Netanyahu’s early role models among the Yahood – [Al-Muta’assibah/Saffaakoon]

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Some Sects of The Yahood

Al-Fareesiyyoon or hard-liners: They were also called Rabbis, erudite scholars, brothers for the sake of God, and they are monastic mystics. They believe in resurrection, in the angels and in the Afterlife. They also believe that the Torah is not the only holy book that is depended upon, but rather there are oral narratives that were later written and called the Talmud.

As-Saddaaqiyyoon: It was a name given to them because they were known to be deniers, so their enemies called them sedducees, because they denied the resurrection, the recompense, the paradise, the fire, the existence of the angels, the awaited Messiah. They believed that the reward for good deeds is a blessing and only something good in this life, and that evil deeds brings about crises and troubles for its doer.

As-Saamirah: They were a people who lived in the mountains of Jerusalem. They entered Judaism but they were not from the children of Israel. They affirmed the Prophethood of Musa, Haaroon and Yu’sha bin Noon [peace be upon them], but not the Prophethood of those after them. Their Qiblah was towards a mountain between Jerusalem and Nablus called Grezim. Their language is not the Hebrew language of the Jews, but rather a language close to it. This sect splintered into many groups which have different rulings and laws. They acknowledge the hereafter, reward and punishment in the hereafter, and some of their groups claim that the reward and punishment is only limited in this world.

Al-Muta’assibah (or Fanatical Partisans): They were a group whose thought was close to that of the Fareesiyyoon, but they were very aggressive and believed in assassinating anyone who disagreed with them. They were also called Saffaakoon [Those Eager to Commit Murder and Shed Blood], and they committed pillage, plunder, and transgressed against everyone who accepts submission to others besides them. Hostility occurred between them and the Fareesiyyoon because the Fareesiyyoon submitted to the Romans. Some of the researchers consider them to be from the political or nationalistic sects, even though their movement started within a religious framework, but great was their crimes which they committed from one place to another.

Al-Qurraa’oon (The Reciters): They were a small group of Jews and were given this name because they were reciters of the Torah. They appeared after the decline of the Pharisees. They only recognized the Old Testament, and they neither submit to the Talmud nor acknowledge it because they believe that they have freedom to explain the Torah and rectify the mistakes that occurred in some of its explanations.

Al-Katabatu- (The Writers or Scribes): This name was given to a group of Jews whose profession was to write the law for those who request it, and their job, besides writing and transcribing, was to preach, in order to obtain money from copying the law and preaching. And they have titles such as “Al-Hukamaa- Wise Men”. They established schools for education and the goal behind that was to gather money.

As-Saba’iyyah: They were the followers of Abdullah bin Saba, who entered Islam to (attempt) destroying it from within. He was the one who provoked the people against Uthmaan Bin Affaan [may Allaah be pleased with him] until he was murdered. He fabricated ahadeeth and he was the pioneer of political strife in Islam.

Al-Faslu Fil Milal Wal-Ahwaa Wan-Nihal. 1/177-179. Publisher: Daar Al-Jeel 1405AH