The Monastery as Tavern and Temple in Medieval Islam: The Case for Confessional Flexibility in the Locus of Christian Monasteries
Abstract This article examines the diverse nature of Muslim interest in Christian monasteries during the medieval Islamic period. According to a variety of contemporary accounts, Muslim visitation to monasteries often involved wine consumption and licentious behavior on the part of the elites. While...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2021
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| In: |
Medieval encounters
Year: 2021, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Pages: 50-77 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Umayyads
/ Christianity
/ Monastery
/ Sanctuary
/ Pilgrimage
/ Islam
/ History 700-800
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| IxTheo Classification: | AX Inter-religious relations BH Judaism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages KBL Near East and North Africa KCA Monasticism; religious orders |
| Further subjects: | B
Hospitality
B Umayyad Caliphate B Shrines B Monasteries B Late Antiquity B Christian-Muslim relations |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Abstract This article examines the diverse nature of Muslim interest in Christian monasteries during the medieval Islamic period. According to a variety of contemporary accounts, Muslim visitation to monasteries often involved wine consumption and licentious behavior on the part of the elites. While not dismissing this possibility, this research suggests that there was often a greater religious dimension to Muslim fascination with monastic sites. Sacred shrines throughout the late antique Levant had, after all, been held in esteem for their hospitality and miraculous powers long before the arrival of Islam. This examination contends that Muslim interest in such Christian shrines and monasteries represents a dynamic, flexible confessional environment at the dawning of Islam. The pious spirit of pilgrimage and ziyāra /visitation was simply transferred into a new religious context; one that was defined by its fluid character and amorphous sectarian lines. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0674 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Medieval encounters
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700674-12340094 |