Divergence of Judaism and Islam

Marc S. Bernstein
, author of Stories of Joseph: Narrative Migrations in 
Judaism and Islam
Relations between Jews and Muslims were primarily peaceful during the medieval 
and early modern periods. But as the essays in this volume demonstrate, centuries 
of respectful coexistence deteriorated quickly in the nineteenth and twentieth 
centuries, leading to the tensions with which we are more familiar today.
A companion volume to The Convergence of Judaism and Islam, this collection 
of essays explores the Jewish-Muslim relationship from the nineteenth century to 
the present. Its contributors reveal how—and why—the paths of Jews and Muslims 
began to diverge two centuries ago. Each group reacted quite differently to colonial 
rule; the Palestine Question and the Arab-Israeli crisis helped to sour relations; 
and the rise of nationalism added to the growing tensions. With contributions 
from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines, this book offers a comprehensive 
analysis of the complex dynamics between the two groups in more recent times.