me

 

At the end of a meeting, I was asked about Judaism and being Jewish by A,B and M. I was happy to answer, though of course, I was aware of the uncomfortable position of having to speak on behalf of all Jews everywhere... but I answered as best I could. At one point M told me from her view why Muslims fear Jews. She said that there is a saying, or an edict maybe, that you can eat in a Jewish person's home but you can't sleep in it because Jewish people are cursed. She went on to explain that it is written that the Jews - or B'nu Isrel - are cursed because Allah came to them with cooked food from Heaven which they refused to eat so a curse was brought on them for not realising who is Allah or the prophet Mohamed. So you shouldn't sleep in a Jewish person's house because they are cursed.

B, who is also Muslim though from the Bengali culture, said she thought you couldn't sleep in a Jewish person's house was because you didn't know what would happen, like they would kill you or something. This was shocking to me and I now understand why, when I told her I was Jewish, she visibly gulped...

A added that she'd never even heard of it. It's interesting what is told about other peoples, how it's taught and passed on. It has been my experience that Horn of Africa Muslims just don't have the same kind of anti-Semitism or fear and propaganda that Asian Muslims have. The fear and hatred is not inherent in Islamic writings just in the interpretation of them.

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