Fight in the Way of God 95world. Nowhere was this tolerance more evident than in medieval
Spain—the supreme example of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian coop-
eration—where Jews especially were able to rise to the highest posi-
tions in society and government. Indeed, one of the most powerful
men in all of Muslim Spain was a Jew named Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who
for many decades served as the trusted vizier to the Caliph, Abd al-
Rahman III. It is no wonder, then, that Jewish documents written dur-
ing this period refer to Islam as “an act of God’s mercy.”
Of course, even in Muslim Spain there were periods of intoler-
ance and religious persecution. Moreover, Islamic law did prohibit
Jews and Christians from openly proselytizing their faith in public
places. But, as Maria Menocal notes, such prohibitions affected Chris-
tians more than they did Jews, who have been historically disinclined
toward both proselytizing and public displays of their religious rituals.
This may explain why Christianity gradually disappeared in most of
the Islamic lands, while Jewish communities increased and prospered.
In any case, even during the most oppressive periods in Islamic his-
tory, Jews under Muslim rule received far better treatment and had far
greater rights than when they were under Christian rule. It is no acci-
dent that a few months after Muslim Spain fell to Ferdinand’s Chris-
tian armies in 1492, most of Spain’s Jews were summarily expelled
from the realm. The Inquisition took care of those who remained.
Finally, and most importantly, the execution of the Banu Qurayza
was not, as it has so often been presented, reflective of an intrinsic
religious conflict between Muhammad and the Jews. This theory,
which is sometimes presented as an incontestable doctrine in both
Islamic and Judaic studies, is founded on the belief that Muham-
mad, who considered his message to be a continuation of the Judeo-
Christian prophetic tradition, came to Medina fully expecting the
Jews to confirm his identity as a prophet. Supposedly, to facilitate the
Jews’ acceptance of his prophetic identity, Muhammad connected
his community to theirs by adopting a number of Jewish rituals
and practices. To his surprise, however, the Jews not only rejected
him but strenuously argued against the authenticity of the Quran as
divine revelation. Worried that the rejection of the Jews would some-
how discredit his prophetic claims, Muhammad had no choice but
to turn violently against them, separate his community from theirs,