Formation of Jewish Theology under the Influence of Islamic Theology

By analyzing the Jewish theology before and after Islam the changes made by Muslims among the traditional Jewish scholars could be revealed. 􀀂Rationalism􀀃 was a prominent feature developed among the Jews after Islam and this feature lacks Jewish history except a short period among a few scholars such as Philo, until the foundations of this intellectual method were established in Judaism by Islam and by accepting this upheaval some great scholars from Judaism such as David Al Mukammas and Saadia Ga􀀇un from the traditional community of Judaism and Qerqesani from the sect of Kara`im gave rise to a new period of Jewish intellectualism. This upheaval was caused by two major factors, the first of which was the great achievement of Muslim theologians making the scholars of other religions eager to learn it and the second one was the stability and possibility created by Islam in Muslim communities so that various sciences including Islamic theology could be flourished among Islam scholars and other religions. The Muslims􀀇 theological influence was further exerted by the rationalists like Mu􀀇tazila who were attempting to unite reason and religion with each other. This approach was accepted by Jewish scholars and they needed this method to introduce their religion justifiably between other religions and also to defend it among the followers of Judaism; consequently, union of reason and religion became their concern.