No, Pamela Geller, the Qur'an Is Not Anti-Semitic
By Reuven Firestone
Pamela Geller, left; Qur’an, right / Getty Images
Related
Soon
you will see ads, courtesy of Pamela Geller, in the New York City
subway system that state, “Islamic Jew-Hatred: It’s in the Qur’an.”
Is she right?
It’s
easy to understand why many Jews might think so. Anti-Semitism has
become a frightening force in much of the Muslim world, and a recent Anti-Defamation League study
has shown that anti-Semitism is more common in Muslim majority
countries than in any other region identified by religion, culture or
geography. Muslims need to address this problem for many reasons, not
least of which is that anti-Semitism reflects deep ignorance and a
willingness to be manipulated by simplistic propaganda that is harmful
to Muslims as well as Jews.
But anti-Semitism is not found in the Qur’an.
This
may be difficult to fathom given the recent heated public discussion.
Some people cite what appear to be obviously angry and seemingly hateful
negative references to Jews in the Qur’an. Others argue that these
verses are taken out of context. They cite counter-verses from the same
Qur’an that appear to respect Jews and even refer to Jews using the same
positive language reserved for followers of Muhammad.
So
what’s the real story? As usual, the issue is not so simple, and many
on both sides of the debate do us all a disservice with their hyperbole
and naïve arguments.
Yes,
the Qur’an contains verses that refer negatively to Jews. In order to
understand these verses, we must read them both in relation to the
fullness of the scripture in which they are located (synchronically),
and also in relation to how other scriptures treat non-believers
(diachronically).
Let’s
start with the synchronic reading. Negative references to Jews in the
Qur’an occur in relation to negative references to other communities,
all of which opposed the emergence of the new Arabian prophet and his
revelation. The Jewish communities of Arabia, like the Christian,
Zoroastrian and native polytheist communities, did not accept the
prophetic status of Muhammad. A few individual Jews and Christians
joined his movement, but when they did they voted themselves out of
their native religious communities.
This
is a natural occurrence. No established religion is willing to discard
the canon of its own scripture in order to accept a new prophet with a
new revelation. Islam fits into this pattern as well, since it refuses
to accept the prophetic status of new divine messengers who emerged out
of its own tradition, such as the prophets of the Baha’i faith or the
Ahmadiyya.
The
Jews of Arabia were greatly respected and influential in Arabia during
Muhammad’s lifetime. Because of their status, their refusal as a
community to acknowledge his prophethood was a major impediment to the
new movement and was condemned by the Qur’an as obstinacy, and
hard-headedness. The Qur’an criticizes local Jews, for example, when it
states, “Many of the People of the Book would like to turn you back to
unbelievers after your having believed, because of envy on their part
after the truth has become clear to them” (Q.2:109).
Established
religions are never welcoming to new religions, and the disappointment,
resentment and anger of newly emerging religions toward established
religions that refuse to embrace them is found in all monotheistic
scriptures. Many are familiar with the negative references to Jews in
parts of the New Testament such as Matthew 23 and John 8. As in the
Qur’an, these texts reflect the shock and resentment of those believing
in a new redemptive and charismatic leader. They simply could not
understand why members of established religions would refuse to join
their program.
Negative
references to Jews in both scriptures reflect reactive anger and
zealous resentment. They do not represent a program to vilify, demonize
or scapegoat Jews.
Jews
are naturally sensitive to negative references to Jews in other
scriptures, but are usually unaware of the same phenomenon of othering
in their own scripture. The Hebrew Bible is full of reactive anger and
zealous resentment toward competing religious communities. Canaanites,
Egyptians and other members of established religious peoples are
depicted repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible as spiteful, wicked and mortal
enemies of ancient Israel. But most of those portrayed as evil opponents
were simply members of established religions who felt threatened by
Israelite successes in conquest and expansion. Like the Jews and
Christians of Arabia, they opposed the emergence of a new, competitive
religious community. The Israelite claims to being God’s chosen people
with an exclusive relationship with the one God of the universe (who
happened to be called the God of Israel!) could only have added to the
tension.
These
are all cases of the natural tension that occurs with the birth of new
religions. Established religions resent and oppose them — just think of
“cults” as new religions in order to understand the mindset. Like the
Hebrew Bible and New Testament, the Qur’an includes material that
reflects this frustration. It does not express anti-Semitism, Jew-hatred
or racism.
Anti-Semitism
is caused by different forces, which scapegoat Jews by manipulating
people through deceitful deflection of criticism onto Jews. Those who
engage in the deception use anything they can to further their aims,
including scripture. Negative scriptural references to non-believers
exist in all scriptures, and they are sometimes cited and manipulated by
hateful people to encourage violence and even slaughter of the
religious other. But it’s important for Jews to understand that
anti-Semitism is no more basic to Islam than hatred of all non-Jews is
basic to Judaism, an old anti-Semitic screed that was often claimed by
citing scriptural citations from the Hebrew Bible.
Many
writings single out and disparage particular communities, and any kind
of “othering” is problematic. We need to be able to distinguish between
normal even if problematic cases, and those that are truly hateful and
absolutely unacceptable cases of racism, anti-Semitism or Islamophobia.
Reacting to every negative reference to Jews as anti-Semitic is unwise,
simplistic and dangerous. Don’t be fooled by frightened people into the
naïve and simplistic conclusion that any negative reference to Jews is
anti-Semitism.
Rabbi
Reuven Firestone is Professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew
Union College in Los Angeles and Senior Fellow of the Center for
Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. He
is author of Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam and is President
Elect of the International Qur’anic Studies Association.
No comments:
Post a Comment