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Conversion and Religious Identity in Early Islamic

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Conversion and Religious Identity in Early Islamic THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BY THE BOOK: CONVERSION AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN EARLY ISLAMIC BILĀD AL-SHĀM AND AL-JAZĪRA 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 JESSICA SYLVAN MUTTER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2018 Table of Contents Chapter 1: A Review of Relevant Literature on Religious Conversion: Toward a Theory of Conversion in Early Islam………………………………………………………………………...1 Conversion and Conversion Studies: A Christian Phenomenon?.………………………...1 Conversion in the Formative Era of Religions…………………………………………....7 The Limits of Terminology………………………………………………………………15 Terminology of Conversion in the Qur’an……………………………………………….20 Ontological Conversions…………………………………………………………………22 Creative Methodologies for Studying Conversion………………………………………24 Studies of Conversion and Related Phenomena in Early and Medieval Islam..................32 Chapter 2: Historical Representations of Conversion in Early Islamic Syria and the Jazira…….41 Historical Documentation of Conversion and Related Phenomena, 640-770 CE……….45 Thomas the Presbyter.........................................................................................................49 The Maronite Chronicle.....................................................................................................49 Isho ‘Yahb III.....................................................................................................................52 Sebeos................................................................................................................................55 Ktābā d-rēsh mellē (Book of the Main Points)..................................................................57 The Flourishing of Historical Writing on Conversion: 770-850 CE…………………….59 History of the Patriarchs....................................................................................................62 The Chronicle of Zuqnīn...................................................................................................64 The Martyrdom of Rawḥ...................................................................................................77 Theophanes Confessor.......................................................................................................78 Timothy of Kākhushtā.......................................................................................................82 Sīra and Maghāzī in the Early Ninth Century CE……......................................................88 Sayf b. ‘Umar.....................................................................................................................84 Al-Wāqidī..........................................................................................................................84 ‘Abd al-Razzāq..................................................................................................................86 The Shahāda.......................................................................................................................90 ii Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Hishām..................................................................................................92 Conclusions……………………………………………………......……………………..95 Chapter 3: Conversion in Early Islamic Syrian and Jaziran Apocalyptic Writing…………........98 Historical Context…………………………....................................................................101 Doctrina Jacobi Nuper Baptizi.......……..........................................................................107 The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephrem.......................................................................…......109 The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius…........................................................................111 The Edessene Apocalypse…............................................................................................119 The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles….............................................................................120 Anastasius of Sinai….......................................................................................................121 Sergius Bahira…..............................................................................................................122 The Greek Apocalypse of Daniel….................................................................................125 Apocalypticism in the Qur’ān…......................................................................................126 Kitāb al-Fitan…………………………………………………………………………...128 Other Biblical References………………………………………………………137 Portrayals of Syrian Christians in al-Fitan..........................................................138 Demographic Tensions…………………………………………………………140 Converts and the Army…………………………………………………………142 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………..........150 Chapter 4: Conversion in Polemical Writing……………….......................................................152 Equivocation....................................................................................................................156 The Qur’an.......................................................................................................................159 Disputations, Refutations, and Apologia.........................................................................160 A Disputation between a Monk of Bēt Ḥālē and an Arab Notable......................161 The Triunity of the One God...............................................................................161 The Letter from Patriarch John to an Amīr of the Mhaggrāyē............................162 Theodore bar Konī...............................................................................................163 Abū Rā’iṭa al-Takrītī............................................................................................163 iii The Disputation of Abraham...............................................................................166 Theodore Abū Qurra............................................................................................168 ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī..................................................................................................175 Al-Jāḥiẓ................................................................................................................176 ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī.......................................................................................................177 ‘Alī b. Yaḥyā b. al-Munajjim...............................................................................180 Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq...................................................................................................180 Al-Jāmi‘ Wujūh al-Imān......................................................................................181 The Apology of al-Kindī......................................................................................183 Risālat ibn al-Layth..............................................................................................185 ‘Umar II and Leo III Correspondence.................................................................186 Timothy I.............................................................................................................186 Theodore of Edessa..............................................................................................188 The Life of John of Edessa..................................................................................189 Martyrologies...................................................................................................................190 Mass Martyrdom Narratives............................................................................................201 Conclusions......................................................................................................................206 Chapter 5: Laws and Rituals Surrounding Conversion between Christianity and Islam.............207 Conversion in Islamic Law..............................................................................................208 The Shahāda and Other Rituals of Conversion................................................................209 Taxes on Converts............................................................................................................210 The Army and the Diwan.................................................................................................214 Apostasy...........................................................................................................................218 Marriage and Conversion.................................................................................................221 Inheritance and Slavery....................................................................................................224 Boundaries and Restrictions............................................................................................225 Rituals of Conversion to Christianity from Islam: Education and Process.....................227 Interactions with Muslims................................................................................................231 Reversion.........................................................................................................................233 iv Inheritance in Christian Legal Writing............................................................................234 Canons on Conversion and Interaction with Muslims.....................................................235 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................244
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