Reply to an Attack on Jewish Prayer

This Judeo-Arabic account of a public debate session, known as a majlis, in the court of the Fātimid vizier Ya‘qūb ibn Yūsuf Ibn Killis (930–991) tells how the vizier cited an Arabic translation of the Hebrew prayers in Se‘adya Ga’on’s Siddur (Prayer Book) to criticize Jewish beliefs. One remarkable feature of this story is that the prayer book had been transcribed into Arabic letters, rendering it accessible to non-Jewish readers. According to the anonymous recorder of these events, an untrained student would not be able to understand Jewish beliefs, so the vizier, who was presumably untrained, had no place attacking them. Ibn Killis himself was born a Jew and converted to Islam in 967, apparently in order to rise in governmental ranks. He held the position of vizier from 979 until his death. Ibn Killis’s condemnation of Judaism would have been acutely felt by local Jews.