Jews, Christians, and the abode of Islam : modern scholarship, medieval realities

In Jews, Christians, and the Abode of Islam , Jacob Lassner examines the triangular relationship that during the Middle Ages defined-and continues to define today-the political and cultural interaction among the three Abrahamic faiths. Lassner looks closely at the debates occasioned by modern Western scholarship on Islam to throw new light on the social and political status of medieval Jews and Christians in various Islamic lands from the seventh to the thirteenth century. Utilizing a vast array of primary sources, Lassner balances the rhetoric of literary and legal texts from the Middle Ages with other, newly discovered medieval sources that describe life as it was actually lived among the three faith communities. Lassner shows just what medieval Muslims meant when they spoke of tolerance, and how that abstract concept played out at different times and places in the real world of Christian and Jewish communities under Islamic rule. Finally, he considers what a more informed picture of the relationship among the Abrahamic faiths in the medieval Islamic world might mean for modern scholarship on medieval Islamic civilization and, not the least, for the highly contentious global environment of today.

Author Notes

Jacob Lassner is the Phillip M. and Ethel Klutznick Professor Emeritus of Jewish Civilization and professor of history and religion at Northwestern University. His numerous works include The Middle East Remembered , Jews and Muslims in the Arab World , and Islam in the Middle Ages .

Reviews 1

Choice Review

This work is actually two books in one. Lassner (emer., Northwestern Univ.) examines modern scholarship as well as the place of Jews and Christians in Dar al-Islam. The first part examines Western scholarship on Islamic civilization, including chapters on the Orientalists, scholars who examined the origins of Islam, and the Occidentalists and Muslim reactions to Western scholarship. This section is a short summary of the historiography. Lassner does not follow the trend and condemn the Orientalists, but carefully scrutinizes their background and accomplishments as well as considers their shortcomings. He does the same with the Occidentalists, preventing the work from becoming a polemical piece. The second part then considers the medieval history that scholars of the first section studied. Here, he examines how Jews and Christians fit into the Islamic world. Lassner is critical in his scrutiny of the sources, and his analysis is quite clear. An excellent work for students and others with some familiarity with medieval Islamic history, although those without this background may find the first section quite bewildering. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. T. M. May North Georgia College & State University

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
A Preliminary Note	p. xvii
Part 1 Encountering the "Other"
Western Scholarship and the Foundations of Islamic Civilization
1 Orientalists
The Modern Quest for Muhammad and the Origins of Islamic Civilization	p. 3
2 Rethinking Islamic Origins	p. 26
3 "Occidentalists"
Engaging the Western "Other" Medieval Perceptions, and Modern Realities	p. 61
4 The Occidentalist Response to Modern Western Scholarship	p. 86
Part 2 Jews and Christians
The Reality of Being the "Other" in the Medieval Islamic World
5 The First Encounter
Muhammad and the Jews of Arabia	p. 131
6 Perceiving the "Other"
Jews and Muslims in the Abode of Islam	p. 155
7 Accommodating "Others"
Tolerance and Coercion in Medieval Islam	p. 175
8 Medieval Jewry in the Orbit of Islam	p. 194
9 Early Muslim-Christian Encounters
The Islamization of Christian Space	p. 217
10 Muslims and Christians
Perceptions, Polemics, and Apologetics	p. 236
11 Christians, Muslims, and Jews
Cross-pollinations in Medieval Philosophy and Science	p. 258
Selected Bibliography	p. 287
Index	p. 301

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews 1

Choice Review

Table of Contents