Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Maps
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture
- Introduction
- 1 The Hebrew Bible and the Early History of Israel
- 2 The Second Temple Period
- 3 The Rabbinic Movement
- 4 The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
- 5 Jewish Life in Western Christendom
- 6 Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe
- 7 European Jewry: 1800–1933
- 8 Jews and Judaism in the United States
- 9 The Shoah and Its Legacies
- 10 The Founding of Modern Israel and the Arab–Israeli Conflict
- 11 Judaism as a Religious System
- 12 The Centrality of Talmud
- 13 Jewish Worship and Liturgy
- 14 Jewish Private Life: Gender, Marriage, and the Lives of Women
- 15 Jewish Philosophy
- 16 Jewish Mysticism
- 17 Modern Jewish Thought
- 18 Contemporary Forms of Judaism
- 19 Jewish Popular Culture
- 20 Aspects of Israeli Society
- 21 The Future of World Jewish Communities
- Glossary
- Timeline
- Index
- References
4 - The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Maps
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture
- Introduction
- 1 The Hebrew Bible and the Early History of Israel
- 2 The Second Temple Period
- 3 The Rabbinic Movement
- 4 The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World
- 5 Jewish Life in Western Christendom
- 6 Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe
- 7 European Jewry: 1800–1933
- 8 Jews and Judaism in the United States
- 9 The Shoah and Its Legacies
- 10 The Founding of Modern Israel and the Arab–Israeli Conflict
- 11 Judaism as a Religious System
- 12 The Centrality of Talmud
- 13 Jewish Worship and Liturgy
- 14 Jewish Private Life: Gender, Marriage, and the Lives of Women
- 15 Jewish Philosophy
- 16 Jewish Mysticism
- 17 Modern Jewish Thought
- 18 Contemporary Forms of Judaism
- 19 Jewish Popular Culture
- 20 Aspects of Israeli Society
- 21 The Future of World Jewish Communities
- Glossary
- Timeline
- Index
- References
Summary
Until the mid-twentieth century, there were more than one million Jews living in the Muslim countries stretching from Morocco to Pakistan. Some of these communities had roots going back to antiquity. There were Jews in many of what we now identify as Arab countries, long before the arrival of the Arabs, and in what is now Turkey long before the arrival of the Turks. Until the seventeenth century, Muslim lands were home to the majority of world Jewry, and during the Middle Ages, it was there that some of the greatest works of the Jewish intellectual and artistic spirit were created. Today only vestiges of these historic Jewish communities remain, and their number is diminishing. This chapter surveys the history of this important branch of the Jewish people from the earliest beginnings of Islam to the present.
THE FOUNDING OF ISLAM AND THE EARLIEST JUDEO-MUSLIM ENCOUNTERS
There were Jewish communities in early seventh-century Arabia, when a merchant in Mecca named Muhammad began preaching a new monotheistic religion to his pagan fellow Arabs. The Jews who lived in Arabia spoke Arabic, were organized into clans and tribes like their Arab neighbors, and were generally assimilated into the surrounding culture. In spite of their overall acculturation, they were regarded as a separate group with their own distinctive religion and customs. Not only were the pagan Arabs familiar with Jews and their religious practices, but also Jewish ideas, ethical concepts, and homiletic lore, and even some Hebrew and Aramaic terms were absorbed by those Arabs who came into close contact with Jews.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture , pp. 85 - 112Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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