The early Christians
were generally considered
as nothing more than a Jewish sect, but with the passage of time the
alien concepts implanted
by St. Paul —
Trinity, Atonement, Abolition of
the Mosaic Law — made them a different people altogether. The initial three
centuries of the Common Era were characterized by severe persecution being
inflicted upon the Christians, a considerable segment of which still consisted
of Unitarians, at the hands of both the Jews and the Romans.
However, the whole situation changed dramatically when the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, as a result of which the Jews became the target of official harassment and oppression. As the Christians saw it, Jews were guilty of “deicide,” the murder of their God, and therefore they excluded the latter from the mainstream of socio-economic life. This trend continued unabated in the Middle Ages, often manifiesting as wholesale killings of the Jews. In 1096, for example, the Crusaders on their way through France and Germany massacred thousands of Jews. Widespread killings took place in 1146 by the armies of the second Crusade. More than a thousand Jews were hanged in England, in 1234, for allegedly circumcising a Christian boy. In 1290, Jews were banished from England by King Edward. In 1350, they were held responsible for the spread of plague, and hundreds of thousands were murdered in Europe. They were forced to live together under subhuman conditions called “Ghettos.” Religious courts, or “Inquisition,” ordered the burning of thousands of Jews during the 15th century, and these events were witnessed and celebrated as popular holidays.
However, the whole situation changed dramatically when the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, as a result of which the Jews became the target of official harassment and oppression. As the Christians saw it, Jews were guilty of “deicide,” the murder of their God, and therefore they excluded the latter from the mainstream of socio-economic life. This trend continued unabated in the Middle Ages, often manifiesting as wholesale killings of the Jews. In 1096, for example, the Crusaders on their way through France and Germany massacred thousands of Jews. Widespread killings took place in 1146 by the armies of the second Crusade. More than a thousand Jews were hanged in England, in 1234, for allegedly circumcising a Christian boy. In 1290, Jews were banished from England by King Edward. In 1350, they were held responsible for the spread of plague, and hundreds of thousands were murdered in Europe. They were forced to live together under subhuman conditions called “Ghettos.” Religious courts, or “Inquisition,” ordered the burning of thousands of Jews during the 15th century, and these events were witnessed and celebrated as popular holidays.
Ironically enough, during more than a thousand years of
humiliation and persecution, the only respite of peace and prosperity enjoyed
by the Jews was in the Muslim territories. Jewish historians like Abba Eban and
Solomon Grayzel have acknowledged and recognized their “Golden Age of Diaspora”
— the period of Jewish affluence and growth in Muslim Spain. When the Arab rule
came to end in 1492, and the Jews were immediately expelled from Spain by the
Christian rulers Ferdinand and Isabella, they were given refuge and asylum in
the Ottoman Empire. Large population of Jews continued to prosper peacefully in
Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Egypt, during the time when their brethren were
suffering miserably in Europe, particularly in the Russian lands.
According to the Holy Qur’an, the hatred and enmity
between the Jews and the Christians will last till the end of the world
(Al-Ma’ida 5:14 & 64). However, we can clearly see that their mutual rancor
underwent a very slow and gradual decline during the
last few hundred
years. The Qur’an
seems to be saying, therefore, that the present
coalition between the Jews and the Christians is only superficial and cosmetic
as well as transient, and also that the end of the world is not very far.
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