The Origins of Islam there are of course allusions to ‘‘Arabs’’ and ‘‘Ishmaelites,’’ whether as indi-
viduals who might be encountered in the vicinity or as peoples living fur-
ther away. But it is a long time since these were collected, and rather sum-
marily discussed.^48 There is almost nothing to suggest that ‘‘Ishmaelites’’ were
understood to have a genealogical relationship to Jews. The sole exception
known to me is offered by I. Eph‘al: in the Jerusalem Talmud there is a story
of some priests escaping to the Ishmaelites, taken to be located in ‘‘Arabia’’
(‘RB), where they are betrayed by some whom they trusted as cousins (BNY
DWDY’ ).^49 Nor is there any significant indication that the ‘‘Ishmaelites’’ were
conceived of as particularly promising converts to Judaism, to which they
had an ancestral claim; or, alternatively, that they were seen as a potential
threat, as rival claimants to that same inheritance. The sole reflection of any
such attitude seems to be a legend which is told both in Genesis Rabbah and
in the Babylonian Talmud. In the former the story relates how ‘‘in the days
of Alexander of Macedon’’ the Ishmaelites came to dispute before him the
birthright of Israel, accompanied by the Canaanites and the Egyptians. In
the latter the rival claimants are firstly the ‘‘Africans’’ BNY AFRYQY’, say-
ing that their descent was from Canaan; then the Egyptians; and finally the
Ishmaelites and Keturaeans. All are made to refer to the roles of their ances-
tors in relation to the Holy Land, as portrayed in the Bible. But no special
claim, in terms of religious observances, is represented as being made by the
last group.^50
In short, a brief exploration of the concerns of that Judaism which is
represented in the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash does not seem to suggest
that the claim of ‘‘Ishmaelites’’ to the inheritance of Abraham was felt to be an
important issue. To the very small extent that such an issue does appear, it has
to be stressed that both of the works just quoted reached the form in which
we have them after the question had been given a quite new level of signifi-
cance by a new factor: the preaching of Christianity among the Arab peoples
of the marginal zones of the Roman Near East, that is, the Sinai peninsula
and the Syrian desert.
Christianity,..–,’’ in J. Lieu, J. North, and T. Rajak, eds.,The Jews among Pagans and
Christians in the Roman Empire(), ( chapter of the present volume).
. See S. Krauss, ‘‘Talmudische Nachrichten über Arabien,’’ZDMG (): .
. See Eph‘al (n. ), , citingyTaanit:b, Zhitomir, ed., vol. II, p. a, lines –.
I am grateful to Martin Goodman for locating this passage for me.
.Midrash Rabbah, Genesis:;bSanh. a. Both references are given by P. Crone and
M. Cook inHagarism:TheMakingoftheIslamicWorld(), . For an up-to-date discussion
of the possible dates of composition of the two works, see H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger,
Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash(), ff. (Talmud), ff. (Genesis Rabbah).