The Divergence of Judaism and Islam. Interdependence, Modernity, and Political Turmoil

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Yemen: Muslim and Jewish Interactions in the Tribal Sphere · 137

and sacred books that carry mystical knowledge. Yet, at the same time,
these beliefs enhanced the perception of the Jew as the “other” and con-
tributed to positing him outside the inner circles of the tribal society.


Most Yemeni Jews lived in rural areas among the Yemeni tribes. Their
mingling in the tribal society enabled the development of organic rela-
tionships through which each group adapted cultural components of the
other. Muslim-Jewish relations in tribal Yemen should be understood as
deriving from the Jews’ dhimmi position and from the nature of their in-
teractions with the tribal society. The Jews were connected to the tribe
through protection customs and agreements and were regarded as a weak
group whose position in the tribe was regulated by concepts of “shame.”
They were integrated into the tribe’s economic system, and they pro-
vided vital services to Muslim farmers. Yemeni Muslim society respected
and encouraged the Jews to observe their religion and even used its supe-
rior position to monitor their religious conduct. In addition, Jewish and
Muslim relations were characterized by interaction in the mystical sphere
and a belief in the Jews’ magical skills. The Jews represented mysterious
beings, possessing supernatural powers that could cause either good or
bad. Their mystical-magical knowledge and practice contributed to the
creation of a sort of popular Muslim-Jewish syncretistic religion, but also
intensified the Jews’ perception as the ultimate “other.” Much like the
formulation by Freud, the Jews’ “otherness” represented the “uncanny”
to which the Muslims were attracted and at the same time they feared.
They were needed and respected, feared and disliked. This analysis pres-
ents the complexity of the Jews’ position in the society and concludes that
while they were integrated into tribal society, they nevertheless remained


  1. Shlomo Deshen, The Mellah Society: Jewish Community Life in Sherifian Mo-
    rocco (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 17; Michael M. Laskier, North
    African Jewry in the Twentieth Century (New York: New York University Press,
    1994), 9.

  2. Harvey E. Goldberg, Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and Relatives (Chi-
    cago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 7.

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