It is the Jewish holy book next to the Taurah
in importance. They call this book (Oral Commandments). It comprises two parts:
Mishnah and Gemara.
Mishnah: Means repetition in Hebrew. It is the
first book in which the oral commandments have been formed into canons.
According to Judaism, when Allâhu ta’âlâ gave Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ the Taurah (Written Commandments) on the mount of Tűr (Sinai), He also dictated His (Oral Commandments) to him. And Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ intimated these pieces of
knowledge to Hârűn (Aaron), Yűshâ (Joshua) and Eliâzâr ‘alaihimus-salâm’. And they, in their turn, communicated them to Prophets succeeding them. Eliâzâr is the son of
Shu’ayb (Jethro) ‘alaihis-salâm’ [Mir’ât-i-kâinât]. It is written in (Munjid) that Jews
call Uzeyr ‘alaihis-salâm’ Azrâ (Ezra, or Esdras according to Apocrypha).
These pieces of information were conveyed from
one generation of rabbis to another. Various books of Mishnah were written in
538 B.C. and A.D. 70. Jewish customs, canonical institutions, debates between
rabbis and their personal views were inserted into these books. Thus the
Mishnahs became books telling about the personal opinions of rabbis and the
discussions among them.
Akiba, a Jewish rabbi, collected and
classified them. His disciple, Rabbi Meir, made additions to them and
simplified them. The rabbis succeeding them adopted various methods and rules
for the compilation of these narratives. Thus very many narratives and books
appeared. Eventually, these confusions reached the Holy Yahűda (Judah ha-Nasi).
In order to put an end to these turmoils, Judah wrote the most commonly
sanctioned one of these books in the second century of the Christian era.
Utilizing the existing versions, especially the version written by Meir, Judah
compiled a book in forty years. This book was the final and the most famous (Mishnah), which was a compilation of the others.
Early Talmudic sages
who lived in the first and second
centuries of the Christian era and whose views are written in
Mishnah are called Tanna (pl. Tannaim), which means (Teacher). Judah was one of the last teachers. They are called Judges,
too. Rabbis who took part in the compilation of (Gemara) are called (Amoraim), which means (Commentators). They are not entitled to dispute
against the views of the Teachers (Tannaim); they are only interpreters. Those
who made amendments or additions to Talmud were called (Saboraim), which means (sages or debaters). Of the commentators and
interpreters of Talmud, those rabbis who presided over the Judaic Councils are
called (Geonim), which means Sanctioners. Those who were not presidents of the
Councils were called (Posekim), which means Decision Makers or
Preferers.
Rabbis succeeding Judah made additions and
commentaries to Mishnah. The language of Mishnah is Neo Hebrew, which evinces
Greek and Latin characteristics.
The purpose in the writing of Mishnah was to
promulgate the Oral Commandments, which were complementary to the Taurah, which
was accepted as the source of Written Commandments. Afterwards, pieces of
information that Judah did not include in the Mishnah he wrote, but which were
contained in the Mishnahs written by the other rabbis, were compiled in the
name Additions (Tosefta).
Language used in the books called Mishnah is
simpler than that of the Taurah, and differ much both in vocabulary and in
their syntactical fashions. Commandments are presented in forms of general
rules. Engrossing examples are given. From time to time you come upon factual
events in them. In the introduction of commandments, Pentateuchal verses are
given as sources. Mishnah is composed of six parts: 1- Zerâim (Seeds); 2- Moed
(Sacred days, e.g. days of feast and fast); 3- Nashim (Women); 4- Nezikin
(Harms); 5- Kedoshim (Sacred things); 6- Tehera (Tahârat, cleanliness). These
parts have been distributed into sixty-three booklets, which, in their turn,
were divided into statements.
Gemara: Jews had two important religious
schools: one in Palestine, and the other in Babylon. In these schools, rabbis
called Amoraim (Commentators) tried to explain Mishnah, to rectify contradictions,
to search for sources for the rules which were laid, being based on customs and
traditions, and to make decisions on factual and theoretical matters. The
commentary made by the Babylonian rabbis was called the (Babylonian Gemara). This
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book was written together with Mishnah, and the book thus formed
was called the (Babylonian Talmud). The commentary
made by the rabbis in Jerusalem was called the (Gemara of Jerusalem). This Gemara, too,
was written together with Mishnah, and the outcome was the book called the (Talmud of Jerusalem), or the (Palestinian Talmud).
According to a narrative, the Palestinian
Gemara (or the Gemara of Jerusalem) was completed in the third century of the
Christian era.
The Babylonian Gemara was begun in the forth
century A.D., and completed in the sixth century.
Later on, Mishnah and a copy of Gemara
together were called (Talmud), regardless of whether it is of
Jerusalem or Babylonian. The Babylonian Talmud was three times as long as the
Talmud of Jerusalem. Jews hold the Babylonian Talmud in a higher esteem than
the Talmud of Jerusalem. One or two Mishnaic statements sometimes take ten
Talmudic pages to explain. Talmud is more difficult to understand than Mishnah.
Every Jew has to allot one-third of his religious education to the Taurah,
one-third to Mishnah, and one-third to Talmud.
Rabbis have declared that a person who intends
to do something evil will become sinful even if he does not commit it.
According to them, a person who intends to do something forbidden by rabbis will
become foul. Talmud, which is the source of this belief of theirs, has been
called (Ebul-Enjâs=Father of fouls) by Muslims [Hebrew Literature, p. 17]. A
person who disbelieves or rejects Talmud is not a Jew according to Jews.
Therefore, Jews belonging to the Karaite[1] sect, who accept
and adapt themselves only to the Taurah are not considered to be Jews by Jews.
Jewish priests avoid admitting the fact that
there are vast differences, contradictions between the Palestinian and
Babylonian Talmuds.
The Babylonian Talmud was first printed in
1520-
Stories and legends
occupy thirty per cent of the Babylonian
---------------------------------
[1] Members of this sect, most of whom live in Crimea, reject rabbinical tradition and interpret scriptures literally.
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Talmud and fifteen per cent of the Talmud of Jerusalem. They call
these legends (Haggadah). These legends are the essence of
Jewish literature. They teach them in their schools. The teaching and learning of
the Taurah and Talmud is compulsory in Jewish schools, even in universities.
Christians are inimically opposed to Talmud
and censure it bitterly.
Since we have already told about the cruelties
and persecutions Christians exercised on Jews at various places of our book, we
shall not mention them here. However, we shall briefly touch upon the cruelties
displayed by Christians towards Jews on account of Talmud:
In Christian countries like France, Poland and
England, copies of Talmud were seized and burned. Jews were prohibited from
keeping copies of Talmud even in their homes. The most eminent interpreters of
Talmudic rules were the Jewish converts Nicholas Donin and Pablo Christiani.
Pablo Christiani lived in France and in Spain, in the fourteenth century of the
Christian era. In a debate held in
As it is stated in the book (Al-Kenz-ul-Mersud fî Qawâid-it-Talmud), it is written in Talmud that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ is in the
depths of Hell, between pitch and fire, that Hadrat Maryam (Mary) committed
fornication with a soldier named Pandira, that churches are full of filth, that
priests are like dogs, that Christians must be killed, etc.
In 927 [A.D. 1520], with the Pope’s
permission, the Babylonian Talmud was printed, which was followed by the
printing of the Talmud of Jerusalem three years later. And thirty years after
this a series of disasters befell Jewry. On September 9, 1553, all the copies
of Talmud found were burned in Rome. This example was followed in the other
Italian cities. In 1554, Talmud and the other Hebraic books were subjected to
censorship. In 1565 the Pope forbid even the utterance of the word ‘Talmud.’
Sometime between 1578 and 1581 Talmud was
printed once again, in Basel city. In this last edition, some treatises were
deducted, statements censuring Christianity were left out, and quite a number
of words were substituted. Afterwards, popes resumed their operations of
seizing copies of Talmud.
Hakem II, the ninth of the Andalusian Umayyad
Sultans,
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ordered rabbi Joseph Ben Masesa to translate Talmud into Arabic.
After being translated and read, this Arabic version was named (Filth placed in
a case). Hakem II passed away in 366 [A.D. 976].
The Karaite Jews have rejected Talmud and
accepted it as a heresy.
According to Talmud, a woman cannot be
admitted to religious schools. For she is flighty mentally and therefore is not
liable to religious education. The statement, “He who teaches his daughter the
Taurah will have taught her a vice,” belongs to rabbi Eliazer [Mishnah; part
Nashim (Women); section Sotak: 216]. The Jewish rabbi Műsâ bin Meymun (Moses
Maimonides) stated that what the book really meant in that statement was
Talmud, not the Taurah.
Talmud professes that astrology is a branch of
knowledge most influential in human life. According to Talmud, “The solar
eclipse is an ill omen [Evil-Sign] for peoples.” It asserts, on the other hand,
that the lunar eclipse is an evil sign for Jews. Talmud teems with sorceries
and auguries. It associates everything with demons. Rabbi Rav Hunr says, “Each
of us has ten thousand demon companions on his right, and ten thousand demons on
his left.” Rabbi Rabba says, “The congestion of crowds, during preaches in
synagogues, is because of demons. Our clothes wear out because demons rub
themselves against them. Breaking of feet is, again, because of demons.” It is
written in Talmud that demons dance on the horns of oxen, that the devil cannot
harm a person reading the Taurah, that the fire of Hell will not burn the
sinful ones of Israelites.
Again, it is written in Talmud that the sinful
ones of the Israelites will burn for twelve months in Hell, that those who deny
life after death and the sinful ones of other races will remain eternally in
bitter Hell torment, and that the worms of their bodies will not die and their
fire will not go out.
Other rabbis state in Talmud, again, that the
soul will not be interrogated after parting from the body, that the body is
responsible for the sins, that it is out of the question for the soul to be
responsible for the body. Another rabbi objects to this in Talmud, again.
It is written in Talmud that “Some rabbis are
capable of creating men and watermelons.” It is one of the Talmudic narratives
that “A rabbi changed a woman into a female ass.
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Then he mounted her and rode to the market place. Then another
rabbi changed her back to her former state.” Talmud contains very many rabbinic
legends and myths involving serpents, frogs, birds and fish. According to
Talmud, for one, “There lived a fierce animal in the forest. The Byzantine
Kaiser wished to see this animal. The animal made for Rome and, when it reached
a distance of four hundred miles from the city, it roared, whereon the walls of
Rome fell.” Another Talmudic legend narrates that “There lived a one-year-old
ox in the forest. It was as big as Mount Sinai. Being too big to get on board
(Noah’s Ark), Noah (Nűh ‘alaihis-salâm’) tied it to the ship by its horns.
There was another giant too big for the Ark: this time a man by the name of
(Avc), who was the owner of a territory called Bashan (Bolan). He mounted the
ox. Avc was a king and a descent of Amalekites, born from a terrestrial woman
married to an angel. His feet were forty miles long.” And many other quite
illogical, implausible fabrications. ...
Another Talmudic episode alleges that “Titus
entered the Temple, drew his sword, and tore to pieces the curtain of the
Temple. Blood came out of the curtain. To punish him, a mosquito was sent down
and entered his brain. Then the mosquito in his brain grew as big as a pigeon.
When Titus was dead his skull was opened and it was seen that the mosquito had
a mouth of copper and feet of iron.”
Other examples of Talmudic fabrications are,
“People who object to rabbinic teachings will be punished;” “If a Jew testifies
for a non-Jew against a Jew, he will be cursed;” “An oath administered by a Jew
to a non-Jew is not binding at all.”
The Talmudic chapters called ‘Hoshem
hamishpat’, ‘Yoreh deah’, ‘Sultan Arah’ contain the following statements,
“Shedding non-Jews’ blood means offering a sacrifice to God.;” “All sorts of
sins committed for the cause of Judaism are permissible on condition that they
shall be secret;” “Only Jews are considered to be human. Non-Jews are all
beasts;” “God has allotted all worldly riches only for Jews;” “The injunction,
‘Do not steal,’ is valid only when Jews are involved. Lives and property of
other races are free (for Jews);” “Chastity and honour of non-Jews are halâl
(permissible) (for Jews). The injunction against fornication is intended only
for Jews.”; “If a Jew has stolen a non-Jew’s property or swindled him of his
job, he has done a good job;” “Informing a non-Jew about our commandments is
equal to betraying the whole Jewry to the executioner. When non-Jews are
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informed about our teachings against them, they will send us to
exile;” “No work is baser than agriculture.”
The Talmudic conception concerning the Messiah
expected by Jewry is as follows: “The Messiah shall crush non-Jews under the
wheels of his chariots. There shall be a great war and two-thirds of the
world’s population shall die. Jewry shall achieve the victory, and they shall
use the losers’ weapons for fuel for seven years.
“Other nations shall obey Jews. The Messiah
shall refuse Christians and he shall destroy them all. Jews shall take
possession of the treasuries of all nations and they shall be very rich. When
Christians are annihilated, other nations shall take warning and become
Judaized. Thus Jewry shall become dominant all over the world and there shall
be no one left unjudaized in any part of the world.”
WARNING — As this book, (could not answer), shows, Christians and Jews always assailed Muslims and
endeavoured to annihilate Islam by means of publication and state forces. As a
preliminary arrangement for the success of their tactical assaults, they first
extinguished Islamic knowledge and annihilated Islamic scholars, thus making
sure of an ignorant younger generation utterly unaware of Islam. In the course
of time some of these Muslim children fell into the traps set by Christian
missionaries and insidious communists, believed their falsifications and lies
and, after an education provided in total deprivation of opportunities to learn
about Islam’s virtues and superiorities or at least the renowned and honourable
accomplishments of their ancestors, they eventually came into a position which
offered them an easy competence to talk and write freely on matters of
importance. They began to make, (and are still making), ignorant and foolish
statements here and there. For instance, they say, “Our grandfathers adopted
laws of deserts, confined themselves into intertia within Islam’s dingy fetters
which impede mind and reason, led a life of the Early Ages. Being estranged
from the world under such inculcations as, ‘There is life after death. There is
blessing and merry-making in Paradise and burning fire in Hell,’ they put their
trust in an unknown being whom they called God and lived in a lingering apathy
and reluctance like animals. We are not regressive like them. We are university
graduates. We are following the European and American civilizations and their
scientific and technological improvements. We are leading a life of pleasure
and merry-making. We are not killing our time with such things as namâz and
fasting. What is a modern and
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enlightened person’s business in mosques, in Mecca? What is the
point in turning away from such pleasures as music, dancing, drinking and
gambling in mixed groups and wasting one’s lifetime in tedious occupations such
as namâz, fasting, mawlid, etc.? Who has seen Paradise or Hell? Who has gone
there? Is a fancy or illusion worth being preferred to this sweet life which is
for us to enjoy?” We hope that these poor people, after reading our book and
seeing that those European and American statesmen, politicians, scientists, and
millions of western people whom they consider to be enlightened, progressive
and modern and earnestly try to imitate are actually people who believe in
rising after death, in Paradise and Hell, in Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Prophets and rush in large crowds to churches to pray
on Sundays; will come to reason and realize that they have been deceived.