The Stories of the Prophets: Intertextuality in Judaism and Islam

Marc Steven Bernstein

This article consists of a comparative discussion of the Jewish and Islamic traditions of scriptural exegesis in Arabic and Hebrew centered around two Judeo-Arabic texts from Egypt dating from the early nineteenth century, Qissit Sayyidna Musa (The Story of Our Master Moses) and Qissit Sayyidna Yusuf (The Story of Our Master Joseph). In this paper I explore three related avenues of inquiry: the historical context for Islamic and Jewish cross-cultural exchange; a description of the two texts I am using in which I highlight parallel traditionary material; and the theoretical underpinnings of intertextuality as they relate to these two texts.

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