The Development of the “New Jews” Theme in Syriac Texts on Islam from the Seventh to the Ninth Centuries

Several Syriac texts of the period from the seventh to the ninth centuries were devoted to the religious challenge of Islam. A topic which emerges regularly in these texts is the so-called “‘new Jews’ theme:” Muslims and their faith were compared to the Jews and their faith by some means or other. Syriac authors resorted to anti-Jewish stereotypes from the pre-Islamic era and used these stereotypes to compromise the new religion of Islam in the eyes of their Christian readers. The similarities between Jews and Muslims regarding crucial Christian doctrines such as the Trinity and the Incarnation led Christian writers like Patriarch Timothy I (d. 823) to designate Muslims as “new Jews.” By comparing several Syriac texts on Islam from the period in question, the paper outlines the development of the “‘new Jews’ theme” in the Syriac Christians’ reactions toward Islam.