Judaism is closer to Islam than to Christianity

It is impossible to properly understand the present without a knowledge of the past. That is as true of Muslim hostility to Jews as any other area of history.

Looking at the contemporary world it is all too easy to draw the simplistic conclusion that Islam and Judaism are inherently at odds. That is most obvious in relation to Islamism, which I have previously argued in a form of religionised politics. However, it also appears to be valid in relation to the Muslim world more generally. Hostility to Jews among Muslims is widespread. According to opinion poll data  from the ADL about half of the world’s Muslim population harbour’s anti-Semitic attitudes ( although that suggests that the other half does not).

It was therefore particularly instructive to follow the online course on the history of medieval Jewry hosted by the Tikvah fund, a Jewish charitable foundation. The course was informative precisely because it did not cover the present day. It could therefore discuss the relations between Jews and Muslims separate from modern political influences.

Jacob Schacter, an orthodox rabbi and professor at Yeshiva university in New York, came to a conclusion that would probably surprise many not familiar with the subject: “Judaism has much more in common with Islam than it has with Christianity”. He even went on to argue that “The phrase Judeo-Christian is much less appropriate than the phrase Judeo-Muslim”.

Of course there are differences and similarities between all three religions. But Schachter’s argument was that, on balance, the differences between Judaism and Christianity are much wider than those between Judaism and Islam.

The commonality between Judaism and Christianity is well known. What Christians refer to as the Old Testament is, with a few tweaks, the same as the Hebrew bible ( Tanakh). Christianity also started as an offshoot of Judaism except its adherents held that Jesus was the messiah while mainstream Jews rejected this claim. Over time Christianity evolved into a distinct religion.

Some would add that both religions are monotheistic but things are not so simple. Although Christians consider themselves to believe in one God the orthodox Jewish perspective does not agree. From a Jewish point of view the Christian doctrine of the trinity – with God existing as the father, son and holy spirit – conflicts with monotheism. Some traditional Jews would see it as full-on idol worship with statues of Jesus and Mary common in church. No such physical representations of God would be allowed in synagogues or mosques.

In his course Rabbi Schacter raises the question of whether Jews can convert to Christianity or Islam if threatened with death. He quotes Maimonides (1138-1204, also known by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, pictured above ), one of the greatest authorities in Judaism, who argues it is permissible to convert to Islam but not to Christianity. Maimonides’s argument was that that trinitarian doctrine of Christianity calls the singularity of God into question. In contrast, Muslims do believe in one God. Of course in the latter case he argued Jews have to flee as soon as possible and revert to Judaism.

Schachter also points to other areas where Judaism is more similar to Islam than Christianity.

• Both Jews and Muslims see their faith as based on a divinely revealed book on which God-given law is based. For Jews it is the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew bible) while for Muslims it is the Koran.
• Christianity is primarily a religion of dogma or creeds. In contrast, Judaism and Islam are religions of doing with the emphasis on religious actions and behaviour.
• Both Jews and Muslims posit an oral tradition which is key to interpreting divinely inspired texts. In Hebrew the Torah she-ba-al pe (the oral Torah) and in Islam the Hadith.
• Neither Judaism nor Islam has an official clergy. Jews or Muslims can fulfil all their religious obligations without a rabbi or Imam. In contrast, priests play a central role in Christianity.

Admittedly there are elements of hostility that Islam directs at Judaism but the enmity from traditional Christianity is far worse.

Islam accuses Jews of deliberately falsifying parts of scripture by erasing references to Islam and Muhammad. Jews are therefore seen as in a sense fundamentally dishonest according to Muslim religious doctrine.

In contrast, the traditional Christian charge against Jews is the more serious allegation of deicide. That is Jews are collectively blamed for the killing of Jesus. For many centuries this was a central element of Christian Jew hatred. It was only in what has become known as Vatican II, the second Vatican council of the mid-1960s, where the Catholic church officially distanced itself from such charges. As noted in Nostra Aetate proclaimed by Pope Paul VI in 1965 the allegation: “cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures.”

Historically, until the second part of the twentieth century, Jews generally suffered more animosity in the Christian world than the Muslim world. It is true that Jews (as well as Christians) had an official second class dhimmi status in many Muslim-controlled regions. However, that was not comparable to the murderous persecution Jews often suffered in the Christian world.

Things also changed in the nineteenth century with the advent of modern anti-Semitism as a racial ideology. At that point animosity to Jews became based on racial thinking rather than religious antipathy.

Nevertheless many of the old tropes still on. For example, Jean-Luc Melenchon, a French leftist leader, has accused Jews of deicide.

The point of this article is not to endorse any particular religious doctrine. The Radicalism of fools website has no religious affiliation.

It is rather to show that today’s widespread enmity between Muslims and Jews cannot be explained by religious doctrine. If that was the case the hostility from Christians would be far greater. 

The key lesson is that the pervasive contemporary Muslim animosity towards Jews is rooted in politics rather than ancient holy texts.

Photo: "03 Lundi 03 Cordoue 02 Maimonide" by Annesov is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0