Mazuz (Haggai), The Religious and Spiritual Life of the Jews of Medina, Leiden, Brill, ("The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, 38"), 2014, xvi+132p. ISBN 9789004250628

The author

Haggai Mazuz, Ph.D. (2010), Bar-Ilan University, is lecturer of Islamic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He has published several articles on the relationship between Judaism and Islam, Qur’ān commentary and Islamic jurisprudence. His forthcoming monograph, Menstruation and Its Legislation: The Evolution and Crystallization of the Law of Menses in the Islamic Juristic Tradition (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press) is scheduled to be published in 2014.

Presentation

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.

Content

Preliminary Material
Introduction
1. Religious and Social Leadership
2. Law and Custom
3. Religious Beliefs
4. External Characteristics

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Possible Reasons for Presenting Early Islam as an Anti-Rabbinic Movement
Appendix 2: Reference to the People of Wādī al-Qurā in Ginzberg’s Geonic Responsa
Appendix 3: Reference to the People of Wādī al-Qurā in Harkavy’s Geonica Responsa
Appendix 4: Benjamin of Tudela on the Jewish Presence in Northern Arabia

Bibliography; Citation Index; Subject Index

Keywords: customs; Muslims; Talmud; law; Khaybar; halakha; Jews; Medina; Rabbinic; Jewish Studies