Word List
description
Transcript of Word List
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)