Jews and the Qur'an - by Meir M Bar-Asher

About the Book

"In this book Meir Bar-Asher shines light on the deeply ambivalent views toward Jews and Judaism in the Qur'an and in post-Qur'anic Islamic writing. On the one hand, these texts clearly recognize the Jews as a people chosen by God - a "people of the Book" deserving of respect and communal protection for their contribution. On the other hand, an undeniably darker view is also on offer and is found, for example, in passages that accuse Jews of falsifying their own Torah to suppress all pronouncements of the advent of Muhammad, the final Prophet whose message is the culmination of the good news brought by all the prophets from Moses to Jesus. Bar-Asher's view is that one must concede the existence of such polemical anti-Jewish passages while keeping in mind that they do not constitute the final word of the Qur'an or Islam on the Jews. Bar-Asher argues that passages concerning Jews and Judaism in the Qur'an need to be examined alongside the post-Qur'anic Islamic literature rather than read in isolation. His book thus concerns not only Islam's holy scripture but also Hadith, the authoritative oral tradition of sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, along with other Islamic commentaries on Jews and Judaism. The book begins with a historical overview of the Jewish presence in the Arab peninsula before the time of Muhammad and covers what scholars have uncovered to date about the relationship between Muhammad, his followers, and the Jews of Medina in particular. Then the book turns to the Qur'an and the aforementioned post-Qur'anic traditional materials"--

Book Synopsis

A compelling book that casts the Qur'anic encounter with Jews in an entirely new light

In this panoramic and multifaceted book, Meir Bar-Asher examines how Jews and Judaism are depicted in the Qur'an and later Islamic literature, providing needed context to those passages critical of Jews that are most often invoked to divide Muslims and Jews or to promote Islamophobia. He traces the Qur'anic origins of the protection of Jews and other minorities living under the rule of Islam, and shows how attitudes toward Jews in Shi'i Islam are substantially different from those in Sunni Islam. Bar-Asher sheds light on the extraordinary contribution of Jewish tradition to the Muslim exegesis of the Qur'an, and draws important parallels between Jewish religious law, or halakha, and shari'a law.

An illuminating work on a topic of vital relevance today, Jews and the Qur'an offers a nuanced understanding of Islam's engagement with Judaism in the time of Muhammad and his followers, and serves as a needed corrective to common misperceptions about Islam.

Review Quotes

"Winner of the PROSE Award in Theology & Religious Studies, Association of American Publishers"

About the Author

Meir M. Bar-Asher is the Max Schloessinger Professor of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books include Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism and The Nusayrī-'Alawī Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy. He lives in Jerusalem.