Head of Public Policy Tim Dieppe concludes his series on antisemitism in Islam by assessing the state of antisemitism in modern Islam. Read parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.
As I’ve shown in the previous parts of this series, many examples of antisemitism can be found in Islam’s source documents and throughout its history.
But is it a thing of the past? Has Islam moved on?
If that were the case, they would have had to deny their own authoritative texts.
However, this is far from being the case. There are multiple examples of prominent Islamic scholars who have displayed their antisemitism and justified it on the basis of the Qur’an. Here I have selected some highly influential Islamic scholars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi (d.2010)
Tantawi was appointed Grand Mufti of Egypt in 1986, and then Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in 1996 until his death in 2010. Reza Aslan, in his book No God But One, describes Al-Azhar Mosque and University as “the closest thing the Muslim world has to a Vatican.”[1] Therefore, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque is presumably the closest thing in the Muslim world to the Pope! I quoted Tantawi’s examples below in my closing statement in the debate with Reza. They serve to illustrate just how prevalent and ingrained antisemitism is, and how it is justified from the Qur’an.
“[The Qur’an] describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e., killing the prophets of God, corrupting his words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people’s wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their […] deep rooted lasciviousness. … The good ones become Muslims; the bad ones do not.”[2]
“The Almighty’s (Allah’s) words [Q5:82], ‘You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers to be the Jews”…is a statement that serves, in continuation, to reinforce other verses that preceded it, verses that documented the many despicable characteristics, and crooked and cunning ways of the Jews. The Almighty asserted—through linguistic devices—the content of the message entailed in the statement, and the addresses is the Prophet (Muhammad), and it can also be anyone who is entitled to preach to warn that their (the Jews) condition is no secret to anyone. Their enmity is rooted in envy, spite, stubbornness, and pride. Once these vices overcome the soul, it will not be able to find the way to the righteous path and the true religion (Islam)…The first object to His (Allah’s) saying ‘You will surely find,’ is ‘the most intense of the people.’ The second object is ‘the Jews.’ Al-Alusi 52 said that it is apparently the Jews in general that are meant here. That is to say, those who were in the presence of the Apostle (Muhammad) from the Jews of Medina, and others. This view is supported by the Apostle who said, ‘Whenever a Jew is alone with a Muslim, he (the Jew) will strive to kill him (the Muslim).’…It was said that one of the doctrines of the Jews is to cause harm to those who disagree with them in matters of religion by any means possible. Mentioning Jews before those who associate others with Allah is a declaration that they are more intense and far surpass the other group in their animosity (toward Muslims).”[3]
“[T]he Jews always remain maleficent deniers .. [T]hey should desist from their negative denial . . . some Jews went way overboard in denying hostility, so gentle persuasion can do no good with them, so use force with them and treat them in the way you see effective in ridding them of their evil. One may go so far as to ban their religion, their persons, their wealth, and their villages.”[4]
Ahmad Al-Tayeb (b.1946)
Ahmad Al-Tayeb is Tantawi’s successor as Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque. He said in an interview in 2013:
“A verse in the Koran explains the Muslims’ relations with the Jews and the polytheists. The second part of the verse describes the Muslims’ relations with the Christians, and the third part of the verse explains why the Christians are the closest and most friendly to the Muslims.
“This is an historical perspective, which has not changed to this day. See how we suffer today from global Zionism and Judaism, whereas our peaceful coexistence with the Christians has withstood the test of history. Since the inception of Islam 1,400 years ago, we have been suffering from Jewish and Zionist interference in Muslim affairs. This is a cause of great distress for the Muslims.
“The Koran said it and history has proven it: “You shall find the strongest among men in enmity to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists.” [Q 5:82] This is the first part. The second part is: “You shall find the closest in love to the believers to be those who say: ‘We are Christians’.” The third part explains why the Christians are “the closest in love to the believers,” while the Jews and the polytheists are the exact opposite.”[5]
Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr (d.2006)
Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr was the former head of the Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee. He outlined twenty bad traits of the Jews as described in the Qur’an in an online chat in 2004.[6] These include: fabricating things, loving to listen to lies, hiding the truth, hypocrisy, being gleeful when others are afflicted with calamity, arrogance, rudeness and vulgarity, mercilessness, cowardice, and miserliness.
Sheikh Yousef Al-Qarawadi (d. 2022)
Sheikh Yousef Al-Qarawadi was president of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and was appointed a trustee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He said in a sermon in 2009:
“Oh Allah, take your enemies, the enemies of Islam. Oh Allah, take the Jews, the treacherous aggressors. Oh Allah, take this profligate, cunning, arrogant band of people. Oh Allah, they have spread much tyranny and corruption in the land. Pour Your wrath upon them, oh our God. Lie in wait for them. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people of Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, and You annihilated the people of ‘Aad with a fierce, icy gale. Oh Allah, You annihilated the people Thamoud at the hand of a tyrant, You annihilated the people of ‘Aad with a fierce, icy gale, and You destroyed the Pharaoh and his soldiers – oh Allah, take this oppressive, tyrannical band of people. Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.”[7]
He tweeted in 2017:
“The Qur’an does not devote as much space to the Persians and Romans as it does to the Jews, whose crimes and depraved deeds it exposes. They are the greatest of liars when they speak, the greatest of villains when they quarrel, and the most treacherous of people when they make pacts.”[8]
He said in Arabic:
“The Jews are the Ummah’s worst enemies! Their hostility to Islam and Muslims was, is, and will remain as long as Muslims and Jews remain on this earth. This issue in which those who have a general understanding of what was, what is, and what has been decided as Allah says (You will find that the people most hostile to those who have believed are the Jews Verse 82 of Surah Al-Ma’idah, [Q5:82]). So enmity with the Jews is the continuous and permanent belief of Muslims and the testimony of the Holy Qur’an. It is one of the established axioms in the mind, and conscience of every Muslim who believes in this book and his belief in this axiom cannot be penetrated or shaken by anything in the world.”[9]
In a 2009 interview he said:
“Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them – even though they exaggerated this issue – he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers.”[10]
Muhammad Tu’mah Al-Qudah
Muhammad Tu’umah Al-Qudah is a former Jordanian MP. He said on Jordanian TV in October 2019:
“Today, some Muslims are acting like Jews in their moral values, their behaviour, and their conduct. The Prophet Muhammad warned us against these people. The Qur’an says: ‘You shall find the people strongest in enmity towards the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists.’ [Q5:82] Every Muslim should read this verse. Every Muslim should memorize it and carve it onto his mind and his heart. … [Our] enmity toward the Jews will never end. It will continue until the Antichrist arrives and the Jews are annihilated in the Great Battle, which will take place in the Levant, in our own land, against the Jews. The enmity between us and the Jews will never cease because it is ideological. … The regimes of the world can sign agreements and peace accords with the Jews, but the people curse the Jews whenever they recite the Al-Fatiha chapter [i.e. Q 1:7] in the Quran.”[11]
Salamah Al-Bluwi
Salamah Al-Bluwi is a Jordanian MP. He said in parliament in 2021:
“What happened and is happening in occupied Palestine constitutes a war crime by the criminal Zionists, the sons of apes and pigs, Allah’s curses and curses by the Prophet Muhammad upon them. They must stop their brutal assaults at once. Our conflict with the Jews is of a historical, religious nature. The Jews do not abide by any agreement, contract, or pact.”[12]
Ahmed Aboul Gheit
Ahmed Aboul Gheit is Secretary-General of the Arab League. He said in an April 2024 interview: “The Jews have no conscience left – it was burned in the Holocaust; Israel does not have the right to self-defense just like the Nazis did not have it in WWII.”[13]
Tareq Al-Suwaidan
Kuwaiti Islamic scholar and Muslim Brotherhood leader Tareq Al-Suwaidan discussed the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel in a November 15, 2023 Al-Minassa podcast episode.[14] He said that all Israelis are soldiers, that they are criminals, and deserve to be killed and expelled for plundering the land. Al-Suwaidan added that Israeli women should be taken captive, because they are soldiers and are not innocent, except for the disabled women. He added that the Jews influence world governments through their control of the media and money in the world. Al-Suwaidan suggested that people read his book The Jews – Illustrated Encyclopedia, which claims that 80% of the media outlets in the world are owned by the Jews directly and the rest indirectly.
Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i (d.1981)
Iranian scholar Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i in his commentary on Q5:82 said:
“[T]he enmity of the Jews and polytheists toward the divine religion [Islam] and their sustained arrogance and bigotry, have continued exactly in the same manner even after the Prophet… These unchanged characteristics in both groups confirm what the Mighty Book [the Koran] had indicated.”[15]
Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis
Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis preached at the Al-Haram mosque – the most important mosque in Mecca – in 2002:
“Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters of [others’] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers… the scum of the human race ‘whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs… ‘These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption…”[16]
Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid
Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid is the founder of the popular fatwa website IslamQA.[17] He said in a sermon in Al-Damam in 2002:
“The Jews are defiled creatures and satanic scum. The Jews are the helpers of Satan. The Jews are the cause of the misery of the human race, together with the infidels and the other polytheists. Satan leads them to Hell and to a miserable fate. The Jews are our enemies and hatred of them is in our hearts. Jihad against them is our worship.”[18]
Anwar al-Sadat (d.1981)
Whilst serving as the third president of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat said in a speech in 1972:
“They are a nation of liars and traitors, contrivers of plots, a people born for deeds of treachery. . . . they shall return and be as the Quran said of them ‘condemned to humiliation and misery.”[19]
In this context ‘return’ means to dhimmitude.
Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966)
Influential Egyptian Islamic scholar and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb wrote a book in 1950 titled Our Struggle against the Jews. In this book he says:
“The Qur’an spoke much about its Jews and elucidated their evil psychology. It is not mere chance that the Qur’an elaborates on this. For there is no other group whose history reveals the sort of merciless, (moral) shirking and ungratefulness for divine guidance as does this one. . . . Everywhere Jews have been they have committed unprecedented abominations. From such creatures who kill, massacre, and defame prophets one can only expect spilling of human blood and any dirty means which would further their machinations and evilness.”[20]
Abdul Sattar El Sayed
Professor Abdul Sattar El Sayed was Mufti of Tursos in Syria when he said in a speech in 1976:
“We are fortunate enough to have an available document that tells us the truth about the Jews, and reveals their nature, life, and the inherent poison they carry as well as the remedy for such poison. This document is represented in the Holy Qur’an which provides the real description of the Jews, and constitutes the microscope through which we see the pests and poisons that reside in their minds and hearts.”[21]
Muhammad Azzah Darwaza (d.1984)
Palestinian politician, historian and educator Muhammad Azzah Darwaza said in a speech in 1976:
“It is extremely astonishing to see that the Jews of today are exactly a typical picture of those mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and they have the same bad manners and qualities of their forefathers although their environment, surroundings and positions are different from those of their ancestors. These bad manners and qualities of the Jews ascertain the Qur’anic statement about their deeply rooted instinct which they inherited from their fathers.”[22]
Salah ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Khalidi (d.2022)
Muslim scholar and academic lecturer Salah ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Khalidi wrote in a book published in 1994:
“The Jews have astonishing attributes. In each Jew is a complex of ethical depravities and behavioural corruptions so astonishing that it is doubtful that this can be found in any other people. These traits have taken permanent root in their character, such as never occurred in any other people. These depravities, corruptions, maleficences, deficiencies, sicknesses, and handicaps have their own special taint, prominent indications, and deep imbeddedness [sic] in the Jews’ astoundingly complex personality. These defects reached their furthest development, and then they infiltrated into the very heart and soul of every Jew, to the point that they influence every aspect of the Jew’s soul.”[23]
A Channel 4 documentary Dispatches programme, Undercover Mosque, broadcast in 2007 found DVDs sold in prominent Mosques in the UK in which Sheikh Abdul el-Faisal is seen imitating the noise of a pig when referring to Jewish people [per Q5:60] and predicts the mass extermination of the Jews on a “day of judgment.”[24]
These examples are enough to demonstrate that antisemitism is widely expressed by Islamic scholars to this day, and frequently based on Islamic texts. What about through Islam’s 1,400-year history?
Surveys of UK Muslims
It is no surprise that present-day surveys show antisemitic attitudes are more prevalent amongst Muslims than they are amongst the rest of the population.
The 2019 ADL survey found that 11% of the UK population harbour antisemitic attitudes. However, amongst Muslims it was 54%.[25]
The 2023 ADL Global survey found that 26% of the global population harbour antisemitic attitudes, but amongst Muslims it was 49%.[26] This compares with 24% amongst Christians. Interestingly, the Muslim prevalence of antisemitism in the UK was not indicated in the 2023 survey.
An ICM survey in 2015 found that 35% of British Muslims believe that Jewish people have too much power in Britain.[27]
A Policy Exchange survey in 2016 found that British Muslims were more likely to believe that Jews carried out the 9/11 attacks than to believe that Al Qaeda carried them out.[28]
The J.L. Partners survey in 2024 found that almost half of British Muslims (46%) thought Jewish people have too much power over UK government policy, compared to 16% of the rest of the population.[29] For male Muslims, this rose to 53%. This was similar for influence over US foreign policy. Four in ten Muslims thought that Jews have too much power over the UK financial system and the UK media industry.
Increased prevalence of antisemitic attitudes amongst Muslims, as opposed to the rest of the population, is what one would expect if Islamic texts are antisemitic.
What about the Bible?
Reza Aslan claimed that if Islam is antisemitic according to its texts, then so is the Bible. The single verse he cited to support this claim is where the crowd at Jesus’ trial said: “His blood is on us and on our children.” (Matt 27:25).
In the debate, I explained that this verse is not antisemitic as it does not reference the Jews at all, but instead merely says, “All the people answered, …”. Therefore, this verse is merely recording a historical fact that the crowd in front of Pilate said, “His blood is on us and on our children.”
As this verse does not imply that the crowd made this statement because they were Jews or that all Jews categorically said this, it cannot be considered antisemitic.
It was argued that that the antisemitic Qur’anic texts cited earlier could also be similarly contextualised. However, this is not possible since those texts specifically reference Jews as Jews and are frequently open-ended, saying “until the Day of Resurrection” or “forever”.
More generally, it is difficult to claim that the Bible is antisemitic since Jesus himself was Jewish, the Bible was written almost if not entirely by Jews, and is predominantly about Jews. Jesus said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matt 15:24), and he was mocked and killed as “King of the Jews” (Matt 27:37).
The Bible clearly explains that God made all nations “from one man” (Acts 17:26), and states that “there is neither Jew nor Greek.” (Gal 3:28). The gospel “brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Rom 1:16).
The Apostle Paul was a Jewish Pharisee (Phil 3:5) who said: “I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” (Rom 9:3-4). That is an extraordinary statement: Paul was willing to give up his salvation for the sake of the Jews.
He also wrote, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Rom 10:1) And further: “Did God reject his people [the Jews]? By no means!” (Rom 11:1).
One text in the New Testament that is sometimes cited as being antisemitic is from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians:
“For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!” (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16)
At first glance, this could appear antisemitic; however, this would be very surprising given Paul’s statements about his love for the Jews cited above.
Deeper analysis shows that it is not antisemitic at all. Paul is writing to the Thessalonians that they are suffering persecution from “your own countrymen” – that is intra-racial persecution. The churches in Judea, which would have been primarily Jewish churches, suffered similar persecution from the Jews – again that is intra-racial persecution.
The focus here is not on Jews in general simply because they are Jews; it is on those Jews who are hindering the progress of the gospel – in particular, hindering the church from preaching to the Gentiles. Those who hinder the gospel, both then and now, should indeed be warned about God’s wrath, no matter what ethnicity they are from.
Paul says that these Jews “killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.” He means this type of Jews who are opposed to God’s work in the world.
Elsewhere in Acts, the Bible blames all the people involved, including Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel for contributing to the death of Jesus (Acts 2:36; 3:13-17; 4:27-28; 7:52; 13:27-28).
Another text that is occasionally claimed to be antisemitic is where Jesus said: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” (John 8:44). The context makes it clear that this was specifically spoken to the Jews who were plotting to kill him (John 8:37, 40) rather than being something Jesus said of the Jews as a whole.
Contrary to what Reza claimed, the Bible has many philosemitic texts and no antisemitic ones. The Bible, therefore, cannot be said to be antisemitic, nor can it be used to justify antisemitism.
As we have seen from the texts cited above, this is in stark contrast with the Qur’an.
Conclusion
There are many texts in the Qur’an as well as plenty of hadith that are blatantly antisemitic. There is also further clear antisemitism in the Sirah, and the alleged philosemitic Islamic texts do not withstand scrutiny.
Amongst Islamic scholars and throughout Islamic history there is unambiguous evidence of antisemitism. Surveys also show a higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes among Muslims than found among the rest of the population.
We can therefore conclude with confidence that Islam, as defined by its texts, is antisemitic.
This conclusion has clear implications about the nature of Islam as a religion and about the source of antisemitic attitudes in societies around the world. It is also very relevant to the contemporary Arab-Israeli conflict.
Islamic antisemitism pre-dates the foundation of the State of Israel. It goes right back to Muhammad and the Qur’an, and is clearly taught in Islamic texts, including those cited in daily prayers.
Therefore, it is not too far to say that antisemitism is integral to Islam and is part of Islamic doctrine as defined by Islamic texts.
Read Antisemitism in Islam part one: the Qur’an
Read Antisemitism in Islam part two: traditions
Read Antisemitism in Islam part three: ‘philosemitic’ texts?
Read Antisemitism in Islam part four: confirmation in history
Read Antisemitism in Islam part five: is it still a problem?
Footnotes:
[1] Reza Aslan, No god but God: The Origins and Evolution of Islam (Random House Children’s Books, 2012), 137
[2] Tantawi’s Al-Azhar University PhD Thesis, cited in: Andrew G. Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History (Prometheus Books, 2020), 394
[3] Tantawi comment on Q5:82 cited in: Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, ix
[4] Tantawi’s Al-Azhar University PhD Thesis (English translation, Jews in the Koran and Traditions; completed 1966, published 1968) Cited in: Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, 394
[5] https://www.memri.org/tv/sheik-al-azhar-ahmad-al-tayeb-justifies-antisemitism-basis-koran
[6] https://www.memri.org/reports/former-al-azhar-fatwa-committee-head-sets-out-jews-20-bad-traits-described-quran
[7] https://www.memri.org/reports/sheikh-yousef-al-qaradhawi-al-jazeera-incites-against-jews-arab-regimes-and-us-calls-muslims
[8] https://www.memri.org/reports/sheikh-yousuf-al-qaradawi-calls-resistance-jihad-and-martyrdom-following-trumps-recognition#_edn15
[9] Sam Solomon and E Al Maqdisi, Al-Yahud (Pilcrow Press, 2010), 36-37
http://www.khayma.com/internetclinic/yahodman.htm
[10] https://www.memri.org/tv/sheik-yousuf-al-qaradhawi-allah-imposed-hitler-upon-jews-punish-them-allah-willing-next-time-will
[11] https://www.memri.org/tv/former-jordanian-mp-tumah-qudah-jews-enemies-islam-terrorism-muslims-acting-like
[12] https://www.memri.org/tv/jordan-parliament-session-discuss-israel-hamas-fighting-annul-agreements-salute-rockets-target-zionists-cowards-wear-diapers-
[13] https://www.memri.org/tv/sec-gen-arab-league-ahmed-aboul-gheit-jews-no-conscience-holocaust-palestine-resistance-not-terrorism
[14] https://www.memri.org/reports/kuwaiti-islamic-scholar-and-muslim-brotherhood-leader-tareq-al-suwaidan-discusses-october-7
[15] Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i, Tafsir al-Mizan, Vol 11, Trans. Said Akhtar Rizvi (Tawheed Institute Australia, 2023), 95 https://almizan.org/vol/11/1-251
[16] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/muslim-clerics-jews-are-the-descendants-of-apes-pigs-and-other-animals Cited in: Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, 11
[17] https://islamqa.info/en
[18] https://www.memri.org/reports/friday-sermons-saudi-mosques-review-and-analysis
[19] D.F. Green, Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel: Extracts from the Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research (Editions de l’Avenir, 1976), 90-91
[20] Qutb, Sayyid, Our Struggle with the Jews. Cited in: Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, 357. Cited from: Nettler, Ronald L. Past trials and present tribulations : a Muslim fundamentalist’s view of the Jews, (Oxford 1978)
[21] Green, Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel: Extracts from the Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, 41
[22] Green, Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel: Extracts from the Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, 33
[23] Sallah Abd al-Fattah al-Khalidi, Qur’anic Truths regarding the Palestinian Issue (Muslim Palestine Publications, 1994). Cited in: Bostom, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, 431
[24] https://www.jpost.com/international/tv-documentary-exposes-extremism-in-uk-mosques#google_vignette
[25] https://global100.adl.org/country/united-kingdom/2019
[26] https://global100.adl.org/map/
[27] https://pollingreport.uk/articles/icm-poll-of-british-muslims-2
[28] https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/unsettled-belonging-a-survey-of-britains-muslim-communities/
[29] https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/HJS-Deck-200324-Final.pdf
