(Q 7:159; compare 28:52–54), which was under-
stood by Muslim commentators to be a reference
to Jews who had accepted Muhammad’s mes-
sage. Indeed, the Quran promised Jews and other
believers a blissful afterlife in reward for their
faith (Q 2:62; 4:162).
A brIEF hISTOry OF ThE
JuDEO-MuSlIM SyMbIOSIS
Historical evidence for the history of the Jews in
the centuries immediately preceding and follow-
ing the emergence of Islam in the Middle East
is limited largely to the Quran and early Muslim
historiography, particularly Ibn Ishaq’s biography
of Muhammad (Sirat rasul Allah, mid-eighth cen-
tury), al-Waqidi’s history of Muslim military cam-
paigns (Kitab al-maghazi, early ninth century),
and al-Tabari’s universal history (Tarikh al-rusul
wa’l-muluk, early 10th century). Many scholars,
including those working in Western academia, rely
on these sources to reconstruct the history of rela-
tions between the two communities, as well as the
Arabian origins of Islam itself. Some scholars have
called the historicity of these sources into ques-
tion, however, positing instead that the Quran and
related accounts were not composed until the late
eighth–early ninth century. Most, however, agree
that Islamic sources do, in fact, provide witness to
the early history of Islam, even though they may
have been shaped by later concerns and biases.
With respect to Judaism, the presence of biblical
and post-biblical Judaic stories in the Quran and
the histories indicates direct or indirect contacts
with Jews when these texts were written, whether
that occurred in the seventh century or later.
According to Muslim sources there were Jew-
ish communities living in y
emen
and western
Arabia (the Hijaz) when the Islamic movement
began. Of particular importance were Jewish
tribes in Yathrib, the city that would become
known as Medina after the emigration (h
iJra
)
of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to
that city in 622. In the so-called Constitution of
Medina, which scholars consider to be one of the
earliest non-quranic Islamic documents, Jewish
tribes in Medina were recognized as having their
own religion (or judgment); those who agreed to
follow Muhammad were considered to be on a par
with the a
nsar
and Meccan e
migrants
. Accord-
ing to Muslim accounts, Jewish groups in Medina
refused to heed Muhammad’s call and began to
conspire with his opponents in Mecca. Muslim
commentators indicate that it was in this context
that the one-day Yom Kippur fast observed by
Muhammad’s followers in concert with the Jews
was changed to the one-month fast of r
ama
-
dan
, signaling a break with the Jews. Likewise,
Muhammad was instructed by God to change the
prayer direction (
qibla
) from Jerusalem to Mecca.
The escalating estrangement between Muslims
and Jews in Medina ended with the destruction
and expulsion of all the city’s Jews by the time
of Muhammad’s death in 632. All non-Muslims
would eventually be banned from living in the
Hijaz region.
The Arab Muslim conquests of the wider Mid-
dle East and the establishment of a new empire
that extended from North Africa to the Indus
River valley during the late seventh and eighth
centuries brought about a new order with new
opportunities for subject peoples. Jews and Chris-
tians who submitted to Muslim rulers became
“protected” (
dhimmi
) members of the Islamicate
polity who were obliged to pay the quranic jizya
tax and observe other restrictions, but were
otherwise allowed to pursue religious life under
their own authorities. Evidence indicates that
some Jews and Christians even participated with
the Muslim armies in the conquests and settled
into the new post-conquest towns and garrisons
in Egypt and i
raq
. Jerusalem surrendered to the
Arab invaders without resistance and Jews were
allowed to return to the city after having been
banned from it by the Byzantines. The uniting
of lands formerly divided between the Byzantine
and Persian empires into one great Islamicate
oikoumene enhanced the integration of Jews living
in the Mediterranean region with those living in
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