A Short History of Muslim-Jewish Harmonious Co-Existence: Negation of Islamic Anti-Semitism

By T.O. Shanavas, New Age Islam 12 December 2023 In the current portrayal within Western media, there’s a common belief that Muslims harbour intolerance towards Jews and other faiths. This myth originated from natives of some Western historians after Israel was establishment as nation. An example of such fabricated history is in the web site of the largest American Jewish organization (Anti-Defamation League). It states: “When Jews began arriving in Palestine en masse in the late 19th century, the land had an Arab presence. The number of Arabs in Palestine at the time and questions surrounding when many of the Arabs came to the land remain the subject of dispute among historians.” (REF: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/israel-arab-conflicts-creation-state-israel). Dismissing ADL’s propaganda of a minimal Arab presence is necessary, especially concerning Jerusalem and its surrounding areas—a place steeped in history and religious significance, making it among the most hotly contested religious centers in history. It is troubling for the ADL to inaccurately downplay the significant Arab demographics in this revered and contested region. When considering global population growth—rising from 2 billion in 1940 to 10 billion in 2024—a fivefold increase, the scale becomes clearer. With around 10 million Palestinian refugees today, a proportional estimation suggests that the Arab population in 1940 could have been around 2 million. These figures emphasize the potential magnitude of the Arab population before the creation of Israel and accurately portray historical demographics. The motivations behind this skewed history might be twofold: to mask past atrocities against Jews in the Western world and to validate our role in the creation of Israel, resulting in the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland and to whitewash human rights violations by Israel. Regrettably, I find myself agreeing that the contemporary Muslim world exhibits a disturbing level of animosity towards Jews, a stark contrast to the practices of the Prophet and his early followers in Islamic history. This hostility doesn’t align with the core principles of Islam. Had this widespread hostility between Jews and Muslims originated from Islam itself, history would have witnessed the persecution and eradication of Jews and Christians from the Muslim world. In reality, Jews migrated to the Middle East from the West to escape European persecution and anti-Semitism, indicating a more complex dynamic than religious teachings fostering animosity. An examination of historical records illuminates the amicable relationships and goodwill that historically existed between Muslims and people of various faiths. This scrutiny discredits the narrative of inherent animosity between Muslims and Jews before the establishment of Israel. A comparative study of the historical events surrounding both the Crusader and Muslim invasions of Palestine reveals significant insights into the treatment of the Palestinian people. The observations of American historian and scientist John William Draper (1811-1882) are particularly illuminating: “[In] the capture of Jerusalem [by Crusaders], the brains of young children were dashed out against the wall; infants were thrown over the battlements; every women that could be seized was violated; men were roasted at fires; some were ripped open, to see if they had swallowed gold; the Jews were driven into their synagogue, and there burnt; a massacre of nearly 70,000 persons took place; and the pope’s legate was seen ‘partaking in the triumph.’ ” [REF: John W. Draper: “History of Intellectual Development of Europe.”1876. Vol.II. Page 23]. Draper then proceeds to describe the Muslim invasion and the arrival of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in the following manner: “When Calif Omar took Jerusalem, A.D. 637, he rode into the city by the side of the Patriarch Sophronius, conversing with him on its antiquities. At the hour of prayer , he declined to perform the devotions in the Church of Resurrection, in which he chanced to be, but prayed on the steps of the Church of Constantine; ‘for ‘said he to the patriarch, ‘had I done so, the Muselman in a future age would have infringed the treaty, under colour of imitating my example.’” [REF: John W Draper The Intellectual Development of Europe. 1876. Vol 1. page 23.) The American philosopher and historian Will Durant (1885-1981) provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of non-Muslims under Muslim rule: “To these Dhimmi-Christian, Zoroastrians, Sabaeans, Jews-the Umayyad caliphate offered a degree of tolerance hardly equalled in contemporary Christian lands. They were allowed free practice of their faiths, and the retention of their churches, on condition that they wear honey-coloured dress, and pay poll tax of from one to four dinars ($4.75 to 19.00) per year according to their income. This tax fell only upon non-Moslems capable of military service; it was not levied upon monks, women, adolescents, slaves, the old, crippled, blind, or very poor. In return the Dhimmi were excused (or excluded) from military service, were exempt from the two and a half percent tax for community charity, and received the protection of the government…Omar himself continued in Egypt the allowances formally made to the Christian churches by the Byzantine government. The Jews of the Near East had welcomed the Arabs as liberators. They suffered now diverse disabilities and occasional persecutions; but they stood on equal terms with Christians, were free once more to live and worship in Jerusalem, and prospered under Islam in Asia, Egypt, and Spain as never under Christian rule…Christians of western Asia usually practiced their religion unhindered; Syria remained predominantly Christian until third Muslim century; in the rein of Mamun (813-33) we hear of 11,000 Christian churches in Islam-as well as hundreds of synagogues and fire temples. Christian festivals were freely and openly celebrated; Christian pilgrims came in safety to visit Christian shrines in Palestine…Christian heretics persecuted by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, or Antioch were free and safe under a Moslem rule…In the ninth century the Moslem governor of Antioch appointed a special guard to keep Christian sects from massacring one another in church. Monasteries and nunneries flourished under the skeptical Umayyads…The Mohammedan administrative bureaucracy had hundreds of Christian employees…The Christians of the east in general regarded Islamic rule as lesser evil than of the Byzantine government and church. Despite or because of this policy of tolerance in early Islam, the new faith won over to itself in time most Christians, nearly all the Zoroastrians and pagans, and many of the Jews of Asia, Egypt, and North Africa…Where Hellenism, after a thousand years of mastery, had failed to take root, and Roman arms had left the native gods unconquered, and Byzantine orthodoxy had raised rebellious heresies, Mohammedanism had secured, almost without proselytism, not only belief and worship, but a tenacious fidelity that quite forgot the superseded gods.” [REF: Will Durant: “The Story of Civilization”. New York.1950. page 218] Before the spread of Islam from Arabia to Spain in the sixth century, Jewish communities primarily focused on agriculture and manual labor. However, with the ascent of Islam, Jews transitioned into roles as merchants, artisans, physicians, and scientists within the Muslim empire of the Prophet Muhammad and his early followers. This shift in the Jewish way of life during this period highlights that the early form of Islam was not the fanatical, chauvinistic, or ethnocentric cult that is sometimes portrayed in today's contemporary Muslim world. Historical records indicate that Muslims played a crucial role in safeguarding Jews from European persecution. Notably, in response to the Alhambra Decree expelling Jews from Spain by July 31, 1492, Sultan Bayezid dispatched the Ottoman navy, led by Kemal Reis, to Spain to offer refuge to the expelled Jewish population. Here are few Jewish Historian, S.H.Goiten states: “The Jews took their full share in this great Middle-eastern mercantile civilization [Islamic civilization], in particular from tenth to thirteenth centuries; and it was at that time and in that part of the world that Judaism itself received its final shape.” [REF: “A Mediterranean Society.” By S.H. Goiten. London: Cambridge University Press, 1967, Pages. 6-7]. Other historians repeat the same story. American historian philosopher, Will Durant, agrees with S.H.Goiten: “Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayyumi …grew up in Egypt…Saadia took a leaf or two from Moslem theologians, and followed their methods of exposition, even, now and then, the details of their argument. In turn his work permeated the Jewish world, and influenced Maimonides. ‘Were it not for Saadia,’ said ben Maimon, ‘the Torah would almost have disappeared.’” [Ref: “The Story of Civilization” by Will Durant. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950, Vol. 4. Pages.367-368). The earliest Talmud commentaries were written by Rabbi Sa'adiah ben Yosef Gaon (c. 800 - 1000, CE) in Babylonia under the rule of Abasid caliphate. Heinrich Graetz, the leading 19th century Jewish historian, states: “Wearied with contemplating the miserable plight of the Jews in their ancient home and in the countries of Europe, and fatigued by the constant sight of fanatical oppression, the eyes of the observer rest with gladness upon their situation in the Arabian Peninsula. Here the sons of the Judah were free to raise their heads, and did not need to look about them with fear and humiliation, lest the ecclesiastical wrath be discharged upon them, or the secular power overwhelm them. Here they were not shut out from the paths of honour, nor excluded from the privileges of the state, but, untrammelled, were allowed to develop their powers in the midst of free, simple and talented people, to show their courage, to compete for the gifts of fame, and with practiced hand to measure swords with their antagonism.” [Ref: A History of Jews” by Heinrich Graetz (New York 1894) page p. 3: 236.] The Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem insisted with Caliph Omar to include a clause in the edict (see the edict above) preventing Jews living with Christians in Jerusalem . However, later Caliph Omar realized the injustice of this provision and invited Jews to live in Jerusalem. Karen Armstrong documents this: “Umar [the brother-in-law of Prophet Muhammad] invited seventy Jewish families from Tiberias to settle in Jerusalem…They were also allowed to build a synagogue—known as the ‘Cave’ near Herod’s western supporting wall…Muslims had not only liberated them [Jews] from the oppression of Byzantium but had also given Jews rights of permanent residence in their Holy City…Towards the end of the seventh century, a Hebrew poem hailed the Arabs as the precursors of the Messiah.” [REF: Jerusalem by Karen Armstrong. page.233] American historian Philosopher Will Duran repeats the story: “A rapid growth of Palestinian Jewelry followed the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187; Saladin’s brother, the Sultan Al-Adil, welcomed the 300 Rabbis who in 1211 fled from England and France…Despite conversion and occasional persecution, Jews remained numerous in Moslem Syria, Babylonia (Iraq) and Persia, and developed a vigorous economic and cultural life.” (REF: Story of Civilization by Will Durant. Age of Faith. Page 366). Jewish Historian, Max I. Dimont states: “The image of modern man holds of the Jew in the Islamic Age in no way corresponds to reality.” (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I.Dimont. New York.1962. Page 193) “The improbable but true tale of a camel driver’s establishment of a world empire in the name Allah, wherein the Jews rose to their Golden Age of creativity, only to be plunged into a Dark Age with the eclipse of the Crescent and the ascent of the cross.” (Ref: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I.Dimont. New York.1962. Page 183). “Span of Jewish Golden Age in the Mohammedan civilization corresponded to the life span of the Islamic Empire itself.” (Ref: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I.Dimont. New York.1962. Page 192) “Within a hundred years the Mohammedan Empire rose to challenge Western civilization. Yet, within this religion, the Jews not only survived but rose to one of their greatest literary, scientific, and intellectual peaks…Seven hundred years passed and the pendulum swung. The Islamic world crumbled and the Jewish culture in the Islamic world crumbled with it.” [Ref: “Jews, God and History.” By Max I.Dimont:. New York.1962. Page 17]. So great was the fame of Rabbi Moses ben Maimonides (1134-1204 A.D), the author of Mishneh Torah (The “Second Torah”). When Richard the Lion Heart got sick during 3rd crusade against Calif Sulaiman the Magnificent, the Calif sent his physician, Maimonides. “Richard the Lion Heart, King of England, offered him a post as his personal `physician, but Maimonides refused, feeling more at home in the culture of Arabic civilization than in the barbaric atmosphere of feudal Europe.” [Ref: “Jews, God and History.” By Max I.Dimont: New York.1962. Page. 179]. Maimonides’s refusal of the offer shows that Jews felt more at home and free in Muslim empire than in the Christian empire. “Though the Mohammedan Empire is dead, the human elements which shaped its grandeur is still living…It sprang from a deep well of human creativity within the people themselves. For seven hundred years Arab and Jew lived side by side in peace and with mutual respect.” (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I. Dimont. New York.1962. Page 205) “In Spain…King Reccared, with fearful zeal of a new convert, spread his newly found Christianity with sword so fierce that not only were the Visigoths baptized, but large number of Jews as well. When the Mohammedans conquered Spain and granted everyone religious freedom, many of these forcefully converted Jews did not return fully to the Mosaic religion”. (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I. Dimont. New York.1962. Page 213) “Throughout North Africa, Egypt, and Ottoman Empire, Jews enjoyed almost complete religious and economic freedom for several centuries.”.” (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I. Dimont. New York.1962. Page 223) “Even the Black Death, or bubonic plague (1348-1349), …was put into the service of killing Jews (in Europe). Before the Black Death swept Europe, it had hit Mongolia and Islamic Empire. Mongols, Mohammedans, and Jews had all died together without anyone having thought of blaming Jews”.” (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I.Dimont. New York.1962. Page 237) “Technically, all non-Mohammedans had to pay a head tax for protection, which exempted them from military service and denied them the right to hold public office. But as far as the Jews were concerned, these were neglected laws, for the Jews seldom had to pay such a head tax, often served with great distinction and high rank Moslem armies and rose to the highest posts in government services, including grand viziers and princely rank.” .” (REF: “Jews, God and History.” by Max I.Dimont. New York.1962. Page 192) Jewish Historian, Ilan Halevi States☹ “It is true that the Arab world was much more tolerant than Christian West towards the Jews living within it, and that, in the land of Islam, especially in the Arab world, the concept of anti-Semitism such as it developed in Europe in the 19th century lacks the roots and encrustation that it has in Germany or Russia.” [REF: “A History of Jews, Ancient and Modern.” by Ilan Halevi. P. 199]. would not claim that there were intermittent persecution of Jews and Christians by some Muslims. However, according to Karen Armstrong, these persecutions occurred only during the time when the House of Islam was invaded by Christians and Jews. [REF:Holy War by Karen Armstrong. Page 30]. Karen Armstrong, Professor at Leo Baeck College for Study of Judaism and the Training of Rabbis and teachers, states in her book, Holy War: “Indeed, the word ‘Islam’ comes from the same Arabic root as the word ‘peace’ and Koran condemns war as abnormal state of affairs opposed to God’s will: when the enemies of Muslims ‘kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. They strive to create disorder in the earth, and Allah loves not those who create disorder’ (Koran 5:64). Islam does not justify a total aggressive war of extermination, as Torah does in the first five books of the Bible… Islam recognizes that war is inevitable and sometimes a positive duty in order to end oppression and suffering. The Koran teaches that war must be limited and be conducted in as humane way as possible… [Mohammad instructed Muslim army that] they must not molest priests, monks, nuns nor the weak and helpless people who were unable to fight. They must not massacre of civilians nor should they cut down a single tree nor pull down any building. This was very different from the wars of Joshua.” [REF: Karen Armstrong. Holy War. Page 25] Henry Grady Weaver from The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc, Irvington-On-Hudson, New York, states in his book, “The Mainspring of Human Progress:” “Prior to the Crusades, it had never occurred to the invaders that a strong man needs not be brutal. The Saracens (i.e., Muslims) were fierce in battle, but they were not cruel. They did not kill the wounded; they did not torture their prisoners. When they struck down an opponent, it was not uncommon to help them. (Read Sir Walter Scott). They did not persecute Christians. They were honourable. They told the truth; they kept their word. The English knights were especially impressed; and due in small measure to the lessons learned from the Saracens, the British aristocracy developed into one of the finest ruling classes the world has ever known.” [REF: Henry Grady Weaver: “The Main Spring of Human Progress.” New York 1984. Page 122] Bernard Lewis, contemporary American Historian in ““With few exceptions, whatever was creative and significant in Jewish life happened in Islamic lands. The Jewish communities of Europe formed a kind of cultural dependency on the Jews of the far more advanced and sophisticated Islamic world, extending from Muslim Spain in the west to Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia in the east.” (REF: Jews OF ISLAM” Bernard Lewis. page 66) These historical facts demonstrate that Muslims and their faith have historically been progressive and hospitable to others. They facilitated the uplifting of all people, not solely benefiting Muslims alone. But unfortunately, Israel relentlessly grabs Palestinian land, destroy their home, uproot trees and wrecks water cistern. Palestinians are not allowed to even The collection of drinking water from rain is made illegal for Palestinians. (REF: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/11/the-occupation-of-water/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/05/does-israels-treatment-palestinians-rise-level-apartheid The distressing reality in Gaza highlights a tragic situation where children have become victims, prompting questions from observers. It's puzzling how a nation that endured the Holocaust could be involved in practices reminiscent of apartheid, leading to persecution and hindering the delivery of essential resources like water, food, and fuel to a people who gave shelter when Western nations expelled ancestors of Israel. ---- T.O. Shanavas is a native of Kerala, but is now based in the USA. He is the author of “Islamic Theory of Evolution The Missing Link Between Darwin and The Origin of Species.” Co-author of the book, And God Said, "Let There Be Evolution!": Reconciling The Book Of Genesis, The Qur'an, And The Theory Of Evolution. Edited by Prof. Charles M. Wynn and Prof. Arthur W. Wiggins. 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