THIS STUDY was written in several stages. The Introduction, Chapters 1, 2,. and the conclusions have been modified from my M.A. thesis, written at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Chapters. and. are modified versions of seminar papers also written at the Hebrew University, while Chapters. and. were first written as separate studies. Chapter. in. modified version was published in Studia Islamica.. would like to extend my thanks to my professors at the Hebrew University, as well as to the librarians at the National and University Library at Givat Ram for the assistance rendered me during the course of the research.. received. grant from the Yad ha-Orah Fund that enabled me to pursue my studies during the last year of my M.A., in addition to grants from the Arabic Language Department at the Hebrew University.

No study can be written without the support and encouragement of the friends, teachers and colleagues of the writer, for the finished product can only be as good as the training and assistance he has received, and as refined as the critical comments with which his audience warns him of pitfalls and mistakes. These were provided to me generously by numerous friends and teachers whom. would like to mention here. Thanks to Dr. Reuven Amitai, who read sections of this work and discussed traditions involving Turks with me, Amnon Avishai, who was. constant and fair critic, Dr. Meir Bar-Asher, Leigh Barron, and Yael Ben-Simon, who read drafts of this work, Akiva Bernstein, who gave me much assistance with the comparative Jewish material here and constantly kept me on my toes, Prof. J.J. Collins, who aided me with comparative material and definitions, Prof. Lawrence I. Conrad, who read and edited the manuscript and made many comments, Prof. Fred Donner, Husayn Hamza, Dr. Isaac Hasson, who read over the manuscript, Prof. Simon Hopkins, and Prof. Etan Kohlberg, who discussed with me various different traditions on. number of different occasions and was kind enough to read sections of the work in addition to serving as my advisor together with Prof. Friedmann, Dr. Richard Landes, who supplied me with spiritual and intellectual encouragement when. needed it most, Dr. Michael Lecker, Nicola Schreiber, Prof.