“Comparative study of contempt in the Islamic and Jewish law”

Man has a very high status in Abrahamic religions. God created man in His own likeness and gave him dignity. “And surely we have honored the children of Adam” (The Quran, 17:70). The term honor has been used in the verse because honor is an original and valuable concept and it means honor has been inaugurated in the human soul. The Old Testament refers to Man’s status thus: “In the image of God has God made mankind” (Genesis, 9:6). The expression “The creation of Man in the image of God” in the Torah shows the supreme status of Man in the Jewish law; this is a kind of advantage compared with other creatures. According to this honor and the relationship of man with God, we can draw from sacred scriptures the high status of man and the significance of not being allowed to insult him. This paper compares the position of Islam and Judaism with regard to the above mentioned issue. In books of jurisprudence, the term insult has been used in terms of a rule that prohibits insulting things that are honored and respected and the punishment differs based on the type of insult. There are penalties as well as arbitrary punishments. In Islam, some insults result in excommunication. Although Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic religions, has some very strict laws, but there is nothing in the Torah that points clearly to a punishment for insult. Yet Talmud jurists resort to the Bible’s laws for prohibiting insult and slander.