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Review Author(s): Shaul Magid Review by: Shaul Magid Source: Review of Middle East Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Summer 2013), pp. 79-81Published by: Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41970046Accessed: 23-04-2015 23:12 UTC

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MESA I ROMES I47 1 I 2013

of unbelievers to a "cautious universalism" after coming into contact with Ibn al-Qayyim's arguments.

Khalil narrates the stiff opposition that both Ibn al-Qayyim and Rashd Rid faced in their own times. This led Rid to discuss arguments for universal salvation with greater circumspection and Ibn al-Qayyim to stop writing about them entirely, even to state in a very late work, "When an associationist ( mushrik ) is...foul in essence, the Fire does not cleanse his foulness...if he were to come out of it, he would return as foul as he was [before]." As Khalil notes, I am on record interpreting this to mean that Ibn al-Qayyim affirmed eternal punishment for unbelievers, at least in writing. Khalil thinks instead that Ibn al-Qayyim made statements such as this "with qualifications in mind: associationists will not be purified by the Fire- until they have been tormented for ages..." (lOO-lOl). Khalil then concludes that Ibn al-Qayyim's statements of this kind contain nothing inconsistent with his earlier arguments for universal salvation. Khalil makes a valiant argument. However, there is no way of knowing whether Ibn al-Qayyim had such qualifications in mind, and it seems gratuitous to assume that he did. Khalil's interpretation of Ibn al-Qayyim as a universalist to the very end is perhaps indicative of one of the stated aims of this book: to resist the notion that Sunni orthodoxy consists in eternal damnation for unbelievers. Khalil is well aware that most Muslim scholars through history held to the eternal damnation of unbelievers, but he has chosen to highlight four figures of obvious stature and wide influence to show that the rationale of God's mercy leading to universal salvation has significant traction within the tradition and constitutes a plausible reading of the Islamic revelation. Khalil has certainly attained his objective, and this book will contribute to more sophisticated discourses in both Islamic intellectual history and Muslim confessional theology. J*

Jon Hoover University of Nottingham

Reza Aslan and Aaron J. Hahn Tapper. Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 214 pages. Paper US$30.00 ISBN 978-0-230-10861.

Jewish interest in Islam and Muslim interest in Judaism extends back to the very origins of Islam. Medieval Jewish grammarians, poets, jurists, and philosophers were deeply influenced by Arabic language and Islamic legal and theological sources. Muslim theologians considered Moses Maimonides (ibn Maimun) and other Jewish philosophers important resources for their own theological systems and important exemplars of monotheistic renderings

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MESA I R 0 M E S I 47 1 I 2013

of Greek philosophy. In the modern period, the influential Jewish reformer Abraham Geiger (1810-1874) wrote his doctoral dissertation on Islam (Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judentume aufgenommen? 1833) and Ignatz Goldzhiger (1850-1921) and Bernard Lewis (1916-) remain two of the most influential scholars on Islam in the West.

While the relationship between Jewish and Muslim civilization was always a complex matter (Jews, until the establishment of the State of Israel, inhabited an unequal status under Muslim rule) and ecumenicism was never a popular form of discourse, their relationship in America- never of primary concern for either community- arguably deteriorated even further in the initial aftermath of 9/11, when the battle lines put radical Muslim organizations on one side and America (and Israel) on the other. At the same time, Muslim Americans began a new stage of acculturation into American society, 9/ll and the Islamophobia in its wake creating difficult barriers to that process.

Muslims and Jews in America is one of the first attempts to map and analyze a new phase in the Muslim-Jewish encounter in a post-9/ll America. On the one hand, Muslims and Jews now find themselves in a secular society that is neither Muslim nor Jewish, one that guarantees freedom of religion and simultaneously promotes a process of acculturation that challenges, albeit subtly, the maintenance of distinctive religious communities and traditions. The continuing crisis in Israel/Palestine, and American Jewry's complicated attitudes toward that crisis and toward Israel in general, resulted in a new opportunity for Muslims and Jews in America to engage with one another on matters of social and political concern. The theological and metaphysical questions that served as the common denominator of medieval Muslims and Jews has morphed into more societal concerns: ethnic survival, succeeding as a minority, facing remaining anti-Semitic and now Islamophobic attitudes of some Americans, dealing with a crisis (Israel/Palestine) that, while relevant, does not directly affect the lives of these American communities.

The essays in this volume are generally not scholarly but rather descriptions and reflections on various inter-faith projects. Some dwell in the somewhat predictable but often useful rhetoric of "getting along" (Hirschfield, Eilberg, Yoffie) while others provide important data on attitudes of Jews and Muslims toward one another and various issues that affect both communities (Safi, Rauf, Tapper). A few essays explore this inter-faith experience through the study of Jewish and Muslim classical texts as a portal to explore a relationship of a shared ethos (Firestone and Farrag, Hidayatullah and Plaskow). In one sense, Israel/Palestine is the white elephant in the room even, or precisely, because its relevance is simultaneously diffuse and highly charged. For American Jews, Israel represents an anchor in their identity, in large part replacing religion. 80

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MESA 1 ROMES 1 47 i I 2013

For many Muslims (most of whom are not Palestinian), that crisis represents the memory of colonialism (whether Zionism is or is not an example of colonialism is irrelevant here) and questions of justice for Muslims (and Arabs more generally) who are living in the first Jewish majority in their history. While a few essays confront this phenomenon directly (Tapper, Ellenson and Ellenson, Lerner), there is much more spade-work to be done regarding the place of this conflict in the more complex array of problems Muslim and Jews face in America.

Muslim/Jewish dialogue, especially on social issues in America, is by its very nature weighted. Jews have lived in America as a functioning minority far longer than Muslims. They faced serious instances of anti-Semitism (obviously not as severe as in Europe but palpable nonetheless) and have succeeded in making significant in-roads in light of, and despite, discrimination. In short, American Jews have a toolbox of strategies and ideas that could benefit Muslims as they continue in their project of acculturation while at the same time trying to remain true to their beliefs and traditions. On the other hand, the American Muslim community confronts Jews with a challenging situation; the task of differentiating a moderate Islamic society that seeks to integrate into America from Islamist organizations that ostensible seek to undermine it. And even here, the gradations are many and bifurcations such as "moderate" or "radical" do not do justice to such a complex community. Moreover, American Muslims challenge American Jewry to confront its sometimes reflexive attitudes toward the Palestinians and questions of justice by exposing American Jews to Islam outside the confines of the volatile political arena.

Muslims and Jews in America is successful in what it intends to do. It exposes the reader to a plethora of Muslims and Jews who are hard at work building bridges- social, political, theological- in order to foster a relationship that has the potential to influence the entire Muslim world as well as American Jewish society's often tepid trust in a religion that is on the opposite side of the Israel/Palestine conflict. One of the unpredicted outcomes of 9/ll is that Muslims and Jews in America are talking to one another with intensity as never before. If this book is a signpost to the future, it may be that Muslims and Jews in the American context can help extinguish the fires of hatred and misunderstanding that burn in less tolerant parts of the world.

Shaul Magid Indiana University, Bloomington

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Article Contentsp. 79p. 80p. 81

Issue Table of ContentsReview of Middle East Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Summer 2013) pp. 1-146Front MatterFrom the Editor [pp. 1-3]ESSAYSMESA Presidential Address 2012: MESA and the American University [pp. 4-18]

Interim Reports from the FieldGezi Park Protests in Turkey: Transformation of a Local Protest into a National and International Crisis [pp. 19-21]Democratic Conundrums in Turkey: A Report from Istanbul [pp. 22-27]

Special Section: Cultural Production in the Arab Spring Part ITadmor's Ghosts [pp. 28-36]In Praise of Insult: Slogan Genres, Slogan Repertoires and Innovation [pp. 37-48]Staging Tahrir: Laila Soliman's Revolutionary Theatre [pp. 49-55]Is Indonesia a Model for the Arab Spring? Islam, Democracy, and Diplomacy [pp. 56-62]

REVIEW ARTICLEReview: untitled [pp. 63-67]

BOOKSReview: untitled [pp. 68-69]Review: untitled [pp. 69-71]Review: untitled [pp. 71-73]Review: untitled [pp. 74-75]Review: untitled [pp. 75-77]Review: untitled [pp. 78-79]Review: untitled [pp. 79-81]Review: untitled [pp. 82-83]Review: untitled [pp. 84-85]Review: untitled [pp. 85-87]Review: untitled [pp. 87-89]Review: untitled [pp. 89-91]Review: untitled [pp. 91-92]Review: untitled [pp. 93-94]Review: untitled [pp. 95-96]Review: untitled [pp. 96-98]Review: untitled [pp. 98-100]Review: untitled [pp. 100-102]Review: untitled [pp. 103-104]Review: untitled [pp. 105-107]Review: untitled [pp. 107-108]Review: untitled [pp. 109-110]Review: untitled [pp. 111-112]Review: untitled [pp. 112-114]Review: untitled [pp. 115-117]Review: untitled [pp. 117-120]Review: untitled [pp. 120-122]Review: untitled [pp. 122-124]Review: untitled [pp. 124-126]Review: untitled [pp. 126-128]Review: untitled [pp. 128-130]Review: untitled [pp. 130-131]Review: untitled [pp. 132-133]Review: untitled [pp. 134-135]Review: untitled [pp. 136-137]Review: untitled [pp. 138-141]Review: untitled [pp. 141-143]Review: untitled [pp. 143-145]

Errata: American Missionaries and the Middle East: Foundational Encounters [pp. 146-146]Back Matter