Avoda and ʿIbāda: Ritual and Liturgy in Islamic and Judaic Traditions (review)

THE JEWISH QUARTERLYREVIEW, XCII, Nos. 1-2 (July-October, 2001) 197-199 SETH WARD, ed., Avoda and CIbiada: Ritual and Liturgy in Islamic and Judaic Traditions,special edition of MedievalEncounters:Jewish, Christian , andMuslimCulturein Confluenceand Dialogue, 5.1. Leiden:Brill, 1999. Pp. 131. This collection is the resultof a conferenceheld in 1998 atthe University of Denver and sponsoredby the Centerfor JudaicStudies, the Institutefor Islamic-Judaic Studies, and the Institute for Interfaithand Multi-cultural StudiesandSocial Concerns.These instituteshavebeen sponsoringacademic conferences, most of them dealing with the historical, intellectual, andculturalrelationsbetween JudaismandIslam,for twenty-five years.Seth Ward, directorof the Institutefor Islamic-JudaicStudies and chair of the last six of these conferences, has succeeded in attractingan internationalcommunity of scholars annuallyto Denver. Each conference is organizedarounda theme, which in 1998 was liturgy and ritual practice. Nearly thirtypapers were given, of which nine are includedin the volume (atleast one of those includedwas notgiven atthe conference ). As in most such collections, the qualityof the articlesis somewhat uneven, though Ward'ssuccessful editing can be seen in the generally high quality and overall coherence. The collection demonstrateshow far scholarshiphas moved towardobjective, comparativestudiesin religion. The earliest attemptsto comparetwo differentreligious practices-mostly found in Scripturesthemselves-were intendedas religious polemic, andpolemic has been the primarymotivatorfor comparativestudies in religion throughthe ancient, medieval, and early modernperiods. Subtle and sometimes not so subtle polemics may often be revealed even in our own generation.Thankfully , there is no attemptto establish, even subtly, a hierarchyof value between religious traditionsamong the contributionsto this collection. The advantageof comparativeanalysis is that it offers a unique means of gaining deeper insight into a particularphenomenonby noting its variation in other contexts. Not only does noting such variations tend to highlight issues thatmight otherwisebe missed, but studyingphenomenaacross religious boundariesoffers an entirely differentperspective. Despite ouraspirations for scientific objectivity, the researcherstill often observes differently when viewing phenomena "at home" as opposed to in "foreign" contexts. Only comparative studies offers the advantage of simultaneous angles of observationfromboth the "inside"andthe "outside."Most of the contributionsto this collection utilize some kind of comparativeapproach, whetherphenomenological or historical, and these offer some of the most interestinginsights. The collection opens, appropriately,with a brief appraisal of Naftali Wieder's pioneering work, Islamic Influences on Jewish Worship,on the 198 THEJEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW fiftieth anniversaryof its publication. Shalom Goldmanexamines the historical context of Wieder'swork and summarizesits contribution,particularly Wieder'swork on AvrahamMaimuni, son of Maimonides. My only disappointmentis thatGoldmandid not take the opportunityto suggest areas for furtherresearchin this importantfield. Khaleel Mohammedexamines the foundationof Muslim prayerand arrivesat the conclusion, based on a commendable reading of the indirect evidence imbedded in Qur'dan and hadith, thatits ritualroots lie within the particularheterodoxpractices of the Medinan Jewish community at the time of Muhammad.Mohammed 'ssuggestion should certainlybe followed up, with furtherstudies also taking into consideration any evidence that may be garneredor extrapolated on indigenous, pre-IslamicArabianritualworshipas well. Stefan Reif follows with an articlein two parts,the firsta summaryof Geniza research on Jewish liturgy since Solomon Schechteropened up the study of Geniza manuscriptsone hundredyears ago. The second is a suggestive examination of the impactthatthe innovationof the codex had on Jewish attitudes toward the transmission and status of rabbinic literature,in general (the previously truly "oral"Torah)and liturgy, in particular. Josef Meri'scontributionon medieval Jewish and Muslim venerationof saints centers on the issue of baraka, "an emotive and spiritualforce perceived through the senses and experienced through the religious psyche" (p. 68) thatcould be attainedthroughphysical contact with living saints or their relics, throughcertain ways of acquiringknowledge from a saint, or even throughspiritualcontact with carriersof barakathrougha dream.On the one hand,manyJews, Muslims andChristiansbenefitedfromthe baraka of each other'ssaints,while on the otherhand,some polemicized againstthe tendencytowardsaintvenerationamongtheirown co-religionists as well as amongtheirreligious competitors(including Karaitecritiquesof Rabbanite saintveneration).SethWardexaminesafatwa (formallegal opinion)of Najm al-Din ibn al-Rif'a (d. 1310) advocatingthe destructionof synagogues and churchesin Cairoduringa period of high anti-dhimmisentimentunderthe Mamlukes. Despite much supportfor al-Rif'a's position, it was ultimately rejected because, as noted by his student al-Subki, whose work Wardhas studied for years, such a practice would establish a problematicprecedent with regardto claims againstpersonalpropertyin general, whetherdhimmi or Muslim. ShimonShtoberwritesontheJewish-Islamicpolemicsregardingtheproper direction of prayer (qibla), which began in 7th-century Medina between...