This Noble House - Arnold E. Franklin Jewish Culture and Contexts

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      This Noble House

      JEWISH CULTURE AND CONTEXTS

      Published in association with the

      Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

      of the University of Pennsylvania

      David B. Ruderman, Series Editor

       Advisory Board

      Richard I. Cohen

      Moshe Idel

      Alan Mintz

      Deborah Dash Moore

      Ada Rapoport-Albert

      Michael D. Swartz

      A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.

      THIS NOBLE HOUSE

       Jewish Descendants of King David in the Medieval Islamic East

      ARNOLD E. FRANKLIN

      UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

      PHILADELPHIA

      Copyright © 2013 University of Pennsylvania Press

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.

      Published by

      University of Pennsylvania Press

      Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

       www.upenn.edu/pennpress

      Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Franklin, Arnold E., 1971–

      This noble house : Jewish descendants of King David in the medieval Islamic East / Arnold E. Franklin. — 1st ed.

      p. cm. — (Jewish culture and contexts)

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-8122-4409-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

      1. David, King of Israel—Family. 2. Jews—Nobility. 3. Jews—Genealogy—History. 4. Judaism—Relations—Islam. 5. Islam—Relations—Judaism. 6. Islamic Empire—Ethnic relations. I. Title. II. Series: Jewish culture and contexts.

      CS28.F73 2012

      296.3'97—dc23

      2012002586

      People are more akin to their contemporaries than to their ancestors.

      —Ibn Qutayba (d. 889), ʿUyūn al-akhbār, 2:1

      But one should never dismiss as nonsense things that other people took seriously.

      —S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 5:260

      Contents

       A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Dates

       Preface

       Introduction

       Chapter 1. “Sharīf of the Jewish Nation”: Reconceptualizing the House of David in the Islamic East

       Chapter 2. “The Truth of the Pedigree”: Documenting Origins and the Public Performance of Lineage

       Chapter 3. Ancestry as Authority: Lineage and Power in Near Eastern Jewish Society

       Chapter 4. “Designated in the Past and for the Future”: Davidic Dynasts and Medieval Messianic Anticipation

       Chapter 5. “The Sharīf of Every People Is Well-Born”: Genealogy and the Legitimization of Minority Culture

       Conclusion

       Appendix A. Halper 462: Transcription and Translation

       Appendix B. A Tentative List of Davidic Dynasts Datable between ca. 950 and ca. 1450

       Abbreviations

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index of Manuscript Sources

       Index

       Acknowledgments

      A Note on Transliteration, Names, and Dates

      The transliteration of Hebrew and Aramaic terms follows the system used in the Association for Jewish Studies Review with the following exceptions: “ṭ” is used for ṭet, “ṣ” for ṣade, and “q” for qof. Segol, sheva, and ṣere are all represented by “e,” while ṣere followed by yod marking the construct state is represented by “ei.” Other long vowels are not indicated, nor are final silent alef and he (thus: nasi and yeshiva). Arabic words have been transliterated in accordance with the system used by the International Journal of Middle East Studies. For common biblical names, such as Judah, David, and Daniel, the familiar English rendering has been retained, while less familiar Hebrew and Aramaic names, as well as those in Arabic, have been transliterated phonetically according to the systems above. In cases where a distinctive form of a name is commonly used in the scholarly literature (such as Maimonides and Ibn Daud), I have generally used that form. Familiar Arabic place names and dynasties (such as Baghdad and Abbasids) are given in the usual English form as well. Dates follow the conventional Western system.

      Preface

      In reviewing the period of the ancient Israelite monarchy, the tenth-century Judeo-Arabic chronicle Kitāb al-taʾrīkh (Book of Chronology) briefly narrates the story of Elijah’s triumph at Mount Carmel over the prophets of Baal:

      At the end of the third year [of King Ahab’s reign] all the people of Israel gathered at Mount Carmel, and provoked the idolaters: “Can your god make fire from the heavens descend to consume this sacrifice?” So they cried out to the idol the whole day and made themselves weary, yet nothing happened. Then Elijah, peace upon him, prayed to his God, and the Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, sent fire from the heavens to the sacrifice, which had been soaked with twelve jugs of water. And [the fire] consumed it, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water. The people then fell to the ground prostrate before the Lord and cried out: “There is no god but the Lord [lā ilāha

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