ABSTRACT
Within the wider framework of the influence of Islamic thought and spirituality, the study of the interaction between Israel and Ismael in the domain of mysticism is one of the most fascinating chapters of comparative religion. From a strictly chronological point of view, it was Judaism that initially influenced Sufism in its formative period in Baghdad. Surprisingly, while scholars have recognized the influence of Oriental Neoplatonism and Christian pietism on the evolution of Muslim asceticism at this time, they have failed to point out the profound mark left on Sufism by the ambient Jewish milieu. Indeed, Mesopotamia, cradle of the Babylonian Talmud, was at the very centre of the world of Jewish learning, which, moreover, readily underwent the process of Arabization after the Muslim conquest. Among the great personalities attached to the Talmudic academies of Baghdad were to be found certain charismatic figures who embodied the ancient rabbinic pietistic ideals of simplicity and saintliness, virtues cherished by nascent Sufism. Moreover, Sufi hagiography has preserved a number of edifying tales of “the pious men from among the Children of Israel”, known as isrā’īliyyāt. Many of these tales are traceable to rabbinic sources such as the Chapters of the Fathers, one of the main well-springs of Jewish pietism.
