The Monastery as Tavern and Temple in Medieval Islam: The Case for Confessional Flexibility in the Locus of Christian Monasteries

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the diverse nature of Muslim interest in Christian monasteries during the medieval Islamic period. According to a variety of contemporary accounts, Muslim visitation to monasteries often involved wine consumption and licentious behavior on the part of the elites. While not dismissing this possibility, this research suggests that there was often a greater religious dimension to Muslim fascination with monastic sites. Sacred shrines throughout the late antique Levant had, after all, been held in esteem for their hospitality and miraculous powers long before the arrival of Islam. This examination contends that Muslim interest in such Christian shrines and monasteries represents a dynamic, flexible confessional environment at the dawning of Islam. The pious spirit of pilgrimage and ziyāra/visitation was simply transferred into a new religious context; one that was defined by its fluid character and amorphous sectarian lines.