A Study on the Portrayals of Anti-Judaism in the Classical Persian Literature

Abstract

Persian Jews, who have lived in Persia for more than 2,500 years and shared history and culture with Persians, have been discriminated against and sometimes persecuted in this society comprised of Persian and Muslim majorities. The discrimination or persecution could be regarded as “a tyranny of majority against the minority” which has been common in human history. However, it is necessary to examine the cause of the negative image of Jewish people in Persian literature. The causes of such negative images can be found in two main sources. One of them is the content of the Qur’an, and the other is the Jewish values and way of life. The poets and writers of the classical Persian literature had a negative image of the Jews, through indirect information of the former and direct experiences of the latter. In general, the former was expressed as strong reproach and resentment, while the latter was expressed as disdain and derision.