Abstract

In his polemic composition al-Radd ‘alā Ibn al-Naghrīla al-Yahūdī, Abū Muḥammad ‘Alī b. Aḥmad b. Ḥazm al-Andalusī (994/1064 CE) attempts to demonstrate the Jews’ taḥrīf (falsification) of the Torah by citing several examples. This article intends to shed some light on an important aspect of Ibn Ḥazm’s rhetoric as reflected in al-Radd ‘alā Ibn al-Naghrīla. I argue, however, that by juxtaposing some of Ibn Ḥazm’s arguments with the relevant Jewish sources, we find that in some of these examples he himself deliberately misrepresents and misquotes explicit Torah texts, undermines their authority and overlooks parallel Qur’ānic accounts of which he must have been aware. Ibn Ḥazm’s tendentiousness and double standard in this matter stem from his wish to prove that the Torah was falsified and, by so doing, to lend further support to the Qurʾānic argument regarding the taḥrīf.

Highlights

  • Ibn Ḥazm claimed to have written this tract in response to a critical pamphlet by Ibn al-Naghrīla on contradictions in the Qurān

  • Ibn Ḥazm is eager to prove that various contents in the Jewish sources were falsified, an argument that Islamic sources call taḥrīf[9]

  • Ibn Ḥazm presents this as another example, of falsification because it is illogical that a man might prevail over God

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Summary

Introduction

Ibn Ḥazm is eager to prove that various contents in the Jewish sources were falsified, an argument that Islamic sources call taḥrīf[9]. Ibn Ḥazm to exclaim: “Is it possible for a prophet of Allāh [i.e., Moses] to liken the strength of the Almighty to that of a man with great abilities (rajul qādir)? Ibn Ḥazm presents this as another example, of falsification because it is illogical that a man might prevail over God. Ibn Ḥazm’s account of Jacob’s struggle brings to mind Gen. 32:25-26, but with one significant difference.

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