The Jew as Ally of the Muslim

Download or read book The Jew as Ally of the Muslim written by Allan Harris Cutler and published by University of Notre Dame Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that after the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Christian-Jewish relations cannot be understood apart from Christian-Islamic relations. Shows that the outburst of antisemitism in Western Europe after 1000 was due primarily not to the deicide charge or socio-economic rivalry, but to the clash between Christianity and Islam, in which Jews were seen as dangerous allies of the Muslims. Analyzes the anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim polemical literature. The Spanish Inquisition, too, was motivated by racial and political motives in persecuting the Conversos who were sincere converts. The unprecedented mass conversions of the Jews of Spain and southern Italy in the late Middle Ages can also be explained by the attraction of Spanish Christian culture with its strong Muslim influence.