the east. The key symbol for Jewish religious life
was the dual Torah of Moses, oral and written,
which gave meaning to their life in the diaspora
and hope for messianic fulfillment. Muslim rulers
encouraged the consolidation of leadership in the
Jewish community under the Gaons, heads of the
rabbinic academies in Iraq and p
alestine
, and the
Exilarchs, political chiefs linked to the caliphal
government.
Having dhimmi status assigned to them by
Muslim authorities did not confine Jews to a
single stratum of Islamicate society. They were
actively involved in transregional trade networks
and banking, often with the support and encour-
agement of the caliph. They also worked in menial
or degrading trades and occupations such as
weaving, tanning, blacksmithing, horse trading,
working in public baths, jailers, and executioners.
Indeed, S. D. Goitein’s studies of 10th–11th-cen-
tury c
airo
Geniza documents have shown that
Jews worked in nearly every known occupation,
ranging from high government office, education,
medicine, and trade to the criminal professions.
In Andalusia Jews participated in what has been
called the convivencia, a coexistence with Muslims
and Christians that led to the production of a rich
Judeo-Arabic literary corpus, the translation and
transmission of Arabic philosophy and science to
medieval Europe, and the rise of such prominent
Jewish intellectuals as Judah Ha-Levi (d. 1141)
and Maimonides (d. 1204). Jewish converts were
remembered in Islamic tradition for transmitting
rabbinic traditions and adapting them to different
Islamic textual genres, especially the hadith, tafsir
(Quran commentary), legal texts, and stories
about the Islamic prophets.
This is not to say that the history of the Judeo-
Islamic symbiosis was perfectly harmonious. As
part of an ongoing process of self-definition, Mus-
lims engaged in anti-Judaic polemics, which Jews
reciprocated. Jewish revolts were forcefully sup-
pressed by Muslim rulers, and puritanical Muslim
rulers occasionally ordered the persecution of
their Jewish and Christian subjects. They also
did not hesitate to take actions against dissident
Muslims, including Sunnis, as well as Shiis and
sometimes even Sufis. Despite these more con-
flict-laden encounters, Goitein and other scholars
of pre-modern Judeo-Muslim history have nev-
ertheless asserted that the Judaism of today was
largely formed in the context of Jewish-Muslim
interaction in the Middle East during the Middle
Ages. While this assertion begs further research,
it is significant that in 1492, when Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain gave Jews the choice between
converting to Christianity or expulsion, most of
them migrated to lands that were under Muslim
rule. Seeing the benefits to be gained from Jew-
ish wealth and mercantile expertise, the rulers of
the Ottoman Empire welcomed Sephardic immi-
grants from Spain and Ashkenazis from Europe.
Bolstered by these immigrants from the west, Jew-
ish communities in Istanbul, Edirne, Izmir, and
Salonika grew and prospered significantly under
the Ottomans. Although statistics are lacking, it
is likely that the majority of the world’s Jewish
population lived under Muslim rule from the early
seventh century until the fragmentation of the
Ottoman Empire and the creation of the state of
Israel in the 20th century.
The Judeo-Islamic symbiosis deteriorated
greatly during the 18th century as the Ottoman
and Persian Safavid empires succumbed to foreign
incursions and internal disturbances. Muslim rul-
ers were unable to provide adequate protection
to Jewish communities, which became impov-
erished and vulnerable to attack by Christians,
especially during the 19th century, when Euro-
pean anti-Semitism was imported into the region.
European observers, including Jews, reported on
the decrepit living conditions of Jewish communi-
ties in eastern lands compared to their improved
status as educated citizens in Europe. As colonial
powers vied for influence in the Ottoman Empire,
they claimed the right to serve as protectors of
religious minorities living in them. France and
Russia intervened on behalf of Catholic and
Orthodox Christians, respectively. Britain devel-
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