The Syriac Christian Story About the Day of Holy Friday and its Muslim Background

Can we discern how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were mutually shaped by one another's example in texts that rarely or never mention that example? We can, but only with great care, long effort, and a cheerful willingness to acknowledge the provisional character of our conclusions. This essay discusses a Syriac Christian text—recently published and studied by Sergey Minov—that endorses a specific kind of celebration of Friday as a holy day. Although the text was probably written under Muslim rule, the Story of Holy Friday never once makes mention of Muslim persons or Muslim tradition. But as Minov points out, given that Friday is the Muslim day of prayer, the text invites the question of whether it might be in conversation with a Muslim counterexample. I believe that a close reading of some of the key Muslim traditions on the holiness of Friday reveals that the Syriac Story was indeed in conversation—or perhaps contestation—with the Muslim Friday tradition.