Jews and the Qur'an

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Description

A compelling book that casts the Quranic encounter with Jews in an entirely new light.

In this panoramic and multifaceted book, Meir Bar-Asher examines how Jews and Judaism are depicted in the Quran and later Islamic literature, providing needed context to those passages critical of Jews that are most often invoked to divide Muslims and Jews or to promote Islamophobia. He traces the Quranic origins of the protection of Jews and other minorities living under the rule of Islam, and shows how attitudes toward Jews in Shii Islam are substantially different from those in Sunni Islam. Bar-Asher sheds light on the extraordinary contribution of Jewish tradition to the Muslim exegesis of the Quran, and draws important parallels between Jewish religious law, or halakha, and sharia law.

An illuminating work on a topic of vital relevance today, Jews and the Quran offers a nuanced understanding of Islams engagement with Judaism in the time of Muhammad and his followers, and serves as a needed corrective to common misperceptions about Islam.

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"Winner of the PROSE Award in Theology & Religious Studies, Association of American Publishers"

Author Bio

Meir M. Bar-Asher is the Max Schloessinger Professor of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His books include Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imm Shiism and The Nusayr-Alaw Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy. He lives in Jerusalem.