Another lie that Ahmadinejad keeps spreading is that Jews were treated well by Muslims in Muslim lands. One has only to do a bit of research to see that is untrue.
At various times, Jews in Muslim lands were able to live in relative peace and thrive culturally and economically. The position of the Jews was never secure, however, and changes in the political or social climate would often lead to persecution, violence and death. Jews were generally viewed with contempt by their Muslim neighbors; peaceful coexistence between the two groups involved the subordination and degradation of the Jews.
When Jews were perceived as having achieved too comfortable a position in Islamic society, anti-Semitism would surface, often with devastating results: On December 30, 1066, Joseph HaNagid, the Jewish vizier of Granada, Spain, was crucified by an Arab mob that proceeded to raze the Jewish quarter of the city and slaughter its 5,000 inhabitants. The riot was incited by Muslim preachers who had angrily objected to what they saw as inordinate Jewish political power.
Similarly, in 1465, Arab mobs in Fez slaughtered thousands of Jews, leaving only 11 alive, after a Jewish deputy vizier treated a Muslim woman in “an offensive manner.” The killings touched off a wave of similar massacres throughout Morocco.(6)
Other mass murders of Jews in Arab lands occurred in Morocco in the 8th century, where whole communities were wiped out by Muslim ruler Idris I; North Africa in the 12th century, where the Almohads either forcibly converted or decimated several communities; Libya in 1785, where Ali Burzi Pasha murdered hundreds of Jews; Algiers, where Jews were massacred in 1805, 1815 and 1830 and Marrakesh, Morocco, where more than 300 hundred Jews were murdered between 1864 and 1880.(7)
Decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues were enacted in Egypt and Syria (1014, 1293-4, 1301-2), Iraq (854-859, 1344) and Yemen (1676). Despite the Koran’s prohibition, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face death in Yemen (1165 and 1678), Morocco (1275, 1465 and 1790-92) and Baghdad (1333 and 1344).(8)
And it didn’t get any better in modern times, contrary to the lies passed along by prominent (and not so prominent) Muslims:
The situation of Jews in Arab lands reached a low point in the 19th century. Jews in most of North Africa (including Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Morocco) were forced to live in ghettos. In Morocco, which contained the largest Jewish community in the Islamic Diaspora, Jews were made to walk barefoot or wear shoes of straw when outside the ghetto. Even Muslim children participated in the degradation of Jews, by throwing stones at them or harassing them in other ways. The frequency of anti-Jewish violence increased, and many Jews were executed on charges of apostasy. Ritual murder accusations against the Jews became commonplace in the Ottoman Empire.(10)
The final insult, apparently, to Muslims, was the establishment of the State of Israel:
The danger for Jews became even greater as a showdown approached in the UN over partition in 1947. The Syrian delegate, Faris el-Khouri, warned: “Unless the Palestine problem is settled, we shall have difficulty in protecting and safeguarding the Jews in the Arab world.”(12)
More than a thousand Jews were killed in anti-Jewish rioting during the 1940’s in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria and Yemen.(13) This helped trigger the mass exodus of Jews from Arab countries.
(A topic for later: Muslims get bent out of shape when you attribute the behavior of some Muslims to all Muslims, yet it seems perfectly reasonable to them to persecute, say, the Jews of Yemen for the establishment of the State of Israel.)
Don’t believe the lies you keep hearing. The Muslims were no friends to Jews. And in recent years, they have been responsible for more Jewish deaths than anyone since Hitler–with whom many of them were aligned.
It’s obvious that Ahmadinejad wishes to join his predecessors in Jew-hatred.
I had a confrontation with one prominent muslim who was born a Jew. He made the case that islam was always far better in its treatment of Jews than Christians so when he was looking for a faith more universal in outlook his decision came in part because he became convinced that this was true.
Apparently his thinking went something like this.
Every bad thing that Christians have ever done to the Jews can be blamed on the Christian faith itself. But every bad thing that Muslims have ever done is not the fault of islam but of culture or the evil of a few individuals.
I tried to get him to realize/admit the truth and burst his unrealistic, idealistic bubble by arguing quite correctly that neither Christianity nor islam can possibly claim to have historically treated the Jews better than the other. The history of both faiths, and I speak as a devout Christian here, are equally bad and equally inexcusable. Neither one can be or should be exonerated by their believers if they are truly interested in bringing these faiths to maturity.
But his bitterness and delusion was inpregnable. ahhh well. I tried.
Good post. Keep spreading the word. I just found your blog due to Sharon’s illness. I like it very much. If only I could have found it under better circumstances….
PS
When I said that the records are about the same I meant to include modern history. I dont think I am exagerating at all when I say that no Jews living outside of their own homeland have ever been treated better than they have been in America. It wasn’t islam that achieved this high water mark. Nothing, not even this acheivement, excuses something like the Holocaust or any progrom committed by anyone. I only mean to say that each group has been just as anti-Jew as the other when all has been taken into account. Historical circumstances made the Nazi’s into monstrously efficient exterminators but the Arab Muslim world has been straining to catch up ever since. Both faiths should be ashamed of themselves. Unfortunately only the Christians have managed to express that shame and sorrow to the Jews. Thanks be to G-d, as we say. It not to our credit but to His.
Peggy, you are quite right about America and the Jews.
I wouldn’t ascribe the Nazi murder extravaganza to Christians. The Nazis were hardly to be described as Christians. They were more along the lines of the atheism that become fashionable in the late 19th Century and that people who considered themselves up-to-date adopted in the 20th Century. In a book called “Hitler Strikes Poland” about the early murder operations in WWII, Alexander B. Rossino looks at the backgrounds of the senior officers of the SS who commanded the special murder units. The all had to renounce their religious faith in order to gain promotion to high rank in the SS.
Incidentally, one of the classes of targets for those murder brigades, in addition to the Jews and various other Poles, was members of the Boy Scouts.
Michael,
You are correct that the Nazis were not Christian. I neglected to make that distinction. They bear the lion’s share of the responsibility. However, the Nazis did take advantage of centuries of Anti-Semitism in Europe and the civilian population who were Christian largely stood by and did nothing. Although there were valiant exceptions to this fact and while it could be said that the Christians who did stand up were more true to their faith than others, the fact remains that Christians bear at least some responsibility both for the climate in which the Nazi party flourished and for looking the other way as millions of Jews were sent to the camps. Thankfully, the majority of Christians have repented of playing even this part in the Holocaust and have worked very hard to redeem our faith by protecting and supporting Jews since then. This shows a great maturity which islam isnt even close to showing. Whatsmore, given the modern era’s access to information and cross-cultural exchange, islam has even less excuse to be so far behind in its growth curve. So while the records of the two faiths may be about even regarding Anti-Semitism, it is telling that islam shows so little interest in catching up to the Christian example. I doubt that they will since, for just one example, they can’t allow synagouges in Saudi without disobeying mohammed’s explicit directions. They cant allow full freedom of speech or religion without also disobeying explict commands against allowing Christians to freely spread their faith on an even playing field among muslims as muslims are allowed to do in Christian dominated lands. I see Christians pulling far ahead in years to come while muslims will fall farther and farther behind.