The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina

The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina
Author: Haggai Mazuz
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2014-07-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004266097

In The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina Haggai Mazuz offers an account of the halakhic character of the Jewish community of Medina in the seventh century CE. Making use of a unique methodology of comparison between Islamic and Jewish sources, Mazuz convincingly argues that the Jews of Medina were Talmudic-Rabbinic Jews in almost every respect. Their sages believed in using homiletic interpretation of the Scriptures, as did the sages of the Talmud. On many halakhic issues, their observations were identical to those of the Talmudic sages. In addition, they held Rabbinic beliefs, sayings and motifs derived from the Midrashic literature. "The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina is a wonderful reference work for Talmudic study, Jewish history, and Islamic history. A must-have book for every library." - Haim Gottschalk, Association of Jewish Libraries, vol.5, no.3 (2015) "Mazuz confronts an admirably wide range of Arabic sources, from the Qurʾan to prophetic biographies and ḥadīth compilations as well as legal and theological works. The breadth of the evidence provided to support the conclusion about the religious identity of Medina’s Jews is impressive." - Harry Munt, University of York, The Review of Rabbinic Judaism, vol.19 (2016)

Shared Identities

Shared Identities
Author: Aaron W. Hughes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2017-08-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190684488

Received opinion imagines Judaism and Islam as two distinct religions interacting in the centuries following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes the relations between the two groups using such tropes as "symbiosis." In this revisionist work, Aaron W. Hughes instead argues that various porous and marginal groups-neither fully Muslim nor fully Jewish-exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process of Islamicization. What emerged as normative rabbinic Judaism on the one hand, and Sunni and ShiEven the spread of rabbinic Judaism, especially at the hands of Saadya Gaon (882-942 CE), was articulated Islamically. In the so-called "Golden Age" that emerged in places like Muslim Spain and North Africa, this "Islamic" Judaism could still be found in the writings of luminaires such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides. Drawing on social theory, comparative religion, and the analysis of original sources, Hughes presents a compelling case for rewriting our understanding of Jews and Muslims in their earliest centuries of interaction. Not content to remain solely in the past, Shared Identities examines the continued interaction of Muslims and Jews, now reimagined as Palestinians and Israelis, into the present.

Jews and the Qur'an

Jews and the Qur'an
Author: Meir M. Bar-Asher
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2024-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0691264791

A compelling book that casts the Qur’anic encounter with Jews in an entirely new light In this panoramic and multifaceted book, Meir Bar-Asher examines how Jews and Judaism are depicted in the Qur’an and later Islamic literature, providing needed context to those passages critical of Jews that are most often invoked to divide Muslims and Jews or to promote Islamophobia. He traces the Qur’anic origins of the protection of Jews and other minorities living under the rule of Islam, and shows how attitudes toward Jews in Shi‘i Islam are substantially different from those in Sunni Islam. Bar-Asher sheds light on the extraordinary contribution of Jewish tradition to the Muslim exegesis of the Qur’an, and draws important parallels between Jewish religious law, or halakha, and shari‘a law. An illuminating work on a topic of vital relevance today, Jews and the Qur’an offers a nuanced understanding of Islam’s engagement with Judaism in the time of Muhammad and his followers, and serves as a needed corrective to common misperceptions about Islam.

Muḥammad and His Followers in Context

Muḥammad and His Followers in Context
Author: Ilkka Lindstedt
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2023-10-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004687130

This title is published in Open Access with the support of the University of Helsinki Library.The book surveys and analyzes changes in religious groups and identities in late antique Arabia, ca. 300-700 CE. It engages with contemporary and material evidence: for example, inscriptions, archaeological remains, Arabic poetry, the Qurʾān, and the so-called Constitution of Medina. Also, it suggests ways to deal with the later Arabic historiographical and other literary texts. The issue of social identities and their processes are central to the study. For instance, how did Arabian ethnic and religious identities intersect on the eve of Islam? The book suggests that the changes in social groups were more piecemeal than previously thought.

The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography

The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography
Author: Dean Phillip Bell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 863
Release: 2018-10-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0429859171

The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography provides an overview of Jewish history from the biblical to the contemporary period, while simultaneously placing Jewish history into conversation with the most central historiographical methods and issues and some of the core source materials used by scholars within the field. The field of Jewish history is profitably interdisciplinary. Drawing from the historical methods and themes employed in the study of various periods and geographical regions as well as from academic fields outside of history, it utilizes a broad range of source materials produced by Jews and non-Jews. It grapples with many issues that were core to Jewish life, culture, community, and identity in the past, while reflecting and addressing contemporary concerns and perspectives. Divided into four parts, this volume examines how Jewish history has engaged with and developed more general historiographical methods and considerations. Part I provides a general overview of Jewish history, while Parts II and III respectively address the rich sources and methodologies used to study Jewish history. Concluding in Part IV with a timeline, glossary, and index to help frame and connect the history, sources, and methodologies presented throughout, The Routledge Companion to Jewish History and Historiography is the perfect volume for anyone interested in Jewish history.

Who Is Muhammad?

Who Is Muhammad?
Author: Michael Muhammad Knight
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2023-11-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Combining insights from the best published historical and religious studies scholarship, original research, and rich first-person perspective, this highly readable book offers a comprehensive yet concise introduction to the founder and central figure of the Islamic tradition: the prophet Muhammad. Narrating Muhammad's life story, teachings, and daily practices, and assessing how his legacy is received, interpreted, and applied around the world, Michael Muhammad Knight reveals how the prophet has become simultaneously one of the most beloved historical figures in the world and also one of the most contested, challenged, and disparaged. Knight argues that there was never a singular Muslim vision of Muhammad but rather always multiple perspectives. While Muslims defend Muhammad's legacy against Islamophobic polemics, they also challenge each other regarding the proper authorities through which Muhammad's life and message become comprehensible and applicable in our world. Thinking across time and place, Knight argues that Muhammad is always contextual and contemporary.

New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies

New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-05-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004536639

This volume draws attention to and moves beyond the traditional methodological frames that have governed knowledge production in the academic study of Islam. Departing from Orientalist and largely textual studies, the chapters collected herein revolve around three main themes: gender, the political, and what has come to be known as "lived Islam." The first involves ascertaining how to read gender and gender issues into traditional sources. The second encourages an attunement to the often delicate intersection between the spheres of religion and politics. The final provides a corrective to our traditional over-emphasis on the interpretation of texts and a preoccupation with studying (mainly male) elites. Taken as a whole, this volume encourages a multi-methodological approach to the study of Islam. Contributors include Abbas Aghdassi, Aaron W. Hughes, Eva Kepplinger, Taira Amin, Betül Avcı, Ali Abedi Renani and Seyyed Ebrahim Sarparast Sadat, Meral Durmuş and Bahattin Akşit, Walid Ghali, Isabella Crespi and Martina Crescenti, Brian Arly Jacobsen, Pernille Friis Jensen, Kirstine Sinclair, and Niels Valdemar Vinding, Magdalena Pycińska, Zahraa McDonald, Emin Poljarevic, Abdessamad Belhaj.

The Umayyad World

The Umayyad World
Author: Andrew Marsham
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 637
Release: 2020-11-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317430050

The Umayyad World encompasses the archaeology, history, art, and architecture of the Umayyad era (644–750 CE). This era was formative both for world history and for the history of Islam. Subjects covered in detail in this collection include regions conquered in Umayyad times, ethnic and religious identity among the conquerors, political thought and culture, administration and the law, art and architecture, the history of religion, pilgrimage and the Qur’an, and violence and rebellion. Close attention is paid to new methods of analysis and interpretation, including source critical studies of the historiography and inter-disciplinary approaches combining literary sources and material evidence. Scholars of Islamic history, archaeologists, and researchers interested in the Umayyad Caliphate, its context, and infl uence on the wider world, will find much to enjoy in this volume.

Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin

Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin
Author: Majid Daneshgar
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2016-12-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004337121

Islamic Studies Today: Essays in Honor of Andrew Rippin presents re-readings of and innovative approaches to parts of the qur’anic text itself as well as medieval and modern qur’anic exegesis, its essays based on and inspired by the wide range of research areas and methodologies in which Rippin has been a leading figure.

Muslim and Jew

Muslim and Jew
Author: Aaron W Hughes
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2018-11-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429657102

Muslim and Jew: Origins, Growth, Resentment seeks to show how and why Islam and Judaism have been involved in political and theological self-definitions using the other since the seventh century. This short volume provides a historical and comparative survey of how each religion has thought about the other and, in so doing, about itself. It confines itself to those points at which Judaism and Islam intersect and cross-pollinate, and explores how this delicate process continues into the present with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Muslim and Jew thus seeks to move beyond the intersection of a monolithic Judaism and a monolithic Islam and instead examines and organizes the messiness of the encounter as both religions sought to define themselves within, from, and against the other.