How do Muslims view Jews?

Answer 1

Muslims view Jews as "people of the Book" as they are holders of the holy book Torah that Muslims believe in its divinity and that it was revealed by God to prophet Moses (peace be upon him). However, Jews believe in neither Islam as a religion nor Muhammad as a God prophet (peace be upon him).

However, while Jews do not believe in prophet Mohammed as a God Prophet, they do give Islam a degree of legitimacy. Judaism only requires that non-Jews follow the Noahide Laws and as Islam is in complete compliance with the Noahide Laws, it is seen as a viable and acceptable religion for non-Jews. As a result, Jews have no issue with Islam per se.

Answer 2

Answer 1

The Jews believe in neither Islam nor prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) nor the Quran divinity (as Muslim's holy book revealed by Allah-or God in English in Christianity and Judaism- to prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel or Jibril).

Answer 2: Jewish Answer

It is worth distinguishing Islam (the religion) from the Muslims (the people who practice the religion. Concerning Islam, while Jews do not believe in Mohammed as a Divine Prophet, they do give Islam a degree of legitimacy. Judaism only requires that non-Jews follow the Noahide Laws and as Islam is in complete compliance with the Noahide Laws, it is seen as a viable and acceptable religion for non-Jews. As a result, Jews have no issue with Islam per se. However, they find some of Islamic Law such as the creation of Ahl ad-Dhimma, the inequality of blood-money recompense, and certain other inequalities between Muslims and Jews to be problematic.

Concerning Muslims, Jews' opinions of them depend entirely on the individuals themselves. Most Jews have no issue with most Muslims in terms of daily activities and work environments. Jews have even spoken in defense of Muslims like Yusuf Hamza because of his commitment to defending a modern form of conservative Islam that reaches back to Islam's conception of human dignity. The problem comes to a head with politics because the majority of Muslims oppose the validity of the State of Israel, which is an extension of the Jewish Right to Self-Determination. In furtherance of the goal of delegitimizing Israel, some Muslims have taken it upon themselves to promulgate Holocaust Denial, Jewish/Zionist conspiracy theories, the continuation of Jewish Blood Libels and popularizing the Hadiths requiring Muslims to kill Jews to bring on the end times. Understandably, such views and the people who choose to propogate them are loathed by Jews.

Answer 3

While according to Islamic doctrine, Muslims should view Jews as "People of the Book", Muslims do not hold to that in actuality. Rather than claiming that the overwhelming majority of Muslims hold strongly negative and hateful views of Jews without evidence, I will provide several excerpts and links to surveys that demonstrate strong anti-Semitic (Jew-hating) sentiment among the majority of Muslims.

Pew Global Forum, in this survey from 2005, says: "People in predominantly Muslim countries have mixed views of Christians and strongly negative views of Jews...anti-Jewish sentiment is endemic in the Muslim world. In Lebanon, all Muslims and 99% of Christians say they have a very unfavorable view of Jews. Similarly, 99% of Jordanians have a very unfavorable view of Jews. Large majorities of Moroccans, Indonesians, Pakistanis and 60% of Turks also view Jews unfavorably."

Pew Global forum, in this survey from 2010, says: "In the predominantly Muslim nations surveyed, views of Jews are largely unfavorable. Nearly all in Jordan (97%), the Palestinian territories (97%) and Egypt (95%) hold an unfavorable view of Jews. Similarly, 98% of Lebanese express an unfavorable opinion of Jews, among both Sunni and Shia Muslims, as well as 97% of Lebanese Christians. By contrast, only 35% of Israeli Arabs express a negative opinion of Jews, while 56% voice a favorable opinion. Negative views of Jews are also widespread in the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed in Asia: 78% of Pakistanis and 74% of Indonesians express unfavorable opinions. 73% of Turks also hold a critical view. Among Nigerians, overall views are split (44% favorable, 44% unfavorable), but opinions divide sharply along religious lines. 60% of Nigerian Muslims have an unfavorable view of Jews, compared with only 28% of Christians."

Pew Global Forum, in this survey from 2011, says: " In the Arab countries surveyed, large majorities of Muslims who say some religions are more prone to violence consider Judaism to be the most violent religion; 97% in Jordan, 93% in Egypt, 88% in the Palestinian territories and 77% in Lebanon share this view. Outside of the Arab world, more than half of Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan who say some religions are more violent also cite Judaism as the most violent (56% and 54%, respectively). In Turkey, however, slightly more say Christianity is the most violent religion than name Judaism (45% vs. 41%); in 2005, when the question was last asked, more than twice as many Turkish Muslims named Christianity as the most violent religion as named Judaism (46% vs. 20%)."

In a comparison of within-EU tensions from 2013, Professor Dr. Ruud Koopmans, Professor of Sociology and Migration Research at the Humboldt University of Berlin, says in the relevant part of his report: "Even though these figures for native European Christians are worrisome enough, they are dwarfed by the levels of out-group hostility among European Muslims. Almost 60 per cent reject homosexuals as friends and 45 per cent think that Jews cannot be trusted."