Jews in the Islamic Empire

When the Arabs first began to attack the Roman Empire, in the 630's AD, the Jews were quite enthusiastic about the idea of getting rid of their Christian persecutors. We don't really know whether the Jews actually helped the Arabs to conquer Israel and Syria, but certainly many Roman Christians suspected that the Jews had helped the Arabs. This led to a new wave of Christian persecutions of Jews, not only in the Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also in the western kingdoms, especially by the Visigoths.

The Arabs, on the other hand, were fairly welcoming to the Jews, and many Jews moved from the Christian countries to the Islamic Empire at this time. I don't mean that the Jews never had any more trouble. The Arabs wanted the Jews to convert to Islam, and the Jews had to pay special taxes because they would not convert. But they were not killed, or made to live in special parts of town, or forced to convert, or at least not usually. The most famous Jewish person who lived at this time is Maimonides, a philosopher who tried to make the scientific work of Aristotle agree with the religious work of the Bible.

The synagogue in Cordoba, Spain, built under Arab rule in 1315 AD.Notice how it is decorated in the Arab style. This is the synagogue where Maimonides studied.

Later on, in 1492, when Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand decided to throw all of the Jews out of Spain, many thousands of Spanish Jews travelled to the Ottoman Empire, or to North Africa, where they were welcomed and lived in peace.

Medieval European Jews

Main Judaism page
Main religion page