MUSLIMS: THE COMMUNITYto Manichaeism or to Christian monasticism. The significance of Man-
ichaeism as a form of social revolt lies in its use of extreme forms of
asceticism such as indigence, celibacy, and vegetarianism to release the
spirit trapped in its evil, material body.
Manichaeism had a deep impact on the more extreme forms of
Christian asceticism, whose frank antimaterialism often betrayed its
gnostic and Manichaean origins. Ascetic exercises freed the spirit from
the body and led to mystic experiences. Isaac of Nineveh identified
wine, women, wealth, and bodily health as the causes of sin. Asceticism
freed a monk from such worldly distractions because "as long as the
seals of fasting are on a man's mouth, his mind meditates on the soul's
penitence."121 But even monastic leaders drew the line at the extreme
forms of ascetic poverty and indigence practiced by the Me~allyane
(especially castration), since they represented a form of revolt against
church authority.
Jewish piety included chastity but not celibacy, although sexual
relations in the daytime were discouraged lest it attract demons. Ritual
fasting on the ninth of Ab was practiced by the Rabbinic community
in Iraq, but abstinence was not to endanger health. The Talmud records
the opinion of Rabbi Jeremiah bar Abba that "it is not lawful for a
scholar to fast, because by fasting he diminishes the work in the heav-
enly cause."122 These attitudes conflicted with the semiascetic prohi-
bition of meat and wine by Mourners for Zion, whose antinomian,
Messianic opposition to the authoritarian legal rule of the community
by the rabbis was based on the argument that the entire ceremonial
law was no longer obligatory after the destruction of the second Tem-
ple.
The conflict between asceticism and positive material values surfaced
among Muslims in the seventh and eighth centuries. In his letter to
'Umar II, al-I:Iasan al-Ba~ri compared the world to a snake: it is
smooth to the touch, but its venom is deadly.123 The rejection of
celibacy in the Qur'an (Sura 57:27) is aimed at Christian monasticism,
and the Qur'anic exhortation for single Muslims to marry but for
those who cannot find a mate to remain chaste (Sura 24:32-33) re-
sembles the Rabbinic attitude. Otherwise, the major reason for ob-
121 Isaac of Nineveh "Mystic Treatises," pp. 42, 159, 161; V66bus, Asceticism, 11,
312.
122 Rodkinson, Talmud VIII(4), "Taanith," 28.
123 H. Ritter, "Studien zur Geschichte der islamischen Fr6mmigkeit: 1. I:Iasan al-
Ba~r1," Der Islam 21 (1933),21-22.