Yet another threat was slowly emerging from the farthest corner of the empire, Spain. The Muslims had first arrived in Andalus (Spain’s Arabic name) in 710 C.E. under the Umayyad dynasty. After the Abbasids took power in much of the Islamic empire, the Umayyads remained influential in Spain and ultimately created a caliphate there.
Dhimmis: Protected but Not Equal
At various times in history, Jews and Christians in Muslim lands were able to live in relative peace and thrive culturally and economically. Their position was never secure, though. Although Jewish communities in Arab and Islamic countries fared better overall than those in Christian lands in Europe, Middle Eastern Jews were no strangers to persecution and humiliation. Nonetheless, as “People of the Book,” Jews (and Christians) were protected under Islamic law. In fact, Muslim conquerors assigned a special category, the dhimmi, to Christians and Jews in exchange for their subordination. Peoples subjected to Muslim rule usually had a choice between death and conversion, but Jews and Christians, who adhered to the Scriptures, were allowed to practice their faith.
This “protection” did little, however, to ensure that Jews and Christians were treated well by the Muslims. On the contrary, an integral aspect of the dhimmis was that, being “infidels,” they had to openly acknowledge the superiority of the true believer—the Muslim. On the other hand, this legally defined status meant that they were treated better than most other minorities in Muslim countries, and the Jews fared better here than in many parts of Christendom.
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Tut Tut!
Dhimmis were forced to wear distinctive clothing. For example, Baghdad’s Caliph al Mutawakkil designated a yellow badge for Jews in the ninth century, setting a precedent that would be followed centuries later in Nazi Germany.
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In the early years of the Islamic conquest, the “tribute” (or jizya), paid as a yearly poll tax, symbolized the subordination of the dhimmis. Later, the inferior status of Jews and Christians was reinforced through a series of regulations that governed the behavior of the dhimmis. Under pain of death, dhimmis were forbidden to mock or criticize the Koran, Islam, or Muhammad, to proselytize among Muslims, or to touch a Muslim woman (although a Muslim man could take a non-Muslim as a wife).
Dhimmis were excluded from public office and armed service, and they were forbidden to bear arms. They were not allowed to ride horses or camels, to build synagogues or churches taller than mosques, to construct houses higher than those of Muslims, or to drink wine in public. They were not allowed to pray or mourn in loud voices because that might offend the Muslims. The dhimmis had to show public deference toward Muslims—for instance, by always yielding the center of the road to them. The dhimmi was not allowed to give evidence in court against a Muslim, and his oath was unacceptable in an Islamic court. To defend himself, the dhimmi would have to purchase Muslim witnesses at great expense. This left the dhimmi with little legal recourse when harmed by a Muslim.
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Ask the Sphinx
When Jews were perceived as having achieved too comfortable a position in Islamic society, anti-Semitism would often surface, sometimes with devastating results. On December 30, 1066, Joseph Ha-Nagid, the Jewish vizier of Granada, Spain, was crucified by an Arab mob that proceeded to raze the Jewish quarter of the city and slaughter its 5,000 inhabitants. The riot was incited by Muslim preachers who had angrily objected to what they saw as inordinate Jewish political power.
Other massacres of Jews in Arab lands occurred throughout the Middle East and particularly North Africa. Decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues were enacted in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Despite the Koran’s prohibition, Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face death in Yemen, Morocco, and Baghdad.
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The Invaders
The aforementioned division between the Umayyad and Abbasid empires was just the beginning of the fragmentation of the Islamic world. Over the next several centuries, competing kingdoms would emerge, unite, split, and recombine in different patterns.
By the tenth century, the disparate Muslim kingdoms were kept intact primarily thanks to their common language (Arabic) and religion (Islam). Politically, however, three separate dynasties controlled different parts of the empire. The Fatimids ruled from Cairo, the Umayyads controlled Spain from their capital of Cordoba, and the Abbasids retained power primarily in the western third of the empire from their base in Baghdad. The Seljuks, a group of Turkish Muslims from Central Asia, were one of the first groups from outside the Middle East to invade. They swept through much of Byzantium and expanded Islamic influence into large parts of Asia. After capturing Baghdad in 1055, the Seljuks decided to leave the Abbasid caliph in power, though he was essentially a figurehead.
The Seljuks founded a series of Islamic colleges to train religious scholars and built many mosques. After conquering Iran, the Seljuks adopted the Persian language. Persian subsequently became the dominant language, with Arabic used primarily by religious scholars.
The Crusades
The Muslim Empire faced an even greater external threat beginning in 1095, when Pope Urban II called for crusades to regain Palestine from “the infidels.” Thousands of Christians responded by joining the march toward Jerusalem. The Crusaders went on to capture Jerusalem in 1099, and murdered almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem—Muslims, Jews, and even Eastern Christians. Non-Christians were subsequently barred from the city.
The Crusaders were successful in large measure because of the disunity of the Muslims. Nevertheless, the Christians who set up a series of states along the coast of the Mediterranean and along a swath of territory to Jerusalem were frequently on the defensive, prompting the launching of successive crusades to hold the ground.
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Hieroglyphics
The Crusades were a series of military campaigns fought by Western European Christians in an effort to recapture the Holy Land from the Muslims. The word was later used to describe Christian wars against non-Christians.
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Palestine was ravaged by a series of Crusades for two centuries, but the Jews remained entrenched, living in at least 50 cities in the eleventh century, including Ramleh, Tiberias, Gaza, Ashkelon, Caesarea, and even Jerusalem. Perhaps the only positive aspect of the Crusades for the Jews was to improve communication between Palestine and Europe, which allowed for a greater transfer of knowledge.
Saladin Stakes His Claim
A young officer from Iraq known as Saladin was placed in command of the army and made the vizier of Egypt. Later he was given the title of king by the Fatimids. Saladin used the power and influence he acquired to abolish the Fatimid caliphate and became the sole ruler of Egypt. He also shifted the country’s religious orientation from Shiite to Sunni Islam.
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Ask the Sphinx
Jewish communities flourished in certain areas of the Muslim Empire, particularly Spain, and they made so many great developments in philosophy, science, mathematics, medicine, and other disciplines during this period (950–1150) that it is referred to as a golden age of Judaism.
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In 1174, Saladin turned toward expanding the area ruled by the Fatimids and spent the next 12 years marching across the region and ultimately capturing much of Syria and Iraq. Saladin called on fellow Muslims to join him in a holy war to drive the Christians out of the Holy Land and, when his army was sufficiently strong, he led a force, called “Saracens” by the Christians, that recaptured Jerusalem in 1187.
In 1189, the Christians mounted the Third Crusade to retake Jerusalem, but Saladin’s forces repelled them. Afterward, Saladin reached an agreement with King Richard I of England, allowing the Christians to rebuild their kingdom along the Palestinian-Syrian coast, but he kept control of Jerusalem. Saladin’s dynasty, the Ayyubids, lasted less than a century.
About the time that Fatimid rule was collapsing in Egypt at the end of the twelfth century, the Umayyad dynasty was coming to an end in Spain,
as Christian forces began to assert control over the country. The Muslims lost all power in 1492 and, over the next few years, the Christians ordered all Muslims to convert to Christianity. Those who didn’t convert or escape Spain were persecuted. The Muslim defeat also had serious implications for the Jews. In 1492, while Columbus made his historic journey to the New World, the Jews were expelled from Spain, with many fleeing with Muslims to other parts of the Muslim Empire.
Bad Dinner Guests: Mamelukes and Mongols
In the area encompassing present-day Iran and Iraq, the Seljuks and Abbasids finally met their match when the Mongols invaded from eastern Asia. One of the consequences of the Mongol conquest was a permanent split between countries from Iraq westward—Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt, and northern Africa—and those to the east—notably Iran, India, and Pakistan. Never again would those countries be united in a single empire. An army of slaves known as mamelukes, who were mobilized by the Ayyubids in Egypt, finally stopped the Mongol’s progress across the land. The mamelukes then turned on their masters and took power in Egypt, Syria, and much of Arabia. The Mameluke dynasty lasted until 1517. For the Jews, it marked a period of immigration. Many people from Europe and the region rebuilt communities in Palestine.
The Worlds of Islam and War
For about 13 centuries, Muslims and Christians engaged in conflict over their respective faiths. Each group pursued its own vision of people’s role on Earth with the conviction that the ultimate good required the destruction of nonbelievers.
Muslims believed that Allah sent Muhammad to repair and reconstruct the world into a unified order with only one true God. His teachings were to be the final and definitive religion for all people. In their view, the world was divided into dar al-Islam, “the abode of Islam,” and dar al-harb, “the abode of war.” Muslims and non-Muslims who accepted Islamic rule made up the former, whereas the remaining “nonbelievers” comprised the latter. The dichotomy was to exist until the dar al-harb could be subjugated. The method of transforming dar al-harb into dar al-Islam is the jihad. In theory, then, a perpetual state of war exists between Muslims and non-Muslims. However, in modern times the majority of Muslims have forsworn violence.
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Hieroglyphics
Jihad is derived from the Arabic verb, jahada, which means “exerted” however, it is commonly rendered as “holy war.” Although jihad has become associated with violence because terrorists have claimed that their actions are part of a jihad against Israel and the West, the fight against nonbelievers can also be pursued through peaceful means.
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The Golden Era of Arab Intellectualism
Even though the Muslims ruled a mighty empire which was under near-constant attack by Crusaders and others, they didn’t spend all their time making war. On the contrary, the period of Islamic domination of the Middle East was marked by scores of scientific and technological advances, including the following:
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Ask the Sphinx
Even after the dissolution of the Muslim empire in the thirteenth century, the influence of Islam continued to spread, and it continues to this day. Islam is now the dominant religion in as many as 40 countries. Furthermore, the majority of Muslims are not Arabs—fewer than 20 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are Arabs.
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The Umayyads gathered scientists in Damascus and founded an astronomical observatory around the year 700 C.E.
The fourth Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mamun, created a “House of Wisdom” to collect and translate Greek documents. He also built an observatory.
Al-Razi, a Persian living in Baghdad, wrote more than 100 influential works on medicine.
The Muslims captured some Chinese paper makers in 704 C.E. at the battle of Samarkand Uzbekistan) and established the first paper mill of their own in 751 C.E. The technique was then passed on to the Europeans.
One of the better-known Muslim thinkers was the Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam (1048–1131). He is best known for a series of poems known as the Rubaiyat. He also wrote Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, and he contributed to calendar reform.
A Cairo physician, Ibn al-Nafis (1210–88), argued that blood flowed from the right to the left ventricle of the heart through the lungs, a discovery that went unnoticed for centuries.
Ottomans Talk Turkey
The next important phase in the history of the region began with the Turkish conquest at the beginning of the sixteenth century. When the Ottomans defeated the Mamelukes, they absorbed Egypt, Syria, and Western Arabia into their empire. The Turkish ruler, called a sultan, was responsible for the holy places in Arabia and Jerusalem. His control of Mecca and Medina earned him the title of Servant of the Two Sanctuaries, and the sultan would lead the pilgrimage to these cities each year.
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Hieroglyphics
>The Ottomans took their name from the Turkish Muslim warrior known as Osman, who attacked Byzantine settlements in 1299. Osman’s followers were known as the “Ottomans.”
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From its inception, the Ottoman Empire had a tolerant attitude toward the Jews, and numerous Jewish communities flourished in Palestine, particularly in Jerusalem, Tiberias, Hebron, and Safad; approximately 10,000 Jews lived in Safad, the largest of the four communities. Many of the residents had been expelled from Spain in 1492, and several were among the most influential Jews in history. Among the most notable was Joseph Karo, who compiled one of the most widely used law codes, the Shulhan Arukh. Safad also was home to Rabbi Isaac Luria and his followers, who made the city the heart of the kabalistic, or Jewish mystical, movement.
The Holy Land was important to the Turks only as a source of revenue. Consequently, like many of their predecessors, they allowed Palestine to languish. They also began to impose oppressive taxes on the Jews, which led two seventeenth-century Christian travelers to remark that “they have to pay for the very air they breathe.”
Neglect and oppression gradually took their toll on the Jewish community, and the population declined to a total of no more than 7,000 by the end of the seventeenth century. It wasn’t until the nascent Zionist movement in Eastern Europe motivated Jews to return to Palestine that the first modern Jewish settlement was established in Petah Tikvah in 1878.
The Ottoman Empire held its own against rivals from Europe and Asia for roughly 400 years. With the onset of World War I, however, the Ottomans chose to engage in a battle that they could not win and one that would herald the end of nearly 3,000 years of Middle Eastern empires.
The Least You Need to Know
Muhammad founded the Muslim religion and is viewed by Islam as the last prophet.
After the Jews rejected Muhammad’s teachings, their relationship to him and his followers changed for the worse.
Muslim armies conquered the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. The early centuries of the empire were ruled by the Damascus-based Umayyads, who were succeeded by the Baghdad-based Abbasids. A third dynasty, the Fatimids, emerged in Egypt.
The Crusades were launched to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims. Crusaders ravaged Palestine for two centuries before being driven out by Saladin.
Mongol invaders from Asia and mamelukes from Egypt attacked the Abbasids and ended their dynasty. The havoc they wreaked marks a turning point in Middle Eastern history and the beginning of the region’s decline.
The Ottoman Turks created the last great Muslim empire, stretching from Hungary to Yemen, from the Crimea to the Sudan.
Chapter 5
The Nationalist Wave
In This Chapter
Zionism as a cure for anti-Semitism
Herzl founds the Jewish state
Lord Balfour’s letter
Arabs’ nationalism emerges
The previous three chapters have made clear the spiritual and historical attachment of both the Arab and Jewish peoples to Palestine. The Jews have also had an uninterrupted physical presence in Palestine since be
fore the birth of Christ. Their numbers varied through the ages, from an estimated high of five to seven million at the time of the destruction of the second Temple, to the five to seven thousand who lived under Ottoman domination at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Jews established the first political entity in what came to be known as Palestine as early as 1000 B.C.E. and lost it as a result of the conquest of foreign powers—first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians, and finally the Romans. These conquests affected the living conditions of the native peoples, but they were never forced to leave the region. The majority of Jews, however, were deported or provoked to go into exile, and they adapted their culture to the times and circumstances of the nations in which they lived.
The Jews in the Diaspora never ceased dreaming of the return to Zion—the ancient name for Jerusalem. Their desire only grew through their centuries of wandering and persecution. They even adapted customs to express their longing. For instance, they commemorate the destruction of the Temple on the holy day of Tisha b’Av, and at weddings the groom breaks a glass as a reminder that the Temple was destroyed. At Passover, Jews end their festive meals, or seders, with the acclimation: “Next year in Jerusalem!” And their daily prayers include songs of joy about their homeland and expressions of yearning for Jerusalem. It was this craving to return to Palestine, combined with the social and political forces of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, that gave rise to the Zionist movement.
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