Why don't Jews follow Islam the right path?

Answer 1

Jews are not convinced that Islam is the proper path for them. Often, Muslims tell themselves the story of The Jew With 100 Questions and then ask themselves: if this man was convinced, why did the Jews not convert. The fallacy here is that what is good enough to convince one man is not necessarily enough to convince others.

Judaism has said that while Islam is a relatively correct religion and sufficient for non-Jews to attain a place in the world to come, it is woefully inadequate for Jews to believe in Islam. Some particular issues concerning Islam for Jews come from the following of Mohammed's teachings and Qur'anic Verses:

Prophecy Post-Malachi: Judaism believes that each generation has a weaker connection to God than the previous generation, a concept called Yeridat ha-Dorot (ירידת הדורות). Judaism also holds that a person has to have a naturally strong connection to God to prophesy. Therefore, around the time of the Prophet Malachi, humanity was losing the strength to maintain prophesy. Jews therefore claim that since Malachi, no person has been capable of prophesying successfully. As Mohammed lived over 900 years after Malachi died, Mohammed, therefore, could not be a Prophet.

Disagreements with the Torah: Mohammed claimed that he received Divine Revelations that explicitly contradicted the Torah such as the claim the Ishmael was taken to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. Mohammed claimed that any differences between what his revelations and the Torah was due to corruption from bad Jews. This infuriated Jews who maintained that their scripture was the same one that they had been using for centuries. He was disagreeing with the words of the Torah and according to Deuteronomy 13:1-4, anyone who openly disagrees with the words of the Torah is a false prophet at best.

Inclusion of Christian Tradition: Mohammed said that Jesus and John the Baptist were prophets when the Jews did not believe so. Jesus was seen in the Jewish community as not only a heretic, but the cause of much Jewish suffering in the Byzantine Empire because of its Christian orientation. They would not accept the religious leadership of someone that supported Jesus as a legitimate prophet. Of course, Jews also rejected Jesus for substantial religious reasons which Mohammed did not take the time to hear out. Muslims today often do not know what the Jewish perspective was on Jesus either, that led to their rejection of him. (A related question below addresses that particular issue.)

Different Rules: Islamic Law is not the same as Jewish Law. While there were certainly similarities, it was a different law and Jews were not going to give up their traditions and history to join a new religious group. To many Jews, it was a reflection of all of the previous religions that had tried to convert them away from their proper mission.

It is worth noting that according to Judaism, both Jews and non-Jews can be prophets (so it was not Mohammed's foreignness that prevented his acceptance). It happens that the majority of God-prophets were from the Israelite-Jewish Line because The Bible is mostly about them. One example of a Prophet in the Bible who clearly received Divine Messages but was not Jewish was Balaam (Numbers Ch. 22-24). Although he was opposed to the Jewish people, his prophecies are still considered valid. His blessing over the Jewish people is still recited in synagogues (called "Ma Tovu").

Answer 2

Judaism was pretty well established by the time of the Prophet Mohammed. The canon was closed. Many rabbis had ample time to study the Koran as Islam spread into Babylon, which was, at the time, the center of the Jewish world, and across North Africa into Spain, all of which had significant Jewish communities. While there may have been individual exceptions, the vast majority of knowledgeable Jews accepted Islam as a legitimate religion, teaching a path to righteousness for non-Jews, they saw no reason for Jews to abandon their covenant for this new religion.