vilnagaon.org English Home Page

Muslim Demon Worship Idolatry

This blog post excerpt is located within the article Did The Holy Ohr Hachaim Really Accept Rambam’s Famous Position on Islam and Idolatry?
at vilnagaon.org/did-the-holy-ohr-hachaim-really-accept-rambams-famous-position-on-islam-and-idolatry/

One Who Offers Incense to a Demon – Insights of “the Ran” to Tractate Sanhedrin 61b

Introduction

A Jew should be willing to sacrifice his life rather than worship Idolatry. But what if he makes the wrong choice and does not sacrifice his life? The Talmud says the punishment for those that serve Idolatry out of love and fear is less severe than someone who does not have this excuse. Most commentaries understand that love and fear, means love of a person or fear of a person. Rambam however has a different understanding of love and fear which “the Ran” criticizes.

“And Rambam of blessed memory in chapter 3 (of the Mishna Torah) on the Laws which discuss Idolatry, defines, “out of love”, such as, he desires an image because its service is very attractive – or when one serves it out of his fear of it – i.e., he fears that it will harm him – as the [idol] worshipers imagine that it provides benefit and harm but did not accept it upon himself as a Deity, he is exempt”.

The Ran disagrees with the definition of serving “out of love and fear” offered by the Rambam and brings as proof the ruling of the Gemara, that someone who offers incense to a demon is considered to have served Idolatry.

Now the normal case of someone who offers incense to a demon is that he does not accept it as a Deity but nevertheless incense worship to demons is classified as Idolatry.

“The Ran” concludes that anyone who does an act of worship to any form {or image} in order to derive from it some benefit, behold he has in essence given it, Deity status and dominion in that matter and therefore the one that serves it is doing an act of Idolatry.

The Ruling of the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, Chapter 179 Halacha 19

He who offers incense to a demon to bring it and to compel it to do his will, he is liable on account of serving Idolatry (see Tur and Beit Yosef commentary for background on this ruling).

Whoever Doesn’t Want to Hide His Eyes From Reality Will Discover That Some Muslims Offer Incense to a Demon.

The following is Pew research results of what the Muslims say about themselves.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-4-other-beliefs-and-practices/

Overall, Muslims in Central Asia and across Southern and Eastern Europe (Russia and the Balkans) are least likely to say that jinn {demons} are real. In Central Asia, Turkey is the only country where a majority (63%) of Muslims believe in jinn {demons}. Elsewhere in Central Asia, about a fifth or fewer Muslims accept the existence of jinn. In Southern and Eastern Europe, fewer than four-in-ten in any country surveyed believe in these supernatural beings.

In general, Muslims who pray several times a day are more likely to believe in jinn {demons}. For example, in Russia, 62% of those who pray more than once a day say that jinn {demons} exist, compared with 24% of those who pray less often. A similar gap also appears in Lebanon (+25 percentage points), Malaysia (+24) and Afghanistan (+21).

The survey also asked if respondents had ever seen jinn {demons}. In 21 of the 23 countries where the question was asked, fewer than one-in-ten report having seen jinn {demons}, while the proportion is 12% in Bangladesh and 10% in Lebanon.

It is important to note that while belief in jinn {demons} is widespread, relatively few Muslims in the countries surveyed believe it is an acceptable part of Islamic tradition to make offerings to jinn {demons}. As discussed in Chapter 6, Bangladesh is the only country surveyed in which more than a fifth of Muslims (28%) say appeals to jinn are acceptable. In 18 of the countries, no more than one-in-ten say this is an acceptable practice.

According to reports on the internet offering incense of such things as frankincense and similar materials is part of the gift offerings they give to the demons.

And so I found on the internet a report of Muslims of offering incense to demons at the web site:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7waqNdtOF4&ab_channel=WildFilmsIndia

Clarification: Although “The Ran” (Rabbeinu Nissim) in theory would classify Muslim demon worship as idolatry, the issue actually raised by “The Ran” was Muslim worship of dead people. That is to say “The Ran” made a comparison (see his commentary to Sanhedrin 61b) between the worship of the dead maniac with demon worship.

Article by Shlomo Moshe Scheinman

Author of the article on Argaman in Techumin #26

One friend brings another friend. This blog post excerpt is located within the article Did The Holy Ohr Hachaim Really Accept Rambam’s Famous Position on Islam and Idolatry?
at hvilnagaon.org/did-the-holy-ohr-hachaim-really-accept-rambams-famous-position-on-islam-and-idolatry/