Did Muslims and Jews in the Middle Ages cohabit in a peaceful interfaith utopia? Or were Jews under Muslim rule persecuted, much as they were in Christian lands? Rejecting both polemically charged myths, Mark Cohen offers a systematic comparison of Jewish life in medieval Islam and Christendomthe first indepth explanation of why medieval IslamicJewish relations, though not utopic, were less confrontational and violent than those between Christians and Jews in the West.