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Antisemitism in Islam: Difference between revisions
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Any notion of Islamic antisemitism must be distinguished, through both comparison and contrast, from the form of antisemitism which has, and in a few places continues to, oppress Jews in the (usually Christian) West. The English term of antisemitism is usually used to refer to the Western hatred of Jews by Christians which, at least historically, was deeply rooted in Christian religious beliefs about the status of Jews as a people responsible for the murder (deicide) of God in the form of Jesus Christ. There was also the idea of the failure of the Jews to embrace the New Testament and the new covenant with God advanced by Christians. These two ideas, coupled with historical allusions to the religious failures of early Jews according the Old Testament and stereotypes about Jews (such as their financial cunning and exaggerated physique) which accreted in the centuries after Jesus' demise, worked together to constitute a uniquely acute and religious hatred of the Jewish people which in some ways, if not formally than practically, almost amounted to a Christian religious doctrine. | Any notion of Islamic antisemitism must be distinguished, through both comparison and contrast, from the form of antisemitism which has, and in a few places continues to, oppress Jews in the (usually Christian) West. The English term of antisemitism is usually used to refer to the Western hatred of Jews by Christians which, at least historically, was deeply rooted in Christian religious beliefs about the status of Jews as a people responsible for the murder (deicide) of God in the form of Jesus Christ. There was also the idea of the failure of the Jews to embrace the New Testament and the new covenant with God advanced by Christians. These two ideas, coupled with historical allusions to the religious failures of early Jews according the Old Testament and stereotypes about Jews (such as their financial cunning and exaggerated physique) which accreted in the centuries after Jesus' demise, worked together to constitute a uniquely acute and religious hatred of the Jewish people which in some ways, if not formally than practically, almost amounted to a Christian religious doctrine. | ||
What can be termed "Islamic antisemitism" is in part similar and in part different from the legacy of antisemitism found in the West. Islamic antisemitism shares in common with its Christian counterpart a vague reliance on the religious failures of the ancient Hebrews as recorded in the Old Testament (and later the Quran) as well as on the failure of Jews to convert, en masse, to the follow-up religion (in this case Islam). Islam, however, lacks such an acute and and loaded accusation against the post-Islamic Jews as the Christian charge of deicide. Consequently, the Jews are perceived as having historically disappointed God but not as being uniquely sinful to an extent as extreme as deicide. Still, some would argue that where Islam lacks | What can be termed "Islamic antisemitism" is in part similar and in part different from the legacy of antisemitism found in the West. Islamic antisemitism shares in common with its Christian counterpart a vague reliance on the religious failures of the ancient Hebrews as recorded in the Old Testament (and later the Quran) as well as on the failure of Jews to convert, en masse, to the follow-up religion (in this case Islam). Islam, however, lacks such an acute and and loaded accusation against the post-Islamic Jews as the Christian charge of deicide. Consequently, the Jews are perceived as having historically disappointed God but not as being uniquely sinful to an extent as extreme as deicide. Still, some would argue that where Islam lacks this sort of calamitous accusation against the Jews, it more than compensates in its depiction of Muhammad singling Jews out for persecution in the hadith literature. Whereas Jesus' victimhood to the Jews was the primary motivation of Christian antisemitism, Muhammad's (perhaps mythical) victimization of the Jews can be understood as the primary motivation of Islamic antisemitism. | ||
=== Defining Semites === | ===Defining Semites=== | ||
Technically, Arabs, Ethiopians, and Assyrians can be described as Semitic people, however in the context of "Anti-Semitism" it is commonly understood to refer to people who identify as Jewish. | Technically, Arabs, Ethiopians, and Assyrians can be described as Semitic people, however in the context of "Anti-Semitism" it is commonly understood to refer to people who identify as Jewish. | ||