The Jews call ’Uzair a son of Allah

BMZ wrote: Now there were Jews from Yemen who used to say that Ezra (Uzair) was the son of God. They believed so and that is when the vesre was revealed to tell them that God had no son, neither Uzair nor Jesus was the son of God. I don't think your scholar even knows that there were Jews in Yemen who believed that Ezra was the son of God.   "There is historical evidence that Jews did refer to Ezra as the son of Allah: the Encyclopaedia Judaica states, "H. Z. Hirschberg proposed another assumption, based on the words of Ibn Hazm, namely, that the 'righteous who live in Yemen believed that 'Uzayr was indeed the son of Allah.' According to other Muslim sources, there were some Yemenite Jews who had converted to Islam who believed that Ezra was the messiah. For Muhammad, Ezra, the apostle of messiah, can be seen in the same light as the Christian saw Jesus, the messiah, the son of Allah." Encyclopaedia Judaica, Ibid., p. 1108."

Sorry, BMZ, but your "historical evidence" does not work.  Look closely.  This is not a Jewish source but an Islamic one�"words of Ibn Hazm."  "According to other Muslim sources," etc.  H. Z. Hirschberg proposed another assumption,�. 

Looks like this quote from the Encyclopaedia Judaica originally came from Osama Abdallah's site or Saifullah's site, perhaps Osama copying Saifullah or Saifullah copying Osama. 

There is another thing missing from your/their Encyclopaedia Judaica quote and it is this:

You/they quote from this book, leaving out the part, just a two pages prior, which says "Muhammad claims (sura 9:30) that in the opinion of the Jews, 'Uzayr (EZRA) is the son of God. These words are an enigma because no such opinion is to be found among the Jews, even though Ezra was singled out for special appreciation." [Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Ezra," volume 6, pp. 1106-1107

The Encyclopaedia Judaica, the same version Osama/Saifullah quoted from, says quite plainly that NO SUCH OPINION IS TO BE FOUND AMONG THE JEWS. Osama/Saifullah, however, seemed to have left this part out when he quoted from the EJ. 

The Jewish Encyclopedia also has no reference.  The Jewish Encyclopedia includes an enormous amount of information from thousands of years of Jewish history.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/directory.jsp?partition=10 &letter=U

The Jews would have had no reason to hide the "fact" that some Jews believed that Ezra was the son of God, since there have been other Jews who thought that others were the Messiah which turned out not to be the case�that is historically true within the documents of Judaism.  Other than that a son of God could be described as a person who had a special relationship with God and the title "son of God" would have been in the figurative sense, just as Jesus being called the Son of God is in the figurative sense and not the literal sense. 

BMZ wrote: In other words, since they were defaming and blaspheming the Lord God Almighty by saying that he had taken a son, in this case two sons, one Uzair and the other Jesus; God Almighty cursed them for telling a lie. After all God Almighty is the GOD and can do anything.

How can they have been defaming and blaspheming God when God in the Hebrew Scriptures claims to have many sons in the figurative sense?

Peace

No, BMZ, I looked into the same encyclopedia that you cited.  The Jews never claimed that Ezra was a son of God and then I gave you another source confirming that fact.

But even if some Jews said this the Arabic in Surah 9:30 does not support "some."  It clearly says the Jews, meaning all of them.  Allah would have specified which Jews said this and not put a curse on all Jews.

Waqalati (they say) alyahoodu (The Jews) AAuzayrun (Ezra) ibnu (son of) Allahi (Allah)
waqalati (they say) alnnasara (the Christians) almaseehu (the messiah) ibnu (son of) Allahi (Allah)

Yusuf Ali translates this as:  There are some of the Jews who say, `Ezra is the son of Allah,' while the Christians say, `The Messiah is the son of Allah.' ...

Even someone with a very rudimentary knowledge of Arabic can see that the definite article is used to designate both THE Jews, alyahoodu and THE Christians, alnnassara. So to translate 'alyahoodu' as 'some of the Jews' and 'alnnasara' as THE Christians is a travesty of the original Arabic.

I have this from two people who know Arabic; it is the native language of one of them who reads the Qur'an and the Bible in Arabic.

[QUOTE-BMZ]

Okay, name all the names of many sons that God had according to Hebrew Scriptures in the figurative sense, please. [/QUOTE]

Psalm 2: 7. I will tell of the decree; The Lord said to me, "You are My son; this day have I begotten you.  [God is speaking of David.]

Exodus 4:22

22. And you shall say to Pharaoh, 'So said the Lord, "My firstborn son is Israel." '

23. So I say to you, 'Send out My son so that he will worship Me, but if you refuse to send him out, behold, I am going to slay your firstborn son.' "

Hosea 11:1. For, when Israel was young, I loved him, and from Egypt I called My son.

There are many different meanings of the word "son."  It can refer to literal offspring as well as to metaphorical offspring.  Another meaning of "son" has to do with those who belong to the same class of being.  Thus the angels are called benei 'elohim, "sons of God.," meaning those who share in the qualities of 'elohim: partaking of heavenly, spirit nature as opposed to the earthly, flesh nature of humans.

Angels, kings and the nations of Israel could be called "sons of God."  In the Hebrew Scriptures, it seems that God had many sons.  And Israel was even call his "firstborn."

I am guessing that Allah is cursing these "Jews" because he believes that the Jews are saying that Allah had sex with Ezra's mother and produced the "son of God" Ezra.  I don't know what else it could be. 

Peace