Saif bin Omar's Novel about the Ridda of the Tamim Tribe

Abstract

This article re-examines the authenticity of Sayf Bin Omar's account of the ridda among Tamīm, his own tribe. Sayf implies that the main body of Tamīm remained faithful to Madina at the advent of Muhammad's death. However, modern scholars have discredited Sayf's account on the grounds that 1) the Hadīth's critics considered him unreliable; hence rejecting his transmissions altogether. 2) All other Arab historians disagree with him on this matter. The article conducts an extensive examination into the attitude of every single Tamīmī section in the ridda and finds out that Sayf did not minimize the share of his tribe in the ridda as generally believed. This conclusion serves to reach a better understanding of that apostasy movement which was attributed to Sajah – a soothsayer who is said to have belonged to Tamīm. Keywords: Tribe of Tamim, Ridda wars, Sayf Bin Omar's Transmission, Early islamic history.