DISC faculty liaison and University of Maryland Prof. Peter Wien’s recent article in Al-Qantara entitled “There is no tradition of anti-Semitism in Islam” offers an important historical corrective to contemporary views of Islam as an inherently anti-Semitic religion. Indeed, as Prof. Wien points out, tensions between the Jews of the Arabian Peninsula and the early Muslim community reflected the latter’s precarious position vis-a-vis their social adversaries. While scholars embracing isolated interpretations use such events to legitimize their extreme positions, the first truly anti-Semitic incident in the Middle East occurred among Catholic missionaries under French protection in Damascus in 1840. Click this link to read the full text of Prof. Wien’s article.
Prof. Peter Wien, “There is no tradition of anti-Semitism in Islam”
