Word List Timeline

Abu’l-QasimMuhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abdal-Muttalib, of the clanof Hashim, ofthe tribe of Quraysha.k.a. “al-Amin” (the trustworthy)

Amina Abu Talib Khadija Mt. Hira’

c. 570 Birth ofMuhammad

Word List Timeline

hanifs

Qur’an/Koran

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib

Zayd ibn HarithaAbu Bakr

‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan‘Umar ibn al-Khattab

610 Laylat al-Qadr(Night of Power, 27thRamadan)

611 Muhammad startspreaching in Mecca.

Qur’an 96: 1-5:

1. Read in the name of thyLord who created.2. Created man from a blood-clot.3. Read, for thy Lord is theMost Generous,4. Who taught by the pen,5. Taught man that which heknew not.

Meccan Objections to Muhammad

1. Muslim community as threat to tribalsolidarity

2. Allah as challenge to Ka‘ba and idols.Threatening prosperity of Mecca

3. Fear for fate of dead relatives

4. Muhammad’s prophet-hood as threat toposition of tribal leaders incl. Abu Lahab

Timeline

615 Some Muslims emigrate to Abyssinia(Axum/Ethiopia).

619 Deaths of Abu Talib and Khadija. AbuLahab head of Hashim. Muhammad rebuffedby Ta’if and Bedouin.

620 Muhammad approached byrepresentatives from Yathrib.

Map Link: The Middle East in the 6th Century:

<http://www.princeton.edu/~humcomp/me6thc.gif>

Word List Timeline

‘Aws vs. Khazraj

Banu Qurayza

Banu’l-Nadir

Banu Qaynuqa‘

622 Muhammad makesagreement withYathribis.

16/7/622 Start of hijraand Muslim calendar

24/9/622 Muhammadarrives in Yathrib.

Word List

al-Madina (the city/Medina)

Madinat al-Nabi (the city of the Prophet)

muhajirun (migrants) ansar (helpers)

Issues in the Biographies of Muhammad

1. Sources written long after Muhammad’sdeath

2. Biographies as contextualisation anddefence of Qur’an and Islam

3. Muhammad as ideal figure and exemplar

Ibn Ishaq (b. Medina c. 704, d. Baghdad 767)

Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar ibn Khiyar

Scholar from family of story-transmitters

Studied in Alexandria and Medina. Got intoquarrel with Malik ibn Anas (d. 795) andhad to leave. Eventually settled in Baghdad.

Scholars during life and after divided on hisreliability.

Ibn Ishaq (b. Medina c. 704, d. Baghdad 767)

Works: Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (biography ofthe Prophet)Kitab al-Khulafa’ (book on the caliphs)Sunan (book of hadith [stories] ofProphet and companions, guide for life)

Sunan lost. Others survive through other writers’works. Sira preserved in version edited byIbn Hisham (d. 828 or 833) and in otherworks, including history of al-Tabari

Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)

Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Jarir ibn Yazidal-Tabari

Son of prosperous landowner. Child prodigy.

Left home at 12 to seek scholars to learn from.Travelled widely. Settled in Baghdad.

Wrote on history, Qur’anic interpretation,jurisprudence. Taught, but never inofficial position.

Al-Tabari (b. Amul 839, d. Baghdad 923)

Comprehensive user of sources, but also usesown judgment.

Works: many, including:

Mukhtasar Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa’l-Mulukwa’l-Khulafa’ (universal history fromcreation to 915. 12.5 vols; original wasten times that!)Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil al-Qur’an(commentary on Qur’an, finished 896-903)

isnad = chain of transmitters

qara’a = to read/to recite

mi‘raj (miraculous night journey)