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Earlier this week I posted about a panel held at Pepperdine University regarding the film, "Munich." Some Liberal views on the subject of the Islamists were ably expressed there by Prof. Michael Berenbaum. One statement made by Prof. Berenbaum which I did not comment on in the earlier post was, 'Until the last 50 years, it was better for a Jew to live in a Muslim country, than in a Christian country.' (Quoting from memory -- I believe that's about what he said). While the Conservatives in the crowd were shocked by the statement, which elicited loud cries of disapproval from a group that was otherwise for the most part quiet and well-mannered, I have since heard that this is a view that has been around for a long time and has been expressed by many others. So it can use some debunking.
The current result of centuries of Jewish communities living under Muslim rule, has been the drastic diminishment of those communities, and in many cases, their utter elimination. The comparable result in the free world has been the flourishing and success of those communities, which contribute greatly, in art and science, to all other people in the nations in which they thrive.
So anyone espousing the view expressed by Prof. Berenbaum is saying that he would have advised Jews of earlier times that it would be better for them to sacrifice the entire future of their communities, so as to have a somewhat more palatable present. The view is shortsighted in a way that would have been devastating to the Jewish people had it actually been accepted at the time to which it refers.
Note: Robert Spencer states that in fact, it is not so that life for a Jew or Christian was preferable under Muslim rule in earlier times. From The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), page 54:
The humiliations took various forms, but they were almost always present. Historian Philip Hitti notes one notorious example from the ninth century: "The Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 850 and 854 decreed that Christians and Jews should affix wooden images of devils to their houses, level their graves even with the ground, wear outer garments of honey color, i.e. yellow, put two honey-colored patches on the clothes of their slaves,... and ride only on mules and asses with wooden saddles marked by two pomegranate-like balls on the cantle."
Later, Christians in the Ottoman Empire, according to historian Steven Runciman, "were never allowed to forget that they were a subject people." This extended to the appropriation of their holy places by the conquering people: When the Turks took Constantinople in 1453, according to Hoca Sa'deddin, tutor of the sixteenth-century Sultans Murad III and Mehmed 111, "churches which were within the city were emptied of the vile idols and cleansed from the filthy and idolatrous impurities and the defacement of their images and the erection of Islamic prayer niches and pulpits ... many monasteries and chapels became the envy of the gar dens of Paradise."
In the fourteenth century, the pioneering sociologist Ibn Khaldun. explained the options for Christians: "It is [for them to choose between] conversion to Islam, payment of the poll tax, or death."
#1
As a modern orthodox Jew, who went to a religious school, I can tell you that we learned that the Jews living in the “Golden Age of Spain” experienced a lot more freedoms than had they lived in other Christian and Church dominated countries. It was more palatable, however by no means easy. One of our greatest philosophical minds, Maimonodies, lived during this Golden Age during the 12th century. It is true that there was once a time when Islam was an incredibly advanced and open society. They were studying the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle. Jews were free to study and work in any profession they liked as long as they were subservient to the dhimmi laws of the Muslims. Jewish physicians were subject to coming into Muslims’ homes to treat a patient, not knowing whether their masters were in a good or bad mood. Good mood, being that they would be paid and only have to give up their second class citizen tax. Bad mood, being that they would be killed instead of being paid. We know that Hitler used Persia ancient example of making their Jewish citizens live in separate communities and forcing them to wear yellow badges that distinguished them as being Jews. And, we all know what eventually happened to the Jews of Spain.
To say that the Jews had it “better” in Muslim and Arab countries over Christian countries up until 50 years ago is to absolutely gloss over history, take bits and pieces of what looks good, and then throwing out the rest of the facts. If it was so sad and naive, it would be laughable. Someone needs to sit Prof Berenbaum down for some history lessons, because this guy aint living in the real world.
-OC