ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the medieval narratives of inter-religious convergences and to clarify some aspects of religious experiences in the pre-modern Levant. In order to demonstrate this potential danger, the closing section of this work will depart from the medieval central Islamic lands to an abridged comparison between contemporary Jerusalem and Ayodhya. The contacts between the local communities and the Arab Muslim conquerors and the conversion of the subjugated population to Islam undoubtedly shaped the geographical vision of Muslim communities within the lands of the caliphate. Islamisation led to a new imaginative topography of the venerated city. This development is very visible in anthologies of traditions about the merits of Jerusalem and in other Muslim collections of prayer guides. Countless holy places attracted Muslim and non-Muslim pilgrims. Villagers comprised the majority of the population in the pre-modern Fertile Crescent. They used their traditional Sun calendar, as opposed to the lunar Islamic calendar. So there was a potential for multi-communal festivals.
