History of the Jews in Muslim lands
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Excluding the region of Palestine, and omitting the accounts of Joseph and Moses as unverifiable, Jews have lived in what are now Arab states at least since the Babylonian Captivity (597 BCE), about 2,600 years ago.
After the expansion of Arab Muslims into these lands, Jews, along with Christians and Zoroastrians, typically had the legal status of dhimmi. As such, they were entitled to limited rights, tolerance, and protection, on the condition they pay a special poll tax (the "jizya"), which exempted them from military service, and also from payment of the Zakat alms tax required of Muslims. As dhimmi, Jews were typically subjected to several restrictions, the application and severity of which varied by time and place: prohibitions against proselytizing and marrying Muslim women, and limited access to the legal systems. They sometimes attained high positions in government, notably as viziers and physicians. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the Muslim rulers. The treatment of Jews in Muslim lands was generally better than that in Europe. As a result, many Jews sought refuge in the Middle East and North Africa from persecution in Europe.
By the late 1940s, conditions of the Jews in many Muslim countries were rapidly worsening through a combination of growing Arab nationalism due to European occupation; Nazi influence in the axis controlled parts of North Africa; and the conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine. The situation came to a head after 1948 Arab-Israeli war, historically the first military struggle between Jews and Muslims. Consequently many Arab states instituted formal laws against their Jewish populations. Within a few decades, most Jews fled Muslim lands, most for the newly created Jewish state, but some went to France or the United States. In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya (which was once around 3 percent Jewish), the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain.
Jewish ethnic groups that have lived in the majority-Muslim world include Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Temani.
- See also: Jewish exodus from Arab lands and Jewish refugees
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[edit] By nation
[edit] Arabian Peninsula
There had been, for some long but uncertain period, a significant number of Jews in Arabia. Some Arab historians claim that very large numbers of Jews - as high as 80,000 - arrived after the destruction of the First Temple, to join others already long established in places such as the Oasis of Khaybar as well as the trading colonies in Medina and Mecca (where they even had their own cemetary). Another theory posits that these Jews were refugees from Byzantine persecutions. Regardless, Arab historians mention some 20 Jewish tribes, including two tribes of Kohanim. The Jews spoke Arabic, were organised into clans and tribes just like the Arabs, and seem to have fully assimilated the values and customs of Arab desert society.
Mohammed certainly had contact with the Jews of Arabia, and they feature prominently in the early history of the Muslim movement. One might note the importance of the prophet Abraham within Islam to highlight this connection. But whatever influence Jewish religious practice had on Mohammed, politically the Jews did not fare well under his growing influence. After settling in Medina, Mohammed moved to eliminate the three Jewish tribes resident there, as they were quickly perceived by him as a threat to Muslim community in its struggle against its pagan enemies in Mecca. The first tribe of Jews was forced into exile within a short time of Mohammed's arrival in Medina. The following year saw the expulsion of the second tribe, accused of planning to kill the Prophet by dropping a rock on his head as he rested under a wall outside its village. (Mohammed, who "received divine warning", skillfully evaded the plot). The third tribe remained, in a weakened position, due to their tolerated status as 'people of the book'.
The limited tolerance did not last. In year 20 of the Muslim era, or the year 641 AD, Mohammed's successor the Caliph 'Umar decreed that Jews and Christians should be removed from all but the southern and eastern fringes of Arabia--a decree based on the (sometimes disputed) uttering of the Prophet: "Let there not be two religions in Arabia". The two populations in question were the Jews of the Khaybar oasis in the north and the Christians of Najran.
Jewish expulsion from Arabia, unlike their later expulsions from Christian lands, was carried out with a degree of mercy and compassion. The Arabian Jews were assigned lands in Syria and Palestine (while the Christian were sent to Iraq), and they were given time to effect the move. The expulsion was eventually completed, and from then until the modern day the Holy Land of the Hijaz has been forbidden to non-Muslims. Only the Red Sea port of Jedda was permitted as a "religious quarantine area" and continued to have a small complement of Jewish merchants.
[edit] Spain (711-1492)
For nearly 700 years, Spain (then Al-Andalus) was ruled by an Islamic Caliphate. For a period of time during the Muslim rule of Spain Jews were generally accepted in Spanish society and Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life blossomed. Over time, the nature and length of this "Golden Age" has become a subject of debate. Some scholars give starting periods of the Golden Age as either the mid-700s CE (the Muslim conquest of Spain) or 912 (the rule of Abd-ar-Rahman III) and end of the Golden Age as variously 976 (when the Caliphate began to break apart), 1066 (when the Jews of Granada were expelled) or the mid-1100s, with the invasion of the Almohades.
[edit] Ottoman Empire (1326-1800)
Jews have lived in Turkey (and, before that, the Ottoman Empire and other states in Asia Minor) for over two thousand years. For much of the Ottoman period, Turkey was a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution, and it continues to have a small Jewish population today.
[edit] Lebanon
In 1948, there were approximately 5,000 Jews in Lebanon, with communities in Beirut, and on villages near Mount Lebanon, Deir al Qamar, Barouk, and Hasbayah. While the French mandate saw a general improvement in conditions for Jews, the Vichy regime placed restrictions on them. The Jewish community actively supported Lebanese independence after World War II and had mixed attitudes toward Zionism.
Negative attitudes toward Jews increased after 1948, and by 1967, most Lebanese Jews had emigrated - to the United States, Canada, France, and Israel. The remaining Jewish community was particularly hard hit by the civil wars in Lebanon, and by 1967 most Jews had emigrated. In the 1980s, Hezbollah kidnapped several Lebanese Jewish businessmen, and in the 2004 elections, only one Jew voted in the municipal elections. By all accounts, there are fewer than 100 Jews left in Lebanon.
Read also Beirut’s last Jews.
[edit] Iraq
Iraqi Jews' constitute one of the world's oldest, and historically most important, Jewish communities. Abraham came from Ur in Babylon, and it was to Babylon that the Jews were exiled around 600 BCE. The descendants of these exiles ensured that Babylonia became the most important Jewish community after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The community thrived as the center of Jewish learning until the Middle Ages, when the Mongol invasion, and the subsequent persecutions of the Persians significantly reduced its importance. With the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the life of Iraqi Jews improved, though the community never regained its former importance. Iraqi Jews played an important role in the early days of the country's independence, but the Iraqi Jewish community, numbered at around 150,000 in 1948, was almost entirely driven out of the country by increasing persecution from the 1940s onwards. Today, less than 100 remain.
[edit] Persia and Iran (711-1900)
Judaism is the second-oldest religion still existing in Iran (after Zoroastrianism). Today, the largest groups of Persian Jews are found in Israel (100,000) and the United States (45,000) (especially in the Los Angeles area, home to a large concentration of expatriate Iranians). By various estimates, between 11,000 and 30,000 Jews remain in Iran, mostly in Tehran and Hamedan. There are also smaller communities in Western Europe and Australia. A number of groups of Persian Jews have split off since ancient times, to the extent that they are now recognized as separate communities, such as the Bukharan Jews and Mountain Jews.
[edit] Tunisia
Tunisia has had a Jewish minority since Roman times. Tunisia was the only Arab country to come under direct German occupation during World War II, where they suffered under a forced labor and random execution policy. After independence in the 1950s, Tunisia's Jewish Community Council was abolished by the government and many Jewish areas and buildings were destroyed for urban rehabilitation. In 1948 the Jewish population was an estimated 105,000. During the Six-Day War, Jews were attacked in riots, and, despite government protection, 7,000 Jews emigrated to France. As of 2004 an estimated 1,500 still remain, particularly on the island of Djerba (noted for its synagogues), comprising the country's largest indigenous religious minority.
[edit] Morocco
Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community. Upon independence in 1956, there were around 265,000 Jews, according to the census. Many Jews with deep ties with France emigrated to France. Others exited France to other Western Francophone countries (esp. Belgium and Switzerland) as well as Québec. They were mostly economic migrants.
Although the vast majority of Jews left after independence, 5,500 Jews remain in Morocco. Several decades ago, popular Moroccan society itself was deeply anti-Semitic; whether it still is and if so to what degree is not known[citation needed]. There have been anti-Semitic attacks against Moroccan Jews (including homicides) and a major Al Qaeda attack on Moroccan Jewish targets in recent years. Nevertheless, Jews are now treated very well by the Moroccan government, and receive special privileges from the royal family, especially the late Hassan II.
[edit] Egypt
Egyptian Jews constitute perhaps the oldest Jewish community in the world. The Jewish population of Egypt is now somewhere from 100-1000 people, down from between 75,000 and 100,000 in 1948. They include some Karaite Jews.
[edit] Algeria
Jews and Judaism have a rather long history in Algeria. However, following the brutal conflict of the 1990s there – in particular, the rebel Armed Islamic Group's 1994 declaration of war on all non-Muslims in the country – most of the thousand-odd Jews previously there, living mainly in Algiers and to a lesser extent Blida, Constantine, and Oran, emigrated. The Algiers synagogue was abandoned after 1994. These Jews themselves represented the remainder of only about 10,000 who had chosen to stay there in 1962; most of Algeria's 140,000 Jews, having been granted French citizenship in 1870, left the country for France when it attained independence, together with the pied-noirs.
[edit] Libya
The area now known as Libya was the home of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, dating back to at least 300 BCE. In 1948, about 38,000 Jews lived there.
A series of pogroms started in November of 1945, when more than 140 Jews were killed in Tripoli and most synagogues in the city looted. The pogroms continued in June of 1948, when 15 Jews were killed and 280 Jewish homes destroyed.[1][2][3]
Upon Libya's independence in 1951, most of the Jewish community emigrated from Libya. After the Suez Crisis in 1956, another series of pogroms forced all but about 100 Jews to flee. When Muammar al-Qaddafi came to power in 1969, all remaining Jewish property was confiscated and all debts to Jews cancelled.[4]
In 2004 Libya unilaterally invited Jews to return and receive compensation for their original property, on condition that they leave their property in Israel to Palestinians.<ref>Libya Wants the Jews to Return "Home" April 14, 2004 (INN)</ref>. Libyan Jews' reaction to the offer of return has been negative; they view it as a stunt intended to improve Libya's standing in both the Western and Arab worlds, cite concerns about religious freedoms, and point out the lack of human rights and democracy in Libya that make such an offer highly unattractive. However, the compensation offer has attracted guarded interest.<ref>Libya Invites the Jews Who Fled To Come Home by Eric J. Greenberg April 30, 2004 The Forward</ref><ref>Libyan Jews claim £100m for seized wealth by Inigo Gilmore January 11, 2004 (The Telegraph)</ref>
Although the main synagogue in Tripoli was renovated in 1999, it has not reopened for services. The last Jew in Libya, Esmeralda Meghnagi, died in February of 2002. Israel is home to about 40,000 Jews of Libyan descent, who maintain unique traditions.[5] [6]
[edit] Bahrain
Bahrain's tiny Jewish community, mostly the descendants of immigrants who entered the country in the early 1900s from Iraq, numbered 600 in 1948. Over the next few decades, most left for other countries, especially England; some 36 remain (as of 2006.)[7]
Relations between Jews and Muslims are generally considered good, with Bahrain being the only state on the Arabian peninsular where there is a specific Jewish community. Bahrain is the only Gulf state with a synagogue. One member of the community, Rouben Rouben, who sells TV sets, DVD players, copies, fax machines and kitchen appliances from his downtown showroom, said “95 percent of my customers are Bahrainis, and the government is our No. 1 corporate customer. I’ve never felt any kind of discrimination.”
Members play a prominent role in civil society: Ebrahim Nono was appointed in 2002 a member of Bahrain's upper house of parliament, the Consultative Council, while a Jewish woman heads a human rights group, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. According to the JTA news agency, the active Jewish community is "a source of pride for Bahraini officials".[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
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