1st Edition
Sacred Orientation in Late Antiquity and Early Islam The Qibla as Ritual, Metaphor, and Identity Marker
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Abbreviations
Introduction
Defining the Qibla
The Qibla as Metaphor
Ritual Performance
Sacred Geography
Interrreligious Encounter
How to Read this Book
1. “Each has a Direction to which They Turn”: Sacred Orientation in the Qurʾān and Religions of Late Antiquity
Late Antique Background: Lenses
Rabbinic Judaism
Early Christianity
Other Religious Cultures of Late Antiquity
Islam and the Qurʾān
Conclusion
2. Becoming the "People of the Qibla": How an Unusual Phrase Created an Islamic “Big Tent”
Sinners Among the Ahl al-Qibla: The Mechanics of the Term as Used in Tafsīr
Ahl al-Qibla in Sunni Creeds
Ahl al-Qibla in Some Shiʿi Writings
Implications of Inclusion Among the Ahl al-Qibla
The Origins of the People of the Qibla
Ahl al-Qibla in Heresiographical Descriptions of Khārijites and Murjiʾites
Ahl al-Qibla in Ummayad-Era Revolts as Seen in Historiographic Literature
Ahl al-Qibla in the Teachings of Umayyad-Era Traditionists
Late First-/ Early Eighth-Century Theological Texts Using Ahl al-Qibla
Conclusion
3. Does God’s Mind Change? The Qibla in Tenth-Century Interreligious Polemics
Did the Jews Change their Qibla?
The Qibla as a Symbol of Naskh in Early Islamic Literature
The Qibla as a Symbol in Medieval Islamicate Christian Literature
Revisiting Three Jewish Authors on the Qibla
4. A New Direction in Qibla Studies: Reconsidering Alignment and “Misalignment” of Early Mosques in Light of Identity
Identity
Identity as Imagined
Identity as a Process
Identity as Inexhaustible
Sacred Geography and Identity in Early Islam
Early Mosque Orientations: The Hermeneutics of Architecture and Identity
The Inexhaustible Qibla: A Kind of Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Ari M. Gordon serves as Director of Muslim-Jewish Relations for the American Jewish Committee, fostering partnerships between communities on shared concerns while facilitating productive dialogue on differences. A Philadelphia native and master teacher, Gordon lectures extensively on Judaism, interreligious history, and religion and global affairs in academic, Jewish, and multifaith settings. He holds degrees from Yeshiva University (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MTS), and completed his doctoral work in Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched interreligious relations and sacred geography in Islam’s formative period.
