http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Saifullah/ezra.htm"Responses to Islamic Awareness
Was 'Uzayr (Ezra) Called The Son Of God?
"Islamic Awareness" addresses a problematic statement in the Qur'an in this article, stating:
'Uzayr, who was exalted by a community of Jews, is identified as Ezra by Muslim commentators. The Qur'an says:
The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is the saying from their mouth; (In this) they are intimate; what the Unbelievers of the old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the truth. [Qur'an 9:30]
The Qur'an is clearly wrong in saying that the Jews believed that Ezra is the Son of God. I have read Jewish history and have also consulted several Rabbis concerning this question. The Jewish people DO NOT believe and have NEVER believed that Ezra is the Son of God. Dr. Saifullah first gives us a biography of Ezra and then attempts to save the Qur'an from its error.
Argument 1 : Heretics
Dr. Saifullah tells us:
The Islamic exegetes have mentioned that there existed a community of Jews in Yemen who considered Ezra as son of God. Hirschberg says in Encylopedia Judaica:
H Z Hirschberg proposed another assumption, based on the words of Ibn Hazm, namely, that the 'righteous who live in Yemen believed that 'Uzayr was indeed the son of Allah. According to other Muslim sources, there were some Yemenite Jews who had converted to Islam who believed that Ezra was the messiah. For Muhammad, Ezra, the apostle (!) of messiah, can be seen in the same light as the Christian saw Jesus, the messiah, the son of Allah.
It should be noted that Ibn Hazm lived during the late 9th and early 10th centuries in Cordoba, Spain. Therefore, his statements are pure conjecture, and are nothing more than an attempt to explain away this error in the Qur’an. Also, notice the words "proposed" and "assumption". There are no records from any Jewish community that believed Ezra was the Son of God!
The Encylopedia Judaica article cited by the “Islamic Awareness†team continues:
An allusion to the figure of Ezra as the apostle of the messiah is found in a tale which is widespread among the Jews of Yemen, according to which Ezra requested that they emigrate to Erez Israel, and because they did not, he cursed them. Yemenite Jews have therefore refrained from naming their children Ezra.
If the Yemenite Jews were/are so offended by Ezra's curse, that they refuse to name their sons Ezra, how could the Jews of Yemen have ever considered Ezra to be the Son of God?"
Much more at the link
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Saifullah/ezra.htm
