well have been the basis for Muhammad’s mistaken belief
that the Trinity consisted of Allah, Mary, and Jesus.
The Koran also denies the crucifixion of Christ — it
claims that Jesus only seemed to be crucified (see Sura
4:157). This may point to a Gnostic influence, since Gnostic
Christians also taught that someone else was made to look
like Jesus and put on the Cross. There were also some
Manicheans in Arabia at this time, and they too became
imbued with many of these false notions about the
crucifixion.[15]
26. What are the reasons Jews and
Muslims cannot seem to get along? Is
this rooted in religion, culture, or
both?
Both. In Muhammad’s day, Jews were concentrated in
Medina (then known as Yathrib) and elsewhere along the
trade routes in Arabia. There were several powerful Jewish
tribes in close proximity to Muhammad in the early days of
his prophetic career, and he seems to have assumed that
they would accept his monotheistic message and his claim
to be a prophet.
The Jews, however, were not at all eager to accept a non
Jew as a prophet. They were powerful in Arabia in those
days, and they began to create serious problems for the new
prophet. Rejected, Muhammad turned on the Jews fiercely,