Antisemitism in Islam

There is considerable debate about the nature of antisemitism in Islam, including Muslim attitudes towards Jews, Islamic teachings on Jews and Judaism, and the treatment of Jews in Islamic societies throughout the history of Islam. Islamic literary sources have described Jewish groups in negative terms and have also called for acceptance of them. Some of these descriptions overlap with Islamic remarks on non-Muslim religious groups in general.

With the rise of Islam in Arabia in the 7th century CE and its subsequent spread during the early Muslim conquests, Jews, alongside many other peoples, became subject to the rule of Islamic polities. Their quality of life under Muslim rule varied considerably in different periods, as did the attitudes of the rulers, government officials, the clergy, and the general population towards Jews, ranging from tolerance to persecution.

An antisemitic trope found in some Islamic discourse is the accusation of Jews as the "killers of prophets". This accusation is often interpreted as a condemnation of the entire Jewish people, believed by many to be an eternal charge.

Range of opinions

• Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry state that there are mostly negative references to Jews in the Quran and Hadith, and that "Islamic" regimes treated Jews in degrading ways. They assert that both the Jews and the Christians were relegated to the status of dhimmi. Schweitzer and Perry state that throughout much of history, Christians treated Jews worse than Muslims did, stating that Jews in Christian lands were subjected to worse polemics, persecutions, and massacres than Jews who lived under Muslim rule.
• According to Walter Laqueur, the varying interpretations of the Quran are important for understanding Muslim attitudes towards Jews. Many Quranic verses preach tolerance towards the Jews; others make hostile remarks about them (which are similar to hostile remarks against all who do not accept Islam). Muhammad interacted with the Jewish tribes of Arabia: he preached to convert them, fought and killed many, but also befriended other Jews.
• For Martin Kramer, the idea that contemporary antisemitism by Muslims is authentically Islamic "touches on some truths, yet it misses many others" (see antisemitism in the Arab world). Kramer believes that contemporary antisemitism is only partially due to the policies of the State of Israel, which Muslims consider an injustice and a major cause of their sense of victimhood and loss. Kramer attributes the primary causes of Muslim antisemitism to modern European antisemitic ideologies which have infected the Muslim world.
• Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese writer and political analyst, devoted a chapter of her book Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion to an analysis of Hezbollah's anti-Jewish beliefs. She argues that although Zionism has influenced Hezbollah's anti-Judaism, "it is not contingent upon it" because Hezbollah's hatred of Jews is more religiously motivated than politically motivated.

Jews in the Quran

Further information: Early history of Islam, Historical reliability of the Quran, Historicity of Muhammad, and Sura Bani Isra'il

No mention of Jews during the Meccan period

Jews are not mentioned at all in verses dating from the Meccan period. According to Bernard Lewis, the attention given to Jews is relatively insignificant.

Terms referring to Jews

Bani Israil

The Quran makes 44 specific references to the Banū Isrāʾīl (the Children of Israel). although the term might refer to both Jews and Christians as a single religious lineage. In the Quran (2:140), Jews (Yahūdi) are considered a religious group, while Banū Isrāʾīl are an ethnic group.

Yahud and Yahudi

The Arabic term Yahūd and Yahūdi (Jew, Jews), occur 11 times, and the verb hāda (meaning "to be a Jew/Jewish") occurs 10 times. According to Khalid Durán, the negative passages use Yahūd, while the positive references speak mainly of the Banū Isrāʾīl.

Negative references to Jews

The references in the Quran to Jews are interpreted in different ways. According to Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry, these references are "mostly negative". According to Tahir Abbas, the general references to Jews are favorable, with only those addressed to particular groups of Jews containing harsh criticism.

Adoption of Jewish practices

According to Bernard Lewis and some other scholars, the earliest verses of the Quran were largely sympathetic to Jews. Muhammad admired them as monotheists and saw them as natural adherents to the new faith, and Jewish practices helped model early Islamic behavior, such as midday prayer, Friday prayer, Ramadan fasting (considered to be modeled after Yom Kippur), and most famously the fact that until 623 CE Muslims prayed toward Jerusalem, not Mecca.

Constitution of Medina

After his flight (al-hijra) from Mecca in 622 CE, Muhammad with his followers settled in Yathrib, subsequently renamed Medina al-Nabi ('City of the Prophet') where he drew up a 'social contract', the Constitution of Medina. This contract, known as "the Leaf" (ṣaḥīfa) upheld the peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, defining them all, under certain conditions, as constituting the Ummah or "community" of that city, and granting freedom of religious thought and practice to all. Alongside the 200-odd emigrants from Mecca (Muhājirūn) who had followed Muhammad, the population of Yathrib/Medina consisted of the Faithful of Medina (Anṣār, "the Helpers"), Arab Pagans, three Jewish tribes, and some Christians.

The foundational constitution sought to establish, for the first time in history according to Ali Khan, a formal agreement securing interfaith coexistence, with articles requiring mutual support in the defense of the city:

Those Jews who follow us are entitled to our aid and support so long as they shall not have wronged us or lent assistance (to any enemies) against us

— paragraph 16

To the Jews their own expenses and to the Muslims theirs. They shall help one another in the event of any attack on the people covered by this document. There shall be sincere friendship, exchange of good counsel, fair conduct and no treachery between them.

— paragraph 37

The three local Jewish tribes were the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qurayza, and the Banu Qaynuqa. According to Rodinson, Muhammad had no prejudice against them, and appears to have regarded his own message as substantially the same as that received by Jews on Sinai. But Reuven Firestone claims that tribal politics, and Muhammad's deep frustration at Jewish refusals to accept his prophethood, quickly led to a break with all three.

Hostility between Muslims and the Banu Qaynuqa

The Banu Qaynuqa were expelled from Medina in 624 CE. In March 624 CE, Muslims led by Muhammad defeated the Meccans of the Banu Quraysh tribe in the Battle of Badr. Ibn Ishaq writes that a dispute broke out between the Muslims and the Banu Qaynuqa (the allies of the Khazraj tribe) soon afterwards. When a Muslim woman visited a jeweler's shop in the Qaynuqa marketplace, she was pestered to uncover her hair. The goldsmith, a Jew, pinned her clothing such that, upon getting up, she was stripped naked. A Muslim man coming upon the resulting commotion killed the shopkeeper in retaliation. A mob of Jews from the Qaynuqa tribe then pounced on the Muslim man and killed him. This escalated to a chain of revenge killings, and enmity grew between Muslims and the Banu Qaynuqa.

Traditional Islamic sources view these episodes as a violation of the Constitution of Medina. Muhammad himself regarded this as casus belli. However, Western scholars and historians do not find in these events the underlying reason for Muhammad's attack on the Qaynuqa. Fred Donner argues that Muhammad turned against the Banu Qaynuqa because as artisans and traders, the latter were in close contact with Meccan merchants. Weinsinck views the episodes cited by the Muslim historians used to justify their expulsion, such as a Jewish goldsmith humiliating a Muslim woman, as having no more than anecdotal value. He writes that the Jews had assumed a contentious attitude towards Muhammad, and as a group possessing substantial independent power, they posed a great danger. Wensinck thus concludes that Muhammad, strengthened by the victory at the Battle of Badr, soon resolved to eliminate the Jewish opposition to himself. Norman Stillman also believes that Muhammad decided to move against the Jews of Medina after being strengthened in the wake of the Battle of Badr.

Muhammad then approached the Banu Qaynuqa, gathering them in the market place and warned them to stop their hostility lest they suffer the same fate that happened to the Quraish at Badr. He also told them to accept Islam saying he was a prophet sent by God as per their scriptures. The tribe responded by mocking Muhammad's followers for accepting him as a prophet and also mocked their victory at Badr saying the Quraish had no knowledge of war. They then warned him that if he ever fought with them, he will know that they were real men. This response was viewed as a declaration of war. Muhammad then besieged the Banu Qaynuqa after which the tribe surrendered unconditionally and were later expelled from Medina.

In 625 CE, the Banu Nadir tribe was evicted from Medina after they attempted to assassinate Muhammad. In 627 CE, when the Quraysh and their allies besieged the city in the Battle of the Trench, the Qurayza initially tried to remain neutral but eventually entered into negotiations with the besieging army, violating the pact they had agreed to years earlier. Subsequently, the tribe was charged with treason and besieged by the Muslims commanded by Muhammad. The Banu Qurayza eventually surrendered and their men were beheaded. The spoils of battle, including the enslaved women and children of the tribe, were divided up among the companions that had participated in the siege and among the emigrees from Mecca who had hitherto depended on the help of the Muslims native to Medina. Although the Banu Qurayza never took up arms against Muhammad or the Muslims, they entered into negotiations with the invading army and violated the Constitution of Medina. However, Nuam ibn Masud was able to sow discord between the invading forces and Banu Qurayza, thus breaking down the negotiations.

Verses in the Quran

As a result, the direction of Muslim prayer was shifted towards Mecca from Jerusalem, and the most negative Quranic verses about Jews were set down after this time. According to Laqueur, conflicting statements about Jews in the Quran have affected Muslim attitudes towards Jews to this day, especially during periods of rising Islamic fundamentalism.

Judaism in Islamic theology

According to Bernard Lewis, there is nothing in Islamic theology, with one single exception, that can be considered refutations of Judaism or ferocious anti-Jewish diatribes. Lewis and Chanes suggest that, for a variety of reasons, Muslims were not antisemitic for the most part. The Quran, like Judaism, orders Muslims to profess strict monotheism. It also rejects the stories of Jewish deicide as a blasphemous absurdity, and other similar stories in the Gospels play no part in the Muslim educational system. The Quran does not present itself as a fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible but rather a restoration of its original message (see Tahrif for such claimed alterations and Tawrat for the Islamic understanding of the Torah as an Islamic holy book). In such a line of argument, no clash of interpretations between Judaism and Islam can arise.

In addition, Lewis argues that the Quran lacks popular Western traditions of 'guilt and betrayal'. Rosenblatt and Pinson suggest that the Quran teaches toleration of Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith.

Lewis adds that negative attributes ascribed to subject religions (in this case Judaism and Christianity) are usually expressed in religious and social terms, but only very rarely in ethnic or racial terms. However, this does sometimes occur. The language of abuse is often quite strong. Lewis adduces that three Quranic verses (2:65, 5:60, 7:166) ground conventional Muslim epithets for Jews (as apes) and Christians (as pigs). The interpretation of these 'enigmatic' passages in Islamic exegetics is highly complex, dealing as they do with infractions like breaking the Sabbath. According to Goitein, the idea of Jewish Sabbath breakers turning into apes may reflect the influence of Yemeni midrashim. Firestone notes that the Qurayza tribe itself is described in Muslim sources as using the trope of being turned into apes if one breaks the Sabbath to justify not exploiting the Sabbath in order to attack Mohammad, when they were under siege.

According to Stillman, the Quran praises Moses, and depicts the Israelites as the recipients of divine favour. The Quran dedicates many verses to the glorification of Hebrew prophets, says Leon Poliakov. He quotes verse 6:85 as an example,

And We blessed him with Isaac and Jacob. We guided them all as We previously guided Noah and those among his descendants: David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. This is how We reward the good-doers. Likewise, ˹We guided˺ Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elias, who were all of the righteous. ˹We also guided˺ Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot, favouring each over other people ˹of their time˺.

Islamic remarks about Jews

Leon Poliakov, Walter Laqueur, and Jane Gerber, argue that passages in the Quran reproach Jews for their refusal to recognize Muhammad as a prophet of God. "The Quran is engaged mainly in dealing with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament." The Muslim holy text defined the Arab and Muslim attitude towards Jews to this day, especially in the periods when Islamic fundamentalism was on the rise.

Walter Laqueur states that the Quran and its interpreters have a great many conflicting things to say about the Jews. Jews are said to be treacherous and hypocritical and could never be friends with a Muslim.

Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry state that references to Jews in the Quran are mostly negative. The Quran states that wretchedness and baseness were stamped upon the Jews, and they were visited with wrath from Allah, that was because they disbelieved in Allah's revelations and slew the prophets wrongfully. And for their taking usury, which was prohibited for them, and because of their consuming people's wealth under false pretense, a painful punishment was prepared for them. The Quran requires their "abasement and poverty" in the form of the poll tax jizya. In his "wrath" God has "cursed" the Jews and will turn them into apes/monkeys and swine and idol worshipers because they are "infidels".

According to Martin Kramer, the Quran speaks of Jews in a negative way and reports instances of Jewish treachery against the Islamic prophet Muhammad. However, Islam did not hold up those Jews who practiced treachery against Muhammad as archetypes nor did it portray treachery as the embodiment of Jews in all times and places. The Quran also attests to Muhammad's amicable relations with Jews.

While traditional religious supremacism played a role in the Islamic view of Jews, the same attitude applied to Christians and other non-Muslims. Islamic tradition regards Jews as a legitimate community of believers in God (called "people of the Book") legally entitled to sufferance.

The standard Quranic reference to Jews is the verse 2:61–62. It says:

And ˹remember˺ when you said, “O Moses! We cannot endure the same meal ˹every day˺. So ˹just˺ call upon your Lord on our behalf, He will bring forth for us some of what the earth produces of herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, and onions.” Moses scolded ˹them˺, “Do you exchange what is better for what is worse? ˹You can˺ go down to any village and you will find what you have asked for.” They were stricken with disgrace and misery, and they invited the displeasure of Allah for rejecting Allah’s signs and unjustly killing the prophets. This is ˹a fair reward˺ for their disobedience and violations. Indeed, the believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabians—whoever ˹truly˺ believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. And there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve.

— Surah Al-Baqara 2:61–62

However, due to the Quran's timely process of story-telling, some scholars argue that all references to Jews or other groups within the Quran refers to only certain populations at a certain point in history. Also, the Quran praises some Jews in 5:69: "Indeed, the believers, Jews, Sabians and Christians—whoever ˹truly˺ believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve."

The Quran gives credence to the Christian claim of Jews scheming against Jesus, " ... but God also schemed, and God is the best of schemers." (Quran 3:54) In the mainstream Muslim view, the crucifixion of Jesus was an illusion, and thus the Jewish plots against him ended in failure. According to Gerber, in numerous verses (Quran 3:63; 3:71; 4:46; 4:160–161; 5:41–44, 5:63–64, 5:82; 6:92) the Quran accuses Jews of altering the Scripture. According to Gabriel Said Reynolds, "the Qur’ān makes 'the killing of the prophets' one of the principal characteristics of the Jews"; although the Quran emphasizes the killing of the Jewish prophets by the Israelites, Reynolds remarks that none of them were killed by the Israelites according to the Biblical account.

If we look to Islamic tradition for the answer to this question we might come to the conclusion that Muhammad's rivalry with the Jews of Medina led him to develop increasingly hostile anti-Jewish polemic. This is the sort of conclusion suggested by the Encyclopaedia of Islam article on Jews by Norman Stillman. Speaking of the Medinan period of Muhammad's career, Stillman comments: "During this fateful time, fraught with tension after the Hidjra, when Muhammad encountered contradiction, ridicule and rejection from the Jewish scholars in Medina, he came to adopt a radically more negative view of the people of the Book who had received earlier scriptures".

— Gabriel Said Reynolds

But the Quran differentiates between "good and bad" Jews, adding to the idea that the Jewish people or their religion itself are not the target of the story-telling process. Rubin claims the criticisms deal mainly "with the sinners among the Jews and the attack on them is shaped according to models that one encounters in the New Testament." The Quran also speaks favorably of Jews. Though it also criticizes them for not being grateful for God's blessing on them, the harsh criticisms are only addressed towards a particular group of Jews, which is clear from the context of the Quranic verses, but translations usually confuse this by using the general term "Jews". To judge Jews based on the deeds of some of their ancestors is an anti-Quranic idea.

Ali S. Asani suggests that the Quran endorses the establishment of religiously and culturally plural societies and this endorsement has affected the treatment of religious minorities in Muslim lands throughout history. He cites the endorsement of pluralism to explain why violent forms of antisemitism generated in medieval and modern Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, never occurred in regions under Muslim rule.

Some verses of the Quran, notably 2:256, preach tolerance towards members of the Jewish faith. According to Kramer, Jews are regarded as members of a legitimate community of believers in God, "people of the Book", and therefore legally entitled to sufferance.

As one of the five pillars of Islam Muslims perform daily Salat prayers, which involves reciting the first chapter of the Qur'an, the Al-Fatiha. Most commentators suggest that the description, "those who earn Thine anger" in Al-Fatiha 1:7 refers to the Jews. Israel Shrenzel, former chief analyst in the Arabic section of the research division of the Shin Bet and a current teacher in Tel Aviv University’s department of Arabic and Islamic studies wrote, "Given that there is contradiction between the content and message of the two groups of verses – those hostile to Jews and those tolerant toward them – the question is which group is to be adopted nowadays by the Muslim scholars and masses. The more dominant view adheres to the first group".

In 567, Khaybar was invaded and vacated of its Jewish inhabitants by the Ghassanid Arab Christian king Al-Harith ibn Jabalah. He later freed to the captives upon his return to the Levant. A brief account of the campaign is given by Ibn Qutaybah, and potentially also mentioned in the sixth-century Harran inscription. See Irfan Shahid's Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century for full details.

Main article: Jewish community of Khaybar

In the 7th century, Khaybar was inhabited by Jews, who pioneered the cultivation of the oasis and made their living growing date palm trees, as well as through commerce and craftsmanship, accumulating considerable wealth. Some objects found by the Muslims when they entered Khaybar — a siege-engine, 20 bales of Yemenite cloth, and 500 cloaks — point out to an intense trade carried out by the Jews. In the past some scholars attempted to explain the siege-engine by suggesting that it was used for settling quarrels among the families of the community. Today most academics believe it was stored in a depôt for future sale, in the same way that swords, lances, shields, and other weaponry had been sold by the Jews to Arabs. Equally, the cloth and the cloaks may have been intended for sale, as it was unlikely that such a quantity of luxury goods were kept for the exclusive use of the Jews.

The oasis was divided into three regions: al-Natat, al-Shikk, and al-Katiba, probably separated by natural divisions, such as the desert, lava drifts, and swamps. Each of these regions contained several fortresses or redoubts containing homes, storehouses and stables. Each fortress was occupied by a separate family and surrounded by cultivated fields and palm-groves. In order to improve their defensive capabilities, the settlers raised the fortresses up on hills or basalt rocks.

Jews continued to live in the oasis for several more years afterwards until they were finally expelled by caliph Umar. The imposition of tribute upon the conquered Jews of the Khaybar Fortress served as a precedent. Islamic law came to require exaction of tribute known as jizya from dhimmis, i.e. non-Muslims under Muslim rule.

For many centuries, the oasis at Khaybar was an important caravan stopping place. The center developed around a series of ancient dams built to hold run-off water from the rain. Around the water catchments, date palms grew. Khaybar became an important date-producing center.

The words "humility" and "humiliation" occur frequently in the Quran and later Muslim literature in relation to Jews. According to Lewis, "This, in Islamic view, is their just punishment for their past rebelliousness, and is manifested in their present impotence between the mighty powers of Christendom and Islam." The standard Quranic reference to Jews is verse 2:61: "And remember ye said: "O Moses! we cannot endure one kind of food (always); so beseech thy Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth groweth, -its pot-herbs, and cucumbers, garlic, lentils, and onions." He said: "Will ye exchange the better for the worse? Go ye down to any town, and ye shall find what ye want!" They were covered with humiliation and misery; they drew on themselves the wrath of Allah. This because they went on rejecting the Signs of Allah and slaying His Messengers without just cause. This because they rebelled and went on transgressing."

Two verses later we read: "And ˹remember˺ when We took a covenant from you and raised the mountain above you ˹saying˺, “Hold firmly to that ˹Scripture˺ which We have given you and observe its teachings so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺.” Yet you turned away afterwards. Had it not been for Allah's grace and mercy upon you, you would have certainly been of the losers. You are already aware of those of you who broke the Sabbath. We said to them, “Be disgraced apes!” So We made their fate an example to present and future generations, and a lesson to the God-fearing."^{[Quran 2:63]}

The Quran associates Jews with rejection of God's prophets including Jesus and Muhammad, thus explaining their resistance to him personally. (Cf. Surah 2:87–91; 5:59, 61, 70, and 82.) It also asserts that Jews and Christians claim to be children of God (Surah 5:18), and that only they will achieve salvation (Surah 2:111). According to the Quran, Jews blasphemously claim that Ezra is the son of God, as Christians claim Jesus is, (Surah 9:30) and that God's hand is fettered (Surah 5:64 – i.e., that they can freely defy God). Some of those who are Jews, "pervert words from their meanings", (Surah 4:44), and because they have committed wrongdoing, God has "forbidden some good things that were previously permitted them", thus explaining Jewish commandments regarding food, Sabbath restrictions on work, and other rulings as a punishment from God (Surah 4:160). They listen for the sake of mendacity (Surah 5:41), twisting the truth, and practice forbidden usury, and therefore they will receive "a painful doom" (Surah 4:161). The Quran gives credence to the Christian claim of Jews scheming against Jesus, "... but God also schemed, and God is the best of schemers"(Surah 3:54). In the Muslim view, the crucifixion of Jesus was an illusion, and thus the supposed Jewish plots against him ended in complete failure. In numerous verses (Surah 3:63, 3:71; 4:46, 4:160–161; 5:41–44, 5:63–64, 5:82; 6:92) the Quran accuses Jews of deliberately obscuring and perverting scripture.

Influence of Western antisemitism

Martin Kramer argues that "Islamic tradition did not hold up those Jews who practiced treachery against Muhammad as archetypes—as the embodiment of Jews in all times and places." Thus for Muslims to embrace the belief that the Jews are the eternal "enemies of God", there must be more at work than the Islamic tradition. Islamic tradition does, however, provide the sources for Islamic antisemitism and "there is no doubt whatsoever that the Islamic tradition provides sources on which Islamic antisemitism now feeds." The modern use of the Quran to support antisemitism is, however, selective and distorting. The fact that many Islamic thinkers have spent time in the West has resulted in the absorption of antisemitism, he says. Specifically, Kramer believes that the twin concepts of the "eternal Jew" as the enemy of God and the "arch conspirator" are themes that are borrowed "from the canon of Western religious and racial antisemitism." In his view, Islamic antisemitism is "[l]Like other antisemitism" in that "it has its origins in the anti-rational ideologies of modern Europe, which have now infected the Islamic world."

Muhammad and Jews

During Muhammad's life, Jews lived on the Arabian Peninsula, especially in and around Medina. Muhammad is known to have had a Jewish wife, Safiyya bint Huyayy, who subsequently converted to Islam. Safiyya, who was previously the wife of Kenana ibn al-Rabi, was selected by Muhammad as his bride after the Battle of Khaybar.

According to Islamic sources, the Medinian Jews began to develop friendly alliances with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca so they could overthrow him, despite the fact that they promised not to overthrow him in the treaty of the Constitution of Medina and promised to take the side of him and his followers and fight against their enemies. Two Jewish tribes were expelled and the third one was wiped out. The Banu Qaynuqa was expelled for their hostility against the Muslims and for mocking them. The Banu Nadir was expelled after they attempted to assassinate Muhammad. The last one, the Banu Qurayza, was wiped out after the Battle of Trench where they attempted to ally themselves with the invading Quraish.

Samuel Rosenblatt opines these incidents were not part of policies directed exclusively against Jews, and Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen. In addition, Muhammad's conflict with Jews was considered of rather minor importance. According to Lewis, since the clash of Judaism and Islam was resolved and ended with the victory of the Muslims during Muhammad's lifetime, no unresolved theological dispute among Muslims fueled antisemitism. There is also a difference between the Jewish denial of the Christian message and the Jewish denial of the Muslim message, because Muhammad never claimed to be the Messiah nor did he claim to be the Son of God, however, he is referred to as "the Apostle of God." The cause of Muhammad's death is disputable, though the Hadiths tend to suggest he may have eventually succumbed to being poisoned at Khaybar by one of the surviving Jewish widows.

According to Rosenblatt, Muhammad's disputes with the neighboring Jewish tribes left no marked traces on his immediate successors (known as Caliphs). The first Caliphs generally based their treatment of Jews upon the Quranic verses which encourage tolerance of them. Classical commentators viewed Muhammad's struggle with the Jews as a minor episode in his career, but the interpretation of it has shifted in modern times.

Hadith

The hadith (non-Quranic accounts of Muhammad) use both Banu Israil and Yahud as terms for Jews, the latter term becoming ever more frequent and appearing mostly in negative context. For example, Jews were "cursed and changed into rats" in Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:54:524 (see also Sahih Muslim, 42:7135 Sahih Muslim, 42:7136).

According to Norman Stillman:

Jews in Medina are singled out as "men whose malice and enmity was aimed at the Apostle of God". The Yahūd in this literature appear not only as malicious, but also deceitful, cowardly and totally lacking resolve. However, they have none of the demonic qualities attributed to them in mediaeval Christian literature, neither is there anything comparable to the overwhelming preoccupation with Jews and Judaism (except perhaps in the narratives on Muhammad's encounters with Medinan Jewry) in Muslim traditional literature. Except for a few notable exceptions ... the Jews in the Sira and the Maghazi are even heroic villains. Their ignominy stands in marked contrast to Muslim heroism, and in general, conforms to the Quranic image of "wretchedness and baseness stamped upon them"

According to Schweitzer and Perry, the hadith are "even more scathing (than the Quran) in attacking the Jews":

They are debased, cursed, anathematized forever by God and so can never repent and be forgiven; they are cheats and traitors; defiant and stubborn; they killed the prophets; they are liars who falsify scripture and take bribes; as infidels they are ritually unclean, a foul odor emanating from them – such is the image of the Jew in classical Islam, degraded and malevolent.

Gharqad tree hadith

Main article: Gharqad

Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari record various recensions of a hadith where Muhammad had prophesied that the Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims and Jews fight each other. The Muslims will kill the Jews with such success that they will then hide behind stones or both trees and stones according to various recensions, which will then cry out to a Muslim that a Jew is hiding behind them and ask them to kill him. The only one not to do so will be the Gharqad tree as it is the tree of the Jews. The following hadith which forms a part of these Sahih Muslim hadiths has been quoted many times, and it became a part of the Hamas militant organization's original 1988 charter:

The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (the Boxthorn tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews. (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).Sahih Muslim, 41:6985, see also Sahih Muslim, 41:6981, Sahih Muslim, 41:6982, Sahih Muslim, 41:6983, Sahih Muslim, 41:6984, Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:56:791,(Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:177)

Different interpretations about the Gharqad tree mentioned in the Hadith exists. One of the interpretations is that the Gharqad tree is an actual tree. Israelis have been alleged to plant the tree around various locations for e.g., their settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, around the Israel Museum and the Knesset. Other claims about the tree are that it grows outside Jerusalem's Herod's Gate or that it is actually a bush that grows outside Jaffa Gate which some Muslims believe is where Jesus will return to Earth and slay the Dajjal, following the final battle between the Muslims and unbelievers which some believe will take place directly below the Jaffa Gate and the Sultan's Pool. Another interpretation that exists is that the mention of the Gharqad tree is symbolic and is in reference to all the forces of the world believed to conspire with the Jews against Muslims.

See also

• Antisemitism in the Arab world
• Racism in the Arab world
  • Racism in the Palestinian territories
  • Xenophobia and racism in the Middle East
  • Racism in Muslim communities
    • Nation of Islam and antisemitism
• History of the Jews under Muslim rule
• Persecution of Jews
• Islam and other religions
  • Islamic–Jewish relations
  • Islamic fundamentalism
  • Islamism
  • Islamofascism
  • Political Islam
  • Islamic terrorism

References

• Abbas, Tahir (2007). "Antisemitism among Muslims". In Tahir Abbas (ed.). Islamic political radicalism: a European perspective. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2527-7. OCLC 71808248.
• Arberry, Arthur J. (1955). The Koran interpreted. London: Allen & Unwin. OCLC 505663.
• Cohen, Mark (1995). Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01082-X
• Cohen, Mark (2002), The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, Chapter 9, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-928032-0
• Firestone, Reuven (1 May 2008). An Introduction to Islam for Jews. Philadelphia (Pa.): U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8276-0864-1.
• Gerber, Jane S. (1986). "Anti-Semitism and the Muslim World". In History and Hate: The Dimensions of Anti-Semitism, ed. David Berger. Jewish Publications Society. ISBN 0-8276-0267-7
• Hirszowicz, Lukasz, The Third Reich and the Arab East London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1968 ISBN 0-8020-1398-8
• Laqueur, Walter. The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times To The Present Day. Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN 0-19-530429-2
• Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00807-8.
• Lewis, Bernard (1995). The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80712-6.
• Lewis, Bernard (1999). Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31839-7
• Nicosia, Francis R. (2007). The Third Reich and the Palestine Question. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7658-0624-6.
• Pinson, Koppel S; Rosenblatt, Samuel (1946). Essays on Antisemitism. New York: The Comet Press.
• Poliakov, Leon (1974). The History of Anti-semitism. New York: The Vanguard Press.
• Poliakov, Leon (1997). "Anti-Semitism". Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8
• Pratt, Douglas The challenge of Islam: encounters in interfaith dialogue, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005 ISBN 0754651231
• Rodinson, Maxime (1 January 1971). Mohammed. Translated by Anne Carter. Allen Lane the Penguin Press: Great Britain. ISBN 978-0-7139-0116-0.
• Schweitzer, Frederick M. and Perry, Marvin Anti-Semitism: myth and hate from antiquity to the present, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, ISBN 0-312-16561-7
• Said, Abdul Aziz (1979). "Precept and Practice of Human Rights in Islam". Universal Human Rights. 1 (1). Johns Hopkins University Press: 63–79. doi:10.2307/761831. ISSN 0163-2647. JSTOR 761831.
• Sanasarian, Eliz (2000). Religious Minorities in Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77073-6.
• Segev, Tom (2001). One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8050-6587-9.
• Stillman, Norman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
• Stillman, N. A. (2006). "Yahūd". Encyclopaedia of Islam. Eds.: P. J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill. Brill Online
• Wehr, Hans (1976). J. Milton Cowan (ed.). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Ithaca, New York: Spoken Language Services, Inc. ISBN 978-0-87950-001-6.
• Guillaume, A. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press, 1955. ISBN 0-19-636033-1
• Stillman, Norman. The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0
• Watt, W.M. (1961). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. A Galaxy book, 409. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-881078-0.
• Ramadan, Tariq (2007). In the Footsteps of the Prophet. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530880-8.
• Mubarakpuri, Safi ur-Rahman (1996). Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum. Riyadh: Maktaba Dar-us-Salam.

Further reading

• Gabriel, Mark (2003). Islam and the Jews: The Unfinished Battle. Charisma House. ISBN 0-88419-956-8
• Ernst, Carl (2004). Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-5577-4
• Herf, Jeffrey (2009). The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14579-3.
• Kressel, Neil J. (2012). The Sons of Pigs and Apes: Muslim Antisemitism and the Conspiracy of Silence. Potomac Books Inc. ISBN 1597977020
• Lepre, George. Himmler's Bosnian Division; The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943–1945 Algen: Shiffer, 1997. ISBN 0-7643-0134-9
• Viré, F. (2006) "Ḳird". Encyclopaedia of Islam. Eds.: P. J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill. Brill Online
• Watt, Montgomery (1956). Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: University Press.

External links

• Jews in the Qur'an: An Introduction by Aisha Y. Musa
• Jews in the Koran and Early Islamic Traditions by Dr. Leah Kinberg
• "The Arabs and the Holocaust": War of Narratives
• Jikeli, Günther; Stoller, Robin; Thoma, Hanne (2007): Strategies and Effective Practices for Fighting Antisemitism among People with a Muslim or Arab Background in Europe, Berlin
• Kashif Shahzada (2009): Why Islam is Against Antisemitism?, San Diego Jewish World, December 2009