The American Jewish world. [volume] (Minneapolis ;) 1915-current, 1920-04-09
JACOB AND ISFIMAEL
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30 = ByoDr. S. N. Deinard. = @aa.
ByDr! S. N. Deinard.

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES neutrality-suspicious.
certain pecuharities Of dress; that
they are not to ride horseback. nor
hold state positions. They are re-
CURED to pay poll-tax and a land
tax, and are obliged to entertain any
travelling Moslem for three days. They
are not to build any new churches or
synagogs.,a A Moslem may enter a
church or a synagog. whenever he
pleases; but a. Jew and a Christian
may not enter Mosque. On festive
days neither Jews nor Christians may
have professions. Their graves are
to be level with the ground; they
are to pray silently for their dead,
and are never to sing aloud.
Omar expelled the Jews from
Khaibar just as he expelled the
Christians from Nyran, for, said he,
Muhammed wishes to have only one
religion in Arabia. Upon his capture
of Jerusalem, the Jews in and around
that city naturally Jared very badly,
for Muhammed had put the seal of
holiness on Judea's capital, too. "Al
Kuds," the Holy City, is the name by
which it is known in the Muham-
medan world.
In the meantime the followers of
the prophet carried their victorious
arms to the farthest regions east and
west to Central Asia and the con-
fines Of India, to the Strait of Gibral-
tar and the Pyrenees. At least two
thirds of the worlds Jewry were now
subjects of the Arab Khalifs and
Emirs, and under Muhammedan-Arab
influence. At least two-thirds of world
Jewry now spoke Arabic, a language
more quickly and thoroly mastered by
them than the tongues of other Euro
pean and ,Asiatic nations, because of
it's kinship with their own Hebrew.
The treatment they received from
their Arab rulers and neighbors varied
according to the enlightenment. and
tolerance or lack Of it that prevailed
at a given period and in given coun-
try. When cultured and liberal Arab
or Moorish princes held, the reins Of
power, when reason and faith were
we'll balanced, Jews stood in the most
Cordial relations with their Muham-
medan neighbors. and often rose to
high positions of trust, dignity and y
honor at the courts Of their rulers.
But when some new fanatical sect or
faction was in the eascendancy, such
as the Almohades, or the Almoravids,
all the hostility implanted by the in
tolerant faith asserted itself, and
Jews were often massacred in, or ban
ished FROM Muhammedan lands with
the same ruthlessness as was their
portion in Medieval Christendom.
On the whole. however, the periods
of federation and amity exceeded those
of blind fanaticism and persecution.
That was particularly the case in
Moorish Spain. There for many long
periods and in many parts of the coun-
try the Jews enjoyed degree of
felicity that stands out like a bright
ly illumined spot in the midst Of the
general medieval darkness all around
them In Mesopotamia, but particular
ly in Moorish Spainslthe native genius
Of the children of Ishmael bore its
noblest fruit. In architecture, in
poetry, in science, and in philosophy
the Arabs led the world, as the Greeks
had done in the time of Athens
glory. True, twas not entirely the
original product of the Arab mind.
The Arab built on Greek and Byzan-
tine foundations. The renaissance Of