Early Arabic Sources Research Articles

Al-ʿūd, pípá, Lute: An Ancient Greek Perspective on Their Prehistory

Abstract Starting from early Arabic sources, the absolute pitch of the Early Abbasid ʿūd is considered and related to evidence on pitch usage in Roman-period sources. Similar instruments, it is argued, must have existed already in late antiquity. Iconographic evidence takes us back to late Classical Greece, whose music would have provided especially fertile ground for designing such a lute. In contrast to the traditional tuning in fifths and fourths throughout, lutes with equidistant design had also existed for a long time, likely also on precursors of the ʿūd. The association of this style with the name of Manṣūr Zalzal must therefore be reassessed.

Translations of Historical Works from Middle Persian into Arabic

Abstract This article maps the mainly lost Sasanian historiographical literature through the Arabic translations of Middle Persian works and the information preserved in early Arabic sources. Although only two texts have been preserved in the original Middle Persian, the Arabic sources reveal a sizeable corpus in translation.

Study of Dagestan through the 9th-13th centuries Arabic sources in historiography of Russian and overseas scholars

The article reviews main works of Russian and foreign authors devoted to the study of the history of medieval Dagestan based on Arabic sources of the 9th-13th centuries on a chronological basis. The Dagestan society political and social life, historical geography, islamization of the region were these and other questions under the focus of these scholars who had developed them on the basis of the in-depth study and knowledge of Arabic historical and geographical sources. The scientific novelty of the paper is determined by the fact that in this work a comparative study of the literature throughout the 19th and early 21st centuries, belonging to the Russian and foreign historiography on Dagestan according to the Arab authors of the 9th-13th centuries, is carried out. The material presented in the article makes it possible to see the source-study outcomes of scholars in studying the history of medieval Dagestan from early Arabic sources, and shows different aspects of the problem which need further development.

Review of the criticisms against Prophet Muhammad’s marriage with Zaynab Bint Jahsh

Since the 7th century, we have had criticisms of Prophet Mohammed for his preaching of monotheism by his non-Muslim Arab contemporaries and his discussions on Jewish Faith by Jewish Arabs. During the middle ages, various western and Byzantine Christian thinkers described the Middle East as a hotbed of sexuality and Prophet Muhammad‟s marriage came to be a focal point of criticism in biographical writings. Western critics such as William Montgomery Watt, Dermenghem, Washington Irving, Lammens, William Muir and Karen Armstrong considered Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) to be lustful in his marriage to his wives.His marriage with Zaynab bint Jahsh, more than others, attracted bitterer criticism. Unfortunately, the early Arabic sources relied upon by critics lack scientific. It is against this assertion that this paper re-examined existing literature on the issue and identified the relevance of the marriage to the contemporary time using a combination of historical and exegetical research methods. Historical method is necessary in this work because the author researched into works on biography to study the view of biographers on the personalities discussed. Exegetical works on the Qur‟an are also consulted to navigate the views of exegetes on the verses that relate to the subject matter. The aim of this work is to probe the authenticity of sources relied upon by critics and to relate the lessons in the marriage to the contemporary time. Findings show that the criticism of Prophet Muhammad‟s marriage to Zainab lacks objectivity and so requires a review for the sake of moral justice.

From the End to the Beginning: Socrates as Iconoclast in Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa and the Contestation of His Biography in Greek and Arabic Sources

From the moment of his death in 399 BCE, Socrates has had a remarkable impact on the history of political and philosophical thought. Although we have no writings from Socrates’s own hand, his characterization in the works of both Plato and Xenophon has irrevocably shaped our modern conception of his life, ideas, and ultimate execution. Yet, there were alternative trajectories for and transmutations of Socrates’s life and death circulating in the premodern Mediterranean. In this article, I will analyze Socrates’s appearance as a religious iconoclast in the work of the thirteenth-century biographer Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa and trace the history of this idea in early Arabic sources. I will then explore views of Socrates in early Christian authors and late antique hagiographical literature, before arriving at Byzantium during the Iconoclast Era, with the aim of illuminating potential points of contact between the Greek and Arabic Socrates.

“The Story of the Vizier and His Son” from <em>The Hundred and One Nights</em>: Parallels in Midrashic Literature and Backgrounds in Early Arabic Sources

One of the many topics that attracted the attention of scholars of The Thousand and One Nights (and scholars of medieval Arabic literature in general) was its correspondence with early Jewish elements in its varied literary materials. Similarly, a reading of its sibling, the smaller medieval collection of The Hundred and One Nights, reveals that its stories hide a number of plot constituents with analogues in early Jewish literature, the Bible, the Talmud, the Midrash, and so on, as well as parallels in medieval sources in Arabic related in some way to Jewish heritage. The article is an initial inquiry into this matter, focusing on one of the collection’s core corpus stories, “The Story of the Vizier and His Son.”

Most-Cherished Gemstones in the Medieval Arab World

AbstractIn the medieval Arab world, gemstones were used as ornaments, set in jewellery, seals, and amulets, and also were investments and status symbols. As a result of the Arab conquests and their access to new regions, the distribution and use of gemstones underwent substantial changes. Our research pieces together information regarding the production, use, trade, tradition and cultural value of gemstones from early Arabic sources; this information is compared with material found in ancient Greek and Roman sources and also European sources from the medieval period.The most valued stones were corundum, diamond, emerald and pearl. Other stones, such as turquoise, carnelian, garnet, onyx, lazurite and malachite, were less expensive and therefore more popular and common among the middle classes. Jasper, amethyst, and crystal were still cheaper and even more commonly-owned. In this article, we have chosen to present in detail the stories of two of the most exotic, expensive, and therefore most interesting gemstones: the diamond and the corundum.

Al-Asfī’s Description of the Zāwiya Nasiriyya: The Use of Buildings as Astronomical Tools

Early Arabic sources report the existence of giant astronomical devices housed inside buildings which were used for observational and computational purposes. Some of them are known to us, but their chronology and their relationship to other well-oriented devices in the Islamic or even in the Latin milieu are yet to be explored in depth. This paper aims to establish whether the zāwiya Nāṣiriyya in Tamegroute (Tamgrūt, in the Drâa valley) described by al-Asfī (seventeenth to eighteenth century) can be considered as part of this tradition.

Eyes and Spectacles: Wellhausen's Method of Higher Criticism

Julius Wellhausen's work on the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and early Arabic sources had and still has a fundamental impact on how modern scholarship portrays Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this article I consider his methodology of Higher Criticism. Wellhausen's motto was: 'Not only the spectacles are important, but also the eyes.' Following this motto I first describe what Wellhausen saw with his eyes and how he used them. Secondly, I consider Wellhausen's spectacles and ask how the nineteenth century determined his viewpoint. Lastly I address the legacy of Wellhausen's Higher Criticism in current scholarship.

Maghreb Influence on the Arabic Literary Tradition of Northern Nigeria

The Maghreb Review, Vol. 34, 2-3, 2009 © The Maghreb Review 2009 This publication is printed on longlife paper MAGHREB INFLUENCE ON THE ARABIC LITERARY TRADITION OF NORTHERN NIGERIA BY MUHAMMAD TUKUR USMAN* INTRODUCTION The region west of Egypt where Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya are located is known as the Maghreb, which is a term derived from Arabic meaning ‘the furthest west’ from the Arabian Peninsula. In the modern context, the area is often called North Africa, which however includes modern Egypt. The two terms, North Africa and Maghreb, are interchangeably used in this article. There has been a long relationship between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, which is the vast region south of the Sahara desert. In contemporary discourse on Africa, the sub-Saharan region features as a distinct area with its own history and peculiar problems. This type of paradigm, which perceives Africa as a continent with distinct sub-regions of West, East, Central and southern Africa, often ignores the long period of interaction among Africans which contributed to shaping the history of the continent and its diverse peoples. These relationships were economic, cultural and religious, and brought together the sub-regions on the continent. Virtually all the ancient states and kingdoms of the Sudan belt featured in one report or another by Arab visitors to the region.1 The Arabic language and the Islamic intellectual tradition spread from the Maghreb to northern Nigeria. The Maghreb inspired the rich intellectual heritage of Kanem-Borno2 and the Sokoto Caliphate.3 The invasion of the region by the British from the last decade of the 19th century led to the * Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto 1 N. Levtzion, ‘Islam in the Bilad al-Sudan to 1800’, in N. Levtzion and R.L. Pouwels (eds) The History of Islam in Africa (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2000), pp. 63–5. For additional details of Arab writers’ accounts of sub-Saharan Africa, see N. Levtzion and J.F.P. Hopkins (eds) Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (Princeton, NJ: Markus Weiner, 2000). 2 See J.O. Hunwick, ‘Songhay, Borno and Hausaland in the 16th Century’, in J.F.A. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds) History of West Africa, Vol. l (Ibadan: Longman, 1976), pp. 276ff.; R.A. Adeleye, ‘Hausaland and Borno 1600–1800’, in J.F.A. Ajayi and M. Crowder (eds) History of West Africa, Vol. 2 (Ibadan: Longman, 1978), pp. 556–601; J.E. Lavers, ‘Kanem and Borno to 1808’, in O. Ikime (ed.) Groundwork of Nigerian History (Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1984), pp. 187–209. 3 See D.M. Last, The Sokoto Caliphat, (London: Longman, 1967); R.A. Adeleye, Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria: The Sokoto Caliphate and its Enemies 1804–1906 (London: Longman, 1971); M. Adamu, ‘A General History of the Sokoto Caliphate’, in A.M. Kani and K.A. Gandi, State and Society in the Sokoto Caliphate (Sokoto: Usmanu Danfodiyo University Press, 1990), pp. 1–20. 208 MUHAMMAD TUKUR USMAN overthrow of both Borno and the Sokoto Caliphate.4 The region became a protectorate in 1900 and by 1914 it had been amalgamated with other areas in the south to create modern Nigeria. Maghreb influence, which is the main point of focus in this article, was of primary significance in the development of Arabic literary tradition in the region before the colonial period. The survival to the present time of the literary heritage indicates a continuity of Maghreb influence on literary culture of modern Nigeria. TRADING RELATIONS WITH THE MAGHREB Trade and commercial relations between the Maghreb on the one hand and the peoples and empires of the Bilad al-Sudan on the other were significant factors which influenced development in different areas of human activity in our area of study. Caravan routes across the Sahara connected different parts of the subSaharan area with the Maghreb. Trade was conducted between the two regions through the caravan routes over the centuries, which facilitated the exchange of different types of commodities. The most prominent trading posts with North Africa before the 18th century were Timbuktu, Gao, Agades, Katsina and Birnin Gazargamu. Timbuktu in particular had been an important trading station with North Africa since...

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

The Samad Period in the Sultanate of Oman

Although numerous publications on the archaeology of the Sultanate of Oman have appeared, what is still lacking is a readily accessible English summary of recent highlights that deals with the late pre-Islamic culture in Mazun/western Maka (cf. Kervran and Hiebert 1991: 337–48, Yule and Kazenwadel 1993: 251–77, Yule 1994: 519–577). Until the publication of the final report on the excavations of the German Archaeological Mission to the Sultanate of Oman appears, the present contribution is intended to summarize the state of research. The cursory terms “Parthian” and “Sasānian Oman” (Potts 1992 II: 292–300) reveal the political hegemony and the date, but fail to come to grips with the culture as it is known from illustrated preliminary reports. The same holds for “classical Oman”. Oman lies outside the Mediterranean and outside classical influence. It is not in itself classical in any sense. The publications which have appeared on late pre-Islamic Central Oman have been understood differently by members of archaeological special interest groups of different nations, isolated experts, and particularly archaeologists oriented towards the archaeology of the neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE).Three main topics shed light on this final pre-Islamic Arabian culture: the location of Maka and of early historic Oman, early Arabic sources on Oman, and the Samad culture (post 300 BC–AD 900, Fig. 1). The newly recovered archaeological information combines with what is known about the historical geography. The following notes are a tribute to the cooperation between Omani and foreign scholars interested in this area of ancient Near Eastern history.

Abraha and Muhammad: some observations apropos of chronology and literary topoi in the early Arabic historical tradition

In has long been known that the chronological scheme commonly transmitted by the early Arabic sources for events of the latter half of the sixth century A.D. poses a number of major problems. These are sufficiently important to raise serious doubts about the reliability of the traditional chronological framework for the last years of the Jāhilīya in general. A key problem is that of the date for 'Ām al-fīl, the ‘Year of the Elephant’, so called after the expedition of Abraha into the Hijāz in that year. The early Arabic literary tradition does not specifically date this event: it simply maintains, first, that Muammad was born in the Year of the Elephant, and second, that he was summoned to act as God's Prophet at the age of forty. Considered together, the many reports to this effect imply―based on the prevailing view that the mab'ath is to be dated to approximately A.D. 610―that both the expedition of Abraha and the birth of Muhammad occurred in about A.D. 570.

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Early Arabic Sources and the Almoravid Conquest of Ghana

The Corpus is an outstandingly important contribution to African historical studies, bringing together practically all the known Arabic sources, until about 1500, for West Africa. This early material is vital: often, it constitutes almost all that we have to go on, for a particular area at that time. Heretofore certain passages, determined partly by ease of access in published translation, have been frequently cited, and have exercised in some instances a quite disproportionate influence on our understanding of events. Other passages, on the contrary, have remained accessible only to linguists, to those with entry to the 'rare book' collections of first-class libraries and, above all perhaps, to those with the time to rummage their way from one obscure reference to another. Even Father Cuoq's monumental Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale, published in 1975, vital though it has been as a pioneering endeavour, valuable though it continues to be as a volume for consultation in comparison with the Corpus, lacks the consistent precision and clarity which are essential in a source book of this kind. The Corpus, at a stroke, moves the tasks of teasing out recurrent themes, of comparing cross-references, of focusing sharply upon contradictions within the material, out of the studies of a few specialists, and puts these opportunities within the easy reach of the whole community of African scholarship. To review such a book presents particular problems. Description may seem deceptively short and simple; suggestions for possible additions and improvements may become too technical and specialized, though such details mentioned in reviews may perhaps usefully supplement the volume itself. So let me, in addition to description and a few suggestions, build this review around a major watershed in West African history, the Almoravid conquest of Ghana in A.D. 1076. This will illustrate very clearly some of the far-reaching implications of the material which the Corpus so well provides. The volume opens with a battery of short pieces Preface, Notes on transcription, dates, and 'Climes', a map, and Introduction. Then follow 65 distinct passages of translation, beginning with al-Khuwarizm1 (d. after 846-7), ending with al-Maqqari (d. I632), though the period substantively covered ends about I500. Sometimes a single author provides two or even three passages; once a single passage groups together three separate extracts. Within the passages, other writers appear through quotation; these quotations are left in place thus al-Sarakhs1, active about 1200, is found in the passage from al-Maqqar1. Some passages are very short, only a few lines, others much longer al-Bakr1, al-Idris1, al-'Umar1, Ibn Battiuta and Ibn Khaldiun are each about 25 pages. Each author receives a very useful, detailed and scholarly introduction. The variety of sources, and subjects, is remarkable.

Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African History

Corpus of early Arabic sources for West African History

J. E. P. Hopkins and N. Levtzion (ed.).: Corpus of early Arabic sources For West African history. Translated by J.F.P.Hopkins. Edited by J.F.P. Hopkins and N.Levtzion. (Fontes Historiae Africanae, Series Arabica iv.) xx, 492 pp., map. Cambridge, etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1981. £35.

J. E. P. Hopkins and N. Levtzion (ed.).: Corpus of early Arabic sources For West African history. Translated by J.F.P.Hopkins. Edited by J.F.P. Hopkins and N.Levtzion. (Fontes Historiae Africanae, Series Arabica iv.) xx, 492 pp., map. Cambridge, etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1981. £35.

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

From the eighth century onwards, the Muslim townsfolk of North Africa were well aware that fifty stages away across the desert to the south lay a land inhabited by black people which was the source of gold, ivory and slaves. It was no mere rumour stemming from occasional journeys of special daring, as it had been in the time of Herodotus. For the Muslims, the black slaves were in their midst as labourers and soldiers, servants and concubines. And soon the passing caravans began to be swelled by black students and pilgrims, showing that the religion and civilization of Islam were spreading across the Sahara into the western and central Sudan...

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History

Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History