#moroccan ottoman

[babalmaghrib]

Did you know ?

After the occupation of Algiers by France, Tlemcen pledged allegiance and requested protection from the Sultan of Morocco.

Moulay Abderrahman, Sultan of Morocco, sent them a large quantity of costumes (caftans) but also cannons, mortars, gunpowder etc.

Reference : Kitab al-Istiqa

[chelseafcazul]

Family Room Open Houston Large minimalist open concept game room photo with a concealed tv

[isharp]

Boston Family Room An illustration of a large transitional enclosed game room with a media wall and purple walls.

[getbentfm]

Transitional Kids - Kids Room Inspiration for a large transitional girl carpeted kids' room remodel with blue walls

[sjw-themes]

Game Room in Houston Inspiration for a large modern open concept medium tone wood floor and brown floor game room remodel with white walls and a concealed tv

[moorishcarpet]

Handmade

Vintage

Ships from a small business in Morocco

Materials: Wool and Cotton

Width: 60 centimeters

Height: 60 centimeters

Depth: 20 centimeters

https://moorishcarpet.etsy.com

[carpetsmoroccan]

Moroccan salon -Unstuffed Seats Cushions -2 Back Cushions +2 Pouffe Moroccan - morocco sofa -rug pouf -handmade rug cushion -carpet cushion

[mapsontheweb]

Jewish settlement in Latin America in the 19th century

« Histoire universelle des Juifs », Élie Barnavi, Hachette, 1992

by cartesdhistoire

When Latin American states become independent from Spain, they allow non-Catholics to settle on their territory. The first Jewish immigrants originated either from the so-called Portuguese communities of the Antilles, or from Germany, France, England or Morocco. Members of the small community of Curaçao settle in Coro in northern Venezuela: it is where on July 13, 1829, the first Jew is granted, by Simon Bolivar, citizenship of a Latin American country; it is also where the oldest Jewish cemetery of the world is preserved continent, inaugurated no later than 1837.

Arrived individually, scattered across the continent and devoid of community links, European Jews are little different from their compatriots who arrived at the same time as them. It is known that Jews from these countries have been in Brazil since 1808, Mexico since 1830, Peru since 1833, Argentina since 1834 or Chile since 1842. Jewish organizations are created late, and only in large urban centers as in Buenos Aires in 1862.

Young Moroccan Jews migrate to the Amazon at a time of booming rubber production. The first Brazilian synagogue was founded in Belém in 1828.

From the 1880s the immigration of Jews from Russia began. The movement gained momentum in 1891, when the colonization business launched by Baron Maurice de Hirsch in Argentina made Latin America one of the main homes of Jewish immigration. Argentina and Uruguay became important centers of Ashkenazi Judaism until WWI.

The decomposition of the Ottoman Empire causes the migrations of Sephardic populations: Smyrniotic Jews in Buenos Aires (1904, 1910), Macedonian Jews from Monastir in Temuco, Chile (1916).

At the end of WWI, the Latin American diaspora has some 150,000 Jews whose largest community is in Argentina.

[storekech]

16*16 Chess set,backgammon set, handcrafted chess, boards,chess set with board,Gift for Him,chess board set,wooden chess board

[infiniteglitterfall]

Shit I should be seeing on Tumblr, but had to find out by accident

✨ Be the shit you want to see in the world ✨

August 3, 2024, was the tenth anniversary of ISIS's genocide in Iraq and Syria.

Today we remember the victims and honor the strength of the survivors of ISIS’s genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. We also remember the Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities who were victims of ISIS crimes.

ISIS killed and enslaved thousands of Yezidis. Over 2,600 Yezidi women and girls remain missing, and the identification and exhumation of mass graves continue.

The survivors bear the painful scars of that experience to this day.

In August 2014, the world witnessed genocide. Over the course of two weeks, the Sinjar region of Iraq was invaded by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). ISIS militants undertook a strategized campaign to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from existence.

Approximately 400,000 Yazidis [all of those in their indigenous homeland who survived] fled to the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq and tens of thousands took refuge on Mount Sinjar, where they faced near starvation.

ISIS considered Yazidis “infidels” and ordered men to either convert or die.

Women, on the other hand, were given no choice. They were taken captive, married off to the highest bidder, sexually enslaved, and forced to convert.

Sexual violence was strategically used as a weapon of war and codified in ISIS manuals that explained how to traffic Yazidi women. ISIS believed that violating women would destroy the community from within.

According to Susan Hutchinson of the Lowly Institute (“The Yazidi still wait for justice,” 2024), the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) probably made around $111 million from sexual slavery.

It has been shown that formerly enslaved Yazidis suffer from a higher prevalence of mental stress (97.1%), PTSD (90.6%), suicidal ideation (38.1%), depression (36.7%), and general anxiety symptoms (37.4%).

Who are the Yadizis?

Like Jews, Yadizis practice a monotheistic ethnoreligion indigenous to the Middle East and have been subjected to many similar attacks over the centuries.

This was the 74th attempted genocide since the start of the Ottoman Empire 500 years ago.

They're indigenous to Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Muslim colonization turned this into what we now know as Syria and Iraq.

Half of those who fled are still displaced - 200,000. About half of the 4,000 killed and 6,400 enslaved were children.

According to Save the Children, boys as young as seven were sent to ISIS training camps, and girls as young as nine were subjected to rape and sexual enslavement. Like Fawzia Sido, below.

I stumbled across this stuff by accident today.

But it's especially relevant right now, so soon after one of those girls, Fawzia Sido, was rescued from the fifth man to buy her in the past ten years. (WARNING: THE STUFF AT THAT PARTICULAR LINK IS WAY WORSE THAN I KNOW HOW TO TRIGGER WARN FOR.)

A Moroccan-Canadian Jewish social worker named Steve Maman, popularly nicknamed “The Jewish Schindler," was key to her rescue. He's helped rescue and ransom hundreds of Yadizis from slavery so far. ❤️

[needcake]

@hetaberia-week

Day 8: extra

.

.

1588,

Madrid

No bad news ever came unaccompanied.

“Let me through,” he ordered at first, pushing against the barrier of servants, nurses and surgeons trying to keep him from entering the room, hands on his arms and shoulders, telling him their young Lord had just undergone extensive surgery, he needed to recover, he needed rest, he needed – “Let me through!”

A path opened, their voices fading into silence in face of Portugal’s ire and he crossed the threshold in hard stomps, locking the doors behind himself.

“You scare them,” came a frail voice from the bed, weak and flickering like the candlelight on his bedside table. Spain was a ghost against the pillows, his face ashen and pale, forehead feverish to the touch of Portugal’s hand, eyes unfocused. The mattress dipped under Portugal’s weight as he sat on the edge, and Spain attempted a smile that came out too shaky.

“England did this to you?”

He shook his head, stubbornly. “There was a storm,” he licked his lips, blinking slowly, “the men got confused, the English kept firing at us. If we could’ve boarded them, I would’ve won.” He coughed and Portugal helped him to a glass of water, holding it steady against his lips as he took small sips. “He’s coming for you next,” Spain said, turning his eyes to the pamphlets on his bedside table, jutting his chin at them for Portugal to take a look.

He put the glass of water down and gingerly took the pamphlets in his hands, his frown deepening as he flipped through the pages.

“He’s negotiating an alliance with the Ottomans,“ Spain said, and Portugal abandoned the printed lines of English excuses for stealing his people’s grain and supplies from Lisbon’s harbors justifying it as a just cause in their conflict against Spain and looked directly into Spain’s weakened but resolute olive green eyes, seeing the Turk smirking in the corner of his Moroccan prison cell, his stupid mask glinting in the dark. “Morocco too, he’s been trading freely with her, sending ambassadors—”

“Yes, I already know about that,” Portugal cut him off dryly, looking down at the pamphlets in his hands. He had known England had been dealing with Morocco behind his back, but the Ottoman Turks. That hurt more, cut deep into his flesh, stung like the devil. He could feel Spain’s eyes on him, but didn’t dare look up when his chin trembled so and his eyes watered with angry tears.

A cold hand was laid gently on top of his trembling fist still holding the pamphlets, crinkling the pages. At this he did look up, finding Spain’s eyes so much softer than he expected.

And here he felt it again, the strange urge to pull his injured body in his arms, the pull of kinship on the bottom of his stomach too strong to resist this time, and when he opened his arms, Spain came all too easily, bandaged arms circling his torso and face pressed into his clavicle, allowing Portugal to embrace his shoulders, mindful of the bruises, careful when he tucked him under his chin.

“We’ll show them,” Spain mumbled into his doublet, “We’ll make them pay,” he said, his hoarse voice vibrating with anger, but all it did was make Portugal press his eyes tighter, trying to keep himself from crying harder. I’m sorry, he wanted to tell him, but didn’t, cradling his soft hair in his palm, hiding in the crook of his neck, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you’ll never be a boy again after this, that once he left this bed Spain would be forever changed.

No bad news ever came unaccompanied.

---

After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the English poured all their resources into a counter-attack the following year aiming to “liberate” Portugal and install António, Prior of Crato, as its King. They blockaded Lisbon’s harbors and confiscated their grains and supplies, which were carried by ships from the Hanseatic League that had nothing to do with the conflict. To justify their actions, the English issued pamphlets explaining their position, which you can read here. This resulted in the Portuguese population rejecting this liberation and the English Armada of 1589 also ended in failure, nearly bankrupting Elizabeth I. Concomitantly, the English, isolated as a Protestant nation amongst Catholic neighbors, sought out Islamic allies in Morocco and the Ottoman Empire, which further angered Spain and Portugal.

[psychologeek]

People online: Zionism is colonialism!! Stop eraseing the natives!

Genetic studies: umm. Well, actually -

I'm not biologist! But I try to explain this in simpler words. Feel free to correct me if I misunderstood anything :)

(can't believe I spent about 4 hours on it)

In short - the study compared the Y genes of several different groups - aka the paternal genetic history (father-to-son).

Finding more similarities= genetically closer= has a more common ancestry.

(like, brother is closer then cousin closer then a stranger)

Let's start!

"The investigation of the genetic relationship among three Jewish communities revealed that Kurdish and Sephardic Jews were indistinguishable from one another, whereas both differed slightly, yet significantly, from Ashkenazi Jews. The differences among Ashkenazim may be a result of low-level gene flow from European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation."

AKA: genetically speaking, there's no difference between Jews from various MENA countries (Mizrahim). (Sephardic were mostly Moroccan origins, Kurdish sample mostly north Iraq/Syrian origins)

An important note: Eda refers to the spesific traditions/subgroup, and passed down by the paternal line (father-to-son). This is in order to preserve traditional practices, that were different in different communities (e1)

There's a small genetic difference between Mizrahi jews and Ashkenazi Jews. This could be due to isolation or "low level gene flow" (in other words, converts and (mostly) children born from rape. Which was... way more common then you think. Look up "Pogrom".)

Next!

In a report published elsewhere, we recently showed that Jews and Palestinian Arabs share a large portion of their Y chromosomes, suggesting a common ancestry (Nebel et al. 2000). Surprisingly, in the present study, Jews were found to be even closer to populations in the northern part of the Middle East than to several Arab populations. It is worth mentioning that, on the basis of protein polymorphisms, most Jewish populations cluster very closely with Iraqis (Livshits et al. 1991) and that the latter, in turn, cluster very closely with Kurds (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994). These findings are consistent with known cultural links that existed among populations in the Fertile Crescent in early history.

Here, the mention earlier studies about genetic links between Jews (of all Edot) and Palestinian arabs. This can mean there's a common ancestry to the population (same grand-grand-etc.-father).

Jews are geneticly similar to Iranians, who are geneticly similar to Kurds (e2)

Those genetic links aren't suprising, and consistent with what we know from history about population and communities in the Fertile Crescent area.

Muslim Kurds 

The Kurds are considered an ancient autochthonous population (Kinnane 1970; Pelletiere 1984) who may even be the descendants of the shepherds who first populated the highlands during the Neolithic period (Comas et al. 2000). Although Kurdistan came under the successive dominion of various conquerors, including the Armenians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and Iraqis (Kinnane 1970), they may be the only western Asian group that remained relatively unmixed by the influx of invaders, because of their protected and inhospitable mountainous homeland (Pelletiere 1984). The Y chromosome variation of Muslim Kurds falls within the spectrum observed in other populations (Turks and Armenians) living in the same region. The three populations are closer to Jews and Arabs than to Europeans. This is in good agreement with data on classical markers (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994). However, on the basis of mtDNA polymorphisms, Kurds were reported to be more closely related to Europeans than to Middle Easterners (Comas et al. 2000).

Kurds are very ancient ethnic group. Possibly the only western-asian group that remained relatively unmixed, despite (pointing history).

Kurds Y chromosomes are pretty similar to those in the same area (Turks and Armenians), and those three groups Y chromosomes are more similar to Jews and Arabs then to Europeans.

Now, that's interesting: the similarities is also in classical markers, but it's different from studies on mtDNA (Maternal/mother line), which then shows more similar to Europeans than Arabs and Jews.

(idk if there are rumours/historical kurds stories/traditions about Patriarch communities with brides from distance? Or Matriarch communities with grooms from the (other) distance? But it sounds like the historical story is something like that.

Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin 

Bedouin are largely nomadic Arab herders, with a tribal organization. They live in all Arab countries, constituting about one tenth of the population (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994). The Bedouin population of the Negev desert was found to be most distant from Jews and Muslim Kurds and to be closely related only to Palestinians. Both these Arab populations differ from the other Middle Eastern groups sampled for the present study, mainly in having a higher frequency of Eu 10 chromosomes, the majority of which they share with each other. Traditional marriage practices—such as male polygamy, a high rate of consanguineous marriages, and patrilocality—may have enhanced the low haplogroup and haplotype diversity of the Negev Bedouin, as was suggested elsewhere for the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula (Salem et al. 1996).

Bedouins from the Negev (Southern Israel) were most different from Jews and Muslim-kurds, and closely related to Palestinian Arabs. Both Arab groups were(geneticly) very similar to eachother, but different from the other Middle Eastern groups in the study.

The main difference was a higher frequency of Eu 10 chromosomes, that were similar in the 2 groups.

We propose that the Y chromosomes in Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin represent, to a large extent, early lineages derived from the Neolithic inhabitants of the area and additional lineages from more-recent population movements. The early lineages are part of the common chromosome pool shared with Jews (Nebel et al. 2000). According to our working model, the more-recent migrations were mostly from the Arabian Peninsula, as is seen in the Arab-specific Eu 10 chromosomes that include the modal haplotypes observed in Palestinians and Bedouin. These haplotypes and their one-step microsatellite neighbors constitute a substantial portion of the total Palestinian (29%) and Bedouin (37.5%) Y chromosome pools and were not found in any of the non-Arab populations in the present study. The peripheral position of the modal haplotypes, with few links in the network (fig. 5), suggests that the Arab-specific chromosomes are a result of recent gene flow. Historical records describe tribal migrations from Arabia to the southern Levant in the Byzantine period, migrations that reached their climax with the Muslim conquest 633–640 a.d.; Patrich 1995). Indeed, Arab-specific haplotypes have been observed at significant frequencies in Muslim Arabs from Sena (56%) and the Hadramaut (16%) in the Yemen (Thomas et al. 2000). Thus, although Y chromosome data of Arabian populations are limited, it seems very likely that populations from the Arabian Peninsula were the source of these chromosomes. The genetic closeness, in classical protein markers, of Bedouin to Yemenis and Saudis (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1994) supports an Arabian origin of the Bedouin. The alternative explanation for the distribution of the Arab-specific haplotypes (i.e., random genetic drift) is unlikely. It is difficult to imagine that the different populations in the Yemen and the southern Levant, in which Arab-specific chromosomes have been detected at moderate-to-high frequencies, would have drifted in the same direction.

The eu10 Y chromosomes geneticly linked to the arab peninsula, and wasn't found in non-arab population. It's very possible that arab-Palestinians and Bedouins are the descendants of immigrants and population movement, possibly during the Caliphate - the Muslim Empire (Arab dynasties 632-1258; Mamluk Sultanate 1250-1517; ottoman/turkish 1517-1924) (e2)

Example and more information undercut:

Eda (plural - Edot): community, subgroup. Usually refers to a group using different Minhagim (traditions).

For example, my Yemeni ancestors only said the "Hamotzi" prayer (said before eating bread) during Passover, as wheat was rare and expensive, and wasn't a usual part of their diet.

Another differences include Te'amim (ways to read the Torah. Sort of like 🎶 for voice); Kitniyot (o lo lithiyot/jk) - do you eat it on passover? What about the oil?; certain holidays (traditional Mimuna, Sigd.) (Yat kislev🙈)

Through history, even though most Jewish communities weren't completely isolated from one another, it still took a lot of time to pass questions and information. So different places gained different traditions.

Basically, it goes "(go by) paternal traditions" (מנהג אבות)

In the past, people that moved from one community to another would take over the new traditions.

Since moving and immigration became far more common, and started to move as communities, people kept their traditions. For example, in my area I have 5 small synagogues, each was founded by a community from different diaspora that wanted to keep their traditions.

And it's okay! It's even great 😸

(e2) kurds:

Oh look, another ethnic group fighting for freedom and right for self government.

Population: about 30m ppl worldwide. In current geography, the land split between Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Also fighting ISIS. Look up YPJ.

[mariacallous]

La Bola is a classic Madrid tavern. Located on a quiet backstreet, it is painted lacquer red on the outside, with a dark wood and colored tile interior. We arrived during a busy Sunday lunch service. The place was filled with multigenerational families and loud groups of friends who, like us, were there for the jewel of the crown, the most Madridian dish of all: Cocido madrileño, a stew that La Bola has perfected in its 150 years of operation.

Cocido madrileño (“the stew of Madrid” in Spanish) is a rustic dish of chickpeas, vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage, and a variety of pork cuts, sausages and marrow bones. At La Bola it is still cooked the traditional way, layered in individual clay pots over coal. The stew is served over two courses, making for a full meal. First, the busy waiter poured the cooking liquid out of the cocido pot into a soup bowl filled with vermicelli noodles, to be eaten like a soup. The chickpeas, vegetables and meats were placed on a platter for the main course (some serve the chickpeas for a second course and the meat with veggies for third). The scene repeated itself at almost every table in the packed restaurant, with guests watching in anticipation as the waiters laid out the cocido spread.

But as it turns out, the roots of this Madrid staple, this pork-laden stew, are deep in the medieval Sephardi community of Spain. Specifically, in a Shabbat overnight stew called adafina (AKA dafina, tfina and s’khina). 

To understand the dish’s amazing evolution, we need to look way back.

Muslims conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the early eighth century. They brought religious moderation to Al Andalus, in addition to new dishes, spices, fruits and cooking techniques. Since Jews and Muslims both avoid pork, their cuisines at the time were very similar. 

Cooking stews overnight, over or under coal, was a technique used by Muslims while still in the Levant. But in Al Andalus, it was the Jews who were most identified with this cooking method, mainly because it was a good practice for Shabbat, when lighting fire is not allowed. The word adafina comes from the Arabic word for “hidden” or “buried,” since the dish was cooked while buried under coal, though the dish is also known as ani or calinete (“hot” in Spanish) or hamin (“a warm dish” in Hebrew, a name that was used for Shabbat dishes in the Talmud). 

Adafina, just like cocido madrileño, consists of chickpeas, vegetables, meat (lamb) with the occasional addition of hard-boiled eggs (huevos haminados) cooked together at a low temperature overnight. Adafina is still prepared by Tunisian and Moroccan Jews of Sephardi descent around the world. Through the years, more ingredients were added to the pot, most notably potatoes from the new world, as well as wheat berries, sometimes tied in a cloth, and a sweet loaf of ground beef.

According to author and food historian Claudia Roden, Moroccan adafina was served in several courses, first potatoes and eggs with plenty of the soup, then the wheat and/or rice and lastly the meat with chickpeas. Just like the cocido is served in Madrid today.

The first cookbook available to us from the Iberian Peninsula is the 13th century Andalusian “Kitab Al Tabikh.” It includes six Jewish recipes, and two of them use the technique of covering the pot with another pot of coal to keep it warm. A third recipe, described as “Stuffed, Buried Jewish Dish,” is called Madfūn, an Arabic word that comes from the same root as adafina, to bury. Although the recipe is different to what we know as adafina today, the method of cooking it for a long time under coal is the same.

With the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many left to Portugal, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, where for 500 years they kept their prayers, language (Judeo-Spanish or Ladino) and their unique cuisine, which is why adafina is present in Moroccan homes today.

Those who stayed in Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism. To enforce the sincere conversion and prevent the conversos (converts) from practicing their Judaism in secret, the monarchy used the Inquisition, an institution that kept its devastating work well into the 19th century.

One of the ways the Inquisition spied on and convicted heretic conversos was by observing their food. They published guides with detailed descriptions of Shabbat dishes, matzah on Passover, eggplant dishes and the avoidance of pork. Interestingly, the conversos themselves, having no other resource available, used those same lists in order to learn how to keep their Jewish customs alive. Neighbors and servants reported their suspicions to the Inquisition authorities. And so adafina became one of the most incriminating dishes, punishable by cruel execution.

A letter written by an eager informer to King Ferdinand in 1516 says that “nearly all the residents of this city [Seville] smell Jews, them, their houses and the doors of their houses, because they are gluttons and pigs, and they nourish themselves with casseroles, garlic and adafinas,” as documented in Hélène Jawhara Piñer’s book “Jews, Food, and Spain.”

But if the roots of cocido madrileño are, in fact, in the Jewish Sephardi adafina, why is it full of pork?

While many conversos saw avoiding pork as the most important Jewish law to keep, others deliberately consumed pork in public in order to avoid any suspicion. “The conversos of Majorca were known as Xuetes (“xua” meaning “bacon” in Majorcan Catalan), explains Paul Freedman in his book “Why Food Matters.”

“Because their ancestors cooked and ate bacon in public to show their sincerity, but they only did this once or twice a year.”

“The one way to demonstrate that they [the conversos] now are Christian was to eat pork, so they introduced pork into the most famous dish they ate, adafina,” Mara Verdasco Arevalo, La Bola Tavern’s manager and owner, told me in an email. 

For hundreds of years after the expulsion, Spain had no Jewish community and the Jewish roots of many staples of Spanish cuisine were all but forgotten. In recent years, Spain has been making an effort to revive its elaborate Jewish history. Spanish governments have worked to renew Jewish quarters around the country, began issuing Spanish passports to Sephardim and opened new Jewish museums. Hopefully a thorough research of Spain’s culinary heritage, acknowledging the Muslim and Jewish roots, will be part of it.

[eretzyisrael]

by Eunice G. Pollack and Stephen H. Norwood

Many Arabs stressed that even before "Zionist ... pretensions" threatened the "happy relationship" between Muslims and Jews, it had been disrupted by the imposition of European colonial rule.[13] They informed their Western audiences that Jews had "enjoyed all the privileges and rights of citizenship" before colonialism introduced an "artificial separation" between Muslim and Jew. A Moroccan political leader insisted that for this reason the Jews had "welcomed" the overthrow of colonial rule and the return of "Arabization" and the establishment of the independent Muslim nation.[14]

Contrary to the Arabs' contentions, however, it was the colonial powers that had extended citizenship (e.g., Algeria in 1870), equality or near-equality (e.g., the French Protectorate in Morocco, 1912–1956) to the Jews, liberating them at last from their status as subjugated, humiliated dhimmis, and ending the oppressive jizya, the tribute always exacted by the Muslims. Thus Jews had strongly endorsed the colonial presence, generally embracing modern European education and culture.[15] It was under British occupation (1882–1922) that Jews in Egypt felt safest. Notably, under Islamic rule, it was only the Ottoman Empire that, in an effort to secure European support—and modern weapons—issued an Imperial Edict (1856) that, in theory, extended equal rights to all its subjects. In practice, however, Ottoman governors (pashas) confined themselves to collecting taxes, while local rulers and the populace—for example, the Mamluks in Egypt—continued to persecute, pillage, and impose additional "heavy levies" on the Jews. Thus most Jews not only supported European colonial rule, but feared the independence movements, with the threat of return to their earlier subordinate "social, political and economic" positions.[16]

Islamic Myths about Jews' Inherent Traits

Arab commentators readily dismissed over two centuries of travelers' accounts and investigative reports that belied their claims about the conditions and contentment of Jews under Islamic rule. They simply turned to another hoary myth in order to protect their current fable. The Arabs discarded all the testimony that contradicted their narrative, explaining that it had been derived largely from Jews, whom the Qur'an characterized as congenitally deceitful, never to be trusted.[17]

At times, political and religious leaders conceded that the Jews in Muslim lands had been relentlessly subjugated, relying on another large cache of myths, drawn or extrapolated from the Qur'an, to sanctify their abasement of those they now identified as "the dogs of humanity." Indeed, from the earliest years of Islam, Muslims had understood that "their deadliest enemies were the Jews."[19] They were the only people cursed in the Qur'an, whom Allah had promised "degradation in this world and a mighty chastisement in the next world." Muslim theologians recognized that the Jews were "like germs of a malignant disease where one germ is sufficient to eliminate an entire nation." But, they taught, "the Holy Qur'an ... constitutes the microscope through which we can see the pests and poisons that reside in their minds and hearts." Thanks to Qur'anic lessons on how to subdue the Jews, the Muslims were "the only people on earth to tolerate them" in their midst.[20]

Citing the Qur'an, prominent Muslim educators portrayed the Jews as driven throughout their history to bring "blind sedition ... and intrigue in any land or community where they happened to live." Some suggested that this was likely "why the Israelites ... were so detested by all surrounding tribes."[21] Others explained that "the Jews themselves have not changed" because, "according to ... their false Torah," they "are required to stir war with their neighbors once they have the opportunity to do so." Some added that the Jews often preferred to deploy "conspiracies, plots, intrigues [and] sedition" because they were inherently "cowards and could not openly face their enemy."[22]

Not acknowledging a contradiction, many spokesmen insisted that "the Jews have always been criminal aggressors." Jews claim that they are victims, "subjected [throughout] their long history" to "oppression and persecution" "for no other reason than their being followers of Moses." In truth, "the hatred felt by various peoples ... for Jews was not due to their belief, but their ... unchangeable behavior, always based on exploitation, ingratitude and evil-doing in return for kindness." That is, the "criminal aggressors" only deceptively identify as innocent victims.[23] Educators taught that the Jews are "avaricious, ruthless, cruel, hypocritical and revengeful. These traits govern their lives." They point out that the Qur'an warned that, if permitted, the Jews would "become great tyrants." They conclude: "No good is expected of them unless they live under the aegis of Islam as loyal and obedient subjects." Then the Muslims "will treat them ... tolerantly." "Islamic tolerance is," after all, in complete contrast to "Jewish intolerance and cruelty."[24]