Jewish Muslims

Uncovering the hidden history of Islamophobia and its surprising connections to the long-standing hatred of Jews.

Hatred of Jews and hatred of Muslims have been intertwined in Christian thought since the rise of Islam. In Jewish Muslims, David M. Freidenreich explores the history of this complex, perplexing, and emotionally fraught phenomenon. He makes the compelling case that, then and now, hate-mongers target "them" in an effort to define "us."

Analyzing anti-Muslim sentiment in texts and images produced across Europe and the Middle East over a thousand years, the author shows how Christians intentionally distorted reality by alleging that Muslims were just like Jews. They did so not only to justify assaults against Muslims on theological grounds but also to motivate fellow believers to live as "good" Christians. The disdain premodern polemicists expressed for Islam and Judaism was never really about these religions. Rather, they sought to promote their own visions of Christianity—a dynamic that similarly animates portrayals of Muslims and Jews today.

David M. Freidenreich is Pulver Family Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College and author of Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law.

Contents

List of Illustrations 

Introduction: Jewish Muslims? 

PART ONE. BIBLICAL MUSLIMS

1. Paul’s Rivals and the Early Christian Discourse of Anti-Judaism 
First through Sixth Centuries

2. Making Sense of the Muslim Conquests
Seventh through Ninth Centuries

3. “Drive Out the Slave and Her Son”
Eleventh through Fourteenth Centuries

4. Imagining the Dome of the Rock as the Biblical Temple
Seventh through Fourteenth Centuries

PART TWO. JUDAIZING MUSLIMS

5. “New Jews”: Muslims as Foils for Educating Eastern Christians
Seventh through Ninth Centuries

6. What Makes Islam Jewish? Allegations of Carnality and Irrationality
Eighth through Twelfth Centuries

7. Muhammad the Jew, and Other Moralizing Slurs
Twelfth through Seventeenth Centuries

8. The Logic, and the Consequences, of Defining Muslims as Judaizers
Fourth through Seventeenth Centuries

PART THREE. ANTI-CHRISTIAN MUSLIMS

9. Muslims Killed Christ!? Theological Arguments and Political Agendas
Eleventh through Seventeenth Centuries

10. Conspiracy Theories: Muslim Agents of Jewish Malevolence
Seventh through Fourteenth Centuries

11. How Muslims, Jews, and Romans Became Worshippers of Muhammad
Twelfth through Fifteenth Centuries

12. Luther’s Rivals and the Emergent Discourse of Anti-Islam
Sixteenth Century

Afterword: Rhetoric about Muslims and Jews Today

Acknowledgments
Chronology
Notes
Bibliography
Index