Muhammad: Break with the JewsThe Jews of Medina are reported to have cast spells on Muhammad
effectively and they are moreover thought to have been resp^100 onsible for
the initial barrenness of the Muslim women after the Hijra.^101
The Qur'an accuses the Jews of having hidden the truth (2:39, 141, 154f,
169f), and the reason for this can be pretty well ascertained from Islamic
sources. Both the Qur'an and hadith show that Muhammad received a
substantial amount of theological information from the Jews. However,^102
Qur'an 2:71 reveals that (apparently) the Jews had decided not to teach the
Muslims anything about their Books, after noticing that the information
they had given was only being used against them. A Sira tradition also
shows that some Jewish rabbis once refused to answer Muslims' questions
about the Torah, and a well-known canonical hadith depicts t^103 he Jews as
complaining that Muhammad opposed them in everything. The J^104 ews may
have even furnished Muhammad with false information, and a c^105 lassic
example of this is related in the many Islamic traditions about the
punishment of stoning for adultery.^106
The Jews are said to have ridiculed the Qur'an and Muhammad, a^107 nd at
least two of their derisive sayings seem to be preserved in the Qur'an
(2:87b, 98).^108
Muhammad must have soon realized that his attempts to become accepted
by the Jews as a prophet were doomed to failure, but in order to break away
from the Jews, and yet retain his former claim of being a messenger in the
line of the Biblical prophets, Muhammad needed a theological argument.
As a result of his contact with the educated Jews of Medina, Muhammad
must at least have learned to what major extent his previous Qur'anic
narratives were flawed. It can hardly be presumed, however^109 , that
Muhammad was formerly oblivious to his own intentional alterations of
Biblical narratives, by which, for example, the earlier prophets' ministries
were made to conform to Muhammad's own circumstances. Indee^110 d, even
in the Meccan period, Muhammad seems to have had no reservations about
changing Biblical materials to suit his own interests and aims, and the
solution for his situation with respect to the Jews in Medina would be no
different.