Zhang Qianhong: Interaction between Jews and Arabs in the Islamic world

I. Jew-Arab interaction before the rise of Islam

There is no reliable historical evidence of when Jews first settled in the Arabian Peninsula, but the two peoples interacted as early as biblical times. According to the Bible, after his exodus from Egypt, Moses took Sipala, the daughter of the high priest, as a concubine in Midian, the Arab region on the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Arab woman bore him two sons. In Solomon's time, the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula had diplomatic and commercial contacts with the Hebrew Kingdom. The small city of Tama on the Arabian Peninsula is said to be the first Arab city with Jewish social characteristics, and it existed as early as biblical times, when Jewish navigators and fugitives first established their settlements here to escape the persecution of the Babylonians and Romans.

In Yemen in the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula, Jewish-Arab contacts date back to the late Himuyel Kingdom (300-525). During this period, the Ethiopians first conquered Yemen in 340 AD, and it is said that many of the subjects of the Himuyer kingdom, including some members of the royal family, were Judaic. As a result, many Arabs fled to the ghetto of the Hejaz region. By the early 6th century, there were more Jews in Yemen, devoted themselves to trade between India and Byzantine Persia, and Judaism became more popular, so much so that the Himular king Du Nuiss accepted Judaism and gave himself the Jewish name Yusuf. In 523 AD, du Noiss attacked Christians in Najran's region of the Arabian Peninsula and demanded that they convert to Judaism, and because of the strong resistance of Christians, Du Noiss burned many Christians, an incident reflected in the Qur'an: "The people in the trenches were annihilated, and there were burning flames. At the time, they were sitting on the edge of the pit, and they witnessed their own crimes against the faithful. (1) Hermeneutics believe that accounts such as "burning fire" and "witnessing their own crimes against the faithful" refer to the scene of Du Noisse slaughtering Christians and burning Christian scriptures. After the incident, one of them survived and asked the Byzantine king for help, and Byzantium decided to organize a Christian force to attack. In October 525, when Byzantium supported the Ethiopians in their second attack on Yemen, du Noiss was defeated, his land, capital, wife, and property fell into enemy hands, and a grieving and indignant du Noiss rode his war horse into the choppy sea, disappearing forever from the pursuers' sight, and the kingdom of Himuyer withdrew from the stage of history (2).

Between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, the great migration of peoples on the Arabian Peninsula, with the decline of the ancient kingdoms of Yemen (Main, Saibay, Himutal), local commerce declined, and natural conditions deteriorated, the Qur'an describes the changes that Saiba experienced in a Allah tone: "There is indeed a sign at the base of Saibae: two gardens, symmetrical on the right and left, 'you can feed from the resources given by the Lord, and you should be grateful to him'. ...... Then they rebelled, and I attacked them with the horror of the flood, and I changed the appearance of their two gardens: they became gardens with bitter fruits, strange willows, and a few sour dates. (3) In this context, many tribal peoples have left for the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, and their contact and integration with the northern population has not only promoted the foreign trade and socio-economic development of the north, but also affected the local language and culture, especially religion, as Mr. Nazhong analyzed: "Most of these immigrants came from the more culturally developed areas of Yemen, and they had frequent contact and even struggles with Jews and Christians when they were in Yemen." Some have embraced Judaism or Christianity. In the past, both monotheistic religions sought to draw Yemeni Arabs into their own religion. When these tribes moved to the nomadic areas of the north, they inevitably influenced the local Bedouin people consciously or unconsciously on the Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices they had learned in Yemen. In particular, the ideological consciousness of 'monotheism' has a strong influence on local fetishists. (4) In the 1st century AD, the Jewish uprising against Rome failed, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, a large number of Jews were forced to flee Palestine, and more and more Jews migrated to the Arabian Peninsula, forming cultural centers in Hijaz, Medina, Khaybal and other places.

According to Arabic legend, the Jews of Hijaz date back to the time of Moses. Moses ordered his men to fight the Amaleks of the Adamat family, who are portrayed in rabbinic literature as Israel's eternal enemies. During the conquest, the Jews took great sympathy for one of Amelek's handsome princes, and instead of killing him, they brought him back alive. The earliest evidence of Jewish settlement in Hijaz is the epitaph erected in Hijaz in 42 AD and the epitaph of Saint Simon in 307 AD. According to these two epitaphs, Jews were the main representatives of the Nabot culture that arose in Hijaz after the 3rd century AD. Little is known about the cultural life of the Jewish community in Hijaz, but there is evidence that they used the Arabic translation of the Bible extensively and suggest that the Arabic language had become quite popular among Jews. After settling in Hijaz, the Jews occupied all the oases in the northwestern part of the peninsula, including Medina.

Medina, known as Yasrib in pre-Islamic times, was an oasis on trade routes and abundant groundwater, and the Jewish settlement brought new farming experience and plant varieties to the local population, planting palms, fruit trees and rice, and passing on to the Arabs new techniques for making metalwork, dyes and jewelry, as well as the methods of doing business. The Jews of Medina maintained close ties with other Jewish communities in the Arab Empire, reaching as far north as An'hara in Syria and at least Nolan in the south. In the early 3rd century, two Arab tribes from Yemen lived together with Jews, both engaged in agriculture, traded with each other, and had relatively friendly relations, and more people accepted Judaism. The Arab ibn Abbas once wrote, "The Medina people originally practiced fetishism. There were Jews who lived there and considered themselves superior in learning, and the locals imitated them. (5) Later, when Muhammad began to preach, the Arabs of Medina were able to accept it precisely because they had lived with the Jews for a long time and were influenced by the Jewish idea of expecting the coming of the messiah. They naturally believed that there would eventually be a messenger like a savior among the Arabs to resolve their contradictions and disputes, stop internal vendettas, prevent foreign enemies from encroaching, and expand their power.

The Jews of Medina were also heavily influenced by Arab culture, not only using Arabic with Hebrew vocabulary, but also imitating the Arabs' tribal approach to the most basic social unit. It is said that more than 20 Jewish tribes settled in Medina at that time. The most prominent of these are the Banu Gureza tribe, the Banu Nadir tribe, the Banu Gar tribe and the Banu Shalabah tribe. The tribes of Nadir and Guleza claimed to be descendants of the Jewish Grand Rabbi Cohen (6), who occupied the most fertile land in southern Medina. The Jews of Medina built 59 fortresses, not only to guard against outsiders, but also to store food and water. Medina Jews also built their own schools and synagogues. In Muhammad and the Jews, Barakaat Ahmed calculated that the total Jewish population in Medina at the time of the Prophet's lifetime was between 3.6 and 42,000 based on the number of people who fought and died in tribal warfare (7).

Located nearly 90 miles from Yesrib, Khaibal is located on a mountainous plateau made up entirely of lava deposits covered in malaria-endemic swamps. These river valleys, although uninhabitable, are fertile. Jews grew grapes, vegetables and grain here, raised sheep, cattle, camels, horses and mules, and there were palm forests. Jews traded with Syria and profited from the trade in caravans between Arabia, Syria and Iraq. Jews also made metal tools such as siege cones and slingshots. They own fortresses that claim to be garrisoned by 20,000 soldiers, with Pedek, Wadi-Gula and Taima being the three most famous Jewish fortresses.

In short, before the rise of Islam, Jews on the Arabian Peninsula had some interaction with Arabs, and Jews were deeply influenced by Arab culture. Engels wrote in his letter to Marx: "Now I have fully understood that the so-called 'holy book' of the Jews is only the record of the religious legends and tribal legends of ancient Arabia, but these legends have been changed by the separation of the Jews and their neighbors who are of the same ethnic group but engaged in nomadic tribes. (8) Early Jews had relatively friendly relations with the Arabs, but after the 7th century AD, Islam's eagerness to establish power and consolidate its rule took tough measures against any anti-Islamic forces on the peninsula, leading to conflict between Jews and Arabs. In Mecca, Jews joined forces with fetishists in battles against Muhammad's armed forces against Muhammad, and at one point defeated Muslim armies. So the words appear in the Qur'an: "You must find that the most hatred of believers is the Jews and the material mates (polytheists). ”⑨

In Medina, there was a bloody conflict between Muslim Arabs and Jews, and after the failure of the Jewish resistance, the Muslim Arabs expelled two famous Jewish tribes, Nedir and Gulezha, from Medina, and received a large number of shields, bows, arrows, swords, spears, armor, etc. made by Jews. The Nedir tribe continued to resist Islam in Haybal with pagan forces, and in 629, the Muslims attacked Haybar, fighting fiercely for 3 weeks, the Jews were defeated, and they had to submit to the Muslims to pay tribute to the Muslims. Since then, the power of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula has greatly weakened. However, when the Islamic regime was consolidated, the relationship between Arabs and Jews tended to ease, and compared to Christendom, Jews had some room for development in the Muslim world, and Jewish culture flourished.

Second, the absorption and inheritance of Judaism during the rise of Islam

Muhammad lived in a time when many Jews settled in the Arabian Peninsula, and Muhammad could not write, but he was quiet, quick-witted, and receptive to new things. He grew up in business, joining a caravan to Syria at the age of 12, where contact with Jews was inevitable. Before the advent of Islam, Jews throughout the Arabian Peninsula brought Hebrew myths and stories to the Arabs and infused the Arab world with monotheistic ideas and ideas of creation, salvation, the devil, Satan, and hell. In the second half of the 6th century AD, a new sect, the Hanifa movement, emerged in the Arabian Peninsula, calling themselves followers of "Ibrahim" (the Arab term for Abraham) and vigorously opposed the fetishism that was popular there. Although the Hanifa movement did not form a systematic program and did not become a religion in the full sense, its basic propositions such as worship of monotheism, opposition to idols, and the pursuit of the right path were completely born out of Judaism and had a great influence on the rise of Islam. When Muhammad began his mission, he claimed that Islam was the religion that inherited Ibrahim. There is this revelation in the Qur'an: "You say that my Lord has shown the right path, which is Orthodoxy. Reverence of the religion of Ibrahim. ”⑩

During the Islamic period, Jews and Muslims often argued and defended their religion, and there are many such accounts in ancient Islamic texts. Os, who lived in the Jewish tribe of Gureza in Medina, wrote this poem: My wife invites me to serve Allah, and I ask my wife to believe in Yawei; I have the scriptures of Moses, she has the teachings of Muhammad; Each says that his religion is good and that he has found the right path (13).

Judaism is heavily influenced by Islam and is therefore known as the "daughter religion" of Judaism. The famous American historian Hitty also said in his book "General History of Arabia": "The Hebrews, before any other people, with a clear monotheistic concept, showed the people of the world that their monotheism is the source of the faith of Christians and Muslims." "The religion of the Arabs is the third monotheistic religion after Judaism and Christianity, and the last monotheistic religion. Historically, this religion was a branch of those two religions and the closest of all religions. These three religions are the product of the same spiritual life, the Semitic life. ”(14)

Islam's absorption and inheritance of Judaism is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, Islam recognizes the prophets of Judaism and respects the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Muhammad pointed out that his religion was derived from the "original scriptures" along with Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe that among the many prophets, six can be called messengers: Adam (Adam), Nuhai (Noah), Ibrahim, Muza (Moses), Jesus (Jesus), and Muhammad. Muhammad was a "sealed" prophet and will never appear again. Islam also emphasizes that the prophets before Muhammad had received Allah revelations and received the scriptures given by Allah, and Allah had dropped 104 scriptures, but only four were actually mentioned in the Qur'an, namely the Churat (the Pentateuch), the Zekhur (i.e., the Psalms of David), the Injil (i.e., the Gospels) and the Qur'an. The Qur'an confirms previous texts and clarifies all previous distortions and falsifications. The Qur'an also does not deny its relationship with the Judeo-Christian scriptures. The verse says, "We have indeed heard the Scriptures that came down after our stepmother, Moses, which is sufficient to confirm that it can point to the truth and to the correct purpose of the path." "This Qur'an, apart from Allah, must not be made up or false, but used by him to confirm the past [the scriptures] and to interpret the scriptures. There is no doubt that it is the edict of the Lord of all things in the universe. (15) In Islam's view, since both Jews and Christians are "people of the Scriptures," they are fellow Muslims and should be respected. The Qur'an Allah has this revelation to Muhammad: "You say that we are convinced of Allah, of the revelation we have received, of the revelation received by Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishag, Yalgulbai and the tribes, and of the scriptures that Mother and Isa, Isa, and the prophets have received to their Lord. We do not discriminate against any of them. ”(16)

Second, most of the legends and stories told in the Qur'an are very similar to those of the Old Testament. There are about 1,500 such verses, accounting for 1/4 of the Qur'an, and the stories of the prophets are most evident. Of the 28 important figures mentioned in Scripture, 24 are biblical figures. Among them, Adam (Adam), Noah (Nuhai), and Abraham of the Old Testament are mentioned 70 times in 25 chapters; Tara (Azar), Ishmael (Ismayi), Isaac (Ishag), Lot (Ruth), Jacob (Yal, Vaibai), Joseph (Yusuf), and Moses (Musa) are mentioned 130 times each in chapter 34; Saul (Tarut), David (Dawood), Solomon (Surayman), Elijah (Ilejas), Job (Ayyub), Jonah (Yunus), etc. are all famous figures in the Qur'an. The concepts of universal monotheism and the opening of the classics that these stories seek to confirm reflect the historical connection between Islam and Judaism (17).

Third, Islamic commentators often interpret the Qur'an using the content and style of the Old Testament. Muslim views of the Old Testament can be summed up in three ways: first, all or most of the Old Testament has been tampered with by the Jews, and what people see at the time is no longer the original scripture that Moses received inspired by God; Second, the text of the Old Testament is still divine revelation, and the Jews have only tampered with the commentary; Third, the Old Testament basically maintains the original appearance when God sent to Moses, and the view of the Jews tampering with the Old Testament is only an accusation by Christianity, without any evidence. Due to the subtle influence of Judaism and Jewish culture, many Islamic commentators quote heavily from Jewish views to explain the essence of religion. A reading of the Qur'anic Commentary on Tabari makes it clear that these commentators interpret the Qur'anic passages in terms of the Old Testament and its interpretations. They sometimes quoted Wahhabi ibn Munaibihai, and sometimes they preached Israelite interpretations, and they did this with all the stories that appear in the Qur'an from the Old Testament. And these people are not all scholars of Judaism, and some of them, as Ibn al-Hrdon put it, are just ordinary Jews whose knowledge is no greater than that of the average classical person. Commentators do not care about this and quote their interpretations everywhere. These 'Israeli' interpretations are increasingly available, and even books such as Searibi's The Prophet's Tale are full of such content. ”(18)

Finally, Islam has a great inheritance over Judaism in doctrine and custom. Islam, like Judaism, advocates monotheism in the absolute sense, and Allah is the only and all-Allah, and mortals do not need to go through intermediate forces to approach and understand him; Muslims believe in the immortality of the soul like the Jews, so human beings should practice justice and perfect morality on earth, or they will be punished; Islam accepted the Jewish Sabbath as the day of worship, except that Friday was used instead of Saturday; In Judaism, there are strict rules on fasting, Jews fast for about 40 days a year, and Islam designates the month of Ramadan as the month of Ramadan; The circumcision ceremony originated in the Jews, and Islam inherited this sunnah, and Muslim boys were circumcised around the age of 7-10; Judaism stipulates that believers pray three times a day, Islam stipulates five prayers a day, and before prayer requires clean hands, worship has a fixed orientation, at the beginning all face Jerusalem, 14 years later, Muslims changed from Jerusalem to the Kaer White House in Mecca, but Muslims still believe that the Kerr White House was built by Ibrahim and his son Ismaili, and there is still Ibrahim standing near the Kaaba; In the Hebrew Bible, Jacob was asked in God's name to give one-tenth of his harvest to the poor, so "tithes" became an ancient tradition. Islam stipulates that wealthy Muslims pay "tithes" in addition to "zakat" (zakat); Judaism promoted charity, and in early Palestine, Jews had begun an organized social relief campaign to help the poor within the community or for the common good. Later, charity developed into a religious obligation and social responsibility, and Islam had the same view of almsgiving as a just, benevolent, and holy act; Islam abstains from eating pork like Jews, and Muslims have also absorbed the Jewish calendar. In addition, both the Talmud and the Koran lay down some principles of doing business in good faith.

Thus, Judaism had a great influence on the formation of Muhammad's monotheistic ideas and the construction of the basic teachings of Islam. Abba Eban writes, "When one has indeed studied the Qur'an, one will find that Muslims have absorbed the crystallization of Hebrew thought and wisdom into their religious scriptures. The Arabs have integrated spiritual wealth into a whole, while uniting peoples, regardless of geographical and social boundaries, into a single, closely linked whole. ”(19)

III. Interaction between Jews and Arabs during the Arab Empire

In the 7th and early 8th centuries, the Arabs established a great empire spanning West Asia, North Africa, and Spain, and the Jewish diaspora in the Arabian Peninsula, Babylon, and Persia came under the rule of the Arab Empire. Compared with European society, the Arab Empire adopted a more tolerant policy towards Jews, as long as they obeyed the rule of the Islamic regime, they could believe in their own religion, maintain their own customs and habits, and live a more stable life. Although the Arab Empire also issued a series of decrees restricting non-Muslims, such as prohibiting the construction of new synagogues and Christian churches, existing synagogues and churches could be repaired, but not higher than neighboring mosques; Public religious ceremonies, such as marching in procession and blowing of the phar, are not allowed in Muslim neighborhoods; They are not allowed to wear weapons or possess all war materiel (since horses are also included in the war materiel, non-Muslims can only ride mules and donkeys); no intermarriage with an alien race; Jews hang a 5-pound thing around their neck to recall their ancestors' worship of the golden calf; Jews and Christians are to put yellow marks on their clothes and silver coins with the word unbeliever; Jewish women wear red and black shoes, have bells tied to their feet, and can hear sounds from a long distance (20). But in reality, neither the Muslim regime's legislation against Jews nor Christians is seriously enforced, "these restrictions do not prevent friendly interaction between Jews and non-Jews, who have been connected by common commercial interests and mutual attraction, especially between the upper echelons of society." When Jews achieved a high social status in business, medicine, and academia, they necessarily had professional contacts with non-Jewish colleagues. And Arabs, who admire Jewish expertise, often ignore social and legislative constraints" (21).

Jews were widely distributed in the Arab world, mainly engaged in commerce and handicrafts. They were fluent in Roman and Greek, as well as Hebrew and Arabic, and maintained commercial, trade and cultural ties with many parts of the world, thus becoming bearers of international trade. In many cities within the Arab Empire there were Jewish shopkeepers who sold a wide variety of products, and Jews were active in various markets. It can be said that the rise of Islam gave Jewish merchants a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for development. As a result of the long confrontation between Christianity and Islam, and especially the emergence of two empires on the Mediterranean coast, the core area of East-West trade, the Carolingian Empire of Christianity and the Arab Empire of Islam, the two sides were often motivated by commercial interests, merchants of different religious identities did not dare to enter each other's world, and trade between Europe and Asia was almost interrupted. At this time, the Jews naturally acted as intermediaries in East-West trade, using the common language of Hebrew to assume the mission of world merchants, and in the 9th century, most business between Paris and Baghdad or Cairo was conducted in Hebrew. Jews were active in Spain, France, Italy, Byzantium, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, etc., "playing an extremely active role in Mediterranean and intercontinental trade, and first appearing as international merchants in the Christian countries of the West" (22). They have their own "representatives" in major ports, forming a huge commercial network that excludes dissidents and forms their own system, ensuring the smooth progress of long-distance trade.

Because Jews had a high economic status and relatively good cultural literacy, many of them served as diplomatic, trade, and financial advisers to the Arab court. In the 9th century, a minister in Baghdad said, "I appoint non-Muslims to administrative positions not because I have any sympathy for Judaism or Christianity, but because they are more loyal to the royal family than Muslims." ”(23)

During the Muslim era, the Jewish community in Palestine gradually recovered, starting with Emperor Hadrian, Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem, and Christians continued this ban, although the ban was not explicitly abolished in the Muslim era, but in fact there were more and more Jews in Jerusalem. Caliph Omar allowed 70 Jewish families to settle in Jerusalem and allowed Jews to ascend the Temple Mount, where the Jews cleaned it. Later, a number of Jews, known as the "Zion Mourners," settled near the Western Wall, and Rabbinic College reopened. In Tiberias, Hebrew poetry and classical commentaries were greatly developed, especially in maintaining the pronunciation and syntax of Hebrew. In addition, Jewish culture has been restored in Gaza, Ashkelon and other places. The Palestinian Jewish community was supported by Catholics everywhere and remained so until the Crusader invasion.

In Syria, Jews settled in large numbers in Tripolis, Tyre, Aleppo, etc., especially Damascus formed the center of Jewish culture. In Cairo, Alexandria, and elsewhere, Jews had a place in academic development and international trade; Jewish communities developed in Kairouan, west of Egypt, in Tripolitania, and Morocco, and maintained close ties with the Babylonian community.

The status of the Jews and the friendly relations with the Arabs are also reflected in some literature handed down from the Arab Empire. In 1165 AD, the year 560 AH, a traveler wrote: "In the Islamic Empire, there were about 300,000 non-Arab Jews, spread across two river valleys: Jezilay, Mosul, Okbalay, Wassuid, Baghdad, Horai, Kufa, Basrah, and Hamdan, Isfahan, Shiraz, Ghaznavid, Samarkand, etc. in Persia. There are two places in Persia called 'ghettas', one is Gyugani and the other is Isfahan. There are about 1,000 Jews in Baghdad, and there is an alley known as 'Jewish Alley'. Jewish hadithists such as Abu Muhammad Abdullah grew up in this alley. At the beginning of the Islamic era, the poll tax collected in Baghdad was 130,000 dirkhans per year and 16,000 dinars at the beginning of the fourth century, and from these two figures, it can be seen that the number of non-Muslims who paid the din tax in Baghdad at that time was 15,000. ”(24)

The Arab scholar Abu Soliha Mesoudi also wrote poems praising the Jews who lived with them: "Although the religion of the Jews is dubious, I have found a confidant among them, and by your religion, my two Jewish friends and I are like a mixture and intimacy." They were close friends I made, and I gained a genuine friendship (25).

During the Arab Empire, Spain under Muslim rule set a model of friendly coexistence between Jews and Arabs, and Arab culture and Jewish culture influenced each other and prospered together, thus writing the most glorious and memorable page in the history of Arab-Jewish national relations.

Jews came to Spain around the 1st century AD. The Visigoths, who occupied Spain in 412 AD, forced the Jews to convert to Christianity. The rights of the Jews, despite various restrictions, formed their own communities and retained their traditional religious culture. In 711 AD, when the Muslim general Tariq invaded Spain, the Jews welcomed the Arab conquerors as liberators to overthrow Christian rule. In gratitude to the Jews, the Muslim authorities gave them freedom of belief, judicial autonomy, and allowed Jews to engage in various occupations such as farming, trade, handicrafts, and medicine. After the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman I came to power in 756, Spain entered an era of tolerance. From the 8th century to the 13th century, a "golden age" of Jewish culture emerged here. Because Spain is called Sepharad in Hebrew, the Jews of Spain and Portugal and their descendants are referred to as "Sephardis", and their culture is collectively referred to as Sepharadic culture.

In the Jewish community in the cities of Cordoba, Granada, Toledo and other cities at that time, a series of Bible colleges were established, especially the Cordoba Bible College, which not only had a well-known library, a well-known scholar with erudition, but also an authority on Jewish affairs. Especially after the gradual decline of the Jewish centers of Babylon, these Bible colleges became religious and cultural centers for the Jewish diaspora. Jewish scholars in Spain are keen to study the Hebrew, Bible, and Talmudic languages, with some emerging from the fields of religion, philosophy, language, literature, and the natural sciences. Among the most famous scholars were Judas Halevi (1075-1141) and Moses Maimonides (1135-1204).

Judas Khalevi is considered the most prominent poet and philosopher of the first half of the 12th century. His poetry expresses the inner feelings and thoughts of the Jews in a deep and strong Arabic art style, and Judas Halevy's poems aroused strong inspiration and resonance in people's minds at a time when the poetic art of biblical times was clearly declining. His poems are divided into two categories, one is life poetry, which describes the integration of intelligent, unrestrained Jews into local social life with great enthusiasm; One category is religious poetry, which expresses reverence and devotion to religion, nostalgia for holy places, and especially praise to God.

Judas Khalevy's compositions are still recited by Jews today, and some are included in synagogue liturgical chanting, such as the Ode to Zion, an elegy in the Arabian-Persian style of his Arab-Persian poetry during the prayer service on the 9th of Abu Month, and his Lament for Exile is also a popular poem.

Judas Khalevy's philosophical masterpiece is "Kusari", and the Arabic version is titled "A Defense for the Protection of Humiliating Beliefs." The content of "Kusari" begins with a dialogue between a king of Qajar, a philosopher, a Jew and a Muslim, trying to show the characteristics of Judaism through religious contrasts. Judas Halevi believed that philosophy had limits, and that "do not allow yourself to be seduced by the wisdom of the Greeks, for it will only blossom and bear no fruit". Philosophical speculation can easily lead people astray, and even Aristotle's philosophical connotations cannot lead people to purely religious truth, because philosophy is fundamentally unable to reveal the close connection between God and human beings. Only the divine revelation given by God at Mount Sinai is the foundation of all religious creeds (26).

As a national thinker, Judas Khalevi was deeply concerned about the fate of the Jews, and he strongly advocated the return of the Jews to Palestine, with a widely quoted phrase by Jews: "In the East, in the West, where can we live in peace?" In his later years, he traveled alone to Palestine to realize his dream of returning to his homeland. According to legend, while standing dumbfounded and crying in front of the Western Wall like a stone man, he was kicked to death by the horse of an Arab knight. But his touching and beautiful verse in the style of Arabic literature has been passed down from generation to generation: O city of the world (Jerusalem), you had a glorious and holy yesterday, and I remember you with my heart from the far west. Whenever I think back to the old days, love springs up like a stream. Now the temple is deserted and the glory is gone. May I have the wings of an eagle that fly directly into your arms and wet the dust of that holy place with my rippling tears (27).

Moses Maimonides is considered one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, but later spent most of his later life in Falstadt (i.e. ancient Cairo) in Egypt. His father was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar. Maimonides was an encyclopedic figure who was proficient in mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences, and a famous legalist, philosopher, and ethicist. Maimonides was also a very good doctor, wrote many medical papers, and served as a royal physician. A Muslim physician once praised Maimonides' medicine with this verse: Galen(28) healed only the body, while Abu-Ilman (Moses) healed the body and soul. His knowledge made him a famous physician of a generation, and his wisdom dispelled the pain of ignorance. If the moon consults him, he will remove her spots at the time of the full moon, relieve her monthly ailments, and make her no longer defective (29).

After Maimonides' death, he was often praised as follows: "From Moses to Moses, he was the greatest Moses." "Maimonides' greatest achievement was in philosophy, and he left behind an all-encompassing Guide to Lost Paths in Arabic, a compilation of the study of medieval Arabic philosophy. One of Maimonides' main intentions was to explain traditional Judaism with the rationalism of Aristotle's philosophy, to find a philosophical basis for Judaism, and thus to enrich Jewish thought (30). Maimonides' ideas not only laid the foundation for later Jewish philosophy, but also provided philosophical inspiration for Latin-speaking Christians in the Middle Ages. Among Christian thinkers, St. Thomas Aquinas was heavily influenced by Maimonides; Among Jewish thinkers, Maimonides' most prominent successor was probably Baruch Spinoza.

Maimonides conducted an unprecedented in-depth study of the theological teachings of Judaism. Because Judaism has always emphasized the practice of obedience in real life, rather than doctrines and doctrines, Judaism has not been written formal beliefs for a long time, which is a major difference between Judaism and Christianity. Jewish rabbis repeatedly taught that the opposing views are also "the living Word of God" and cannot arbitrarily deny either side, but to approach the truth in disputes and debates, thus forming the phenomenon of "twelve opinions for ten Jews". By the Middle Ages, many Jews lived alongside Muslims and Christians, and in order to distinguish them from other religions, Jews had a great need to make doctrinal representations of their religion. In 1160 AD, Moses Maimonides summarized his research on the Jewish faith and proposed thirteen articles of faith (31), which were accepted by most Jews as the most basic articles of faith in Judaism. Joseph Albo summarizes Maimonides' terms of faith into three basic points: first, faith in God; second, faith in the sanctity of the Torah; Third, faith rewards and punishments (32).

In Muslim Spain, many Jews served in the royal family, especially during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III, where many Jews became high-ranking officials, most notably Hasday ibn Shapruit (915-970), who served as chief adviser to the caliph on finance and diplomacy, and used his work to keep an eye on the situation of foreign Jewish communities. After the 11th century, Muslim Spain divided into many princely states, and its rulers hired Jews as political and economic advisers, especially in Granada, where Jewish influence was widespread. The famous Talmudic scholar, mathematician, and philosopher Samur ibn Nagrela (993-1056) served as senior administrative adviser and military commander of the court of the Caliph of Granada, whose contribution to the expansion and prosperity of Granada. He also used his special status for the benefit of the Spanish Jewish community and strongly supported Palestinian Jews. An Arab chronicler also recorded that Granada was so crowded with Jews that they would not know what glory and wealth were without seeing with their own eyes how the Jews lived happily here—their great achievements came from wisdom and piety. Another contribution of the Spanish Jews was the direct promotion of cultural exchanges between the East and the West. Jewish scholars translated the classics of Greek and Roman culture into Arabic and Hebrew, and at the same time translated Arabic writings into Latin. Thus building bridges of understanding between the Eastern and Western worlds. The most famous Spanish-Jewish translators were Johannes Haspalencis (c. 1090-1165) and Gerland (1114-1187). Johannes introduced the outstanding achievements of Arabic mathematics to the Latin world, which promoted the development of modern mathematics in the West. Gerland translated more than 70 works, including the Medical Codex of the famous Arab scholar Avicenna.

In short, in Muslim Spain, Arabs and Jews created a friendly record of harmonious coexistence. After the pain of the loss of the country and the diaspora, "the source of Jewish creation was finally unleashed, like a river rushing unstoppable." They not only enriched local Jewish literature, religion and philosophy, but also nourished European civilization that emerged from the dark ages. As politicians, financiers, scientists, translators, and facilitators of international trade, Jews had an immeasurable influence on the development of the Mediterranean world. It was through the intermediary role of the Jews that Europe, which was still backward in the late Middle Ages, received the necessary source of cultural development" (33).

After the 14th century, with the rise of Christian power in Spain, anti-Semitic forces were on the rise. Jewish communities were destroyed, some Jews were persecuted to death, some were forcibly baptized, and some were sold into slavery. Anti-Semitic activity quickly spread to many cities. In 1492, anti-Semitism in Spain reached its peak, with about 200,000 people deported. In August of the same year, the last Jews had to leave Spain, which had left them with illustrious memories. Spanish Jews were mainly dispersed to Portugal, Italy, Turkey, and North Africa. It was not until 1869 that the Spanish Constitution repealed the expulsion decree of 1492.

Exegesis:

(1) Qur'an, chapter 85, verses 4-7.

(2) Werner Keller, Diaspora: The Post-biblical History of the Jews, New York, 1969, pp. 135-136.

(3) Qur'an, chapter 34, verses 15-16.

(4) Nazhong: General History of Arabia, Commercial Press, 1997, pp. 42-43.

(5) Ahmed al-Amin, History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, Commercial Press, 2001, p. 305.

(6) Both the Nedir and Gureza tribes got their names from the hills they first settled. A few scholars have questioned whether they were Jewish tribesmen.

(7) Barakat Ahmad, Muhammad and the Jews, New Delhi, 1979, pp. 42-43.

(8) The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 29, pp. 23-24.

(9) Qur'an, chapter 5, verse 82.

(10) Qur'an, chapter 6, verse 161.

(11) The original book translates God's name as "Jehovah," which is a purely Christian title. In the Hebrew Bible, God's name is represented by the 4 consonant letters YHVH, pronounced "Yawei", which means "I Am" or I Will Be. After inheriting the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament, Christianity misinterpreted God's name as "Jehovah," and the Jews did not agree with the title "Jehovah."

(12) Ahmed al-Amin, History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, pp. 308-309.

(13) Ahmed al-Amin, History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, pp. 312-313.

(14) Hitti: General History of Arabia, Commercial Press, 1979, p. 11.

(15) Qur'an, chapter 10, verse 37.

(16) Qur'an, chapter 3, verse 84.

(17) Jin Yijiu, A History of Islam, China Social Sciences Press, 1990, p. 72.

(18) Ahmed al-Amin, A History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, pp. 307-308.

(19) Abba Eban, My People: The Story of the Jews, London, 1969, p. 132.

(20) See Elie Kedourie, The Jewish World: Revelation, Prophecy and History, New York, 2003, pp. 180-181.

(21) Abba Eban, My Nation: The Jewish Experience, p. 138.

(22) H.H. Ben-Sassoon, A History of the Jewish People, New York, 1976, p. 394

(23) Abba Eban, My Nation: The Jewish Experience, p. 138.

(24) Ahmed al-Amin, History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, p. 300.

(25) Ahmed al-Amin, History of Arab-Islamic Culture, vol. 2, p. 301.

(26) Werner Keller, The Diaspora: A Post-biblical History of Jews, p. 189.

(27) Werner Keller, The Diaspora: A Post-biblical History of Jewry, pp. 188-189.

(28) Galen (130-200 AD) was the most prestigious physician of the Greco-Roman period.

(29) Abba Eban, My Nation: The Jewish Experience, p. 138.

(30) See Jacob J. Schachter, Judaism Meets Other Cultures: Rejection or Acceptance? Jacob.J. Schacter, Judaism's Encounter with Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration, Jerusalem, 1997, pp. 82-84.

(31) See Julius Guttmann, Philosophies of Judaism-the Histoy of Jewish Philosophy from Biblical Times to Franz Rosenzweig, New York, 1964, pp. 178-179.

(32) Alan J. Avery Peck, Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck, The Blackwell Readers in Judaism, London, 2001, p. 6.

(33) Abba Eban, My Nation: The Jewish Experience, p. 160.