A History of the Jews of Arabia: From Ancient Times to Their Eclipse Under Islam

Studies in Comparative Religion

by Gordon Darnell Newby

The Jewish communities of Arabia had a great influence on the attitudes that Muslims hold toward Jews, and yet relatively little has been written about their history. Through techniques borrowed from anthropology, literary criticism, sociology, and comparative religion, Gordon Darnell Newby reconstructs the understanding of Jewish life in Arabia before and during the time of Muhammad. In addition this material is used to develop a perspective on the interconfessional relations between Judaism and Islam during an era when the latter was at one of its most dynamic stages of growth.

Genres: Judaism, History, Islam, Theology

177 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1988

Reviews

[فؤاد]

اطلاعات خیلی جالبی داره، مخصوصاً تسلط نویسنده به سنت‌های یهودی بهش این امکان رو می‌ده که روایات اسلامی رو نقادی کنه و اشارات گذرا و مبهم مورخان مسلمان بی خبر از سنت‌های یهودی ‌‌رو تفسیر کنه و نکات جالبی از رسوم و باورهای یهودی‌های عربستان کشف کنه.
اما مشکل بزرگ کتاب اینه که به قول خود نویسنده، یه مقالهٔ مفصله و فقط قراره راه رو برای تحقیقات بعدی باز کنه. مطالب رو تشریح نمی‌کنه، اشاره می‌کنه و رد می‌شه، اشاره می‌کنه و رد می‌شه، برای همین کتاب در شکل فعلیش بیشتر مجموعه‌ای از نکات مسلسل‌واره تا یه روایت منسجم که ذهنیت آدم رو بسازه.

[Hakim Fatehali]

Several writers' virtues are combined in this informative yet concise text on Arabian Jewry. The author draws his sources from classical historians such as Josephus, Rabbinical sources (Midrashic and Talmudic writings), Islamic sources (Sîra literature and hadîth) and finally some archaeological findings to give us a picture of a dynamic community.

The task is by no means easy, as sources are marred in Jewish and Islamic legend as well as anti-Jewish polemic. Reliable Diaspora accounts also seem few and indicative rather than narrative at times. And while the text is enjoyable, one is left with the unsatisfactory realisation that much of the communal life of Jews in Yathrib, Taymâ, Khaybar and Fadak remains lost to history. And yet, the lack of sources rather presents the author with the opportunity of closer scrutiny and discussion. Several perspectives are weighed in regarding social phenomena, Jewish beliefs but also events. For example, the author introduces the reader (in a cursory manner to not detract from the flow of the book) the arguments of Barakat, Arafat and Kister when discussing the Quraydha massacre/executions that probably took place after the siege of Medina. Another example is when he casts a shadow of a doubt over the supposed exile of B. Qaynuqâ, relying on arguments by Muslim historian Barakat.

The examples above serve to show that the ambition of the author goes beyond establishing any particular narrative. If the history of Arabian Jewry seems disjointed and fragmentary, it's because of our sources. The author makes humble and moderate attempts of connecting the dots and ends the book with an interesting discussion on the epistemological ideas underpinning history in general and Islamic history in particular, with references to ideas by Wansbrough and Karl Popper.

Astonishingly, this is all done within a space of 120 pages (useful footnotes not regarded in page count) and with a sense of great respect towards both Islamic and Jewish source material. Towards the end of the book, a very important jab is delivered at the sentiments that the Jews of Arabia played no major role in history. The author argues that it has shaped Islamic narratives and possibly beliefs in a way very few religious groups have, during the most crucial and formative years of Islam. In this regard, the Jewry of Arabia has played a major role in world history in their small towns and tents in the Hejaz and Yemen.

This is simply a very good book and ought to be the starting point when examining the history of Jewry in Arabia.

[Ayyan]

An interesting read into an oft-ignored part of history.