1 RE-NEGOTIATING INTERCONFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES THROUGH INTERTEXTUALITY: THE UNBORN IN THE KĀĀ -HUDDĀYĒ OF BARHEBRAEUS (D. 1286) FloriAn Jäckel ERC Projekt COBHUNI Universität HAmburg Asien-AfrikA-Institut Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 | RAum 134 20146 HAmburg, GerMAny
[email protected] ABSTRACT: THE ARTICLE ANALYZES THE KĀĀ -HUDDĀYĒ, A LEGAL WORK OF THE SYRIAC POLYMATH AND ECCLESIASTIC LEADER BARHEBRAEUS. THE INTERTEXTUAL STRATEGIES ARE ASSESSED, SUCH AS COMPILATION, REDACTION AND ADAPTION OF THE HUDDĀYĒ’S SOURCE MATERIAL, I.E. LEGAL COMPENDIA BY AL-GHAZĀLĪ, BY THE ḤANAFĪ AL-QUDŪRĪ AND TEXTS FROM CHRISTIAN TRADITION. IT IS ARGUED THAT THE DIFFERENT NORMATIVE BOUNDARIES ESTABLISHED BY THESE SOURCE TEXTS AND THEN INTERTEXTUALLY REWORKED BY BARHEBRAEUS IN THE HUDDĀYĒ CAN BE READ AS (RE-)NEGOTIATION OF COMMUNAL IDENTITY FOR A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN AN ISLAMIC ENVIRONMENT. TWO TREATMENTS OF UNBORN LIFE AND PREGNANCY ARE TAKEN AS AN EXAMPLE: THE FUNERAL PRAYER FOR THE MISCARRIED CHILD AND FINANCIAL COMPENSATION IN CASE OF INDUCED MISCARRIAGE. 2 KEYWORDS: BArhebrAeus; Al-GhAzilj; intertextuAlity; interreligious reception processes; pre-nAtal life; IslAmic lAw; SyriAc-ChristiAn lAw BArhebrAeus, the SyriAc polyMAth And ecclesiAstic leAder, is A prime exAmple of encounters in the Middle Ages. He compiled his works froM A wide vAriety of sources, regArdless of the pArticulAr neld of knowledge. This Article is An Attempt to further identify source texts And AnAlyze BArhebrAeus’s Method of compilAtion, As Applied in his norMAtive work K āā -Huddāyē. As A scholAr, he wAs fAmiliAr with the dioerent intellectuAl trAditions of his environment. Yet he wAs Also A leAder of his church, nrst As bishop And lAter As MAphriAn, the heAd of the West SyriAn church in its eAstern territories.1 It is important to stress both of these roles he plAyed, scholAr And ecclesiAstic leAder, when AnAlyzing his K āā -Huddāyē or “Book of Directions.” Much As legAl compendiA Authored by MusliM contemporAries of BArhebrAeus, the Huddāyē preserves the eArlier trAdition.