Children of Abraham: The 1,400-Year History of Jewish–Muslim Relations

For more than 1400 years, the history of Jewish and Muslim engagement has been a complex story of cooperation and conflict. The best known events are hostile encounters (like the 1066 Granada massacre or modern Arab-Israeli wars), they’ve had a multifaceted relationship, from Muhammad’s dealings with Jewish tribes in Arabia in the 600s, Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II sending his navy to rescue Jews from the 1492 expulsion from Spain, to the contemporary tensions currently unfolding in the Middle East.

Today’s guest is Marc David Baer: Author of “Children of Abraham: The 1,400-Year History of Jewish–Muslim Relations.” We discuss how Jews and Muslims lived together in the Middle East and Europe, more often in cooperation than in conflict, for more than a millennium. When Islam emerged in the seventh century, Muslims and Jews were bound by shared religious tenets and common cultural practices, and for centuries afterward, they were often allies.

We also discuss Muslim warriors fighting for a medieval Turkish Jewish kingdom on the Caspian Sea, Jewish viziers leading the Muslim sultan’s troops in Spain, and Jewish literary lights and political party leaders in modern Egypt and Iraq. At the same time, religious tolerance did not mean a lack of hierarchy and discrimination. For most of history, Muslims held power over Jews and Islam was promoted as the superior religion.

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