Greenberg topic: Jerusalem's sanctity in Islam

Ben-Gurion University scholar will lecture at Skidmore College on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Free and open to the public, the talk begins at 8 p.m. in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall. Titled "'The first of the two directions of prayer, the second of mosques, the third of sanctuaries': Jerusalem in Islamic Thought and History," the talk will focus on Jerusalem's sanctity in Islam from the seventh century until the 21st century and the role it is expected to play at the end of times. 

Talmon-Heller notes that according to Islamic lore, Jerusalem preceded Mecca as the first direction of prayer for Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad paid it a visit on his miraculous night journey; Umar, the second caliph, accepted the surrender of its bishop in 636, the Umayyad caliphs adorned its Temple Mount with the magnificent edifices of the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque of al-Aqsa; Crusaders and warriors of Jihad competed for it in the Middle Ages; Jews and Muslims swear never to give it up today.

A senior lecturer and chair of the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University, Talmon-Heller will be Greenberg Middle East Scholar-in-Residence at Skidmore from September through early October. While on campus she will teach a course in the college's Department of History titled "Islamic History and Institutions," focusing on the birth and development of Islam as a religion and a political entity.

Throughout her residency she will also visit classes and meet with students and faculty in other formal and informal venues.

Talmon-Heller's research interests include the social and religious history of the Middle East in the Middle Ages, religious thought and practice in Islam (pre-modern and contemporary), and comparative religion. Her current research topics focus on the Islamization of Palestine from the Arab conquest in the seventh century and until the formation of a solid Muslim majority by the 14th century, and on a comparative study of the recitation of Scripture in Judaism and Islam. She earned a Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and spent two post-doctoral years in the Near Eastern Studies Department at Princeton University. Her book Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria, published by Brill, won the Tel Aviv Book Award of 2008.

The Greenberg Middle East Scholar-in-Residence Series is made possible by a gift from Skidmore alumna Jane Greenberg. The series enables the college to host an Israeli scholar who through teaching, lecturing, and participating in campus life educates the community on a range of topics concerning political life in the Middle East. The Office of the Dean of Special Programs coordinates the Greenberg series.