THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NARRATIVE REPRESENTATIONS OF ABŪ BAKR (D. 13/634) IN THE SECOND/EIGHTH CENTURY 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 MEHMETCAN AKPINAR CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2016 Copyright © 2016 by Mehmetcan Akpınar. All rights reserved. To my beloved mother, Kadriye Akpınar and to the memory of my father, Selahattin Akpınar (1932-2015) TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................................viii LIST OF CHARTS ........................................................................................................................................ ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. x ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................xiii ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................................................... xv INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology...........................................................................................................................................................6 Literature Review.................................................................................................................................................12 Organization of Chapters....................................................................................................................................16 CHAPTER ONE: ABŪ BAKR’S EARLY CONVERSION TO ISLAM AND THE MONK BAḤĪRĀ.............. 19 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 19 2. The Tradition of Ibn ʿAbbās in two 2nd/8th-century theological works: Ḍirār b. ʿAmr’s (d. ca. 200/815) K. al-taḥrīsh and ʿAbdallāh b. Yazīd’s K. radd ʿalā al-rawāfiḍ ............................................... 32 2.1. Religious and political debates organized by Yaḥyā b. Khālid al-Barmakī (d. 190/805) ...................37 2.2. Narrative analysis .........................................................................................................................................41 3. The tradition of Maymūn b. Mihrān ................................................................................................. 44 3.1. Vitae of Maymūn, Furāt, and Shabāba.......................................................................................................46 iv 3.2. Narrative analysis .........................................................................................................................................49 4. Baḥīrā and the Abū Ṭālib story .......................................................................................................... 52 4.1. Version A........................................................................................................................................................54 4.1.a. The tradition of Ibn Isḥāq.....................................................................................................................54 4.1.b. The tradition of Dāwūd b. al-Ḥuṣayn..................................................................................................57 4.2. Version B: the tradition of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī ......................................................................................63 4.3. Comparison between versions A and B .....................................................................................................66 4.4. Narrative analysis .........................................................................................................................................70 5. Summary of findings ........................................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER TWO: ABŪ BAKR’S TITLE “AL-ṢIDDĪQ” ............................................................................... 77 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 77 2. Ḍirār b. ʿAmr’s account........................................................................................................................ 84 2.1. Ḥassān b. Thābit’s (d. 55/674) poem about Abū Bakr..............................................................................85 2.2. Narrative analysis .........................................................................................................................................90 3. Al-Ṣiddīq in the isrāʾ traditions............................................................................................................ 93 3.1. The composition of Ibn Isḥāq’s (d. 150/767) narration of the isrāʾ .......................................................95 3.1.1. Al-Ḥasan’s (d. 110/728) narration of the isrāʾ episodes....................................................................97 3.1.2. Ibn Isḥāq’s transmission of al-Ḥasan’s traditions...........................................................................100 3.1.3. Reconstructing al-Ḥasan’s original narration.................................................................................103 3.1.4. Deconstructing Ibn Isḥāq’s account: Segments A and B................................................................107 3.1.5. Overview................................................................................................................................................112 3.2. Muqātil b. Sulaymān’s (d. 150/767) account...........................................................................................114 v 3.2.1. The problem of Muqātil’s sources in his Tafsīr................................................................................116 3.2.2. Muqātil’s sources for the isrāʾ traditions..........................................................................................120 3.3. The tradition of al-Zuhrī (d. 124/742)......................................................................................................126 3.3.1 The tradition of al-Zuhrī in Maʿmar b. Rāshid’s transmission.......................................................127 3.3.2. The tradition of al-Zuhrī in Yūnus b. Yazīd’s transmission..........................................................131 3.4. The tradition of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Zayd b. Aslam (d. 182/798)..........................................................137 3.5. Jerusalem is shown to Muḥammad (al-Zuhrī II) ....................................................................................140 3.6. Review and comparison of the isrāʾ traditions.......................................................................................143 3.7. Narrative analysis of the isrāʾ traditions .................................................................................................147 4. Summary of findings ......................................................................................................................... 151 CHAPTER THREE: ABŪ BAKR AND BILĀL ........................................................................................... 159 Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 159 1. Bilāl’s conversion and punishment................................................................................................. 162 1.1. The tradition of ʿAbdallāh b. Masʿūd (d. 32/652)....................................................................................163 1.2. The tradition of Mujāhid b. Jabr (d. 104/722).........................................................................................167 1.3. Comparison of the traditions of ʿAbdallāh b. Masʿūd and Mujāhid b. Jabr ........................................170 1.4. Narrative analysis of the story of the first seven believers .................................................................172 2. The tradition of ʿUrwa (d. 94/712)................................................................................................... 177 2.1. The recension of Hishām b. ʿUrwa (d. 147/764) .....................................................................................177 2.1.1. Ibn Isḥāq’s account ..............................................................................................................................178 2.1.2. The tradition according to Layth b. Saʿd < Hishām b. ʿUrwa.........................................................190 2.1.3. The tradition according to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn Abī al-Zinād < Hishām b. ʿUrwa .....................191 2.1.4. Other traditions according to Hishām < ʿUrwa (segments D through G)....................................197 vi 2.2.Yazīd b. Rūmān < ʿUrwa ..............................................................................................................................203 2.3. Preliminary outlines of ʿUrwa’s original narration...............................................................................205