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 both described Jewish groups in negative terms and 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 Christians, Zoroastrians and Berbers) 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 commonly found in some Islamic (and Christian) discourse is the accusation of Jews as the "killers of prophets", finding justification in some depictions of the Banu Israil (Islamic name for the Israelites) made in the Quran.
Range of opinions Claude CahenClaude Cahen. "Dhimma" in Encyclopedia of Islam. and Shelomo Dov GoiteinShelomo Dov Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: An Abridgment in One Volume, p. 293. argue against the claim that antisemitism has a long history in Muslim countries, writing that the discrimination that was practiced against non-Muslims () was of a general nature, so it was not specifically directed against Jews.The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, "Antisemitism" According to these scholars, antisemitism in medieval Islam was local and sporadic rather than general and endemic. Bernard LewisLewis, Bernard. "The New Anti-Semitism", The American Scholar, Volume 75 No. 1, Winter 2006, p. 25–36; based on a lecture delivered at Brandeis University on 24 March 2004. writes that while Muslims have held stereotypes of Jews throughout most of Islamic history, these stereotypes were different from those stereotypes which accompanied European medieval antisemitism because, unlike Christians who considered Jews objects of fear, Muslims considered Jews objects of only ridicule. He argues that Muslims did not attribute "cosmic evil" to Jews.Lewis (1999) p. 192. In Lewis's 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.Lewis (1984) p. 184 Frederick M. Schweitzer and Marvin Perry argue 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 the lands of Christendom were subjected to worse polemics, persecutions, and massacres than Jews living under Muslim rule.Schweitzer, p. 266. According to Walter Laqueur, the varying interpretations of the Quran are important for understanding Muslim attitudes towards Jews. A number of 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 some, but also befriended other Jews. For Martin Kramer, the idea that contemporary new 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 racial antisemitism and anti-Judaism.Saad-Ghorayeb, Amal. Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion. London: Pluto Press, 2002. pp. 168–86. 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
Jews in the Meccan period The Meccan Quran mentions Jews directly, and under other labels like "People of the Book" (ahl al-kitāb) and "Israelite's" (Banū Isrāʾīl). These references are broadly positive. At times, Jews (and Christians) are encouraged to seek Muhammad out for religious advice. At this time, the Quran may not have formed a hard distinction between Jews and Christians, and it may not have required either to convert into Muhammad's religious following.
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 Arab Christians as a single religious lineage. In surah 2:140 of the Quran, Jews (Yahūdi) are considered a religious group, while Banū Isrāʾīl are an ethnic group.
Yahud and Yahudi The Arabic terms Yahūd (Jews) and Yahūdi (Jew), occur 11 times, and the verb hāda (meaning "to be a Jew") occurs 10 times.Jews and Judaism, Encyclopedia of the Quran According to Khalid Duran, the negative passages use Yahūd, while the positive references speak mainly of the Banū Isrāʾīl.Khalid Durán, with Abdelwahab Hechichep, Children of Abraham: an introduction to Islam for Jews, American Jewish Committee/Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding, KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 2001 p. 112
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.Abbas, pp. 178–179
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 fellow monotheists and saw them as natural adherents to his new faith. Early Islam followed similar religious practices to Jews, and may have been modeled to a degree on Judaism:
Jewish prayer is fixed and mandatory at least three times daily, depending on the day of the week and the time of year, with () as the morning service, () as the afternoon service, and () as the evening service. On Shabbat, which begins with Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv every Friday night, Jews congregate to pray, engage in Torah study, and rest. Jews have prayed toward the site of the Jerusalem Temple since the compilation of tractate Berkahot in the Talmud, if not before. Jews observe fasts and holy days other than Shabbat throughout the Hebrew year. Similarly, Muslims are obligated to perform five times daily according to fixed prayer times. Muslims congregate on ('Day of Congregation') for Friday prayers (though Friday is not considered a holy day like Shabbat). Until 623 CE, the Islamic qibla was Jerusalem. Muslims observe fasts like Ramadan and religious holidays.Rodinson, p. 159
Judaism in Quranic 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 (1999) p. 126 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.Lewis (1999), pp. 117–118Chanes, Jerome A (2004). Antisemitism. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 41–5.
In addition, Lewis argues that the Quran lacks the popular Western traditions of 'guilt and betrayal'.Lewis (1999) p. 122 Rosenblatt and Pinson suggest that the Quran teaches tolerance toward Judaism as a fellow monotheistic faith.Pinson; Rosenblatt (1946) pp. 112–119
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 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 (, , ) ground conventional Muslim epithets for Jews (as apes) and Christians (as pigs).Lewis, The Jews and Islam, pp. 33, 198 The interpretation of these 'enigmatic'Firestone, p. 242 n.8 passages in Islamic exegetics is highly complex, dealing as they do with infractions like breaking the Sabbath.On 2:62, the reference is to Jewish Sabbath breakers. See the synthesis of commentaries in Mahmoud Ayoub, The Qur'an and Its Interpreters, SUNY Press, New York,1984, Vol. 1 pp. 108–116 According to Goitein, the idea of Jewish Sabbath breakers turning into apes may reflect the influence of Yemeni midrashim.Gerald R. Hawting, The idea of idolatry and the emergence of Islam: from polemic to history, Cambridge University Press, 1999 p. 105 n.45 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.Firestone, p. 37
According to Stillman, the Quran praises Moses, and depicts the Israelites as the recipients of divine favour.Stillman, Norman (2005). Antisemitism: A historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution. Vol. 1. pp. 356–61 The Quran dedicates multiple verses to the glorification of Hebrew prophets, says Leon Poliakov.Poliakov (1974) pp. 27, 41–3 He quotes verse 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˺.
Quranic remarks about Jews Leon Poliakov,Poliakov Walter Laqueur, and Jane Gerber,Gerber, p. 78 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."Uri Rubin, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an, Jews and Judaism 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.