Search Results
Chapter
In Jewish-Muslim Relations in Past and Present
Edited by Josef Meri
- Published:
- 01 Jan 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789004345737
- Pages:
- i–xvi
Chapter
In Jewish-Muslim Relations in Past and Present
Edited by Josef Meri
- Published:
- 01 Jan 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789004345737
- Pages:
- 1–12
Chapter
In Jewish-Muslim Relations in Past and Present
Edited by Josef Meri
- Published:
- 01 Jan 2017
- ISBN:
- 9789004345737
- Pages:
- 267–284
Jewish-Muslim Relations in Past and Present
A Kaleidoscopic View
Series:
Edited by Josef Meri
Josef W. Meri
Abstract
This study suggests a number of ways in which Jews and Muslims venerated the Prophet Elijah and his Islamic counterpart al-Khadir in the Near Eastern context from the twelfth through seventeenth centuries. In invoking the Prophet, devotees sought to reclaim and rediscover the sacred in tradition and physically and ritually represent it. The discussion first focuses on the depiction of the shrines of Elijah in Jewish travel itineraries. The profound experience of the fourteenth-century Karaite scribe and poet Moses b. Samuel at a shrine of the Prophet is testament to his widespread veneration among Damascene Jews. This is followed by a discussion of a number of Muslim shrines of al-Khadir and two unique thirteenth-century biographical accounts. The first is of the Sufi saint Abu Bakr b. Fityan al-Arawdakis (d. 672/ 1273 C.E.) grandfather Ma'bad who sometime during the twelfth century encounters the Prophet in his sleep. The second is of Khumartash 'Abd Allah al-Bajanī al-Turkī, an Aleppan soldier who renounces his evil ways after seeing al-Khadir in a series of dream encounters. Both these men's visions result in the construction of shrines dedicated to the Prophet in Syria.
Josef W. Meri
Abstract
Baraka (lit. blessing) lay at the foundation of Muslim and Jewish conceptions and perceptions of the sacred. Medieval devotees sought the baraka of prophets, saints and devotional objects. This study considers the physical and devotional setting for the transmission of baraka and the ritual acts devotees performed in order to acquire it.
Josef W. Meri
Abstract
Pilgrimage to the tombs of holy persons, known as ziyāra (lit. a visit, visiting) was a fundamental aspect of devotional life throughout the medieval Near East. Medieval Muslims composed pilgrimage guides reflecting their pilgrimage experiences and those of others. Such guides, known collectively as "kutub al-ziyārāt" (pilgrimage guides), meant to be employed at tombs and shrines, mention places efficacious for prayer, obtaining baraka (blessings), achieving cures, and fulfilling supplication for worldly and spiritual needs. This study looks at the first known Syrian pilgrimage guide which was composed during the sixteenth-century Ibn al-awrānīs-Ishārāt ilā Amākin al-Ziyārāt (Guide to Pilgrimage Places). It also explores the genesis of the ziyāra genre in Syria and offers a number of suggestions as to its late emergence there. This is followed by an annotated translation of the guide.