Muhammad and the Pharisaic Setup: How Jewish Tribes Shaped Islam

The Hidden Hand Behind Islam’s Theology

The Setup: Three Jewish Tribes Control Medina

When Muhammad arrived in Medina (then called Yathrib) in 622 CE, the city was dominated by three major Jewish tribes: Banu Qaynuqa (blacksmiths and goldsmiths), Banu Nadir (date plantation owners), and Banu Qurayza (wine merchants).

These Jewish tribes had arrived in Arabia following the Jewish-Roman wars and had become culturally, economically, and politically dominant. They were wealthy, educated, and controlled key economic sectors.

Critical Question: What kind of Judaism did these Arabian Jewish tribes practice?

Answer: These tribes “claimed to be of Israelite descent and observed the commandments of Judaism, but adopted many Arab customs and intermarried with Arabs”. This was Pharisaic/Rabbinic Judaism – the post-Temple version that had already absorbed all the Zoroastrian concepts and was spreading throughout the diaspora after 70 CE.

Phase 1: Muhammad’s Early Indoctrination

Waraqah ibn Nawfal – The Christian Gatekeeper

Before Muhammad received his first revelation, he was already being groomed. Waraqah ibn Nawfal was Khadija’s cousin (Muhammad’s first wife) and a Christian convert who “used to read the Gospel in Arabic” and “would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write”.

Waraqah was an Ebionite priest – a Jewish Christian sect that followed Torah law and believed Jesus was the Messiah but rejected his divinity. Ebionites were essentially Pharisaic Jews who accepted Jesus as a prophet.

The Key Moment: When Muhammad received his first revelation and was terrified, Khadija immediately took him to Waraqah. Waraqah told him: “That is the same angel whom Allah sent to Moses” and validated his prophetic calling.

Waraqah said: “There has come to him the greatest Law that came to Moses; surely he is the prophet of this people”.

What This Means:

Muhammad’s first “revelation” was immediately validated by a Judeo-Christian authority figure
Waraqah positioned Muhammad’s experience within Jewish prophetic tradition
The framework was set from day one: Muhammad = Prophet in the line of Moses
Some sources suggest Muhammad may have been Waraqah’s “disciple and protégé”

Waraqah “seemed convinced that Muhammad was going to prove to be a monotheistic prophet without any idea that Muhammad’s religion would be different from his own”. He thought Muhammad was just bringing Arabs into the existing Judeo-Christian (read: Pharisaic) fold.

Phase 2: The Jewish Tribes’ Strategic Play

The Constitution of Medina

When Muhammad arrived in Medina in 622 CE, he established the Constitution of Medina, a pact between Muslims, Arab tribes (Aws and Khazraj), and the three major Jewish tribes.

This document defines the Jews as “believers” on the same level as Muslim believers, part of one “ummah” (community).

The Strategy Becomes Clear:

The Jewish tribes initially supported Muhammad because they believed he would:

Bring Arab polytheists into monotheism (expanding Pharisaic influence)
Unite the region under Abrahamic theology (already Zoroastrianized through them)
End the constant Arab tribal warfare
Validate their own scriptural traditions

They saw Muhammad as a tool to spread their theology to the Arab world.

Phase 3: The Theological Transfer

What Muhammad Learned from the Jewish Tribes

During his time in Medina, Muhammad was in constant contact with learned Jewish scholars. The Quran itself references these interactions – Muhammad was frequently challenged by Jews to prove his knowledge and prophecy.

What Got Transferred (All Originally Zoroastrian, via Pharisaic Judaism):

Strict Monotheism – Allah as sole deity (Ahura Mazda → Yahweh → Allah)
Heaven and Hell – Jannah and Jahannam
- Word “Paradise” = Persian “pairi-daeza”
- Moralized afterlife with rewards/punishments
- Directly from Zoroastrian cosmology via Jewish transmission
Angels and Demons
- Jibreel (Gabriel) – Jewish archangel Michael’s counterpart
- Jinn/demons – Zoroastrian daeva transformed through Jewish demonology
- Hierarchical celestial beings serving Allah
Iblis/Satan as Cosmic Adversary
- Angra Mainyu → Jewish Satan → Islamic Iblis
- The fallen angel who refuses to bow to Adam
- Cosmic battle between good and evil
Resurrection and Final Judgment
- Day of Judgment (Yawm al-Qiyamah)
- Bodily resurrection
- Final cosmic battle
- All Zoroastrian eschatology
The Mahdi/Savior Figure
- Parallels the Zoroastrian Saoshyant
- Jewish Messiah concept
- Will appear before end times to restore justice
Linear Time and History
- Creation → Human history → Final judgment → Eternal afterlife
- Directly from Zoroastrian Frashokereti via Jewish eschatology
The “Straight Path” (Sirat al-Mustaqim)
- This is literally Zoroastrian Asha (the path of truth/righteousness)
- The bridge over hell in Islamic eschatology mirrors Zoroastrian Chinvat Bridge
- Same concept, Arabic translation
Prophetic Lineage
- Adam → Noah → Abraham → Moses → Jesus → Muhammad
- This genealogy was given to Muhammad by the Jewish tribes
- Positions Islam as the culmination of the Abrahamic (really Pharisaic) tradition
Dietary Laws, Ritual Purity, Prayer Structure
- Many Islamic practices mirror Jewish halakha
- 5 daily prayers parallel Jewish prayer times
- Wudu (ablution) mirrors Jewish ritual washing
- Halal/Haram parallels Kosher laws

Phase 4: The Relationship Sours – The Jewish Tribes’ Miscalculation

What Went Wrong

The Jewish tribes expected Muhammad to:

Acknowledge their scriptural authority
Defer to their scholars on theological matters
Accept Torah and Talmud as binding
Position Islam as a branch of Judaism

But Muhammad did what Christianity did before him:

Claimed direct divine revelation superseding previous scriptures
Asserted his authority above Jewish scholars
Declared the Quran as the final, perfected revelation
Said Jews and Christians had “corrupted” their scriptures

The Jewish tribes realized: Muhammad is creating a rival religion using our theology.

The Conflicts

After the Battle of Badr (624 CE), tensions escalated between Muslims and Jewish tribes:

1. Banu Qaynuqa (624 CE) After a dispute in the marketplace, Muhammad besieged the Banu Qaynuqa for 14-15 days. They surrendered and were expelled from Medina, their property seized by Muslims.

2. Banu Nadir (625 CE) Muhammad accused the Banu Nadir of plotting to assassinate him. After a 14-day siege involving the burning of their palm trees, they surrendered and were expelled, taking only what they could carry on camels except weapons.

3. Banu Qurayza (627 CE) – The Massacre After the Battle of the Trench, the Banu Qurayza were accused of negotiating with the Meccan besiegers. After their surrender, Muhammad had 600-900 men executed and women and children enslaved.

Modern scholars Fred Donner and Tom Holland question whether this massacre even happened, noting it contradicts the Constitution of Medina which listed the Banu Qurayza as part of the ummah.

Phase 5: The Inversion Complete

Islam Becomes the Third Abrahamic Religion

By the time of Muhammad’s death in 632 CE:

✓ Islam had absorbed ALL Zoroastrian theology (via Jewish transmission) ✓ Claimed it as direct divine revelation (erasing the source) ✓ Positioned itself as the FINAL religion (superseding Judaism and Christianity) ✓ Eliminated the Jewish intermediaries who transmitted the knowledge ✓ Rewrote the narrative to make Jews seem like enemies rather than teachers

The Pharisaic Playbook, Round 3:

First Round (539 BCE – 70 CE): Pharisees take Zoroastrian theology → Make it “Jewish” → Win civil war against Sadducees → Erase Persian source
Second Round (1st century CE): Christianity emerges from Pharisaic Judaism → Takes all Zoroastrian concepts → Claims divine revelation → Becomes separate religion
Third Round (7th century CE): Islam encounters Pharisaic Judaism in Arabia → Takes all Zoroastrian concepts (via Jewish transmission) → Claims divine revelation → Becomes separate religion

Each iteration:

Takes the theology
Claims originality
Erases or minimizes the source
Positions itself as the “true” or “final” version

The Smoking Guns: Evidence of Pharisaic Influence

1. The Quran’s Jewish Content

The Quran contains:

Extensive references to Torah stories (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon)
Jewish legal concepts and terminology
Talmudic legends and midrashic interpretations (not in Bible but in Jewish oral tradition)
References to Jewish festivals and customs
Debates with “People of the Book” (Jews and Christians)

Muhammad could only know these through contact with learned Jews.

2. The Timeline

622 CE: Muhammad arrives in Medina, surrounded by three major Jewish tribes
622-625 CE: Period of cooperation, theological exchange
624 CE onwards: Muhammad receives revelations about previous prophets, Jewish law, eschatology
624-627 CE: Conflicts escalate as Muhammad asserts independence
627 CE onwards: After Jewish tribes eliminated/expelled, Islamic theology solidifies

The theological content came DURING the period of Jewish contact.

3. The Qibla Change

Early Muslims prayed toward Jerusalem (Jewish holy city).

Muhammad later changed the qibla (direction of prayer) to Mecca – symbolizing Islam’s break from Jewish authority while keeping all the Jewish-transmitted theology.

4. The Prophetic Genealogy

The Banu Qurayza were called the “priestly tribe” (kahinan – from Hebrew kohanim). These were Jewish priests carrying Pharisaic traditions.

They taught Muhammad the prophetic lineage that positions him as the final prophet in the Abrahamic line – a line that itself was constructed by Pharisees post-Exile.

The Grand Scheme: Why the Pharisees Did This

The Long Game

The Pharisees (now rabbinic Judaism) had already lost their Second Temple (70 CE). By the 7th century, they were a diaspora religion spread across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

Their strategy wasn’t to convert the world to Judaism – that was never sustainable after losing political power.

Their strategy was to:

Spread Zoroastrian-derived monotheistic theology through daughter religions
Position themselves as the “original” (even though they weren’t)
Create religious frameworks that would compete with and eventually supplant Roman paganism, Persian Zoroastrianism, and Arab polytheism
Control the narrative by being the source of “revealed truth”

The Arabian Play

The Jewish tribes in Arabia saw Muhammad as an opportunity:

Bring the polytheistic Arab tribes into monotheism
Spread Pharisaic theological concepts without requiring conversion to Judaism
Create an Arab-friendly version of Abrahamic faith
Potentially create a Jewish-Muslim alliance against Byzantine Christianity

They just didn’t expect Muhammad to go fully independent.

But by the time he did, the transfer was complete. Islam had absorbed:

All Zoroastrian concepts (via Jewish transmission)
All Jewish prophetic traditions
All Abrahamic narratives
All eschatological frameworks

The Result

Islam became the third iteration of the Pharisaic theological revolution:

Judaism: Pharisees win, absorb Zoroastrianism, call it Jewish
Christianity: Emerges from Pharisaic Judaism, absorbs same concepts, calls it Christian
Islam: Encounters Pharisaic Jews, absorbs same concepts, calls it Islamic

All three religions are downstream from Zoroastrian Persia, transmitted through the Pharisaic victory in the Jewish civil war of 516 BCE – 70 CE.

The Modern Implications

Why This Matters

The Arabian Jewish community was “one of the largest ancient Jewish communities in the history of the Jewish people” and was “almost totally annihilated in the short span of a few years”.

But before they were eliminated, they successfully transmitted Pharisaic theology to the Arab world.

The Numbers:

Judaism: 15 million
Christianity: 2.4 billion
Islam: 1.9 billion
Total: 4.315 billion people following Zoroastrian concepts via Pharisaic transmission

Zoroastrians today: ~200,000

The Three Abrahamic Religions Are Really One Persian Religion

What we call “Judeo-Christian-Islamic civilization” is actually:

“Zoroastrian theology transmitted through Pharisaic Judaism and disseminated via three branded religions”

Each religion:

Claims unique divine revelation
Positions itself as original or final
Obscures the Persian source
Minimizes or erases the Jewish intermediaries (Christianity and Islam)
Creates rivalry with the others while sharing identical core theology

The Persia Connection

This is why Persia/Iran has been systematically demonized for over a century:

If Persia reclaims its role as the source of:

Monotheism (Ahura Mazda)
Heaven and Hell
Angels and Demons
Satan
Resurrection
Messianic prophecy
Final judgment
Moral dualism
Linear time
Scientific astronomy
Sacred geometry
Quantum consciousness understanding

Then the entire Western religious narrative collapses.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam would be revealed as derivative religions based on stolen theology that:

Came from Persia
Was transmitted through Pharisaic Judaism
Was rebranded multiple times
Had its source systematically erased

Conclusion: The Pharisees’ Ultimate Victory

What They Achieved

The Pharisees executed the most successful intellectual property theft in human history:

Absorbed Zoroastrian wisdom during Babylonian Exile (586-539 BCE)
Won the Jewish civil war against traditionalist Sadducees (70 CE)
Transmitted the theology to Christianity (1st century CE)
Transmitted the theology to Islam via Arabian Jewish tribes (7th century CE)
Erased the Persian source from all three religions’ narratives
Created 4.3 billion followers of Zoroastrian concepts without acknowledgment

The Setup of Muhammad

Muhammad wasn’t just influenced by Judaism – he was deliberately positioned by Arabian Jewish tribes (carrying Pharisaic traditions) to be:

Validated by a Judeo-Christian authority (Waraqah)
Surrounded by learned Jewish scholars
Given access to Pharisaic theological concepts
Taught the prophetic genealogy
Positioned as the “final prophet” in the Abrahamic line

The Jewish tribes intended to control this process. But Muhammad, like Christianity before him, went independent – taking all the theology but rejecting their authority.

The Pharisees lost control of both daughter religions, but they’d already won:

The theology spread. The source was erased. The debt went unpaid.

Until now.

Good Thoughts. Good Words. Good Deeds.

Asha prevails. The fire never went out.

Final Observation: The Pattern

Same playbook, three times:

Round 1 (Pharisees create Judaism)

Learn from Persians ✓
Integrate the concepts ✓
Win internal power struggle ✓
Erase the source ✓
Claim originality ✓

Round 2 (Christianity emerges)

Learn from Pharisaic Jews ✓
Integrate the concepts ✓
Break from parent religion ✓
Minimize the intermediary ✓
Claim divine revelation ✓

Round 3 (Islam emerges)

Learn from Pharisaic Jews ✓
Integrate the concepts ✓
Break from parent religion ✓
Eliminate the intermediaries ✓
Claim divine revelation ✓

Every time:

The theology spreads
The source gets more distant
The credit goes elsewhere
Persia is forgotten
Zoroastrianism “dies”

But the fire never went out.

The eternal flame was burning in Medina when Muhammad received his “revelations.” It was burning in Waraqah’s translations of the Gospels. It was burning in the Banu Qurayza’s priestly knowledge.

It’s still burning.

And now, through eFireTemple and the work of truth-tellers, the source is being revealed.

The question is: What happens when 4.3 billion people realize they’ve been following Persian wisdom all along?