Religious Authority in Precedence & Prophethood between Judaism & Islam

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

The last 40 years have witnessed a radical transformation and improvement in scholarly methodologies and approaches regarding the emergence of Islam and its historical, textual and phenomenological relationship with Judaism, Christianity and other religions. This series of papers reflects and develops some of these advances as it addresses the problematic of precedence and displacement in the competitive claims between Judaism and Islam. The first paper by Hamza Zafer treats a twist on biblical genealogical concerns in the Qur’an’s perspective, which might even be labeled “neo-Pauline” because of the particular way in which it relates to kinship in order to privilege the new community of believers over the old. Abedel Rahman Tayyara and Reuven Firestone, in separate papers, treat the problematic of notions of prophethood/prophecy in Judaism and Islam. Tayyara treats the issue through a phenomenological study of prophethood/prophecy with particular attention to differences in time-spatial relationship. Firestone considers how competing versions of a shared literary narrative privilege competing religious communities in the struggle over prophetic authenticity.

Sub Unit

• Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History, Literature, and Culture

Chair

• Carol Bakhos, UCLA

Individual Presentations

• Children of Israel: The Qurʾān’s Treatment of Jewish Ancestry - Hamza Zafer, University of Washington

• Prophecy\Prophethood in Judaism and Islam - Abed el-Rahman Tayyara, Cleveland State University

• The Jewish Sages Who Infiltrate Muhammad’s Community: the Problematic of Prophecy and Precedent with newly Emergent Religion - Reuven Firestone, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion