The Divergence of Judaism and Islam: Interdependence, Modernity, and Political Turmoil

An impressive collection of essays that adds great depth and breadth to our understanding of Jewish-Muslim relations in the modern period. --Jeffrey Kenney, author of Muslim Rebels: Kharijites and the Politics of Extremism in Egypt This remarkable volume offers a rich panoply of perspectives, both on the final chapter of Jewish minority life within the Islamic orbit, and on the contemporary relationships obtaining between Jews and Muslims and between Israel and the Muslim nation states. The variety of eclectic approaches works synergistically to supply nuance to complex and often misunderstood relationships. --Marc S. Bernstein, author of Stories of Joseph: Narrative Migrations in Judaism and Islam A companion volume to The Convergence of Judaism and Islam, this collection of essays explores the Jewish-Muslim relationship from the nineteenth century to the present. While that earlier work focused on the shared cultures and often peaceful relations between the two religions in the medieval and early modern periods, this book reveals how the paths of Jews and Muslims began to diverge two centuries ago. The essays in this volume examine how each group reacted quite differently to colonial rule, how the Palestine Question and the Arab-Israeli crisis have soured relations, and how the rise of nationalism has contributed to the growing tensions. With contributors from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines, this book offers a broad but in-depth analysis of the Jewish-Muslim relationship in recent times. Michael M. Laskier is professor of Middle Eastern studies and director of the Menachem Begin Center for the Study of Underground Movements at Bar-Ilan University. He has authored many books, including Israel and the Maghreb: From Statehood to Oslo. Yaacov Lev is professor of Islamic medieval studies at Bar-Ilan University and the author of Charity, Endowments, and Charitable Institutions in Medieval Islam. See more