Professor Moshe Perlmann, 1940: Koran And Traditions Depict Jews As “The Incarnation Of Evil”

Professor Moshe Perlmann (1905-2001) was a meticulous scholar of Arabic and Islam, with great fluency in not only Arabic and Hebrew, but also Russian (having been born in Odessa), and German, as well as further written proficiency in Persian, Syriac, French and Italian.

The focus of Perlmann’s work was the Medieval religious polemic, especially Islam’s anti-Jewish (here; here) and anti-Christian tracts (here; here). Unearthing and providing unique annotated translations of pathognomonic texts (catalogued here), with insightful commentary, Perlmann, as obituarist Herbert A. Dawson, observed, allowed the original writings, “to speak for themselves,” leaving readers “to draw whatever moral they can.”

Perlmann, uncompromising in his examination of Islamic religious fanaticism, even in mythically “tolerant” Muslim Spain, brought to light (1949) the “profuse” employment of the dehumanizing Koranic epithet (Koran 2:65/7:166) characterizing Jews as apes, for the incitement of the jihad annihilation of Granadan Jewry during 1066—a massive anti-Jewish pogrom, whose killing of some ~4000 Jews greatly exceeded in scale the much better known Crusader ravages of the Rhineland 30 years later at the outset of the first Crusade. Two decades later, Perlmann lamented how in 1966, the 900^th anniversary of this “Granada debacle,” which he remonstrated was “the first major pogrom on European soil,” had “passed unnoticed.”

Not surprisingly, Moshe Perlmann rejected the fatuous notion—still regnant today—that Arab Muslim Antisemitism was somehow a modern European export to the Islamic Middle East (and Islamdom, more broadly). Here is his rather understated debunking of that meme, written in 1955:

…[N]either the popular attitude nor the Arab literary heritage are exactly favorable to the Jew. A goodly layer of derogatory notions, contempt and misgivings antedates the penetration of Western Jew-baiting. The sunna foundations [i.e., traditions of Muhammad and the nascent Muslim community, which, along with the Koran, formed the basis for Islamic law] may have “clearly defined” the infidel’s position [i.e., as debased, and humiliated but at least ‘protected’ from a resumption of jihad war]…However, this definition never deterred the people and the legislators throughout the centuries from questioning again and again the rights of the infidel to buildings for worship, the holding of office, amenities of everyday life. In agitated times sunna could not prevent Jew-baiting riots; in normal or static periods to eliminate either its own outlook—social disqualification and humiliation for the infidel—or the masses’ guarded, suspicious and negative attitude.

But it was Perlmann’s salient elucidation of Islam’s theological animus towards Jews—the ultimate, abiding source of Muslim Jew-hatred to this day—which may be his most remarkable, albeit well-nigh unknown, contribution. Perlmann wrote a chapter entitled, “The Jews in the Koran and the Traditions,” within his 1940 PhD thesis, A Study of Muslim Polemics Directed Against Jews, [Entry 11, here:—A Thesis submitted to the University of London for the degree of Ph.D. (Internal) in History, Faculty of Arts. September 1940 (x + 159 pp.)]. Contemporary Islamologist Sabine Schmidtke provided these background details regarding the overall dissertation, including an allusion to Perlmann’s goal to become an academic in the U.S.—which he ultimately fulfilled:

During the years 1937-40 Moshe Perlmann resided in London where he wrote his Ph.D. under the supervision of Arthur S. Tritton (1881-1973) [note: Tritton’s own work included a pioneering study of non-Muslims under the Sharia], which he submitted in September 1940 to the School of Oriental Studies. The subject of his dissertation, A study of Muslim polemics directed against Jews, had already intrigued him during his studies at the Hebrew University. In 1939, Perlmann won the prestigious Ouseley Memorial Scholarship in Persian. It seems that already prior to his arrival in England, or very early on during his stay there, Perlmann toyed with the idea of seeking his academic future in the United States.

What follows, in conclusion, are key extracts from Perlmann’s 1940 Ph.D. thesis chapter, “The Jews in the Koran and the Traditions,” which stand as a permanent res ipsa loquitur testament to his informed intellectual honesty:

Jews in the Koran [All verses enumerated per The Quranic Arabic Corpus]

Forgetting the Divine Dispensation, the Jews transgressed God’s commandments and flouted the prophets, and even slew them (3:181). Therefore many punishments fell upon them (2:61); e.g., some of them were turned into apes for desecrating the sabbath (2:65; 7:166). Muhammad came to confirm their scriptures (3:3; 4:51), but they did not accept him. They concealed the revelation (2:42; 3:71), or did not understand it (2:78); they tried to mislead people (3:69; 3:99), having no compunction about deceiving the pagan Arabs (3:69). Therefore, although they knew from their books all about Muhammad “as they knew their own children,” (2:146), they made false statements about the scriptures (4:51; 5:49) distorting the texts.

In contradiction to them, the Prophet declares that Ibrahim [Abraham] and Ismail [Ishmael] were Muslim prophets (2:124; 3:67; 3:68), who built the Meccan temple (2:125; 3:97) before the revelation of Musa [Moses], to which the Jews refer. Thus, Islam is the original revelation. This cuts the ground from under the feet of the unbelievers. They make blasphemous statements: That God’s hand is chained up (5:64); that Uzair [Ezra] is the son of God (9:30). At the same time, they are stubborn in their opposition to the true prophet. They must be regarded as enemies (3:28; 5:51; 5:57). The believers will find that they are their fiercest enemies, the Christians being much more friendly (5:82). Therefore, after they had rejected many friendly overtures (2:59; 5:81), it was decided that they must be fought against, made tributaries, and compelled to pay poll-tax, as a mark of their humiliation (9:29).

In the Fatiha [i.e., 1:7], the words al-maghdub alayhim [“those who earned Your (Allah’s) anger”] are supposed to refer to the Jews.

Jews in the Traditions

Persisting in their obduracy, they did not shrink from plotting, practicing sorcery and poisoning, until they were finally crushed and driven out of Arabia. The Jews extended their hatred of the Prophet to all Muslims. They mispronounced the usual “Peace be unto you”, so that it came to mean: “Poison be upon you”; for which reason it is wiser and safer to reply with a mere: “The same to you”…They always try to trick the unsuspecting Muslim. To imitate them is positively forbidden…They became, in a way, the incarnation of evil. No wonder that, when the world comes to an end, and when Dajjal [the Muslim Antichrist] threatens to destroy those of the true faith, the Jews will be betrayed in their hiding-places even by the crying of the rock: “Here is a Jew behind me. Kill him.” [Sahih Muslim Bk 41 #6985]

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Michelle

4 years ago

The poison that dripped always from the lips of that Bedouin warlord never ceases to amaze me. Add this to his rather obvious fear of women and he must have been an impotent micropeniled loser until he invented allah which then proved just how many other losers there were. In muhamamd’s time the warlord took 90% of the loot and slaves for himself. but he had bigger plans and took only 10% of both . Thus from under every rock sprung forth a horde of greedy bandits desperate to enrich themselves. It is no small wonder that such immoral men created a nation of ideologically bound criminals pretending to be religious in that they justified all of the hatred, lust and greed in the name of a god. The mere fact of belief in allah says all that you wish to know about blind obedience to any god but especially a fake one.

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Suresh

4 years ago

Trump was conned by Abbas initially but when he found out the truth boy was he mad as hell at the jihadi http://bit.ly/2rOmfyJ

That’s when he decided enough is enough and that inspite of huge opposition led to shifting of Embassy to Jerusalem and No more funding to the jihadis.

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Michelle

4 years ago

Reply to  Suresh

He gives everyone a chance. I never watched “the Apprentice” but I think that he did the same there.

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Dennis

4 years ago

After reading this very well written academic outline of what appear to be accurate references to the history of yesterday, that continues to be applied today, I was very much impressed by the learned late Mr. Perlmann. This article firms up the source of today’s problems as they involve those who accept the Islamic belief
system without ever questioning its logic. That failure is exhibited in the conduct of the Jihad’s, who murder without any reasonable basis and those who
will never accept a “Jewish” state among them. The great irony of what is faced by those who continue to practice their oldest monotheistic religion, is that
all of this anger that is directed at them is seemingly based on the fact that they have never accepted any of those who claimed “messiahood” (as did Mohammed) or was accepted as a messiah (as was Jesus) as those Jews of today are still awaiting the appearance of that divine spirit. No matter what time period you explore the refusal by these people to accept the aforementioned as messianic has resulted in active and unjustified malice against these people. From my perspective that malice was underserved, but it actively continues in consequence from the Islamic world, and seemingly will never end. That is why I, for one, believe that Israel must do whatever it takes to determine what it needs as protectable borders and to clear their areas that both surround them and within of those who would act belligerently towards them.

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Alleged-Comment

4 years ago

Tricked out of their inheritance they will EVER ooze hatred till there is not a single one left. Even the last one with his dying breath will curse a Jew.

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Roma Mikhasev

4 years ago

ordinary islam

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MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet

4 years ago

Can you imagine such a PhD dissertation being acceptable in any major university or college today anywhere in the dying atheist West?
Maimonides seemed to recognize the inimical nature of islum towards Jews many centuries ago.

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