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 Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. 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