Editing Antisemitism in Islam (section)

==Pre-modern Islam==
Jerome Chanes,<ref name="Chanes" /> Pinson, Rosenblatt,<ref name="Rosenblatt" /> [[Mark R. Cohen]], [[Norman Stillman]], [[Uri Avnery]], M. Klien, and [[Bernard Lewis]] all argue that antisemitism did not emerge in the Muslim world until modern times, because in their view, it was rare in pre-modern Islam. Lewis argues that there is no sign that any deep-rooted feeling of emotional hostility that can be characterized as antisemitism was directed against Jews or any other group. There were, however, clearly negative attitudes, which were partially due to the "normal" feelings of a dominant group towards subject groups. More specifically, the contempt consisted of Muslim contempt for disbelievers.<ref>Sources for the following are:
*Lewis (1984) p. 32–33
*[[Mark R. Cohen|Mark Cohen]] (2002), p. 208
*Stillman (2006)
*Avnery, Uri (1968). ''Israel without Zionists''. (New York: Macmillan). p. 220
*M. Klein. New Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel, ''Anti-semitism''</ref>

===Literature===
According to Lewis, the outstanding characteristic of the classical Islamic view of Jews is their unimportance. The religious, philosophical, and literary Islamic writings tended to ignore Jews and focused more on Christianity. Although the Jews received little praise or even respect and were sometimes blamed for various misdeeds, there were no fears of Jewish conspiracy and domination, nor any charges of diabolic evil, nor accusations of poisoning the wells nor spreading the plague nor were they even accused of engaging in [[blood libels]] until Ottomans adopted the concept from their Greek subjects in the 15th century.<ref>Lewis (1999), pp. 122, 123, 126, 127</ref>

Poliakov writes that various examples of medieval Muslim literature portray Judaism as an exemplary pinnacle of faith, and Israel being destined by this virtue. He quotes stories from ''[[The Book of One Thousand and One Nights]]'' that portray Jews as pious, virtuous and devoted to God, and seem to borrow plots from [[midrashim]]. However, Poliakov writes that treatment of Jews in Muslim literature varies, and the tales are meant for pure entertainment, with no didactic aim.<ref>Poliakov (1974) pp. 77–8.</ref> 

After Ibn Nagraela, a Jew, attacked the Quran by alleging various contradictions in it, Ibn Hazm, a Moor, criticized him furiously. Ibn Hazm wrote that Ibn Nagraela was "filled with hatred" and "conceited in his vile soul".<ref>Poliakov (1974) pp. 92–3.</ref>

According to Schweitzer and Perry, some literature during the 10th and 11th century "made Jews out to be untrustworthy, treacherous oppressors, and exploiters of Muslims". This propaganda sometimes even resulted in outbreaks of violence against the Jews. An 11th-century Moorish poem describes Jews as "a criminal people" and blames them for causing social decay, betraying Muslims and poisoning food and water.<ref name="Schweitzer267-268" />
[[File:Alfred Dehodencq - Execution of a Jewess in Tangiers c1861.jpg|thumb|''Execution of a Jewess in Morocco'' ([[Sol Hachuel]]), {{Circa|1861}}; painting by [[Alfred Dehodencq]].]]
Martin Kramer writes that in Islamic tradition, in striking contrast with the Christian concept of the eternal Jew, the contemporary Jews were not presented as archetypes—as the embodiment of Jews in all times and places.<ref name=kramer/>

===Life under Muslim rule===
{{main|History of the Jews under Muslim rule|Islamic–Jewish relations|Dhimmi}}
Jews, [[Christians]], [[Sabians]], and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]] living under early and medieval Muslim rule were known as "[[People of the Book]]" to Muslims and held the status of ''[[dhimmi]]'', a status that was later also extended to other non-Muslims like [[Sikhs]], [[Hindus]], [[Jainism|Jains]], and [[Buddhism|Buddhists]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Annemarie Schimmel|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/107 107]|title=The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-1861891853|quote=The conqueror [[Muhammad bin Qasim|Muhammad Ibn Al Qasem]] gave both Hindus and Buddhists the same status as the Christians, Jews and Sabaeans the Middle East. They were all "dhimmi" ('protected people')|url=https://archive.org/details/empireofgreatmug00anne/page/107|author-link=Annemarie Schimmel}}</ref><ref name=bonner>{{cite book|author=Michael Bonner|author-link=Michael Bonner|title=Jihad in Islamic History: Doctrines and Practice|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=2008|page=89|isbn=9780691138381|jstor=j.ctt7sg8f}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Wael B. Hallaq|author-link=Wael Hallaq|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations|year=2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|page=327|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511815300|isbn=9780511815300}}</ref> As ''dhimmi'' they were to be tolerated, and entitled to the protection and resources of the [[Ummah]], or Muslim community. In return, they had to pay a tax known as the ''[[jizya]]'' in accordance with the Quran.<ref>Wehr (1976) pp. 515-516.</ref> Lewis and Poliakov argue that Jewish communities enjoyed toleration and limited rights as long as they accepted Muslim superiority. These rights were legally established and enforced.<ref name="Poliakov74"/><ref>Lewis (1999) p. 123.</ref> The restrictions on ''dhimmi'' included: payment of higher taxes; at some locations, being forced to wear clothing or some other insignia distinguishing them from Muslims; sometimes barred from holding public office, bearing arms or riding a horse; disqualified as witnesses in litigation involving Muslims; at some locations and times, ''dhimmi'' were prevented from repairing existing or erecting new places of worship. Proselytizing on behalf of any faith but Islam was barred.

''Dhimmi'' were subjected to a number of restrictions, the application and severity of which varied with time and place. Restrictions included residency in [[Racial segregation|segregated quarters]], [[Jewish religious clothing#Historical background|obligation to wear distinctive clothing]] such as the [[Yellow badge]],<ref name="Silverman 2013">{{cite book |last=Silverman |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Silverman |year=2013 |title=A Cultural History of Jewish Dress |chapter=Bitter Bonnets and Badges: Dressing the Infidel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZYdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |pages=47–50 |isbn=978-0-857-85209-0 |s2cid=190749766}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|In many [[Muslim world|Islamic countries]], Jewish men typically wore [[tunic]]s, instead of trousers. In the same countries, many different local regulations emerged to make Christian and Jewish ''dhimmi'' look distinctive in their public appearance. In 1198, the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohad caliph]] [[Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur]] decreed that Jews must wear a [[Dark blue (color)|dark blue]] garb, with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat; his son altered the colour to [[Yellow badge|yellow]], a change that may have influenced [[Yellow badge#Medieval and early modern Europe|Catholic ordinances]] some time later.<ref name="Silverman 2013"/> German ethnographer [[Erich Brauer]] (1895–1942) noted that [[Yemenite Jews|Jews in Yemen]] were not allowed to wear clothing of any color besides [[blue]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brauer|first1=Erich|author-link=Erich Brauer|year=1934|title=Ethnologie der Jemenitischen Juden|location=Heidelberg|publisher=Carl Winters Kulturgeschichte Bibliothek, I. Reihe: Ethnologische bibliothek|volume=7|issue=1934|page=79}}</ref>|group=Note}} public subservience to Muslims, prohibitions against proselytizing and against marrying Muslim women, and limited access to the legal system (the testimony of a ''dhimmi'' did not count if contradicted by that of a Muslim). ''Dhimmi'' had to pay a special poll tax (the ''[[jizya]]''), which exempted them from military service, and also from payment of the ''[[zakat]]'' alms tax required of Muslims. In return, ''dhimmi'' were granted limited rights, including a degree of [[Toleration#Islam|tolerance]], community autonomy in personal matters, and protection from being killed outright. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the Muslim rulers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages|author=Cohen, Mark R. |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|year=1995|isbn=0-691-01082-X |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgbib5exskUC&q=cohen+Under+Crescent+and+Cross|access-date=10 April 2010 |author-link=Mark R. Cohen }}</ref>

By medieval standards, conditions for Jews under Islam were often more formalized and better than those of Jews in Christian lands, although treatment of Jews in medieval Christian and Islamic countries greatly varied on ruler and nation. This was in part due to the sharing of minority status with Christians in these lands. There is evidence for this claim in that the status of Jews in lands with no Christian minority was usually worse than their status in lands with one. For example, there were numerous incidents of massacres and [[ethnic cleansing]] of Jews in [[North Africa]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080927133652/http://www.theforgottenrefugees.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=39 The Forgotten Refugees]</ref> especially in [[Morocco]], [[Libya]], and [[Algeria]] where eventually Jews were forced to live in [[Mellah|ghettos]].<ref>Roumani, Maurice. ''The Case of the Jews from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue'', 1977, pp. 26–27.</ref> Decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues were enacted in the Middle Ages in [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], and [[Yemen]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_(gen).html |title=The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries |publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org |date=19 February 1947 |access-date=2 July 2011}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2022}} At certain times in Yemen, Morocco, and [[History of the Jews in Baghdad|Baghdad]], Jews were [[Forced conversion#Islam|forced to convert to Islam]] or face the [[Capital punishment in Islam|death penalty]].<ref>Bat Ye'or, ''The Dhimmi'', 1985, p. 61</ref> 

Later additions to the code included prohibitions on adopting Arab names, studying the Quran, and selling alcoholic beverages.<ref name=Schweitzer266/> Abdul Aziz Said writes that the Islamic concept of ''dhimmi'', when applied, allowed other cultures to flourish and prevented the general rise of antisemitism.<ref>Abdul Aziz Said (1979), {{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}</ref> The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economic prosperity at times, but were widely persecuted at other times, was summarised by G. E. Von Grunebaum:

<blockquote>It would not be difficult to put together the names of a very sizable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence, to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same could be done for Christians. But it would again not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions, or pogroms.<ref>G. E. Von Grunebaum, ''Eastern Jewry Under Islam'', 1971, p. 369.</ref>
</blockquote>

Schweitzer and Perry give as examples of early Muslim antisemitism: 9th-century "persecution and outbreaks of violence"; 10th- and 11th-century antisemitic propaganda that "made Jews out to be untrustworthy, treacherous oppressors, and exploiters of Muslims". This propaganda "inspired outbreaks of violence and caused many casualties in Egypt". An 11th-century Moorish poem describes Jews as "a criminal people" and alleges that "society is nearing collapse on account of Jewish wealth and domination, their exploitation and betrayal of Muslims; that Jews worship the devil, physicians poison their patients, and Jews poison food and water as required by Judaism, and so on."<ref name="Schweitzer267-268" />

Jews under Muslim rule rarely faced [[Martyrdom in Judaism|martyrdom]], exile, or forced conversion to Islam, and they were fairly free to choose their residence and profession. Their freedom and economic condition varied from time to time and place to place.<ref>Lewis (1999) p. 131</ref><ref>Stillman (1979) p. 27</ref> Forced conversions occurred mostly in the Maghreb, especially under the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]], a militant dynasty with messianic claims, as well as in [[Medieval Persia|Persia]], where [[Shia Islam|Shia Muslims]] were generally less tolerant than their Sunni counterparts.<ref>Lewis (1984), pp. 94–95</ref> Notable examples of the cases where the choice of residence was taken away from them includes confining Jews to walled quarters (''[[mellah]]'') in Morocco beginning from the 15th century and especially since the early 19th century.<ref>Lewis (1984), p. 28</ref>

===Egypt and Iraq===
The caliphs of [[Fatimid]] dynasty in Egypt were known to be [[Philo-Semitism|Judeophiles]], according to Leon Poliakov. They paid regularly to support the Jewish institutions (such as the rabbinical academy of Jerusalem). A significant number of their ministers and counselors were Jews. The Abbasids too similarly were respectful and tolerant towards the Jews under their rule. [[Benjamin of Tudela]], a famous 12th-century Jewish explorer, described the Caliph [[Al-Mustanjid|al-Abbasi]] as a "great king and kind unto Israel". Benjamin also further goes on to describe about al-Abassi that "many belonging to the people of Israel are his attendants, he knows all languages and is well-versed in the Law of Israel. He reads and writes the holy language [Hebrew]." He further mentions Muslims and Jews being involved in common devotions, such as visiting the grave of [[Ezekiel]], whom both religions regard as a prophet.<ref>Poliakov (1974) pp. 60–2</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiz6jbjgSjEC&q=caliph+great+king+kind+unto+israel&pg=PA259|title=The Human Record: To 1700|last1=Andrea|first1=Alfred J.|last2=Overfield|first2=James H.|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0618042456|language=en}}</ref>

===Iberian Peninsula===
With the [[Al-Andalus|Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula]], Spanish Judaism flourished for several centuries. Thus, what some refer to as the "[[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|golden age]]" for Jews began. During this period the Muslims of Spain tolerated other religions, including Judaism, and created a heterodox society.<ref name="Poliakov741">Poliakov (1974) pp. 91–6</ref>

Muslim relations with Jews in Spain were not always peaceful, however. The eleventh century saw Muslim pogroms against Jews in Spain; those occurred in [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in 1011 and in [[Granada]] in 1066.<ref name="Schweitzer267-268">Schweitzer, pp. 267–268.</ref> In the [[1066 Granada massacre]], a Muslim mob crucified the Jewish [[vizier]] [[Joseph ibn Naghrela]] and massacred about 4,000 Jews.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=412&letter=G&search=Granada Granada] by Richard Gottheil, [[Meyer Kayserling]], ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''. 1906 ed.</ref> The Muslim grievance involved was that some Jews had become wealthy, and others had advanced to positions of power.<ref name="Schweitzer267-268" />

The [[Almohad]] dynasty, which seized rule over Muslim Iberia in the 12th century, offered Christians and Jews the choice of conversion or expulsion; in 1165, one of their rulers ordered that all Jews in the country convert on pain of death (forcing the Jewish rabbi, [[theologian]], [[philosopher]], and [[physician]] [[Maimonides]] to feign conversion to Islam before fleeing the country). In Egypt, Maimonides resumed practicing Judaism openly only to be accused of [[apostasy]]. He was saved from death by [[Saladin]]'s chief administrator, who held that conversion under coercion is invalid.<ref>Kraemer, Joel L., ''Moses Maimonides: An Intellectual Portrait'' in ''The Cambridge Companion to Maimonides'' pp. 16–17 (2005)</ref>

During his wanderings, Maimonides also wrote [[The Yemen Epistle]], a famous letter to the Jews of [[Yemen]], who were then experiencing severe persecution at the hands of their Muslim rulers. In it, Maimonides describes his assessment of the treatment of the Jews at the hands of Muslims:<blockquote> ... on account of our sins God has cast us into the midst of this people, the nation of Ishmael [that is, Muslims], who persecute us severely, and who devise ways to harm us and to debase us.... No nation has ever done more harm to Israel. None has matched it in debasing and humiliating us. None has been able to reduce us as they have.... We have borne their imposed degradation, their lies, their absurdities, which are beyond human power to bear.... We have done as our sages of blessed memory have instructed us, bearing the lies and absurdities of Ishmael.... In spite of all this, we are not spared from the ferocity of their wickedness and their outbursts at any time. On the contrary, the more we suffer and choose to conciliate them, the more they choose to act belligerently toward us.<ref>Maimonides, "Epistle to the Jews of Yemen", translated in Stillman (1979), pp. 241–242</ref></blockquote>

[[Mark R. Cohen|Mark Cohen]] quotes Haim Hillel Ben-Sasson, a specialist in [[medieval]] European Jewish history, who cautioned that Maimonides' condemnation of Islam should be understood "in the context of the harsh persecutions of the 12th century and that furthermore one may say that he was insufficiently aware of the status of the Jews in Christian lands, or did not pay attention to this, when he wrote the letter". Cohen continues by quoting Ben-Sasson, who argues that Jews generally had a better legal and security situation in Muslim countries than Jews had in [[Christendom]].<ref>Cohen (1995) pp. xvii–xviii</ref>

===Ottoman Empire===
While some Muslim states declined, the [[Ottoman Empire]] rose as the "greatest Muslim state in history". As long as the empire flourished, the Jews did as well, according to Schweitzer and Perry. In contrast with their [[Christianity in the Ottoman Empire#Persecution|treatment of Christians]], the Ottomans were more tolerant of Jews and promoted their economic development. The Jews flourished as great [[merchants]], financiers, government officials, traders and [[artisan]]s.<ref name=autogenerated6>Schweitzer, pp. 266–267</ref> The Ottomans also allowed some [[Judaism|Jewish]] immigration to what was then referred to as [[Ottoman Syria|Syria]], which allowed for [[Zionists]] to establish permanent settlements in the 1880s.

===Contrast to antisemitism in Christian Europe===
{{main|Antisemitism in Europe|History of the Jews in Europe}}
Lewis states that in contrast to [[Antisemitism in Christianity|Christian antisemitism]], the attitude of Muslims towards non-Muslims is not one of hate, fear, or envy, but rather contempt. This contempt is expressed in various ways, such as an abundance of [[polemic]] literature which attacks the Christians and occasionally, it also attacks the Jews. "The negative attributes ascribed to the subject religions and their followers are usually expressed in religious and social terms, very rarely are they expressed in [[ethnic]] or [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial]] terms, though this sometimes does occur." The language of abuse is often quite strong. The conventional epithets are apes for Jews, and pigs for Christians. Lewis continues with several examples of regulations which symbolize the inferiority that non-Muslims who lived under Muslim rule had to live with, such as different formulae of greetings when addressing Jews and Christians than when addressing Muslims (both in conversations or correspondences), and forbidding Jews and Christians from choosing names that Muslims chose for their children during [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule.<ref>Lewis (1984) p. 33</ref>

Schweitzer and Perry argue that there are two general views of the status of Jews under Islam, the traditional "golden age" and the [[Historical revisionism|revisionist]] "persecution and pogrom" interpretations. The former was first promulgated by Jewish historians in the 19th century as a rebuke of the Christian treatment of Jews, and it was taken up by [[Arab Muslims]] after 1948 as "an Arab-Islamist weapon in what is primarily an ideological and political struggle against Israel". The revisionists argue that this idealized view ignores "a catalog of lesser-known hatred and massacres".<ref name="Schweitzer267-268" /> Mark Cohen concurs with this view, arguing that the "myth of an interfaith utopia" went unchallenged until it was adopted by Arabs as a "propaganda weapon against Zionism",<ref>Cohen (1995) p. 6.</ref> and that this "Arab polemical exploitation" was met with the "counter-myth" of the "neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history",<ref>Cohen (1995) p. 9.</ref> which also "cannot be maintained in the light of historical reality".<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1455066|author= Daniel J. Lasker|title= Review of Under Crescent and Cross. The Jews in the Middle Ages by Mark R. Cohen|journal= The Jewish Quarterly Review|volume=88|issue= 1/2 |year=1997|pages=76–78|doi=10.2307/1455066|last2=Cohen|first2=Mark R.}}</ref><ref>Cohen (1995) p.xvii: According to Cohen, both the views equally distort the past.</ref>