Startseite Jüdische Studien Epistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and Translation
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Epistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and Translation

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Polemical and Exegetical Polarities in Medieval Jewish Cultures
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Polemical and Exegetical Polarities in Medieval Jewish Cultures
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110702262-007David SklareEpistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and TranslationAbū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm al-Baṣīr (d. c. 1037/38 CE in Jerusalem) was evidently a rather contentious and disputatious fellow. He produced a large number of polemical writings and participated in inter-religious debates (maǧlis al-munāẓarah). This argumentative quality reflects the tenor of contemporary Karaite intellectual life, but it was also a salient element of cultural activity in the general Islamicate world in al-Baṣīr’s time. The focus of this article is one of his little-known works, his Kitāb al-Istiʿānah (Treatise for Seeking Help). This book is a defense of Jewish historical traditions concerning Moses’s miracles, responding to the epistemological critique of these traditions by the renowned jurist, Qurʾān exegete, and historian Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ǧarīr al-Ṭabarī (839–923 CE).Argument and Polemic in Karaite and Arabic CultureArgumentation and discord were perhaps built into the nature of the Karaite enterprise in its early centuries, based as it was on independent thought. This is reflected in ʿAnan ben David’s adage, often quoted in scholarship, “Search Scrip-ture well and do not rely on my opinion.”1 We can already find testimony of the contentious nature of Karaite discourse in a late ninth-century apologetic for the Rabbanite tradition.2 We read in the book’s introduction:1חפישו באורייתא שפיר ואל תשענו על דעתי. Quoted by Yefet ben ʿEli in his commentary on Zech 5:9–11. This aphorism has two parts, one in Aramaic and one in Hebrew. This raises questions as to its authenticity as a whole.2 The Arabic text was published by Mohamed El-Hawary, The Differences Between the Karaites and The Rabbanites in the Light of Genizah Mss. Ms. Heb. F.18 (fols. 1–33a), Bodleian-Oxford [Ara-Note: I would like to thank my friend and colleague Gregor Schwarb for his sagacious and learned comments and corrections, which greatly helped to improve this article. I also thank my anony-mous reader, who made a number of important suggestions concerning the article’s structure. I am, of course, solely responsible for all faults and inaccuracies.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110702262-007David SklareEpistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and TranslationAbū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf ibn Ibrāhīm al-Baṣīr (d. c. 1037/38 CE in Jerusalem) was evidently a rather contentious and disputatious fellow. He produced a large number of polemical writings and participated in inter-religious debates (maǧlis al-munāẓarah). This argumentative quality reflects the tenor of contemporary Karaite intellectual life, but it was also a salient element of cultural activity in the general Islamicate world in al-Baṣīr’s time. The focus of this article is one of his little-known works, his Kitāb al-Istiʿānah (Treatise for Seeking Help). This book is a defense of Jewish historical traditions concerning Moses’s miracles, responding to the epistemological critique of these traditions by the renowned jurist, Qurʾān exegete, and historian Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ǧarīr al-Ṭabarī (839–923 CE).Argument and Polemic in Karaite and Arabic CultureArgumentation and discord were perhaps built into the nature of the Karaite enterprise in its early centuries, based as it was on independent thought. This is reflected in ʿAnan ben David’s adage, often quoted in scholarship, “Search Scrip-ture well and do not rely on my opinion.”1 We can already find testimony of the contentious nature of Karaite discourse in a late ninth-century apologetic for the Rabbanite tradition.2 We read in the book’s introduction:1חפישו באורייתא שפיר ואל תשענו על דעתי. Quoted by Yefet ben ʿEli in his commentary on Zech 5:9–11. This aphorism has two parts, one in Aramaic and one in Hebrew. This raises questions as to its authenticity as a whole.2 The Arabic text was published by Mohamed El-Hawary, The Differences Between the Karaites and The Rabbanites in the Light of Genizah Mss. Ms. Heb. F.18 (fols. 1–33a), Bodleian-Oxford [Ara-Note: I would like to thank my friend and colleague Gregor Schwarb for his sagacious and learned comments and corrections, which greatly helped to improve this article. I also thank my anony-mous reader, who made a number of important suggestions concerning the article’s structure. I am, of course, solely responsible for all faults and inaccuracies.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgement VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. I On Daniel J. Lasker and his Scholarship
  5. Prof. Daniel J. Lasker – Scholar, Teacher, and Friend 1
  6. Daniel J. Lasker and His Treatment of Jewish Polemics 9
  7. List of Publications 19
  8. II Jewish Polemics and Exegesis in the Islamicate World
  9. Polemical Logic: Al-Muqammaṣ’s Refutation of Christianity 37
  10. The Role of Gog in Daniel al-Qūmisī’s Eschatology 59
  11. Theological Consideration of the Gift of the Land and the Radical Treatment of the “Seven Nations” in Medieval Judeo-Arabic Exegesis 77
  12. Epistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and Translation 97
  13. Maimonides on the Status of Judaism 135
  14. Abraham Maimonides on Reclaiming Judaism’s Lost “Perfection” from the “Imperfection” of Islam 165
  15. III Jewish and Anti-Jewish Polemic and Exegesis in the Christian World
  16. Abraham bar Ḥiyya (d. ca. 1136) on “The Pure Soul” 201
  17. Asmakhtaʾ and Abraham ibn Ezra’s Exegesis 229
  18. The Finding of the “True Cross” in Judah Hadassi’s Eškol ha-Kofer and the Polemical Parody Toledot Yešu 251
  19. The Book of Nestor the Priest and the Toledot Yešu in the Polemics of Abner of Burgos/Alfonso of Valladolid 269
  20. Rashi on Isaiah 53: Exegetical Judgment or Response to the Crusade? 301
  21. “The Best of Snakes. . .”: A Polemical Midrash in the Rashi Supercommentary Tradition 317
  22. The Discussion of the Messiah in Crescas’s Refutation 347
  23. Joshua Ha-Lorki on the Meaning of Emunah: Between Religion and Faith 363
  24. Jewish Anti-Semites: The Case of Medieval Apostates 383
  25. Daniel in the Lions’ Den: Jewish-Christian Polemics in Medieval Text and Image 413
  26. IV Jewish-Jewish and Jewish-Christian Relations
  27. Understanding the Uneven Reception of Rabbenu Tam’s Taqqanot 437
  28. Ritual Imagery Gone Wrong: A Fifteenth-Century Siddur in a Christian Workshop 467
  29. Transliteration Charts 507
  30. Index of Names 509
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110702262-007

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgement VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. I On Daniel J. Lasker and his Scholarship
  5. Prof. Daniel J. Lasker – Scholar, Teacher, and Friend 1
  6. Daniel J. Lasker and His Treatment of Jewish Polemics 9
  7. List of Publications 19
  8. II Jewish Polemics and Exegesis in the Islamicate World
  9. Polemical Logic: Al-Muqammaṣ’s Refutation of Christianity 37
  10. The Role of Gog in Daniel al-Qūmisī’s Eschatology 59
  11. Theological Consideration of the Gift of the Land and the Radical Treatment of the “Seven Nations” in Medieval Judeo-Arabic Exegesis 77
  12. Epistemology in the Service of Polemic: Yūsuf al-Baṣīr’s Kitāb al-Istiʿānah: Text and Translation 97
  13. Maimonides on the Status of Judaism 135
  14. Abraham Maimonides on Reclaiming Judaism’s Lost “Perfection” from the “Imperfection” of Islam 165
  15. III Jewish and Anti-Jewish Polemic and Exegesis in the Christian World
  16. Abraham bar Ḥiyya (d. ca. 1136) on “The Pure Soul” 201
  17. Asmakhtaʾ and Abraham ibn Ezra’s Exegesis 229
  18. The Finding of the “True Cross” in Judah Hadassi’s Eškol ha-Kofer and the Polemical Parody Toledot Yešu 251
  19. The Book of Nestor the Priest and the Toledot Yešu in the Polemics of Abner of Burgos/Alfonso of Valladolid 269
  20. Rashi on Isaiah 53: Exegetical Judgment or Response to the Crusade? 301
  21. “The Best of Snakes. . .”: A Polemical Midrash in the Rashi Supercommentary Tradition 317
  22. The Discussion of the Messiah in Crescas’s Refutation 347
  23. Joshua Ha-Lorki on the Meaning of Emunah: Between Religion and Faith 363
  24. Jewish Anti-Semites: The Case of Medieval Apostates 383
  25. Daniel in the Lions’ Den: Jewish-Christian Polemics in Medieval Text and Image 413
  26. IV Jewish-Jewish and Jewish-Christian Relations
  27. Understanding the Uneven Reception of Rabbenu Tam’s Taqqanot 437
  28. Ritual Imagery Gone Wrong: A Fifteenth-Century Siddur in a Christian Workshop 467
  29. Transliteration Charts 507
  30. Index of Names 509
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