Difference between the Jews and the Children of Israel

1-3-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaam aleikum brethren in faith. Could you please clarify what is the difference of Allah swt mentioning bani Israel or jew (Yahudi) in the glorious Quran? And do we consider the jews and christians today as the people of the book? jazakumAllah
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

The difference between the Children of Israel and the Jews is that the children of Israel are a race and not a religion whereas Judaism is a religion and not a race. The Children of Israel are attributed to Israel who is also Ya’coob (Jacob) may Allaah exalt his mention and Allaah called him as Ya’coob in many verses and he mentioned him as Israel once in Chapter Aal-Imraan; Allaah Says (what means): {All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel [i.e. Jacob] had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed.”}[Quran 3:93]

With regard to the second question, then the contemporary Jews and Christians are considered People of the Book as we have already clarified this in Fatwa 82067.

Also, for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 91581.

Allaah Knows best.

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