Resolving Ambivalence through (Claimed) Excommunication: The Depiction of al-Ashʿath b. Qays in Early and Classical Arabic-Islamic Historiography

Abstract

ABSTRACT This contribution approaches the Kindī aristocrat al-Ashʿath b. Qays as a case-study for a contested figure in Muslim cultural memory. Al-Ashʿath is portrayed in a wide variety of conflicting reports, suggesting a spectrum of interpretations ranging from him being remembered as a 'villain' excommunicated by Muḥammad to having been one of the main 'heroes' of the divine miracle of the early Islamic conquest of Iraq. Beginning with the only claim that al-Ashʿath was indeed excommunicated through cursing (laʿana) within the corpus of early and classical Arabic-Islamic historiography, this article proceeds to disentangle the polarized narratives surrounding this ambivalent figure.