Judaism

Triumph of the Babylonian rabbinate

The lightning conquests in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula by the armies of Islam (7th–8th century) created a political framework for the basically uniform (i.e., Babylonian) character of medieval Judaism. As a “people of the Book” (i.e., of the Bible), the Jews were permitted by the Muslims to live under the same autonomous structure that had developed under Arsacid and Sāsānian rule. The heads of the two principal academies were now formally recognized by the exilarch, and through him by the Muslim caliphs (the civil and religious heads of the Muslim state), as the official arbiters of all questions of religious law and as the religious heads of all Jewish communities that came under Muslim sway. Known as geonim (plural of gaon, “excellency”), they conducted high courts manned by scholars of graded ranks, and they received financial support from Jewish communities assigned to them by the exilarch. Religious questions and contributions were solicited from all Jewish communities, and these, along with formal gaonic replies (responsa), were regularly publicized at the semiannual kalla convocations. Under the strong leadership of ... (200 of 86,975 words)