The Qur’an—the most sacred of the Islamic trilogy of holy texts—is a deeply anti-Jewish book, whose admonitions have served as the basis for hateful Islamic attitudes towards Jews from the seventh century to the present.
All “interpretations” of the Qur’an which frame its messages as pro-Jewish necessarily take its verses out of context and manipulate their intended meanings. Sometimes this is done for understandable strategic purposes—often to corner Muslims who hate Jews for tribal reasons but are mostly ignorant of that animosity’s origins—but this tactic is dishonest at best and dangerously naïve at worst. By claiming that “Allah is a Zionist,” this projects some well-intentioned pro-Israel activists’ brotherly aspirations onto a 1,400-year-old text whose own intentions are the opposite. Believing this propaganda leaves those using it vulnerable to exploitation by Muslim cultural terrorists pretending to be “moderate.”
Are there pro-Jewish verses in the Qur’an?
“Yes.” Earlier in Muhammad’s career as a preacher, he applied his (limited) knowledge of Judaism to claim status as a prophet of the God of Israel, and also appealed to the Jews themselves to follow him. When this failed, however, his sermons’ character reversed. Furthermore, nearly all of Muhammad’s supposedly “pro-Jewish” statements belong to the period of his life he spent preaching in Makah (c. 610–622 C.E.), where no Jews lived. It was only with his relocation north to the half-Jewish town of Yathrib (later renamed Madinah) that he encountered the Jews, who then refused to recognize him as a prophet and submit to Islam—that rebuke triggering his anti-Jewish wrath.
The Islamic doctrine of abrogation (coming from Qur’an 2:106 and 16:101) allows for a later revelation to supersede an earlier one which contradicts it. Therefore, most “pro-Jewish” remarks are effectively repudiated by the later anti-Jewish ones. For example, Qur’an 2:83—speaking of a “covenant” with the “Children of Israel”—is abrogated by 9:5, the “verse of the sword”—imploring Muslims to kill their enemies “wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush.” Also, 2:109—saying that Muslims should “pardon and overlook until Allāh delivers His command” regarding those among the “People of the Scripture” (Jews and Christians) who have endeavored to tempt the Muslims away from Islam—is abrogated by 9:29—commanding Muhammad’s followers to “Fight against those who do not believe in Allāh.”
What does the Qur’an really say about Jews?
As Robert Spencer writes in his 2025 book Antisemitism: History and Myth,
Antisemitism is deeply embedded within the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. The Qur’an’s treatment of Jews is consistent and unambiguous: those who do not accept that Muhammad is a prophet and become Muslims are untrustworthy schemers who hate the Muslims and try to frustrate their plans whenever and wherever they can. That the Qur’an’s picture of the Jews does not include the blood libel or the claim that the Jews control the world does not exonerate the Qur’an or Islam in their traditional formulations and interpretations from charges of a deep and abiding Jew-hatred.
Islam’s most common prayer, the Fatihah (Opening), is also the first chapter of the Qur’an. In it, the believer asks Allah: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom you have favored, not of those who have earned your anger, or of those who have gone astray [1:6–7].” In an Islamic tradition [Jami at-Tirmidhi 2954], Muhammad states that “the Jews are those who Allah is angry with.”
pp. 91–92
Most verses in the Qur’an which mention Jews do so in the context of the Jews refusing to acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet in the present time, or having sinned against Allah in the past (often to the point of meriting divine punishment and permanent rejection). The Jews are dishonest, greedy, hard-hearted, even idolatrous people, who loath the Muslims. Indeed, the Jews loath their “own” God (Allah), having blasphemously edited their scriptures to remove revelations they found inconvenient—including supposed prophecies foretelling the coming of Muhammad—and murdered those prophets who brought them those revelations:
- 2:61: “…And they were covered with humiliation and poverty and returned with anger from Allāh [upon them]. That was because they [repeatedly] disbelieved in the signs of Allāh and killed the prophets without right. That was because they disobeyed and were [habitually] transgressing.”
- 2:75: “Do you covet [the hope, O believers], that they would believe for you while a party of them used to hear the words of Allāh and then distort it [i.e., the Torah] after they had understood it while they were knowing?”
- 2:87: “…But is it [not] that every time a messenger came to you, [O Children of Israel], with what your souls did not desire, you were arrogant? And a party [of messengers] you denied and another party you killed.”
- 2:100–1: “Is it not [true] that every time they took a covenant a party of them threw it away? But, [in fact], most of them do not believe. And when a messenger from Allāh came to them confirming that which was with them, a party of those who had been given the Scripture threw the Scripture of Allāh [i.e., the Torah] behind their backs as if they did not know [what it contained].”
- 3:75: “And among the People of the Scripture [Jews and Christians] is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] coin, he will not return it to you unless you are constantly standing over him [demanding it]. That is because they say, ‘There is no blame upon us concerning the unlearned [The Jews do not consider it a sin to cheat or lie to a gentile or a pagan].’ And they speak untruth about Allāh while they know [it].”
- 3:78: “And indeed, there is among them a party who alter the Scripture with their tongues so you may think it is from the Scripture, but it is not from the Scripture. And they say, ‘This is from Allāh,’ but it is not from Allāh. And they speak untruth about Allāh while they know.”
- 3:181: “Allāh has certainly heard the statement of those [Jews] who said, ‘Indeed, Allāh is poor, while we are rich.’ We will record what they said and their killing of the prophets without right and will say, ‘Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire.…’”
- 4:160–161: “For wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them [certain] good foods which had been lawful to them, and for their averting from the way of Allāh many [people], and [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people’s wealth unjustly. And We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.”
- 5:51: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you—then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allāh guides not the wrongdoing people.”
- 5:60: “Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as penalty from Allāh? [It is that of] those [the Jews] whom Allāh has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs and slaves of ṭāghūt [false objects of worship, such as idols, heavenly bodies, spirits, human beings, etc]. Those are worse in position and further astray from the sound way.’”
- 5:82: “You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and those who associate others with Allāh….”
- 9:29–34: “Fight against those who do not believe in Allāh or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allāh and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth [i.e., Islām] from those who were given the Scripture [Jews and Christians]—[fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled. The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allāh’; and the Christians say, ‘The Messiah is the son of Allāh.’ That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before [them]. May Allāh destroy them; how are they deluded? They have taken their scholars [rabbis] and monks as lords besides Allāh [by their obedience to them rather than to what Allāh ordained], and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him. They want to extinguish the light of Allāh with their mouths, but Allāh refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allāh dislike it. O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars [rabbis] and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly [i.e., through false pretense] and avert [them] from the way of Allāh. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allāh—give them tidings of a painful punishment.”
- 98:6: “Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture [Jews and Christians] and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the worst of creatures.”
In fact, in-depth statistical analysis by dissident scholar Bill Warner reveals that the Qur’an is very nearly as anti-Jewish as Mein Kampf, with the former devoting 6.7% (10,242 words across 123 verses) to condemning Jews, compared to Hitler’s corresponding 7%. Furthermore, all of the Islamic core texts combined—the Qur’an, the Sirat Rasul Allah (Muhammad’s sacred biography), and the Hadith (the sayings of and stories concerning Muhammad and his companions)—contain even more Jew-hatred (9%) than Mein Kampf.
Does the Qur’an affirm the Jewish people’s right to the land of Israel?
All “Zionist” verses within the Qur’an are completely out of context. Mentions of Allah’s bestowal upon the Jewish people of a land in which they would be sovereign are nearly always in the context of Muhammad condemning the Jews for having forfeited that divine gift in the first place. And these rejections of Allah’s commands—to submit themselves, both then and in the past, to the truth of Muhammad’s prophethood—are the reasons for Allah discarding the Jews and installing the Arabs as the new chosen people. In short, such passages are part of Muhammad’s case for the Islamic version of Christian “replacement theology.” As the aforementioned verses demonstrate, what the Jews did in and with their land was to do evil in the sight of Allah—rendering any claim to a homeland irrelevant.
For example, Qur’an 5:21 says that “‘O my people, enter the blessed land [i.e., Palestine] which Allāh has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allāh’s cause] and [thus] become losers.’” Regardless of the Saheeh International translation inserting the word “Palestine,” the context of this verse is of Muhammad recounting the Episode of the Spies (Numbers 13–14), in which the generation which came out of Egypt refused to cross into the land of Israel and fight the wicked Canaanites. For this sin, God decreed 38 more years of wandering and banned all Jews born in Egypt except the two faithful spies from one day entering the land. The Torah—which the illiterate Muhammad (so Qur’an 7:158 says) could not read—agrees that this is a sin, but Moses and the later prophets’ condemnations are always balanced with the promise of punishment being temporary and never amounting to rejection. Once the people did cross into the land of Israel and establish a polity, Muhammad says, the Qur’an’s (listed) anti-Jewish verses make clear that their evildoing permanently lost them their right to it.
Qur’an 17:1–7, detailing divine revelations to the Jews and the building of the First Temple, has been cited as an example of Allah’s “Zionism.” Inconveniently, those same eight verses are not intended to be in praise of the Jewish people. Allah speaks of how “You will surely cause corruption on the earth twice, and you will surely reach [a degree of] great haughtiness” (17:4), and
“If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to them [i.e., yourselves].” Then when the final [i.e., second] promise came, [We sent your enemies] to sadden your faces and to enter the masjid [i.e., the temple in Jerusalem], as they entered it the first time, and to destroy what they had taken over with [total] destruction.
17:7
While affirming that there was indeed a First Temple, and that it was built by Jews in Jerusalem, this statement, as the Qur’anic commentaries confirm, is in the form of a castigation.
So, too, 17:104 says that “And We said after him [i.e., Pharaoh] to the Children of Israel, ‘Dwell in the land, and when there comes the promise [i.e., appointment] of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering.’” This verse is also irrelevant because, when they took possession of the land, the Jews rebelled against Allah, corrupted their scriptures, and murdered the prophets telling them of the coming of Muhammad. In fact, verses 97–98 say that
And whoever Allāh guides—he is the [rightly] guided; and whoever He sends astray [as a result of his own preference]—you will never find for them protectors besides Him, and We will gather them on the Day of Resurrection [fallen] on their faces—blind, dumb and deaf. Their refuge is Hell; every time it subsides, We increase [for] them blazing fire. That is their recompense because they disbelieved in Our verses and said, “When we are bones and crumbled particles, will we [truly] be resurrected [in] a new creation?”
Surah 17 is traditionally nicknamed Bani Isra’il (“Children of Israel”), meaning that its pronouncements refer specifically to the Jews. The Jews indeed “disbelieved in Our verses” and are, therefore, deprived of the land Allah gave them, their “refuge” being “Hell.”
Further, Qur’an 8:39, 9:33, 48:28, and 61:9 all command Muslims to fight against non-Muslims until, says the first of these verses, “the religion [i.e., worship], all of it, is for Allāh.” With non-Muslims being the majority of the planet, and that planet’s creator demanding that “all” other religions be destroyed, Islam’s mission to subjugate the entire world is clear. This means that even if Allah gave the Jewish people a land in which they were sovereign, Muslims later conquered the land of Israel according to divine injunction and right.
For Muhammad’s part, his ultimate view of the Jews was the same as Hitler’s:
The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
Sahih Muslim 2922
Indeed, if Allah ever did support Zionism, it was limited to the periods of the First and Second Temples alone. After the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the Jews lost all title to the land of Israel. And after Muslim warriors conquered the region in 637, ownership passed to them. Then, after the birth of political Zionism in the late nineteenth century, Qur’an 2:191 enjoined the conquerors’ descendants to “kill” the Jews “wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you.” Meaning that the Jews re-establishing an independent polity in the land the Qur’an says Allah gave and then took away from them—“expell[ing]” Muslims from what is now “their” land—must be met with death.
