99
Ibid., p. 186.
6 More Questions Than Answers
1
Danieclass="underline" 7.7.
2
Sebeos: 142.
3
From an anonymous anti-Christian pamphlet. Quoted by Sizgorich (2009), pp. 1–2.
4
For the evolution of the word “Muslim” from its original Qur’anic usage, see Donner (2010), pp. 57–8 and 71–2.
5
Qur’an: 47.4.
6
Ibid.: 4.133.
7
This suggestion has its roots in traditions that are even older than the first Muslim biographies of the Prophet. A Christian chronicler, Jacob of Edessa, for instance, writing at the end of the seventh century, referred to him as going “for trade to the lands of Palestine, Arabia and Syrian Phoenicia” (quoted by Hoyland (1997), p. 165).
8
This has been most radically argued by Günter Lüling, who proposes that the Meccans were largely Christian, and that the original core of the Qur’an consisted of Christian hymns. For the suggestion that Jews had settled in Mecca, and powerfully influenced Muhammad, see Torrey.
9
Armstrong, p. 68. The thesis derives, via Montgomery Watt, from the Jesuit—and scabrously Islamophobic—scholar Henri Lammens.
10
Qur’an: 6.92. Muslim tradition takes for granted that the phrase refers to Mecca, but there is nothing in the Qur’an itself that would justify such a presumption. Adding to the general fog of mystery enveloping it is the fact that the phrase literally means the “Mother of Settlements.”
11
See Crone (1987a), p. 6, and for the implausibility of Mecca as a great trading hub, the entire book.
12
See Cosmas Indicopleustes.
13
Most striking of all is the absence of any mention of Mecca in Procopius, since in one passage of
The History of the Wars
(1.19), the historian provides a remarkably detailed survey of the western coast of Arabia. This is testimony to the range and depth of Roman knowledge of the peninsula, and to the seeming lack of any Meccan sphere of influence.
14
Qur’an: 48.24.
15
As Crone (1987a, p. 134) points out, the silence “is so striking that attempts have been made to remedy it.” For the forced nature of these attempts, see ibid., pp. 134–6.
16
The Byzantine-Arab Chronicle
: 34. The dating of the
Chronicle
to 741 is based on its latest references, but Hoyland (1997, p. 426) suggests that it may well be truncated, and floats the possibility that it may actually date from 750.
17
See “The Letter of John of Sedreh,” the record of a discussion about holy texts held in 644 between the patriarch and an Arab emir, a full translation of which appears in Saadi. Although Saadi himself dates the document to the mid-seventh century, others place its composition in the early eighth century. If correct, the later dating makes the absence of any reference to the Qur’an even more striking. See Reinink (1993).
18
John of Damascus: 769B.
19
Qur’an: 24.2.
20
Quoted by Lester, p. 283.
21
A useful list of the earliest-known Qur’ans in existence—not all of which were found in Sana’a—is at
http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/
.
22
Admittedly, Wansbrough—one of the principal proponents of this thesis—was typically tentative when he suggested that the Qur’an reached its final form only towards the end of the eighth century. Scholars of the calibre of Gerald Hawting and Andrew Rippin still argue that it took decades, at least, for the holy text to reach anything like its final form.
23
Qur’an: 3.7.
24
Ibid.: 111.3. The punishment is a pun on Abu Lahab’s name, which means “Man of Flame” in Arabic.
25
Ibid.: 50.16.
26
For a detailed and intellectually thrilling exposition of this point, see
The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam
by Gerald Hawting: a ground-breaking work that has resulted in a paradigm shift in the way that scholars understand the role of the
Mushrikun
in the Qur’an.
27
Qur’an: 43.19.
28
Ibid.: 10.66.
29
Ibid.: 7.74.
30
Ibid.: 30.1.
31
Ibid.: 18.83.
32
For the dating and political context of the Syriac story of Alexander, see Reinink (1985 and 2002).
33
“A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander”: 146, in
The History of Alexander the Great.
34
For a detailed analysis of the strikingly precise correspondences between the two stories, see Van Bladel, pp. 180–3. As he conclusively demonstrates, “they relate the same story in precisely the same order of events using many of the same particular details” (p. 182).
35
Qur’an: 82.1–5.
36
Ibid.: 30.56. It is telling, perhaps, that the phrase appears as the conclusion to the sura which opens with God’s prophecy that the Romans will emerge victorious in their war against the Persians.
37
Ibid.: 7.34.
38
Ibid.: 18.26.
39
Ibid.: 18.13.
40
The Qur’an refers to them as
al-Majus
, or Magians (22.17): the word applied by the Greeks to Persian priests since the time of Cyrus.
41
Qur’an: 4.136.
42
Ibid.: 3.3.
43
Justinian Code: 1.5.12 (summer 527).
44
Qur’an: 9.29. The precise meaning of this verse is notoriously problematic. For a sample of the various attempts to make sense of it, see Ibn Warraq (2002), pp. 319–86.
45
Qur’an: 5.82 and 9.34.
46
Ibid.: 5.47.
47
Ibid.: 5.116.
48
Ibid.: 4.157.
49
Ibid.: 85.4.
50
Irfan Shahid, the leading expert on the martyrs of Najran, is studiedly agnostic about the possibility: see (1971), p. 193.
51
See, for instance, Bishop and especially Philonenko.
52
Qur’an: 6.59.
53
Ibid.: 87.18–19.
54
Ibid.: 52.24. Not surprisingly, this verse has always featured prominently in the Muslim homoerotic tradition.
55
Ibid.: 44.54.
56
For more on this, and other parallels between the Greek and Qur’anic notions of paradise, see the brilliant online article by Saleh. As he points out (p. 54)—albeit possibly with tongue in cheek—the very word used in the Qur’an to signify the heavenly maidens—
hur—
has an echo of Hera’s name.
57
According to much later Muslim sources, Mani’s followers actually termed him “the Seal of the Prophets”—but this is most likely to have been a backward projection. Manichaeans did use the word “seal” to refer to Mani—but implying “confirmation” rather than “terminus.” See Stroumsa (1986b).
58
Quoted by Lieu, p. 86.
59
The words are supposedly those of Mani himself. Quoted by Boyce (1975b), p. 29. Manichaeism had reached North Africa within a few decades of Mani’s death, and China by the mid-sixth century.
60
See de Blois (1995).
61
From an imperial edict of either 297 or 302. Quoted by Dignas and Winter, p. 217
62
Synodicon Orientale
, p. 255.
63
Al-Aswad bin Ya’fur, in Alan Jones (1996, Vol. 1), p. 148.
64
Qur’an: 53.19–21.
65
All but one of the mentions of idols in the Qur’an feature in the context of its retelling of biblical stories. The one allusion to contemporary “idolatrous beliefs” (22.30) seems to refer to blood spilled on sacrificial altars, rather than idols
per se
. See Crone (2010), pp. 170–2.