Post-Biblical Jewish Sources in al-Maqrīzī ’ s Historiography — Whence His Knowledge ?

In his Kitāb al-Mawāʿiẓ wa’l-Iʿtibār fī Ḏikr al-Ḫiṭaṭ wa’l-Āṯār, Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī (1364–1442 CE) includes several chapters that draw on post-Biblical Jewish texts, inter alia. The academic literature has very little to say about the presentation that al-Maqrīzī thus creates. To correct this lacuna, this article illuminates al-Maqrīzī’s exposure to and use of Rabbinic and Midrashic sources by offering examples of remarks in his writings that appear to have come from such sources—directly, through the mediation of Muslim scholarship, or in an in-between manner. Several conjectures about the origins of his knowledge are offered.


Introduction
The Egyptian historian Taqī al-Dīn Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī (1364-1442 CE), 1 devoted several chapters to Jewish history and Judaism in his monumental topographical history of Cairo, Kitāb al-Mawāʿiẓ wa'l-Iʿtibār fī Ḏikr al-Ḫiṭaṭ wa'l-Āṯār, often known as al-Ḫiṭaṭ.One of these chapters deals with the Jewish Oral Law and its foundational post-Biblical texts, the Mishnah and the Talmud. 2 This chapter has received very terse treatment in the academic literature.Those who treat it do so descriptively and without offering insights.Simḥah Pinsker translated some of al-Maqrīzī's remarks on the Mishnah and the Talmud into Hebrew and suggested that al-Maqrīzī based them on a Karaite source. 3Eliyahu Ashtor, summarizing much of al-Maqrīzī's writings on the Jews and Judaism, claimed on the basis of their content that Pinsker was right: al-Maqrīzī had indeed consulted with the Karaites.Yet he does bring two cases of what seems to him possible Midrashic influence. 4 Daniel Boušek translated most of al-Maqrīzī's writings about Jewish texts into English and discussed them briefly, noting that al-Maqrīzī's passage about the Mishnah and the Talmud is the longest in medieval Islamic literature that he encountered.He, too, argues that the Karaites were al-Maqrīzī's source of information. 5Another scholar who suggests Jewish sources of influence on al-Maqrīzī's descriptions of Jews and Judaism is Ayman Fuʾād Sayyid, who, in his critical edition of al-Ḫiṭaṭ, refers mainly to Biblical verses. 6hile the above-mentioned scholars pointed Karaite and Biblical influence on al-Maqrīzī's account, al-Maqrīzī's knowledge of the Jewish Oral Law, however, was more extensive than that alleged by scholars.Perusal of al-Maqrīzī's account of Jews and Judaism in al-Ḫiṭaṭ demonstrates an aspect of his work that has not been researched to date: his exposure to Rabbinic and Midrashic sources and his intertwining of this material at least nine times in his Jewish history, twice in his description of the Jewish calendar, and twice in his account of the Jewish Oral Law.This article discusses such contents and elements that al-Maqrīzī may have used (sometimes in part), suggests what his sources may have been, and considers what one may learn from this demonstration of knowledge.
(1) Moses' birthday One of the topics that al-Maqrīzī describes in length is Moses' life.Describing the events of the Exodus, he writes that Moses was born on the seventh of Adar, 7 a statement that demonstrates familiarity with a Midrashic idea.After all, the date of Moses' birth (and death) is mentioned not in the Bible but in the Talmud 8 as well as in Seder ʿŌlam Rabbā, 9 a second-century CE Jewish chronology ascribed to R. Jose son of Ḥalaftā. 10 (2) Prophecy about Moses' birth Pharaoh's priests, al-Maqrīzī writes, saw in the stars that the Egyptian king's death would come about at the hands of someone born of the Israelites within a time frame of three years.Therefore, Pharaoh forbade the Israelites to have intercourse during these years.After he saw in the stars that this child had been born, he ordered the males to be massacred. 11The account of having seen this in the stars is absent in the Bible.It is reminiscent of Exodus Rabbah, a work of Aggadic Midrash, redacted around the tenth century CE and apparently compiled by a copyist in the eleventh or twelfth century CE. 12 In Exodus Rabbah 1:18, according to which Pharaoh's sorcerers saw that Israel's savior would be sentenced on account of water, for which reason Pharaoh ordered all male babies to be thrown into the Nile. 13Exodus Rabbah 1:24 clarifies the meaning of "on account of water": Moses would be sentenced for his conduct in the mei merīḇah incident (where, instead talking to the rock, he struck it.Num.20:7-13)-information of which the Egyptian sorcerers were oblivious.
(3) Moses' stuttering After he mentions Moses' death, al-Maqrīzī writes that some Israelites claimed that Moses had been a stutterer (alṯaʿ).Some, al-Maqrīzī continues, traced this disability to a congenital defect; others said that it was the aftermath of an intervention by Pharaoh's wife, who urged him not to kill a child who could distinguish between coals (jamr) and dates (tamr).When Moses was instructed to eat coals, he placed his hand in his mouth, causing burns that made him stutter.14Exod.4:10 only alludes to the outcome and says nothing about its cause: "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since you have spoken unto your servant, for I am slow of speech (keḇad peh) and slow of tongue (keḇad lašōn)."15These defects may not necessarily be a stutter, possibly explaining why al-Maqrīzī reports that only some Israelites identified Moses as a stutterer.(Those who failed to make this identification were in all likelihood Karaites, who follow only the literal biblical text).
Al-Maqrīzī's words evoke Exodus Rabbah 1:26, according to which it was Pharaoh's daughter (not his wife) who raised Moses in his palace.As Pharaoh played with him one day, Moses lifted the crown from his head and placed it on his own.This caused the sorcerers to suspect that it was he whom they had seen in their visions as the usurper of Pharaoh's kingdom; hence they proposed that Moses be burned.Jethro, present at the scene, told them that Moses was just a child and therefore lacked judgment.He suggested that a platter with gold and coals be placed before the boy as a test.If Moses extends his hand to the gold, Jethro said, it means that he has the capacity of judgment; in that case, Pharaoh should indeed kill him.If Moses reaches out for the coals, he lacks such a capacity and is not dangerous.Moses reached for the gold but the angel Gabriel intervened and pushed his hand onto the coals.The boy, in pain, placed his hand in his mouth, causing internal burns that turned him into a stutterer.In this account of al-Maqrīzī's, Pharaoh's wife is mentioned instead of Jethro and the sorcerers and Gabriel do not appear at all.
Example no. 2 also appears in the first chapter of Exodus Rabbah, only a few sections after the example cited above.The occurrence of both examples in al-Maqrīzī's remarks suggests that he, or more likely his source, showed much interest in these passages; after all, the elements are not consecutive.Ostensibly this is not the case because al-Maqrīzī's words are almost identical to those of Abū ʿUṯmān ʿAmr b.Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī (776-ca.868 CE), known as al-Ǧāḥiẓ, in Kitāb al-Bayān wa'l-Tabyīn. 16Al-Maqrīzī, however, adds that there are several opinions about the reason for Moses' stuttering.This raises the possibility of an in-between option: He learned about this Midrashic idea from al-Ǧāḥiẓ but approached Rabbanite and Karaite Jews in his milieu in an attempt to obtain more details about it.
(4) "Like an inverted tub" When the Israelites encamped at Mount Sinai in the third month of the Exodus (i.e., Sīvan), al-Maqrīzī writes, Allāh ordered Moses to have his nation purify and prepare themselves to hear His words.The Israelites purified themselves for three days and on the third day, the sixth of Sīvan, Allāh lifted the mountain (rafaʿa Allāh al-Ṭūr), basked it in His light, and shadowed His surroundings with clouds.Amid thunder and lightning on the horizon, He issued the Ten Commandments (ʿashr al-kalimāt), which al-Maqrīzī then lists. 17This account is reminiscent of Exod.19 in most of its details.The Biblical account of the revelation at Sinai, however, does not state that God lifted the mountain.This information appears only in BT Šabbat 88a: "'[…] And they stood at the nether part of the mount '  [Exod.19:17].R. Abdīmī b.Ḥammā b.Ḥassā said: "This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, overturned the mountain upon them like an inverted tub and told them: 'If you accept the Torah, very well; if not, there shall be your burial.'"Two Qurʾānic verses report the lifting of the mountain: "We raised over you the Mount" (wa-rafaʿnā fawqakum al-Ṭūr.Q. 2:93); "And We raised above them the Mount" (wa-rafaʿnā fawquhum al-Ṭūr.Q. 4:154). 18Therefore, one may claim that al-Maqrīzī was inspired by these verses.Yet this is not the case.Perusal of al-Maqrīzī's account of Jews and Judaism in al-Ḫiṭaṭ reveals that he copied entire paragraphs from Chapter 4 of Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ, 19 a brief chronicle written in Judaeo-Arabic and featuring Rabbinical characters, attributed by some scholars to R. Saʿadya Gaon (882-942 CE). 20This Midrashic content is one of them.

(5) Copies of the Torah
Al-Maqrīzī writes that Moses, before he died, ordered the Israelites to write copies (nusakh) of the Torah along with its commentary (qirāʾa) and to observe both the precepts that they had witnessed from his transmissions and those that they had acquired from him in jurisprudence (fiqh). 22Deut.31:9 reads: "And Moses wrote this Torah and delivered it 16 al-Ǧāḥiẓ, al-Bayān wa'l-Tabyīn, 1: 53.20 See MALTER 1921: 172-173, 354; MARX 1909: 299-301.21 Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ, in NEUBAUER (ed.) 1892, 2: 95.unto the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel."According to some Midrashim, e.g., Deuteronomy Rabbah, 9:9, Moses wrote on the last day of his life not one Torah scroll, as stated in Deut.31:9, but thirteen scrolls-one for each of the twelve tribes and one to be deposited in the ark for consultation in the event that a member of the nation seeks to falsify something. 23The content of this source is definitely Rabbinic; no Karaite would claim that Moses transmitted fiqh, which probably refers to the Talmud.Even this, however, does not suggest that al-Maqrīzī drew his inspiration from a Midrashic source, since here too he copied from Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ, which is, as mentioned, features Rabbinical characters.

(6) Clouds of glory
The Jews, says al-Maqrīzī, tell that dwelling in booths (as the Torah instructs them to do on the festival of Sukkōt) reminds them of the shade that Allāh provided their ancestors in the desert by means of "the clouds." 25This is probably a reference to ʿamūd he-ʿanan, the pillar of cloud, also known in the Jewish sources as ʿananei ha-kaḇōd, clouds of glory, 26 one of the manifestations of God's presence. 27BT Sukkah 11b reports a disagreement about the meaning of Lev.23:42: "I made the Children of Israel to dwell in booths."R. Eliʿezer claims that these booths were ʿananei ha-kaḇōd; R. ʿAḳiba defines them literally as booths.
One may claim that al-Maqrīzī was inspired by these sources or learned about this Midrashic idea from Egyptian Rabbanites, who apparently favored R. Eliʿezer's opinion.
(The text itself does not identify them as Rabbanite but one presumes that they were such because al-Maqrīzī cites a Midrash.his forehead. 30BT Mōʿed Qaṭan 18a also refers to Pharaoh's beard and height, in addition to the size of his genitals.These details are mentioned en passant in a discussion about the rules of mourning.They were transmitted by R. Pappa: "The Pharaoh who lived in Moses' lifetime [height] was one cubit (amah), his beard [length] was one cubit, and his genital [length] was one cubit and a pinky."As far as I can ascertain, this is the only Jewish source that addresses itself to Pharaoh's physical dimensions.Thus, despite the differences, the origin is Talmudic.Al-Maqrīzī or his source added more details about Pharaoh's looks, perhaps to add spice and interest to the story.It is noteworthy that physical descriptions of Pharaoh appear in earlier Islamic sources, 31 Thus, it is not necessarily the case that al-Maqrīzī's source in this instance was Jewish.
(  Num. 25:10-12).Aladds that some Jews interpreted this verse as instructing that Phinehas would not die and that he lived until the time of Jehoshaphat. 40According to the Biblical account, Phinehas did not live until the time of Elijah.The story speaks of Ahab, king of Israel and the contemporary of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (see e.g., I Kgs.22:2).Furthermore, the Biblical account states not that Elijah died but that he ascended to heaven in a whirlwind (II Kgs.2:1-11).The idea of Elijah's eternal life appears in second version of Aḇōt de-Rabbi Nathan, 38 (šenayim ʿamdū), a post-Talmudic commentary on, and an elaboration of, the Mishnaic tractate Aḇōt, attributed to Rabbi Nathan (late second-century CE), the redaction of which is assumed to have taken place in the Geonic period (late sixth-eleventh century CE): 41 "Elijah will live and exist until the Messiah comes." 42(11) Maʿaśeh Ḥanūkkah Describing the festival of Hanukkah, al-Maqrīzī writes that it is celebrated due to the overthrow of a tyrant who had taken over the Temple, killed those who were there, and demanded the ius primae noctis privilege.The sons of priests attacked the monarch and the youngest of them killed him.They searched for oil for the Temple but found only a small quantity, and declared the anniversary of those days a festival that they called Hanukkah. 43anukkah is not mentioned in the Bible; Rabbanites are important sources of information about it because Karaites do not recognize it.The ius primae noctis motif appears in several sources.JT Ketubōt 5b (1:5) states that the Greeks "decreed that the governor [shall] first have intercourse [with women who marry]."In BT Šabbat 23a, R. Joshua says that women are obliged to light a Hanukkah candle-an unusual demand because normally women are exempt from time-bounded obligations-because they also 38 E.g., Ibn Ḥazm, al-Fiṣal, 1: 322.participated in the miracle: The Greeks ruled that every virgin bride must have intercourse with the ruler first and the miracle of Hanukkah, he adds, was brought about by a woman.This is probably a reference to the story of Mattathias' daughter.
One would assume that al-Maqrīzī was inspired by Midrash Maʿaśeh Ḥanūkkah, which reports that Mattathias' daughter, Hanna, tore her clothing on her wedding day in front of the guests.When her brothers spoke of wishing to kill her for this reason, she asked them why they should be angered by what she had done even as she was about to be given to the Greek governor.You should learn from Simon and Levi, she then told them; they were only two and yet successfully overcame the people of Nablus, whereas you are more than 200.Her indeed: They escorted her to the governor, who thought they had come to surrender her to him, and when they entered his house they killed him in their zealotry. 44Yet al-Maqrīzī's words, as in Example no.6, are taken from al-Nuwayrī, who relied on al-Waṭwāṭ.

(12) The Mishnah-written by divine command at Sinai
In the chapter that deals with the Jewish Oral Law, al-Maqrīzī begins by saying that Allāh gave the Torah to Moses and included in it "the commandments of the Mosaic faith" (sharāʾiʿ al-milla al-Musawiyya).In the Torah, al-Maqrīzī continues, Moses instructs any future ruler of the Israelites to write a book that will lay down the laws of the Halakhah (aḥkām al-sharīʿa) in a way that would allow him to study and then implement them.This book, al-Maqrīzī writes, is called Mishnah (mishnā) in Hebrew, a term denoting the extraction of the laws from the divine text (istikhrāj al-aḥkām min al-naṣṣ al-ilāhī).Moses wrote the Mishnah-a commentary (tafsīr) on the contents of the Torah from the divine word-in his own hand. 46he allegation that Moses wrote the Mishnah evokes the beginning of a dictum by Joshua b.Levi in JT, Peʾah 13a (2:4): "Scripture, Mishnah, Talmud and Aggadah, even anything that a longstanding student will teach in the presence of his mentor, were already told Moses at Sinai."Another possible source of inspiration for al-Maqrīzī in this context is BT, Berakhōt 5a (especially given the proximity of the terms Torah and Mishnah in this source as in that previously mentioned), which states that Scripture, Mishnah, the Prophets, the Hagiographa, and the Talmud were given to Moses in Sinai.(Al-Maqrīzī makes such a claim only in regard to the Mishnah and not in reference to the Talmud.)(13) Yōḥanan b.Zakkai-the "smallest" of Hillel's disciples In his account of the Jewish Oral Law, al-Maqrīzī writes about Shammai (50 BCE-30 CE) and Hillel (late first century BCE-early first century CE).After noting their contribution to the Mishnah, he notes: "Hillel had eighty students, of whom the smallest (aṣgharuhum) 44 EISENSTEIN (ed.) 1915: 190. was Yōḥanan b.Zakkai." 47This is based on the end of a statement in BT, Sukkah 28a: "Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy of having the Divine Spirit rest upon them, as [it did upon] Moses our Teacher, thirty of whom were worthy of having the sun stand still for them [as it did for] Joshua b.Nun, [and the other] twenty were ordinary.The greatest of them was Jonathan b.ʿUzziel, the smallest of them (qaṭan she-bekūllan) was R. Yōḥanan b.Zakkai."

Conclusion
Many Midrashic contents and elements entered Islamic sources through the mediation of Jewish converts and of Muslim authorities who had learned them from Jews.Midrashic material has been used in Islamic literature from early times for different purposes: Qurʾān interpretation, 48 folklore, 49 and polemics, sometimes to allege that Jewish sources are fabricated 50 and in other cases to argue that they foreshadow the advent of Muhammad. 51Al-Maqrīzī's case is different.He uses Midrashic ideas to describe episodes in the Jewish historical narrative.This aspect of his historiography squares with the Rabbanite, not the Karaite, treatment of the Jewish sources.This study of al-Maqrīzī's writings on Jews and Judaism demonstrates that he was familiar with ideas from post-Biblical Jewish compendia such as the Talmud (both BT and JT), Exodus Rabbah, PRE, Aḇōt de-Rabbi Nathan, and Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ (and possibly Seder ʿŌlam Rabbā and Midraš Aggadah).In the case of Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ, he simply copied the contents en passant.
One may speculate that al-Maqrīzī was familiar with, and made use of, additional Jewish materials that had been absorbed into, and/or rewritten in, early Islamic literature, as in Examples 3, 6, and 11 (and, theoretically, in Examples 9 and 7).This, however, is highly improbable in some cases for several reasons.First, in two instances he clearly copied them from Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ, and in one instance he may have used a late Midrashic source (Midraš Aggadah); thus, the likelihood of contents from this source having been absorbed into the Islamic literature is lower.Second, most of the materials relate to two Biblical figures: Moses and Phinehas.Al-Maqrīzī speaks of Moses when he discusses Dammūh synagogue and of Phinehas when discusses Jawjar synagogue.The description of the synagogues is very short compared with that of these personalities, whose stories al-Maqrīzī tells as part of these synagogues' history and whom al-Maqrīzī discusses at length for an unknown reason.It is very likely that he absorbed information on synagogues and 47 Ibid., 4/2: 951.
48 See MAZUZ 2016b.49 See KISTER 1972, MAZUZ 2013.50 See MAZUZ 2017, MAZUZ 2016a: 121-124.51 See MAZUZ 2016c.their history from Jewish informants. 52Only one of the examples in this article relating to Moses' life was taken from an earlier Muslim sage (Example 3), suggesting that here his sources should be sought outside Islamic literature.If so, al-Maqrīzī was an eclectic who conflated information that he absorbed and compiled from varied sources, Jewish and non-Jewish.In addition, previous studies show that al-Maqrīzī used additional Jewish sources without citing them by name. 53l-Maqrīzī's knowledge implies one or several of the following possibilities as to its origin: (1) He had some access to Midrashic sources because someone had either told him about them or translated them for him orally-giving him information more characteristic of Rabbinic Jews than of Karaites.The possibility that he learned about this material from Karaites does exist, since some Rabbinic excerpts were found in medieval Karaite literature.Yet, judging by the contents of the excerpts that were found so far, and on their small extent in the medieval Karaite literature, 54 the chances for that are not high.Future research and findings may change the picture.(2) These sources may have been translated into Arabic and/or Judaeo-Arabic in his milieu and, perhaps, in or before his lifetime.The translations may have strayed somewhat from their origin, possibly explaining the minor differences between his version and the Midrashic ones.If so, who translated them and when?How widely were they disseminated?These questions remain unanswered.(3) Al-Maqrīzī was able to read the Hebrew language or the Hebrew alphabet, at least to some extent.As mentioned above, he copied extensive parts of Kitāb al-Taʾrīḫ into his account.Possibilities 1 and 3 are proved.
In addition to the many insights that may be gained by studying the Midrashic elements in al-Maqrīzī's writings, this line of inquiry may be instructive of his Jewish milieu and the prevalent teachings of the Rabbinic Jews of Egypt in his day and possibly before it.This study is another piece in the puzzle relating to our knowledge of the familiarity of Rabbinic Jews in Egypt with Midrashic works.The discovery of many fragments of Halakhic and Aggadic Midrashim in the Cairo Genizah may suggest that these accounts were familiar to Egyptian Jews. 55Recently, I published an article on the use of Midrashic sources for polemical purposes by Saʿīd b.Ḥasan al-Iskandarī, a thirteenth-century CE Alexandrian Jew who converted to Islam. 56Further research would enhance our knowledge of familiarity with Midrashic contents among the Jews of Egypt in the Late Middle Ages and possibly even earlier.

8) Elijah as Phinehas When
he discusses Ilyās, the Qurʾānic name of Elijah, 32 al-Maqrīzī identifies this figure as Phinehas son of Elʿazar.33TheBiblicalaccount places Elijah and Phinehas in eras far apart.Such an identification, however, exists in post-Talmudic Midrashic texts such as Pirqei de-Rabbi Eliʿezer (henceforth: PRE), an eighth-century CE pseudepigraphic collection ascribed to R. Eliʿezer son of Hyrcanus (late first century-early second century CE). 34RE 46, for example, states in R. Eliʿezer's name that Phinehas is Elijah.In Midraš Aggadah, a Midrashic compilation on the Pentateuch edited in the twelfth/thirteenth-century CE, 35 it is stated at Num. 25 that Reish Laqīsh subscribes to this identification.Some of the miracles performed for Phinehas when he killed Zimri and Cozbi also appear in earlier Islamic sources, 38 thus again raising the possibility that al-Maqrīzī's source was not Jewish.After Phinehas killed the fornicating man and woman, al-Maqrīzī writes, Allāh promised him in the Torah "eternal peace" (dawām al-salāma). 39This is a paraphrase of Num.25:12: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Phinehas son of Elʿazar son of Aaron the priest deflected my wrath from the Children of Israel in his zeal for my sake among them, and I did not consume the Children of Israel in my jealousy.Therefore I say, Behold, I give him my covenant of peace" (laḵ en ʾemor hinenī noten lō ʾet berītī šalōm. 36 (9) Phinehas' miraclesAfter identifying Phinehas as Elijah, al-Maqrīzī writes that some Israelites fornicated with Amorite (instead of Midianite) and Moabite women; thus they invoked the wrath of Allāh, who brought upon them a plague (wabāʾ) that killed 24,000 until Phinehas charged into a tent where a man and a woman (Zimri son of Salūʾ and Cozbi daughter of Ṣūr-see Num.25:14), whom he does not mention by name) were fornicating, and impaled both of them with his spear.Exiting the tent, he hoisted them (on his spear) and showed them to the congregation.37Thisdescriptionseems like a variation of a fragment of a passage in BT Sanhedrīn 82b that describes six miracles wrought for Phinehas when he killed Zimri and Cozbi.The fourth and fifth of these miracles, as described by R. Yōḥanan, were that "[Zimri and Cozbi] did not slip off the spear and an angel came and lifted up the lintel."30al-Maqrīzī, al-Ḫiṭaṭ, 4/2: 926.31E.g., Ibn Ḥazm, al-Fiṣal, 1:322.32WENSINCK & VAJDA 1971.33 al-Maqrīzī, al-Ḫiṭaṭ, 4/2: 936.34 See HERR 2007c.35 See ID. 2007b: 188.36 BUBER (ed.) 1894, 2: 148 (Num.25).