Forging an Islamic City in Spaces Sacred to Christians and Jews
A compelling consideration of Jerusalem during the formative period of Islamic civilization
Medieval Jerusalem examines an old question that has recently surfaced and given rise to spirited discussion among Islamic historians and archeologists: what role did a city revered for its holiness play in the unfolding politics of the early Islamic period? Was there an historic moment when the city, holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, may have been considered as the administrative center of a vast Islamic world, as some scholars on early Islam have recently claimed? Medieval Jerusalem also emphasizes the city’s evolution as a revered Islamic religious site comparable to the holy cities Mecca and Medina.
Examining Muslim historiography and religious lore in light of Jewish traditions about the city, Jacob Lassner points out how these reworked Jewish traditions and the imposing monumental Islamic architecture of the city were meant to demonstrate that Islam had superseded Judaism and Christianity as the religion for all monotheists. He interrogates the literary sources of medieval Islamic historiography and their modern interpreters as if they were witnesses in a court of law, and applies the same method for the arguments about the monuments of the city’s material culture, including the great archaeological discoveries along the south wall of the ancient Temple Mount.
This book will be of interest to a broad range of readers given the significance of the city in the current politics of the Near East. It will in part serve as a corrective to narratives of Jerusalem’s past that are currently popular for scholarly and political reasons.
Praise / Awards
"An impressively informed and informative work of outstanding scholarship, Medieval Jerusalem is a timely analytical and historical study that will be of immense interest and relevance to a broad range of readers..."
---Midwest Book Review
"This distinguished historian's superb critical reading of old and new sources, with cautious interpretations of old and new theories and supported by an extensive bibliography, is a stimulating and educational read...Essential."
"It is wonderfully argued and most convincing."
--Peter Brown, Rollins Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University
"Lassner has bravely chosen to deal head-on with some of the most contentious questions in the study of early Islamic Jerusalem. A sense of generosity flows from these pages, even when he takes issue with specific interpretations."
"Medieval Jerusalem treats a topic of perennial concern in impressive detail. It will be of definite interest to specialists and advanced graduate students in medieval Islamic history."
--American Historical Review
CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2018
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