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Rizwi S. Faizer Ph.D. McGill
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Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages
Mark R. Cohen
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1991.
ISBN: 069101082x
Mark Cohen investigates 'religion and law', 'the economy', and 'the social
order', and examines the 'nature of inter-religious polemics and
persecutions' in Medieval Christendom and the Islamic lands, to conclude
that in the final analysis the Islamic lands were a better place for it's
subordinate Jewish peoples. Why? Cohen gives several reasons such as: 1) Islam
as a faith is more favorably disposed towards Judaism than is
Christianity which blames the Jews for the death of Christ; 2) The Jews
who lived under Muslim rulers were permitted to participate in the
numerous economic activities of that society, even allowing for business
partnerships between Muslims and Jews. Such activity was not seen in
Christian Europe whose Jewish peoples were tolerated largely because of
their role as money lenders, a position for which they were deeply resented.
3) The most intriguing argument provided by Cohen is, however, that the
discriminatory laws asserted by Islam against non-Muslims established a
stratified society akin to the caste structures of South Asia: it meant
that there was a place for every community within the larger society,
and since these "places" were maintained by law, relationships between
communities were more secure and therefore less prone to arousing hatred.
According to Cohen, it explains why the anti-Semitism suffered by Jews of
Christendom was not experienced by their brethren living in the orbit of
Islam. The book is timely, given that "factors stemming from the Arab-
Israeli conflict . . . [had given] birth in some quarters to a radical
revision of Jewish- Arab history" (see p. xv). One of the reasons for
Cohen's venture is clearly his desire to set the record straight.
Cohen uses the comparative method to establish his
thesis. Pitting the religious and legalistic conditions provided to the
Jews of Christian Europe against those of Islam, Cohen tries to
demonstrate the bases for a more secure life for Jews in Muslim lands.
What comes through, however, is the terrible insecurity suffered by
Jewish peoples wherever they lived. Just as the Bible the Quran, too,
insists on the need to tolerate Jewish people despite their antagonism
toward the newer religions.
If there is a more favorable disposition towards other faiths in Islam as
is suggested by the Quranic statement, "there is no compulsion in
religion", it is unfortunately overlooked for another of its teachings
"Fight against those . . . who believe not in what Allah and His Apostle
have forbidden and follow not the true faith, until they pay the tribute
out of hand and are humbled." The interpretation of the
latter verse can be restrictive. Thus Jewish inclusion as lesser members of
society was enabled in Islamic as it was in Christian lands, through laws
which regulated their outward conduct in terms of dress and behavior. In
both regions there were times when the rules were overlooked
because they were just not convenient: usually they were happy times; which
made their moment of recall, all the more painful. But sometimes the
breakdown of rules had harsh consequences, as was the case in the lands of the
intolerant Almohads. Whatever it was,
life in both regions was so horribly insecure for their subordinate
peoples, that their existence became quite unbearable.
And yet, I too believe that during the Middle Ages,
Jewish life in the orbit of Islam was a better one. Cohen's mistake
might well be that he has not investigated early Islam adequately. That he
has not read the early sources such as The Life of Muhammad by Ibn
Ishaq (d. 767 A.D.), in the recension of Ibn Hisham, which is available
in an English translation by Alfred Guillaume is clear: Cohen asserts
that in Islamic tradition the Prophet is believed to have died naturally
(see p. 24), and this may well be. But there is also a tradition that
the Prophet claimed that his death was caused by the poison
placed in the leg of mutton prepared for him by a Jewish woman, Zaynab
(Guillaume, p. 516). On the other hand, there are also traditions which
speak of the Prophet being attracted to Jewish women. He marries two of
them, Safîya daughter of Huyayy and
Rayhâna daughter of `Amr, and
importantly he informs them that they may keep their Jewish faith if they
so desire. How then could there be a place for anti-Semitism in Islam? Indeed
Religion did not constitute a part of the ethnic make-up in Arabia: According to
traditions narrated by early historians there were Arab
pagans, Christians, Jews and Muslims during the time of the Prophet.
There is another reason which is not
adequately emphasized by Cohen.
Islam asserts that it follows in the wake of Judaism and Christianity,
and therefore upholds the prophets and leaders respected by those faiths.
Since the Jewish people believed that the Exilarch was of the house of
David, the Muslims acknowledged his status, and paid him due respect;
for the Muslims David was one of God's messengers. More importantly
Islam encouraged the diasporic existence of the Jewish peoples by
protecting the leadership of the Exilarch over the community, and
enabling them to become organized politically and socially under him.
The position of the Nagid, the leader of the local Jewish community which
developed around the 11th century, is an outcome of this organization. Such activity wihin the
community probably also contributed
towards the making of a more open society in the lands of Medieval Islam.
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