Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical WritingHow and why did Muslims first come to write their own history? The author argues in this work that the Islamic historical tradition arose not out of idle curiosity, or through imitation of antique models, but as a response to a variety of challenges facing the Islamic community during its first several centuries (ca. seventh to tenth centuries CE). The narratives that resulted focused on certain themes of Islamic origins, selected to legitimise particular aspects of the Islamic community and faith in one or another. These included the need to establish the status of Muhammad (d. 632) as prophet, to affirm that the community to which they belonged was the direct descendant of the original community founded by the Prophet, to explain Muslim hegemony over vast populations of non-Muslims in the rapidly growing Islamic empire, and to articulate different positions in the ongoing debate with the Islamic community itself over political and religious leadership.An examination of these key themes of early Islamic historiography and the issues generating them is placed in the context of other styles of legitimisation in the early Islamic community, including such methods as appeals to piety and genealogy. Narratives of Islamic Origins is a ground-breaking work that represents the first comprehensive tradition -- critical account of the origins and rise of Arab-Islamic historiography, and is essential reading for all historians of medieval Islamic history and civilisation, and for all those interested in the historiography of comparative civilisations. |
Contents
1 | 26 |
The Date of the Quranic Text | 36 |
Early Islamic Piety | 64 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbāsids Abd Allah ibn Abu Bakr Abū Ma'shar Abū Mikhnaf Abū Zur'a accounts akhbar al-khulafā al-Kufa al-Sha'bī al-Tabarī al-Waqidī al-Zuhrī apocalyptic Arabian Arabic Byzantines caliphs Christian chronological claims collection community of Believers early Islamic historiography early Islamic history Egypt episodes example fitna futuh genealogy hadith hijra historians historical writing historiographical historiographical themes historiographical tradition ibid ibn al-Zubayr Ibn Asākir Ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad idem Iraq Islamic community Islamic conquests Islamic origins Islamic tradition isnād Khalid ibn Kitāb later compilations leadership legitimation literary maghāzī material Medina Mu'awiya Muhammad Muhammad ibn Muslim narratives of Islamic Noth/Conrad nubuwa particular piety pious political pre-Islamic Prophet Muhammad Quellenkritische Studien Qur'an Quraysh reports ridda Sa'id ibn Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab Sasanian Sayf scholars second century AH Sīra sīrat sources story surviving Syria Ta'rīkh Tafsir tion tribes Ubayd Umar ibn Umayyads umma Urwa ibn al-Zubayr Uthman Wahb ibn Munabbih