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Antisemitism in Islam: Difference between revisions
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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. | 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. | ||
More important today than the historical origins and constitution of either form of antisemitism, however, is how they responded to the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. In the West, the manifestation and consequences of Nazi Ideology threw the incompatibility of Christian antisemitism and Enlightenment values into excruciating sharp relief. Western nations, faced with this fork in the road, decided to marshal popular spirit against Nazi ideology in the name of human rights. By contrast, much of the Muslim world, already at loggerheads with the West due to recent and ongoing struggles against colonialism, positioned itself against the Nazis enemies and thus behind the Nazis. Henceforth, what were once somewhat vaguer notions of anti-Jewish sentiment based largely in Islamic scripture now incorporated much of the pseudo-scientific and rationalized nature of German antisemitism. The expression of Islamic antisemitism in the modern world, while still couched in religious terminology and religiously justified as fundamentally Islamic, often employs the symbolic and practical methods of the Nazis. In summary, the phenomenon of Nazi Germany placed both Western and Islamic antisemitism at a cross roads. And while the West decided at this point in history to overcome its past and begin a secular crusade against antisemitism and other forms of discrimination (with the Civil Rights Movement), the Islamic world found new fuel for antisemitism that would enable it to take its antisemitism to new and previously unknown heights. | More important today than the historical origins and constitution of either form of antisemitism, however, is how they responded to the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. In the West, the manifestation and consequences of Nazi Ideology threw the incompatibility of Christian antisemitism and Enlightenment values into excruciating sharp relief. Western nations, faced with this fork in the road, decided to marshal popular spirit against Nazi ideology in the name of human rights. By contrast, much of the Muslim world, already at loggerheads with the West due to recent and ongoing struggles against colonialism, positioned itself against the Nazis enemies and thus behind the Nazis. Henceforth, what were once somewhat vaguer notions of anti-Jewish sentiment based largely in Islamic scripture now incorporated much of the pseudo-scientific and rationalized nature of German antisemitism. The expression of Islamic antisemitism in the modern world, while still couched in religious terminology and religiously justified as fundamentally Islamic, often employs the symbolic and practical methods of the Nazis. In summary, the phenomenon of Nazi Germany placed both Western and Islamic antisemitism at a cross roads. And while the West decided at this point in history to overcome its past and begin a secular crusade against antisemitism and other forms of discrimination (with the Civil Rights Movement), the Islamic world found new fuel for antisemitism (in the form of translating Nazi propaganda into Arabic and incorporating the material into textbooks) that would enable it to take its antisemitism to new and previously unknown heights. | ||
===Defining Semites=== | ===Defining Semites=== | ||
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The Qur'an contains many charges and criticisms of the Jewish people which are both general and highly specific in nature. Some of the more general invectives are made against People of the Book (those who are said to have received and corrupted scripture from Allah in the past) as a group, and thus cannot be considered as attacks on Jews alone. | The Qur'an contains many charges and criticisms of the Jewish people which are both general and highly specific in nature. Some of the more general invectives are made against People of the Book (those who are said to have received and corrupted scripture from Allah in the past) as a group, and thus cannot be considered as attacks on Jews alone. | ||
==== Invective specific to Jews ==== | ====Invective specific to Jews==== | ||
''Jews must believe in the Qur'an or else Allah will distort their faces and take away their fame so that they become unrecognizable, turning them backwards, or curse them.''{{Quote|1={{Quran|4|47}}|2=O ye People of the Book!* believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for the decision of Allah Must be carried out. }} | ''Jews must believe in the Qur'an or else Allah will distort their faces and take away their fame so that they become unrecognizable, turning them backwards, or curse them.''{{Quote|1={{Quran|4|47}}|2=O ye People of the Book!* believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for the decision of Allah Must be carried out. }} | ||
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According to some Islamic commentators, [[Iblis (Satan)|Satan (Iblis)]] too is cursed by Allah in the same way the Jews are cursed. Allah has likewise granted respite to Satan until the Day of Judgment, and, it is thus argued, there is no difference between Satan and Jews in this respect, because both are accursed. | According to some Islamic commentators, [[Iblis (Satan)|Satan (Iblis)]] too is cursed by Allah in the same way the Jews are cursed. Allah has likewise granted respite to Satan until the Day of Judgment, and, it is thus argued, there is no difference between Satan and Jews in this respect, because both are accursed. | ||
==== Invective not specific to Jews but including them ==== | ====Invective not specific to Jews but including them==== | ||
''Jews are only satisfied if you follow Judaism.''{{Quote|1={{Quran|2|120}}|2=Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.}} | ''Jews are only satisfied if you follow Judaism.''{{Quote|1={{Quran|2|120}}|2=Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.}} | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|9|29}}|Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute [Jizya] readily, being brought low.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|9|29}}|Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute [Jizya] readily, being brought low.}} | ||
===The Hadith === | ===The Hadith=== | ||
Muhammad is central to Islam. As the [[Uswa Hasana|uswa hasana]] (perfect example), even the most insignificant of actions on his part (recorded in the [[hadith]]) have a drastic effect upon the doctrines and [[Islamic Law|laws]] of Islam, as emulating his [[Sunnah]] is seen as the most pious of endeavors. | Muhammad is central to Islam. As the [[Uswa Hasana|uswa hasana]] (perfect example), even the most insignificant of actions on his part (recorded in the [[hadith]]) have a drastic effect upon the doctrines and [[Islamic Law|laws]] of Islam, as emulating his [[Sunnah]] is seen as the most pious of endeavors. | ||