Islam and Antisemitism - Muhammad

Muhammad

During Muhammad's life, Jews lived in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in and around Medina. Muhammad is also known to have Jewish friends, and had a Jewish wife (Safiyya) who became a Muslim. According to Poliakov, "the degree to which Muhammad shows his respect for each religion is remarkable".

According to Pinson, Rosenblatt and F.E. Peters, they also began to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him (despite having signed a peace treaty). According to F.E. Peters, they also began to secretly to conspire with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him (despite having been forced by their conquerors to sign a peace treaty.) After each major battle, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery and attacked it. Two Jewish tribes were expelled and the last one, the Banu Qurayza, was wiped out after it threw itself on Muhammad's mercy.

Samuel Rosenblatt states that these incidents were not part of policies directed exclusively against Jews, and Muhammad was more severe with his pagan Arab kinsmen than foreigner monotheists. In addition Muhammad's conflict with Jews was considered of rather minor importance. According to Lewis, since the clash of Judaism and Islam was resolved and ended during Muhammad's lifetime with Muslim victory, no Muslim equivalent of the still unresolved theological dispute between Church and Israel fueled antisemitism. There is also a difference between Jewish denial of Christian and Muslim messages, since Muhammad never claimed to be a Messiah or Son of God. It is significant that the death of Muhammad was not caused by Jews.

Muhammad's disputes with his neighboring Jewish tribes left no marked traces on his immediate successors (known as Caliphs). The first Caliphs based their treatment upon the Quranic verses encouraging tolerance. Classical commentators viewed Muhammad's struggle with Jews as a minor episode in his career, but this has changed in modern times due to external influences. Poliakov opines that Muhammad's actions and teachings gave rise to an open and more conciliatory society, where the Muslims were compelled to protect the lives and religion of the Jews.