The concept of Masshia

A lot of muslims ask me who is the Masshia for the jews or Why jews don't believe Jesus is the Masshia?

I think that before asking Who is the Masshia we should understand What is Masshia.

The literal meaning of this word:

Masshia is from the Hebrew root of words : M.SH.H Which mean to anoint(to rub something with liquid/cream).

This word is also used in Aramaic(see here http://www.peshitta.org/lexicon/ the words in Aramaic to Oil and anoint are from M.SH.KH root)

The words is commonly used with oil and it's a part of jewish rituals:

1.For the high priest:

And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tent of meeting, and shalt wash them with water.And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the skilfully woven band of the ephod.And thou shalt set the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.
(Exodus 29:4-7)


if the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin-offering.
(Leviticus 4:3)

So after the priest anointed he name is the the anointed priest - In Hebrew it will be the Masshia Priest.

2.For Kings:

The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them...
(Jotham allegory in Judges 9:8)

Which means that king coronation is by anoint oil on the king head.

The first Israeli King was Saul.here is the description of his coronation:

Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said: 'Is it not that the LORD hath anointed thee to be prince over His inheritance?
(Samuel1 10:1)

When David talked about Saul he said:
And he said unto his men: 'The LORD forbid it me, that I should do this thing unto my lord, the LORD'S anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD'S anointed.'
(Samuel1 24:6)

In Hebrew David calles Saul - Massiah!

After that David became King,here is the description of his coronation:

So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel.
(Samuel2 5:3)

David,before he died ordered that his son - Solomon will be the next king:

And the king said unto them: 'Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow ye with the horn, and say: Long live king Solomon.
(Kings1 1:33-34)

and this is the description of Solomon coronation:

And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the Tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the ram's horn; and all the people said: 'Long live king Solomon.'
(Kings1 1:39)

So In Hebrew Massiha - The anointed became to be synonym for Israel King!

The highlight moment in Israel History was the Israeli Kindom under David House.

So after Assyrian,Babylonian & Roman empires took over the rule in Israel and most of the jew were exhiled the jewish hope was to return to this point - to David Kindom era.

To this hope they called - Massiha!

see here the essence of this hope:

The anointed King(Massiha) is destined to stand up and restore the Davidic Kingdom to its antiquity, to the first sovereignty. He will build the Temple in Jerusalem and gather the strayed ones of Israel together. All laws will return in his days as they were before: Sacrificial offerings are offered and the Sabbatical years and Jubilees are kept, according to all its precepts that are mentioned in the Torah.

(Maimonides Kings 11:1)

If this is what jews hope for Massiha , did Jesus fullfilled any of those hopes?

Where is Abraham Grave?

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan.
(Genesis 23:19)

And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.
(Genesis 25:9-10)

According to the Jewish tradition Abraham Grave is in Hebron.

Muslim also believe that Abraham grave is in Hebron:

Habra (Hebron) is the village of Abraham al-Khalil (the Friend of God)...Within it is a strong fortress...being of enormous squared stones. In the middle of this stands a dome of stone, built in Islamic times, over the sepulchre of Abraham. The tomb of Isaac lies forward, in the main building of the mosque, the tomb of Jacob to the rear; facing each prophet lies his wife.
(Al-Muqaddasi http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strange.309.jpg )

But what is the Islamic source for that?

I asked in Islam community (source: http://www.orkut.com/Main#CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=3126&tid=2554556273932877972)
where is Abraham grave and what is the source for that.

At the beginning - no one knew where is the place.One even suggested mecca...

After a while a guy named Arif said:

"The grave of Ibrahim (as) is located in the Ibrahimi mosque. The mosque is now divided in two in 1994. One part for Muslims and another for Jews community.

but no authentic source.. "

So Muslim can't find any Islamic source not in Quran or Hadith that say that Abraham grave is in Hebron!

So on what they base this believe?

Other guy named mYstiKaL SouL said:

"Muslim tradition in this respect is not independent. anything in the sources of the People of the Book which doesnot contradict Islamic sources can be accepted. "

So that means that the source of Islamic tradition that Abraham grave is in Hebron is actually the Jewish tradition!!!

One of the guys(which by now deleted his profile) said it's like Isra'iliyat:

The term isra'iliyyat usually refers to early literature of various types attributed by Muslim scholars to Jewish and Christian sources. Despite the continual and pervasive negative regard for isra'iliyyat, however, a massive amount of this material has been utilised by Muslim commentators throughout Islamic history.
(http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=13759409)

A bridge between Judaism & Islam

I usually asked by Muslims what Judaism say about Non-Jews?

Can a Non-Jew(Gentile) be a Righteous And Go Heaven in the afterlife?

Jews Believe that Non-Jews have to practice 7 laws in Order to be consider as Righteous:

1.Prohibition of Idolatry: There is only one God. You shall not make for yourself an idol.

2.Prohibition of Murder: You shall not murder.

3.Prohibition of Theft: You shall not steal.

4.Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity: You shall not commit adultery.

5.Prohibition of Blasphemy: Revere God and do not blaspheme.

6.Prohibition of Cruelty to Animals: Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive.

7.Requirement to have just Laws: You shall set up an effective judiciary to fairly judge observance of the preceding six laws.

Those 7 laws are called the Seven Laws of Noah

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah )

Those 7 laws can be found in Quran:

A possible connection between the Qur'an 17:22-36 and Noahide law might be:

1.Qur'an 17:22 — Prohibition of Idolatry #1

2.Qur'an 17:23 — Prohibition of Blasphemy #2

3.Qur'an 17:32 — Prohibition of Sexual Immorality #4

4.Qur'an 17:33 — Prohibition of Homicide #3

5.Qur'an 17:34 — Prohibition of Theft #5

6.Qur'an 17:35 — Imperative of Legal System #7

7.Qur'an 17:36 — Prohibition of Limb of a Living Creature #6??? (although the last is specifically mentioned by the Qur'an 2:173; 5:3)

(http://wikinoah.org/index.php/Noahide_Law_in_the_Qur%27an)

Whats the difference between these 7 laws and the 10 commandments?

The 7 laws are for all man kind from time of Noah,the 10 commandments are part of 613 laws for Israel nation,from Moses time.

In my opinion those 7 laws of Noah can be the bridge Between Judaism & Islam!

The rule of religions

While being around in the Muslims communities on orkut,i learned many stuff.

I grew up in Haifa which many Muslims lives in.

In one of the neighbourhoods there where a Muslim community - The Ahmadiyya.

To be honest i never met any of them,every one consider them as Muslims.

Their mosque is something you can't miss when you enter the city.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kababir )

It was a very big surprise to discover that most of the Muslims don't consider them as Muslims,but as a new religion.

Then i realized that it's some sort of deterministic rule of how religions come to this world...

This rule is for the Abrahamic Religions:

[1]Group A have a religion based on prophet X with the scriptures of @

[2]Then come a man Z who claim he is a prophet and he is a successor to prophet X.

[3]The people from group A accuse this man that he is a false prophet.

[4]There's people that do believe him that he is really the prophet Z and they establish now Group B who follow the prophet Z with the scriptures of #.

[5]Group B say that there's proofs in the scriptures of @ that Z will come.and only the evil harts of group A prevent them to accept this.

[6]Group A say that according the scriptures of @ there's no way Z could be a prophet.

Now you can put instead of A,B,X,Z,@,# any of the Abrahamic religions and it will be the same:

You can say A=Judaism and B=Christianity.

You can say A=Christianity and B=Islam.

You can say A=Islam and B=Ahmadiyyat.

and there will be sure more...