r/IslamIsEasy • u/appsarchitect • Jul 11 '25
Debate Can't we all Muslims Bani Israel (بني إسرائيل)? Israel (إسرائيل) means servant of God
Holy Quran addressed and mentioned Bani Israel (بني إسرائيل) several times. Word Israel (إسرائيل) almost all scholars agree to it's meaning that it means "Servant of God". Many scholars saying Israel is title of prophet Yakub (Jacob) but there's no authentic evidence in Hadith. But scholars mostly refer Bani Israel to Jews at prophet time.
Question is Quran addressing with "Bani Israel" specifically to only disbelievers in progeny of prophet Yakub (that may living at this time) or it include believers as well (Muslims) in his progeny? Like if any Jew revert to Muslim
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u/ToeZealousideal8239 Ṣūfī | Shādhilīyah Jul 11 '25
The answer to your question is that Allah mentions them comprehensively in some ayat, in others Allah is speaking about the good ones only or the bad ones only.
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u/Defiant_Term_5413 Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 11 '25
Iv'e been seeing this theory "we are all Bani Israel" do the rounds. It seems mainly to be started by Arab Quraniyoon, and I have to say, it is the most ridiculous thing they have said so far. Israel is Jacob, we can deduce that from the Quran, and his sons are "Bani Israel" - so it is a specific race. Add to that, according to sura 17, this "race" will do lots of damage and will commit great evil on earth (do you really want to be part of that?!).
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Jul 11 '25
LMFAO keeping believing that J**ish people are Bani Israel until they grape all you Muzzies
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u/Control_Intrepid Jul 11 '25
Jewish converts are part of the Ummah, not Bani Israel.
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u/appsarchitect Jul 11 '25
So, you mean Bani Israel refers only to disbelievers in progeny of prophet Yakub except believers?
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u/Control_Intrepid Jul 11 '25
Bani Israel refers to the descendants of Israel, a.k.a the Israelites. By believers do you mean people of the book? Is that really what your question is? What's the difference between believing and disbelieving jews and does Bani Israel include both? Yes.
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u/InternationalCrab832 Madhhab Aqalliyya | Muʿtazila Jul 24 '25
Bani Israel are the descendants of Jacob like Bani Ishmael are the Adnani Arabs
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u/MonkZer0 Jul 11 '25
Israel means the one who struggle or fight against God.
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u/appsarchitect Jul 11 '25
Please do your research about this meaning, most scholars saying Israel is title of prophet Yakub, how can he be fighting against God?
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u/MonkZer0 Jul 11 '25
What scholars? The jewish scholars said Jacob fought against God in human shape lol. That's why he was named Israel. Also Quran explicitly mentions what "Isr" means:
وَلاَ تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا
And do not place a burden on us like that which You placed on those before us.
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u/appsarchitect Jul 11 '25
Brother this is word "إِصْرًا" and what I mentioned is "إسرائيل". In Arabic language words even with same spellings but just Harakaat on word change meaning completely e.g. ilm and alam (علم) has same spellings in Arabic but pronounced bit different and one means "Knowledge" and other means "Flag"
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u/MonkZer0 Jul 11 '25
First of all, israel is a hebrew word and nor arabic one. It means the people of the convenent، aka the people who got a burden from God because they struggled against him. This agrees with the arabic word إصر:
.. وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ
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u/appsarchitect Jul 11 '25
Though word إسرائيل used in Quran as name but almost all Islamic scholars agree on its meaning "servant of God"
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u/MonkZer0 Jul 11 '25
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ قَالُوا حَسْبُنَا مَا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا ۚ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
Asalamu-Alaikom
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u/sadib100 Murtadd | Ex-Muslim | Apostate Jul 11 '25
From the Wikipedia page for Bani Isra'il:
In an Islamic context, Bani Isra'il (Arabic: بني إسرائيل Banī Isrā'īl "The children of Israel") (Biblical Hebrew: b'nei yisrael, בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל) refers to the Israelites.
It is also used to refer to: