Muhammad and The Jews — Page 4
Between Geiger and Leszynsky, while Muirl, Grimrne2, Caetani3, Graetz 4 and others dealt with the subject within the larger context of their researches, Wensinck wrote a doctoral thesis on the Apostle and the Jews of Medina. 5 Since Leszynsky, Lammens 6 , Wolfen- son,7 HorovitzS, Torrey9, HirschberglO, Baronll and Goitein have dealt with the same material. Montgomery Watt in his Muhammad at Medina 1 2 also devoted a whole chapter to the Jews ofYathrib. No Muslim, as far as I know, has given the subject the importance of an independent study and research. Most of the non-Muslim scholarship is tied down to the main theme of the Jewish influence on Islam, the Apostle's disappointment at his rejection by the Jews and the subsequent expulsion and 'extermination' of the Jews. The subject has not been dealt with in its proper socio-political context. Some of the familiar intellectual attitudes towards non-Muslims, crystallized into patterns of thought, have been repeated for centuries and worn smooth by generations of Muslim jurists and historians. The theme of prejudice and discrimination against ah! al-dhimma, mainly based on the works of Muslim jurists, invariably serves as an introduction to the history of Muslim-Jewish relations. The approach, unfortunately, too often sacrifices history to jurisprndence and ignores historical facts in favour of legend which, in the course of time acquired theological colouring. 1 Sir William Muir, Life of Muhammad (London, 1861). 2 H. Grimme, Mohammed (Munster, 1892-1895). 3 Leone Caetani, Annali dell' Islam (Milan, 1905 ff). 4 H. Graetz, History of the Jews (Philadelphia, 1894) Vol. Ill. A. J. Wensinck, Mohammed en de Joden te Medina (Leiden, 1908). Klaus Schwarz, Freiburg im Breisgau, published an English translation in 1975. 6 Henri Lammens, "Les Juifs a la Mecque a la veille de l'Hegire", L'Arabie occidentale avant I' Hegire (Beyrouth, 1928). 7 Israel Wolfenson, Ta 0 rikh al-Yahud fi Biliid al-'" Arab (Cairo, 1927 ). 3 Joseph Horovitz, "Judaeo-Arabic Relations in Pre-Islamic Times", Islamic Culture, Vol. Ill (1929). 9 Charles Cutler Torrey, The Jewish Foundation of Islam (New York, 1967, first published in 1933). io Joachim Wilhelm (Haim Zeev) Hirschberg, Israel in Arabia (Tel Aviv, 1946), in Hebrew. 11 Salo Wittmayer Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York, 1957), Vol. III. 12 (Oxford, 1962, first published in 1956). 4·