compassionate to the poor and the widows. (1) As for Muslim rulers whom all Muslims agree to have been tyrants, they are too many to count.

Islam severed the subject of racism at its root when it forbade boasting of ones ancestors and descendants even if it were the truth. It forbade rivalry based on legitimate and praiseworthy titles such as whether one were from the Muhajirun (the first Muslims from Makkah who later emigrated to Madinah) or the Ansar (those who later became Muslims in Madinah who welcomed and assisted the Makkan immigrants), let alone such aspects as race or color.

In the Prophetic biography a well-known event occurred between the Muslims and the Jews in the Madinah marketplace. A Jewish man wanted to cause chaos by igniting a rivalry with the Muslims. He loudly swore by “Him who favored Moses over all mankind.” One of the Muslims answered him, “By Him who favored Muhammad over all mankind.” Trouble was ready to break out when the Prophet –God’s blessing and peace be on him- put an end to the problem by saying to the Muslims, “Do not make me better than Moses.”

With Islam, human beings are able to give justice its due while defending themselves from the unavoidable hostilities of those who oppose them and deny them their rights:

The Prophet –blessings and peace be upon him- sent one of his companions to the Jews of Khaybar to receive the money that they had agreed to pay according to their treaty with the Muslims. They attempted to bribe the companion, but he refused saying, “By God, God’s Messenger is the most beloved person to me, and by God, you are the most detested people to me, but I cannot love him and wrong you in any way!”

The long history of Islam bears witness that the Jews were not persecuted, but just the opposite, except on rare occasions. The Caliphs and Sultans usually had good relationships with the Jews and gave them preferential status above the Muslims for worldly reasons, to the extent that many Muslims complained and the scholars of Islamic Law criticized the rulers for it.

As for European history –without excusing the Jews- it is a chain of persecution of the Jews so long that it is difficult to measure. Rather, it is difficult to understand or believe some of the persecution. Besides the deep-rooted hostility and continued campaigns against them initiated by the Pope, we find Luther, whose teaching was influenced by Judaism, advised his followers at the end of his life to burn the Jewish ghettos of Germany. For this reason, some researchers consider the Nazi holocaust to be an extension of the Protestant-inspired persecution, let alone the Catholic! (Story of Civilization v26)

The ecclesiastical councils, the Popes, and bishops of every sect sought to prove their faith and piety by issuing laws to punish and expel them, and to excommunicate Christians who dealt with them. In every land and church groups were formed whose sole act of worship was to burn the Jews unless they converted to Christianity. This occurred in France, Spain, Germany and elsewhere, and when the Black Plague struck, all of Europe was overrun by violent waves of Jewish extermination, to the extent that 510 Jewish communities were destroyed in the mid-15th century. Some historians estimate that not even one in five Jews escaped the destruction. All of that because of the accusation that the plague was caused by the Jew’s “poisoning Christian wells,” despite the fact that it was a worldwide epidemic.

The atrocities committed against them (as well as against the Muslims) by the Inquisition are so well known it is not necessary to mention them. In reality, hatred of