Religious Tensions within Zionist Thought: Judaism and Islam

• In Event: Who Speaks for the Jews? Unconventional Claims about the Jews as Religion and Nation

Abstract

Formed and developed during the late 19th century, Zionism was preoccupied with the question of religion and secularism. Virtually every significant Zionist thinker had to, and actually did, reflect on this topic and offered a desired composition between Jewish tradition – in its widest sense – and secular nationalism. This, of course, was not a uniquely Jewish pattern. As several historians underline, European nationalism held complicated relations toward pre-modern concepts of ‘nation’ and sovereignty.
The Zionist case, however, included further religious tensions: As they envisioned national revival in Ottoman Palestine/Eretz Yisrael, the local inhabitants posed a challenge to the young movement and to its activists. Simultaneously, Islam, native to the area, presumably also should have been a relevant point of reference. But this was generally not the case. Most of early Zionist writings regarding what would later be called the “Arab Question” left little room for the religious- Islamic factor in Arab (or Turkish) –Jewish relations.
This paper examines and analyzes some untypical references to Islam and Arab culture that existed within Zionist thought in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century. Among the questions under discussion will be the connection between awareness to complexities regarding the place of Judaism within Zionism and attentiveness to the role of Islam in the life of the Arabs. Special attention will be given to 'Philo-Islamic' concepts which stressed the proximities between Judaism and Islam, using them as a mean to promote fraternity and cooperation.

author

• Hanan Harif, Hebrew University