Rabbi Allen Miller is a Reform rabbi who retired in 2006. Lately he has been a prolific writer for Eurasia Review, trying to find commonalities between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
I have no problem with such a quixotic quest. But in order to convince his audience, he adopts Muslim terminology and legends as fact.
In one recent article, he notes the similarity between Hajj and the three annual pilgrimage festivals in the Torah, fixating for some reason on Sukkot. This isn't news - much of Muslim tradition is based on Jewish tradition. But his language is jarring for a rabbi:
The Ka’ba is the original center of Hajj. Destroyed in the days of Noah, it was rebuilt by Prophets Abraham and his son Ishmael. After several centuries it was desecrated by later generations of idol worshippers. During the many centuries when the Ka’ba was desecrated, Prophet Solomon built a Temple as a center for Haj on the site where Prophet Abraham bound his son Isaac as an offering....Most of the many thousands of Jews from foreign lands outside the Land of Israel; and the tens of thousands of Jews from all over the Land of Israel outside the city of Jerusalem; who used to came each year to celebrate the week of Sukkot in Jerusalem at Bait ul-Muqaddas, the furthest sanctuary; ceased coming....For Muslims, the Furthest Sanctuary is located in Jerusalem. “Glory to He Who carried His servant by night, from the Holy Sanctuary to the Furthest Sanctuary, the precincts of which We have blessed. so that We might show him some of Our signs. Surely He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. [Qur’an 17:1]It is significant that the ruins of the Jerusalem Temple was the site of Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj– up to the heavens.One might say the destruction of the Furthest Sanctuary center of monotheistic pilgrimage in Jerusalem by the pagan Romans was, five and a half centuries afterward, overcome by Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj up to the heavens, and the soon to be realized removal by Prophet Muhammad of the 360 idols from the paganized Ka’ba in Makka.Not only did the Prophet rid the Ka’ba of all its impurities, but he also reinstated all the rites of Hajj which were established by Allah’s Permission, in the time of Prophet Ibrahim.
If you are going to call yourself a rabbi, at least stick to Jewish terminology - King Solomon, Beit HaMikdash, Avraham Avinu.
And while Miller tries to pretend he can attract Muslims by shamelessly adopting their legends as fact, the Muslim world is regarding the visit by American rabbis to Saudi Arabia as a "scandal."
