To Christians With Love - FOURTH PHASE

FOURTH PHASE: The dynamics of the relationship between the Christians and the Jews started to change, slowly but steadily, after the invasion of Spain by the Muslims in 712 CE. During the battles between Arab and Spanish armies, the Jews of Spain helped and supported the Muslims, and, consequently, after the establishment of the latter’s rule in Spain, they enjoyed an unprecedented respite of peace and prosperity after more than a thousand years of humiliation and persecution. Thus, Jewish historians like Abba Eban and Solomon Grayzel have acknowledged and recognized their “Golden Age of Diaspora”, that is, the period of Jewish prosperity and growth in Muslim Spain.  

After the end of Arab rule in 1492, and the consequent expulsion of the Jews from Spain by its new Christian rulers, they were given refuge and asylum in the Ottoman Empire, Large populations of Jews continued to prosper peacefully in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Egypt, during the time when their brethren were suffering heavily in Europe, particularly in the Russian Lands.

Source: To Christians With Love (Book by Dr. Israr Ahmed)

To Christians With Love - THIRD PHASE

THIRD PHASE:   We know that the Jews were banished from their religious center of Jerusalem after its destruction in 70 CE at the hands of the Roman armies under General Titus. Later, Emperior Hadrian built a new Roman colony, called Aelia Capitolina, over the desolate ruins of Jerusalem, but the Jews were not allowed thereafter to settle in Jerusalem. 

After the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity, Jerusalem or Aelia became a predominantly Christian city. Then, six centuries later, the Holy City surrendered without any fight to the Muslim Omar. The treaty of peace signed at that time between the Muslim conquerors and the Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem included an item about the Jews – incorporated into the pact at the request of the Christians – according to which, under the Muslim rule, the Jews were not to be allowed to settle in this city.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE was followed by  what  is  known  as  the  period  of “Diaspora”  in  the history   of   the   Jews,   when   they   became   scattered throughout the world – some went to Russia or Europe, others escaped to Africa or India or Turkey. Then Jews were allowed to visit their holy places in Jerusalem but they were not permitted to buy property or settle in the Holy City, and this policy continued throughout the period of Muslim rule – from Caliph Omar right down to Sultan Abdul Hameed II of the Ottoman Empire. It was only after the notorious Balfour Declaration of 1917 that the Jews finally got in a position, due to the support and assistance of the British government, to settle in Palestine.

What is noteworthy here is that the condition set by the Christians, as mentioned above, that the Jews would not be allowed to settle in the Holy Land, reveals the hostility that was present between these two communities.

Their mutual antagonism has been referred to in the Holy Qur’an thus:

The  Jews  say  the  Christians  follow  nothing (true), and  the  Christians say the Jews follow nothing (true); yet both are readers of the Scripture [i.e.,  the  Old  Testament]. (Al-Baqara 2:113)

Source: To Christians With Love (Book by Dr. Israr Ahmed)