Reprinted from Volume 50-51 fp 4°53 ¢ AlfAbhath JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT EDITOR: As‘ad E. Khairallah From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-Identity in the Early Islamic Community Fred M. Donner AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT Beirut, Lebanon 2002-2003 FROM BELIEVERS TO MUSLIMS: CONFESSIONAL SELF-IDENTITY IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC COMMUNITY' Fred M, Donner* L Studies of early Islam, by Muslims and non-Muslim sehola without exception taken as axiomatic that Islam fiom its earliest days constituted a separate religious confession distinct from others—in particular, dstinet from Judaism, Christianity, Magianism, and of course from the mushrikin, those who “associate other beings with God.” The many manifest similarities, in both religious beliefS and ritual practices, between Islam and some of these other confessional faiths, particularly Judaism and Christianity, have forced scholars to clarify the range and meaning of this istinetness of early Islam—something they have approached in dramatically different ways, depending upon other interpretive assum held, Those scholars who, for want of a beter term, we may cal assumed confess * Professor of Near Ease Histry, the Univesity of Chicas ‘ue, can Be ld espns for any of is papers hwo, 9tended to view the relationship in terms of monotheistic faiths, and even became engaged ‘themselves to prove whether the predominant or formative ‘Muhammad, the Qur'an, and carly Islam came from Judaism for their part, have also insisted upon Islam's Trad primordial distinctness, not only from the mushrikin but also from the other monotheist er resorted to a religious (rather than a historical) explanation isting between Islam and these other ie and practice In this essay, I would like to marshal some scattered evidence that appears somewhat different view. I will attempt to show that Muhammad and his ear first thought of themselves as a community of Believers (Arabic mu’mindn), composed of ll those who shared Muhammad’s intense belief in one God and inthe impending arival of the Last Day, and who joined together to carryout what they saw as the urgent task of 1.1 do oot ne the word “Orem” a «pejorative here, ahowgh some reads may be icin to lunes i assoc, by it erly eean tse Westen (or Weste-aines) schol who devoted othe "Orient" Some noteworthy exp: Arata Geiger, Has hat Mohammed aus dem Judentame afgeoren? Die ABhongicet dex Koran von Judetum und Cesena in Arabia” io survey an evaluation ‘establishing righteousness on earth—at least within their own community of Believers, ‘and, when possible, ouside it—in preparation for the End, The Believers’ basic ideas ‘obviously meant that certain people would, by definition, stand outside their ‘community-—in particular, mushrikun, who in their shirk denied the absolute unity of God; but, I will ty to show that che communtiy of Believers was originally conceptualized independent of confessional identities Some were what we might call “non- fers who were reformed mushrikin or others recognized monotheist confessions. however, could be members of any one of several religious confessions —Ch Jews, for example—if the doctrines of their ete espa of the rowing self-conscious of te lami comunity.” WwFe express’ ‘throughout the discussion to follow. As already isted that there was only one God, who was creator of ‘ely texs, would tak eto ch pce to ince here, an wil hae 1 wal for separ oy. he 12 (of judgment (yawn al-din). Many passages in the Qur'an, particularly the “Meccan” world to have been the principal source of the energy and dynamism of the early ‘community of Believers. revealed repeatedly through history—to the to Jesus, no less than to Muhammad—and was therefore enshrined not only in the Qur’an,the Torah and the Gospel. The genera term for this divine law—in whatever Qur'an) —was din! kot in the many instances where oc as par of the judgment, Last Day”; and in a number of others it may mean “obedience” (esp. to God). But in many oer passages, seems to men “la” of “tates Qa many sich passages is Theives Telgon” ater han “law but there ae 8 ew interes copie at # mt men hr exp, In few passages, the Qur'an itself even seems to clarify that dn means -sarues o legal practices; for example, Sat al-Tawba (9), 11, where it is associated with the fulfilment of ritual laws: “But if [certain mushrikion] repent and perform prayer and pay 3 ith paces ke “voke Him (God, being sincere (oc niguey devoted to Him in obedience” bey e948 14 _zakials, then [hey ae] your brethren in dn” ‘only to those who follow ‘enshrined in the Torah or Gospel ‘example, says that Abraham was not phrase hanlf muslin is instructive of the Gospel appropriately, inasmuch as Abraham lived before either Torah or Gospel were sent down. Rather, Abraham was a hanif? who obeyed God's ordinances, /slam was, at least inthis passage, 15‘not yet aterm for a particular religious confession! ‘Muhammad's community in Yathrib, then, consisted of Believers in God and the Last Day (mu'mindn ), striving to live by the revealed Law. Some of these Believers, being Jews, could observe the law of the Torah—i.e, follow rituals preseribed in the Torah? Other Believers, who were not Jews, observed the law as revealed in the Qur'an; since they did not have a pre-existing collective identity like that ofthe Jews, they were called, by default, muslims when the con to their observance of Quranic law. Disputes among the righteous Believers in the community were to be settled by Muhammad, who served as the community's arbiter or judge (hakam) of disputes and as the community's supreme political authority > If this new interpretation is to hold, two crucial points must be established. The fessional inclusiveness ofthe early community of particular pieces of evidence (e.g., passages in the Qur deed, had to cor ct from those of other monotheists, can be taken as evidence that Believer fand community separate and understood differently, and in such a way that they permit the notion of an early other hand, we should show th 1 ads, ¢g, Nas’, Sanam (ed. Hasan Motard a Ara) 7,8 mide: emong the "ress the prophet is “lingo he subiting (ea biig) person” (gat aa a-mslina), Presumably, Christian Blicvers ia he ey commanity were nia allowed olive and jie pte by the Gospel ef. Stat a Mie (5), 47: he ahaa ealich rings (yams) by whl God Sent down in it Whether we wish to understand them a Iaaco-Clesins, hi, a Chitin who stil ‘bred the lw of the Torah, or as Pulce Cristias who, while rejecting the Torah til ad oral, (Christy nd Jodaeo-Chistiniy,” ruse Stier in Arabic and Islam 4 (984), 138-152. am iniebted to Paicia Crone for using thse ives fr me (pers communietin, May, 194), Sora a-M" ie (5), 41-48, disused below fers this 16 perhaps other mot Muhammad’s role was understood within the community of Believers in such @ way that other monoth its. The second point that must be established is that would not immediately have turned against it—as, for example, they would have if the Believers had claimed that Muhammad was divine. ‘The next section (I) of this paper seem to support the notion that Muhammy in principle, include members of the ahf Qur'anie passages that pose the greatest problems for our attempt to neutralize the force of some them by exploiting the n between this therefore, examine Qur’anic passages that vers could, examine the 1 and will theological consistency and social or communal cohesi strikes me as the weakest and least systematic poi some documentary and ni note, in brief, some additional evidence from the ear terpretation advance for the history of the early Let us tum, then, to the Qui"an. For the purposes of the present discussion, 1 shall assume that the Qur'an text, as it now exists, is virually a document dating to the very earliest years of the Muslim community (community of Beli ‘we now have was codified either during the life of Muhammad, or within a few decades ‘of his death. I shall not enter here into the question of the integrity ofthe Que'an text. Tes possible—indeed, likely—that some, if not al, of the posed by the Qur'an for 1 ber way, hats, excep‘our interpretation could be eliminated by considering the Qur'an to be a text that crystallized over a somewhat longer period than the traditional view al however, would require us to resolve so many issues about the text never get to the question at hand. In the present essay, sgrity and relatively early date, and see how far onal Muslim exegetes. Quranic passages that deal with Jews, Christians, =, wiereas verses with 2 This suggests that the righteous or sinful behavior of some ahi a-kic; that is, it leaves open the possibility that ‘hl al-kitab could be among the Believers. In suppor of ou hypothesis, let us begin with Sat a-Bagars 2), 62 and Stra al 5), 6% “Those who Believe nd Jews, and Sabans and Chrisins—those who God andthe Last Day and who act righeous!y—upon them shall be no fear, nor shall hey be saddened” The crcl factor in aning salvation, acordng to these ‘eres, isnot one's membership ina parcular monahsst confession, but re Bit in God and the Last Day, and ones pious behavior. Although the opens roups (Those who Believe, and Jews, and Sablans, and Chistian ..."! may suggest that Beliovers havea separate ieny categorically parle to, but dsnetffom Jews, Sabian, and Christians, the verse ltr makes it clear that tose Jews, Sabians, and Christians who Believe in God andthe Lat Day and who at righteous ae ike those Simply called “Believers” promised salvation Tat i is acu a category that transcends the communal di Christan, ete. By implication, he canbe, Which secures salvation, tions between Jew, Sabian, clear that some Jews and some Christians are, or Many other passages—indeed, most Quranic passages that refer to ah al-ktab in general or some group of them in particular—appear to them...” More complex isthe passage in Strat al-Bagara (2), 135-137, how Belief transcends confessional Christians, you shall be guided {to sal the confession (mila) of Abrabam asa and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes (al-asbaj), and what was brought to Moses and Jesus, and what was brought tothe prophets from their Lord. We do not differentiate ‘And sila sts, Stat Haj (2), 17 (Tre Believes, Jews, Sebaens, Christin, Magis, and pagans” willbe judged by Gos on gmenDay) 2 Some of tem confining it in th negative, Sb Al Inet (3), 115 ("Those of the ah aba who believe.) sugesting ht here ar others who cn be consieres Believers. 19(1a nufarriqu) between any one of them; as we have submitted to Him (va nahn lahu nan aslama wajhahu Lord; there shall be no fear upon them, nor shall they be saddened.” lea is that proper piety, avoidance of sinful beha ide abasic abstract belief in one God and the Last Day; indeed, it has been pointed ase, itis virally immaterial? to which monotheist community (milla) one belongs, for jefpanticularly in the sense of right or righteous action—transcends one's Those who Believe and are righteous are to be identification with a particular commut saved, whatever community they belong be punished, Consider, for example, Surat al-Ma"ida (5), 65: “Ifthe ah al-kitab Believe and are pious (itagaw), We shall efface their evil deeds from them (la-kaffarna ‘anhum hich was sent down to them from their feet. Among them st many of them do e 4 providentmoderate community ‘This passage implies very strongly 15 a on of God among Chvsias) tht Belivers considered oe hs eto fhe pape 4 Se ao Sat Ma" Tors an Gore 8 which alo makes cero theo atu the importance of bering the 20 } that those individuals among the a ‘welcomed among the Believe tab who embrace right Belief and right action Conversely, those ah! a-kitab who do nor believe, those among the “many of them jeve in God and the last day, and who do not ‘what God and His apostle have forbidden, and who do not obey the true din, |, being completely subdued, they pay tribute from their hand.”! Such members of the ahi al-kitab who do not be mes, equated with unbelievers (kafiran, as in Strat al-Nisi? (4), 160: “Because of oppression (zulm) on the part of the Jews, We forbade them {some] good things that had been permitted to them— and because oftheir frequent hindering {of others) from the way of God, [161] and their ‘aking of usury even after they were forbidden it, and their consuming the wealth of people falsely. For the unbelievers (Ad/iin] among them, we have prepared a painful But for those of them who are grounded in knowledge, and the ieve in what was sent down to you and what ws ‘You and those who observe prayer and ve are even, at across the ranks of the ah ai-kisab, People are to be saved not because of their confessional identity, but because, whatever their confessional identity, they are Believers, in word and deed, 8 strongly implies that Jews, or atleast some Jews, were to be reckoned members of the community. In verse God addresses the Prophet ‘and the Believers, instructing them on dietary regulations, aftét which the subject shifts abruptly to the Jews in verse 118: “[114] Eat ofthe things which God has granted you as ‘geod and lawful, and give thanks for God's blessings, iF it is He you serve. [115] He has 1. Nat “Wer git dc gpa m Sur 9297" conceive wat th Benes ot fight he served forte “ba” ala b, an and Tir: The Case of an yd” Der Lam 70 (193), 13344, 2swine, and whatever is offered up ‘community for which these laws are being established. This passage raises another interesting aspect of the question of how the early ‘community of Believers was defined. As noted above, the Believers were those who believed in God and the Last Day, and who lived in righteousness or piety, Strat al-Nabl (06), 114-118 (quoted in the preceding paragraph), and others like it, piety or righteousness was not something vaguely defined, but was rather a way of life specifically in accordance with God's revealed Law. Unbelievers, in other words, are those who do not live by, or judge actions according to, God's revelation, whereas ‘he Gospel, cnclding with “whosoever does at mak agmeats by that which God has et down, hey ‘He the discus (eiga)” Fall, in Sorat aa (3), 4-50, Mabamned is astute wo make Judgment according o what God bas eee. 2 sub). So if they come to you, judge between them or shun them, If you shu will not harm you; but if you God loves those who are equi they have the Torah, in which is community of Believers; why, it states, should those Jews who have violated God's law 1s given them in the Torah be any more receptive to God’s law as revealed to Muhammad? But, in the present context the importance of these verses is threefold: (1) they make clear that some Jews, and even some people who were or were expected to be sinful, were seen as an integral part ofthe community of Believers; (2) they imply tht the such asthe Jews. The Qur'an even seems to provide, in verses 5: 51-66, a brief history ofthe relations ‘hastening to them [aht |, saying We are afraid that a change of fortune shall befall 1 Although we might ot ere hat Strat aL ($4143, quoted above, suggest that Muhammad's community sul inclided some snl al Aa, 23us 2" The imy iat some Believers, in their desire to win ah al-kitab to their ‘own community, were willing to make undefined concessions to them. However, verse $3 confirms that many, at least, ofthe al al-kitb who had first professed Belief later could no longer be counted among the Believers: “Those wh Believe will say, ‘Are these the ‘ones who swore to God a solemn oath that they were surely with you? Their deeds were useless and they became the losers.” Some of the deeds that seem to have been the erucial factor leading to the exclusion ofthese ah a-kitz from the community of Believers are also described in this passage. Verses 62-63 relate, “You see many of them competing with each other in sinfulness and transgression, and their consuming forbidden wealth, How evil is that which they have done! [63] Why do the rabbis and the abr not prevent them from their uttering sinfulness and their consuming forbidden wealth? How evil is that which they have put down! (6i'sa md yada'unal) “It was not only their perceived infractions of the Law that put some ah! a-kitdb outside the community of B however; they also engaged in ridiculing the Believers, as stated in Sirat al-M@ida 57: “Believers, do not take as intimates (awl) those sent the Book before you took your law (din! fora thing of joking and mockery, nor unbelievers (kur); but Go, if you would be Believers, is very important to note, hhowever, that only those ah! who engaged in such ridicule are singled out for m Although the Qur’anie passages examined in the preceding section seem to permit the inclusion of Jews and Christians among the Believes, the Qur'an is somewhat contradictory {nits attude toward the ah a-kitab There remain roughly a half-dozen Quranic passages that appear to contradict the hypothesis advanced here; we must now tur to these, to they can be reconciled with it. Let us begin with Strat al-Ma"ida (5), 51, which states aly, “0 you who Believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as companions [awl they fare companions of one another. Whosoever of you takes them as companions, he is truly ‘one of them. Verily, God does not guide unjust peoples (al-gawm alzdlimin],” Read in isolation, this verse suggests that Jews and Christians could not also be numbered among the Believers sit seems to establish a sharp division between the two, If we do not read the it in the context of the passages examined ‘arter—particularly Strat al-MaVida (5), 57, which uses almost exactly the same wording as verse 51, but limits the ban on intimacy with Jews and Christians to those guilty of mocking the Believers—we are entled to ask whether verse 51 may not also have been intended to ‘refer only to those Jews and Christians who actively opposed the Believers, even though the crucial limitation is not stated. The argument that the limiation has been lef out ‘admitedly not elegant, but given the virtually identical phrasing and close juxtapos verses 51 and 57, it is perhaps not unwarranted, f Some other Quranic pasages (Strat ab-Ma"ida (5), verses 17, 72 and 73; Sorat al- Tawba (9), 30-31; Strat Maryam (19), verses 35 and 91-92; Sarat al-Ikhlig (112), 3)! seem to pose even more serious problems for our hypothesis. In each case, the Quan sacks the concept ofthe Trinity o deas: “Those who say, "God is the Messiah, (Sir a-MaTida (3), 17; Sorat s-Ma"ida (5), 72), Similarly, 73: "Those who say, ‘God isthe third of three, disbelieve Hulls (112), 3; “{AlaH] begets not, nor ise begotten...” SUratal-Tawba (2), 30-31 speaks ofboth Jews and Christians: “The Jews have said, Ezra isthe son of God" andthe Christians have said, The Messiah is the son of Gol’ That is what they utr with their mouths, resembling the saying of those who disbeieved before. May God fight ‘They take their learued men and the Messiah, son of se], eventhough they were ordered 1 worship one God; there fs no God but and tiie a manner; eg, Sia ab-Bagu 2), ate, everything hae the eaves andthe 16. They sty, Ged has ‘eth all obey Hi lin ka gn} 25‘Trinitarian dogmas of Christianity. Some passages, however, hint that Christians may and inclusion among the Believers, even 1, for example, seems to suggest that Christians should mend their ways by ‘hot speaking of God as triune, but addresses them as though they were stil to be considered part of the community—certainly not enemies: “O people ofthe Book, do not in God and His Apostles, and do not say “Three”; leave off [doing better for you..." ‘There is, however, another factor to be considered in dealing with such passages, ‘hich seem to contradict our hypothesis thatthe first community of Believers was @ non- luded some Jews or Chr {question of social and communal organization. ‘The organization and of a community is why, when the theol became necessary Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and western Iran. It has been suggested that most early 26 tually knew very litle of the Qur'an, since it was not yet available to them as a fixed text.! Moreover, the crucial passages are few in number and form only a small proportion of the Qur'an. Further, although they deal with one of the key theological issues of the Que'an—God’s unity—these passages on the Trinity are clearly a secondary theme in Quranic discourse, far message than such key themes as warnings and descriptions of the Last Day, ion of God's role as Creat ions to pious behavior, or the examples of ‘earlier apostles and the peoples to whom they were sent ing principles of the new rept chattel slavery, even in legal terms, until more than a half one had asked many nineteenth-century American slaveholders about the phrase“ are created equal,” they would have responded with something like, “Yes, but Negroes? resented a the tid warkshop of Darwin Pes fonicoming). Pacety in areas such as voting rights through common prejudice, ely capricious to suggest that for the frst few decades of ers may have been quite ready to acceptamong their number 8 and Jews who shared and who agreed passages in question. It may have been several decades before these Qur’anie passages became even known among Believers generally, and several decades more before the full implications of the Qi theological stand for communal self-definition became clear fo Believers. Until this had happened, however, some Christians and Jews—those who shared the Believers’ insistence on the omnipotence and ‘omnipresence of the one God, the imminence of the Last Day, and the need to lead a life of strenuous piety according to the revealed Law—may have remained part of the of Believers, particularly within the “colonies” of Believers that were isons) in newly-subdued provinces of what was becoming established «8 growing empi Iv. In the preceding two seetions, we have seen how various Quranic passages may be srued 10 permit the membership of ah! al-kitdb among the intial community of We shall examine further evidence thatthe early community of Believe 28 ‘Yathrib included atleast some ahi al-kitab, in particular, ‘Among extra-Quranie sources for Muhammad's especially: the text usually known to Western scholarshi (also variously refered to as the “Umma Docume Document”)? This appears to be the trans agreements reached between Muhammad an ‘ja, Although the original ofthis document ak (eM, de Gee ea, Lee: ‘iti of-Tabopt aba 1, part (ed. Sacha and Mitwoeh, Lede: ‘oii his wanton a vrous pins where [dem it ecsy 29‘and Jews (Christians and other monotheists are not mentioned in it) in Muhammad's excepting anyone who lama) and commits crimelacts tweacherously/breaks an ut slays himself and the people now have is a composite mentioned: AB. Whosoever fahad) follows us shall have support what customary, and party, not undergoing injustice and no mutual support being ‘given against them. This paragraph, with ‘opening phrases ofthe C. © 10 “following us," echoes the terminology of the ;om Muhammad the Prophet, God bless and honour him, fuslimin of Quraysh and Yathrib, and these who i strive along with them, ‘Muhammad in particular. In any case, the context in which these terms are used in the ‘The membership Constitution: in the uma is stated even more clearly further along in the | 1 tin ining AD“ an AABN, 4, cme is“ somaya (2a, The Jews of Band ‘Awf are a people (uma)? with the ‘fo aspects or chances af tase people i the 3. Here Sean has“. ter clients and ter persons..." la unbroken continuation ofthe preseing "hve again changed SreansYeonfdeaion” to people” Ltr in this paragraph | have pt en” fr seen, which find ope, li, where Serjeant has “ligionaw 44 Moshe Gi, “The Constation of Medina: A Resoasirtion al Orem Std (197) 4445 30 31obedience, a context for which it seems more logical to read dy.n as din, Finally, there is also the fact that, ify. were to be read as dayn, “debt,” we would expect it to be ‘al, not the preposition l- that we find in the text? Document C may reflect a time when the Jews of B, “Aw, ete, had just joined the uma. in this ease, C1 can be understood to say that [these] Jews [like other Jews already / 88 implied in A] wil, like other Believers, pay expenses of war along, tof the, long-standing] Believers. This terminology is repeated in Document E, which further discusses the relations between Jews, Muslims, and Believers, particularly their payments of expenses (nafaga in the communi with the 3a, The Jews will pay nafagah (punfigana) along with the Mu'minn while they continue at war. 3b, The Jews are responsi responsi (for paying) their nafaga, and the Musliman are for paying) their nafaga [E4, There is support between them against anyone who goes to war with the people of this sheet. (wa-inna baynahum al-nagra ‘ald man hiraba ahla /hadhihial-sabifa) (One may, of course, assume that paragraphs E3a and E3b are more or less ‘one another, and thatthe terms mu’minan in E3a and musliman in E3b the same people. But if we assume—as | think we must—that 32 Believer and Muslims are not coterminous groups, we might paragraphs in the following manner: E: ‘of war costs along withthe Believers—that these two the other Believers, the Jews being considered among the that two subgroups make up the law; the Jews, on the other hand, a as suggested in C2a, and hence are id (even though they cout, understanding is correct, also have been considered musliman, in that observant of God's law). Perhaps we can understand the Jews and Muslims of Yathrib as forming two congregations, both co e. the Torah, in matters of gathering its own share of contributions to the war expenses (nafaga) of the unified wmma, as a practical administrative arrangement, ‘A few other passages in the Con to the umma: mn of Medina also state that the Jews belonged 2, Those associated with Jews (by al are as themselves.! ee and bonds of mutual protection) G6, The Jews of the Avs, their clients and themselves, are on the same (basis) as the people of this sheet, with sincere/complete observation (Le. of its stipulations) on the part of the people of this sheet. ‘The Constitution of Medina thus suggests thatthe Jews'of Yathrib, atleast those who were inclined to support Muhammad, were part of the umma, It is true that the Constitution never states explicitly that these Jews are Believers, but it also never states ly that the Aws or many other groups mi ‘moreover, as we have seen, the Quran ‘There seems, then, every reason to conclude 1. wos Btn ahi kana, 33the Believers were full members of the community of Believers in every sense short, they were considered Believers. Rubin has shown that the phrase wmma the Qur'an means a people united by a common religious orientation! Like Watt, Rubin winning them over ‘assumption that din in the Consttu that Believers/Muslims must therefore be distinct from the Jews in religion—even though his own analysis ofthe term umma wha had led him to conclude that they were united in religion. If we take the additional step of accepting that the Jews (or, atleast, some Jews) formed an integral part of the community of Believers in Yathrb, however, these contradictions in the material evaporate, themselves understood his posi or apostle meant to them. Second, we must consider how contemporary Jews or Christians might have understood Muhammad's role—a subject that forces us to think not only about the actual nature of his role, but also about how well that role was known to those outside the community. Above all, we will need to examine whether (or, more precisely, when) the perception of Muhammad's role would have prevented (Christians or Jews from seeing themselves, or being seen, as part of the community of Believers. In addressing the early Believers! perception of Muhammad's status, we must begin— ‘once again—with the Qur'an, Muhammad is called both messenger or apostle (rasa) and prophet (nab) inthe Qur'an, but there disagreement among modern scholars ‘over the exact meaning of these terms in Qur'anic usage” Matters are not made easier by 1 Rabin 13, i : : i L i i & g e a i imself The Koranic Du” in RichardG. Hovhamisian and pers Vyons, J, lla 's Understanding 34 the fact that later Muslim tradition ter particularly when speaking of Muh ton between rasal and abi, these terms; to approach this issue, the Near Easton the eve of Islam, and just how it was defined. In rabbinic Jewish circle, prophecy was considered to have ceased in antiquity, a view that was atleast in part a reaction by the rabbis to the rise of Christianity and hence is datable to the first century C.E? Among non-rabbinie Jews and early Christians, on the other hand, several different forms of prophecy were considered stil to be very much alive, atleast into the second century . The notion of prophecy in early Christianity could refer to a wide s, fiom the revelation of sacred scripture to undertakings as including such diverse acts as and pious preaching to be yt necessarily imply that CE, if not variety of acti unremarkable as inpited interthey had great supernatural powers or had had intimate contact with the divine. The prevalence and meaning of the concepts of prophecy and apostleship in the Near East from the third to seventh centuries are apparently subjects that have received litle study, so we can, at present, do little more than guess what concepts of prophecy and apostteship existed tem Arabia in the early seventh century C.E., or how widespread they fact that several people laid claim to prophecy in sevemth-century Arabia at some concept of prophecy was fairly eurrent thereat that time. It does not, just how the early Believers would have understood the Qur'anic Fane vers implying difrences in ak aang the popes, and 5 Bath these atte show up ain hai eg ADO Died, phrase that Muhammad L-Abzab (33), 40) prot ‘and a prophet (la-kana siddigan nabiyyan),? and the apocalyptic traditions from the carly Islamic period in which the rebel al-Mukhifr is said to be “as much a prophet as Muhammad.”> The survival of concepts ing” apostleship or prophecy among certain Shiite see of course, well known * How, then, did the early Believers understand Muhammad's role as prophet and apostle? Did they take atleast the Qur'anie references to Muhammad as prophet to mean merely that he was an inspired, righteous teacher? Or did they have some sense of the weightier implications of the terms nabi and, particularly, rast! as used in some Jewish and Christan circles? ‘Whatever the early Believers’ theological understanding of Muhammad's role as apostle and prophet, there is only limited Qur'anic evidence to suggest thatthe early Believers were expected to place much emphasis on Muhammad's prophetic status. Some Quranic verses do describe Muhammad as nabi or rasdl, but many others emphasize ‘only belief in God and the Last Day, and the importance of living righteously, and make 1. Am excelet discussion of how the understanding uf the frm self the probes” evolved in amie ing nea the Day of lupe “This vain. none of the mimerous ways in which Masi inpening Day of Judgment” See allo Wenn, “Mubarmed und de Pople” 195. 2 Tho Mj Siu (ed, Mabamenad FB “Abd Ba [Biel Dey Tah Ara 139571975)‘no mention ofthe prophet! ‘The limited non-Qur’anic evidence available also suggests thatthe main focus of early Believers’ concem may not have been with Muhammad's status as messenger or prophet, but rather with the essentials of the message he brought—Belief in God and Last Day. that message. The Constitution of Medina a ly one passage in the Constitution says anything directly about ‘mentions only God and the Last Day? fal to (any) Mu'min who has affirmed what is on this sheet in God and the Last Day, to support or shelter an [Note thatthe passage does not say something like “who believes in God, lis Prophet, ‘and the Last Day...” In two other passages, moreover, Muhammad is mentioned as head ‘of the community and arbiter, and God's blessings are invoked on him, but no reference is ‘made of is status as ras or nabi: Inter Medinese vers. ees of his paragraph use Serjeant’ wanstatonstoughou, except as marked 3. Serjeant wanes amon as “was 38 ‘A1. This is a writing from Muhammad the Prophet, God bless and honour him, ‘between the Mu'mindn and the Musliman of Quraysh and Yathrib F4, Whatsoever aggression .. there is... , will be refered (maraddu-hu) to God, Great and Glorious, and to Muhammad the Apostle of God, God bless and honour him. HB. God is protector for him who observes undertakings and keeps free of dlishonourable acts and offences, and Muhammad, God bless and honour him, ' is the Apostle of God. | Examination ofthe textual variants betwe | enable us to explain—or, perhaps, exp cases, the Variants suggest stron granted that Muhammad's prophetic status was as important, an issue for the early Believers as ithad become for them. Hence, they may have assumed that texts lacking the 1. Sean conveniently tabulate the ttl vais a he weston ere ae rue demonstrat this larly. do hope to undertake his us a separa aril, bua th moment will make no romises 39governor ‘Abd -shahada, begin (led 65-86168: hasized his role as leader ofthe community and arbiter le as prophet. ‘The inscriptional record is equally striking, Arabic inscriptions from the first seventy _years ofthe first Islamic century (some of which include quotations or paraphrase of the ‘many are invocations of God, requests for led with monotheist pi , ate not distinctively i ‘mentioning Muhammad still seems to be on an Egyptian tombstone bearing the date 71 A.H2 This absence of documentary mention of Muhammad dating from the frst 70 years of the Islamic er means, I think, not that Muhammad did not exist, but as I have stated above merely that the early Believers were not particularly concerned with defining precisely what was his status as messenger or prophet. This they simply accepted as ‘uring their main attention to the of his message—the need to ‘oneness and omnipotence, and to live by God's law in preparation for the End, The Believers may only have begun to emphasize Muhammad's status as apostle when some Jews or Christians began to challenge his prophetic perhaps because of the apparent delay of parousia, ot as a result of betterded upon what the first Believers them ‘been! Yet, even thase Jews and Christians who might have sympathetic to his preachings if most early Believers viewed Muhammad essent an inspired preacher striving to attain his community's salvation by purify ‘communities with which Muhammad and his 10 contact may have had a looser conception of the reaction may have set in only when the Believers came into 42 “king” ofthe Arabs.! Generally, Syriae soures from b late 7th century CE. refer to the Believers as mahgréyé or mhagerdyé—that is, “Hagarenes,” ic, descendants of ‘Abraham by the slave-girl Hagar. This term seems to have had pejorative overtones at times, but at others it may simply have been a way of identifying “Arabs,” like its predecessor, the Greek Agarenoi The striking thing, in view of the hypothesis advanced haere, is that Syriac theological texts of the seventh century focus on polemics against Jews or against rival forms of Christianity, but not agsinst the mhaggrdyé; the mhaggrdy@ ‘are mentioned in these early texts not as the objects of the polemic, but as passive ‘observers or, in one case, as vague allies ofthe Christians agains the Jews—presumably, because the mhaggrdyé, like the Christians, spoke of “Jesus, son of Mary” as the ‘messiah The fact that Christian polemics of the seventh century were not directed ‘against the mhaggrdyé suggests that they were not yet seen by Christian polemicists as a clearly defined, distinct religious community ‘The Nestorian monk Yohannan bar Penkaye of northern Mesopotamia, writing in 6680s, appears to confirm some of our views of the nature of Muhammad's ion.* A crucial passage of the text reads as follows: “They received, as 1 $ Tevet Batali: Ala Ming Sct Sri es Pires Doin & Maso, 1907), (6 BarPekayt had spoken ofthis “commandment” erin the text Ming, 18, 15-19. 43them, conceming all Christians and for the class of monks; they received from the | suggestion that Believers let people belong to whatev guidance one also the worship of one God, according to the customs of the | suggesting thatthe ancient law.! At the outset, however, they were so attached to the tradition of ‘Muhammad [mashlméniteh d-mahammad), he who was their teacher, that he decreed the sentence of death on anyone who would publicly rebel against hi ith (haymamutha} they wanted, ion between a leader (amir) of patriarch, appears to date from the early eighth century tians are divided into diferent sets. To this the pati enw is one and the same, and accepted by us ‘The text continues as follows: “Their armies used to go in each year to distant lands ‘and provinces, raiding and plundering from all peoples under heaven. And ffom every chose There were belonging to} the passage, for our c Abe hellnisc period, of "sacral easton.” 2 apa eg dnd dans nyt ‘comet cman a misc, acPenkay/Mingan | M09, aes 16. Sms ger wal Ahabhowy martin dgabbloytin Nau, “Un ellogue woh hth mlzaar Sein hb wd (asiatcn. 44 45as revealed to, among others, Moses. | locutor the choice of whether to follow the law of the ich he presumably meant Quranic law. Itis worth eship of Muhammad; iowever, that the mhagerdyé were by the end of the ning to focus on the Chistian doctrine of the divinity of ‘ceptable to them?—something we know already from the inscription of the Rock. 1 ie 22 esha omaha Nw, “Uncate 281, put ine-2 ae?) 252 (ua), 3. NagUnostpe, "28 ne 25,1 te 20 oman) CE Rein, "Bening... me 72 46 or apostolic status among Believers.! subsequently beeame a community of peopl who believed in God, te Last Day, and prophethood of Muhammad, and who thereby claimed a confession tity as Muslims or sentences, said one is the apo {rasil] of God” Obvio ‘monotheist confession—could have said in good faith. The second part, however, is something only a Muslim can say in good faith, and its presence inthe shahdda separates Muslims decisively from other monotheists, determine exactly when the shahdda first came the first documentary atestations ofthe shahida something resembling 2 complete shah ‘minted in Bishapur in 66 and 67 AH. (6 ‘added tothe statement of faith ata point when the community of Believers was redefining itself in a way that now excluded Christians, Jews, and perhaps members of some other ‘monotheist confessions who had once been members ofthe community—a development that probably took place sometime in the third quarter of the first century A.H. A distant reflection of this process of growth may exist inthe fact that one occasionally encounters references in Islamic juridical literature to the “two shahddas”—an expression that 1. On this, ee Anda, Die Person Muhammed, 3p. 245: “The growing selfconsiousness ofthe Sami community i signalled above alin the manner in whch the precedence of Muhanad over al ote Prophets is seed” 2. Seppe 40 and ote 3, above. Theft tata wide ange ted rc om the 6s and TOs A, sages that ich, num sugasts ht ese stan cca nes the eg 3. Baus, “The Coinage of Syria under the Umayyads... 198 1 th haha pres enon is Prasecogy bad ot yet bland ofthe shb's elation 47suggests that each of the two elements originally constituted a shahidain itself. Ik seems possible, in other words, thatthe traditional Muslim shahda, as it has been said for centuries, embodies in its two phrases the two phases in the grouth of the community’—from community of Believers to community of Muslims, “Muslim” now re-defined to mean not just a strict monotheist who adhered to some version of God's revealed law, but a monotheist Believer who was not a Christian or Jew, who believed also in Muhammad's apostleship and was pledged to observe Que'anic law. vi. sources, also doesnot suggest that they saw the later as dangerous religious adversaries. ‘Around 650 CEE, the Nestorian patriarch Isho'yahb Il wrote that “the Arabs not only do | hot fight Christianity, they even recommend our religion, honour our priests and sents of | our Lord, and make gifs to monasteries and churches. ‘As we have seen, the hypothesis that the early community of Believers was open to motheists, and that those confessional groups A possible vestige of the non-contesi Believers may exist in the absence of 5 confessional monothesms require some the confessional community—bap requirement for membership in the [death anpoaches the [ping man, he tad to ace the gion hit sie and prompted with he two shar...” ij utp, ie Abhi des Koro, 52, disses the to-partshade bily; he wsmes the int | 4 hoya Pica, Later Eputaarum (CSCO, Serge S Der Ursprang des ams an dat Cristea, 167; SP ok,“ Gute loin Ande, nthe Garden of Mrs, p. 8, bt with wrong source arian in tes. 5. Although crcumsson hat become an importa cit of pasage in most Islamic soit, Ht mot HL on placograpicl grounds, 1 thar De. Rag for aking this November 194), 48 49full sense, as a distinct religious confession, also sometimes contain reports that sugge an early fluidity in “communal” among whom they lived, espe and faces our gibla, and eats 0 slaughtered} meat [dhabiha] 1 controversy over the Muslims'/Believers" changing giblais an old one .'s box, is perhaps best let closed for the present, but the comment on ing in the context ofthe hadith that says that Muslims may eat the laughtered meat of Christians and Jews. ‘Another body of evidence we might consider is the notion of the ear explanation if we adhere to the idea thatthe early Muslims—i., the early Believers— not only constituted a self-contained and self-conscious pol saw themselves as belonging to a new religious conte community, but also ature? Ie is not p ny have been at yyzantines and Sasanians—such they would have from the outset, and to secure a foothold. If we see the conquerors however, not as confessionally exch ather as monotheist Believers ‘who might have been sympathetic to other monotheists among the conquered peoples, Inching my on The ary elamic Conquest (Princeton, 198). 50 | Believe ath of the conquests appears more plausible, Seen in ly have been viewed by the Jewish and Christin (and ities in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere almost as igious ideas to which these communities already ervice!! The Believers were insisting on strict adherence xy were consumed by, and intensely motivated by, dread of the coming Last Judgment; and they were enforcing strict observance of the revealed law, particularly in matters of ritual and worship. For the Christians and Jews of the Near Bast, these were not strange or alien ideas, but thoroughly familiar ones. The devout among them may have resented somewhat that these bumpkins from Arabia were preaching to them, much as a traffic safety instructor resents being chided by his teen-aged son for going a bit over the speed limit, but few would have resisted the validity and cogeney of the basic message—all the moreso because, at first, the ideas were probably known only from slogans, because recent events seemed to provide “signs” that God was on the Believers’ side, and because of the palpable long-term success inthe It may be noteworthy in this context that the early Believers established some of their first mosques in the places of worship of the ahi al-kitab? The best-known ‘example, of course, isthe Believers” use ofthe Church of St. John in Damascus as their place of prayer. The si suggests that the Believers first worshipped in part of the Church of the Holy jn Jerusalem is harder to unravel, but recent work LT. Nage,"Mltummacs Hag 2 den anen Kline,” 199: “Den Soaibesiters gxpendber ist Mubmaen Refomer. "| 2 Sharon, “The Bit of slam i the Hay Land210 their mosque, in the process barring the Christians from holding their Bibliographical Addendum ‘worship there 3 be more natural to assume, however, that the first Believers who arrived in Damascus (and elsewhere) naturally took to holding the Since this essay was drafted in 1994, the following works have appeared that bear ‘Seeing Islam as Others Su ‘Andreas Kaplony. The Haram of Jerusalem, 3 of Spiritual Power (Feeiburger Istamstudien 22). St An older work noted by one ofthe anonymous review were forced by circumstances tradition would carefully attempt to bury, of “forget.” strict confessional bariers that marked the early days ofthe community of Believers. But, at the outst, this strict self-definition in confessional terms was not there. Why, after should the Believers have cared much what confession people belonged to, as long as they recognized the oneness of God? There were much more important things on their ‘minds, Time was short; the End was coming, All that really mattered was that those who jeved in God's oneness and primacy, who Believed in the urgency of proper pious sw, and who looked for the establahment, as confession —Musl 193-246, e, 1967, on coevesion of uch to mosgue Karel Kul ds ken ar." Orntaic Suto Thor Noise. |. andthe rejinder by Eugen Mitvoch, "Zr Eattehungseschiche des lhantgen dr KonighchenPrewbachn Akademie der Wiseman 52 53