Muslim-Jewish Encounters: Shia Islam and Judaism
Inaugural Conference of the Muslim-Jewish Relations Initiative
Florida International University / University of Bamberg
Organized by Ezra Tzfadya, M.A. (Bamberg) and Dr. Iqbal Akhtar (FIU)
Day 1: April 10th
4:00-6:30: Panel 1: Conceiving the Subfield of Shia Islamic-Jewish Studies
Chair: Dr. Eric Larson, FIU
1) David Moshfegh (IE University, Madrid/Segovia) : “Ignaz Goldziher’s Philo-Sunnism
and the Idea of Aryan Islam: How Monotheistic Motivations Recast Readings of Shia
Islam in Islamwissenschaft
2) Aaron Hughes (University of Rochester): “Constructions of Shia Islam and Judaism in
Mainstream Academic Islamic Studies”
15 min. break
3) Ehud Krinis (University of Michigan): “Medieval Shia -Jewish Studies: State of the
Subfield”
7:00- 8:15. Opening Keynote:
Chair: Dr. Tudor Parfitt (FIU)Welcoming Remarks (Possible President Rosenberg, Mesbahi, Ezra )
Orit Bashkin (University of Chicago): “When Jews Marched for Hossein: Shia-Jewish Relations in Hashemite Iraq (1921-1958).”
Day 2 : April 11th
Venue: Florida International University
10:30-1:15 Panel 2: The Medieval Shia Islamic Theological Encounter with Judaism
Chair: Dr. Carolos Granier
1) Patrick Franke (University of Bamberg): “These are the Twelve, the Number of the
Tribes.” The Twelve Tribes of Israel as Pre-figurations of the Imams in Shia Islam “
15-minute formal response: Ehud Krinis: The Idea of Imamate and Judah Halevi’s
Concept of the Chosen People of Israel
2) Samuel Schidem (House of One for Study and Prayer, Berlin): “Jethro’s Pre-Mosaic,
Proto-Judaism: The Druze Exegetical Reception of the Biblical Jethro Narrative.”
15 min. break
3) Hassan Ansari (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) “A Refutation of Jewish
Theology by the Imami Theologian al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (355-436/967-1044).”
2:30-4:00 Panel 3: Medieval Judaism in the Shia-Islamic Context
Chair: Dr. Oren Stier
1) David Hollenberg (University of Oregon) “Prayer and Politics in Fatimid Egypt: The
Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Birkat ha-minim (Curse of the Sectarians)”
2) Daniel Frank (Ohio State University): “The “Mourners of Zion:” Early Karaite Judaism
and its Shia Islamic Context”
4:30-6:00: Panel 4: Judaism in the Shia Islamic Context (16th-19th Centuries).
Chair: Dr. Naisy Sadury
1) Tudor Parfitt (Florida International University): “The Jews, the Imam and the Exile to
Mawza”
2) Vera Moreen (Ind. Scholar): Shi’i-Jewish Relations in the Safavid and Qajar Eras:
The Role of the ‘Ulama’
6:30 -7:45. Keynote 2
Welcoming Remarks (Possible Dean Stack, Iqbal, Patrick Franke-Bamberg)
Chair: Ezra Tzfadya
Oliver Leaman (University of Kentucky): “Is Rabbinic Judaism “Shia” or “Sunni”?
