Traces of Jewish Piyyut in a Verse by Dhū l-Nūn al-Miṣrī

The significant impact of Jewish sources on early Muslim theological discourses has been well documented and explored for over a century. However, Jewish piyyut—a mammoth corpus of liturgical texts that circulated extensively among Jews in the Islamicate world—has been notably absent from such comparative, archeological, and genealogical research. In this study, I aim to demonstrate that through a genealogical investigation of a particular motif—the intercession of the four creatures beneath the divine throne on behalf of the entities represented by their names—a doctrinal influence of the Jewish piyyut from the classical period (sixth to eighth centuries) on a verse by Dhū l-Nūn al-Miṣrī (d. 861) can be discerned. The article presents a brief introduction to the long verse, which has been almost entirely overlooked in previous scholarship. To establish the article’s main argument, it then examines the motif in question and analyzes the motif’s earlier appearances in late antique and early medieval Jewish liturgical sources. Finally, this article’s findings suggest the possibility that the influence of the piyyut extends far beyond the specific example under discussion, potentially leaving its mark on a much broader array of early Muslim sources.