Description

A Financial Times Book to Read in 2026

Muslims and Jews have engaged one another -sometimes for better, sometimes for worse – for over 1,400 years. Yet recent discourse tends to focus on only the most antagonistic aspects of the two communities’ interactions. Marc David Baer paints a more nuanced picture of Muslim-Jewish relations, from Muhammad’s first interactions with Jewish Arabs in the seventh century and their shared struggles after the Spanish Reconquista to the ongoing modern conflict in the Middle East.

Free from the myths and counter-myths of earlier accounts, this is a timely and indispensable new analysis of two communities, often existing side by side, whose relations will continue to shape global politics for decades to come.

Publisher Review

Fascinating and essential, this excellent history is illuminating and important – a revelatory picture of both coexistence and conflict of Muslims and Jews over a thousand years, a story so little known and totally relevant to our world today — Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Young Stalin’ A valuable and important study that offers powerful correctives to myths of perpetual antagonism and utopian coexistence across 1400 years of Jewish-Muslim relations — Matthew Teller, author of NINE QUARTERS OF JERUSALEM Baer reveals a complex history of coexistence, conflict and exchange that continues to influence global politics today — ‘What to read in 2026’ * Financial Times * This remarkable book assuaged my pessimism, and made me believe that mutual trust and care can grow back, when wisdom emerges from unspeakable sorrow and there is an honest reckoning with history — Yasmin Alibhai-Brown A superb book that reminds us of the forgotten history of Jewish-Muslim collaborations, protections, alliances, and symbiosis going back thousands of years. The common beliefs and similar rituals of Jews and Muslims makes them kissing cousins. A timely and urgent reminder for our battle-scarred times — Ziauddin Sardar, author of MECCA: THE SACRED CITY Praise for The Ottomans: A superb, gripping and refreshing new history – finely written and filled with fascinating characters and analysis — Simon Sebag Montefiore Magnificent . . . [An] important and hugely readable book – a model of well-written, accessible scholarship — William Dalrymple A book as sweeping, colourful, and rich in extraordinary characters as the empire which it describes — Tom Holland A winning portrait of seven centuries of empire * Sunday Times *