the Jews (الْيَهُود)
العقيدة الفقه
التعريف :
The people of prophet Moses (peace be upon him) to whom he delivered God’s message, and God revealed the Torah containing his message. There are several explanations of their name Yahūd. One of these is that they descended from a tribe called Yahūdh. Another refers to their saying to God, as reported in the Qur'an: innā hudnā ilayk, meaning ‘to You alone we turn’. This expresses their regret for their past sins and that they turned to God in repentance. They are also called Children of Israel and Hebrews.
المعنى الاصطلاحي :
Anyone who was born to a Jewish mother or adopted the Jewish religion, practiced its rituals, and believed in it.
الشرح المختصر :
"Al-Yahood" (the Jews) is an ascription to Yahoodhā (Judas), the fourth son of Ya‘qūb (Jacob), peace be upon him. They are the followers of the religion of the Hebrews, who are the descendants of Prophet Ibrāhim (Abraham), peace be upon him. They are known as "al-Asbāt" (the tribes) of the Children of Israel (Ya‘qūb). Allah, the Exalted, sent Mūsa (Moses), peace be upon him, as a Prophet to them and supported him with the Torah. Before the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) led by Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), the Jewish people agreed by consensus that Jews are a purely religious entity with no specific national affiliation. In other words, the Jews, throughout the past history, were restricted to a specific race; that is, a Jew has to be born to a Jewish mother, with a lineage that goes back to the children of Prophet Is'hāq (Isāc) and Ya‘qūb, who were the carriers of the divine promise to their offspring. Furthermore, the word "Yahood" initially had a specific historical and geographical implication. It was used to refer to the residents of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), but it was later extended to cover all the Jews, especially after the fusion of the residents of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) following the Assyrian dislodgement and their disappearance from the scene of history, which cleared the space for the Judas Kingdom to rule for two centuries. This is how the word "Yahoodiyy" (Jew) became a title for anyone adopting Judaism, anywhere and anytime, regardless of their ethnic or geographical affiliation. Therefore, we can say that each specific title indicates a specific historical phase in the Jewish history.
التعريف اللغوي المختصر :
"Al-Yahood": Jews. Derived from "hawd", which means repentance and returning to the truth. Some say that it is a non-Arabic word, taken from Yahoodhā (Judas), one of the founders of the tribes of the Children of Israel.