Islamic History Series Welcome to the first part of an extended series on Islamic history, from the life of Muhammad until, well, whenever I can't continue devoting any time to it, I suppose. I don't have much to say by way of introduction, but I will note that we're starting in one of the most … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 1: Introduction
Category: islamic history
Islamic History, Part 2: The pre-Islamic world
Islamic History Series There are two contextual parts to understanding the rise and rapid spread of Islam in the 7th century: the Arabian context and the wider world with which Arabia interacted. Students learning the history of Islam are usually taught the wider context first, probably because the Arabian context really flows directly into the … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 2: The pre-Islamic world
Islamic History, Part 3: Arabia before Muhammad
Islamic History Series However little we really know of the Sasanian Empire, it was a major world power and it was written about at some length, so we have a fair amount of external sources even though nothing internal seems to have survived. On pre-Islamic Arabia, by comparison, we have really next to nothing. Histories … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 3: Arabia before Muhammad
Islamic History, Part 4: Muhammad’s Revelations and the Hijrah (~570-622)
Islamic History Series I was trying to decide how to approach the story of Muhammad, obviously the single most important episode in the development of Islam and Islamic civilization. I could start with the traditional narrative of Muhammad's life, but that risks people reading the narrative and treating it as though it were settled fact. … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 4: Muhammad’s Revelations and the Hijrah (~570-622)
Islamic History, Part 5: Muhammad in Medina, war with Mecca, and Muhammad’s death (622-632)
Islamic History Series Having established Muhammad's initial ministry in Mecca and his eventual flight from that city, just ahead of a plot to assassinate him, we now pick up the story with Muhammad having arrived in the oasis city of Yathrib, although it wasn't "Yathrib" much longer. The city soon became known as "The City … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 5: Muhammad in Medina, war with Mecca, and Muhammad’s death (622-632)
Islamic History, Part 6: The problem with early sources
Islamic History Series We've reached a point in our overview of Islamic history where we need to stop talking about history and talk historiography, or the study of how history gets studied. Because the material regarding the life of Muhammad is so slim and presents so many challenges to the historian, I feel like I … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 6: The problem with early sources
Islamic History, Part 7: Alternative theories of the early Islamic community
Islamic History Series When you combine a major world-changing historical event with a near-total dearth of reliable primary sources, you inevitably get a lot of revisionist attempts to reconstruct the "real" history. For the origins of Islam and the nature of its earliest community, we have arguably the most world-changing event of the past 1500 … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 7: Alternative theories of the early Islamic community
Islamic History, Part 8: The Caliphate of Abu Bakr (632-634)
Islamic History Series Muhammad's death in 632 seems to have caught his followers by surprise, because the sources describe a period of effective chaos right after he died and I think this is one area in which the sources can be mostly trusted. Yes, the sources are late and unreliable, but if they were doctored … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 8: The Caliphate of Abu Bakr (632-634)
Islamic History, Part 9: The Caliphate of Umar b. al-Khattab (634-644)
Islamic History Series The reign of Umar b. al-Khattab, or Umar I as he is sometimes known, was one of the most important periods in early Islamic history. While Abu Bakr's caliphate was really an exercise in succession and consolidation, establishing that the community founded by Muhammad would live on past his death and expending … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 9: The Caliphate of Umar b. al-Khattab (634-644)
Islamic History, Part 10: the Caliphate of Uthman b. Affan (644-656), and the Seeds of Civil War
Islamic History Series When Muhammad became the ruler of his own polity after relocating to Medina and eventually conquering Mecca, he naturally wanted to conduct diplomacy with other rulers around him. Any ruler worth his salt back then had to stamp his diplomatic correspondence with his own personal seal in order to verify his identity, … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 10: the Caliphate of Uthman b. Affan (644-656), and the Seeds of Civil War
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 