Early Islam Research Articles

Quranic Christology in Late Antiquity. ‘Isa ibn Maryam and His Divine Power (Energeia) in the Islamic Revelation

Christology and monotheism have been dogmatically linked in the long history of Islam-Christian dialogue since the beginning of the 8th century. The Qur’an, in an analytical perception of religious otherness, specifically in relation to Christianity, assumed a dual discernment: on the one hand, it adopts a sceptical position because Christians are assimilationist (2: 120, 135, 145; 5: 51), sectarian and made Jesus the son of God (4: 171; 5: 14–19, 73; 9: 30; 18: 4–5; 21: 26); on the other hand, they are commended over the Jews and ‘Isa ibn Maryam has been strengthened with the Holy Spirit by God himself (2: 59, 62, 87, 253; 3: 48; 5: 47, 73, 82, 85, 110). The importance of enforcing the consciousness of a Quranic Christology, specifically where it concerned the potential influence that Christological doctrines such as adoptionism and monoenergism had on early Islam in late antiquity, where it was based on the proto- Islamic understanding of Jesus, and where it was rooted in Patristic orthodox-unorthodox debates, fell into oblivion. How was the Quranic canonization process affected by the ongoing Christological debates of the 7th century? Could Heraclius’ monoenergism have played a concrete influence on Quranic Christology? And in which way did early Kalam debates on God’s speech and will remain linked to Quranic Christology?

A Study on Ghanima and Fai’ as Warfare Property of Early Islam: The First Twenty Three Years

A Study on Ghanima and Fai’ as Warfare Property of Early Islam: The First Twenty Three Years

یحیى بن سعید الأموی ومغازیه (جمعاً ودراسةً)

يحيى بن سعيد الأموي المتوفى سنة 194هـ، من الأعلام الثقات، درس على عدد من الشيوخ، وله تلاميذ عديدين، هو أحد الأخباريين الذين کتبوا في السيرة النبوية وتاريخ صدر الإسلام، وله کتاب في المغازي. وتناول هذا البحث رواياته التي بلغت مئة وثمانية وعشرين رواية في تاريخ ما قبل مولد النبي r، وفي العهد المکي، وبيعتي العقبة، وروايته في العهد المدني، ورواياته عن زوجات الرسول الکريم r وبعض مغازيه وسراياه، سأقوم بجمعها ودراستها، والحکم عليها من حيث الصحة وعدمها، وتحديد مصادره التي نقل عنها. Yahya bin Saeed al-Umayyad, who died in 194 AH, was a trustworthy scholar. He studied with a number of sheikhs, and he has many students. He is one of the Akhbaris who wrote on the Prophet’s biography and the history of early Islam, and he has a book on Maghazi. This research dealt with his narrations, which amounted to one hundred and twenty-eight narrations in the history before the birth of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, and in the Meccan era, and the pledges of allegiance to Aqaba, and his narrations in the civil covenant, and his narrations about the wives of the Noble Messenger, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and some of his battles and brigades. I will collect and study them, judge them in terms of validity and lack thereof, and determine the sources that were quoted from them.

A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF CONTEMPORARY AND INNOVATIVE WAQF SOURCES: CASH AND SERVICE WAQF

Waqf has been one of the major sources of public financing in Islamic tradition. Since early Islam, waqf serves the needs of the ummah in various realms, including education, social development and public needs. Traditionally, waqf has been in the form of fixed and tangible assets. Up until recently, cash waqf has been proposed as one of the sources of waqf. On the other hand, there has been also a suggestion to innovate the practices of waqf in order to assure that they meet the current challenging world. One of the new innovatives of funding waqf sources apart from cash waqf is Service Waqf. Giving this background, this paper endevour to do a systematic review analysis of the Service Waqf as well as well established cash waqf practices as innovatie way for diversifying waqf source in Malaysia. In reviewing the topics systematically, this paper gathered all related articles from Emerald Insight, Google Scholars, Jstor, and Scopus databases. Relevant journal articles were being searched via the internet in several database sources using advanced searching features available in those database based on specific keywords. The relevant journals were selected based on the latest findings which had been published between year 2010 until 2020. From the systematic review analysis, 20 journal articles regarding ethical issues in gamification were filtered and selected using PRISMA statement. Findings from this systematic analysis show that issues pertaining to the cash waqf were among the major discourse in the waqf innovation. Much have been emphasised on the waqf management and governance and also the reason waqf application in a institution. Less has been given into the service waqf and its benefits to communities.

The Kurdish Emirate of the Jawaniyya in the Region of Abbasid Baghdad (Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries)

This study reveals the prevalence of Kurdish tribal states, political entities, in the vicinity of the Abbasid city of Baghdad. Through a presentation of the lives and contributions of leading Jawani personalities, it is shown that the Kurdish states contributed to the development of early Islam from both the political and religious aspects. The Jawani emirs were involved in most of the Baghdadi region’s dealings with the Abbasid caliphate. They also had dealings with the Buwayhids, Ukaylids, Mazyadids, Annazids, Hasanvayhids, Marwanids and Seljuks. Sometimes, they formed alliances with these states, and sometimes they fought. The Jawani Emirate, one of the powers that determined the fate of the region until 557/ 1161-1162, lost their strong position after the Abbasid caliph expatriated the Mazyadids from al-Hillah. The present writer greatly relies on medieval Islamic sources, such as the scholars Masudi, Ibn al-Jawzi, Sibt Ibn al-Jawzi, İbn al-Athir, al-Dahabi and Ibn Khaldun.

A comparative study of the cultural strategies of Iran and Turkey

This chapter scrutinizes the changing roles of women and gender roles, particularly in the Arab world. It sketches not only how gender relations have been inflected by religion, politics, and colonialism since the early twentieth century, but also the multitude of ways that women in different societies have articulated their autonomy in spheres of work, education, and home life. More assertive expressions of women’s rights have increased over the past two decades through mechanisms such as civil society activism, legislative representation, changing legal codes, and uprisings like the Arab Spring, but indigenous women’s rights movements have existed since colonial times. The chapter also examines state feminism, which has been mobilized for both authoritarian and democratic ends, as well as Islamic feminism, which seeks to advance women’s rights by drawing on understandings of egalitarian practices in early Islam. The discussion finally touches on sexual orientation, in particular how new voices are questioning the historical treatment of queerness while also interrogating the changing nature of sexuality for cultural discourse.

فن الغزل العذري لدى شواعر الجاهلية والإسلام : دراسة موضوعية فنية = The Art of Platonic Love in the Poetry of Pre-Islamic and Islamic Eras : Artistic Thematic Study

المرأة | الغزل الصريح | الغزل العذري | العصر الجاهلي | صدر الإسلام | الخصائص الفنية والموضوعية | Women | Frank Spinning | Virginal Spinning | Pre-Islamic Era | Early Islam | Technical and Objective Characteristics

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Names and Sacred Titles Among the Shi‘ites from their Appearance in Early Islam until the Fifteenth Century AH/Twenty-First Century CE

ABSTRACT: This study aims to describe and analyse the evolution of names and sacred titles among the Imami (Twelver) Shi‘ites from the time of their emergence up to the present day. The study shows that from the time of the Prophet Muhammad, who demonstrated concern for names and established controls governing the naming process, it was a Muslim ruler’s duty to oversee it. Muslims were not to give the names of God to their children, nor did they use compound names consisting of the word ‘slave’ ( ꜥabd ) in conjunction with any being other than God; in fact, compound names generally were not common among Muslims. However, beginning in the tenth century AH, compound names became commonplace among Shi‘ites, and most particularly, names and titles that had never been used before. The study concludes that the emergence of such names and titles among the Shi‘ites are attributed to several factors, such as the absence of a codified juristic theory that included general and specific rulings on naming, the influence of extremist Christian traditions and Sufi teachings on the Shi‘ites, and the political phenomenon of title manufacturing which emerged among ruling elites between the ʿAbbāsid and Qājāri eras.

Scepticisms in the Formation of Islamic Rational Theology: Abū al‐Qāsim al‐Balkhī and Ibn al‐Malāḥimī Providing a Window on the Transmission of Arguments from Late Antiquity

AbstractNewly accessible source material calls for a revision of our picture of the more technical transmission of sceptical epistemologies in the intellectual landscape of early Islam. Abū al‐Qāsim al‐Balkhīʼs (ninth/tenth century) Book of Doctrines shows that naẓar as the basic argumentative method of kalām is defined by the encounter with a broad spectrum of sceptical strategies. By the beginning of the tenth century, Greek traditions were amalgamated in a complex way with other intellectual traditions, most notably dualist ontologies. This situation has shaped the evolution of kalām methodology decisively. Based on extensive paraphrases in Ibn al‐Malāḥimī (twelfth century) going back to Nawbakhtī (tenth century), it can be seen that arguments of the Greek sceptical tradition were accessible in Arabic in the early tenth century. The scarcity of coherent information on sceptical approaches before that time rather has to do with the problem that in general few sources of this earlier formative period of Islamic theology are preserved. Early Muʿtazilī treatises from this period are superseded by Ashʿarī texts in the later transmission. Sceptical approaches, being systematically involved in the very formation of early Muʿtazilī theology, are particularly invisible due to this process.

The Prophet Muḥammad’s Ring:Raw Materials, Status, and Gender in Early Islam

The goal of this article is to illuminate the medieval legal discussion of the Prophet Muḥammad’s ring as an object of multiple meanings: personal adornment and fashion on one hand and religious, ruling status symbol on the other hand. The article will focus on the descriptions of Muḥammad’s ring in two complementary aspects; materially, meaning the ring itself, and symbolically, meaning the message. The Prophet Muḥammad’s signet is an example of a well-known commodity that was singularized, became unique and sacred, hence, its subjective power and value was strengthened. The Prophet’s ring lost its value as commodity and became unique to the Prophet and his believers, a declarative public representation of the connection between the divine power and his earthly messenger. It became a manifestation of the Prophet’s exclusiveness and prestige, and it serves as a means to identify him and his unique status.

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-?ak?m al-Tirmidh?’s Theory of wil?ya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunn? Caliphate (By Aiyub Palmer)

Reviewed by: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate by Aiyub Palmer Atif Khalil (bio) Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate Aiyub Palmer Leiden: Brill, 2019. 219 Pages. In 'Aṭṭār's Tadhkirat al-awliyā', he recounts a story from al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's (d. 907–912 CE) youth. Desirous of setting out in search of knowledge, as was the custom of the day for serious students, he was held back by the responsibility he felt towards his mother, whose old age and illness, along with the death of his father, had put her in a position of dependency and need. One day, overcome by sadness at the obstacles that stood in the way of ever becoming a scholar, he prayed at a local cemetery, "Alas! I am left an illiterate and uncultured man. My companions will be returning very soon after completing their education." No sooner did he utter these words that the immortal guide Khiḍr appeared, asked him why he wept, and then, on learning of his predicament, proceeded to teach him in such a way that he soon came to surpass his peers.1 Regardless of what one may make of the historicity of the tale ('Aṭṭār frequently gave himself poetic license to inspire his readers), it reveals at least two features of medieval Sufi piety. The first was the value placed on receiving knowledge directly from Khiḍr, identified by much of tradition as the enigmatic interlocutor of Moses in the Qur'ān, and the recipient of a special "knowledge from on high" or 'ilm ladunnī [End Page 88] of which even the Israelite prophet was unaware. The second feature was that the privileged relationship he enjoyed with Khiḍr was made possible, to quote his own words, "because I pleased my mother."2 The divine gift for which he was singled out, a response to his sacrifice, calls to mind the life-story of the Yemeni Uways al-Qaranī, whose filial piety towards his own elderly mother, for whom he was the sole care-giver, prevented him from travelling to Medina to be with the Prophet. And yet his sanctity was such, at least according to the hadith literature, that the companions would later be instructed by the Prophet, if they ever met him, to request from him a prayer of forgiveness.3 In the case of Tirmidhī, we are informed by Hujwīrī in the Kashf al-maḥjūb that he reached such heights of knowledge that even Khiḍr would seek him out for it.4 While the precise details of Tirmidhī's life remain unclear, especially once we step outside the realm of hagiography, we do know more about him than most other figures from the formative period of Islamic mysticism, many of whose lives are cloaked in obscurity. Part of this, no doubt, is because he left us a short autobiography, the Buduww sha'n (the style and content of which, incidentally, remind us in many ways of Ghazālī's Munqidh min al-ḍalāl).5 We know that Tirmidhī was born during the reign of the 'Abbāsid caliph and patron of Greek learning al-Ma'mūn (d. 833 CE). The city of his birth (Tirmidh) is located in the southern region of modern Uzbekistan, just north of Afghanistan. By the end of the 9th century, it was home to anywhere between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. His father was a scholar, and the family traced its lineage back to the Arabs who settled in the region in the wake of the early Muslim conquests. From his autobiography, where he recounts the circumstances surrounding his entry into the mystical path, we also learn that a major turning point in his life came after stumbling across a book by Antākī (a companion of Muḥāsibī) which taught him the importance of disciplining the soul. This was following a pilgrimage to Mecca where he earnestly prayed for divine direction. His wife...

Defining Cities and Non-Cities through Emic and Etic Perspectives: A Case Study from Israel/Palestine during Early Islam

Differentiating urban places from rural is often obscure. This paper advances some clarification based on the analysis of settlements from the seventh to the eleventh centuries in Israel/Palestine. In this case study, archaeological sites in central Israel are classified into types based on their finds, settlement types are identified through terminology in texts from or about Palestine, and the results of the two analyses are compared. The main category for distinguishing one settlement type from another is the amount of services it provides, with the greatest range of services in cities. However, cities in this study are not big, not spatially central, and not very industrial; the only entity to answer such criteria is the metropolis. The paper thus highlights the importance of a contextual inquiry, a regional overview, and a bottom-up perspective.

Decorated Walls, Description, and Cultural Memory. Between Byzantium, Persia, and Early Islam

Decorated Walls, Description, and Cultural Memory. Between Byzantium, Persia, and Early Islam

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunni Caliphate, written by Aiyub Palmer

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunni Caliphate, written by Aiyub Palmer

Glassware of Medieval Shamkir Town of Early Islamic Period

The author studies the collection of glassware of the 8th–10thcenturies, found in the medieval town of Shamkir, which is located in the western region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On a functional basis, this collection is represented by tableware, perfumery and drugstore dishes. Drinking vessels prevail among tableware. Perfumery and pharmaceutical utensils are represented mainly by samples of bottles. In the manufacture of glassware, various manufacturing techniques were used, in particular, blowing into a mold and free blasting. The techniques of stretching, welding, polishing, grinding were also used. Glassware of Shamkir belongs to the chemical class Na–Ca–Si with a predominance of the type Na (K)–Ca(Mg)–Al–Si. Most of the glass vessels were decorated with relief geometric ornaments in the form of ovals, circles, and radiating figures, "vortical rosette", "honeycomb" ornaments. The rich raw material resources, professional traditions and innovations which existed here created favorable conditions for the development of glassware production. In the everyday life glassware for various purposes was widely used. Material evidences testify to a great shift in the glass production of Shamkir in the 8th–10th centuries and the production of glassware had a prominent role in the city's economy.

Circulation of fashions: Deciphering foreign influences on the creation of Muslim Clothing in early Islam

The article delves into the place and role of foreign influences on Muslim clothing, and the complicated and contradictory ways in which these influences found their way into the Muslim world through processes of adoption, rejection and adjustment. Clothing played a role in interacting with other regions and creating cross-cultural circulation and trans-medial and trans-material dynamics. Mapping the geographical movement of clothing enables us to trace the origins, define the main routes, and present the characteristics of Muslim mixed fashion of clothing as an outcome of circulation. Inferentially we learn that the jurists were active in the creation of proper Muslim clothing, or Muslim fashion. In other words, the consequence of the meeting between foreign cultures and Islam was Muslim clothing within the borders of jurisprudence, including an area of shifting boundaries with tolerance and creativity that enabled self-expression.

The conversions of ʿAbdallāh ibn Salām (d. 43/633): A legendary moment in the biography of Muḥammad's Jewish companion

AbstractThe Jewish scholar ʿAbdallāh b. Salām is a legendary figure from early Islam who is regarded in Islamic tradition as the archetypal Jewish convert to Islam during the Prophet's career, the pre-eminent authority on Jewish scriptures in seventh-century Arabia, and a renowned Companion. This study examines the traditions on Ibn Salām's conversion that were recorded in the biographical literature and Quranic commentaries of classical Islam and identifies the literary tropes from Muḥammad's biography featured in these traditions. Scrutiny of the evidence shows that the reports on the date and circumstances of Ibn Salām's conversion were shaped by a number of factors, including, the biases of his descendants, Quranic exegesis, and anti-Jewish polemics. Ibn Salām's legendary conversion served as a vehicle for diverse groups of Muslims to promote their doctrines and supply the Prophet with Biblical legitimacy.

REVISITING A FRAGMENT OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM: THE MYTH OF THE ORDER TO ASSASSINATE ENEMIES BY THE PROPHET

This article studies a part of early Islam's history that seems ambiguous due to some reports. According to these reports, Prophet Muhammad issued decrees ordering of his opponents and enemies' assassination. The qualitative method has been used in the article. The article shows that there are only 4 cases that appear to have been terrorist operations. Another achievement of the article is that among these 4 cases, only one seems to be valid, and the other three are all rejected because of their chain of narrators. Also, these 4 cases, have all occurred on the battlefield and warzone, and none are indicative of terrorist operations. The article also argues that in the life-history studies of the Prophet, the basic principles and general teachings of the Prophet must be our foundations. The article refers to a general principle in the teachings of the Prophet, according to which He proclaimed that a Muslim must never assassinate. In conclusion, neither the authenticity of the reports, nor their texts are acceptable; they are contrary to the general policy of Islam in the fight against terrorism. The article suggests that the general principles and central teachings of the Prophet should be of interest to researchers in the study of early Islam history, which sometimes contain inconsistent and ambiguous reports.

Islam and the Epistemic Politics of Gender

Critical reflection on gender as a category of analysis within the study of Islam is a venture fraught with intellectual and cultural challenges. Despite tacit acceptance of the analytical significance of gender, the intersection of these two categories has made for a highly charged field of inquiry, polarizing Muslim and other audiences over its commitments, practices, and impact. The field is also gendered, with most of its scholars being women. This is characteristic of Women and Gender Studies at large and underlies its marginal epistemic and institutional status within various disciplines of the modern academy.[i] While this is also true for the study of Islam and Gender, other factors are also at play: Islam and Gender scholarship is increasingly conducted by women who are Muslim or of Muslim background. This has simultaneously mitigated and reproduced the modes of marginality associated with Women and Gender Studies.[ii] On the one hand, the postcolonial lens adopted in early Islam and Gender scholarship established the salience of this newly emerging field for deconstructing orientalist stereotypes of Muslim women. Leila Ahmed’s Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1993), Deniz Kendioyti’s Gendering the Middle East (1996), and Lila Abu-Lughod’s Remaking Women (1998) take full cognizance of Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) in their critical investigation of essentializations of Islam which turn on gender. Studies recentring foundational texts as the ground for gender equality, like Qur’an and Woman (1992) by Amina Wadud, have provided postcolonial counter-readings in and of themselves. On the other hand, the growing number of Muslim women scholars engaged in the study of Islam and Gender has coincided with the global racialization of Muslim identity and rising Islamophobia since 9/11. This has led to their double penalization within their scholarly and religious communities. In the Western academy, their Muslim identity has been referenced to denigrate their scholarship as insiderist advocacy[iii]—or, in contrast, to celebrate it as a progressive niche of Islam. The reality, however, is closer to being “sequestered into a corner space,” as Julianne Hammer puts it.[iv]