DOCSLIB.ORG

The Role of Non-Arabs, the Mawali, in the Early Development of Muslim Îadith

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Role of Non-Arabs, the Mawali, in the Early Development of Muslim Îadith THE ROLE OF NON-ARABS, THE MAWALI, IN THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF MUSLIM ÎADITH Dedicated to the memory of Ulrich Haarmann (1942-99) Introduction. Some mawali of the first/seventh century reviewed Throughout this paper I have dealt with people from the conquered lands, dhimmis or other, who were identified in the sources, even if only in passing or merely by implication, as belonging to the social class of mawali, the plural of mawla. I did not distinguish between clients of an individual patron, that patron's tribe or any other tribe, or through their ancestors. I did not indicate either, if persons only became mawali as a consequence of conversion to Islam. The mere mention of the term mawla, or the case so being mawlahum1, following their name(s) was enough. The role which mawali played in early Islam in transmitting and cir- culating Prophetic and other traditions cannot be overestimated. The evolution of Ìadith literature2 cannot be assessed properly without atten- tion being paid to the activities in this matter of the hundreds of persons from the territories which Islam overpowered since the death of the Prophet MuÌammad in the year 11/632. Upon manumission those per- sons became affiliated to Arab masters and their tribes and clans, acquir- ing the status of client, mawla. Judgeing by the frequency of the term mawla in the historical ac- counts covering the years of the Prophet's life and during the first dec- ades of Islam, the number of mawali is still limited. Occasionally we read about young men captured in the course of conquests or raids. More often than not they were mentioned in tandem with certain Arabs who had taken them under their wings, resulting in a patronage relationship. Also MuÌammad's name is mentioned in the sources in connection with 1 The term mawlahum is found frequently immediately following a nisba in the list of names of a pedigree. 2 In the following pages some recently developed technical terms in Ìadith science will occasionally crop up such as common link, partial common link, single strand, spi- der, isnad bundle, ‘dives' and ‘diving', etc. For definitions and special studies on these the reader is referred to the index s.vv. in G.H.A. JUYNBOLL, Studies on the origins and uses of Islamic Ìadith (Collected Studies Series, 550), Aldershot, 1996. 356 G.H.A. JUYNBOLL a few mawali3. In the course of time the lists of mawali associated with the Prophet become longer in subsequent sources, a phenomenon we have come to recognize too in the ever-increasing numbers of people who allegedly belonged to the category of the Prophet's Companions: the later the Companions' lexicon, the more (quasi) historical, little-known or majhul, i.e. unknown, Companions the Prophet of Islam appears to have had. The following pages contain of necessity only a selection of mawali, but they are by far the most important ones. Producing a seemingly ex- haustive collection of mawali, who sought the challenge to describe and define their new religion and thus helped shaping Muslim Ìadith literature and related genres, would require a hefty monograph. In my treatment of several persons I could not resist occasionally inserting certain data that are humorous or just striking, although they have no immediately appar- ent bearing on Ìadith evolution, this in order to enliven somewhat a dis- course that may otherwise turn out as dry as dust. This catalogue of mawali is presented here as much as possible in chronological order. In isnad strands on the Companions' level just a few mawali are men- tioned. There is in the first place the hapless mawla of Abu Bakr, Bilal, allegedly Islam's first muˆadhdhin, who was used once by two common links (henceforth: cls), the mawla Sulayman b. Mihran al-A¨mash (d. 147-8/764-5, see below) and the Arab Malik b. Anas (d. 179/795) in two traditions. Needless to stress that Bilal had absolutely nothing to do with those traditions4. Then there is Abu Rafi¨, a mawla of the Prophet. He turns up in the isnad bundles of a few traditions with the mawla Shu¨ba (d. 160/777, see below), the Arab Malik b. Anas and the mawla Sufyan b. ¨Uyayna (d. 198/814) as cls. The rest of traditions with Abu Rafi¨ strands are all single strands (henceforth: ss's). The mawla Thawban settled eventually in ÎimÒ5. But among MuÌammad's contemporaries in 3 Cf. MuÌammad Ibn Sa¨d, A†-†abaqat al-kubra, ed. IÌsan ¨Abbas, Beirut, n.d., I, p. 497 sqq. (= Ibn Sa¨d, A†-†abaqat). A poignant story is related about a man called Sandar, who was also mawla of the Prophet and who died during the reign of ¨Abd al- Malik. When he was still a slave of al-Zinba¨ al-Judhami, he was once seen kissing a girl. Thereupon his master had him emasculated and his nose and ears cut off. The man went to the Prophet who granted him his freedom saying: ‘A slave who was mutilated or burnt with fire by his master is henceforth free: he has become a mawla of God and His Mes- senger’. Sandar was allotted a property in Egypt where he lived until his death, cf. Ibn Sa¨d, A†-†abaqat, VII, p. 505 sqq. 4 See Yusuf b. ¨Abd ar-RaÌman al-Mizzi, TuÌfat al-ashraf bi-ma¨rifat al-a†raf, ed. ¨Abd aÒ-∑amad Sharaf ad-Din, Bhiwandi, 1965-1982, II, nos. 2037 (kh, m, d, s, q) and 2047 (m, t, s, q) (= al-Mizzi, TuÌfat). The abbreviations used are kh = Bukhari, m = Mus- lim b. al-Îajjaj, d = Abu Dawud, t = Tirmidhi, s = Nasa’i and q = Ibn Maja al-Qazwini. For a study of Mizzi and his main works, see G.H.A. JUYNBOLL, art. al- Mizzi, in Encyclo- paedia of Islam. New Edition, Leiden, 1960-2004 (= EI 2), M- p. 212-213. 5 The one and only isnad bundle going back to the Prophet via him that has a plausible cl is one with the Arab Awza¨i (d. 158/775) as cl, cf. al-Mizzi, TuÌfat, II, no. 2099 (m, d, t, s, q). THE ROLE OF NON-ARABS, THE MAWALI 357 whom the community put its trust directly after his death, we find no mawali mentioned6. Under the reigns of the khulafaˆ rashidun, i.e. the rightly-guided caliphs, no prominent mawla came to the fore to air legal opinions or decide in matters of public concern. But as from the time the Umayyads ruled, we encounter the first mawali whose reputed expertise was tapped in certain controversial cases that apparently arose. In the be- ginning this expertise was more often than not based upon individual decision making (raˆy) rather than upon knowledge of precedent (¨ilm). In several anecdotes mawali are depicted as more meritorious in the broadest sense of the word than Arabs, and in other such stories the op- posite is the case. Reading between the lines, we notice cases of enmity flaring up between Arab and mawla. In early Islam a mawla's position obviously fluctuated depending on the stance of the chronicler between (downright) negative and (downright) positive. Although MuÌammad b. Muslim Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri may be thought not to belong in this survey of early Ìadith-connected mawali, it may serve a purpose that will soon become clear to start here with two reports featuring him. Zuhri is generally considered to be a descendant of the noble clan of the Banu Zuhra of Quraysh. However, his pedigree is to say the least prob- lematical. About his father, Muslim b. ¨Ubayd Allah, and his grandfather ¨Ubayd Allah b. ¨Abd Allah, we know next to nothing. They are only very rarely mentioned as having led lives of their own. There are no tan- gible data associated with them which might make them into believable historical figures. Zuhri is commonly called after his great-grandfather Ibn Shihab about whom there is no meaningful information either. The links between him and the famous Zuhri are so obscure that one may be forgiven for thinking that they are merely fictitious links in a nasab, pedigree, in order to bridge a certain time gap. Ironically, the first anec- dote (in Ibn Sa¨d) describes how Zuhri was upbraided for avoiding trans- mitting religious knowledge from mawali. ‘But I do!', he is reported to have exclaimed, ‘however, what should I ask mawali about, if I find plenty of information with Arabs from among reliable Muhajirun and AnÒar7?' And now for the second anecdote. Although it is labeled reprehensible (munkar) by the author who quotes it8, this significant, most probably 6 Ibn Sa¨d, A†-†abaqat, II, p. 334 ff. 7 Cf. Ibn Sa¨d, A†-†abaqat, II, p. 388. 8 MuÌammad b. AÌmad adh-Dhahabi, Siyar a¨lam al-nubala’, ed. Sh. Arna’u†, Beirut, 1981-1984, V, p. 85 (= Dhahabi, Siyar). Zuhri’s alleged transmitter whom Dhahabi cites is a mawla of Yazid b. ¨Abd al-Malik, one al-Walid b. MuÌammad al-Muqari (d. 182/ 798) someone generally decried a liar who should be shunned also because of his munkar traditions from Zuhri, cf. Ibn Îajar al-‘Asqalani, Tahdhib at-tahdhib, ed. MuÌammad Sharif ad-Din, Hyderabad, 1325, reprint Beirut, 1968, XI, p. 149 (= Ibn Îajar, Tahdhib). 358 G.H.A. JUYNBOLL apocryphal, dialogue describing how Zuhri was once interrogated by the Umayyad caliph ¨Abd al-Malik b. Marwan touches directly on the mawla-Arab question: “¨Abd al-Malik asked me (i.e. Zuhri): ‘Where did you come from?' ‘From Mecca,' I answered.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • University of Lo Ndo N Soas the Umayyad Caliphate 65-86
    UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SOAS THE UMAYYAD CALIPHATE 65-86/684-705 (A POLITICAL STUDY) by f Abd Al-Ameer 1 Abd Dixon Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philoso] August 1969 ProQuest Number: 10731674 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731674 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2. ABSTRACT This thesis is a political study of the Umayyad Caliphate during the reign of f Abd a I -M a lik ibn Marwan, 6 5 -8 6 /6 8 4 -7 0 5 . The first chapter deals with the po litical, social and religious background of ‘ Abd al-M alik, and relates this to his later policy on becoming caliph. Chapter II is devoted to the ‘ Alid opposition of the period, i.e . the revolt of al-Mukhtar ibn Abi ‘ Ubaid al-Thaqafi, and its nature, causes and consequences. The ‘ Asabiyya(tribal feuds), a dominant phenomenon of the Umayyad period, is examined in the third chapter. An attempt is made to throw light on its causes, and on the policies adopted by ‘ Abd al-M alik to contain it.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    The history of the conquest of Egypt, being a partial translation of Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam's "Futuh Misr" and an analysis of this translation Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Hilloowala, Yasmin, 1969- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 21:08:06 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282810 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly fi-om the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectiotiing the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book.
    [Show full text]
  • The Authority of the Sunnah According to the Qur'anic Text
    ajiss301-latest_ajiss 12/10/2012 6:55 PM Page 48 The Authority of the Sunnah According to the Qur’anic Text Ahmad Eldridge Cleaver Abstract This study analyzes what the Qur’an ascribes to the Sunnah of Muhammad and highlights the existence of indicators within the Qur’anic text as to the Sunnah’s significance, role, and legal au- thority. Insight into its place and role is researched according to the Qur’an, and answers are sought as to its significance in Is- lamic law and thought. The answers presented are the ones found in the Qur’anic discourse circulating around Muhammad. The analysis, which examines thirty-five Qur’anic verses that mention Muhammad, is organized according to several themes, among them obedience to God and to Muhammad and the lat- ter’s judicial role. Introduction The Qur’an, the first source of the Islamic lifestyle,1 contains numerous rules and broad guidelines related to religious, spiritual, moral, legal, social, and economic matters, as well as to what is acceptable in war and peace.2 Such verses are often constructed as a direct dialogue with Muhammad (Q. 2:80, 97, 135; 3:154; 8:38; 17:110). For example, Q. 2:80 proclaims: Ahmad Eldridge Cleaver is an American Ph.D. candidate in Islamic studies at the Interna- tional University of Africa in Khartoum, Sudan. He earned his M.A. in Islamic studies from the Centre of Islamic Studies, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London. His first published book Soul on Islam (Seaburn: 2006) is a partly biographical work that discusses misconceptions about Islam and his conversion.
    [Show full text]
  • Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Al-Ṭaḥāwī (D
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321/933) Carolyn Anne Brunelle University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Islamic Studies Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, and the Law Commons Recommended Citation Brunelle, Carolyn Anne, "From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321/933)" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1626. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626 For more information, please contact [email protected]. From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 321/933) Abstract Scholars of Islamic law point to the absence of any extant work of legal theory between the Risāla of al- Shāfiʿī and the Fuṣūl of al-Jaṣṣāṣ as a major barrier to reconstructing the history of Islamic legal thought. However, careful analysis of three major works of the Ḥanafī jurist al-Ṭaḥāwī, Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, Sharḥ maʿānī al-āthār and Sharḥ mushkil al-āthār, reveals the existence of myriad brief passages elaborating questions of legal theory scattered throughout their many volumes. This study reconstructs the legal thought of al-Ṭaḥāwī as a window onto legal theory in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th centuries, a crucial period of transformation between late formative and post-formative Islamic law.
    [Show full text]
  • Learn Islam in Your Language KALEMAH
    Learn Islam in your language KALEMAH KALEMAH ISLAMIC CENTER is a community center for all. Kalemah was founded in 2007 and is managed by a Board of Emirati Nationals, an Executive Committee and a staff of over a dozen full- time employees. We operate based on charitable donations from philanthropic individuals, organizations and governmental bodies. We are a non profit organization officially registered under the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD) Government of Dubai. Our Mission: To propagate the pristine, unadulterated teachings of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims in Dubai in the most effective and appropriate way. Our Vision: The souls of a nation, connected to their Creator. Ikhtiṣār ʿUlūm al-Ḥadīth By Ibn Kathīr (d.774H) All praise be to Allāh and may peace be upon His chosen slave. To proceed: Verily the science of the prophetic narrations, in which a group of scholars – old and new – have taken an interest in speaking about; like al-Hākim, al-Khatīb, those who preceded them from the scholars and those who came after from the Hufāz of this nation. It is from the most complete/important and beneficial sciences which I would love to comment on in a beneficial, comprehensive summarised manner to reach the benefits, and to make easy the obscure matters. The book that I relied upon to abridge is [by] al- Shaykh al-Imām al-Alāmah Abū Amr ibn al- Salāh – May Allāh encompass him with His mercy – from the well-known books amongst the students of this field, and maybe some of the skilful from the young have memorised it – treading behind him, to divide that which has been opened, to summarise that which has been explained, and to organise that which has preceded.
    [Show full text]
  • Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam
    Institute ofAsian and African Studies at the Hebrew University The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation offprint from JERUSALEM STUDIES IN ARABIC AND ISLAM 8 1986 FROM JAHIUYYA TO ISLAM I Part II THE MAGNES PRESSOTHE HEBREW UNIVERSITY-JERUSALEM J5AI 8. 1986 THE KAcBA Aspects of its ritual functions and position in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times Uri Rubin The history of the Ka-ba in pre-Islamic times, as recorded in the Arab sources, is, in many cases, related from a specific Islamic viewpoint, and formulated in a special Islamic terminology, which has, sometimes, un- dergone a process of adaptation and re-adaptation. But, in spite of these disadvantages of the Muslim records, which have already been noticed by western scholars, lone may still come across many passages which seem to reflect the authentic pre-Islamic reality of the Ka-ba. Even pas- sages containing details which appear to be contradictory, or, inconsis- tent, or even legendary, are, more often than not, most revealing with respect to the history of the Ka-ba, The present study is based upon the assumption that much of the inconsistency in the information about the Ka-ba, as recorded in our sources, is essentially the result of real changes and developments which took place in the structure, ritual functions and position of the Ka'ba in pre-Islamic times, and in the attitude of the worshippers towards this sanctuary since it became part of Muslim worship. Some of these changes and developments are studied in the present article, the outline of which is as follows: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The University of Chicago the Spaces Between the Teeth
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE SPACES BETWEEN THE TEETH: ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT, AND INTERACTION ON THE ISLAMIC-BYZANTINE FRONTIER VOLUME ONE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY A. ASA EGER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2008 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE SPACES BETWEEN THE TEETH: ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT, AND INTERACTION ON THE ISLAMIC-BYZANTINE FRONTIER VOLUME TWO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY A. ASA EGER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ xiii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ xvi ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... xviii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Ibn Ḥanbal's Reconstruction of the Ṣaḥīfa of ʿamr B. Shuʿayb
    chapter 8 Ibn Ḥanbal’s Reconstruction of the Ṣaḥīfa of ʿAmr b. Shuʿayb: A Preliminary Assessment Scott Lucas 1 Preface One of Gautier H.A. Juynboll’s earliest articles was his 1972 contribution to Der Islam, “Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir (1892–1958) and his edition of Ibn Ḥan- bal’s Musnad.” In it, he provided a positive assessment of this important edi- tion of the Musnad and a helpful guide to Aḥmad Shākir’s commentary, espe- cially regarding contemporary issues, that is dispersed throughout it. Juynboll’s admiration for the effort and creativity in Aḥmad Shākir’s hadith criticism is explicit in the article, along with his observation that Shākir did not deviate “one inch from orthodox Islamic scholarship.”1 It also was prescient for Juyn- boll, in 1972, to predict that “Orthodox Islamic tradition criticism may … even- tually help Western scholars in their research into Muslim traditions.”2 During the 1990s the project left incomplete by Shaykh Shākir was under- taken afresh under the general editorship of Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ (1928–2016) and a team of editors, which resulted in a magnificent 45-volume edition (with an additional 5 volumes of indices) of Ibn Ḥanbal’s (d. 241/855) Musnad.3 Just as Juynboll recognised the great value of Shākir’s edition, with its extensive internal and external cross-referencing, evaluation of the reliability of each hadith, and commentary, the Arnaʾūṭ edition is extraordinarily useful for its unparalleled cross-referencing and commentary, drawing on myriad sources and vast erudition. Thus, in this edited volume, it seems especially appropriate to analyse a small section of this significant early collection of hadiths.
    [Show full text]
  • Apostasy from Islam: a Historical Perspective*
    JSAI 31 (2006) APOSTASY FROM ISLAM: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE* David Cook Rice University 1. Introduction Apostasy from Islam is a subject that has attracted some attention from the scholarly community during the recent past. However, for the most part this attention has been confined to the legal literature and has not involved a thorough survey of the historical records to see how apostates have been treated in practice and whether the uncompromising laws concerning them have been implemented or, in certain cases, ignored. The object of this paper will be to survey some of the sources until the Ottoman period with the hope of drawing conclusions about the practical treatment of apostates. Apostasy from Islam and conversion to it are topics in which serious research is scanty. During the last decades, several studies have been dedicated to conversion to Islam. 1 However, few studies have dealt with the far more complicated question of Muslims converting to other faiths. Muslims have occasionally attempted to deny that such conversions have happened at all, or characterize them as a fringe occurrence which does *I would like to thank Prof. Fred Donner for reading this manuscript and making valuable suggestions. 1 Richard Bulliet, Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quan­ titative History (Cambridge: Harvard, 1979); Nehemia Levtzion, ed., Conversion to Islam (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979); Yaacov Lev, "Persecutions and Con­ version to Islam," Asian and African Studies 22 (1988): 73-91; Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi (eds.), Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1990); Devin DeWeese, Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde (Penn State: University Park, 1994) (for a complete bibliography of relevant literature on the subject of conversion to Islam, see pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Muslim Distinction: Imitation and the Anxiety of Jewish, Christian, And
    Muslim Distinction: Imitation and the Anxiety of Jewish, Christian, and Other Influences Youshaa Patel Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Ebrahim Moosa, Supervisor ___________________________ Bruce Lawrence ___________________________ Leela Prasad ___________________________ Carl Ernst Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School at Duke University 2012 ABSTRACT Muslim Distinction: Imitation and the Anxiety of Jewish, Christians, and Other Influences by Youshaa Patel Graduate Program in Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Ebrahim Moosa, Supervisor ___________________________ Bruce Lawrence ___________________________ Leela Prasad __________________________ Carl Ernst An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Religion in the Graduate School at Duke University 2012 Copyright by Youshaa Patel 2012 ABSTRACT Contrary to later Muslim tradition, the first Muslims initially looked favorably upon assimilating Jewish and Christian religious and cultural practices. As Muslim collective religious identity conjoined with political power, Muslims changed their religious policy from imitation to distinction; they began to define themselves both above and against their arch­religious rivals. They visibly and publicly materialized their unique brand of monotheism into a distinct religious community. This dissertation is the first attempt to map the Muslim religious discourse that expressed this deliberate turn away from Jews, Christians, and others across pre­modern Islamic history. First, I argue that this discourse functions as a prism through which to view the interplay of religion and politics; a key function of both empire and religion in a pre­modern Muslim context was to uphold hierarchical social distinctions.
    [Show full text]
  • This Thesis Is Submitted to the University of Wales in Fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
    BAHRAIN SINCE THE PROPHET'S TIME TO THE ABBASID PERIOD HAYA AL - NAIMI THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES IN FULFILMENT OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. 1998 LIST OF CONTENTS Declaration List of Contents ii Acknowledgements v Abstract vi Map vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Preamble 1 1.2 The Problem of the Research 3 1.3 Evaluation of Sources 4 1.4 Methodology and Structure of Thesis 10 CHAPTER TWO: DELIMITING BAHRAIN 2.1 Delimiting Bahrain 14 2.2 The Towns of Bahrain 25 2.3 The Bahrain Villages 43 2.4 The Important towns of Bahrain 47 CHAPTER THREE: BAHRAIN DURING THE LIFETIME OF THE PROPHET 3 Deputation Al Ala Bin Al Hadrami to Bahrain 50 .1 of 3 Deputation Abdul Qais to Madian. 54 .2 of 3 The Second Delegation 59 .3 3.4 Bahrain's Administration 60 3 Islamic Administration in the first year of Hijra 65 .5 3 Bahrain Participates in the wars against the Apostates 69 .6 3. 7 The system of rule and Administration 74 3. 8 Al Imam in Bahrain 80 3. 9 The Distinguished Companion Al Ala Al Hadhrami 82 3. 10 Tribute to be Paid by Bahrain 84 3. 11 Defence and War systems 84 3. 12 The Judicial System 88 3. 13 The Police 90 3. 14 Invasion of Fars from Bahrain 91 3. 15 300 Horsemen participated in the Battle of Basra 93 and Siffin. 3. 16 The Personality of the Governor of Bahrain during 94 Omar Ibn Al Khattab the Tenure of .
    [Show full text]
  • The Statements of the Imaams on Theological Rhetoric
    أا ا ام اﻝم و اه اﻝم THE STATEMENTS OF T HE IMAAMS ON THEOLOGICAL RH ETORIC AND PHILOSOPHY Compiled by Aboo Waheedah as-Salafee AlMuflihoon.Com The Statement of the Imaams on Theological Rhetoric and Philosophy AALLMMUUFFLLIIIHHOOOONN...CCOOMM TTHHEE SSTTAATTEEMMEENNTTSS OOFF TTHHEE IIMMAAAAMMSS OONN TTHHEEOOLLOOGGIICCAALL RRHHEETTOORRIICC AANNDD PPHHIILLOOSSOOPPHHYY أاأا اا امام امام واهواه امام almuflihoon.com The Statement of the Imaams on Theological Rhetoric and Philosophy PREFACE : By the Name of Allaah I begin , and no doubt All the Perfect praise is for Allaah : The first part of this e-book is mainly a compilation derived from works which had already been translated / transcribed by other brothers/sisters. We have tried diligently, to make references to all the appropriate sources. We would urge and emphasize the reader to refer and go back and read on the original sources of these statements compiled here. So as to get the whole clear picture of the aqeedah of the Straight path: the methodology of the Salaf : the saved sect. We have made the format of the book such that we provide the statements of one Imaam at a time. [The order of the Imaams listed ; is random , and not due to precedence of merit] . It is important to note that any and each of these statements ; carries great weight and meaning. Some of these statements may be clearly defining the deviance of the innovators ; while others show what kind of treatment the innovators deserve , while others relate the different groups affected and ascribing to this innovation of philosophy. So, take heed . In case where there is more than one statement of a particular Imaam , then we have listed them by using letters (i.e.
    [Show full text]