Ari M. Gordon serves as Director of Muslim-Jewish Relations for the American Jewish Committee, fostering partnerships between communities on shared concerns while facilitating productive dialogue on differences. A Philadelphia native and master teacher, Gordon lectures extensively on Judaism, interreligious history, and religion and global affairs in academic, Jewish, and multifaith settings. He holds degrees from Yeshiva University (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MTS), and completed his doctoral work in Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched interreligious relations and sacred geography in Islam’s formative period.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationAbbreviationsIntroductionDefining the Qibla The Qibla as MetaphorRitual PerformanceSacred GeographyInterrreligious EncounterHow to Read this Book1. “Each has a Direction to which They Turn”: Sacred Orientation in the Qurʾān and Religions of Late AntiquityLate Antique Background: LensesRabbinic JudaismEarly ChristianityOther Religious Cultures of Late AntiquityIslam and the QurʾānConclusion2. Becoming the "People of the Qibla": How an Unusual Phrase Created an Islamic “Big Tent” Sinners Among the Ahl al-Qibla: The Mechanics of the Term as Used in TafsīrAhl al-Qibla in Sunni Creeds Ahl al-Qibla in Some Shiʿi WritingsImplications of Inclusion Among the Ahl al-Qibla The Origins of the People of the QiblaAhl al-Qibla in Heresiographical Descriptions of Khārijites and MurjiʾitesAhl al-Qibla in Ummayad-Era Revolts as Seen in Historiographic LiteratureAhl al-Qibla in the Teachings of Umayyad-Era TraditionistsLate First-/ Early Eighth-Century Theological Texts Using Ahl al-QiblaConclusion3. Does God’s Mind Change? The Qibla in Tenth-Century Interreligious PolemicsDid the Jews Change their Qibla? The Qibla as a Symbol of Naskh in Early Islamic LiteratureThe Qibla as a Symbol in Medieval Islamicate Christian LiteratureRevisiting Three Jewish Authors on the Qibla4. A New Direction in Qibla Studies: Reconsidering Alignment and “Misalignment” of Early Mosques in Light of IdentityIdentityIdentity as ImaginedIdentity as a ProcessIdentity as InexhaustibleSacred Geography and Identity in Early IslamEarly Mosque Orientations: The Hermeneutics of Architecture and IdentityThe Inexhaustible Qibla: A Kind of ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Ari M. Gordon serves as Director of Muslim-Jewish Relations for the American Jewish Committee, fostering partnerships between communities on shared concerns while facilitating productive dialogue on differences. A Philadelphia native and master teacher, Gordon lectures extensively on Judaism, interreligious history, and religion and global affairs in academic, Jewish, and multifaith settings. He holds degrees from Yeshiva University (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MTS), and completed his doctoral work in Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched interreligious relations and sacred geography in Islam’s formative period.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationAbbreviationsIntroductionDefining the Qibla The Qibla as MetaphorRitual PerformanceSacred GeographyInterrreligious EncounterHow to Read this Book1. “Each has a Direction to which They Turn”: Sacred Orientation in the Qurʾān and Religions of Late AntiquityLate Antique Background: LensesRabbinic JudaismEarly ChristianityOther Religious Cultures of Late AntiquityIslam and the QurʾānConclusion2. Becoming the "People of the Qibla": How an Unusual Phrase Created an Islamic “Big Tent” Sinners Among the Ahl al-Qibla: The Mechanics of the Term as Used in TafsīrAhl al-Qibla in Sunni Creeds Ahl al-Qibla in Some Shiʿi WritingsImplications of Inclusion Among the Ahl al-Qibla The Origins of the People of the QiblaAhl al-Qibla in Heresiographical Descriptions of Khārijites and MurjiʾitesAhl al-Qibla in Ummayad-Era Revolts as Seen in Historiographic LiteratureAhl al-Qibla in the Teachings of Umayyad-Era TraditionistsLate First-/ Early Eighth-Century Theological Texts Using Ahl al-QiblaConclusion3. Does God’s Mind Change? The Qibla in Tenth-Century Interreligious PolemicsDid the Jews Change their Qibla? The Qibla as a Symbol of Naskh in Early Islamic LiteratureThe Qibla as a Symbol in Medieval Islamicate Christian LiteratureRevisiting Three Jewish Authors on the Qibla4. A New Direction in Qibla Studies: Reconsidering Alignment and “Misalignment” of Early Mosques in Light of IdentityIdentityIdentity as ImaginedIdentity as a ProcessIdentity as InexhaustibleSacred Geography and Identity in Early IslamEarly Mosque Orientations: The Hermeneutics of Architecture and IdentityThe Inexhaustible Qibla: A Kind of ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Ari M. Gordon serves as Director of Muslim-Jewish Relations for the American Jewish Committee, fostering partnerships between communities on shared concerns while facilitating productive dialogue on differences. A Philadelphia native and master teacher, Gordon lectures extensively on Judaism, interreligious history, and religion and global affairs in academic, Jewish, and multifaith settings. He holds degrees from Yeshiva University (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MTS), and completed his doctoral work in Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researched interreligious relations and sacred geography in Islam’s formative period.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationAbbreviationsIntroductionDefining the Qibla The Qibla as MetaphorRitual PerformanceSacred GeographyInterrreligious EncounterHow to Read this Book1. “Each has a Direction to which They Turn”: Sacred Orientation in the Qurʾān and Religions of Late AntiquityLate Antique Background: LensesRabbinic JudaismEarly ChristianityOther Religious Cultures of Late AntiquityIslam and the QurʾānConclusion2. Becoming the "People of the Qibla": How an Unusual Phrase Created an Islamic “Big Tent” Sinners Among the Ahl al-Qibla: The Mechanics of the Term as Used in TafsīrAhl al-Qibla in Sunni Creeds Ahl al-Qibla in Some Shiʿi WritingsImplications of Inclusion Among the Ahl al-Qibla The Origins of the People of the QiblaAhl al-Qibla in Heresiographical Descriptions of Khārijites and MurjiʾitesAhl al-Qibla in Ummayad-Era Revolts as Seen in Historiographic LiteratureAhl al-Qibla in the Teachings of Umayyad-Era TraditionistsLate First-/ Early Eighth-Century Theological Texts Using Ahl al-QiblaConclusion3. Does God’s Mind Change? The Qibla in Tenth-Century Interreligious PolemicsDid the Jews Change their Qibla? The Qibla as a Symbol of Naskh in Early Islamic LiteratureThe Qibla as a Symbol in Medieval Islamicate Christian LiteratureRevisiting Three Jewish Authors on the Qibla4. A New Direction in Qibla Studies: Reconsidering Alignment and “Misalignment” of Early Mosques in Light of IdentityIdentityIdentity as ImaginedIdentity as a ProcessIdentity as InexhaustibleSacred Geography and Identity in Early IslamEarly Mosque Orientations: The Hermeneutics of Architecture and IdentityThe Inexhaustible Qibla: A Kind of ConclusionBibliographyIndex