Jihad in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

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Anthony writes, "Citations of this qur'anic theme of the righteous inheriting the lands of Abraham and, therefore, the lands and wealth of the sinful nations do not only appear in the sῑra-maghāzī literature; they are nearly ubiquitous in the narratives of the early conquests as well." Some of the Quraysh now ruled as the Umayyad caliphate, so the framing of Muhammad's kin as the righteous inheritors of Abraham served their political hegemony.<ref>Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith'', pp. 179-80</ref>
Anthony writes, "Citations of this qur'anic theme of the righteous inheriting the lands of Abraham and, therefore, the lands and wealth of the sinful nations do not only appear in the sῑra-maghāzī literature; they are nearly ubiquitous in the narratives of the early conquests as well." Some of the Quraysh now ruled as the Umayyad caliphate, so the framing of Muhammad's kin as the righteous inheritors of Abraham served their political hegemony.<ref>Sean Anthony, ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith'', pp. 179-80</ref>


For this and other reasons, Islamic modernist scholars urge intense skepticism of the aggressive / expansionist expeditions attributed to Muhammad and his companions in this literature (though it may be questionable to what extent this stretches credulity too far the other way). Preference is given to the letters of 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr (Aisha's nephew), which were in answer to historical queries from the early Umayyad court.
For this and other reasons, Islamic modernist scholars urge intense skepticism of the aggressive / expansionist expeditions attributed to Muhammad and his companions in this literature (though it may be questionable to what extent this stretches credulity too far the other way). Preference is given to the letters of 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr (Aisha's nephew), which were in answer to historical queries from the Umayyad court.


The letters of 'Urwa are free from miraculous or other embellishments seen in later sources, and are taken to be an important early source on Muhammad by academic scholars like Sean Anthony, who translates them in full in ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith''. The letters broadly come in two recensions (preserved in the work of al-Tabari and some narratives also in other sources). Goerke, Motzki, and Schoeler have robustly defended the authenticity of the letters of 'Urwa as probably in some way originating from him, arguing that several traditions can convincingly be traced back to 'Urwa.<ref>See in particular pp. 16-21 of Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad? A Debate], Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002</ref>  
The letters of 'Urwa are free from miraculous or other embellishments seen in later sources, and are taken to be an important early source on Muhammad by academic scholars like Sean Anthony, who translates them in full in ''Muhammad and the Empires of Faith''. The letters broadly come in two recensions (preserved in the work of al-Tabari and some narratives also in other sources). Goerke, Motzki, and Schoeler have robustly defended the authenticity of the letters of 'Urwa as probably in some way originating from him, arguing that several traditions can convincingly be traced back to 'Urwa.<ref>See in particular pp. 16-21 of Goerke, A, Motzki, H & Schoeler, G (2012) [https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/12692843/First_Century_Sources_for_the_Life_of_Muhammad_a_debate.pdf First-Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad? A Debate], Der Islam, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 2-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2012-0002</ref>  
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