Karin (Parthian dynasty), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 7.1, 7.2
Kavad (King of Persia), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4; support for Mazdak, 2.5, 2.6; forced abdication/imprisonment of (496), 2.7; Hephthalite support of, 2.8, 2.9; returns as king, 2.10; looks for victory over Rome, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13; love of bathing, 2.14; Anastasius refuses “loan” to, 2.15, 3.1; Mesopotamian irrigation and, 2.16, 6.1; siege of Amida, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, 3.2, 3.3, bm1.1; campaign against Roman Empire, 2.20, 3.4, bm1.2; defeat of the Karin, 2.21; Khusrow as favoured son, 2.22; death of (531), 2.23; Jewish support for, 2.24; re-militarised Roman frontier and, 3.5; embassies to Constantinople, 3.6, 3.7; puts Edessa under siege (503), 3.8; escaped Samaritans and, 4.1; Lakhmids and, 4.2
Kavus (son of Kavid)
Kayanid kings, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6
Khorasan, 3.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2
Khusrow I (King of Persia), 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2; defeats Kavus, 2.3; forms standing army, 2.4; welcomes exiled Athenian philosophers, 3.3; peace treaty with Justinian (532), 4.1, 5.1, 5.2; Aspebedes’ coup against, 5.3; Gothic agents appeal to (539), 5.4; desert of Strata dispute and (539-40), 5.5; invades Roman Empire (540), 5.6; destroys Antioch (540), 5.7; plague epidemic (from 545) and, 5.8; new peace with Justinian, 5.9; alliance with the Turks, 5.10; final defeat of Hephthalites (557), 5.11; death of (579), 5.12; direct rule over Himyar, 6.1
Khusrow II (King of Persia), 5.1, 5.2; invasion of Roman Empire (603-15), 5.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5; advance on Constantinople (626), 5.4; Heraclius captures palaces of (627), 5.5; murder of (626), 5.6
Kufa (city in Iraq), 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5; west-facing qibla, 7.6, 7.7; school of Islamic law at, 7.8, 7.9, bm1.1; Abbasids take (749), 7.10
“late antiquity”, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, bm1.1
Lombards
Lot (Abraham’s nephew), 4.1, 6.1
MacCulloch, Diarmaid
Manichaeism, 6.1, 6.2
Marcion (Christian thinker), 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Marwan I, Caliph, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Marwan II, Caliph, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Maslama (brother of Abd al-Malik)
Maurice (Roman emperor), 5.1, 6.1
Mavia (Arab queen)
Mazdak, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 5.1, 5.2; support for Kavus candidacy, 2.6; defeat and execution of, 2.7, 2.8; attitude to slavery, 7.1
Mecca: remoteness of, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 6.1; Ibn Hisham’s description of, 1.4; Ka’ba, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7*, 1.8, 1.9, 6.2*, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2; as pagan city, 1.10, 1.11, 6.4; Muhammad’s departure from, 1.12; Muhammad’s conquest of, 1.13; absence of in Qur’an, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7; lack of seventh-century accounts of, 6.8; low profile in early decades of empire, 6.9; doubts over as Qur’an’s city of origin, 6.10, 6.11, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15, 7.3, 7.4; idol smashing of Muhammad and, 6.16, 6.17; qiblas reoriented towards (after 694), 7.5; Ka’ba restored by Abd al-Malik, 7.6, 7.7; Abd al-Malik enshrines as centre of cosmos, 7.8; “Black Stone” on wall of Ka’ba, 7.9; range of sacred stones attached to Ka’ba, 7.10
Medina (Yathrib), 1.1, 1.2, 6.1*, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4; Prophet’s flight to (hijra), 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 6.5; “Constitution of Medina”, 6.6, 6.7; as original capital of Empire, 6.8; Mu’awiya refuses to hail accession at, 6.9; distrust of Umayyads in, 7.1, 7.2; Yazid’s sacking of, 7.3; as necessary origin of hadiths, 7.4
Merv (city in Khorasan), 2.1, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2
Mesopotamia: ancient past of, 1.1; as Persian “jewel in crown”, 2.1, 2.2; irrigation/canal systems, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1; Garden of Eden, 2.6, 2.7; horticultural traditions, 2.8; invasion of Judah (586 BC), 2.9, 4.1, 4.2; exiled Jews in, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, 3.1, 3.2; paganism in, 2.14; legacy of learning and divination, 2.15; Jewish origins in, 2.16, 2.17; toleration of Jews in, 2.18, 2.19; Peroz’s persecution of Jews, 2.20, 2.21; centres of scholarship in, 2.22, 2.23, 3.3, 3.4, 6.2, 7.2, 7.3; rabbis assume leadership role, 2.24, 3.5, 3.6; Christianity in, 2.25, 3.7; Romans expelled from, 3.8, 3.9; Roman incursion into (504), 3.10; Jewish-Christian competition for proselytes, 3.11; Jewish-Christian contacts, 3.12; followers of Nestorius in, 3.13; Samaritans escape to, 4.3; plague epidemic (from 545), 5.2, 5.3; Heraclius lays waste to, 5.4; falls to the Saracens, 6.3, 6.4
Mihr (Persian god), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1
Mihran (Parthian dynasty), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 5.1, 5.2
Milan
Mongols
“Monophysites”, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
monotheisms, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3; monos theos, 1.5; Muhammad and, 1.6, 6.4, 6.5; Islam in grand tradition of, 1.7
Moses, 1.1, 1.2, 4.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 7.2
Mu’awiya, Caliph, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4; battle with Ali in Syria, 6.3; becomes Caliph, 6.4; as favourite of God, 6.5, 7.5; pays little heed to the Prophet, 6.6; reaches out to Christians, 6.7; multi-cultural interpretation of “the faithful”, 6.8; as intercessor to God, 6.9, 7.6; ambition to take Constantinople, 7.7; proclaims son Yazid as successor, 7.8; death of (680), 7.9, 7.10; grip on Arabia of, 7.11
Muhammad: Ibn Hisham’s biography of, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 6.1, bm1.1; revelations from God, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 6.2; monotheism and, 1.18, 6.3, 6.4; flight to Medina (hijra), 1.19, 1.20, 1.21, 6.5; Yathrib and, 1.22; social justice and, 1.23, 1.24, 7.1; state-building and, 1.25, 6.6, 6.7; Umma, 1.26, 1.27, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10; victory at Badr, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 1.31; military campaigns, 1.32; conquest of Mecca, 1.33; death of, 1.34, 6.11; Sahabah (“Companions”), 1.35, 6.12, 7.2; later versions of biography of, 1.36, 1.37, 1.38, 6.13, 7.3; veneration of, 1.39; preservation of legacy, 1.40; opacity of within Qur’an, 1.41, 1.42, 6.14; absence of early Muslim references to, 1.43, 1.44, 1.45; lack of extant/contemporary accounts of, 1.46, 1.47, 1.48, 1.49, 6.15, 6.16; contemporary non-Islamic accounts of, 1.50; questioning of existence of, 1.51, 1.52; Mary (mother of Christ) and, 1.53, 1.54; tradition of as illiterate, 1.55, 1.56; coming of as “end of antiquity”, 1.57; praise of tharidat Ghassan, 5.1*; familiarity with Roman imperialism, 6.17, 6.18, 6.19; knowledge of Roman-Persian war, 6.20; other religions and, 6.21; will of God through written word, 6.22; hybrid cults in Arabia and, 6.23; idol smashing in Mecca and, 6.24, 6.25; trade as interest of, 6.26; summoning of Arabs to holy war, 6.27, 6.28; “Constitution of Medina”, 6.29, 6.30; border zone south of Palestine and, 6.31, 7.4; Moses and, 6.32; Jews as members of Umma, 6.33, 6.34; limits of imperial ambitions, 6.35; lessening of influence as Empire expands, 6.36; fading memories of, 6.37, 7.5, 7.6; status of specific shrines and, 7.7; Ibn al-Zubayr proclaims as Prophet of God, 7.8; Abd al-Malik proclaims as Prophet of God, 7.9, 7.10, 7.11, 7.12, 7.13; attitudes to slavery, 7.14, 7.15; views on wealth and consumption, 7.16; authentication of sayings of, 7.17; martial shaping of biography of, 7.18, 7.19; first biographies of, bm1.2; see also Qur’an
“Mukhtar the Deceiver”, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4
Mundhir (Lakhmid chieftain), 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1; rampage through Syria (529), 4.8; death of at Chalcis (554), 5.3, 5.4, 6.2
Mus’ab (brother of ibn al-Zubayr), 7.1, 7.2
Nabataea, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 6.1, 6.2
Najran, 1.1, 1.2*, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2
Nazorean sect, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
Negev desert, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1, 6.2
“Nehemiah” (“son of Hushiel”), 5.1, 6.1
Nero (Roman emperor), 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Nessana (Negev settlement)
Nestorius and Nestorians, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1
New Testament, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1; “gospels”, 1.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5; Athanasius prescribes list of books, 3.6, 5.1
Nicaean Council (325), 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1
Nisibis (Persian city), 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3
Noah and the Flood
nomads, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 5.1, 7.1; Arab, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 5.2; Avars, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5; largely unaffected by plague, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9; see also Hephthalites