RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESsickness and death came from the air, i.e. that they were due to "nat-
ural" causes.ISO The legendary Rabbi Joshua bar Perai).ia, who was
also called Jesus the Healer, was considered to be a potent source for
charms to be used against demons. His power is explained on one of
the Syriac incantation bowls from Nippur by an ascent and investiture
in Heaven in which he "passed over from this world and climbed
above you [the demons] to the height [of Heaven] and learned all
counter-charms, a ruin to destruction."151 Considering the popularity
of therapeutic magic among Jews, it is not surprising to find Tha 'alibI
referring to "a Jew who lived by practicing medicine as well as sor-
cery."152
Concepts of redemptive healing were also current among Christians
in Iraq, although, again, the image of Christ as healer was already
available in the Gospels. But the conversion of pagans in the late
Sasanian period reinforced this picture of Christ and gave it a more
Mesopotamian £lavor. In a letter written in 585, Ish6'yahbh I speaks
of "Jesus our vivifier, the heavenly physician who has healed the wounds
and sores of our race free of charge by the remedies of his mercy."153
In. much the same terms Thomas of Margha describes Cyprian of Beth
Magoshe as a wise physician able to heal people of their sicknesses
without payment.IS4 The recurring theme in Christian hagiography,
whereby monks and saints perform miracles of healing by casting out
the offending demons, testifies to the survival of these ideas among
Christians.
Similar concepts were known to Muslims. The Qur'an records Mu-
i).ammad's vision of a great revelation at the boundary of the Garden
(Sura 53:13-18), which Muslims came to interpret as an ascension
(Ar. mi'riij) , and Sura 17:82 says, "We reveal of the Qur'an that
which is a healing and a mercy for believers." This redemptive em-
phasis is retained in a declaration ascribed to the Kufan KhiirijI I:Iayyan
ibn Zabyan at Rayy in 662 that God heals the hearts of believers by
150 Neusner, History, p. 12; Rodkinson, Talmud, XII, "Baba Metzia," 285.
151 Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp. 225-26; Neusner, History, pp. 220, 224-
25.
152 Tha'alibi, Ghurar, p. 626.
153 Chabot, Synodicon, pp. 191,450.
154 Thomas of Margha, Governors, n, 593. It is worth noting that the Syriac term
for physician (iisyii) comes from the Akkadian asu, which is a loanword from Sumerian
azu; see R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom; a Study in early Syriac tradition
(London, 1975), p. 199.