Muslim Clerics - Jews
Are the Descendants of Apes, Pigs, And Other
Animals
(Updated November 2002)
Introduction
Depicting
Jews – and sometimes also Zionists – as "the descendants
of apes and pigs" is extremely widespread today
in public discourse in the Arab and Islamic worlds.
For example, in a weekly sermon in
April 2002, Al-Azhar Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi,
the highest-ranking cleric in the Sunni Muslim world,
called the Jews "the enemies of Allah, descendants
of apes and pigs."[1]
In one of his sermons, Saudi sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, imam and preacher
at the Al-Haraam mosque – the most important mosque
in Mecca – beseeched Allah to annihilate the Jews.
He also urged the Arabs to give up peace initiatives
with them because they are "the scum of the human
race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts
and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the
offspring of apes and pigs."[2]
"Read history," called Al-Sudayyis
in another sermon, "and you will understand that
the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews
of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters
of [others'] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers,
prophecy-deniers... the scum of the human race 'whom
Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs...' These
are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy,
licentiousness, evil, and corruption..."[3]
In a sermon at the Said Al-Jandoul
mosque in Al-Taif, Saudi sheikh Ba'd bin Abdallah Al-Ajameh
Al-Ghamidi explained that "the qualities of the
Jews" were present at all times and in all places:
"The current behavior of the brothers of apes and
pigs, their treachery, violation of agreements, and
defiling of holy places... is connected with the deeds
of their forefathers during the early period of Islam
– which proves the great similarity between all
the Jews living today and the Jews who lived at the
dawn of Islam."[4]
In an August 2001 sermon, Sheikh Ibrahim
Madhi, Palestinian
Authority official and imam of the Sheikh Ijlin
mosque, Gaza City's main mosque, called on the Palestinian people to forget their internal disagreements and turn
all weapons against Jews: "lances must be directed
at the Jews, the enemies of Allah, the nation accursed
in Allah's book. Allah described [them] as apes and
pigs, calf-worshipers, idol-worshippers..."[5]
Seeing Jews as "descendants of
apes and pigs" is common also in Shi'ite Islam.
Such statements appear, for instance, in a 1998 speech
by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on the occasion of
the Shi'ite 'Ashoura holiday. Nasrallah regretted that
the holiday fell "on the 50th anniversary of the
bitter and distressing historical catastrophe of the
establishment of the state of the grandsons of apes
and pigs – the Zionist Jews – on the land
of Palestine and Jerusalem."
He closed his speech with these words: "... We
reaffirm the slogan of the struggle against the Great
Satan and call, like last year: 'Death to America.
To the murderers of the prophets, the grandsons of apes
and pigs,' we say: ... 'Death to Israel...'"[6]
These statements are made not only
by clerics and preachers. Following their lead, public
opinion leaders in the Arab world also call the Jews
"the descendants of apes and pigs." The image
has pervaded the public consciousness, even in child-rearing.
In May 2002, Iqraa, the Saudi-Egyptian satellite television station, which according to its
website[7] sets for itself the goals of "highlighting
aspects of Arab Islamic culture that inspire respect,"
"highlighting the true and tolerant picture of
Islam and refuting the accusations directed against
Islam," and "planting a spirit of mutual understanding
and dialogue among members of the nation and opening
channels of cultural connection with the cultures of
other nations," interviewed a three-and-a-half-year-old
"real Muslim girl" about Jews. On "The
Muslim Woman Magazine" program, the girl was asked
whether she liked Jews; she answered, "no."
When asked why she didn't like them, she said that Jews
were "apes and pigs." "Who said this?"
the moderator asked. The girl answered, "Our God."
"Where did He say this?" "In the Koran."
At the end of the interview, the pleased moderator said:
"No [parents] could wish for Allah to give them
a more believing girl than she... May Allah bless her,
her father and mother. The next generation of children
must be true Muslims. We must educate them now while
they are children, so that they will be true Muslims."[8]
In April 2002, a weekly talk show on
the Al-Jazeera satellite television station, "The Opposite Direction"
which claims to have tens of millions of viewers across
the world, addressed the question "Is Zionism worse
than Nazism?"
The moderator, Dr. Faisal Al-Qassam, included in the
discussion the opinion of a viewer who wrote in from
the station's website: "The sons of Zion, whom
our God described as the sons of apes and pigs, will
not be deterred unless there is a real holocaust,
that will destroy all of them at once, together with
the traitors – those who collaborate with them,
the scum of this [Islamic] nation."[9]
Salim 'Azzouz, columnist for the Al-Ahrar
Egyptian opposition daily, affiliated with the religious
Liberal Party, described Israel's May 2000 withdrawal
from Lebanon:
"They fled with only the skin on their bodies,
like pigs flee. And why say 'like,' when they actually
are pigs and apes?"[10]
This paper aims to place these references
to Jews as apes and pigs in their religious and historical
context and show their roots in Muslim religious sources.
Chapter One: Islamic Religious
Sources on the Jews - The 'Descendants of
Apes and Pigs'
According to Islam, the ancient Jews
were turned into animals for transgressing the word
of God.[11] This divine punishment is mentioned in the
most important sources of Islamic religious law, in
both the Koran's recounting of the divine revelation,
and in the extremely reliable Hadiths (traditions of
the Prophet
Muhammad) compiled by the leading ninth-century
sages Muslim and Al-Bukhari,[12] which mention also
mice, lizards, and other animals in the same context.
The divine punishment of Jews is mentioned
in three Koranic verses: "... They are those whom
Allah has cast aside and on whom His wrath has fallen
and of whom He has made some as apes and swine..."
(5:60); "...You have surely known the end of those
from amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath,
in consequence of which we condemned them: Be ye like
apes, despised" (2:65);[13] and "when, instead
of amending, they became more persistent in the pursuit
of that which they were forbidden, we condemned them:
Be ye as apes, despised" (7:166).[14]
Arab literature (Adab) also discussed
Jews' transformation into animals. In his 9th century
treatise The Book of Animals, the greatest of these
authors, Al-Jahiz,[15] mentions that it is generally
thought that the cheetah, eel, white ant, mouse, and
lizard were originally Jews. He mentions the tradition
telling how a sage saw a man eating a lizard and said
to him: "Know that you have eaten one of the sheikhs
of the sons of Israel." He does not mention why
they were changed into animals, but does say that proof
of this is that "the lizard's foot resembles the
human hand."[16]
Chapter Two: Koranic Commentary:
Christian and Muslim Sinners Were Also Transformed
into Apes and Pigs
Although in the Koran, transformation
into apes and pigs is connected only with Jews, Koranic
commentary links transformation into apes and pigs with
Christians as well. Verse 5:112-115 relates that the Apostles wanted to know whether God could bring down a table laden with food from the heavens. Jesus directed this request to God, and it was answered. However,
God warned him that anyone who ate at the table and
would then commit blasphemy would be punished in a way
that no one had yet been punished. In his commentary
on this verse, the renowned 10th century commentator
Al-Tabari[17] says, that despite God's warning, some
did commit blasphemy and were punished by being turned
into apes and pigs – or, in another version, only
into pigs.[18]
Another verse linking Christians with
apes and pigs is 3:61; according to the commentary on
this verse, a deputation of Christians from Najran came
to Al-Madina to debate the Prophet about the question:
Was Jesus the son of God, as the Christians claimed,
or flesh and blood, with no mother or father, like the
first man, as the Muslims claimed? After finding that
they could not agree, they decided to meet again and
curse each other, thinking that God's curse would apply
to whichever of them was lying. When the Christian deputation
saw that the Prophet brought with him his relatives
from the 'Ali bin Abu Taleb family, they were frightened,
and acknowledged his prophetic mission and decided to
make peace with him, recognize his rule, and pay jizya
[poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule]. According
to a Hadith of the Prophet, cited mostly in Shi'ite
sources, had they instead cursed him they would have
been turned into apes and pigs.[19]
In the Islamic traditions, Muslims
too were threatened with being turned into apes and
pigs. However, for Jews and Christians this punishment
was a thing of the past, for Muslims it would be meted
out on Judgment Day. In his article "Apes, Pigs,
and the Islamic Identity," the researcher U. Rubin
indicates that the Muslims threatened with being turned
into animals were not ordinary sinners, but those whose
sin had a Jewish or Christian nature. The use of a punishment
connected to Jews and Christians was aimed at fighting
Jewish and Christian influence in Islamic society that
threatened the unique Islamic identity. Islamic identity
was supposed to be based on unity and morality; thus,
any Muslims imitating Jews or Christians constituted
a threat to it.
Muslim unity was threatened by Muslims
who had rejected orthodox ideas and were suspected of
following the Judeo-Christian example. Thus, most traditions
on Muslims who were to be punished on Judgment Day by
being transformed into animals related to the Qadaris.
The Qadaris rejected the idea of predestination (Qadar)
and their views were perceived by those who opposed
them to be of Judeo-Christian origin; thus, they were
stigmatized in the way highly typical for Jews and Christians
by being associated with transformation into apes and
pigs. Moreover, the ideas of the Qadaris were significantly
widespread in the city of Basra; thus, Basra is described
in the traditions as the place where such transformation
was particularly likely to come about.
Danger to Muslim morality came from
Muslims who adopted profane aspects of Judeo-Christian
culture. Thus, eschatological transformation into apes
and pigs was associated also with Muslims who committed
sins such as drinking wine, playing instruments in the
company of singing slave girls, and, sometimes, wearing
silk; other sins were giving false testimony, usury,
and homosexuality. Some of these sins were linked with
Jews and Christians (usury, wine, music); others were
connected with all non-Arabs (silken garments). These
deeds were thought to pose a threat to Islamic identity;
thus transgressors were threatened with this classical
Judeo-Christian punishment.[20]
The idea of transformation into animals
was also used by both of Islam's two major factions,
the Sunnis and Shi'ites, in their claims against each
other. According to Shi'ite tradition, the second Muslim
Khalifah, Omar bin Al-Khattab, who is particularly admired
by the Sunnis, wanders the earth in the form of an owl.
Another Shi'ite tradition is that the murderer of the
Prophet's grandson Hussein bin 'Ali, admired by the
Shi'ites, was punished by being turned into a four-eyed
dog. The murderer was also sentenced to desperately
seek water and not be able to get to it even when he
found it, because he had prevented Hussein's family
from reaching a water source at the Battle of Karbala.[21]
In contrast, Sunni tradition has it
that some of the Shi'ites in Al-Madina and other places
were turned into apes and pigs, and that their hearts
and faces would change their form at the time of their
death. This is in the context of the charge that the
Shi'ites greatly resemble Jews, "which should not
be wondered at," as Dr. Abu Muntasir Al-Baloushi
explains on a Sunni Web site,[22] "because the
Jews invented the Shi'a [the Shi'ite religion] and [the
Shi'a] is pervaded by [the Jews'] beliefs and principles,
from the day it was created."
Chapter Three: The Historical
Roots of the Punishment
The belief that people were transformed
by supernatural intervention – usually divine
punishment – into animals, statues, or stars was
common among the Arabs and other peoples before Islam.
In the Jewish and Christian sources
(Genesis,
19:26) Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt when
she violated the divine prohibition against looking
back at Sodom.[23] Another familiar story from the pre-Islamic
period is that of Isaf and Na'ila – two lovers
who made a pilgrimage to Mecca. When they found themselves
alone in the Ka'abah, they fornicated, and were immediately
turned into stone. Al-Jahiz said that the shrimp was
originally a dressmaker who stole thread and was turned
into a threaded creature, to remind her of her crime.
Al-Jahiz also said that the snake once had the form
of a camel, but God punished it by forcing it to crawl
on the earth. Iranian legends link some animals –
bears, elephants, tortoises, vulture, crows, owls, hornets,
hoopoes, apes, pigs, dogs, and lizards – with
transformations that occurred after Islam began. The
planet Venus was purportedly a prostitute who ascended
to the heavens and became a star by virtue of her knowledge
of the greatest name of Allah. In The Thousand and One
Nights, people are frequently changed into animals and
back again, usually by having water sprinkled on them.[24]
Various researchers have attempted
to explain the origin of the punishment of transformation
mentioned in the Koran. The researcher F. Viré
maintains that the Koranic punishment originates from
the well-known legend mentioned in the Talmud,
that some of the builders of the Tower
of Babel were cursed by God and turned into apes.
He bases this story on a Talmudic tractate of Sanhedrin,[25]
in which the builders who sought to reach the sky "were
divided into three groups. One said, 'Let us ascend
and dwell there;' one said, 'Let us ascend and worship
the stars;' and one said, 'Let us ascend and make war.'
The ones who said, 'Let us ascend and dwell there,'
God dispersed. The ones who said: 'Let us ascend and
make war,' were turned into apes and ghosts and demons
and evil spirits. And the ones who said: 'Let us ascend
and worship the stars,' for them God confused the languages
of all the earth."[26]
Ilse Lichtenstadter explains that these
verses were part of Prophet Muhammad's attempt to gain
the support of the Jews of Mecca, by threatening with
severe punishment if they persisted in refusing to join
him. She identifies two ancient sources for the punishment
of transformation into apes mentioned in the Koran.
Apes played a role in legend or ritual in two ancient
cultures. In India,
the monkey-god Hanuman was widely known, and tales about
him reached the Arabian Peninsula via the spice trade
between India and southern Arabia. The ancient Egyptians
had the baboon god Thoth, usually depicted as a monkey
with a dog's head. The stories of a race of people with
dogs' heads, associated with the baboon, also reached
Christianity. According to a Greek legend, St. Christopher had once belonged to a race
of dog-headed people, and upon his conversion to Christianity
he was given the ability to speak like a human instead
of barking. He was martyred, (possibly) during the rule
of the Roman Emperor Decius, in the 3rd century; his
symbol is a dog's head. The influence of Christian-Syrian
culture reached the Arabian Peninsula; the legends of
men with animals' heads could have reached the Prophet.
Lichtenstadter also describes the attitude
towards the animals connected to the punishment. Pigs
are linked with idol-worship, as they were offered as
idolatrous sacrifices; therefore the Koran prohibits
eating them. The ape is identified in ancient sources
with evil, demons, and the devil; thus, those who were
transformed into apes were banished from human society
and thrust into the sphere of the devil.[27]
The influence of the idea of transformation
into animals on the Muslim consciousness is marked throughout
history. In Spain,
for example, during periods of friction between the
various religious communities Muslims called Jews "apes"
and Christians "pigs and dogs." In North
Africa under the Muslim Aghlabid dynasty (9th through
11th centuries), Jews were forced to wear a shoulder
patch with a picture of a monkey and Christians had
to wear a patch with a picture of a pig. These images
also had to be affixed to the doors of their respective
homes.[28] Furthermore, the concept of transformation
influenced Islamic dietary law. Generally speaking,
Shi'ites enlarged the number of animals thought to be
of human origin and forbade their consumption. Thus,
for example, the hare was also included in this list.
In contrast, the Sunnis tended to cut down the list;
although there are Sunni traditions on people being
transformed into animals, they are not commonly cited
by Sunni jurists when they determine dietary laws.[29]
Chapter Four: Islamic Commentary
on the Transformation of the Jews into Apes
and Pigs
A. The Circumstances of the Punishment
In his comprehensive treatise on the
Koran, 10th century commentator Al-Tabari explains that
Jews were transformed into animals because they refused
to accept Friday as the day of rest. Jews, he said,
like the other nations, were ordered to consider Friday
their holiday "because of its virtues, and its
importance in the heavens and in the eyes of the angels,
and because Judgment Day would come on Friday."
The Muslims agreed to accept Friday as the most important
day, while the Jews refused, claiming that Saturday
was the best day, as Allah created the heavens, the
earth and everything else in six days and rested on
the seventh. The Christians, too, refused to follow
God's command to honor the sixth day, saying that Sunday
was the best day. Allah instructed Jesus to allow them
to take Sunday as their day of rest, provided that they
did so according to certain precepts; however, the Christians
did not follow these precepts and their insubordination
is mentioned in the Koran. Allah also told Moses to allow the Jews to take Saturday as their day of rest,
upon the condition that during it they would refrain
from fishing and from all work permitted on weekdays.
However, the Jews did not meet these conditions, and
therefore, they were punished.
Jews who were transformed into animals
are largely identified by Koranic commentary as residents
of the village of Iliya,[30] situated on the Red
Sea coast. The Koranic commentary tells the story
of how Allah made great schools of fish appear on Saturday
and disappear before nightfall, to test the Jews' faith
and obedience to His commandments. This was too much
to bear for the Jews, and they found ways of getting
around the divine prohibition against fishing on Saturday.
Ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad and one
of the first Koran commentators, wrote that one Jew
secretly caught a fish on Saturday, tied it with a string,
and threw it back into the water after tying the string
to a stake in the ground. The next day, he pulled the
fish in and ate it. When he saw that he was not punished,
he repeated his actions on the following Saturday, and
on the Saturday after that. Eventually, the neighbors
noticed the smell of the fish from his cooking, and
began following his example. For a long time they ate
in secret, and Allah did not hasten to punish them,
but when they began to fish openly and sell their prohibited
catches in the markets, they were punished.
Al-Tabari mentions another tactic used
by Jews to circumvent the prohibition. One Jew who craved
fish dug a pit with a channel leading from it to the
sea. On Saturday, he opened the channel so the waves
would wash the fish into the pit. On Sunday, the man
cooked the fish. The aroma of the cooking fish reached
the neighbors, who followed his example, and it soon
became common for the Jews to eat fish caught on Saturday.
When the sages warned them, they claimed they were fishing
on Sunday, when they removed the fish from the pit,
and not on Saturday, when they opened the channel.[31]
Not all the Jews acted in the same
way. The Koran commentators identify three groups in
this context: some of the Jews sinned and violated the
divine precept not to fish on Saturday; some warned
the sinners of Allah's punishment and forbade them from
continuing to do so. The others held their tongues;
although they did not eat the fish that the sinners
caught on Saturday, they also did not forbid the sinners
from sinning.[32]
In such a situation, when the sinners
refused to stop sinning, those who followed the divine
precept decided that they were unwilling to live in
the same village with the sinners and built a wall between
them. One day, the sinners were not seen leaving their
gate. Those who observed the divine precept climbed
the wall and went to check the houses, and found them
locked. When they opened the doors, they found that
everyone – men, women, and children – were
turned into apes. "They locked their houses at
night, when people lock themselves in, and awoke as
apes."[33] The 13th century Andalusian Koran commentator,
Al-Qurtubi,[34] said that the apes identified their
human relatives, approached them, smelled their clothes
and cried. The humans, in contrast, could not identify
their relatives, but told them: "'Didn't we forbid
you [from violating the word of God]?' The apes nodded
their heads in assent." According to some commentators,
the young people of the village became apes while the
elderly became pigs.[35]
In his doctoral dissertation "The
Sons of Israel in the Koran and in the Muslim Hadith
Tradition," Al-Azhar Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi
explains the Jews' transformation into apes and pigs
in the Koran in another way. Tantawi devotes a chapter
to the various ways in which Allah punished the sons
of Israel, among them changing their form. In explaining
Koran verse 5:60, Tantawi says that the Jews asked the
Prophet Muhammad what prophets he believed in. The Prophet
enumerated Abraham, Ishmail, Isaac, Jacob,
the tribes [sic], Moses, and Jesus, and said that he
did not differentiate between them. At the mention of
Jesus, the Jews denied his prophecy, saying: "We
do not believe in Jesus or anyone who believes in Him
[that is, Muhammad himself], and we do not think our
religion is worse than yours." Against this backdrop,
the Koran clarified the evil of the religion of the
Jews, whom "Allah cursed and against whom He was
wroth, and He turned some of them into apes and pigs."[36]
In his treatise The Life of Animals,
the 15th century Egyptian scholar, Al-Damiri,[37] mentions
another tradition linking Jews' attitude towards Jesus
and the punishment meted out to them. According to this
commentarial tradition, Jesus encountered a group of
Jews who slandered him and his mother, saying, "Here
comes the magician, son of the sorceress." When
Jesus heard them he cursed them, and then Allah turned
them into pigs.[38] Al-Tabari also presents the Koranic
story about Jesus' cursing Jews[39] as explanation for
the punishment of turning them into apes.
In his commentary, Al-Tabari provides
another explanation for why Jews were turned into pigs.
He describes a woman from among the sons of Israel who
believed in Allah and fought a holy war against the
king of the sons of Israel "for the religion of
Allah." Three times she waged war, with people
who believed in her and followed her, and three times
she was defeated. Her men were wounded and killed, but
she managed to escape. After the third attempt, she
despaired, and called to Allah: "Had this religion
a shield and a savior, You would have already revealed
him." It is aid that the woman fell asleep in sadness,
and that during the night Allah answered her pleas and
turned the villagers into pigs.[40]
B. The Punishment in Practical Terms
Most of the commentators take the writings
literally and maintain that the Jews were physically
changed into apes and pigs, as explicitly stated in
the Koran. Only one Koran commentator, Mujahid,[41 cited
by various other interpreters, wrote that the Jews were
not physically transformed, but that change was metaphoric,
as in Koranic adage about the Jews being like "an
ass carrying books"[42] (62:5). According to Mujahid,
it was not their external form that was changed; rather
their hearts were changed [and their souls came to resemble
those of apes]. However, according to the commentators,
Mujahid is alone in this view.[43]
Recently, the Hamas monthly Falastin Al-Muslima published a series of articles
on how Allah punished Jews. One chapter was devoted
to the punishment of transforming them into animals.
The series' author, Ibrahim Al-'Ali, takes the approach
of most Koran commentators, explaining that the change
was actually physical. He writes: "Allah did not
mete out the punishment of transformation on any nation
besides the Jews. The significance of the punishment
is actual change in the image of the Jew, and the perfect
transformation from a human condition to a bestial condition
– an actual change from human appearance to the
form of genuine apes, pigs, mice, and lizards... The
transformation was actual, as it is not impossible that
the omnipotent Allah, who created man in his human form,
would not be capable of changing the Jew from human
into animal..."
Al-'Ali cites the tradition in which
the Prophet's wife 'Aisha called the Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs."
As the tradition goes, "the Jews came to the Prophet
and said to him 'Poison be upon you' [which in Arabic
sounds close to 'peace be upon you']. The Prophet answered,
'Poison be upon you,' and 'Aisha added, 'Poison be upon
you, brothers of apes and pigs, and the curse of Allah
and his wrath too be upon you.'"[44]
C. The Logic Behind the Punishment
As the 14th century Koran commentator
Ibn Kathir[45] says, every deed has its appropriate
recompense. He goes on to explain why Jews were punished
by being transformed into apes and pigs: the Jews conspired
to fish on Saturday, preparing hooks, nets, and poles
ahead of time. When the schools of fish appeared near
the shore on Saturday, they were caught by the nets,
which the Jews had cleverly devised so that they could
not escape that day. In the evening, the Jews came to
collect the fish; when they did, Allah turned them into
apes, which most closely resemble humans but are not
really human. The Jews' actions and subterfuges were
outwardly like the truth, but in essence opposed to
it – and their reward was thus suited to their
deeds.[46
In a chapter of the Hamas monthly Falastin
Al-Muslima that discusses the punishment of turning
the Jews into animals, Jordanian researcher Dr. Sallah Al-Khaledi explains: "Perhaps
the logic of this transformation is that Allah wanted
them to be humans who would live as real people and
actualize their humanity in the best possible way. But
when they rebelled against Allah's laws, they rejected
the divine grace, and thus relinquished their humanity
and honor and turned spiritually into animals. Then
Allah [also] changed their form into apes, and turned
them into real animals, [thus] creating a correlation
between the spiritual and physical images..."
"Adherence to divine law is one
of man's dignified qualities, while rebellion against
divine law is the abolition of man's human qualities...
Accordingly, an aggressive, oppressing and sinning man
relinquishes human qualities in favor of the bestial
qualities [within him], and he [becomes] an animal in
his soul, in his emotions, and in his traits, even if
he is human in his external form... The aggressive and
rebellious Jews were apes spiritually and emotionally,
in their souls, in their behavior, and in their traits.
They are not part of the human race except in their
external form, body, senses, and voices. Their transformation
by Allah into apes created a correspondence between
their real essence and their fo rm."[47]
D. Did the Jews Who Were Transformed
Have Offspring?
Another issue on which the Koran commentators
and authors of the Adab prose literature focused was
whether the Jews who were changed into animals had offspring.
Al-Qurtubi explains that two approaches
developed among clerics on this matter. According to
the first, all apes today are the offspring of the sons
of Israel. This was also the view of Ibn Qutaiba,[48]
the important ninth-century scholar and author of famous
Adab works, who thought that apes who were originally
Jews do reproduce.[49]
According to the second approach, the
apes who used to be Jews left no offspring. Therefore,
today's apes, pigs, and other animals are the offspring
of animals in existence before the divine punishment.
Ibn Abbas, for example, maintained that anyone whose
form was changed lived for no more than three days and
did not eat, drink, or propagate.
Those who believe that today's animals
are the offspring of the sons of Israel base their belief
on some reliable traditions from the Prophet Muhammad,
in which he warned against eating particular animals
out of fear that they were originally the sons of Israel.
In the tradition in the reliable compilations of Muslim
and Al-Bukhari, the following is attributed to the Prophet
Muhammad: "A group of the sons of Israel, and it
is not known what they did, was lost, and I fear that
they are mice. Don't you see that when mice are given
camel's milk they don't drink it, and when they are
given sheep's milk they drink it?" As the 13th
century Hadith commentator Al-Nawawi[50] explains, "The
flesh and milk of camels are forbidden to the sons of
Israel, while the flesh and milk of sheep are not. Therefore,
the mice's refraining from drinking camel's milk and
their not refraining from drinking sheep's milk proves
that they are the sons of Israel in animal form."[51]
Al-Qurtubi also mentions the tradition
in Muslim's compilation, according to which a lizard
was brought to the Prophet but he refused to eat it,
saying, "Perhaps it is of the [people] of the generations
whose form was changed." In Falastin Al-Muslima,
Ibrahim Al-'Ali also cites traditions in which the Prophet
is wary of eating lizards. According to one of the traditions,
for example, in the compilation of traditions accepted
as reliable by the ninth-century sage Abu Daoud,[52]
people in the company of the Prophet caught lizards,
roasted them and ate them. One of the roasted lizards
was offered to the Prophet, who took a palm frond and
with it counted the fingers of the lizard [which looked
like a human hand], saying: "A group from among
the sons of Israel turned into reptiles, and I do not
know, perhaps the [lizard] is of this group." In
the tradition appearing in Muslim's compilation, the
Prophet was firmer about the origin of lizards. It is
said that a Bedouin entreated the Prophet to clarify
his position on eating lizards, and the Prophet said:
"Allah was angry at one of the tribes of the sons
of Israel and turned them into reptiles crawling on
the earth. I think that these are them [the lizards];
I don't eat them and I don't prohibit it."
Al-Qurtubi notes that the 12th century
Andalusian judge Ibn Al-Arabi[53] adopted the approach
that today's animals are the offspring of the sons of
Israel, and mentions another tradition underpinning
Ibn Al-Arabi's opinion. Some of the versions of Al-Bukhari's
compilation of traditions mention the words of Amer
bin Maimoun[54]: "During the Jahiliya [pre-Islamic
period] I saw a female ape who had committed adultery,
and [apes around her] stoning her and I joined them
and stoned her too." In Ibn Al-Arabi's view, the
animals passed the knowledge of the religious laws [including
the law about stoning adulterers] from generation to
generation, down to the time of bin Maimoun. He adds
that the Jews changed the [law] of stoning and Allah
wanted them to uphold it while they were in a different
form [i.e. apes].[55]
The Prophet's fear, in various traditions,
that mice, lizards and other animals are humans who
were transformed, is explained by Al-Qurtubi: This was
a hypothesis raised by the Prophet before he received
the divine inspiration that made it clear to him that
Allah did not give offspring to such humans in changed
form. After he got this inspiration, he was no longer
fearful, and stated: "Allah did not destroy people
or torment them [and at the same time] give them offspring.
The apes and the pigs [we see today] existed before."
According to Al-Qurtubi, this tradition is most reliable,
and it appears in Muslim's compilation of traditions.
He adds that the tradition about eating lizards in the
Prophet's presence and at his table without [the Prophet's]
condemnation proves that they are not the offspring
of the sons of Israel.[56]
Like Al-Qurtubi, Ibrahim Al-'Ali prefers
the approach according to which Jews punished by transformation
to animals had no offspring. In Falastin Al-Muslima,
he writes that Jews who were turned into apes, pigs,
lizards, and mice were also punished by not being able
to reproduce. "They existed in the world for as
long as Allah wanted, and then he made them extinct
without their leaving offspring. Remaining [in the world]
were the apes, pigs, and other animals which had existed
before [the divine punishment]... and it is they who
propagated and left offspring..."
But, Al-'Ali goes on to explain, "the
extinction of Jews punished with transformation does
not mean that their punishment had ended. The punishment
left its impression in the souls of the Jews who came
after them: their spirit, their opinions, their feelings,
and their ways of thought – which are reflected
in face and external appearance – became like
their nature and like the appearance of apes and pigs,
and this profoundly affected their ways of behavior."
In Falastin Al-Muslima, Ibrahim Al-'Ali
presents "scientific" proof for the claim
that Jews were punished in this way by Allah. He states
that Jews invented the theory of evolution in order
to rid themselves of the shame of the ancient punishment:
"... Since Jews felt disgrace and shame because
of this special punishment, that changed them into the
brothers of apes and pigs, they attempted to dispel
this accusation from themselves, with the help of the
satanic thought that guided them in despising the entire
human race by saying that [man's] origin was in animals,
and that it developed over time from an ape to human
form, by means of the theory... of the Jewish ape Darwin."[57]
Conclusion
Associating Jews with apes, pigs, and
other animals, which is widespread in the Arab and Muslim
world among both Shi'ites and Sunnis, is firmly grounded
in the most important Islamic religious sources, and
also has roots in the folklore of other, ancient peoples.
This idea has been used not only in religious writings
but also in prose and fiction, both in the past and
today.
Aluma Solnick is a Research
Associate with MEMRI.
Note: All links provided were accurate
at the time of publishing but may no longer be so.
[1] www.palestine-info/arabic/palestoday/readers/mashhoor/22_4_01.htm.
[2] http://www.alraialaam.com/20-04-2002/ie5/frontpage.htm#03.
www.palestine-info.info/arabic/palestoday/dailynews/2002/apr02/20_4/detail1.htm.
[3] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=5544,
April 19, 2002.
[4] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=4331,
Undated.
[5] Palestine Television, Palestinian
Authority, August 3, 2001.
[6] www.nasrollah.org/arabic/hassan/khitabat/khitabat08.htm.
[7] see www.iqraatv.com.
[8] Iqraa Television, Saudi Arabia/Egypt,
May 7, 2002.
[9] From official transcript, Al-Jazeera
TV, Qatar, May 15, 2001.
[10] Al-Ahrar (Egypt), May 30, 2000.
[11] The Arab term for this kind of
physical transformation is maskh, meaning "change
of external form to a more abhorrent form." See
Lissan Al-Arab, "Maskh."
[12] Muslim bin Al-Hajjaj (died 875)
and Muhammad bin Isma'il Al-Bukhari (died 870).
[13] According to Koran commentators,
this is a reference to the punishment of transformation
into apes banished [from the divine] good, humiliated
and despised.
[14] Elsewhere, the Koran speaks in
general of the transformation of the infidels (non-Muslims):
"If we so will, we may change them (la masakhnhum)
where they are…" (36:67) It should be noted
that this is the only place in the Koran where the term
maskh is used, and that this term refers to a change
in form that takes place on Judgment Day. This concept
was not always linked to the idea of punishment by transformation
into apes and pigs. The first Koran commentators were
divided regarding the maskh awaiting sinners, offering
a number of possibilities such as transformation into
stones, laming, or crippling in the legs and arms. In
the Hadith literature, too, there is a tradition depicting
an eschatological maskh with no mention of apes and
pigs. Most of the traditions concerning future maskh
describe a threefold catastrophe heralding Judgment
Day: the earth will split open and swallow the sinners
(hasf), [rocks] will be thrown [from the sky] (qadhf),
and there will be transformation into a lower life form
(maskh). Sometimes there are also mentions of an earthquake
(rajf) in this context. An examination of the historical
background of the appearance of these traditions shows
that they emerged during the civil wars among the Muslims
in the Umayyad period. The great distress of that time
cultivated a sense of impending apocalypse, which in
turn gave rise to traditions that anticipated the end
of the world and Judgment Day. See Uri Rubin, "Apes,
Pigs, and the Islamic Identity," Israel Oriental
Studies XVII (1997), pp. 89-93.
[15] Omar bin Bahar Al-Jahiz (died
869).
[16] Al-Jahiz, Omar bin Bahar, Kitab
Al-Hayawan.
[17] Muhammad bin Jarir Al-Tabari,
died 923.
[18] Al-Tabari, 5:115. Other sources
tell that an Israelite tribe that manifested undue skepticism
when the miracle of the table was vouch-saved to Jesus,
was turned into lizards. See: M. Cook, "Early Islamic
dietary law," in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and
Islam (JSAI) 7(1986), 223.
[19] A tradition mentioned, for example,
in the book by Fakhr Al-Din bin Muhammad Al-Tarihi (died
1087) Majma' Al-Bahrain. See www.islam4u.com/almojib/4/0/4.0.2.htm
[20] Uri Rubin, "Apes, Pigs, and
the Islamic Identity," pp. 93-102 It should be
noted that even today, Islamic preachers deter their
congregations from transgressions such as drinking wine,
singing and playing music with Hadiths threatening the
sinners' that they will be transformed into apes and
pigs. Sermons of this kind are not as common as sermons
mentioning Jews as the offspring of these animals, but
are more common than sermons referring to Christians
in this context. See for example the sermon of the Sudanese
preacher Muhammad Abd Al-Karim on singing, www.alminbar.net/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=3124
[21] At the battle of Karbala (680),
the grandson of the Prophet and his men were murdered.
This gave the Shi'ite movement its aura of martyrdom.
The tradition of the four-eyed dog is taken from "Maskh,"
Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, 737.
[22] See the Web site of the Iranian
Sunni League: www.isl.org.uk/article.php?sid=11.
[23] It is interesting that the case
of Lot's wife's transformation is not mentioned in the
Koran's version of the story of Lot (Koran 11:81).
[24] See Ch. Pellat, "Maskh,"
Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, 736-738
[25] Sandedrin tractate, 11:109a.
[26] See F. Viré, "Kird,"
Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition.
[27] Ilse Lichtenstadter, "And
become ye accursed apes," in Jerusalem Studies
in Arabic and Islam (JSAI), 14 (1991), pp. 162-175.
[28] F. Viré, "Kird,"
Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition.
[29] M. Cook. "Early Islamic dietary
law," JSAI 7(1986), 223-233.
[30] Ibn Kathir (7:166) explains that
Iliya is situated on the coast between Egypt and Al-Madina.
According to Al-Damiri, Iliya is between Midian and
Al-Tur. Other places identified in the commentary with
"the village on the coast" are "Median"
situated between Iliya and Al-Tur (see Al-Tabari 2:65,
Ibn Kathir 2:65 or Tiberias.
[31] Ilse Lichtenstadter identifies
two Jewish folklore motifs that apparently influenced
Al-Tabari's explanation of the punishment. One is the
legend of the Leviathan and the Sambation River: In
the Torah, God uses the Leviathan to defeat the enemies
of his people, and in the Talmud, the Baba Batra tractate
(746) tells how the Leviathan was slaughtered by God
for food for the righteous in the Hereafter. With regard
to the Sambation River, it is told that it is a river
full of sand and rocks that rushes and surges during
the week but is quiet on Saturday. According to another
version, the river is quiet during the week and rises
on Saturday. It would seem that it is the version in
which the river rises on Saturday which underpins Al-Tabari's
commentary, because the schools of fish arrived on Saturday
but not during the week. See Ilse Lichtenstadter, "And
become ye accursed apes," in JSAI, 14(1991), pp.
159-161.
[32] Two commentator positions emerged
on the matter of what happened to the Jews who neither
fished nor prevented the others from fishing. According
to one view, only the actual sinners were changed into
animals, and they were then destroyed; the other two
groups that did not sin, whether actively or passively,
were not. According to the second view, only those who
explicitly spoke out against and forbade the sin were
saved, and those who remained passive were also transformed.
See, for example, 7:166.
[33] Al-Tabari 2:65, Ibn Kathir 2:65.
[34] Ibn Farrah Al-Qurtubi (b. 1273).
[35] Al-Qurtubi 2:65.
[36] Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, "The
Sons of Israel in the Koran and Muslim tradition,"
Cairo: Dar Al-Shurouq, Second Edition (2000), pp. 695-697.
[37] Kamal Al-Din Al-Damiri (b. 1405).
[38] Al-Damiri, Kamal Al-Din, Hayat
Al-Hayawan, Vol. I, 386.
[39] According to Al-Tabari's commentary
on 5:78: "Those of the children of Israel who disbelieved
were cursed by David and by Jesus, son of Mary; that
was because they disobeyed and were given to transgression..."
See Al-Tabari 2:65.
[40] Al-Tabari 5:60.
[41] Mujahid bin Jaber Al-Maki (died
circa 718-722).
[42] "The case of those who were
made subject to the Law of the Torah, but did not carry
out their obligations under it, is like that of a donkey
carrying a load of books. Evil is the case of the people
who reject the Signs of Allah, and Allah guides not
the wrongdoing people." (62:5).
[43] Al-Tabari, 2:65, Ibn Kathir, 2:65,
Al-Qurtubi 2:65.
[44] Falastin Al-Muslima (London),
September 1996, pp. 54-55.
[45] Isma'il bin Amer Ibn Kathir (died
1373).
[46] Ibn Kathir, 2:65.
[47] Falastin Al-Muslima (London),
September 1996, pp. 54-55.
[48] Muhammad bin Abdallah Ibn Qutaiba
(b. 889).
[49] "Maskh," Encyclopedia
of Islam, Second Edition , 737.
[50] Yahyah Al-Nawawi (b. 1277).
[51] This interpretation appears in
Ibrahim Al-'Ali's article in Falestin Al-Muslima, September
1996, pp. 54-55.
[52] Abu Daoud Al-Sijistani (b. 889).
[53] Abu Bakr Ibn Al-Arabi (b. 1148).
[54] One of the important men of the
second generation of supporters of the Prophet in the
city of Kufa.
[55]Al-Qurtubi expresses reservations
about this tradition, claiming that perhaps it "is
one of the things that was attributed forcibly to Al-Bukhari."
He says that some scholars doubt that anyone not obligated
by the religious precepts can commit adultery [that
is, apes], and thus God's punishments apply also to
animals. He adds that "If this is true, [and the
female ape was stoned by the other apes], she was from
among the demons [jinn], because the ritual precepts
apply to man and Jinn alone."
[56] Al-Qurtubi, 2:65.
[57] Falastin Al-Muslima (London),
September 1996, pp. 54-55.
Sources: MEMRI |