Muhammad and the Empires of Faith: The Making of the Prophet of Islam

by Sean W. Anthony

Overview

In Muhammad and the Empires of Faith, Sean W. Anthony demonstrates how critical readings of non-Muslim and Muslim sources in tandem can breathe new life into the historical study of Muhammad and how his message transformed the world. By placing these sources within the intellectual and cultural world of Late Antiquity, Anthony offers a fresh assessment of the earliest sources for Muhammad’s life, taking readers on a grand tour of the available evidence, and suggests what new insights stand to be gained from the techniques and methods pioneered by countless scholars over the decades in a variety of fields. Muhammad and the Empires of Faith offers both an authoritative introduction to the multilayered traditions surrounding the life of Muhammad and a compelling exploration of how these traditions interacted with the broader landscape of Late Antiquity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520340411
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/21/2020
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	663,751
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Sean W. Anthony is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University and author of The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shiism and Crucifixion and Death as Spectacle: Umayyad Crucifixion in its Late Antique Context.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
The Caliphs, 632–809

Introduction: The Making of the Historical Muhammad

PART I. BEFORE THE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE

1. The Earliest Evidence
   Three Early Non-Muslim Testimonies to Muhammad
   Revisiting the Doctrina Iacobi
   The “Keys to Paradise” in Late Antique Religious Discourse
   The “Keys to Paradise” in Early Islamic Preaching
   The Doctrina Iacobi and the Historical Muhammad
   
2. Muhammad the Merchant
   The Earliest Depictions of Muhammad as a Merchant
   Muhammad’s Occupation in the Hadīth and Sīrah-Maghāzī Literature
   Muhammad as a Trader in Arabic Sources
   Muhammad and the Monk
   The Merchants of Mecca

PART II. THE BEGINNINGS OF HTE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE

3. The Beginnings of the Corpus
   The Umayyads and the Beginnings of the Sīrah-Maghāzī Tradition
   ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān and ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr
   
4. The Letters of ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr
   The Chains of Transmission for ‘Urwah’s Letters
   A Translation of the Letters Attributed to ‘Urwah ibn al-Zubayr
   Letter 1. From the Persecutions in Mecca to the Hijrah to Yathrib
   Letter 2. Khadījah’s death and the Prophet’s marriage to ‘A'ishah
   Letter 3. The Battle of Badr
   Letter 4. On al-Hudaybiyah, a Gloss on Q. Mumtahinah 60:10–12
   Letter 5. The Conquest of Mecca and al-Tāʾif
   Letter 6. On the Hums
   Letter 7. ‘A'ishah’s Accusers
   Letter 8. On Khuwaylah, the wife of Aws ibn al-Sāmit, a Gloss on Q. Mujādalah 58:1–4
   Letter 9. On the Prophet’s Marriage to a Sister of al-As&hgrave;ath ibn Qays
   
5. The Court Impulse
   Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī and the Umayyads
   The Corpus of Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī
   Ibn Ishāq and the Abbasids
   The Corpus of Ibn Ishāq
   
PART III. LOCATING THE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE IN LATE ANTIQUITY  

6. Prophecy and Empires of Faith
   Prophecy and the Rhetoric of Empire
   The Vision of Heraclius
   Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī’s Christian Source
   Translatio Imperii in the Early Sīrah-Maghāzī Literature
   
7. Muhammad and Cædmon
   Cædmon’s Call and The Iqraʾ Narrative
   From Muhammad’s Call to Cædmon’s Call
   Mechanisms of Narrative Influence
   The Iqra' Narrative—Early, but not Historical
   Excursus: Alternative Accounts of Muhammad’s First Revelation
   
   Epilogue: The Future of the Historical Muhammad
   
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This carefully researched book provides a thorough analysis . . . [as well as] a new perspective on the study of Muhammad and makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature. Recommended." 

CHOICE

"This book should be required reading for any scholar or graduate student of early Islam or Late Antiquity."

Journal of the American Academy of Religion