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"'... a nonstop barrage of compelling facts from a breathtakingly wide collection of archives, to build up an overwhelming portrait of a people's suffering.' (Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times) 'A valuable, balanced contribution.' (Iain Finlayson, The Times) 'Gilbert's scholarship is meticulous, his tone balanced, and he takes care to include painstaking details.' (Marina Benjamin, London Evening Standard) 'Gilbert fluently recounts the ups and downs of Jewish-Arab relations over the centuries.' (Adam LeBor, Literary Review) 'Gilbert's book is an illuminating and a moving account of the history of the Jews in Arab lands.' (Avi Shlaim, Financial Times) 'Hard-hitting and frequently harrowing' (Simon Griffith, Mail on Sunday)"
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The relationship between Jews and Muslims has been a flashpoint that affects stability in the Middle East and has consequences around the globe. In this absorbing and eloquent book, Martin Gilbert challenges the standard media portrayal and presents a fascinating account of hope, opportunity, fear, and terror that have characterized these two people through the 1,400 years of their intertwined history. Harking back to the Biblical story of Ishmael and Isaac, Gilbert takes the reader from the origins of the fraught relationship - the refusal of Medina's Jews to accept Mohammed as a prophet - through the ages of the Crusader reconquest of the Holy Land and the great Muslim sultanates to the present day. He explores the impact of Zionism in the first half of the twentieth century, the clash of nationalisms during the Second World War, the mass expulsions and exodus of 800,000 Jews from Muslim lands following the birth of Israel, the Six-Day War and its aftermath, and the political sensitivities of the current Middle East. "In Ishmael's House" sheds light on a time of prosperity and opportunity for Jews in Muslim lands stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan, with many instances of Muslim openness, support, and courage. Drawing on Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sources, Gilbert uses archived material, poems, letters, memoirs, and personal testimony to uncover the human voice of this centuries-old conflict. Ultimately Gilbert's moving account of mutual tolerance between Muslims and Jews provides a perspective on current events and a template for the future.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an important and well-written book which should be widely read, not only by those interested in Jewish history but by those interested in the history of Islam. The US Amazon site has (September 19, 2010) two excellent reviews by James Comfort and L. King with which I entirely agree and which I cannot better.
Gilbert is far from the first to write a more balanced account than is implied by the myth that "Christians and Jews were always treated well under Muslim rule". This myth was not true in the earliest period of Islam, is not true today (with local exceptions) and as for the periods in between please consult the book. There were indeed periods and places in which oppression by Muslims was markedly less severe than oppression by Christians, but the opposite has also commonly been true. Discrimination has been the rule and attacks, killings and massacres of non-Muslims have occurred throughout Muslim history. Exceptions have occurred mainly during periods of strong European influence. Themes of irrational hatred of Jews have passed freely between Europe and Arab lands, such as the enforced use of discriminatory clothing copied from the Muslim past into Nazi policy and the widespread promotion of translated European antisemitic literature in Arab lands in the present. The number of Jews who fled Arab lands with good reason after 1947 was greater than the number of Arabs who fled Israel when it became independent.
But Gilbert's account is not a demolition job. He recounts the good as well as the bad. The good includes heroic actions by Arabs to protect Jews when their lives were in danger and principled actions by Muslim rulers when Muslim mobs were conducting a Pogrom.
If you want to read nice fairy tales, there are plenty of sources you can use. If you want to understand real history, read Gilbert's book.
Gilbert is far from the first to write a more balanced account than is implied by the myth that "Christians and Jews were always treated well under Muslim rule". This myth was not true in the earliest period of Islam, is not true today (with local exceptions) and as for the periods in between please consult the book. There were indeed periods and places in which oppression by Muslims was markedly less severe than oppression by Christians, but the opposite has also commonly been true. Discrimination has been the rule and attacks, killings and massacres of non-Muslims have occurred throughout Muslim history. Exceptions have occurred mainly during periods of strong European influence. Themes of irrational hatred of Jews have passed freely between Europe and Arab lands, such as the enforced use of discriminatory clothing copied from the Muslim past into Nazi policy and the widespread promotion of translated European antisemitic literature in Arab lands in the present. The number of Jews who fled Arab lands with good reason after 1947 was greater than the number of Arabs who fled Israel when it became independent.
But Gilbert's account is not a demolition job. He recounts the good as well as the bad. The good includes heroic actions by Arabs to protect Jews when their lives were in danger and principled actions by Muslim rulers when Muslim mobs were conducting a Pogrom.
If you want to read nice fairy tales, there are plenty of sources you can use. If you want to understand real history, read Gilbert's book.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Martin Gilbert is to be congratulated on this, his latest work.
He has drawn together a vast amount of information from across the Islamic Empire and, with little or no comment, clearly demonstrates the attitude of traditional Islam towards Jews and those of other faiths. In particular, he demonstrates that the hostility of traditional Islam towards Jews, even today, has little to do with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, but has been ongoing for 1400 years, since Islam was founded.
Few books have been written about the position and experiences of other faiths living under Islamic rule and Sharia Law and most people in the West are ignorant of this matter. Thus, this well-researched book is extremely useful for reference purposes.
He has drawn together a vast amount of information from across the Islamic Empire and, with little or no comment, clearly demonstrates the attitude of traditional Islam towards Jews and those of other faiths. In particular, he demonstrates that the hostility of traditional Islam towards Jews, even today, has little to do with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, but has been ongoing for 1400 years, since Islam was founded.
Few books have been written about the position and experiences of other faiths living under Islamic rule and Sharia Law and most people in the West are ignorant of this matter. Thus, this well-researched book is extremely useful for reference purposes.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a thoroughly researched and comprehensive account that anyone interested in Israeli/Palestinian relations should read.
It's hard to add much to the other reviews that have been written, but after reading this book, I have the following comments:
1. It's not a book that you can read cover-to-cover in a day or two; you need time to reflect on each chapter, partly to prevent yourself from being desensitised to the accounts.
2. If you have a superficial or popular media-influenced view of Israel, you will find it extremely challenging.
3. The author tries hard to end on a high note, with some optimism towards the future. Whilst this is commendable, I find it hard to share his optimism.
This book is essential to understanding how zionist aspirations developed and were fueled mainly by intolerance.
It's hard to add much to the other reviews that have been written, but after reading this book, I have the following comments:
1. It's not a book that you can read cover-to-cover in a day or two; you need time to reflect on each chapter, partly to prevent yourself from being desensitised to the accounts.
2. If you have a superficial or popular media-influenced view of Israel, you will find it extremely challenging.
3. The author tries hard to end on a high note, with some optimism towards the future. Whilst this is commendable, I find it hard to share his optimism.
This book is essential to understanding how zionist aspirations developed and were fueled mainly by intolerance.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A candid horror
Whilst the author intially sets out in a peaceful and honourable way to pay tribute to the Arab and Muslims lands of the Jewish diaspora, the book in reality quickly become... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Charles Soper
Disappointing and partial
I was really looking forward to this. For many years I have tried to understand the dynamics that led to the expulsion or flight of Jews from the Arab world, I had hoped this book... Read more
Published 13 months ago by sartresbeggar
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I have read so many books on the Holocaust so this book seemed like a natural selection and I have been proved right. Read more
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This is a first rate book, beautifully written about a subject never tackled before, and giving perspective on the problems in the Middle East from the distinguished biographer of... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Miranda
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