[Discussion] bk. rev. Josef W. Meri's _The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria_ by Richard McGregor

[sule tarakcioglu]

Josef W. Meri. The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval
Syria. Oxford Oriental Monographs Series. Oxford and New York: Oxford
University Press, 2002. viii + 327 pp. Maps, illustrations, notes,
bibliography, index. $85.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-19-925078-2 .
*Reviewed by:* Richard McGregor, Department of Religious Studies,
Vanderbilt University.
*Published by:* H-Mideast-Medieval <http://www.h-net.msu.edu/%7Emidmed>
(June, 2004)
A Pillar of Fire Is over His Grave: Saints and Shrines in Medieval Syria

This book is an impressive contribution to our knowledge of the medieval
practice of saint veneration and pilgrimage among Syrian Jews and
Muslims. It is well researched and carefully organized. In approach this
book is descriptive. Although it offers no dramatic new explanation of
the cult of saints, it is very thorough, bringing much new material to
light. Presenting the two religious traditions in parallel offers many
avenues for further comparison and consideration. Meri's goal is to
understand the practice and nature of the cult of saints among Muslims
and Jews between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. His investigation
draws on historical material from outside greater Syria on the
assumption that a "common language of ritual idiom and practice existed
throughout the Near East" (p. 5). His use of the term "sainthood" is
appropriate to the Islamic and Jewish traditions. The Muslim and Jewish
designations of a "saint" were functional, that is, sanctity need only
be indicated by popular patronage of a shrine or the circulation of
miraculous tales. The connections to scriptural figures in the Jewish
tradition, and the theological significance of certain individuals in
the Shi'a tradition, are additional dimensions discussed in this
context. Meri draws on a variety of sources, including pilgrimage
manuals, travel accounts, historical chronicles, creedal and polemic
literature.

The first chapter looks at topography. How devotees identified
landscapes and particular sites as sacred is addressed first through the
use of scriptural sources by devotees and second through the manifest
signs which both Muslims and Jews encountered at graves. Significantly,
both traditions also correlate their sacred Syrian topographies with
established eschatological traditions. The sites of Mt. Qasiyyun and
al-Rabwa are discussed in some detail, but less is said in the treatment
of Aleppo. Chapter 2 examines the doctrine of sainthood. The first part
seeks a definition of the saint from Islamic theology, which, however,
has little to say on the subject. Meri proposes a distinction between
"traditional saints" such as prophets and patriarchs and "historical
saints" who lived in the Islamic period. This distinction is useful, and
will be expanded upon later in the chapter. However, Meri's point that
"in contrast with the stories of the prophets and the Talmudic sages,
those of historical saints constitute a corpus of historical biography
mainly depicting people interacting with them in real situations and
commenting on their personal experiences" is unclear (pp. 60-61). Yes,
miracles related in Hadith literature, for example, are presented in a
different style than those appearing in later hagiographies, but beyond
the literary distinctions how are these instances different? The author
moves on to point out the presence of zaddiqs and hasids in the Jewish
tradition, noting the importance of the shrines of Biblical figures.

Meri touches on the question of the origin of the Islamic cult of
saints, and wisely backs away from Goldziher's proposal that miracles
attributed to the Prophet cleared the way for saint veneration. He
concludes that "the immediate reasons for the formation of saint cults
were social and spiritual and in practical terms had little to do with
the formulation of doctrines of sainthood, creeds, or the circulation of
traditions concerning the Prophet's miracles" (pp. 70-71). Yet the
assertion that saint cults were created for social reasons, though
probably true, seems unprovable to me. I also wonder if there is not
more to the "doctrines of sainthood" mentioned here. Meri does not take
up fully the Sufi literature on the subject, having instead relied
heavily on the theologians and doctors of law. Sainthood or walaya was
substantially elaborated upon by early Sufis like Dhu al-Nun al-Misri
and al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi. The elaborations of later Sufis on the signs,
nature and offices of sainthood surely played some role (though likely
little among the unlettered masses) in the Muslim understanding of
sainthood. Meri touches on the distinction between the prophetic miracle
and the common saintly miracle, or mu'jiza. He also indicates the
importance of asceticism, but his portrayal of the Malamatiyya as a
group practicing "extreme" self-punishment should be clarified (p. 77).
As a further elaboration of his distinction between traditional and
historical saints, Meri proposes a three-fold typology of saints, based
on their historiographical designations: prophets, the early Companions
and family of the Prophet and the medieval saints (Sufis, rulers,
scholars, etc.). In light of the functional definition of sainthood, and
the book's wider concern with pilgrimages and shrines, this typology
seems sound. A substantial discussion is provided of the marginally
anti-social figure of the muwallah and some important Muslim relics are
treated in relation to their ritual significance.

The third chapter takes up the voices critical of pilgrimage, such as
those of Ibn 'Aqil, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, who, among
other things, objected to the identification of local pilgrimages with
the Hajj. Criticisms of this kind, Meri notes, were absent among the
Shi'a. A survey of Egyptian and Syrian pilgrimage guides follows, along
with evidence that these itineraries were not intended only for the
common folk, but also for the learned and the political elite. Meri
follows with a series of short histories of devotion to figures such as
al-Khadir, 'Ali, Zaynab, Husayn, Abraham and John the Baptist.

Chapter 4 is an extensive discussion of Jewish pilgrimage practices.
Drawing on historical and travel literature, Meri explores the shrines
of Moses, Elijah, Moses B. Samuel and Ezekiel. Several sources shed
light on the relations--usually good--between Jews and Muslims.

The final chapter focuses on the shrine itself. Meri very briefly
discusses the "genesis" of Islamic shrines, noting the Prophet's
prohibition of building over graves, contrasted with the medieval habit
of building mosques over graves of the venerated dead. The chapter goes
on to note that various post-Abbasid rulers built funerary monuments in
order to secure their prestige. In light of the proliferation of ribats
and zawiyas of the Mamluk period, Meri rightfully notes the need for
further research into the relationship between sufi orders and shrines.
A useful section follows describing, in some detail, shrine forms:
qubba, qabr, mashhad, masjid/jami, maqam, turba and jawsaq among the
Muslims; and beit, binyan, synagogue and beit midrash in the Jewish
context.

In his conclusion Meri avoids the outdated elite vs. popular dichotomy
and underlines the participation of the wealthy through their money, and
the theologians through their efforts to control or correct pilgrimage
practices rather than put an end to them. Meri's discussion of what
constitutes "popular" practice (among Jews, Muslims and Christians)
however is too brief (pp. 281-282). The implication is that this popular
practice is to be distinguished from canonical orthodoxy, but I would
argue the latter does not, in fact, offer an equivalent alternative
practice. Is not all pilgrimage the result of negotiation between actual
practices and (possible) theological criticism? More sound is Meri's
proposal that the fundamental aspects of the cult of the saints--the
saint, the shrine, the devotees and their rituals--offer grounds for a
wider social perspective on religion and culture. The final pages point
to aspects of the cult of the saints that would reward closer study.
Particularly interesting is the "inconclusive" nature of sainthood in
Judaism and the need for enquiry into its little known medieval
veneration practices and texts (p. 286).