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were present practically everywhere. Islam in its eastern part also suffered considerably
during the Mongol conquests, precisely when its romance with science and philosophy
was nearing its eventide. And yet its achievements were already so brilliant that Islamic
civilization can legitimately claim a significant place in the history of humanity during the
period with which this volume deals.

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16

THE RISE OF ISLAM

Contents
THE RISE OF ISLAM IN ARABIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
THE SOURCES OF ISLAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
THE FORMATION OF THE EARLY ISLAMIC POLITY AND SOCIETY: GEN-
ERAL CHARACTERISTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

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16.1

THE RISE OF ISLAM IN ARABIA

(Abdul Aziz Duri)

Islam arose in the first half of the seventh century in the Arabian peninsula, a land of
sparsely peopled deserts and oases. Unified by a new faith, proclaimed by Muh.ammad as
the Prophet of God, the Arabs rapidly created an empire and a dazzling civilization. It is
now recognized that theirs was more than a mere nomadic movement caused by some little
understood cycle of climatic or demographic change. Attention is now more particularly
riveted to the accumulation over time of complex conditions developing within Arabia,
such as the spread of oasis agriculture, emergence of urban settlements, growth of caravan
trade, and a certain cultural unification based on the spread of a standard Arabic language
replacing the various dialects of both nomadic and sedentary communities. These various
factors were already by the sixth century tending to give to the Arab tribes on the Byzantine
and Iranian frontiers a new political strength and an urge to expand at the expense of their
neighbours.
By the seventh century, lands on the middle and lower Euphrates and parts of
Mesopotamia had been largely Arabized. In Syria, Arab tribes spread towards the east and
south-east of that country. As a threat arose from these nomadic incursions, the Byzantines
encouraged the rise of Arab federate allies, the Tanūkh, S.alih. and Ghassān, in the fourth–
sixth centuries. They were made Byzantine vassals to protect the frontier, ward off tribal
raids and provide auxiliaries to the Byzantine army. The Lakhmids were similarly situ-
ated in subordination to Iran. The tendency towards creating larger political entities within
Arabia can be discerned in the traditions about the expedition of Imrū’ 1-Qays of Kinda to
Najrān in south-west Arabia, the Sabā‘ite expeditions to Qaryāt al-Faw, and later, Abraha’s
campaign againt Huluban and some tribes (552?).
The Ghassānids and Lakhmids participated in the wars between Byzantium and Iran, but
at times they showed independence of their respective paramount powers. The line of the
Lakhmids ended in 602, and the Ghassānids also in the early seventh century. The Kinda,
from H.ad.ramaut, held Qaryāt al-Faw, a caravan centre on the road from

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south-west Arabia to the Gulf, and moved north; this tribal federation played an important
role in the fifth and sixth centuries in Najd and Yamāma. However, the federation disinte-
grated, and the Kinda returned to H.ad.ramaut in about 570. The Ghassānids protected trade
routes: namely the northern part of the incense route, including Wādı̄ 1-Sirh.ān,as well as
trade markets (aswāq) in Dūma and Bus.rā.They patronized poetry, and used Arabic in their
documents and in their churches. The Lakhmids protected the trade route from Yemen run-
ning through H.Īra. H.ı̄ra became an important town, and a centre for Christianity.Its script
developed fro the (nabatean) Aramaic, and it was from this that the Arabic script of the
sixth century was derived: Arabic poetry too flourished here. The Kinda also contributed
much to Arabic poetry, especially its poet and ruler Imrū’1-Qays, and its political aggran-
disement possibly led to the spread of literary Arabic in southern Arabia.
In later Islamic tradition this period was designated as one of jāhiliyya (‘ignorance’)
and remembered as one of heroism and of tribal conflicts, the ayyām al–‘Arab(‘Arab bat-
tles’) and of the crystallization of the tribal code of honour (murūwa). However, it must
be remembered that the penetration of Judaism and Christianity in many parts of Arabia,
meant that there would be some familiarity everywhere with monotheistic notions and with
ethical systems different from those of mere tribalism. Literary Arabic, superseding tribal
dialects, developed and spread over the whole peninsula by the fifth century. Pre-Islamic
Arabic poetry reached its climax in the sixth century, when the present Arabic script was
adopted by Mecca.
The sixth century saw the gradual rise of Mecca as a caravan city and a sacred place.
Tradition attributes to Qusay (early fifth century) the entry of the Quraysh into historical
prominence. The spread of reports about the sanctuary (h.aram) of the Ka‘ba at Mecca, and
of the Quraysh as descendants of Ismā‘il (Ishmael son of Abraham) and as guardians of
the Ka‘ba, helped in securing the friendship and attachment of the nomads to the Quraysh
townsmen and merchants; and pilgrimages were often combined with trade fairs. Though it
had a pantheon of deities, Mecca had traces of monotheistic ideas: the trio of al-Lāt, ‘Uzzā
and Manāt were held to be daughters of Allāh; and the H.anı̄fs saw themselves as followers
of the religion of Abraham, and, therefore, monotheists.
A station on the incense route, Mecca depended on trade even for its provisions. From
local commerce it extended its activities to international trade. The fall of Palmyra and the
continued wars between Byzantium and Iran favoured the growth of the ‘incense’ route,
away from the war zone, while the fall of the H.imyār tribe paved the way for the power of
the Quraysh. Public affairs at Qurayshite Mecca were dealt with by the mala or council of
men of wealth and of recognized ‘noble’ families; tribal ties were perceptibly weakened
by the growth of commerce so that Quraysh polity could be termed a rough oligarchy.

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It was in this modestly prosperous town that Muh.ammad was born. On his life and the
contents of his prophetic preaching the most primary source is the Qur’ān, the collection
of the revelations (wah.ı̄) that he proclaimed to have received from God, and in which
God is the speaker and Muh.ammad the immediate addressee. The texts of the revelations,
collected together after the Prophet’s death (632), are not arranged in a chronological order,
and the occasion and context of the individual revelations are often known only from later
reports and commentaries. Broadly, they are classified into those which were received at
Mecca, in or before 622, and those received at Medina (622–632); the former are largely
concerned with belief, while in the latter there is much that is of a legislative character,
crucial for the organization of a distinct social community.
Reports about the Prophet as heard from eye-witnesses were spread about and began
in time to be recorded, becoming known as h.adı̄th. From such oral reports systematic
accounts of the Prophet’s life and actions (sı̄ra/maghāzı̄) came to be written. The first
works on sı̄ra belonged to the second half of the seventh century, written by Abban ibn
‘Uthmān (c. 713)and ‘Urwa ibn al-Zubayr (94/712), to be elaborated by Zuhrı̄ (741) and
others of his generation. The first full-scale sı̄ra was produced by Zuhrı̄’s student, Ibn Ish.āq
(761). With Wāqidı̄ (823) and Ibn Sa‘d (844), the genre reached its maturity in plan and
content. A tendency towards exaggeration developed with time; and popular stories, often
quite unhistorical, grew apace. The historian needs to discount much of the pious literature
of the latter type.
The Prophet was probably forty years old when he received the first call of his mis-
sion (c. 609), and his mission at Mecca lasted about thirteen years, whereafter in 622 he
migrated to Medina. Most reports put his birth at about 570, but much uncertainty about
the actual year prevails.
Little is known of Muh.ammad’s life before the call to Prophethood. He was of a respected
family, but of modest resources. His early life had been difficult. Born an orphan (Qu’rān,
xciii. 6), he lost his mother early, and soon thereafter his grandfather, ‘Abdu’l-Mut.t.alib. He
was really brought up by his uncle Abū S.ālib, and spent the first four or five years of his
life in the desert with the Banı̄ Sa‘d, looking after the pasturing sheep of some Meccans.
He also went to Syria as a boy with his uncle, in a caravan. Pious traditions assert that he
did not take part in idol-worship, and Muh.ammad might, indeed, have been inclined to the
beliefs of the H.anı̄fs, the Meccan monotheists.
Muh.ammad is called ummı̄ (vii, 157), generally explained as ‘illiterate’, but some indi-
cate that this is because he could not read the (Jewish and Christian) scriptures (xxv. 4, 5);
and ummı̄ might also have meant one who was not of Jewish descent (cf. lxii.2)

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At twenty-five, he married Khadı̄ja, a rich widow, who engaged in credit and commerce.
She had employed him in her trade to Syria and other places (twice to Jurash), and was
impressed with his character and honesty. She always stood by him, and bore him four
daughters and two sons, both of whom died young.
At Mecca, Muh.ammad became known as al-amı̄n (‘the honest one’), and before his
Prophetic call arbitrated on how the Black Stone in Ka‘ba was to be set in place when the
building was being rebuilt. This good repute might have been due in part to his increas-
ing spiritual concerns, with periods of seclusion and devotions (not unfamiliar, though, in
Mecca) in a cave at mount H.ı̄ra, and then visions in dreams. Yet the first revelation shook
him deeply.
Sūra xcvi.1 ff. is believed to have been the first revelation; other revelations (starting
with lxxiv.1 1–5) followed, and continued till his last days. Wah.ı̄ (revelation) to him was
auditory: it is said to have come at times like the ringing of bells, or through an angel who
recited the words to him (lxxv. 16–18, lxxxvii.6). The Wah.ı̄ came to him as to previous
prophets (iv.163).
The mission in Mecca, once Muh.ammad had come to terms with his call, was initially
secret, but three years later, it was proclaimed openly (xv.94). Conversions began with his
family and friends and, then, the clan, Mecca being naturally especially addressed (vi. 93).
The Revelations came in Arabic, the tongue of his own people (xiii.37; xxvi. 194–5, 198–
9), but were meant for all peoples, as indicated in some Meccan verses (e.g. vi.90, xiii.38;
xxv.1).
The basic elements of the faith were developed in the Meccan period to be elaborated
and supplemented by legislative and practical measures at Medina later. Belief in one God
and in the Day of judgement (lvi.2, 6–46; lxxxiii. 1–6) were its essential elements and
the most insistently emphasized, as also a rejection of polytheism and idol worship. ‘Sub-
mission’ to God (al-Islām) was held to be the essence of piety, and the worship of Him
its outward expression (iii. 18–19). Ethical values like honesty, kindness, modesty, and
chastity are stressed. Respect and obedience to parents, respect for others’ rights and char-
ity, especially to the poor and orphans, are prescribed (ii.177; iv.36; xvii.26). Liberation of
slaves was highly commended (xc.13; also iv.92; lviii.3).
Of the five ‘pillars’ of Islam, the prayers were set early in Mecca (xcvi.9–10; lxxxvii.
14–5) and their times defined (iv.101–3). Fasting was first prescribed for one day (‘ashūrā)
as practised by the Jews (10 Tishri), and by the Quraysh as well. The fast of Ramadhān was
decreed in Medina in 624(ii. 183–188). Pilgrimage to Mecca was next made obligatory
(ii. 158,189,196). Paying alms was recommended in Mecca (li.19; xxvii.3), but became
obligatory (xxxiii.33) with their quantum defined, in Medina.

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The qibla (direction of prayers) was initially towards Jerusalem, but it was changed to
Mecca in 624 (ii. 144, 149). This change is significant, since it underlined the relation of
Islam with Abraham, the traditional founder of the Ka‘ba (ii.127). Islam was proclaimed
as a return to the religion of Abraham (Ibrāhı̄m) (ii. 130–135), who was a H.anı̄f and a
Muslim (iii.67). In practical terms, Islam undoubtedly gained in Arabia with its holiest of
holies identified with a recognized pilgrim centre of the Arabs.
The Prophet’s mission first went on largely unopposed until he began to denounce the
heathen gods and so seemingly denied the Meccans’ ancestral beliefs (xi.62) and under-
mined faith in the gods of their sanctuary, very crucial to their position as the Ka‘ba’s
guardians. Especially the wealthy became increasingly opposed to the new call, for it
could threaten their trade, since the h.ajj and the sacred months were of great importance
to Mecca (xxviii. 57). Muh.ammad’s small but growing sect of followers first included his
wife Khadı̄ja, and young cousin ‘Alı̄ (later the fourth caliph, 656–661), his close friend
Abū Bakr (the first caliph, 632–634), ‘ ‘Umar (caliph, 634–644) and ‘Uthmān (caliph,
644–656). They were to show, with others, an extreme fortitude in loyalty to the Prophet
in all the harsh circumstances that now ensued.
Muh.ammad was exposed to accusations (xxiii.70) and ridicule (xv.11, 95; vi.10). Though
owing to the support of Abū S.ālib and his clan there was no danger to his life, plots against
him were made in secret (viii.30; xxi.3; xliii.80). Converts with no tribes to protect them,
especially the poor and the slaves, suffered heavily.
As Muh.ammad could not protect his followers he advised them to emigrate to Abyssinia,
and some (reputedly eleven men and four women) did so in the fifth year of his preaching.
A year later over eighty emigrated, though some returned. The Quraysh took severe mea-
sures and drove the Prophet’s clan of the Banı̄ Hāshim and Abū S.ālib to the latter’s shi‘bs
(valley) and boycotted them. It may, however, not have been as hard as was supposed later
on; and the ban collapsed three years later (619).
Muh.ammad, however, lost his wife Khadı̄ja, and Abū S.ālib, in the meantime, and could
not by himself get the required support in Mecca. He tried to establish himself at S.a’if,
south-east of Mecca, and failed; and then during the pilgrimage season he contacted the
people of Medina: at first (620), six were converted, in the second season (621), twelve.
Mus.‘ab ibn‘Umayr was now sent with them to propagate the faith. By the third season
(622), Islam spread in Medina and many of that town met the Prophet secretly at ‘Aqaba,
and paid homage to him.
In 621 the Prophet told his followers of the Isrā‘ night journey to Jerusalem) and mi‘rāj
(ascension to Heaven) (xvii. 1, 60). ‘Āisha stated that both journeys were made spiritually,
while another wife of the Prophet claimed that both were physical acts. Ibn Ish.āq thought

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both to be possible, while later Muslim tradition strongly asserted a physical journey in
both cases, being cited as miracles that were held to be a necessary mark of prophethood.
Muh.ammad now directed his community in Mecca to emigrate to Medina and about
seventy did so fairly openly; he himself followed secretly, with Abū Bakr. The Quraysh
did not wish Muh.ammad to be out of their sight, but he evaded them and arrived in Medina
on 24 September 622.
The migration to Medina could with hindsight be judged a momentous event. In one
step, an unarmed religion became a state; and Muh.ammad now combined the mantle of the
Prophet with that of a statesman. Its importance became so clear even to contemporaries
that the Muslim lunar calendar was assigned the hijra (‘migration’) for its epoch, when it
was instituted under the second caliph, ‘Umar (634–644).
Once at Medina, Muh.ammad set himself energetically to work. First a mosque was
built, with quarters for the Prophet. The ‘emigrants’ (muhājirūn), received by the Muslims
of Medina, designated ‘Helpers’ (Ans.ār), had to be settled in houses of their own on land
granted by the Ans.ār. A mu’ākhāt (brotherhood) was instituted; usually a muhājir allied
himself with an ans.ārı̄, obtaining support even to the extent of inheritance, which practice
was later abrogated after the Muslim success at Badr (624).
At Medina, some arrangement became necessary to define the relations between Mus-
lims and the others and to organize the affairs of the emerging polity. This was mainly done
in thes.ah.ı̄fa (charter) or kitāb (writ). This document announced the formation of an umma
(community) bound by faith, contained a compact with the Jewish tribes, and provided a
kind of constitution for the functioning of the young state under the Prophet’s control.
Tribes survived as units for some social functions, but loyalty to the umma began to take
precedence over tribal affiliations. Matters of war or peace were decided by the Prophet,
and he was the arbiter in any differences among the people covered by the compact. Medina
was considered h.aram (sanctuary), while the Quraysh were seen as the main enemy.
The struggle with the Quraysh had started with limited raids on some of their small
caravans in 623, and these soon threatened the trade of the Meccans. The Prophet con-
cluded agreements with tribes in the vicinity to ensure their co-operation or neutrality. A
raid carried out in a sacred month (led by Ibn Jahsh) was considered justified (ii.217). One
such raid to capture a major caravan led to the battle of Badr. The Quraysh were alerted
and though the caravan passed safely, they felt that their trade was threatened and decided
to strike. In an uneven battle at Badr (see viii.5–7), the Muslims were yet victorious (624),
their success seeming to them to come from the support of the Lord (viii.9, 12, 17). The
rules for division of the spoils of war were now defined (viii.41), and the treatment of
prisoners prescribed. The duty of jihād too was now formally imposed on all Muslims.

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The Quraysh prepared for revenge, and, aided by their allies (of Thaqı̄f, ‘Abd Manāt
and Ahābish), moved in a large body towards Mecca. The Muslims’ position weakened,
when ‘Abdullāh ibn Ubay withdrew with his people; and the Prophet himself declined to
let a regiment of Ibn Ubay’s Jewish allies fight with him. The encounter at Uh.ud (23 March
625) resulted in a major reverse for the Muslims (iii.152). But the Quraysh could not win
a decisive victory and withdrew.
After Uh.ud Muh.ammad continued his policy of raids on caravans, and on tribal groups
suspected of enmity. It was clear that the Quraysh, despite their success at Uh.ud, were
not still able to ensure safety for the trade route to Syria. They now tried to raise a fresh
alliance of tribes to attack Medina. Muh.ammad planned to stay in Medina and to dig a
ditch, to protect the open part (north) of the city. The siege lasted fifteen days (May 627).
It was a critical time for Muslims (xxxiii. 10–11): the ‘hypocrites’ (munāfiqūn) wavered,
while the Jewish tribe of Qurayza tended to side with the enemy (xxxiii.26). However, the
failure of the besiegers’ cavalry to break through the defences, stormy weather and mutual
suspicions between the allies led to the failure of the siege (xxx.9, 25). The Quraysh not
only failed in their confrontation with Muh.ammad, but their trade also declined as well as
their prestige.
The Prophet had made separate compacts (muwāda‘a) with the Jews who were divided
among tribes and clans. Their help, or at least their neutrality, in case of any attack on Med-
ina, was imperative. Since they were the ‘people of the Book’, he had at first treated them
gently and hoped to win them over. However, the Jews rejected the claim that Muh.ammad
stood in succession to their prophets, and this embittered relations. The Jewish Qaynuqā‘
turned hostile after Badr (viii. 58). They were besieged but allowed to leave, Medina with
their families (624). The Qur’ān then warned against alliances with Jews and Christians
(v.51, 57).
About a year later came the clash with the Jewish tribe of the Banū’ 1-Nad.ı̄r. They were
accused of conspiring against the Prophet, warned, and besieged; some of their palm trees
were cut (lix. 5), then they were allowed to leave for Khaybar and Syria with their goods,
except arms, while their land was made fay (public property) for the Prophet (lix.6) (625)
The Jewish Qurayza were dealt with in 627, immediately after the raising of the siege
by the Quraysh, during which they were suspected of aiding the besiegers. They were
punished with a massacre of their menfolk and enslavement of women and children. The
number of those killed may, however, have been exaggerated by pious tradition.
The Prophet did not, in this phase of success, want to destroy the Quraysh, his own tribe,
and of great prestige among Arabs; he wished only to neutralize their opposition. The new
attitude is shown in the H.udaibiyya expedition. Muh.ammad decided to visit Mecca in 628

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as a religious act (‘umra) and to make a show of Muslim strength. The Prophet avoided
the army sent by the Quraysh and came to H.udaibiyya (about nine miles from Mecca).
After negotiations, an agreement was reached, viz., a truce for ten years; all other people
made free to make alliance with either Muh.ammad or with the Quraysh; and Muslims to
be allowed to visit Mecca the next year. In spite of some unpleasant details, H.udaibiyya
proved to be a victory for MuH.ammad (xlviii, 18–21): Islam spread still more rapidly; and
its followers multiplied.
The turn of Khaybar, a fertile oasis north of Medina with rich palm groves inhabited
mainly by Jews, came next, since the Banū’ l-Nad.ı̄r had moved to settle there. The Prophet
marched quickly against them (628): Khaybar was conquered, the land of its inhabitants
was considered booty, but the Jews were left to cultivate it for half the produce. A cam-
paign against Mu‘ta (southern Syria) (629), now undertaken, proved unsuccessful: its three
leaders and a few others were killed, and Khālid ibn Walı̄d, later to be so famous, led the
withdrawal.
The truce with the Quraysh was held to have been broken by the attack of its allies,
the Banū Bakr, on the Khuzā‘a, allies of the Muslims, who appealed to the Prophet. The
response was quick: a large force left Medina (630), the Quraysh leader, Abū Sufyān, who
came to mediate, saw no way out, adopted Islam, and advised the Quraysh to surrender.
Significantly, there was now little opposition (except from some leaders of the Makhzūm
clan). The Prophet clearly wanted to win over the Quraysh, instructed his troops not to use
force, and declared a general amnesty (s.xvi/126). He entered Mecca in January 630, and
the Ka‘ba was cleared of idols. It was the victory that opened the gates for all Arabs to join
Islam (sūra, cx, ‘victory’, was now revealed).
The new strength of Islam was shown when the Hawāzin and Thaqı̄f rose to challenge
the Prophet’s power. The Muslims moved, aided by a levy from the Quraysh, and a bitter
struggle with the Bedouin tribes followed. The Hawāzin were defeated, 630 (ix.29), while
the Thaqı̄f entrenched themselves, with provisions, in their fort. The Hawāzin accepted
Islam, their captured women and children being freed, but the Thaqı̄f stood the siege (630)
and the Muslims withdrew. About a year later their delegation came to announce their
acceptance of Islam and a peaceful rendering of allegiance.
Now that much of Arabia was firmly under his authority, the Prophet turned north, gath-
ered a large force from Medina and the allied tribes, including the Quraysh, and announced
his destination as Tabūk, on the way to Syria (630). The objective is not clear; but from
Tabūk Muh.ammad decided to return to Medina.
The Prophet turned to peaceful ways to propagate his mission, the da‘wā. Year 9
AH (630) is called the year of the wufūd (‘delegations’), in reference to the advent of

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deputations from different tribes and clans, especially from central and south Arabia, to
announce their conversion and allegiance. During the h.ajj pilgrimage of this year, it was
announced that no polytheists would be allowed to enter the Ka‘ba hereafter (ix.28); and
war was now declared upon them (ix. 5).
In 632, the Prophet led his last pilgrimage to Mecca. In a farewell address attributed
to him he stressed equality among Muslims, the sanctity of property and blood, and the
discarding of Jāhiliyya (pre-Islamic) pacts and obligations. Preparations were now made
for another campaign against southern Syria, but the Prophet fell ill and passed away on 7
June 632.
Muh.ammad’s achievement in his lifetime had been great, but the historical conse-
quences of his mission were only just beginning to unfold at the time of his death. Abū Bakr
is said to have declared upon the Prophet’s death: ‘Those who worshipped Muh.ammad,
should know he is dead; but those who worship Allāh know Allāh is alive and immortal’.
The words, possibly apocryphal, bear a much larger significance than was perhaps intended
when they were uttered (or recorded). The entire historical context in which Islam was to
be practised as a faith was to change fundamentally by its own triumphs. The strong will of
the first caliph Abū Bakr (d. 634) and the statesmanship of his successor, ‘Umar (634–644),
played their part in first saving Islam within the Arabian peninsula and, then, in initiating
and maintaining its dramatic expansion in other lands as a military power. This expansion
and the conversion of other peoples ultimately gave new strength and content to the uni-
versality that was always implicit in the strong monotheism of Islam, where worship is due
to God from all mankind.

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16.2

THE SOURCES OF ISLAM

(Azmi Taha Al-Sayyed)

When Muh.ammad announced that he was the messenger of Allāh (God), it was made clear
that he was otherwise a man just like any other ( Qur‘án, iii. 144) and that the religion he
propagated, termed Islām, or submission (to God) (vi. 125, etc.) was offered to all, without
compulsion (ii.256; cix.6). Allāh’s own words constituted the Qur’ān; and the words of the
Prophet and his deeds, which were later called sunna, supplemented the commandments
of the Qur’ān. These two (later considered to be the two sources of Islam) were deemed
to constitute the totality of the belief and practice of the faith during the lifetime of the
Prophet. But after his death (632), questions soon arose on which direct guidance was not
available in the Qur’ān or in the reports circulating about the Prophet’s words and actions.
This necessitated the definition of rules deduced from principles found in the Qur’ān and
the sunna. This came to be known later as ijtihád (endeavour) and to be treated as the third
source of Islam.
Of the three sources, the Qur’ān is naturally held by Muslims to be the primary one,
being God’s Word. But words need to be understood, and traditional Muslim interpretation
has recognized that some Qur’ānic verses denote single specific meanings (muh.kamāt),
while others have more than one possible meaning (mutashābihāt). Several verses have
their meanings defined and limited by reference to contexts, often provided only by sunna
reports. The work of interpreting the Qur’ān by such means constitutes tafsı̄r, in which
realm al- S.abarı̄ (d. 923) is widely held to have made the most monumental contribution.
In matters of creed, the Qur’ān lays emphasis on the belief in the One God, who is the
Creator of all, is beneficent and benevolent and is the Lord of all creation and beings within
it, and who rewards as well as chastises, in this world and on the Day of Judgement, when
the dead shall be resurrected. God is served by angels, among whom is Gabriel (Jibrā’ı̄l,
who conveyed the revelations to Muh.ammad. The believers are warned against the fallen
angel Shayt.ān (Satan) or Iblı̄s, who seeks to seduce mankind to evil. The exegeses of
these issues take a considerable space in the Qur’ān, in particular as to what pertains to

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Allāh, and to His qualities. The Qur’ān underscores obedience to Allāh, since this is the
purpose for which He has created man. This act of obedience is called ‘worship’ (‘ibādah),
which refers to those acts which conform to Allāh’s orders, including religious rites. The
essential rites are the ‘five pillars’ of Islam, namely, the verbal testimony (shahādah) that
‘there is no god but Allāh, and Muh.ammad is the prophet of Allāh’; the offering of the
five prescribed prayers during the day and night (s.alāt); fasting in the month of Ramad.ān
(s.awm); prescribed almsgiving (zakāt); and the pilgrimage to Mecca (h.ajj) at least once in
the lifetime of the person who is capable of doing so.
The Qur’ān explicitly claims that the creed of Islam is identical to the creeds propagated
by earlier divine revelations received by Abraham, Moses and Jesus (ii.136). Though the
Jews and Christians are accused of having altered the divine books delivered to both Moses
and Jesus (ii.140), they are still called ‘People of the Book’ (ii.113, iv.153, 171, v.18–19,
etc.) and are summoned to what the Qur’ān calls ‘the common word’ (Kalimah Sawā’)
between them and the Muslims (iii.64).
The second major element which the Qur’ān comprehends is that of the sharı̄‘a, which
is the practical and legal side of religion.
The sharı̄‘a found in the Qur’ān includes law on such matters as the rules for dividing
inheritance between heirs; provision for punishments for stealing and adultery; a specified
maximum number of wives (four); and prohibition of gambling, usury and some items of
food and drink, especially pork and wine.
Much space is devoted in the Qur’ān to man’s conduct, notably behaviour towards
others. The Qur’ān emphasizes the principle of equality of man, in that every person is
descended from one father, that is, Adam; and Adam was created from dust (ii.213; iii.59;
vii.26, 27); and it sets piety (taqwā) as the criterion for distinction (cf. lix.18).
The concept of good morals is associated in the Qur’ān with ‘righteousness’, or what
Allāh commands, whereas ‘evil’ is linked with what He prohibits. There is considerable
emphasis in the Qur’ān on praiseworthy conduct, such as clemency, self-control, respect
for the elderly, dutifulness towards parents, good treatment of women, especially wives,
and of relatives, treating one’s neighbours amicably, refraining from lies and slander, and
helping the sickly and the needy (e.g. xi.86; xxvi.1, 165; xxix. 7; xxxi.13; xivi. 14; lv.8;
lxx.19–34).
Sunna (traditions of the Prophet), the second ‘source’ of Islam, is held to comprise
everything that was said, done or agreed to by Muh.ammad. Verbal sunna comprises the
utterances of the Prophet with regard to Islamic legislation and forms the major part of the
Prophetic tradition.But the sunna also includes all those reported deeds of the Prophet that
were intended to serve as models, for example for the ways to perform ablutions (wud.ū’),

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prayers (s.alāt) and pilgrimage (h.ajj), or carry out judicial actions. Still another category of
sunna comprises ‘what was agreed upon’ (taqrı̄r), represented by the Prophet’s silence on
some utterances and actions that Muslims made in his presence.
There are several verses of the Qur’ān where Muslims are urged to obey the Prophet
(e.g., xlviii.33; xlviii.17), to see him as an example, to quote from him, and imitate him.
The Prophet’s ‘companions’ used to relate to people what they had heard from the Prophet,
or saw him do. This is why the traditions have also been called h.adı̄th, or oral statements.
The Ummayad caliph ‘Umaribn ‘Abdal-‘Azı̄z (719) ordered that all such reports be col-
lected and written down. There was thus a considerable lapse of time between the original
report and its first record. Muslim scholars thus had to devise some method of checking the
authenticity of the traditions. Their major concern was with the credibility of each of the
named original narrators and successive transmitters. In the ninth century, two large collec-
tions of h.adı̄th were compiled, byal-Bukhārı̄ (d. 870) and by Muslim (d. 875), both obtain-
ing the title al-S.ah.ı̄h. (‘sound’ or ‘correct’), owing to the belief that these were selected
according to the best standards of authenticity. Shı̄‘ite scholars, it is true, tend to question
the validity of much of such h.adı̄th collection, generally urging the reliability of only such
h.adı̄th narrations as are traced to the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, ‘Alı̄. Modern critical
research too has raised many problems regarding the evolution of the traditions and the
authenticity of individual narrations (Schacht, 1950).
The sunna complements the Qur’ān. This means that many legal principles which are
not directly to be found in the Qur’ān are derived from the sunna. As examples one can
cite the injunction to provide adequate support for a wife, how to deal with the inheritance
of a grandmother, and the prohibition of marriages with persons related in specified ways
and of the eating the meat of certain animals.
Ijtihād, the third ‘source’ of Islam, literally means ‘an effort’ made by a competent
jurist to derive legal rules from the Qur’ān and sunna for matters on which there is no clear
statement in either of these two sources. It is, therefore, subordinate to, and delimited by,
the Qur’ān and the h.adı̄th.
There exists a kind of collective ijtihād, called ‘consensus’ (ijmā‘), that is, customs or
rules on which all Muslim scholars have openly or tacitly agreed (ittifāq). Many (excluding
Shı̄‘ite theologians, however) regard consensus (ijmā‘) as a reliable source of the sharı̄‘a.
Foremost among other principles governing ijtihād – and the only valid one, according to
al-Shāfi‘ı̄ (d. 820) – is deduction by qiyās or analogy: the jurist looks for a precedent in the
Qur’ān or sunna which may resemble the case he is examining. If he finds one, he applies
the same legal principle to the case before him.

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There is also another method of ijtihād, much resorted to in the H.anafite school, though
rejected by al-Shāfi‘ı̄: this is called ‘common interests’ (istis.lāh.): whenever anology is not
available, the jurist examines whether a particular course, if adopted, would result in a
judgement of public interest or utility (mas.lah.ah).
The story of the arrangement and elaboration of Muslim law (sharı̄‘a) after the Prophet’s
death (632) can only be briefly set out here. His non-prophetic functions were deemed to
devolve to his successors (khalı̄fas), the caliphs, beginning with Abū Bakr (632–634), fol-
lowed by ‘Umar 1 (634–644), ‘Uthmān (644–656) and ‘Alı̄ (656–661). Under these non-
dynastic ‘pious’ caliphs, all of whom were companions of the Prophet, the Islamic Arab
Empire was created, and the caliphs, especially ‘Umar 1, took a number of financial, fiscal
and administrative measures for the empire’s governance. Later jurists, such as AbūYūsuf
(d. 798), took these into account as legitimate pieces of legislation.Since there was no
fixed law of caliphal succession, the challenge to the claims of ‘Alı̄, the Prophet’s cousin,
by Mu‘āwiya, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750), and the death of ‘Alı̄’s
son (the Prophet’s grandson) H.usayn at Karbalā (680) while challenging the claims of the
Umayyads, led to the formation of the Shı̄‘a, the ‘party’, in favour of the Prophet’s house.
The Shı̄‘ites developed in time the theory of the imām, a religious leader from the Prophet’s
house, capable of perfect legislation by means of ijtihād. The Fāt.imid caliphate of Egypt
(969–1171) belonged to a section of this sect (Ismā‘ı̄lı̄s). Subsequently, most Shı̄‘ites, par-
ticularly in the eastern Islamic lands, tended to accept the line of the Twelve Imāms (with
Ismā‘ı̄l and his branch excluded), which ended with the disappearance of the twelfth imām
in 873. Thereafter, the function of ijtihād has had to be exercised by such theologians as
obtain by their learning the status of mujtahids
Among the majority of Muslims, who in contradistinction to the Shı̄‘ites called them-
selves Ahl Sunna, ‘followers of the Sunnah’, or Sunnis, there developed four major ‘rites’
(madhhabs) or schools of jurisprudence, founded by Abū H.anı̄fa (d. 767), Mālik ibn ‘Anas
(d. 795), al-Shāfi‘ı̄ (d. 820) and Ah.mad ibn H.anbal (d. 855), respectively. They have dif-
ferences (ikhtilāf) among themselves on matters of principle, such as the scope of rāy
(personal opinion) and istih.sān (choice of the ‘better’ course), as well as on numerous
matters of detail. But in sum the differences as to substance of law are not fundamental;
such being also the case between these Sunni schools and the madhhab of the ‘Twelve’
Shı̄‘ites traced to the sixth imām Ja‘far al-S.ādiq (d. 765). All four Sunni ‘rites’ came to
be regarded as legitimate by Sunnis: one had to choose a particular school alone for one-
self, although the choice often came to be made by the territory or community to which
one belonged. Most Sunnis in medieval times held that with the establishment of these
schools ‘the gate of ijtihād was closed’; yet some theologians, like the H.anbali scholar

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Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) continued to acknowledge the need for ijtihād though prescribing
rigorous constraints under which it could be exercised.
If man’s relations with man were a major concern underlying the elaborate construc-
tion of the sharı̄‘a, Islam as a faith (dı̄n) was deeply concerned with man’s relations with
God. The very Qur’ānic expression, islām (vi. 125; lxi.7; xxxix.22), means man’s ‘submis-
sion’ to God; and the nature of God and the nature of man’s relationship with him were
necessarily the objects of ever-growing reflection and speculation within Islam in its first
millennium.
With the Mu‘tazila, traced to Wās.il ibn ‘At.ā (d.761), began an urge to systematize
and partly, perhaps, to rationalize theological principles. God was so absolute that words
used in the Qur’ān to suggest anthropomorphic representations of him were to be treated
as figurative only; God’s justice is infinite and, therefore, predetermined; the Qur’ān is
created, not eternal, for God is unique in His eternity. These ideas exercised considerable
influence until the tenth century, when al-Ash‘arı̄ (d. 935) contested its major premises and
laid the basis of much of the later Sunni theology of dependence upon manqūl (the received
text) as against the products of reason (ma‘qūl). The Qur’ānic words about God were to be
taken as they are: man is incapable of grasping God’s absoluteness in His attributes; God’s
grace, like His justice, is also infinite; and the Qur’ān is not created, but eternal. All these
matters came to be the concern of ‘ilm al-Kalām or scholastic theology.
Philosophical ideas, generated notably by the increasing familiarity with Greek thought,
showed their influence in the writings of Ibn Sı̄nā (Avicenna) (d. 1037) with his interest
in the ‘first cause’, gnosis, and the eternity of the soul. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (d. 1198)
attempted to define truth which could be reached both by received knowledge and by rea-
son. Already, however, al-Ghāzalı̄, (d. 1111) had taken up the cudgels against philosophical
speculations and so heavily reinforced the dogmatic system of theology which al-Ash‘arı̄
had formulated.
In the meantime, a spiritual wave developed which was to exercise considerable influ-
ence on Muslim higher thought as well as popular beliefs. This was the mystical move-
ment known as S.ūfism (s.ūf, woollen garment), which seems to have essentially originated
in a spurning of the idea of reward or punishment as a factor impelling one to obey God.
The only admissible impulse could be love. The saying was attributed to the woman s.ūfı̄,
Rābi‘a al-Adawı̄ya (d. 801): ‘Love of God hath so absorbed me that neither love nor hate
of any other thing remains in my heart’ (quoted in Gibb, 1953, p. 133). The object of
spiritual endeavour was then the elimination (fanā) of self, which would at once be com-
munion (wis.āl) with God. It was for such a claimed communion that the celebrated s.ūfı̄
Mans.ûr all-H.allāj was executed (922). But S.ūfism spread despite such persecution (on the

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whole, occasional), and from al-Ghazālı̄, it obtained a de jurerecognition. With Ibn al-
‘Arabı̄ (d.1240), a new trend began within S.ūfism that of monism and pantheism (or, at
least, qualified pantheism), which transformed the basis of much of s.ūfism throughout the
Islamic world, notably in its eastern and central parts. It is to be remembered that despite
their differences with orthodox theologians (‘ulamā’), the s.ūfı̄s by no means rejected the
sharı̄‘a, and they also insisted that the S.ūfic truths had descended to them from Muh.ammad
through a chain (silsilah) of successors traced to him usually through ‘Alı̄. By its own per-
ception, therefore, S.ūfı̄sm was imbedded firmly in the very prophethood of Muh.ammad
and represented the most total submission of the believer (mu‘min) to God. This percep-
tion was naturally not shared by the mainstream theologians, many of whom continued
to express their suspicions of the mystic path (t.arı̄qah) as a challenge to the formal law
(sharı̄‘a). Despite such suspicion, S.ūfism retained its appeal for those who were drawn to
the prospect of spiritual experiences; and the S.ūfi’s objective of self-annihilation (fanā) in
his love of God inspired great devotion. This spirit is especially reflected in the Persian
poetry of Rūmı̄ (1207–1273), H.āfiž (d. 1389) and Jāmı̄ (1414–1492); and in Arabic there
is an early representative too – the Egyptian Ibn al–Fārid. (d. 1235).

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16.3

THE FORMATION OF THE EARLY ISLAMIC POLITY

AND SOCIETY: GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
(Clifford Edmund Bosworth)

When in 632 Abū Bakr became caliph (khalı̄fa) literally, ‘successor’ (of the Prophet
Muh.ammad) and temporal head of the nascent Islamic community in Mecca and Med-
ina, there were no precedents in either the urban or tribal societies of north and central
Arabia for the future development of the Muslim polity. Now, such questions posed them-
selves as, what was to be the relationship of the head of the community with the body of
the faithful? How was he to be chosen? What was the theological justification for his rule?
How were the demands of the factions which early grew up with differing interpretations of
the Qur’ān and sunna of the Prophet to be reconciled? These were questions to be resolved,
if possible, within the Muslim community. But beyond this was a wider question, as the
momentum of Arab conquest grew, and more and more lands of the Middle East and North
Africa fell under Arab Muslim rule, that of the changing relationship between the Muslim
Arab military aristocracy and their subject populations – Aramaeans, or Nabataeans (the
indigenous people of Syria and Iraq), Jews, Copts, Greeks, Berbers, Hispano-Romans and
Persians – since considerable parts of these peoples gradually adopted the Islamic faith and
became theologically, at least, fellow Muslims and so spiritual equals of the ruling Arab
elite. This was to be primarily a question of the political, financial and legal status of the
new Muslims. But behind it was a wider social and cultural question, involving oppos-
ing currents of symbiosis and tension between the Arabs, military conquerors from the
most closed and least developed part of the Arabian peninsula, its centre, and their newly-
acquired subjects, of whom the Persians, in particular, had a glorious past and a sense of
enduring national identity beyond anything which the Arabs could claim. The Persian peo-
ple were to adopt whole-heartedly the Islamic faith of the Arabs but, unlike most other
peoples, retain their own Iranian language. The process of symbiosis between the Arabs
and the so-called ‘Ajam (meaning, above all, the Persians) was to result in the evolution

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of a common Arabo-Persian Islamic culture, but this was to take three or four centuries to
achieve.
The topic of the nature of the Muslim community and its leadership dominated almost
totally the course of events during the period of the Rāshidūn or ‘Rightly Guided’ caliphs,
(632–661). Abū Bakr (632–4), ‘Uman (634–44), ‘Uthmān (644–56) and ‘Alı̄. At this earli-
est period of military expansion, first within Arabia and then outwards into the Near Eastern
lands of the Byzantines and the Iraqi and Persian lands of the Sasanian emperors, the infant
Muslim community comprised the levée en masse of the Arab tribesmen, the muqātila or
warriors; only within the army could one become a full citizen of the nascent Islamic com-
munity and enjoy the rights of a conquering people, above all, entitlement to a stipend from
the state. The caliph had to be a successful war leader, if not commanding armies person-
ally, at least organizing war and sending out competent field commanders; Mu‘āwiya, the
first Umayyad caliph (661–680), owed his triumph over the last Rightly Guided caliph,
the pacific and unwarlike ‘Alı̄, in large degree to his experience as commander in warfare
against Byzantium in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean and his famed quality of h.ilm,
definable as a combination of statesmanship, shrewd judgement and magnanimity. Under
the Rightly Guided caliphs, the choice of leader was not yet fixed. The first four caliphs all
came from clans of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh, although all of them also had some bond
of personal relationship, by blood or marriage, with the Prophet; the precedent was thus
laid down for both Sunnı̄ and Shı̄‘ite Muslims that, in the words of a tradition attributed
to Muh.ammad, ‘this authority shall not depart from my tribe’. In all cases, this was sealed
by some form of acclamation or approval, even if only by a small group of leaders of the
community rather than the mass of believers.
After a period of internal dissent, and civil war (656–661), which claimed the lives of
Caliphs ‘Uthmān and ‘Alı̄, one of the Meccan clans, Umayya, succeeded in establishing a
hereditary line within its members for ninety years (661–750), even though the principle of
father–son succession was not really to become general till under the succeeding ‘Abbāsid
dynasty. Nevertheless, Umayyad claims were challenged in Arabia and Iraq by a rival Mec-
can family, the Zubayrids, for eight years (683–691), during which time there was both an
Umayyad caliph and an anti-caliph. Also, the members of the family of Muh.ammad’s
cousin and son-in-law ‘Alı̄, who had acted as the fourth Rightly Guided caliph, consid-
ered that they had a divinely granted right to the caliphate or imamate (imām:‘exemplar,
model leader’), and their schemings and resentments particularly after ‘Alı̄’s son Husayn’s
death in battle with Umayyad forces at Karbalā in Iraq (681), were to be skilfully utilized
(but their claims ultimately set aside) by the ‘Abbāsids in their underground propaganda of
the years 720–747 and open rebellion of 747–750, which overthrew the Umayyads and

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substituted the rule of another Meccan family, that of the ‘Abbāsids from the clan of
Hāshim. Thus we have in this period the genesis of the Shı̄‘ite movement in favour of
the ‘Alids, descendants of ‘Alı̄, but in Umayyad times it was more an unchannelled trend
of thought and emotional feeling for the house of ‘Alı̄ than the coherent movement which
it was later to become, with its own legal and theological system. More immediately dan-
gerous for the Umayyads were the Khārijites or ‘secessionists’, a radical, egalitarian sect
which held to a rigorous interpretation of the Qur’ān as supreme arbiter in all questions
of politics and society, holding that there was no special divine mandate for Quraysh to
be the sole providers of leaders of the Muslim community, the Caliph–Imāms, but that the
most pious Muslim, ‘even a black slave’, was the one best qualified for the office. The
Umayyads, and the early ‘Abbāsids likewise, had to contend with violent, largely unsuc-
cessful rebellions by the Khārijites in Syria, Iraq and Persia, although by the ninth century
Khārijism had been mastered in the caliphal heartlands and pushed out to the peripheries,
to Khurāsān and Sı̄stān in the east, Oman in the south–east of the Arabian peninsula and
Berber North Africa in the west. Hence, while Shı̄‘ism was to consolidate itself, to attract
adherents and to grow powerful and influential in the Islamic world (as seen in the estab-
lishment of the Fāt.imid caliphate in North Africa, Egypt and Syria in the tenth century),
Khārijism was to survive only vestigially.
Apart from the Khārijite threat, the main internal threat to peace and stability during
the Umayyad period came not from internal sectarian or outside military threats but from
factional and tribal disputes amongst the Arabs themselves. That the rivalry and antago-
nism of the two groups which emerged in early Umayyad times, the Qays or North Arabs
and the Yemen or South Arabs, had any pre-Islamic antecedents is unlikely, and any dif-
ferences of geographical location in early Arabia went back to the distant past. They seem
to have become embodied in struggles over pasture lands in northern and central Syria and
Mesopotamia, and in contending for offices and influence within the central and provincial
Arab government, but the divisions were carried, with the migrations of the Arab tribes, to
places like Egypt and Khurāsān in eastern Persia. They certainly contributed to a weaken-
ing of the military basis of the Umayyad caliphate, so that the later caliphs tried to move
beyond dependence on tribal contingents to more professional bodies of troops. However,
this was not achieved in time successfully to confront and defeat the ‘Abbāsid revolution-
ary movement, which had recruited discontented Arab tribesmen in Khurāsān to its banner,
appealing to a feeling that the distant Umayyad government in Damascus was neglectful
of their interests.
Before they were thus finally overwhelmed, the Umayyad dynasty had produced
some leaders of outstanding military ability, such as Mu‘āwiya, Marwān 1, (684–685) ‘Abd

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al-Malik (685–705), Walı̄d 1 (705–715), and Hishām, (724–743), who had successfully
surmounted various political and military crises and extended the boundaries of the ‘Abode
of Islam’ from Transoxania in the east to the Pyrenees and Atlantic shores in the west.
Nevertheless, their own dominance as an Arab ruling dynasty and the military dominance
of an Arab tribal aristocracy were being slowly eroded by the transformation of Islamic
society and the numerical increase in converts during their period of rule. Increasingly in
the later seventh and early eighth centuries, it became difficult to ignore claims to social
recognition and a role in the structures of power from the non-Arab converts to Islam,
especially as these converts were especially equipped with the expertise and knowledge to
man the administrative infrastructure of the empire; only at the end of the seventh century
did Arabic begin to replace such languages as Coptic, Greek and Persian in the dı̄wāns or
government departments. The converts had first to secure a footing in the socially dominant
Arab class by enrolling as mawālı̄ (‘clients’) of the Arab tribes, and for long they remained
the subjects of much social and cultural discrimination, despised, for instance, as marriage
partners by the Arabs. In the ninth and tenth centuries, under the ‘Abbāsids, representatives
of the mawālı̄, long by that time as skilled as native Arabs in the Arab legal, theological,
philological and literary sciences, were to challenge Arab dominance (in the literary and
cultural movement of the so-called Shu‘ūbiyya, that of the shu‘ūb ‘nations’, of the Qur’ān)
and substantially to secure social equality; by that time, anyway, the Arabs had long lost
their monopoly of political and military power.
But all this was in the future for the Umayyads, and it was the financial aspect of the
mass movement of conversion to Islam which was immediate and pressing for them. The
so-called dhimmı̄s or ‘protected peoples’, that is, the non-Muslim possessors of written
scriptures, were liable, according to Qur’ānic prescription, to the jizya or poll tax. The
exact nature and development of the taxation system under the Umayyads continues to be
the subject of debate, but it is clear that when non-Muslims converted to Islam, they thought
that they would henceforth be much freer from tax liabilities. Hence, by the end of the
seventh century, many non-Arab rural cultivators in the richest province of the caliphate,
Iraq, were leaving their lands and flocking to such Arab garrison cities as Bas.rā and Kūfa,
becoming Muslims and claiming the status of mawālı̄;. We know that tax revenue from
Iraq dropped considerably at this time, just at a point when the state’s demands for money
for public buildings, palaces, irrigation works and so on was increasing. Hence the policy
of a governor of Iraq and Persia like al-H.ajjāj Yūsuf (d. 714)(see 191(a)) was to round up
runaway peasants and send them back to their villages, where taxation could be reimposed
on them. This policy was followed by subsequent governors, equally concerned at the
diminution of state revenues arising from the processes of conversion and flight to the

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anonymity of towns and garrison cities. But opponents of the Umayyad dynasty were now
able to portray the governors’ attempts to deny or restrict rights claimed by the mawālı̄
as attempts to deny access to Islam in the religious sense, so that the ‘pious opposition’ in
Medina and other places could stigmatize the Umayyads as enemies of Islam. The efforts of
‘Umar 11 (1717–1720) to give a colour of piety to the Caliphate and grant tax concessions
to past (but not future) converts proved to be of little avail.
Substantial numbers of mawālı̄ had taken part in the rebellion in Persia and Iraq at the
opening of the eighth century led by Ibn al-Ash‘ath, which nearly toppled the Umayyad
caliphate, and their grievances became a further strand in the discontent which culminated
in the overthrow of the dynasty and the dilution of Arab ethnicity as the ordinary embodi-
ment of Islamic religion. In other words, the end of the Umayyad period marks a transition
from the mode of early conversion in which the non-Arab had to become the client of an
Arab tribe, that is, to some extent enter into Arab ethnicity (something like the equation
of religion and ethnic identity involved in Judaism), to a later mode of conversion which
distinguished adherence to Islam from ethnic identification with the Arabs and ‘urūba,
Arabness. Hence, in the ensuing ‘Abbāsid period, it became much easier to be, say, both
a Persian and a Muslim, that is, one did not have to give up one’s Persian ethnicity in
becoming a Muslim.
The French historian Gaston Wiet, (1953) spoke of ‘l’empire néo-byzantin des
Omeyyades et l’empire néo-sassanide des Abbassides’, portraying the Umayyad caliphate,
based in Damascus and much concerned with the war with the Greeks, as in some degree
the heir of Byzantium in the empire’s former Near Eastern territories, just as the ‘Abbāsid
one, based on Baghdād, was to look eastwards and to adopt much of the political ethos
and cultural inheritance of the ancient Persian emperors. Following on from this analysis,
the Umayyad period may be viewed as part of late antiquity, the transition from the classi-
cal world of Greece and Rome to the mediaeval and early modern worlds of the Christian
European and the Islamic Middle Eastern empires.
Although land warfare along the Taurus Mountains frontier and naval warfare in the
eastern and central Mediterranean, including two sieges of Constantinople (672–673, 716–
717), characterized the Umayyad period, there was no rigid prohibition of cultural contacts.
The two empires of the Byzantines and the Arabs shared a common world view, a teleo-
logical vision of human history which started with the Creation and closed with the end of
the world and the Last Judgment, and they treated each other as equals. The achievements
of the Greeks, above all in such practical sciences as mathematics, mechanics, astronomy
and medicine, were valued by the Arabs, and a secretary of the Caliph Hishām commis-
sioned the translation into Arabic of a series of letters purportedly from Aristotle to his

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ISBN 978-92-3-102813-7 Tables of Contents THE FORMATION OF THE EARLY . . .

most celebrated pupil, Alexander. The Greek imprint in the administrative practice of the
secretarial and financial departments in Muslim Syria and Egypt remained strong, and it
was only ‘ Abd Al-Malik, (685–705) who made the naql al-dı̄wān, the transition to the
use of Arabic language in the bureaucracy, and the Greek system of accounting procedure
continued in practice to be used beyond the Umayyad period. In minting practice, the gold
solidus of Emperor Heraclius was used essentially by the Muslims of the western half of
the caliphate until ‘Abd al-Malik’s coinage reform of the early 690s and the introduction of
purely Islamic aniconic gold dı̄nārs (see 191(a–c), 192(a), ). We know little about Umayyad
court ceremonial and organisation, compared with the extensive information available on
those of the ‘Abbāsids and Fāt.imids; hence it is difficult to discern whether any influences
from the Byzantine court in Constantinople reached the caliphs in Damascus, modifying
the Umayyads’ original conception of themselves as elevated tribal chiefs. But it does seem
certain that the Arabs in Syria were not indifferent to, or insensible of, the aesthetic qual-
ities of the fine, stone-built Byzantine palaces and churches to which they became heirs.
Not infrequently, the Arabs took over churches or parts of churches for their own purposes
of worship. Hamilton Gibb (1967) suggested that ‘Abd al-Malik’s building of the Dome of
the Rock (see Plate 45) and his son Walı̄d 1’s building of the Aqsā Mosque in Jerusalem
show a conscious desire to emulate and surpass the fine cathedrals of the Christians at
Edessa and elsewhere, a suggestion confirmed by some Arabic historical traditions. There
is also a persistent story in later Islamic historians that Walı̄d requested, and received, aid
from the Byzantine emperor for the decoration of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and
the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, for which Greek craftsmen and supplies of mosaic
cubes were sent.
Oriental influences during the Umayyad period did not assume the significance which
they were to have in ensuing times, when the new, eastwards orientation of the ‘Abbāsid
caliphate and the inflow of Persians into the military guard of the first caliphs and into
the higher administrative ranks (including what was to evolve into the vizierate) began a
gradual symbiosis of the Arabic and Persian cultures. But Arabic poets of the Umayyad
period begin to use an increasing number of Persian loan words (especially those relating
to material culture, words absent from the original vocabulary of the desert nomad Arabs)
– such words having already appeared in the work of the pre-Islamic poets and in the text
of the Qur’ān – and in the later Umayyad period we have the beginning of a translation
movement which made Middle Persian works available to an Arab audience. This move-
ment is particularly associated with Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (d. 756), who worked as a secretary
for various Umayyad governors and who brought to the Arab ruling classes information
on the ancient Persian traditions of statecraft and kingly power. That there was by then an

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