The Making of a Forefather: Abraham in Islamic and Jewish Exegetical Narratives (Islamic History and Civilization)

328 Pages·2006·3.78 MB·English

by  Lowin

THE MAKING OF A FOREFATHER
ISLAMIC HISTORY
AND CIVILIZATION
STUDIES AND TEXTS
edited by
WADAD KADI
AND
ROTRAUD WIELANDT
VOLUME 65
THE MAKING OF
A FOREFATHER
Abraham in Islamic and
Jewish Exegetical Narratives
BY
SHARI L. LOWIN
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2006
Cover illustration: Image of Abraham from “The Wonders of Creation” by al-QazwÊnÊ
(Yah. Ms. Ar. 81113). Copyright: Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lowin, Shari.
The making of a forefather : Abraham in Islamic and Jewish exegetical narratives /
by Shari Lowin.
p. cm. — (Islamic history and civilization, ISSN 0929-2403 ; 65)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15226-7
ISBN-10: 90-04-15226-1 (alk. paper)
1. Abraham (Biblical patriarch) in the Koran. 2. Abraham (Biblical patriarch) in
rabbinical literature. 3. Abraham (Biblical patriarch). I. Title.
BP133.7.A27L69 2006
297.2’463—dc22
2006045840
ISSN 0929-2403
ISBN-13:978-90-04-15226-7
ISBN-10:90-04-15226-1
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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printed in the netherlands
To The Two Men Who Inspired My Love For The Forefather Abraham
My Grandfathers
Abraham Wadler
and
Abraham Lowin
May their memories be a blessing
May this honor their memories

If you wish to come to know Him who spoke and the world came
into being, study haggadah (aggadah), for thereby you will come to
know Him and cling to His ways.
—Sifre, Deuteronomy, piska 49 (c. 3rd–4th cent. CE)1
Of course I believe in Free Will. I have no choice.
—attributed to I. B. Singer (1904–1991)
1 Sifre: A Tannaitic Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, trans. and ed. Reuven
Hammer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1986).

CONTENTS
Transliterations and Notations .................................................. xi
Abbreviations .............................................................................. xiii
Acknowledgements .................................................................... xv
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
Excursus: Overview of Scholarship on Muslim-Jewish
Intertextuality ...................................................................... 27
Chapter One Prophecy and the Pre-natal Patriarch .......... 39
Chapter Two Independent Intellect or ‘Rightly Guided’:
The Patriarch Discovers God .............................................. 87
Appendix:
BT Baba Batra 10a ............................................................ 137
Pirqei de-Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 26 .................................... 137
The Kingdom of Heaven: Genesis 15:1–7, Qur"àn
6:74–78 ............................................................................ 138
“Azkir Gevurot” of Yose b. Yose ........................................ 139
Chapter Three On Finger-Food, Wet-Nurses, and Fate .... 140
Appendix:
BT Sotah 11b ...................................................................... 174
Chapter Four The Fabulous Fire-Fighting Frogs of
Chaldea .................................................................................. 176
Appendix:
Qur"àn 21:51–71 .............................................................. 208
BT Sanhedrin 74a ................................................................ 209
Genesis Rabbah 38:13 .......................................................... 210
Chapter Five Abraham, Ibràhìm, Moses, and
Mu˙ammad ............................................................................ 212
Appendices
A.Appendix A: Cuando El Rey Nimrod ................................ 259
B. Appendix B: Islamic Primary Sources ................................ 264
C.Appendix C: Midrashic Primary Sources .......................... 271
Works Cited .............................................................................. 281
Index .......................................................................................... 293