Narratives of islamic origins : the beginnings of islamic historical writing / Fred M. Donner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Donner, Fred McGraw, 1945- author.

Series:

Studies in late antiquity and early Islam ; 14.

Studies in late antiquity and early Islam ; 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islamic Empire--History--622-661--Historiography.

Islamic Empire.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 358 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin : Gerlach Press, 2021.

Summary:

How and why did Muslims first come to write their own history? The author argues in this work that the Islamic historical tradition arose not out of idle curiosity, or through imitation of antique models, but as a response to a variety of challenges facing the Islamic community during its first several centuries.<br><br>In the first part, the author presents an overview of four approaches that have characterized scholarship on the literary sources, including the source-critical and the skeptical approaches, then it discusses historiographical problems raised by the Qur'an and hadith.<br><br>In the second part, the work analyzes major themes in historical narratives and presents formal and structural characteristics of early Islamic historiography. The monograph concludes with the proposition of a four-stage chronology regarding the evolution of historical writing in Arabic.

Contents:

Intro

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

The Problem of Sources

Approaches to the Sources

Critique of the Skeptical Approach

PART I: The Intellectual Context of Early Islamic Historical Writing

1. The Date of the Qur'ānic Text

The Problem

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on Religious and Political Authority

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on the Prophet's Contemporaries

Anachronisms in Qur'ān and Ḥadīth

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on Earlier Prophets

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on Muḥammad

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on Prayer

Qur'ān and Ḥadīth on Intercession and the Deceased

The Lexicon of Qur'ān and Ḥadīth

Conclusions

Appendix: Some Documentary Evidence

2. Early Islamic Piety

Qur'ānic Piety

The Qur'ān and History

Survival of the Pious Tradition

Documentary Evidence

Literary Evidence

The Pious Tradition and History

3. Styles of Legitimation in the Early Islamic Community of Believers

Piety as a Form of Legitimation

Genealogical Legitimation

Theocratic Legitimation (Appeal to Divine Will)

Historicizing Legitimation: General Considerations

Historicizing Legitimation in the Islamic Tradition

PART II: The Emergence of Early Islamic Historical Writing

4. The Contours of the Early Islamic Historiographical Tradition

Thematic Balance in al-Ṭabarī's Annals

Other Historians' Master Narratives

Memory and History

Themes and Issues in the Early Islamic Narrative Tradition

5. Themes of Prophecy

Nubūwa

Qur'ān-Related Narratives

6. Themes of Community

Umma

Cult and Administration

Taxation

7. Themes of Hegemony

Futūḥ

Khilāfa (Caliphate)

8. Themes of Leadership

Fitna

Sīrat al-khulafā'

Pre-Islamic Arabian History

Pre-Islamic Iran

Ridda

9. Authenticity, Transformation, and Selection of Historiographical Themes.

The Narrative Tradition: Themes, Continuities, and Authenticity

The Narrative Tradition: Historicization and Hybridization

Marginal Themes and Local Historiographical Schools

Medina

Mecca

al-Kūfa

al-Baṣra

Yemen

Egypt

Syria

Other Marginal Themes: Apocalyptic

10. Chronology and the Development of Chronological Schemes

Appendix: Table of Named Years

11. Some Formal and Structural Characteristics of Early Islamic Historiography

The Ḥadīth Format

Problems of Context

Problems of Transmission

Topoi and Schematizations

Appendix: Ibn Isḥāq's Account of the Conquest of Fiḥl and Damascus

12. Conclusions

An Overview of the Growth of Early Islamic Historiography

The Pre-Historicist Phase (to ca. 50 AH)

The Proto-Historicist Phase (ca. 25 AH to ca. 100 AH)

The Early Literate Phase (ca. 75 AH-ca. 150 AH)

The Late Literate Phase ("Classical Islamic Historiography," ca. 125 AH-ca. 300 AH)

Some General Reflections on Early Islamic Historiography

The Question of Multiple Orthodoxies

Epilogue: What Became of the Classical Historiographical Tradition?

Appendix: Chronological List of Early Texts

Bibliography and Abbreviations

Index.

Notes:

First published in 1998 by Darwin Press.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 25 Aug 2025).

ISBN:

3-95994-111-0

OCLC:

1229931589