The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism
Encyclopedia
The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History is a 2008 book by Brown University
professor of medicine Andrew Bostom. It has been described in the Jerusalem Post as a “collection of sources, Islamic and others, which testify to the long and sorry history of anti-Semitism
in Islam
.”
Benny Morris
writing in The New Republic
calls Bostom's book "important and deeply discouraging." Morris discusses a great deal of material that Bostom has omitted, concluding that in many ways the anti-Semitism of the Muslim world is even worse than portrayed in the Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. However, Benny Morris later apologized in the review for this comment, saying "Mea culpa. I somehow missed the references to the Aden and Moroccan massacres and the medieval pogroms and apologize for writing that they were not mentioned in the book."
According to Hebrew University professor Raphael Israeli
, “the author delves in considerable detail into the main sources of Islamic jurisprudence - the Koran and the Hadith
, complemented by the Sirah (the earliest pious Muslim biographies of Muhammad
), where an abundance of references, usually not complimentary but rather derogatory, are made to Jews, collectively known as Israi'liyyat (Israelites' stories). This is a trove of anti-Jewish stereotypes that have become the Shari'a-based uncontested "truth" about the People of the Book
. Those accounts are invariably cited in sermons during Friday prayers, thus assuring their universal diffusion among Muslim constituents and the constant poisoning of the souls of young and adult Muslims alike, something that renders their fundamentally negative attitudes to Jews and Israel unchangeable.”
The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle praises the book for making its case with exhaustive use of original sources, "Anti-Semitic passages from the Koran, the hadith (collected anecdotes about the Muslim prophet Mohammed’s life), the sira (early biographies of Mohammed). Anti-Semitic essays, speeches and excerpted book passages by Muslim scholars, theologians and thinkers from the Middle Ages to the present. (and) Scholarly, witness and journalistic accounts of Muslim persecutions of and discrimination against Jews over more than 1,000 years."
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
professor of medicine Andrew Bostom. It has been described in the Jerusalem Post as a “collection of sources, Islamic and others, which testify to the long and sorry history of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.”
Benny Morris
Benny Morris
Benny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel...
writing in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
calls Bostom's book "important and deeply discouraging." Morris discusses a great deal of material that Bostom has omitted, concluding that in many ways the anti-Semitism of the Muslim world is even worse than portrayed in the Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. However, Benny Morris later apologized in the review for this comment, saying "Mea culpa. I somehow missed the references to the Aden and Moroccan massacres and the medieval pogroms and apologize for writing that they were not mentioned in the book."
According to Hebrew University professor Raphael Israeli
Raphael Israeli
Raphael Israeli is an Israeli academic, Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a member of the steering committee of the Ariel Center for Policy Research....
, “the author delves in considerable detail into the main sources of Islamic jurisprudence - the Koran and the Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, complemented by the Sirah (the earliest pious Muslim biographies of Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
), where an abundance of references, usually not complimentary but rather derogatory, are made to Jews, collectively known as Israi'liyyat (Israelites' stories). This is a trove of anti-Jewish stereotypes that have become the Shari'a-based uncontested "truth" about the People of the Book
People of the Book
People of the Book is a term used to designate non-Muslim adherents to faiths which have a revealed scripture called, in Arabic, Al-Kitab . The three types of adherents to faiths that the Qur'an mentions as people of the book are the Jews, Sabians and Christians.In Islam, the Muslim scripture, the...
. Those accounts are invariably cited in sermons during Friday prayers, thus assuring their universal diffusion among Muslim constituents and the constant poisoning of the souls of young and adult Muslims alike, something that renders their fundamentally negative attitudes to Jews and Israel unchangeable.”
The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle praises the book for making its case with exhaustive use of original sources, "Anti-Semitic passages from the Koran, the hadith (collected anecdotes about the Muslim prophet Mohammed’s life), the sira (early biographies of Mohammed). Anti-Semitic essays, speeches and excerpted book passages by Muslim scholars, theologians and thinkers from the Middle Ages to the present. (and) Scholarly, witness and journalistic accounts of Muslim persecutions of and discrimination against Jews over more than 1,000 years."