• Under Islam, Jews were considered protected people whose religion was tolerated as long as they abided by rules such as refraining from proselytizing. In fact, Jews often rose to high positions in government service. The two documents below, both written by Jews, show some of the possibilities open to Jews as well as some of the difficulties they faced. The first document is one of the thousands of medieval Jewish documents found in the nineteenth century at a synagogue in Cairo. It is addressed to Abu Sad al-Tustari (d. 1047), a Jew then powerful at court through his connection to the caliph’s mother. The second document was written by the eminent Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1137/38–1204). In it he explains how busy he was kept as a physician by both the court and the populace at large after he moved from Spain to Egypt.

Letter from the Congregation of a Synagogue in Tripoli to Abu Sad al-Tustari

“We the entire congregation of Tripoli send our greetings to our Lord, the honorable Elder, and ask the Lord our God, Who hears the cry of the downtrodden, to grant you eternal life. We wish to inform your Excellency that we are in great distress because we have no place to pray. Everywhere else, the synagogues have been returned to the House of Israel — except in our town. The reason for this is that our synagogue was converted into a mosque. We are, therefore, petitioning our Master to show us kindness with an edict from the Government permitting us to build for ourselves a synagogue — as has been done everywhere else — on one of our ruined properties on which servants of the ruler dwell without paying any rent. We may point out to our Lord that this very year the congregation in [the port city of] Jubayl rebuilt their synagogue, and no Muslim said anything. We also wish to inform our Lord that we will pay an annual rent for the place to the Gentiles.

There is no need to mention that this is a matter which would be pleasing to God. Your welfare and blessings will increase forever. Selah.

May salvation come swiftly.”

Maimonides on His Life as a Jewish Physician in Cairo

“I live in Fustat, and the king lives in Cairo, and between the two places there is a distance of [about 1½ miles]. With the king I have a very heavy program. It is impossible for me not to see him first thing every day. If he suffers any indisposition, or if any of his sons or concubines falls sick, I cannot leave Cairo, and I spend most of my day in the palace. It may also happen that one or two of his officers fall sick, and I must attend to them. In short, I go to Cairo early every morning, and if there is no mishap and nothing new, I return to Fustat in the afternoon, and certainly not before then. By then I am hungry, and I find the anterooms all filled with people: Gentiles and Jews, great and small, judges and bailiffs, friends and enemies, a mixed multitude, who await the moment of my return. I dismount from my beast and wash my hands and go to them to soothe them and placate them and beg them to excuse me and wait while I eat a quick meal, my only one in the whole day. Then I go out to treat them and write prescriptions and instructions for their illnesses. They come and go without a break until night, and sometimes, I swear by my faith in the Torah, until two hours of the night or more. I talk to them and instruct them and converse with them, lying on my back from exhaustion. By nightfall I am so worn out that I cannot speak. In fine, no Jew can speak to me or keep company with me or have private conversation with me except on the Sabbath.”

Sources: Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979), p. 204; Bernard Lewis, ed. and trans., Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople. Vol. 2: Religion and Society, 292w from pp. 228–229, © 1974 by Bernard Lewis. Used by permission of Oxford University Press, USA.

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