Islamic Policies Toward Jews In Its Formative Period

From the7th to the13th century, namely the so-called "dark era" in Europe, the vast majority of Jews lived in the Islamic world. According to the Islamic laws, Jews were dhimmis, living under the social norm of non-Muslims------dhimma. According to Mohammed’s teachings, as long as the Jews that surrendered to Muslim rulers paid certain amount jizya (poll-tax), they not only can live in Islamic society, but also can enjoy certain religious freedom. And in the fall of630, Mohammed made it a divine law. Therefore, in the Islamic history, many high-ranking Jews emerged and were recorded in history. This dissertation, for the purpose of enriching the scholarship on the relationship between Mohammed and Jews, will study the change of Islamic strategies toward Jews and its impact from a historical perspective.The relationship will be examined from three dimensions. The first dimension examines the Jews that scattered in the Arabian Peninsula in pre-Islamic, which mainly refers to the Jews in Hejaz and Yemen. It investigates the mutual influence between Jews and local Arabs in culture, in an effort to seek the role that Jewish presence in the Arabian Peninsula played when Islam was founded, and to ponder how much it had influenced young Mohammed.Secondly, this paper examines the worsening relationship between Mohammed and Jews in Medina period, from cooperation to conflict, which is the focus of the article. During the Medina period, Mohammed had to expel or destroy the Jews for the development and expansion of Islam, and the unification of the peninsula. And it did work. Islam entered into a new world.The third dimension focuses on the conquering of Jews living in Khaybar. Fadak. Wadi’1-Qura oasis and the other Jewish settlements. After these Jewish settlements were conquered, Mohammed also ended the Jewish problem in his life. As we all know, when Mohammed dwelled in Medina, he lived in harmony with Jews only a temporary time. Then immediately they were in conflict with each other. The conflict between Mohammed and Jews directly influences the negative evaluation of the Jews in the Koran, which also has an effect on anti-Semitism in Arab world today. The last part of the article briefly will discuss this issue.