The history of the Jews in Saudi Arabia begins in classical antiquity.
The history of the Jews in Saudi Arabia begins in classical antiquity.
By the 6th and 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz (largely around Medina) and in Yemen due to the embrace of Judaism by the Himyarite Kingdom in the fourth century. Jewish leadership in Yemen ended soon after Dhu Nuwas instigated a massacre of the Christian community of Najran. [1] [2]
According to Al-Masudi the northern part of Hejaz was a dependency of the Kingdom of Judah, [3] and according to Butrus al-Bustani the Judahites in Hejaz established a sovereign state. [4] The German orientalist Ferdinand Wüstenfeld believed that the Judahites established a state in northern Hejaz. [5]
There were three main Jewish tribes in Medina before the rise of Islam in Arabia: the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.
The Banu Nadir were hostile to Muhammad's new religion. They joined the Meccan army against the İslamic army and were defeated.
Other Jewish tribes lived relatively peacefully under Muslim rule: Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib until the 7th century. The men were executed and the women and children were enslaved after they betrayed the pact they made with the Muslims [6] following the Invasion of Banu Qurayza by Muslim armies led by Muhammad. [7] [8]
A historical journey to visit far-flung Jewish communities was undertaken by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela from 1165 to 1173 that crossed and tracked some of the areas that are located in present-day Saudi Arabia. One map of his travels shows that he stopped at Jewish communities living in Tayma and Khaybar two places that are known to have a longer significant historic Jewish presence in them, the Battle of Khaybar was fought between Muhammad and his followers against the centuries-long established Jewish community of Khaybar in 629. Tudela's trek began as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. [12] He may have hoped to settle there, but there is controversy about the reasons for his travels. It has been suggested he may have had a commercial motive as well as a religious one. On the other hand, he may have intended to catalogue the Jewish communities on the route to the Holy Land so as to provide a guide to where hospitality may have been found for Jews travelling to the Holy Land. [13] He took the "long road" stopping frequently, meeting people, visiting places, describing occupations and giving a demographic count of Jews in every town and country.
One of the known towns that Benjamin of Tudela reported as having a Jewish community was "El Katif" [14] located in the area of the modern-day city of Hofuf in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Hofuf also Hofuf or Al-Hufuf (Arabic : الهفوف) is the major urban center in the huge al-Ahsa Oasis in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. The city has a population of 287,841 (2004 census) and is part of a larger populated oasis area of towns and villages of around 600,000. It is located inland, southwest of Abqaiq and the Dhahran-Dammam-Al-Khobar metropolitan area on the road south to Haradh.
There was a small Jewish community, mostly members of Bnei Chorath, in one border city from 1934 until 1950. The city of Najran was liberated by Saudi forces in 1934 after it been conquered by Yemenis in 1933, thus absorbing its Jewish community, which dates to pre-Islamic times. [15] With increased persecution, the Jews of Najran made plans to evacuate. The local governor at the time, Amir Turki ben Mahdi, allowed the 600 Najrani Jews [16] a single day on which to either evacuate or never leave again. Saudi soldiers accompanied them to the Yemeni border. These Jews arrived in Saada, [17] and some 200 continued south to Aden between September and October 1949. The Saudi King Abdulaziz demanded their return, but the Yemeni king, Ahmad bin Yahya refused, because these refugees were Yemenite Jews. After settling in the Hashid Camp (also called Mahane Geula) they were airlifted to Israel as part of the larger Operation Magic Carpet. [18]
Some groups of Najran Jews escaped to Cochin, as they had a very good relationship with the rulers of Cochin and maintained trade connections with Paradesi Jews. [19]
According to Yemenite Jewish tradition, the Jews of Najran traced their origin to the Ten Tribes.
With the increasing tension in Arab-Israeli relations and growing popular Arab pressure on governments, the Jews of Najran, like all Jewish communities in the Arab world, found themselves in a difficult position—facing the choice of continuing their lives as usual or withdrawing and migrating elsewhere. Their leader approached the Emir of Najran at the time and requested permission to leave with his family for Saada in Yemen, where their relatives and cousins resided. He emphasized that neither he nor any of the Jewish residents had been harmed or harassed but explained their decision to leave to avoid embarrassing the country they had lived in for hundreds of years, as they were deeply shaken by Israel's actions against the Palestinians at the time.
The local ruler at the time, Emir Turki bin Madi, granted them the choice between complete evacuation or permanent stay. Saudi forces accompanied them to ensure their safe passage until they reached Saada. King Abdulaziz Al Saud later requested their return, but the Yemeni Imam, Ahmed bin Yahya, refused, claiming they were Yemeni Jews. After staying in the Hashid camp, they were eventually airlifted to Israel as part of the "Magic Carpet" operation. The community somehow existed until 1970s. After the era of King Faisal, there were no Jews left in the region.
There has been virtually no Jewish activity in Saudi Arabia since the beginning of the 21st century. Jewish (as well as Christian and other non-Muslim) religious services are prohibited from being held in Saudi Arabia. [20] When American military personnel were stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, permission for small Christian worship services was eventually granted, but Jewish services were only permitted on US warships. [20] Census data does not identify any Jews as residing within Saudi Arabian territory. [21]
Historically, persons with an Israeli stamp in their passport or who are openly religious (and not Islamic) were generally not permitted to enter the Kingdom. In the 1970s, foreigners wishing to work in the kingdom had to sign an affidavit stating that they were not Jewish [22] and official government forms granting foreigners permission to enter or exit the country do ask for religious affiliation.
During the Gulf War, there were allegations that some United States military authorities were encouraging Jewish military personnel to avoid listing their religions on their ID tags. [23] (It has been reported that Jewish personnel, along with others, were encouraged to "use discretion" when practicing their religion while deployed to Saudi Arabia). [24] American servicemen and women who were Jewish were allowed into the kingdom, but religious services had to be held discreetly on base. It has been affirmed that alternative "Protestant B" dog tags were created, in the event that a Jewish serviceman or woman was taken prisoner in Iraq. [25] The story was included in one civilian writer's anthology of military stories she had been told by others, and then that one story was reprinted or quoted in many other in-print or online locations including Hadassah Magazine). It has been the subject of much debate as to its veracity, with some military personnel stating that the story is "absolutely false." [24] [26]
In late December 2014, the newspaper Al-Watan reported that the Saudi Labor ministry website permits foreign workers of a variety of different faiths, including Judaism, to live and work in Saudi Arabia. A source within the ministry said, in effect, that Israelis were not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia, but Jews of other nationalities would not have the entry ban applied to them. [27] In practice Christians and Jews may hold religious services but only in their homes and may not invite Muslims. However, as of May 2022, Israeli media outlets reported that dozens of Israelis were able to enter Saudi Arabia with Israeli passports using special visas. [28] [29] According to some Jewish expatriates living in the Kingdom, there are around 3,000 Jews who currently reside in Saudi Arabia, mostly from the US, Canada, France, and South Africa. [30]
Since 2019, Rabbi Jacob Herzog, an American-born Israeli agribusiness entrepreneur, has been visiting Saudi Arabia [31] to establish connections with its Muslim religious leaders, and visiting Jewish tourists, business representatives, and American military personnel, with the goal of organizing a Jewish community. [32]
After the Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia outlawed the disparagement of Jews and Christians in mosques, and also removed anti-semitic passages from school textbooks. [33]
On 3 October 2023, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi participated in a Jewish morning prayer service in Riyadh on the Sukkot holiday that included a Torah scroll dedicated to "King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and all their ministers and advisers." Karhi's visit was part of an effort by Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize their diplomatic relations. [34]
According to Herzog's assessment, some 3,000 Jews employed by international firms and with roots in places like the US, Canada, France, and South Africa currently reside in the kingdom
His name is Rabbi Jacob Herzog, and he is a 46-year-old Israeli rabbi who made aliyah from the US as a child. In the past year, he has been splitting his time between Saudi Arabia and Israel, becoming the chief rabbi of the huge Saudi Kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula
There is considerable debate about the nature of antisemitism in Islam, including Muslim attitudes towards Jews, Islamic teachings on Jews and Judaism, and the treatment of Jews in Islamic societies throughout the history of Islam. Islamic literary sources have described Jewish groups in negative terms and have also called for acceptance of them. Some of these descriptions overlap with Islamic remarks on non-Muslim religious groups in general.
Religious ties between Muslims and the Jewish people have existed since the founding of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century; Muhammad's views on Jews were shaped by his extensive contact with the Jewish tribes of Arabia during his lifetime. Islam shares similar values, guidelines, and principles with the Jewish religion, and also incorporates Jewish history as a part of its own. Muslims regard the Israelites, to whom Jews and Samaritans trace their ethnic ancestry, as an important religious concept; they are referenced around 43 times in the Quran, excluding individual prophets, and in many accounts of hadith. Similarly, Moses, the most important Jewish prophet, is also regarded by Muslims as an Islamic prophet and messenger ; his name is mentioned in the Quran 136 times—more than any other individual—and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. The Torah, which is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is also held by Muslims as an Islamic holy book that was revealed by God through various Israelite prophets and messengers. Later rabbinic authorities and Jewish scholars, such as Maimonides, engaged in discussions concerning the relationship between Islam and Jewish religious law. Maimonides himself, it has been argued, was influenced by Islamic legal thought while living in the caliphates of his time.
Yemenite Jews, also known as Yemeni Jews or Teimanim, are Jews who live, or once lived, in Yemen, and their descendants maintaining their customs. After several waves of persecution, the vast majority of Yemenite Jews emigrated to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet between June 1949 and September 1950. Most Yemenite Jews now live in Israel, with smaller communities in the United States and elsewhere. As of 2024, only one Jew, Levi Marhabi, remains in Yemen, although Ynet cited local sources stating that the actual number is five.
Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to classical sources, their capital was the ancient city of Zafar, relatively near the modern-day city of Sana'a. Himyarite power eventually shifted to Sana'a as the population increased in the fifth century. After the establishment of their kingdom, it was ruled by kings from dhū-Raydān tribe. The kingdom was named Raydān.
The military career of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet, encompasses several expeditions and battles throughout the Hejaz region in the western Arabian Peninsula which took place in the final ten years of his life, from 622 to 632. His primary campaign was against his own tribe in Mecca, the Quraysh. Muhammad proclaimed prophethood around 610 and later migrated to Medina after being persecuted by the Quraysh in 622. After several battles against the Quraysh, Muhammad conquered Mecca in 629, ending his campaign against the tribe.
Najran, is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Najran Province. Designated as a new town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom. Its population grew from 47,500 in 1974 to 90,983 in 1992, 246,880 in 2004, and 381,431 in 2021. The city's population mostly originates from the ancient tribes of Hamdan.
The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib. They were one of the three major Jewish tribes of the city, along with the Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Nadir.
The Battle of Khaybar was an armed confrontation between the early Muslims and the Jewish community of Khaybar in 628 CE. Khaybar, which is located approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) to the northwest of Medina, was home to a sizable community of Jewish tribes.
Khaybar is an oasis in Medina Province, Saudi Arabia, situated some 153 kilometres (95 mi) north of the city of Medina. Prior to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, the area had been inhabited by Arabian Jewish tribes until it fell to Muslim invaders under Muhammad during the Battle of Khaybar in 628 CE.
The Banu Nadir were a Jewish Arab tribe that lived in northern Arabia at the oasis of Medina until the 7th century. They were probably a part of the Constitution of Medina, which was formed after Muhammad's Hijrah. Tensions rose between the Muslims and the Banu Nadir after the Battle of Uhud, which prompted a clash between the two, resulting in the expulsion of the latter. The tribe then planned the Battle of the Trench together with the Quraysh and later participated in the battle of Khaybar.
There were several Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad.
The Banu al-Harith is an Arabian tribe which once governed the cities of Najran, Taif, and Bisha, now located in southern Saudi Arabia.
The history of the Jews in Oman reaches back to the 800s. There was a Jewish presence in Oman for many centuries; however, the Jewish community of the country is no longer in existence.
It is believed that Jews began migrating to the Arabian Peninsula in as early as the 6th century BCE, when the Babylonian conquest of Judah triggered a mass Jewish exodus from Judea in the Land of Israel. Over time and through successive exiles, the local Jewish tribes, who were concentrated in the Hejaz and partly in South Arabia, established themselves as one of the most prominent ethno-religious communities of pre-Islamic Arabia. Likewise, Judaism, which had been introduced as one of the few monotheistic religions in the region, stood as a deviation from the typical polytheistic practices of Arabian paganism. These Jewish tribes continued to have a presence in Arabia during the rise of Muhammad, who founded Islam in the 7th century CE. Muhammad's interaction with the Jewish community is documented to a considerable degree in Islamic literature, including in many ahadith. The Jewish tribes of the Hejaz are seen in Islam as having been the offspring of the Israelites/Hebrews. Two of Muhammad's wives were Jewish: Safiyya bint Huyayy and Rayhanah bint Zayd, both of whom belonged to the Banu Nadir by birth, though Rayhanah's status as a wife is disputed.
The Habbani Jews are a culturally distinct Jewish population group from the Habban region in eastern Yemen, a subset of the larger ethnic group of Yemenite Jews. The city of Habban had a Jewish community of 450 in 1947, which was considered to possibly be the remains of a larger community which lived independently in the region before its decline in the 6th century. The Jewish community of Habban disappeared from the map of the Hadramaut, in southeast Yemen, with the emigration of all of its members to Israel in the 1950s.
The history of the Jews in the United Arab Emirates describes the historical and modern presence of Jews over the millennia in the Middle East and the recorded meetings with Jewish communities in areas that are today in the geographic territories of the United Arab Emirates.
Jews in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to Biblical times. The Arabian Peninsula is defined as including the present-day countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen politically and parts of Iraq and Jordan geographically.
The existence of a Christian community in the city of Najran in present-day southwestern Saudi Arabia is attested by several historical sources of the Arabian Peninsula, where it recorded as having been created in the 5th century AD or perhaps a century earlier. This community is the most famous case of the expression of Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia. According to the Arab Muslim historian Ibn Ishaq, Najran was the first place where Christianity took root in South Arabia. Najran was home to famous Christian figures of Arabic culture like Quss Ibn Sa'ida al-Iyadi, whose sermons Muhammad is said to have encountered.
The Jewish community in Khaybar, which is north of Medina, flourished in the 7th century.
Judaism has been practiced as a religion in the Arabian Peninsula since at least the first century BCE. It is also the first monotheistic religion of Arabia. Arabian Jews were linguistically diverse and would have varied in their practice of the religion. The presence of Jews is best attested in Northwestern and Southern Arabia. Judaism would briefly become politically relevant in the fourth century, when the rulers of the Kingdom of Himyar converted to Judaism.
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