Historiography of early Islam 1976170 222312013 2008-06-28T17:36:28Z Itaqallah 1149422 /* Modern secular scholarship */ no mention at all of rejection of Cook/Crone theory by vast majority of academic scholarship. rm blockquote of minority view as per [[WP:UNDUE]] {{Refimprove|date=February 2008}} The '''[[historiography]] of early [[Islam]]''' refers to the study of the early origins of Islam based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and examination of authentic [[primary source]]s materials and the organization of these sources into a narrative timeline that is subject to scholarly methods of criticism. Islamic sources date no earlier than 100 to 150 years after the events being referred to had taken place. There are very few surviving [[primary source]]s, such as manuscripts and inscriptions, for the period, and only sketchy archaeological data. Most of the Islamic history seems to have been primarily transmitted orally until well after the rise of the [[Abbasid]] [[Caliphate]].<ref>A consideration of oral transmissions in general with some specific early Islamic reference is Jan Vansina's ''Oral Tradition as History''.</ref> Islamic scholars then sifted and recorded the traditions. They did so in an extremely politicized context, just after one dynasty, the [[Umayyads]], had been overthrown, and when the groups that eventually became the [[Sunni]] and [[Shi'a]] sects of Islam were putting forth rival histories of Islam.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} Modern Western scholars are much less likely than Islamic scholars to trust the work of the Abbasid historians. Western historians approach the classic Islamic histories with varying degrees of circumspection. There are two approaches toward the early narrations and [[Hadith]]. The first group consider them as factitious or dubious stories and use them very cautiously. The other approach which has been emerged at the end of the twentieth century accepts these narrations and try to judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events; in this approach, tendentiousness alone is not necessarily evidence of late origin.<ref>Madelung (1997), pp. 19 and 20</ref> ==History of Muslim historians== ===Science of biography, science of hadith, and Isnad=== {{see|Ilm ar-Rijal|Science of hadith|Isnad}} [[Muslim]] historical traditions first began developing earlier from the 7th century with the reconstruction of [[Muhammad]]'s life in the centuries following his death. Due to numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his [[Sahaba|companions]] from various sources, it was necessary to verify which sources were more reliable. In order to evaluate these sources, various methodologies were developed, such as the "science of [[biography]]", "[[science of hadith]]" and "[[Isnad]]" (chain of transmission). These methodologies were later applied to other historical figures in the [[Muslim world]]. [[Ilm ar-Rijal]] ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]) is the "science of biography" especially as practiced in Islam, where it was first applied to the [[sira]], the life of the [[prophet]] of Islam, Muhammad, and then the lives of the four [[Rightly Guided Caliphs]] who expanded Islamic dominance rapidly. Since validating the sayings of Muhammad is a major study ("Isnad"), accurate biography has always been of great interest to Muslim biographers, who accordingly became experts at sorting out facts from accusations, bias from evidence, etc., and were renowned throughout the known world for their honesty in recording history. Modern practices of [[scientific citation]] and [[historical method]] owe a great deal to the [[rigor]] of the Isnad tradition of early Muslims. The earliest surviving Islamic biography is Ibn Ishaq's ''[[Sira|Sirat Rasul Allah]]'', written in the 8th century. The "[[science of hadith]]" is the process that Muslim scholars use to evaluate [[hadith]]. The classification of Hadith into [[Sahih]] (sound), [[Hasan]] (good) and [[Da'if]] (weak) was firmly established by [[Ali ibn al-Madini]] ([[161 AH|161]]-[[234 AH]]). Later, al-Madini's student [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]] (810-870) authored a collection that he believed contained only Sahih hadith, which is now known as the ''[[Sahih Bukhari]]''. Al-Bukhari's [[historical method]]s of testing hadiths and [[isnad]]s is seen as the beginning of the method of [[citation]] and a precursor to the [[scientific method]] which was developed by later [[Islamic science|Muslim scientists]]. I. A. Ahmad writes:<ref>{{citation|first=I. A.|last=Ahmad|contribution=The Rise and Fall of Islamic Science: The Calendar as a Case Study|title=Faith and Reason: Convergence and Complementarity|publisher=[[Al Akhawayn University]]|date=June 3, 2002|url=http://images.agustianwar.multiply.com/attachment/0/RxbYbQoKCr4AAD@kzFY1/IslamicCalendar-A-Case-Study.pdf |accessdate=2008-01-31}}</ref> {{quote|"The vagueness of ancient historians about their sources stands in stark contrast to the insistence that scholars such as Bukhari and [[Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj|Muslim]] manifested in knowing every member in a chain of transmission and examining their reliability. They published their findings, which were then subjected to additional scrutiny by future scholars for consistency with each other and the Qur'an."}} Other famous Muslim historians who studied the science of biography or science of hadith included [[Urwah ibn Zubayr]] (d. 712), [[Wahb ibn Munabbih]] (d. 728), [[Ibn Ishaq]] (d. 761), [[al-Waqidi]] (745-822), [[Ibn Hisham]] (d. 834), [[al-Maqrizi]] (1364–1442), and [[Ibn Hajar Asqalani]] (1372-1449), among others. ===Historiography, cultural history, and philosophy of history=== {{see|Ibn Khaldun|Muqaddimah|Early Muslim sociology}} The first detailed studies on the subject of [[historiography]] itself and the first critiques on [[historical method]]s appeared in the works of the [[Arab]] [[Muslim]] historian and historiographer [[Ibn Khaldun]] (1332-1406), who is regarded as the father of [[historiography]], [[cultural history]],<ref>Mohamad Abdalla (Summer 2007). "Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after the 11th Century", ''Islam & Science'' '''5''' (1), p. 61-70.</ref> and the [[philosophy of history]], especially for his historiographical writings in the ''[[Muqaddimah]]'' ([[Latin]]ized as ''Prolegomena'') and ''Kitab al-Ibar'' (''Book of Advice'').<ref>S. Ahmed (1999). ''A Dictionary of Muslim Names''. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1850653569.</ref> His ''Muqaddimah'' also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of [[state]], [[communication]], [[propaganda]] and [[systematic bias]] in history,<ref>H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", ''Cooperation South Journal'' '''1'''.</ref> and he discussed the rise and fall of [[civilization]]s. [[Franz Rosenthal]] wrote in the ''History of Muslim Historiography'': {{quote|"Muslim historiography has at all times been united by the closest ties with the general development of scholarship in Islam, and the position of historical knowledge in MusIim education has exercised a decisive influence upon the intellectual level of historicai writing....The Muslims achieved a definite advance beyond previous historical writing in the [[sociology|sociological]] understanding of [[history]] and the systematisation of [[historiography]]. The development of modern historical writing seems to have gained considerably in speed and substance through the utilization of a Muslim Literature which enabled western historians, from the seventeenth century on, to see a large section of the world through foreign eyes. The Muslim historiography helped indirectly and modestly to shape present day historical thinking."<ref>[http://members.tripod.com/~salems2/historiography.htm Historiography]. The Islamic Scholar.</ref>}} ===World history=== {{see|Early Muslim sociology}} [[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari]] (838-923) is known for writing a detailed and comprehensive [[chronicle]] of [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean]] and [[History of the Middle East|Middle Eastern]] history in his ''[[History of the Prophets and Kings]]'' in 915. [[Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī]] (896-956), known as the "[[Herodotus]] of the [[Arabs]]", was the first to combine [[history]] and [[Science|scientific]] [[geography]] in a large-scale work, ''Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawahir'' (''The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems''), a book on [[world history]]. Until the 10th century, history most often meant political and military history, but this was not so with [[Persian people|Persian]] historian [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī|Biruni]] (973-1048). In his ''Kitab fi Tahqiq ma l'il-Hind'' (''Researches on India''), he did not record political and military history in any detail, but wrote more on [[India (disambiguation)|India]]'s [[Culture of India|cultural]], [[Science and technology in ancient India|scientific]], social and [[Religion in India|religious]] history.<ref name=Khan>M. S. Khan (1976). "al-Biruni and the Political History of India", ''Oriens'' '''25''', p. 86-115.</ref> Along with his ''Researches on India'', [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī|Biruni]] discussed more on his idea of history in his [[Chronology|chronological]] work ''The Chronology of the Ancient Nations''.<ref name=Khan/> ==Islamic sources== ===Traditional Islamic sources for early Islamic history=== : ''See also: [[List of Islamic texts]]'' * [[Qur'an]] * [[Hadith]] * [[Sira]] and [[Ghazw|''Maghāzī'']] * [[Tafsir]] * [[Fiqh]] * [[Futuh|Futūh]] * Inscriptions * [[Numismatics|Coinage]] * Manuscripts ** [[Sana'a manuscripts]] ** [[Oxyrhynchus]] papyri (eg [[PERF 558]]) ** Qur'an collections * Archaeological records * Non-Muslim sources ===7th Century Islamic sources=== * [[692]] - [[Qur'an]]ic Mosaic on the [[Dome of the Rock]]. * [[The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays]]; by [[Sulaym ibn Qays]](death: 75-95 AH ([[694]]-[[714]])). This is a collection of [[Hadith]] and historical reports from 1st Century of the Islamic calendar. [[Sulaym ibn Qays]] is the first [[Shia]] author in "al-Fihrist" of [[Ibn al-Nadim]]. Also [[Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī|al-Mas'udi]] refers to this book. A manuscript of the book survived from the early 10th CE. While its the earliest available book of Shia Islam, some Shia scholars are dubious about the authenticity of some part of it.<ref>See:* Sachedina (1981), pp. 54-55 * Landolt (2005), p. 59 * Modarressi (2003), pp 82-88 * Dakake (2007), p.270</ref> ===7th Century non-Islamic sources=== There are numerous early references to Islam in non-Islamic sources, many have been collected in historiographer [[Robert G. Hoyland]]'s compilation ''[[Seeing Islam As Others Saw It]]''. One of the first books to analyze these works was ''[[Hagarism]]'' authored by [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]] and [[Patricia Crone]]. ''Hagarism'' concludes that looking at the early non-Islamic sources provides a much different and more accurate picture of early Islamic history than the later Islamic sources do, although its thesis has little acceptance. For some, the date of composition is controversial. Some provide an account of early Islam which significantly contradicts the traditional Islamic accounts of two centuries later. * 634 [[Doctrina Iacobi]] * 636 Fragment on the Arab Conquests * 639 [[Sophronius]], Patriarch of Jerusalem * 640 Thomas the Presbyter * 640 Homily on the Child Saints of Babylon * 642 [[PERF 558]] * 644 Coptic Apocalypse of Pseudo-Shenute * 648 Life of [[Gabriel of Qartmin]] * 650 [[Fredegar]] * 655 Pope [[Martin I]] * 659 [[Isho'yahb III of Adiabene]] * 660 [[Sebeos]], Bishop of the Bagratunis * 660 A Chronicler of Khuzistan * 662 [[Maximus the Confessor]] * 665 [[Pope Benjamin of Alexandria|Benjamin I]] * 670 [[Arculf]], a Pilgrim * 676 The Synod of 676 * 680 [[George of Resh'aina]] * 680 The Secrets of [[Rabbi Simon ben Yohai]] * 680 [[Bundahishn]] * 681 [[Trophies of Damascus]] * 687 [[Athanasius of Balad]], Patriarch of Antioch * 687 [[John bar Penkaye]] * 690 Syriac [[Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius]] * 692 Syriac [[Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephraem]] * 694 [[John of Nikiu]] * 697 Anti-Jewish Polemicists ===7th Century ambiguous sources=== * [[644]] - Inscription marking the death of [[Umar]], [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>[http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=14264&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Twenty-three new inscriptions on Memory of the World Register of Documentary Collections] - [[UNESCO]], inscription reads "In the name of God ([[Bismillah]]), I Zuhair wrote the date of the death of Umar the year four and twenty ([[Hijra (Islam)|AH]])"</ref> ===Famous Muslim historians=== {{see|Muslim historians|List of Muslim historians}} * [[Urwah ibn Zubayr]] (d. 712) ** [[Hadith of Umar's speech of forbidding Mut'ah]] * [[Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri]] (d. 742) ** [[Hadith of Umar's speech of forbidding Mut'ah]] ** [[Hadith of prohibition of Mut'ah at Khaybar]] * [[Ibn Ishaq]] (d. 761) ** ''[[Sirah Rasul Allah]]'' * [[Imam Malik]] (d. 796) ** ''[[Al-Muwatta]]'' * [[Al-Waqidi]] (745-822) ** ''Book of History and Campaigns'' * [[Ali ibn al-Madini]] (777-850) ** ''[[The Book of Knowledge about the Companions]]'' * [[Ibn Hisham]] (d. 834) ** ''[[Sirah Rasul Allah]]'' * [[Dhul-Nun al-Misri]] (d. 859) * [[Muhammad al-Bukhari]] (810-870) ** ''[[Sahih Bukhari]]'' * [[Muslim b. al-Hajjaj]] (d. 875) ** ''[[Sahih Muslim]]'' * [[Ibn Majah]] (d. 886) ** ''[[Sunan Ibn Majah]]'' * [[Abu Da'ud]] (d. 888) ** ''[[Sunan Abi Da'ud]]'' * [[Al-Tirmidhi]] (d. 892) ** ''[[Sunan al-Tirmidhi]]'' * [[Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī]] (896-956) ** ''Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawahir'' (''The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems'') (947) * [[Ibn Wahshiyya]] (c. 904) ** ''Nabataean Agriculture'' ** ''Kitab Shawq al-Mustaham'' * [[Al-Nasa'i]] (d. 915) ** ''[[Sunan al-Sughra]]'' * [[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari]] (838-923) ** ''[[History of the Prophets and Kings]]'' ** ''[[Tafsir al-Tabari]]'' * [[Al-Baladhuri]] (d. 892) ** ''[[Kitab Futuh al-Buldan]]'' ** ''[[Genealogies of the Nobles]]'' * [[Hakim al-Nishaburi]] (d. 1014) ** ''[[Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain]]'' * [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]] (973-1048) ** ''Indica'' ** ''History of Mahmud of Ghazni and his father'' ** ''History of Khawarazm'' * [[Baghdadi|Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi]] (13th century) * [[Ibn Abi Zar]] (d. 1310/1320) ** ''[[Rawd al-Qirtas]]'' * [[Al-Dhahabi]] (1274-1348) ** ''[[Major History of Islam]]'' ** ''[[Talkhis al-Mustadrak]]'' ** ''[[Tadhkirat al-huffaz]]'' ** ''[[Al-Kamal fi ma`rifat al-rijal]]'' * [[Ibn Khaldun]] (1332-1406) ** ''[[Muqaddimah]]'' ** ''Kitab al-Ibar'' * [[Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani]] (1372-1449) ** ''[[Fath al-Bari]]'' ** ''[[Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (Asqalani)|Tahdhib al-Tahdhib]]'' ** ''[[Finding the Truth in Judging the Companinons]]'' ** ''[[Bulugh al-Maram]]'' ==Modern secular scholarship== The earliest Western scholarship on Islam tended to be Christian and Jewish translators and commentators. They translated the easily available [[Sunni]] texts from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] into European languages including German, Italian, French, or English, then summarized and commented in a fashion that was often hostile to Islam. Notable Christian scholars include: * [[William Muir]] (1819–1905) * [[Reinhart Dozy]] (1820–1883) "Die Israeliten zu Mecca" (1864) * [[David Samuel Margoliouth]] (1858–1940) * [[William St. Clair Tisdall]] (1859–1928) * [[Leone Caetani]] (1869–1935) * [[Alphonse Mingana]] (1878–1937) All these scholars worked in the late 19th and early 20th century. Another pioneer of Islamic studies, [[Abraham Geiger]] (1810–1874), was a prominent [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[rabbi]] and approached Islam from that standpoint in his "Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?" (1833). Geiger's themes were continued in Rabbi [[Abraham I. Katsh]]'s "Judaism and the Koran" (1962)<ref>Online text: {{cite web | title=Judaism And The Koran Biblical And Talmudic Backgrounds Of The Koran And Its Commentaries (1962) Author: Abraham I. Katsh | url=http://www.archive.org/details/judaismandthekor012707mbp | publisher=Internet Archive | accessdate=2007-04-18}}</ref> Other scholars, notably those in the German tradition, took a more neutral view. The late 19th century scholar [[Julius Wellhausen]] (1844-1918) is a prime example. They also started, cautiously, to question the truth of the Arabic texts. They took a [[source criticism|source critical]] approach, trying to sort the Islamic texts into elements to be accepted as historically true, and elements to be discarded as polemic or pious fiction. These scholars might include: * [[Michael Jan de Goeje]] (1836–1909) * [[Theodor Nöldeke]] (1836–1930) * [[Ignaz Goldziher]] (1850–1921) * [[Henri Lammens]] (1862–1937) * [[Arthur Jeffery]] (1892–1959) * [[H. A. R. Gibb]] (1895–1971) * [[Joseph Schacht]] (1902–1969) * [[Montgomery Watt]] (1909–2006) In the 1970s, what has been described as a "wave of sceptical scholars" (Donner 1998 p. 23) challenged a great deal of the received wisdom in Islamic studies. They argued that the Islamic historical tradition had been greatly corrupted in transmission. They tried to correct or reconstruct the early history of Islam from other, presumably more reliable, sources such as coins, inscriptions, and non-Islamic sources. The oldest of this group was [[John Wansbrough]] (1928-2002). Wansbrough's works were widely noted, but perhaps not widely read. Donner (1998) says: : Wansbrough's awkward prose style, diffuse organization, and tendency to rely on suggestive implication rather than tight argument (qualities not found in his other published works) have elicited exasperated comment from many reviewers. (Donner 1998 p. 38) Wansbrough's scepticism influenced a number of younger scholars, including: * [[Martin Hinds]] (1941–1988) * [[Patricia Crone]] (b. 1945) * [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]] In 1977, Crone and Cook published ''[[Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World]]'', which argued that the early history of Islam is a myth, generated ''after'' the conquests of Egypt, Syria, and Persia to prop up the new Arab regimes in those lands and give them a solid ideological foundation. According to their theory the Qur'an was composed later, rather than early, and the Arab conquests may have been the ''cause'', rather than the ''consequence'', of Islam. The main evidence adduced for this thesis was based upon a contemporary body of non-Muslim sources to many early Islamic events. If such events could not be supported by outside evidence, then (according to Crone and Cook) they should be dismissed as myth. Crone and Cook's more recent work has involved intense scrutiny of early Islamic sources, but not total rejection of those sources. (See, for instance, Crone's 1987 publications, ''Roman, Provincial, and Islamic Law'' and ''Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam'', both of which assume the standard outline of early Islamic history while questioning certain aspects of it; also Cook's 2001 ''Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought'', which also cites early Islamic sources as authoritative.) One writer claims that they have in fact disavowed the work ([http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/042606AliKhan.shtml] [http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/04/28/d60428020635.htm]) but in the absence of direct comment from Crone and Cook, it is difficult to know what to make of his claims.{{lopsided|date=June 2008}}} In 1972 a cache of ancient Qur'ans in a mosque in Sana'a, Yemen was discovered. The German scholar [[Gerd R. Puin]] has been investigating these Qur'an fragments for years. His research team made 35,000 microfilm photographs of the manuscripts, which he dated to early part of the 8th century. Puin has not published the entirety of his work, but noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography. He also suggested that some of the parchments were [[palimpsest]]s which had been reused. Puin believed that this implied an evolving text as opposed to a fixed one.<ref> Atlantic Monthly Journal, [http://cremesti.com/amalid/Islam/Yemeni_Ancient_Koranic_Texts.htm Atlantic Monthly article: What is the Koran] ,January 1999 </ref> Contemporary scholars have begun to turn to the study of the Islamic sources in a sceptical mood. They tend to use the histories rather than the hadith, and to analyze the histories in terms of the tribal and political affiliations of the narrators (if that can be established), thus making it easier to guess in which direction the material might have been slanted. Notable scholars include: * [[Fred M. Donner]] * [[Wilferd Madelung]] * [[Gerald Hawting]] * [[Jonathan Berkey]] * [[Andrew Rippin]] * [[G.H.A Juynboll]] ===Bridging the divide=== A few scholars have managed to bridge the divide between Islamic and Western-style secular scholarship.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} They have completed both Islamic and Western academic training. * [[Fazlur Rahman]] * [[Suliman Bashear]] * [[Javed Ahmed Ghamidi]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * Donner, Fred ''Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing'', Darwin Press, 1998 * Hoyland, Robert G. ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'', Darwin Press, 1997 * {{cite book | last = Madelung | first = Wilferd | authorlink = Wilferd Madelung | title = The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1997 | id = ISBN 0521646960}} * Vansina, Jan "Oral Tradition as History," University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985 {{Refimprove|date=July 2007}} == External links == * [http://islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/2003/04/Article01a.shtml] and following; an Islamic view of the development of the academic study of Islam * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-58859/historiography Muslim historiography] an article by online Britannica [[Category:Islamic history]] [[de:Islamische Geschichtsschreibung]] [[nl:Vroege Islam: westerse alternatieve gezichtspunten]]