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Islamic His- Tory and Civilization, 32 483 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ARABICA 484 ARABICA conceptions of the Prophet, the “functional” and the “onto- logical”: according to the first conception, the “new order” coincides with the beginning of the Prophetic mission (and MOTZKI, H. — The Biography of MuÌammad. (Islamic His- the revelation of the Qur'an), and according to the second, tory and Civilization, 32). E.J. Brill Publishers N.V., Lei- with the birth of the Prophet (which represents his emergence den, 2000. (24 cm, XVI, 330). ISBN 90-04-11513-7; from a state of pre-existence). The evidence of Shi‘ite and ISSN 0929-2403. Nlg. 110.19/Euro 50.00. Sunni sources and of reports which go back to Ja‘far al-∑adiq The ten articles in the present volume are revised versions and his disciple Ibn Kharrabudh seems to suggest that the of papers presented at a colloquium held in 1997 at the Uni- “ontological conception” originated in and remained the only versity of Nijmegen. They represent the various methods and one in the Shi‘ite tradition, and that the “functional concep- approaches which scholars today are using in the study of the tion” existed from an early stage and remained the dominant Prophet's biography, the sira. Part I consists of five articles one in the Sunni tradition. On the other hand, it would seem in which the focus is on the development of the sira tradi- that the “ontological conception” had also appeared among tion. The other five articles in Part II address the question of Sunni scholars by the end of the second/eighth century (as the historical value of our sources. might be inferred from a report cited by Ibn ‘Asakir, and In his introduction to the volume Harald Motzki, who is probably derived from Akhbar al-madina of Ibn Bakkar (d. also one of the contributors, discusses the ongoing dispute 256/870), where Ja‘far al-∑adiq appears to have been among Islamicists about the value of the sira sources. The removed from the isnad), but it disappeared soon afterwards dispute, he states, is blurred by factors such as the lack of and then reappeared in the tenth/sixteenth century. Increased systematic source-critical studies and of reflection on meth- Sunni receptiveness to ∑ufi doctrine is suggested as an expla- ods for assessing the reliability of biographical Ìadiths, the nation for this reappearance, while the reasons for the inte- fact that conclusions about the relationship between the gration of the “ontological conception” by the end of the sec- Qur'an and exegetical and biographical traditions have often ond/eighth century are said to remain undetermined. been based on study of a few cases, and the fact that modern Leites' interpretation of the earlier stages of development biographies of the Prophet have until now relied on a limited is problematic for two reasons. Firstly, there is no compelling range of sources. Motzki believes that if these shortcomings reason to suppose that the traditions which associate the are tackled the question of reliability of the sources would shooting stars with the birth of the Prophet and which become clearer. This volume is presented as a step in the appeared in some of the early Sunni sources had already been right direction. identified as of Shi‘ite origin or that they were deprived of The first article is by Uri Rubin who analyses several ver- ascription to Ja‘far al-∑adiq by the early Sunni compilers. sions of the episode of a council of war that MuÌammad is After all, al-∑adiq was recognized as an authority by a num- said to have held with his Companions. The argument is that ber of Sunni scholars, and the possibility that Ibn ‘Asakir the tensions and conflicts within the community in the himself omitted him from the isnad cannot be ruled out. Sec- first/seventh century, such as the rivalry between the Muha- ondly, there is no solid evidence that the birth of the Prophet jirun and the AnÒar and the demand that those in authority had already acquired an ontological significance or been asso- resort to consultation, and the emerging self-image of the ciated with ideas about his pre-existence (as one finds, for Muslims of that period as the new chosen community influ- example, in Kulini, al-Kafi, ed. Ghaffari, I, pp. 439ff). In fact, enced the manner in which MuÌammad's period was remem- Leites' data would fit in better with a later dating for the elab- bered. oration of Shi‘ite esoteric doctrine where the birth of the Marco Schöller examines the account of MuÌammad al- Prophet (and of the imams) came to have a metaphysical sig- Kalbi concerning the Prophet's conflict with Arabian Jews nificance. A later dating could explain why the traditions on the basis of traditions from Tafsir al-Kalbi and other mate- which associate the shooting stars with the “birth” appear in rial transmitted on his authority. He argues that although some early Sunni sources and why they tend to disappear Kalbi's Tafsir was probably compiled in the late third/ninth after the middle of the third/ninth century: it was only when century and contains later interpolations, it is still a valuable they became associated with Shi‘ite esotericism that Sunni source for second/eighth century exegesis. He notes that scholars would have stopped citing them as a sign of MuÌam- Kalbi's legal material is similar to that found in other early mad's prophethood. tafsir works and in maghazi reports transmitted from Zuhri Gregor Schoeler's article is in German with an English and Musa b. ‘Uqba but different from material found in summary at the end. It is meant as a refutation of the con- “orthodox” sira accounts (e.g., Ibn IsÌaq's and Waqidi's) in clusions reached by Schacht in his study of Musa b. ‘Uqba's which the earlier elements are absent and the influence of Maghazi. Schacht had argued that Musa's reporting from legal reasoning and disputes is more visible. From this Zuhri was fictitious and due to a “growth” or “spread” of Schöller concludes that the early exegetical material was not the isnads and concluded that false ascriptions were also rife derived from or adapted to existing sira and maghazi reports in the historical tradition. Schoeler, however, comes to the but preceded them, which is contrary to the thesis put for- conclusion that Musa's indication of Zuhri as his source is ward by Rubin in The Eye of the Beholder (Princeton, New authentic and, on the basis of similar arguments, that the ear- Jersey 1995) where he argues that stories in the sira acquired lier link in the chain, namely, ‘Urwa b. al-Zubayr, is also their exegetic function only at a secondary stage. authentic. The question of whether the reports correspond to Adrien Leites examines two sets of sira traditions which historical fact is left open. An assessment of Schoeler's make use of the same imagery (the shooting stars and the method and arguments will be given below together with that banishing of demonic powers) and are concerned with the of Motzki's and Görke's. theme of MuÌammad as inaugurator of a “new order”. He Maher Jarrar presents his article as an attempt to pave the argues that the two sets of traditions reflected two different way for more study of the early Imami sira-maghazi tradi- 485 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LVIII N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2001 486 tion. A number of Imamis are reported to have written works not likely to convince those Islamicists who take the view of this genre, but none is extant. Jarrar concentrates his exam- that, since legal, theological and exegetical concerns pervade ination on a body of material that the Imami tradition ascribes much of the sira, isnads are as likely to have been fabricated to a certain Aban b. ‘Uthman who is said to have been a dis- here as in the legal literature. A main objection is likely to ciple of Ja‘far al-∑adiq and his son Musa al-KaÂim and is be that none of the features identified in the analysis of those credited with a work on sira and maghazi. The material variant traditions excludes the possibility that common links examined is found in a variety of sources and exhibits Imami were artificially created by the spread of isnads. Also likely concerns and interpretations of events in the life of the to be rejected is the reasoning which says that if a spread of Prophet and in pre-Islamic sacred history. Jarrar is acutely isnad did take place we should expect the variants to be much aware of the need to be cautious when reconstructing earlier closer to one another and to exhibit fewer differences in detail works from later sources (p. 99f), but he seems to argue in than they actually do. One argument against this reasoning favour of the authenticity of ascription of the material to would be that a transmitter or compiler who was reluctant to Aban on the basis that it is narrated by a wide range of trans- name his real source and contributed to the spread of an isnad mitters and that in many ways it resembles that of his con- might have been motivated by his desire to narrate the story temporary al-Waqidi and of Yunus b. Bukayr (p. 107). in a different way or to include additional material. Or, he Michael Lecker examines three reports about the alliance might have introduced changes in order to conceal the real that MuÌammad is said to have made with the AnÒar at origin of his report because his source happened to be unac- ‘Aqaba and the reaction of the Quraysh to that alliance, which ceptable as an authority in certain circles.
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