Jews in Islamic Countries in the Middle Ages

Gil (Jewish history, Tel Aviv U.) draws primarily from documents in the Geniza, which he explains in the preface to his A History of Palestine . He begins in the Arab Peninsula with the origin of the Jews of Yathrib and the constitution of Medina. Then he considers the Jews of Babylonia and Persia from the beginning of Islamic rule to the 13th century. Sicily and its Jews are next, with discussions of the Muslim rule of the island, its economy and Jewish merchants, the towns, and central personages among the Jews. The final part looks at Jews in the economic life of the Islamic world in the geonic period in agriculture and the major occupations, and as slaves and merchants and financiers. The Hebrew original (no title noted) was published in 1997 by Tel Aviv University. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Moshe Gil, Ph.D. (1970) in Oriental Studies, University of Pennsylvania, is Professor Emeritus of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University. He has published extensively on mediaeval Jewish and Arab history. His publications in English include: Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations from the Cairo Geniza (Brill, 1976), and A History of Palestine, 634-1099 (Cambridge University Press, 1992).