being used literally, to indicate foreigners like the Selucides, who Line 5 makes it clear it is responding to. The Essene Genos The notion of the Essenes as a genos is peculiar, yet we find it s usage with Plin y, who wrote that the Essenes living near the Dead Sea had not one woman, had renounced all pl easure ... and no one was born in their race . It would seem that he was wrong. The cemeteries of Qumran 70 Rabbi Yehudah ben Il`ai (flourished around 140-165 CE) transmits the incident concerning the plight of his Egyptian colleague and the nature of Rabbi Akiva s advice in Talmud Kiddushin and Sotah 9a; (Braude, 1940) pp 60-1 71 Proselytes and Proselytism H.A. Wolfson Jubilee Volume II [1965], pp 871-881 Page 29 of 62

show that there were numerous woman and children in that location. An over-inves tment in the accuracy of Pliny s account has led some otherwise excellent scholars, such as Nor man Golb, to conclude that the site was unrelated to the Essenes. While this conclusion is no t accepted here, many of Golb s insightful positions will help elucidate common misconceptions abou t the Essenes, both in the first century CE and beyond. But Josephus acknowledges that there are Essenes who do not marry and bear child ren, as well as those who do. In his Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian society: a sociological approach, Anthony J. Saldarini rightly comments that Josephus complet e failure to explain how the marrying Essenes live, aside from their bathing habits, is a puzzle. The mystery is exacerbated by what seems his defensive tone: although these Essenes do marry, they still regard women in the properly disparaging way. 72 It would seem that the char acterization of the Essenes as celibate, across the board, is not historical. The Ossaean Race

We also see the description of genos attributed to the sect known as the Ossaean s. Epiphanius speaks of two sisters of the Elcasaean sisters named Marthus and Marthana who he says were regarded as goddesses, yet were living individuals in his day who were of the rac e of Elxai ( Haer., xix. 1, and li. 1). Epiphanius writes that the founder of the Elcasaeans, an individual who he believes they were named for (perhaps as was wrongly imagined of the Evio nim), joined the Ossaeans (Pan. 19.1.4). He explains that Elxai was a Jew living in the time of Emperor Trajan, after the advent of the Savior (19.1.4), saying he was of Jewish origin an d his ideas 72 Steve Mason, Honora Chapman, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary. Ju dean war, Volume 1 (129) Page 30 of 62

where Jewish. Still, Epiphanius says that he did not live according to the Law (19. 1.5),73 which seems to corroborate with claims that the Essenes did not regard the Bibli cal Chumash to be their Torah, but instead took the Serekh ha Yahad (Rule of the Community) as th eir Torah. This could argue for the theory that the cache was a depository for multiple gro ups, or that the Chumash and the Tanakh in general were books of a secondary nature to t he sect. These factors seem to indicate that we are dealing with either the same sect when we r ead of the Essenes and Ossaeans, or perhaps an offshoot that readopted the name following i ts decline. Still, we have no real reason to believe that the Essenes did decline, or that t hey were in any way decimated more so than other Jewish groups during the revolts of the late 60s to 70 CE. A more plausible explanation would seem to be that they continued to change, and in man y ways continued to be separatists, just as the Essenes were. The Dissemination of Essenic Varieties in the Diaspora L. E. Toombsa writes, in Barcosiba and Qumrn, that Assuming that the Qumrn Communit y were Essenes, Essenism may still be regarded, even after Qumrn, as a widespread p henomenon with many varied modes of expression, of which the Community at Qumrn was but one . Its library then lets us look at an Essenism which did not come into existence when the buildings at Qumrn were erected, nor perish with their destruction. 74 Epiphanius seems to disti nguish between Samaritan Essenoi and Jewish Ossaioi, and it may be that by his own time the surviving Essenes had branched off into a few subsects; at all events, various w riters have shown 73 Gerard Luttikhuizen. The Revalation of Elchasai: Investigations into the Evid ence for a Mesopotamian Jewish Apocalypse of the 2nd Century and Its Reception by Judeo-Christian Propagandists (Tubingen: Mohr, 1985) 116 74 L. E. Toombsa, Barcosiba and Qumrn. New Testament Studies (1957), 4: 65-71 Cambr idge University Press Published online by Cambridge University Press 05 Feb 2009, 1 Page 31 of 62

that there must be a close connection between the Ossaioi 75 To this

and the earlier Essenes.

end, we might recall the aforementioned point regarding the variant copies of th e Serekh ha Yachad; something which we should not expect of a community that was not deeply rooted. Norman Golb poignantly discusses the popular image of the Essenes as having sudd enly disbanded around the Jewish revolt and the destruction of Qumran. His comment is worth reproducing in full, in spite of its length: For those who are of the belief that the Essenes disappeared from history when Q umran fell, perhaps only the theory of literary influence will account for the existen ce of Qumran-like doctrines among the Karaites of the eighth and ninth centuries. But were these Essenic sectarians then massacred, or did they suddenly assimilate? Indeed , that such a view can be proposed in the face of the abundant evidence to the contrary is baffling in the extreme. To do this we should simply have to discard as worthles s or irrelevant all the statements in the early heresiographic literature pointing to the existence of Essenic and other sectarian Jewish communities after the destruction of the S econd Jewish Commonwealth. It is true that in their descriptions of the Essenes, the heresiographers lean heavily upon Josephus and Philo. But their additional intim ations of the existence of the sect after the time of Philo and Josephus, and after the de struction of the Second Commonwealth, are more than just hearsay. The Essenes are mentioned a s still thriving in a community near the Dead Sea by Dio Chrysostom (end of the fi rst century) and are briefly referred to by Hegesippus. We have quite a full account of them in the Philosophumena of Hippolytus.76 The connection with the Karaites seems less than clear cut. Karaites, if anythin g, seem more likely to have been inspired by the Sadducees. While the discussion is far beyon d the scope of 75 Norman Golb 45-46 The Qumran Covenanters and the Later Jewish Sects. The Jour nal of Religion, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 38-50 76 Norman Golb 45-46 The Qumran Covenanters and the Later Jewish Sects. The Jour nal of Religion, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jan., 1961), pp. 38-50

Page 32 of 62

the discussion at hand, the influence of `I.uniyah Jewish revolution as a large alternative branch of Middle Eastern Judaism in Late Antiquity seems to also have played a role in influencing, Baptizing groups. The `I.uniyah overlap with each of these groups theologically, but have some sharp contrasts with the views of Karaitism.77 We will return to a study of the `I.uniyah in Book 2, when we investigate the sectarian milieu in which is here being proposed Mu.a mmad was participating within, as an Arabian Jewish reformer, seeking to return the fragm ented communities and sects to One Ummah. 77 After having demonstrated the persistence of the Essenes in the Diaspora, the logical conclusion is to connect the dots all the way to the `Issuniyyah, which will be addressed separately. Page 33 of 62

Part 3:

All the flocks of Qedar

dic Prophecyu) in Talm. . ......On self-converted Jews ( The Talmud refers to gerim g rurim as effectively self-made proselytes. Just as `Avo dah Zarah speaks of two types of Gerei Toshav - one that declares itself before three Daya nim of a Beyt Din (`Avodah Zarah 64b) and one that simply proclaims their adherence to the Noachid laws publicly (65a) - the same tractate (23a-24b), says the same regarding two types of gerut. One type of gerut is undertaken before a Beyt Din, composed of three Dayanim of any Jews knowledgeable in matters of gerut. The other is performed by the individual . In reference to Isaiah 60.7, that all the flocks of Qedar shall be gathered together unto you , the Talmud explains that this means the whole world will become Jews by the Messianic Era. Specifically, there is a significance laid here to the gerut of the Children of Ishmael, impli cit in the reference . . . . to Qedar: all these will become self-made proselytes [Jews] in the time to come ).. . . . . . ... Rabbi Eliezer replied: All these will become self-made proselytes in the time to come. Rabbi Yosef said: What is the scriptural authority for this? For then will I tur n to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of God (Zeph. 3.9) . Abaye asked: perhaps this merely means that they will [simply] turn away from idolatry ? And Rabbi Yosef answered him: The verse continues, and to serve Him with one consent. (`Avodah Zarah 24a) Page 34 of 62

The only time that gerim g rurim will not be accepted is when Mashiach comes and t he war against Gog and Magog are underway. At this time the righteous of the nations wi ll either be Gerei Toshav or they will Gerim who made Gerut before a Beyt Din or Gerim who did not, as Gerim g rurim. This practice is accepted by the Talmud as making one entirely J ewish, provided the parameters for general gerut are met and pledged to. Ernst Bammel a grees with the obviousness of what the text says on this matter. In his Judaica: Kleine Schrift en he notes that a formal acceptance of a proselyte by the Jewish community is, of course, not nece ssary (135); noting Yevamot 79a (537, note 1) Rabbi Yose says those rejected in that day will actually be idol worshipers, as we are otherwise told that all of the nations will have embraced Yahadut. We know that this reference to idol worshipers posing as gerim g rurim does not disqu alify otherthanidol-worshipers, as in the same tractate we read that the entire world will beco me Jews, as expressed in the aforementioned `Avodah Zarah 24a. Those who would wish to suddenly become gerim g rurim in the Messianic Age, however, will be suspect due to the war underway. Avodah Zarah 2a-3b deals with the final judgment and the wars between Mashiach and Gog and Magog. This is the only place where there is negative connotation to gerim g rurim, as in this time of war, there are idol worshippers who will present themselves as gerim g rurim who will actually not be willing to l ive as Jews; they will actually be idol worshippers who are merely feigning Yahadut. They are disparaged here because of their unwillingness to live as Jews and stand up for the Covenan t they claim to believe in. `Avodah Zarah 3a suggests that the nations will be judged for not having followe d rules applicable to them and rejection of the Torah. We must thus recall that the nati ons were all offered the Torah first and the Children of Israel were the only nation which ac cepted it. Yet the Page 35 of 62

Talmud teaches that they will be judged because of claiming to have accepted the Covenant, while still being idol-worshippers. Thus we read in `Avodah Zarah 3a: Whence do we know that even an idolater who studies the Torah is equal to a High Priest? From the following verse: Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My ord inances which, if a man do, he shall live by them. (Lev. 18.5) It does not say If a Pries t, Levite, or Israelite do, he shall live by them, but a man ; here, then, you can learn that e ven a heathen who studies the Torah is equal to a High Priest! What is meant, then, is that they are rewarded not as greatly as one who does a thing which he is bidden to d o, but as one who does a thing unbidden. For, Rabbi Hanina said: He who is commanded and d oes, stands higher then he who is not commanded and does. Returning to `Avodah Zarah 3a, we can now understand the theological context of the prophecy: The nations will then plead. Offer us the Torah anew and we shall obey it. But the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to them, You foolish ones among peoples, he who took trouble [to prepare] on the eve of the Sabbath can eat on the Sabbath, but he wh o has not troubled on the eve of the Sabbath, what shall he eat on the Sabbath? They will then be offered the easiest of mitzvot to prove their sincerity and af ford them permission to celebrate the Chagim, implicitly as Jews. God will say, I have an e asy command which is called Sukkah; go and carry it out . The Talmud teaches that this will be said for the purposes of testing their ability to do even the easiest of mitzvot they profess a willingness to Page 36 of 62

accept. Why should they be offered this observance in the Messianic Era, even af ter not having prepared their meal before Shabbat so to speak? The Talmud answers that this is bec ause the Holy One, blessed be He, does not deal imperiously with His creatures when they t urn to Hu even after the expired time. We thus see that by this God offers them one last chance at gerut, even though i t is known aforehand that they will not live up to it. They will immediately go to th eir roofs to build their Sukkot, but God will make it especially hot out that year and they will th us stomp down their Sukkot and abandon the mizvah along with Yahadut in general. Folio 3b reca lls that Raba says in Sukkot 26a that if it is too difficult, you do not need to dwell within the sukkah. However here we read that they did not merely go back into their homes until an easier t ime, they abandoned the mitzvah and destroyed their Sukkot. Because God knew they were not sincere and this is why they did not make gerut before hand - Hu takes this occasion to laugh at them; Rabbi Yitzhaq saying that this is the only day that there is [mocking] laughter f or the Holy One, blessed be He. When Gog and Magog come for them - as Jews - these would-be Jews will quickly renounce on their own. God will weed them out simply by way of them being subjec ted to the persecutions of Gog and Magog. That is, the Jewish community will have no author ity with which to prevent them from being Jews, according to the Talmud. God will create the circumstances which will cause them to renounce Judaism on their own. The Talmud effectively says that God will have the last laugh here. The context is not even remotely anti -proselyte, but against idol worshippers, perhaps here indicating Christians, posing as Jews. We could, today, easily draw a parallel to the movement of so-called Messianic Judaism . The more im portant lesson that we take away from this is that pertaining to the Halakhic permissibi lity of gerim Page 37 of 62

g rurim, and even the rabbinic expectation that the whole world, and the flocks of Qedar, the Children of Ishmael, were expected to become gerim g rurim before the Messianic Er a. Mu.ammad s Jewish Wives, Khadijah and Waraqah In addition to the two wives that .adith literature tells us were Jewish, Safiyy ah bint Huyayy ibn Akhtab, Rayhana bint Zayd, Mu.ammad s first wife - who bore his children and to wh om he was married to monogamously until she died - Khadijah was said to be from a mercanti le family, with a close relative, Waraqah, who was fluent in Hebrew, and had a copy of a si ngle Gospel (Injil) account that was composed in the Hebrew language. The Early Christian Ch urch Fathers identify this Hebrew Gospel account with a Jewish sect who followed Jesus but no t Paul. Eusebius quoted Papias as saying: Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered [in Greek]. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the s ayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the lord nor accompanied him... Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he t ook especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictit ious into the statements. Matthew put together the oracles in the Hebrew language (..a.d. d.a...t.), and each one interpreted them as best he could. The group adhering to this Hebrew version of Matthew s gospel account believed in the Messianic character of Jesus, but denied his divinity and supernatural origin, t he trinity or abrogation of the Torah. Page 38 of 62

They use the Gospel according to Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law. As to the prophetical writings , they endeavor to expound them in a somewhat singular manner: they practice circumcisi on, persevere in the observance of those customs which are enjoined by the law, and are so Judaic in their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if it were the house of God. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.26.2) Hippolytus of Rome writes they in preference adhere to Jewish customs (Hippolytus of Rome, Refutation of All Heresies 7 Prol.) They observed all the Jewish rituals, such a s circumcision and the seventh-day Shabbat, like every other Jew. They maintained that non-Jews who would come into their fold must undergo full Jewish conversion, as argued by James against Paul in the Christian Testament debates (in James and Romans). They live, however, in all res pects according to the Law of Moses, alleging that they are thus justified (Ibid. 10.18 ), adding, Epiphanius of Salamis wrote, that he came and gave instructions to abolish sacrif ices as the gospel which they recognize contains the provision that I came to abolish sacrifi ces, and unless you cease sacrificing, my anger will not cease from you. (Epiphanius of Salamis, P anarion 30.16.4-5) Jerome calls this group Jews who saw no contradictions in following a h uman Jesus as a teacher. He worried that if they were allowed to interact with Christians th ey will not become Christians, but they will make us Jews. (Epistle to Augustine 112.13) Euse bius writes: For they considered [Jesus] a plain and common man, who was justified only becau se of his superior virtue, and who was the fruit of the intercourse of a man with Mary . In their Page 39 of 62

opinion the observance of the ceremonial law was altogether necessary, on the gr ound that they could not be saved by faith in Christ alone and by a corresponding lif e... These men, moreover, thought that it was necessary to reject all the epistles of the a postle [Paul], whom they called an apostate from the Law; and they used only the so-cal led Gospel according to the Hebrews and made small account of the rest. The Sabbath and the rest of the discipline of the Jews they observed just like them... (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Chp. 27) As stated previously, we must remember that during Mu.ammad s life, there was not yet an Arabic Bible. This makes the claim that Khadijah s cousin Waraqah had a singular, Hebrew version of the Gospel all the more historically convincing, and all the more evi dencing her family s Jewish sectarian nature. We must further recall that the lingua franca of the educated in Arabia was at that time Aramaic. Mu.ammad s Jewish wife Safiyyah was said in .adith literature to have complained about Anti-Jewish harassment from locals who said: O Jewess, daughter of Jewish p arents! To which Mu.ammad replied to her: Could you not have said to them in reply: my fathe r is Aaron, my uncle is Moses and my husband is Mu.ammad? As such, we see that there can be n o doubt that in this early layer, or schicht of Islamic narrations, Mu.ammad confirms yet another traditional Jewish position. To add to this, let us examine a Shi`i narration in the aftermath of the Battle of Karbala. Husayn, the second son of `Ali and Mu.ammad s daughter Fatimah was decapitated and the Umayyad Caliph Yazid ibn Mu`awiyyah ibn Abi Sufyan had his head paraded around o n a spear; to show those under his rule what happens to those who dare challenge his dynast ic authority. Page 40 of 62

A Jewish scholar was in the assembly of Yazid. He admired Imam Zayn al-`Abidin, peace be on him, so he asked Yazid: Who is that lad? Ali ibn al-Husayn, replied Yazid. Who is al-Husayn? asked the Jewish scholar. Son of `Ali ibn Abi .alib, answered Yazid. Who is his mother? asked the Jewish scholar. Mu.ammad s daughter, replied Yazid. Glory belongs to Allah, explained the Jewish scholar, this is the son of the daught er of your Prophet, (why did) you kill him? You opposed him by doing evil to his blood relations. By Allah, if our Prophet, Musa (Moses) ibn `Imran, had left a grandson among us, we would have worshiped him instead of Allah. Your Prophet left you yesterday; nevertheless you revolted against his grandson and killed him. How bad a communi ty you are! The tyrannical one, Yazid, became angry and ordered the Jewish scholar to be hit on the mouth, still the Jewish scholar said: Kill me if you want to. I have found in the Torah that whoever kills the progeny of a prophet will be cursed as long as he remains. When he dies, Allah will cause him to enter the fire of Hell.78 The layer of narration depicts an obvious anti-Jewish polemic, in suggesting tha t a Jewish scholar would say that the Children of Israel would have worshiped a grandson of Moses instead 78 Al-Hada iq al-Wardiya, vol. 1, p. 131. Al-Futuh, vol. 5, p. 246 Page 41 of 62

of God. Leaving aside other references, in 1 Chronicles 26.24, we read that Shub ael was a descendant of Gershom ben Moshe. In other words, any Jewish scholar - as this na rration purports the man to be - would know that Moses did in fact leave grandchildren a nd they were not worshiped. This is hardly the point at hand. What is the point is that the S hi`i narrators connect the contemporary Jewish scholar with the Bani Isra il of antiquity, and de monstrate an early strata of narration where a Jewish scholar comes to the defense of the fam ily of Mu.ammad. The Ahl al-Bayt in Shi`ah Traditions and Jewish Esoterism The previous example is not the only correlation between the Ahl al-Bayt and Jud aism. Israel Freidlander has documented no less than fifteen points of overlap between Shi`ah and the preceding `I.uniyah Jews. As well, in Shi`ah sources, there are some surprising examples of Jewish ritualism and linguistic employment that still embarrasses the sect. The collection of A.adith entitled "Bihar al-Anwar" explains that Imam `Ali and other A'immah performed miracles through the "Supreme Name" of Allah which is in Hebre w. Of the expected "Mahdi" it is said: Reported to us Ahmad ibn Mu.ammad ibn Said al Uqdah who said: Narrated to us Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Taymali who said: narrated to us al-Hasan and Mu.ammad the sons of Ali ibnu Yusuf, from Sa dan ibnu Muslim, from rajal, from al-Mufadhal ibn Umar who said: Abu Abdullah reported: Allah in Hebrew.79 79 An-Nu'mani, Kitab al-Ghayba p. 326 Page 42 of 62 When the Imam Mahdi calls out, he will supplicate to

After receiving permission [to manifest himself], the [hidden] Imam will pronoun ce the Hebrew Name of Allah; then his Companions, 313 in all, will gather around him in Mecca, in the same way that small clouds come together in the autumn.80 Of this Hebrew Name we are told a description quite akin to that of the Tetragra mmaton: ineffable and composed of four parts: [In the beginning] Allah created a Name with non-sonorous letters, with an unpronounced vowel, an entity without a body; [a Name] indescribable, of a color less color, unlimited, veiled, though not covered with a veil, from all the senses an d from all imagination. Allah made a perfect word out of it; a word composed of four parts, none of which existed before the others; from these four parts, He showed three Names, i n order to respond to a need felt by the creatures, keeping one of them veiled: the Hidd en, Secret Name. Of the [three] Names shown, the exoteric name is Allah, the Exalted, the M ost High. Then He gave each of these three Names four Pillars, a total of twelve Pil lars in all, and created thirty Names for each Pillar... These Names added to the Most Beauti ful Names make a total of 360 Names, all coming from the [first] three Names that ar e the Pillars and the Veils of the Single Secret Name, hidden by these three Names.81 The first "element of power" of the Imam is the Supreme Name of Allah (Al-ism al -a`zam/al-ism al-akbar). According to words ascribed via several chains of transmission to Juw ayria ibn 80 An-Nu'mani, Kitab al-Ghayba, ch.20 p.445 81 Al-Kulayni, Usul, "Kitab al-Hujja," Bab huduth al-asma, vol. 1 p.151-52, num 1; Ibn Babuye, Kitab al-Tawhid, ch.29, p. 190-91, num 3 Page 43 of 62

Mushir, a companion of `Ali, the supreme Name (in its full expansion) appears to be a mystical phrase in Syriac (Aramaic) or in Hebrew. In one narration, `Ali and his companions are in Babylonia (ard Babil); the sun is about to set and it is time for evening prayer; `Ali then says that the land of Babylo nia is damned because it was the first region where idols were worshiped, and that it is forbi dden for the Prophet and their Heirs to perform prayer in this land. The companions are worri ed because the sun is setting and they are going to miss the best time for evening prayer; but `Ali calmly continues his travel until the group leaves the region; then, when the sun has c ompletely disappeared over the horizon, he asks that his companions prepare for evening pr ayer. Juwayria reports that the Imam, withdrawing from the group, began to whisper a phrase in Syriac or Hebrew (suryani aw `ibrani); then the sun began to reappear from behind the moun tains, and the people could say their prayer. When Juwayria asked about is, `Ali replied that h e had spoken the Supreme Name, and that through the power of this Name he was able to reverse the time. If even some of the claims regarding the Supreme Name are true, then the power o f the Supreme Name seems terrifying. According to many accounts, only Prophets and the Ahl alBayt are able to stand such power. This is what we might conclude from a .adith reported by AsSaffar: Umar ibn Hanzala, a close disciple of Al-Baqir, asked his master to teac h him the Supreme Name. "Can you stand it?" asked the fifth Imam, to which the disciple re plied affirmatively. They then went to the Imam's home, where his hand was placed on t he earth as he began to say the Name; the house was plunged into the greatest darkness, and Uma r's entire body began to tremble. He nevertheless heard the first part of the phrase and the Ima m ordered him to Page 44 of 62

not divulge it; al-Baqir raised his hand off the ground and things became normal again.82 However, a hasty statement by Ja`far according to which the Companion of Mu.amma d, Salman al-Farsi had learned the Supreme Name83 suggests that the terrifying Name was ta ught to initiates who had been especially tested. Accordingly, the Imam then said that i f Abu Dharr [AlGhifari] had received Salman's `Ilm he would fall into kufr.84 According to the .adith, Salman and Abu Dharr were both close disciples of Imam `Ali . The formed is in a sense the prototype of an esoteric spirituality, and the latt er of an ascetic exoteric spirituality. These are some of the many examples. Sunni examples are o bviously less direct; instead pointing to examples, such as Mu.ammad kissing the Torah and set ting it on a cushion, while speaking directly to it (attesting his belief in it). A group of Jewish people invited the messenger of Allah to a house. When he came , they asked him: O Abu Qasim, one of our men committed adultery with a woman, what is your judgment against him? So they placed a pillow and asked the messenger of Al lah to set on it. Then the messenger of Allah proceeded to say: bring me the Torah. Whe n they brought it, he removed the pillow from underneath him and placed the Torah on it and said: I believe in you and in the one who revealed you, then said: bring me one of you who have the most knowledge. So they brought him a young man who told him the st ory of the stoning.85 82 On Jwayris ibn Mushir al-`Abdi al-Kufi, see at-Tusi, Rijal, p.37 num 4; Al-Ar dabili, Jami' ar-Ruwat, vol. 1 p.16970; Basa'ir, section 5, ch. 2, pp 217-19; see also Ibn Babuye, Am`Ali , "majlis" 71, p.467-68, num. 10 (`Ali states that the Supreme Name is in Syriac). Basa'ir section 4, ch 12, nadir min al-bab, p.210, num 183 al-Kashshi, rijal, p.7; al-Mufid, al-Ikhtisas, p.11 84 al-Mufid, al-Ikhtisas, p.12; al-Majlisi, Bihar, vol. 6 p783 85 Book 38.4434 . . . . . . ....... . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .. . ...: .. . .. . . . . . .... . .. . .. . . . ...... ...: ..... . .. . . . . . . .. . ....: ... . . . . . ... . ... . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . ......: . . .... . . . .. .. Page 45 of 62

How is this .adith viewed in the Ummah? Naturally it is rejected, as it is dissi milar and theological embarrassment to the mainstream dogma. The issue is pinpointed with a transmitter Hisham ibn Sa ad Al-Madani. Hafith Ibn Hajr says about him in his Taqrib, that he was "Honest" though had "mistakes, and delved into Shi'ism." Thus, once again, we fi nd that even those who we were not Shi`ah themselves found Jewish Mu.ammad traditions from am ongst the school of the Ahl al-Bayt. While many of the most anti-Jewish polemicists in Isl amicate scholarship seem to detest him, Abu Zura ah said, "His status is honesty" and Al-` Ijli said, "His hadith are permitted, and are Hasan Al-Hadith. 86 Shi`ah sources, in addition to foretelling that the Mahdi will pray with Allah's Hebrew "Supreme Name" also tell that 27 out of his 313 companions will be Levites, AND that he will rule "according to the rulings of David and Solomon" AND even a whole series of reports that seem to foretell the rediscovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls(!!!) or something simil ar. Here is one reference to it (there are many). According to Al-Kafi, the Mahdi learns from a book called alJafr, which contains the knowledge from the Israelites: The Imam remained silent for a while and then said, With us there is al-Jafr. Wha t do they know what al-Jafr is? I then asked, What is al-Jafr (the parchment or a container)? The Imam said, It is a container made of skin that contains the knowle dge . . ... . . . . .. . ..... . . ........ . . . . . ....... . . . ...... . . . . . ....

 . ... . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . ....... . 86 Entry 7294 of Tahrir Taqrib published by Mu assasat al-Risalah 1997 Page 46 of 62

of the prophets and the executors of their wills and the knowledge of the schola rs in the past from the Israelites. 87 To explore the full range of such texts would encompass a volume all of its own. A separate study will example even more of such citations, as well as the corroboration of the traditions on the Jafr with claims of the early Karaitism of Anan ben David. Naziritism and the Qur an? The early Christian sources, that we examined previously, make it clear enough t hat there were Essene-related sects in the second century who all seemed to have Nazirite-based vegetarianism in common. If this was the direction which post-Judean Essenism was going by the second century, then we should expect to see some evidence of it in the Qur an, if not al so a.adith literature. To discuss the notion of Naziritism in the Qur an we must first assume that the re ader has some cursory knowledge of the Nadr Nazir, the Torah s oath of Naziritism. Two comp lete tractates of the Talmud are dedicated to Nazirut. These collections indicate tha t by the Second Temple Era there were several different manifestations of the practice, which we re deeper than the surface reading of Bamidbar (Numbers) 6.1-21. The Talmudic tractates explain that some Nazirites were life-long Nazirites, some abstained from fruits that could be mad e alcoholic as we see in the Chumash, some abstained only for as little as one lunar cycle and the n had to return to the sacrificial system. Those who broke their oath - ending it early - or those otherwise returning to being non-Nazirites, would thereby offer a sin offering ; as it was only permitt ed to eat meat sacrificed at the Temple. Nazirites could shave their hair periodically, and did so on particular 87 al-Kafi, Hadith 635, Ch. 40, h 1 Page 47 of 62

occasions. This was even so for life-long Nazirites who would typically, but not always, shave their head once a year, even while maintaining their Naziritic oath. A detailed discussion about the expressions of Naziritism in the Second Temple E ra and Talmud is beyond the scope of this study. We are here interested in a peculiar Q ur anic word and Islamic traditions relating to Mu.ammad which seem to parallel the Nazirite oath . We might expect, at first, that if the Qur an said Nazirite it would write it directly parall el to the Torah, n, yet a term that is only slightly different reoccurs a. This term does not app ear in the Qur . . as and is an important title used for Mu.ammad throughout. In examining this word, we must bear in mind that there is not today, nor has there ever been, an Arabic etymological dictionary. The Qur an was the first book penned in the Arabic language, and with the standardizin g of it, from the up to 6 dialect-variants attested to in .adith literature, we see the true b irth of the fu..a atturath Arabic language as we know it. Thus, exploring the Aramaeo-Arabic and Hebrew etymology of the Qur an, we might look at another common Qur anic term which there is no doubt derives from Hebrew u sage. We . There are thus... rather than to ... is directly related to the Arabic . . see that the Hebrew but into an Arabic . does not transfer into an Arabic . etymological occasions where the Hebrew , we can conclude a... is to . . ; a letter which does not exist in Hebrew. Therefore, just as . .. . ; spelled in this manner rather than .... is the Biblical . . nicalikelihood that the Qur Corroborating this notion of Naziritism in the Qur an, and the historical Sunnah o f Mu.ammad, we read some of the most blunt evidence from third party sources. Predating the earliest Islamic manuscripts on record, following the recovery of Edessa by Hera clius in 628 we have an unexpected account from Bishop Sebeos. The account traces to the 660s CE (the final account is in 661). Therein, Sebeos says that the Jews of the Levant set out into the desert and Page 48 of 62

came to Arabia, among the Children of Ishmael upon the exile. The Diaspora Jews so ught their help, and explained to them that they were kinsmen according to the Bible. Althou gh the Ishmaelites were ready to accept this close kinship, the Jews could not convince th e mass of the people because their cults were different. Sebeos tells us that it was at that time there was an Ishmaelite called Mahmet, a merchant... [who] presented himself to them as th ough at God s command, as a preacher, as the way of truth... he was very well-informed and ver y wellacquainted with the story of Moses. (Sebeos, Histoire, 94-6) Most peculiar, and relevant to the linguistic discussion of Naziritism in the Qu r an, is that Sebeos adds that Mahmet forbade them to eat the flesh of any dead animal [or] to drink wine. (Ibid) These are particular facets of the Nazirite oath. The methodology of High er-Criticism argues for the authenticity of this account due to its dissimilarity from either Christian or Muslim accounts of Mu.ammad. That is, its historicity is more likely, because it is dis similar from what we should expect a Christian source to say about Mu.ammad. There is further evidence in what later Islamic traditions would preserve remnan ts of. For instance, in .a.i. Muslim it is reported that Mu.ammad grew his hair so long tha t it hung over his shoulders and earlobes . (.a.i. Muslim Book 30 Number 5773) .a.i. Bukhari also supports this. (.a.i. Al-Bukhari Volume 7 Book 72 Number 788). Numerous other accounts attest to Mu.ammad periodically shaving his head completely (.a.i. Bukhari Volume 3, Book 28, Number 34, et al; other sources correlate Mu.ammad s followers sacrificing with th e shaving of their heads: e.g. Volume 3, Book 28, Number 36; 39; 41; 42; 43; 44 and numerous similar examples). These evidences then make the etymological argument, for the Qur anic d escription , even stronger..... as a . . of a Page 49 of 62

Related to this is a discussion, also beyond the scope of this particular articl e, on the etymology of the Arabic la.am , which is clearly derived from the Semiticlechem, a term which specifically means . . ... / . . ... ), but is otherwise a general Semitic term for food. That Mu.ammad could be interpreted by later autho rs, writing , is a likely forgetting of the etymology from the Hebrew . . centuries after him, as having eaten .. . Vegetarianism in the Qur an? Why does the Qur an call meat from certain animals only from the Earth: halal and tayyib ? Thus we read: halal and yet calls the food bread in Hebrew (as in Bethlehem:

Oh Humankind: Partake from all that is is in the Earth (fi al-Ardi) which is bot h permissible and good (halalan tayyiban)... (2.168) .......... ................ . ..... . .. . ................... . The Qur an can here be read as saying that what is on the Earth . (ala al-Ard, . Now that is not to imply that this phraseology tayyib. andhalal) - is both. . . . not) -........... in the Earth (

can only mean food in the soil itself. Clearly the phrase can be generally used to mean something happening in the region. However, read without punctuation, as it was originally written down, as it relates to food, it can be read as making a general reference to the food which grows in the Earth both halal and tayyib; just as we see in the original Biblical dietary inj unctions, vegetation ). We will find that this notion of... the Hebrew equivalent of tayyib ( ,)...(t obortovis called Page 50 of 62

non-animal food itself being tayyib is corroborated elsewhere, with the term for food used, and references to meat and animals absent. When the Qur an talks about the land in the context of food it says both permissib le and good. It says elsewhere the good is permissible, and then follows with a descrip tion of Kosher meat as being only permissible. When halal and tayyib are used together, we find wa (and) before meat is then listed again (5.4) We read also that: This day are those things which are good ( ...... ).....) are lawful (......... unto you. (5.5). Thus, all things good or tayyib are halal, but not all halal thi ngs are tayyib. Thus, the Qur an follows that: The food of those of the Bible is lawful unto you an d yours is lawful unto them. That is to say that all Muslims, whether Mu minin who hold to the highest standards, or those God-fearing Muslims who adhere to the minimum requirements l aid out in the Qur an must eat in accordance with the Biblical laws of Kashrut. Why say first that things which are good are made lawful and then follow with th e food of the people of the Book; all Diaspora sects in the Middle East (Jews, Nazarene s and Sabaeans)? Thus we see this is speaking only of Jewish and Quasi-Jewish sects; N a.ara, Nazarene Jewish-Christians, not Pauline Christianity which was referenced as Kri stiyan in the Middle East even before the Qur an. We can determine this logically, since Christi ans do not believe in Biblical dietary restrictions. We can also tell that Muslims and Mu min in must adhere to the Biblical laws of Kashrut, as it says your food ( ) of the......) to them ( .....) is acceptable ( ........... Bible. Clearly this would not be the case were it not deemed Kosher to the gener al Jewish community. The underlying issue, as it relates to vegetarianism in the Qur an is t hat this ayah is talking about food. It mentions two categories, sequentially, and explains the f ollowing: Page 51 of 62

1. ALL that is tayyib is halal 2. Food eaten by any Ahl al-Kitab is halal but not implicitly tayyib. Thus we recall Sebeos Histoire attesting that Mu.ammad forbade them to eat the fle sh of any dead animal [and] to drink wine. (Sebeos, Histoire, 94-6) These are precisely the terms of Nazirut, which we otherwise see ritual evidence for in the collections deemed Sa.i.ayn. One might raise the issue of Surat al-Baqarah recalling the Manna and quails in the desert. The Qur an is very specific, and few commentators pay attention to the phr asing and order of words in this (or any) passage of the Qur an. Read: And we sent the [Pillar of] Cloud [to guide] upon you And we sent upon you manna and quails Eat of the good thing of what were given to you They did not bring any harm to us, but [instead of just eating the good] they wr onged [only] themselves. What did they wrong themselves by eating in the desert where Divine intervention was necessary to save them from starvation or malnutrition? Did they find a pig farm and fry u p some bacon? What could they have wronged themselves by, but by not being content with the ta yyib manna? ................................ ............................................ ....................................... ...................................................... Page 52 of 62

The Torah, which the Qur an commands the listener to remember tells us that manna was commanded and those who asked for quails and ate thereof did so to their own detriment and grew very sick afterwards (Numbers 11.4-11.35). Thus, the Qur an expects us to know this story. The Qur an is not speaking to a Judeophobic audience centuries later, it is speaking to people who it assumes know the Torah well enough that it merely need say remember and they will know what story in the Torah is being referenced. So this ayah concludes that those who did not eat of the tayyib - but also ate th e quails were made sick thereby just as the Torah tells us - wronged themselves by eating t hose quails. These were not the original tayyib gift to them for food. Thus, the manna was ta yyib, the quails were not, and when both were sent, the Bani Isra il were told to eat only of what was tayyib. Those who ate the quails became sick. Thus, Psalm 78.24-25 says each one ate the manna, but when it refers to the quail, it says there was more than could be eaten only by those who ate them, not each one ( 105.40) If all of the Bani Isra il ate even just one quail a day for a month, this would be 9 0 Million quail per month. Clearly it was a minority who did not find the holy manna sufficient! Thus Jesus refers to our ancestors in the desert who were given manna to eat not manna and qua ils to eat (John 6.31). Thus we see that the Qur an truly is a Kitab al-Mubin to those who ha ve read the stories which it tells them to remember. To those who have not read these stories, the Qur an leads to confusion. Page 53 of 62

Islamic Origins and Muhajiriyyah The Doctrina Iacobi, is an Anti-Jewish, Greek work, written in the form of a dia logue between Jews set in Carthage in the years 634 CE.88 At one point, reference is made in t he argument therein, to the then current Arab military campaign in Palestine. These happening s today are works of disorder, the text says, as it instructs Abraham, a Christian convert fr om Judaism, to go and find out about the prophet who has appeared. 89 Crone highlights that the most peculiar finding in the Doctrina is testimony tha t Mu.ammad was preaching the advent of the Anointed one who is to come. 90 The core o f Mu.ammad s message, in the earliest testimony available to us outside the Islamic tradition, appears in the unmistakable form of Judaic Messianism. An echo of this is also fou nd in a confused reflection within the Byzantine 8th-9th century historian Theophanes (c. 7 58/760 817/818) account of Islamic Origins being the result of Jews who take Mu.ammad to be their expected Christ. 91 Taken as a whole, the first Hijrah century Jewish sources make it quite clear th at the Arab conquest was widely hailed among contemporary Jews as intervention, by God on behalf of His People, and thus as an event full of promise for the future. Indeed, contemporar y Palestinian Jews spoke appreciatively of the coming of `Umar al-Faruq (Aramaic f or The Redeemer ), and his forces with no apprehension whatsoever, nor reference to antiJewish massacres which would emerge from Muslim sources centuries later.92 An account a ttributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yo.ai, writing during the period of the Arab conquest, describe s `Umar as a 88 Crone suggests it was written in Palestine within a few years of this date. S he reasonably notes that the lack of knowledge of the outcome of the events argues for an earlier date. She cites F. Nau, La Didascalie de Jacob, in R. Graffin and F. Nau (eds) Patrologia Orientalis, Paris 1093-, vol. viii, pp 715f. 89 Crone cites Doctrina 86f 90 Crone and Cook 4 91 Endnotes cite the Chronographia, A.M. 6122; Crone and Cook 153 92 Examples of this are summarized in T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam Londo n, 1913, and S. D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs, Their Contacts Through the Ages New York: Schocken Books, 1964 Page 54 of 62

lover of Israel who repaired their breaches, going on to insist that The Holy One is only bringing the Kingdom of Ishmael in order to save you from this wickedness [of Ch ristian oppression]. 93 This Jewish document widely circulated during the first century of Arab rule, before the Sirah narrative crafted by Ibn Is.aq, described the emergence of the Islamic forces as an act of God s mercy. 94 In the account, the Angelic Prince of the Face, Metatron explains that this Kingdom of Ishmael was a different phenomenon than the Christian Empire, termed the Children of Edom in rabbinic parlance. Metatron explains, the Holy One, blessed be He raises up over them a Prophet according to His will and will conquer the land for them and they will come to restore it in greatness. 95 Corroborating these Jewish origins are trends in early imami proto-Shi`ism. In M otzki s compilation of essays, Maher Jarrar notes, in his article Sirat Ahl Al-Kisa, a rep ort concerning the fifth Shi`ite Imam Mu.ammad al-Baqir who was heard reciting Elijah s prayer in Hebrew. 96 Jarrar explains even that some Persian scholars claimed that the [Shi`ah ] Persians were descendants of Isaac 97 indicating, as many anti-Shi`ah Muslim sources have a lways maintained, that the origins of the sect were historically Jewish.98 Shi`i examp les of such Jewish content are so replete within the traditions, that a work such as this could not even glance at them adequately. 93 Baron 93 94 Goitein 63 95 Cited in Crone 5 96 Citing .affar al-Qummi, Ba.a ir ad-Darjat, 335-54l Kulini, al-Kafi, I, 227-8; M otzki 119 97 Ibid 98 Citing W.M. Watt, Is.ak, in EI, 4, 109-10 Page 55 of 62

Conclusion Crone and Cook note that the warmth of the Jewish reaction to the Arab invasion a ttested by the Doctrina and exemplified by the Secrets is far less [evident] in later Jewish at titudes. Furthermore, they note that it is entirely absent from any variation of Christian sectarianism.99 This is hardly surprising, as the mission of the Arabs was nothing less than to recapture the land from the Christians, who had subjected Palestinian Jewry to some of the most abu sive humiliations up to that time. The Doctrina asserts that the group intermarried, apparently freely, with Palest inian Jewry, referencing the Jews who mix with the Saracenes 100 just as .araite sources would tell of centuries of marriage between the `I.uniyyah and Rabbanites in general. Indee d, the convert from Judaism to Christianity who wrote the Doctrina asserts that the Jews and Sar acenes still not using the term Muslim as a title of a separate religion, but referring to the peoples ethnonationally worked in tandem against Christianity.101 To Crone and Cook, the invading force was Judaic, albeit heterodox: There is nothing here to bear out the Islamic picture of a movement which had al ready broken with the Jews before the conquest, and regarded Judaism and Christianity with the same combination of tolerance and reserve.102 Crone notes the indistinguishableness of Jews from the numerous other nameless A rab tribes in the Constitution of Medina; all described therein as one Ummah.103 She points out further 99 Crone 6 100 Ibid 101 He insists, as well, that he will not deny Christ, the son of God, Jews and Saracens catch him and cut him to pieces for it! Ibid 102 Ibid Page 56 of 62

even if the

There is no good reason even to imagine that the bearers of this primitive identity called themselves Muslims . 104 Indeed, the Qur an is interested in this term muslimun as a de scription , a clearly......(numu minorn,umuttaq an activity, no different than the terms doo f those who . . , e.g. . . Jewish root and concept, as evidenced in Maimonides Thirteen Principles: , another Jewish concept ......(nufirakin the positive instances, and negatively , ) ........ numunafiq those who conceal and Hebrew root),or the more ambiguous .... . mikofer qanif, 105 ). The perhaps unfortunate term Hagarism which Crone and Cook arrive at as the earliest title of the Mu.ammadiyyah106 is due to the transliteration of Muhajiru n in the Greek and Syriac sources employing Magaritai and Mahgraye.107 This derives from an unconvi ncing rather than thejjar;aH) to an Arabic root in the name .......(nujiraMuhascriptio n of We108)......(Hegirahetymology of this name being a transliteration of the verbal Hebrew should, however, grammatically expect a name like Hajjarun, or the Hajjariyyah, for Hagarism, not Muhajirun. In Hebrew, which both Hijrah and Hajjar derive, the name is composed of the defi nite article Ha, and the term for a stranger, literally meaning a convert, in its oldest sense: ger. n ujiraThus, rThus, Muh109) is appropriately the designation for Abraham s consort......(Ha ga those who do.......(

103 Crone 7 104 Ibid 8 105 An ambiguous word in pre-Classical, Qur anic Arabic, traditionally rendered hyp ocrisy. 106 As Schimmel, explains: As much as the Muslims in general refuse to be called Mu.ammadans, the expression .ariqa Mu.ammadiyya, Mu.ammadan Path, was used by quite a few premodern mystical g roups who wanted to express, with this designation, their faithful adherence to the sunna of the Pro phet to the exclusion of later usages that had been adopted into the mystical way of life. 107 Stated by Crone throughout. 108 Interestingly, numerous proponents of the school reeling from Wansbrough, su ch as Christoph Luxemburg, and many others there besides (such as Author Jeffery), have written extensively on not only Hebrew and Aramaic borrowing in the Qur an, but of a likely primary reading of Qur anic Arabic as a for

m of Aramaic. With this understanding, we must look at the Hebrew meaning, not merely etymology, of the name Hagar. 109 Thus, we would be prudent to recall the .adith admonition that the vigilant mu minun should pay glad tidings to the western strangers (ghuraba`), for Islam began as something strange and will be brought back to life as Page 57 of 62

would literally, in a Qur anic-Arameo-Arabic understanding, mean those who converte d, perhaps even implicitly those who converted like Hajjar. Had Crone considered this , she might have realized that Hagarism would be a different way of saying Proselytism or Converting. The only question then remains, converting to what? While Crone and Cook accept that the Hagarenes were an expression of Jewish messianism (Crone 10), they do not make the deeper connections such as those we f ind from Chaim Rabin, that the Mu.ammadi community was a sectarian expression of Judaism, or as I conclude, that this Essenism was one and the same as the `I.uniyyah, that rose u p against the mutating Caliphate. Crone s evidence argues for this (and in some ways she says as much), but does not connect this realization and the additional conclusion that Mu.ammadi Jewish mes sianist Ummah broke with Judaism notably we see the first detectable signs of this by the Umayyad Caliphate, in Mu awiyyah s110 orientation towards Christianity.111 Crone is looking in the wrong place for the connection, at Mt. Gerizim, rather than at Qumran; at the Samarita ns rather than at the Essenes.112 Thoughthis narrationwas undoubtedly distorted and translated into the newly ).bi ghar ,....something strange ( isthiad. The .)....(miger codified Arabic language, the Jewishusage of this term strangers would have been irrelevantly concerned with the Western origins of these strangers, and thus app ropriates the ghayin-ra -ba root. This term was a likely later synonym for muhajirun, due to the embracing of the Mu.ammadi movement by the `), who were foreigners. aghurab ,.....Westerners ( 110 The first Umayyad Caliph and the son of Mu.ammad s archenemy Abu Sufyan, Mu awiy yah waged war against ` Ali ibn Abi .alib and his son, Yazid was the opponent of Husayn ibn `Ali and his outnumbered companions on the fields of Karbala . 111 Crone 11 112 Crone s earlier chapters, in conjunction with Cook, are the strongest. The lat er chapters were rejected by her mentor John Wansbrough, who otherwise accepted the premise of the first chapters . Page 58 of 62

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