Islamic Antisemitism: Its Genesis, Meaning, and Effects

Abstract:Islamic antisemitism is a particular form of Jew-hatred, based on the fusion of Islamic anti-Judaism from the old scriptures with modern European antisemitism. Hence, it is a combination of the most negative perceptions of Jews in both the Islamic and Christian worlds. Islamic antisemitism has strengthened an exclusively anti-Jewish reading of the Islamic scriptures, has popularized European conspiracy theories in the Arab world, and continues to agitate against Israel in genocidal terms. This article concentrates on the origins of Islamic antisemitism in the 1930s, the meaning of the 1937 "Arab Congress" in Bludan, and the special role played by Amin el-Husseini during those years. It also sheds light on two documents, which the Nazis used to propagandize as part of their Arabic-language program during World War II: the booklet Islam and Jewry from 1937 and the anti-Jewish hadith about the "stones and trees."