Jews fared better under the Crescent than the Cross

Jessie Gabe

The room was packed and the crowd was diverse for a lecture Oct. 5 by Princeton historian Mark R. Cohen on Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages, part of a new lecture series on the Middle East.

Only hours earlier, pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students had demonstrated over Concordia’s refusal to allow a former Israeli prime minister to speak on campus. The timing for a lecture focusing on Islamic-Jewish co-operation throughout history could not have been more fitting.

Cohen sought to expose some preconceptions about Jewish-Muslim relations. He said that despite the current political instability in the Middle East, which has demonized Jews among Muslims and led to some vehement anti-Islamic Zionism, there is no inherent hostility between the two religions.

Anti-Semitism, understood as the irrational persecution of Jews, is not native to true Islam. Cohen gave examples from history to show how Jews under Islamic rule were protected, whereas those under medieval Christendom were marginalized at best and, more often, excluded. Jews fared better under the Crescent than the Cross.

“However, the historian must not expect to find principled tolerance; rather, he should search for historical factors that mitigated the natural intolerance.” In other words, Islamic tolerance toward Jews in the Middle Ages grew out of practical need.

Cohen said there was no “inter-faith utopia,” as some historians have suggested.

During the question and answer period, a Muslim student admonished Cohen for being “pro-Jewish” by not addressing Jewish behaviour, “only Christian or Muslim behaviour toward Jews.”

However, others praised Cohen’s diplomacy. Metin Sefer, a history and psychology student of both Jewish and Muslim descent, said that “despite fanaticism in the current situation, [Cohen] was able to stay well within the bounds of academia, not indulging in any personal opinions.”

Referring to the “minefield of politically loaded questions” from the audience, Sefer commended Cohen for continuously bringing the discussion back to the topic at hand.

Cohen did conclude his lecture with political observations on the present-day situation in the Middle East, expressing his distress over current Islamic-Jewish relations.

“It is regrettable that today, Islam bears many of the traits of European anti-Semitism.” He maintained, however, that anti-Semitism was only “Islamized” after being transmitted from 19th-century Christian Europe.

This was the inaugural lecture of the Saleh Sassoon Mahlab Lecture Series.