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Concept
Antisemitism in Islam
Summary
Antisemitism in Islam refers to scriptural and theological teachings in Islam against Jews and Judaism, and the treatment and persecution of Jews in the Muslim world.
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. The quality of Muslim rule varied considerably in different periods, as did the attitudes of the rulers, government officials, the clergy, and the general population towards various subjugated ethnic and religious groups, ranging from tolerance to open persecution.
Scholars have studied and debated Muslim attitudes towards Jews, as well as the treatment of Jews in Islamic thought and societies throughout the history of Islam.
Claude Cahen and Shelomo Dov Goitein argue against the claim that antisemitism has a long history in Muslim countries, writing that the discrimination that was practiced against non-Muslims (Kuffar) was of a general nature, so it was not specifically directed against Jews. According to these scholars, antisemitism in medieval Islam was local and sporadic rather than general and endemic.
Bernard Lewis writes that while Muslims have held negative stereotypes regarding Jews throughout most of Islamic history, these stereotypes were different from those stereotypes which accompanied European antisemitism because, unlike Christians who considered Jews objects of fear, Muslims only considered Jews objects of ridicule. He argues that Muslims did not attribute "cosmic evil" to Jews. In Lewis' view, it was only in the late 19th century that movements first appeared among Muslims that can be described as antisemitic in the European forms.
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. Both the Jews and the Christians were relegated to the status of dhimmi.
Official source
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