Muḥammad's Body: Prophetic Assemblages and The
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MUḤAMMAD’S BODY: PROPHETIC ASSEMBLAGES AND THE BARAKA NETWORK Michael Muhammad Knight A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religious Studies. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Juliane Hammer Carl W. Ernst Jessica Boon Omid Safi Scott C. Lucas © 2016 Michael Muhammad Knight ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT MICHAEL MUHAMMAD KNIGHT: Muhammad’s Body: Prophetic Assemblages and the Baraka Network (under the direction of Juliane Hammer) This dissertation examines representations of Muhammad in early Sunnī biographical (sira) literature and hadith collections, focusing on the ways in which these sources describe Muhammad’s body. A significant gap persists between Islamic studies and contemporary theories of the body. Additionally, within Islamic studies engagements of gender and explorations of Muslim masculinities remain critically underdeveloped. This dissertation begins to address those gaps, employing contemporary theories of the body as a framework for exploring representations of Muhammad, thus contributing to studies of the hadith and biographical literature beyond the question of their historical authenticity. With attention to the Deleuzo- Guattarian question, “What can a body do?” it tracks change in the sources’ representation of Muhammad’s bodily boundaries, powers, and limits, exploring the ways in which his body enables connections to other bodies toward the achievement of a greater body with expanded powers, a prophetic assemblage. Charting treatments of Muhammad across the development of hadith and biographical sources from approximately the 9th to 11th centuries CE, this dissertation demonstrates that the sources reflect a growing investment in Muhammad’s power to achieve intercorporeal linkage with other bodies, through which the prophetic body iii extends beyond its expected boundaries. Muhammad’s Companions, transformed by these connections, become authorized in the literature not only as eyewitness reporters of Muhammad’s sayings and actions, but also as intensely embodied traces of Muhammad’s corporeality. This dissertation also demonstrates that while Muhammad’s body grows in its capacity for extending its power through other bodies, this movement does not reflect an absolute transformation or sweeping erasure of past narratives. Across the hadith and sira corpus, the prophetic body and its powers remain significantly in flux, reflecting the multiplicity and heterogeneity of reporters and networks contributing to these literatures. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work became possible due to sacrifices that were not my own. My first word of thanks must go to my mother, Susan Knight, who struggled tirelessly to raise me alone, gave more to that project than anyone could reasonably expect, and also taught me to value books. The first acknowledgment also belongs to Sadaf Knight, who makes the world in which my life as a scholar is conceivable. I cannot imagine doing this work—or even being someone who does this work—without Sadaf’s impact on my life in every imaginable dimension. I could not have asked for a better advisor than Juliane Hammer. From my arrival in Chapel Hill five years ago, Juliane has been a careful reader and insightful conversation partner who sharpened my thought at every stage of my doctoral training. Beyond Juliane’s mentorship in the dissertation from its earliest unformed ideas through my coursework, exams, prospectus, and multiple drafts, her guidance equipped me more broadly for an academic career. In her generous support and treasured friendship, Juliane made a doctoral program’s various ups and downs more navigable. For so much of what these five years have given me, I remain grateful to Juliane and her family. Carl W. Ernst also contributed profoundly to my professional development, and has been an invaluable resource throughout this process. Within and beyond his participation in my committees, Carl has consistently lent his support and guidance to my work and v development as a scholar. Omid Safi, who was instrumental in my development even before I came to Chapel Hill, remained a supportive mentor well beyond his official role, offering counsel not only in my scholarship, but the intersections between professional life and the world beyond campus limits. In different ways, Juliane, Carl, and Omid all inspired me to recognize the social responsibilities of our scholarship. This work has been helped immeasurably by the strength of my committee. Jessica Boon’s thorough reading and the surgical precision of her insights benefited the project from its initial germination. Scott C. Lucas helped this project enormously by lending his extensive knowledge of the sources. During the past five years at Chapel Hill, I have been additionally fortunate to work with faculty who were not only brilliant intellectuals and valuable resources, but also incredibly generous with their time. It has been a pleasure to learn from Cemil Aydin in seminars, his participation in my doctoral exams, and our ongoing conversations. I am grateful for the opportunity to have engaged Muslim theologians and Qur’ānic studies with Mohsen Kadivar at Duke University. Beyond my official mentors, I remain appreciative of the unofficial mentors who encouraged and advised me through the process of graduate work. In particular, I am thankful for Kecia Ali and Ali Asani, who supported my entrance into doctoral training and have continued to provide guidance and encouragement. I also appreciate my conversation partners among the fellow graduate students in our department, especially Matthew Hotham, Travis Proctor, Katie Merriman, Megan Goodwin, Jenna Supp-Montgomerie, Shannon Trosper Schorey, and Timothy Smith (and from the Duke side, Sadia Sultana and Zaid Adhami). There is nothing that I can say to adequately express my appreciation for Laury Silvers and her intervention in my life. I was an undergraduate dropout with a problematic vi reputation when Laury relentlessly defended my work, challenged me to continue to grow, and introduced me to the academic study of religion. It was through Laury that I first came to present at an American Academy of Religion conference—at a time when I would not have been able to afford the registration and trip myself, and did not even know that there was such a thing as the American Academy of Religion—and had my first glimpse of the field. Finally, I wish to thank UNC’s Muslim Students Association. Through my interactions with MSA members, I came to appreciate ways in which our responsibilities as scholars and members of a campus community often transcend the classroom. It was significantly through my engagement of the UNC MSA that I began to find my identity as a scholar. As my project in part concerns the ways in which we are continually produced, reproduced, and transformed by our encounters with others, I recognize myself as having been changed by these encounters. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: WHAT CAN A PROPHETIC BODY DO?.........................................................................1 Baraka and Prophetic Corporeality…………………………………………………………………..…...5 Ḥadīth Studies, the Body, and Queer Theory………………………………………………………..16 Organization………………………………………………………………………………………………………24 CHAPTER 1: DUST, SPERM, AND CLOT: THE QUR’ĀN AND EARLY MAGHĀZĪ/ SĪRA LITERATURES……………………………………………………………………………………………..……….28 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………28 Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...35 Bodily Products………………………………………………………………………………………………….39 The Modified Body…………………………………………………………………………………………..…50 Muḥammad Postmortem…………………………………………………………………………………....55 The Sexed Body………………………………………………………………………………………………….58 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………………………………..75 CHAPTER 2: A LUMP FORMED AND UNFORMED: EARLY ḤADĪTH COLLECTIONS………..….79 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………79 Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...83 Bodily Products………………………………………………………………………………………………….85 The Modified Body………………………………………………………………………………………...…101 Muḥammad Postmortem…………………………………………………………………………....…….112 viii The Sexed Body………………………………………………………………………………………………..115 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………………………...…129 CHAPTER 3: SKELETIZING THE BARAKA MACHINE: THE ṢAḤĪḤ/SUNAN ERA……..……….137 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………….137 Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………138 Bodily Products………………………………………………………………………………………………..141 The Modified Body………………………………………………………………………………………...…153 Muḥammad Postmortem……………………………………………………………………………….…161 The Sexed Body………………………………………………………………………………………………..163 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………………...172 CHAPTER 4: NABĪ WITHOUT ORGANS: SUNNĪ ḤADĪTH COLLECTIONS IN THE SHĪ’Ī CENTURY…………..…………………………………………………………………....………………………….176 Introduction……………………………………………………………….……………………………………176 Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………180 Bodily Products………………………………………………………………………………………………..182 Fāṭima………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….194 The Modified Body…………………………………………………………………………………………...202 Muḥammad Postmortem……………………………………………………………………………….…205 The Sexed Body………………………………………………………………………………………….…….207 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………………………...217 CONCLUSION: SECRETING BARAKA……………………………………..……………………………………..226 Prophetic Food………………………………………………………………………………………………...229 Gendering Prophethood…………………………………………………………………………………...234 The