"Do unto others!" in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Sources

There is a famous story found in the Talmud about a person who came to Hillel the Elder, the famous Jewish sage (d. 10 CE), and asked him to teach him "the entire Torah," i.e. all of Jewish law, in a nutshell. Hillel replied by invoking what is known as the Golden Rule, the notion that people should treat each other as they would like to be treated. The most famous version of this story is as follows:

Another version of this story appears in the aggadic compilation Avot de-Rabbi Natan (2nd recension, ch. 26). This version substitutes "the gentile" for a generic "someone," and Hillel for the second century sage Rabbi Akiva.

In the Christian tradition, Jesus mentions the Golden Rule similarly to the Jewish accounts of Hillel and Rabbi Akiva. It appears twice in the Gospels. One occurrence is in the Gospel according to Luke:

In Luke's version, Jesus lists the Golden Rule together with other maxims. Unlike Hillel and Akiva, he does not mention that it is a summary of all knowledge. However, in the Gospel according to Matthew, we find:

"The Torah and the Prophets" in this context refer to a single book which contains what are today the first two parts of the Hebrew Bible, excluding "the Hagiographa."  Such a book, containing the first two parts, is attested in the following passage:

By those adhering to Rabbi Yehuda's method, the book of the Torah and the Prophets would be the main, and perhaps only, source of Divine law. Therefore, Jesus' words in Matthew must be understood as meaning that the sum of all law is the Golden Rule. This is similar to the sentiment found in the Jewish tradition, although Matthew does away with the frame story of having someone ask an authoritative figure what is the sum of all law. There is another difference between the Jewish and Christian traditions. While the Christian tradition presents a positive command, the Jewish one presents a negative one, that is, Jesus tells us to do what we would want to be done to us, whereas Hillel and Rabbi Akiva tell us to NOT do what we do NOT want to be done to us.  

The Islamic tradition also features an account that is highly reminiscent of the Jewish accounts of Hillel and Rabbi Akiva.  In the great ḥadīth compilation of Abū Bakr Ibn Abī Shayba (d. 235/849), the Muṣannaf, we find the following tradition with a chain of Baṣran transmitters:

As it may be seen, this Islamic tradition is similar to the Jewish tradition. Both the Jewish and Islamic traditions feature the same frame story: Someone asks a higher authority for a summary of what is required by religious law, and is answered with a golden rule that says: Treat others as you would yourself! In the Jewish tradition, it is a non-Jew or a layperson who asks one of the great Sages; whereas in the Islamic tradition it is the Prophet Moses himself who appears to be asking God. The inclusion of Moses in the Islamic tradition hints that this tradition has a Jewish provenance. Another point of relation between both traditions is found in the Arabic verb ṣāḥaba which I translate as "interact with." The root of this verb is ṣ-ḥ-b, whence we derive ṣāḥib (friend). This allusion to friendship in the verb calls to mind the word ḥaber (friend) that appears in the Jewish tradition. Nevertheless, at least in one aspect, the Islamic tradition is closer to the Christian tradition than to the Jewish one. I refer to the fact that the Islamic tradition features a positive command like in the Christian tradition.

Fin 

Originally uploaded June 15, 2019

Updated November 2021