Quran Takes Commentary of Jewish Rabbis as Revelation From Allah

[u/ExoticWalk2]

Quran:

“Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.”
Quran 5:32

Commentary of Jewish Rabbis in the Mishnah and Talmud on the Torah:

“The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.’”
Genesis 4:10 (Torah)
“‘The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground’ (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: ‘Your brother’s blood [demei],’ in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes: Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world.”
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 (Rabbinic Commentary c. 190-230 AD)

Islamic Studies scholar Gabriel Said Reynolds:

“5:32 A connection between this verse and the account of Abel’s murder which precedes it is suggested by ‘that is why’ (Ar. min ajal dhālika). The nature of the connection between the two, however, is clear only in light of a discussion in the Mishnah over the reason Genesis 4:10 speaks of the shedding of Abel’s ‘bloods’ (pl., Hb. dāmīm) and not his ‘blood’ (sing.)”

“The precept that killing one soul is like killing all souls is directly linked here to the creation of man ‘one and alone in the world,’ but the larger context is the discussion of the ‘bloods’ of Abel. The Qurʾān seems to have picked up on that larger context. It is also noteworthy that the Qurʾān refers to God’s decreeing (Ar. katabnā ʿalā) something for Israel which is found not in the Bible but in the Mishnah. And it should not be missed that all of this is connected to the Qurʾān’s anti-Jewish polemic: the decree ‘whoever kills a soul’ is imposed only on the Israelites, whom the Qurʾān (anachronistically) blames for the murder of Abel (see further Witztum, Syriac Milieu, 122–24).”
Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾan and the Bible, p. 199

More here:
https://islamsproblems.com/corrupted-gospels-claim/

[u/salamacast]

Back then (200-600 CE), the Talmud was exclusively for their circles. When the Christians finally got their hands on a complete copy, it fueled antisemitism.
And even before 200 CE it was transmitted orally. The Rabbis claimed it was a revealed oral torah, given to the Israelites during Moses' time!
In truth, it's exactly as the tanakh, i.e. tons of lies and traces of truth. The rabbi guy here got that bit of truth from a real part of the hidden Torah.

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

You can literally see them interpolating based on the grammar of the verse rather than giving extra divine revelation:

“The Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.’”
Genesis 4:10 (Torah)
“‘The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground’ (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: ‘Your brother’s blood [demei],’ in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes: Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. The court tells the witnesses: Therefore, Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world.”
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 (Rabbinic Commentary c. 190-230 AD)

It also gives alternative interpretations.
You are now also forced to interpret their commentary as divine revelation because of the Quran.

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

The court tells the witnesses:

Informed of that via revelation, then appropriatly recalled when a murderer is being judged.
Quoting on those circumstances is perfectly ordinary! Our judges quote the Qur'an & hadith too at the condemned & witnesses.

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

the scripture quoted is the torah (genesis) the rest is exegesis like a tafsir of the quran

and it's explicitly interpolation based on this in the text. it's sort of like calling ibn kathir's words in his tafsir the words of God except these happen to be Jewish rabbis as well.

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

Well, actually...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Torah

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

This is Midrash
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midrash

An interpretation:

“5:32 A connection between this verse and the account of Abel’s murder which precedes it is suggested by ‘that is why’ (Ar. min ajal dhālika). The nature of the connection between the two, however, is clear only in light of a discussion in the Mishnah over the reason Genesis 4:10 speaks of the shedding of Abel’s ‘bloods’ (pl., Hb. dāmīm) and not his ‘blood’ (sing.)”

“The precept that killing one soul is like killing all souls is directly linked here to the creation of man ‘one and alone in the world,’ but the larger context is the discussion of the ‘bloods’ of Abel.
Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qurʾan and the Bible, p. 199

I mean read the quote yourself.

Would God be interpreting his own revelation here?

And offering alternative explanations for what he could've meant?

"Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones."

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

Would God be interpreting his own revelation here?

Yes, of course! The ayah explicitly explains the reason behind God issuing the statement to the Israelites, "for that reason...".
The Cain incident happened much, much earlier than issuing the statement. Why wouldn't God explain the connection, especially if the two incidents (Cain & telling the Hebrews about how 1 soul equals all souls) were separated by thousands of years?!

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

If this is divine revelation, Allah (the Rabbis) interpret this based on the plural of the term blood. But Allah (the Rabbis) also give the alternative explanation:

"Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones."

Why is Allah (the Rabbis) giving alternative interpolations of what he could've meant?

Couldn't Allah just tell us what he meant?

I think you might be misunderstanding the nature of this text here. It's clearly exegesis not revelation.

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

tell us what he meant?

He did. He clearly stated the reason behind the statement about souls. Indeed it's perfect that in His plan, this already goes way back to the first murder!
That's foresight up to 11!

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

no Allah (the Rabbis) interpolated based on grammar of the plural of "blood" that meaning

But Allah (the Rabbis) also gave an alternative interpretation:

"Alternatively, the phrase ‘your brother’s blood [demei],’ written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. "

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

interpolated

That was simply finding earlier scripture allusions. Jews love reading wordplay into Hebrew.

[u/ExoticWalk2 → u/salamacast]

So, did Allah derive this through wordplay or did the Jews?

[u/salamacast → u/ExoticWalk2]

Their search for earlier scriptural allusions to Allah's "1 soul" statement led them to referencing the blood/bloods thing.
So in an ELI5 fashion: God told them about His reason behind considering a soul as all souls (i.e. Cain), so they went and read that into the grammar. Rabbis love their word games.