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Scientific Errors in the Hadith: Difference between revisions
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→Year of the Elephant (and the battle's location)
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(→Failed eschatological predictions: I have added another historically erroneous hadith on the 'Year of the Elephant'/expedition aligning with Muhammad's birth year.) |
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This appears to be an distorted version of a real event with the dates changed to fit the hagiographical biography of the Islamic prophet, to 'foreshadow' and highlight the year as being important, as more contemporary and sound evidence places Abraha's expedition of Central Arabia notably earlier, and not to Mecca itself; as historian of ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East, Glenn W. Bowersock notes: | This appears to be an distorted version of a real event with the dates changed to fit the hagiographical biography of the Islamic prophet, to 'foreshadow' and highlight the year as being important, as more contemporary and sound evidence places Abraha's expedition of Central Arabia notably earlier, and not to Mecca itself; as historian of ancient Greece, Rome and the Near East, Glenn W. Bowersock notes: | ||
{{Quote|Bowersock, G.W.. <i>The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Emblems of Antiquity)</i> (p. 115 - 117). Oxford University Press.|They may possibly explain a dramatic, even desperate move that the king made only a few years after the Mārib conference. <i>In 552 he launched a great expedition into central Arabia, north of Najrān and south of Mecca.</i> | {{Quote|Bowersock, G.W.. <i>The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam (Emblems of Antiquity)</i> (p. 115 - 117). Oxford University Press.|They may possibly explain a dramatic, even desperate move that the king made only a few years after the Mārib conference. <i>In 552 he launched a great expedition into central Arabia, north of Najrān and south of Mecca.</i> | ||
An important but difficult inscription, which was discovered at Bir Murayghān and first published in 1951, gives the details of this expedition.10 <i>It shows that one of Abraha’s armies went northeastward into the territory of the Ma‘add tribal confederacy, while another went northwestward towards the coast (Map 2).</i> This two-pronged assault into the central peninsula is, in fact, the last campaign of Abraha known from epigraphy. It may well have represented an abortive attempt to move into areas of Persian influence, south of the Naṣrid capital at al Ḥīra. If Procopius published his history as late as 555, the campaign could possibly be the one to which the Greek historian refers when he says of Abraha, whom he calls Abramos in Greek, that once his rule was secure he promised Justinian many times to invade the land of Persia (es gēn tēn Persida), but “only once did he begin the journey and then immediately withdrew.”11 The land that Abraha invaded was hardly the land of Persia, but it was a land of Persian influence and of potentially threatening religious groups—Jewish and pagan. <i>Some historians have been sorely tempted to bring the expedition of 552, known from the inscription at Bir Murayghān, into conjunction with a celebrated and sensational legend in the Arabic tradition that is reflected in Sura 105 of the Qur’an (al fīl, the elephant). The Arabic tradition reports that Abraha undertook an attack on Mecca itself with the aim of taking possession of the Ka‘ba, the holy place of the pagan god Hubal. It was believed that Abraha’s forces were led by an elephant, and that, although vastly superior in number, they were miraculously repelled by a flock of birds that pelted them with stones. The tradition also maintained that Abraha’s assault on the ancient holy place occurred in the very year of Muḥammad’s birth (traditionally fixed about 570). Even today the path over which Abraha’s elephant and men are believed to have marched is known in local legend as the Road of the Elephant ( | An important but difficult inscription, which was discovered at Bir Murayghān and first published in 1951, gives the details of this expedition.10 <i>It shows that one of Abraha’s armies went northeastward into the territory of the Ma‘add tribal confederacy, while another went northwestward towards the coast (Map 2).</i> This two-pronged assault into the central peninsula is, in fact, the last campaign of Abraha known from epigraphy. It may well have represented an abortive attempt to move into areas of Persian influence, south of the Naṣrid capital at al Ḥīra. If Procopius published his history as late as 555, the campaign could possibly be the one to which the Greek historian refers when he says of Abraha, whom he calls Abramos in Greek, that once his rule was secure he promised Justinian many times to invade the land of Persia (es gēn tēn Persida), but “only once did he begin the journey and then immediately withdrew.”11 The land that Abraha invaded was hardly the land of Persia, but it was a land of Persian influence and of potentially threatening religious groups—Jewish and pagan. <i>Some historians have been sorely tempted to bring the expedition of 552, known from the inscription at Bir Murayghān, into conjunction with a celebrated and sensational legend in the Arabic tradition that is reflected in Sura 105 of the Qur’an (al fīl, the elephant). The Arabic tradition reports that Abraha undertook an attack on Mecca itself with the aim of taking possession of the Ka‘ba, the holy place of the pagan god Hubal. It was believed that Abraha’s forces were led by an elephant, and that, although vastly superior in number, they were miraculously repelled by a flock of birds that pelted them with stones. The tradition also maintained that Abraha’s assault on the ancient holy place occurred in the very year of Muḥammad’s birth (traditionally fixed about 570). Even today the path over which Abraha’s elephant and men are believed to have marched is known in local legend as the Road of the Elephant (darb al fīl). | ||
Obviously, the expedition of 552 cannot be the same expedition as the legendary one, if we are to credit the coincidence of the year of the elephant (‘Ām al fīl) with the year of the Prophet’s birth.12 But increasingly scholars and historians have begun to suppose that the Quranic date for the elephant is unreliable, since a famous event such as the Prophet’s birth would tend naturally, by a familiar historical evolution, to attract other great events into its proximity. Hence the attack on Mecca should perhaps be seen as spun out of a fabulous retelling of Abraha’s final and markedly less sensational mission.</i> This is not to say that it might not also have been intended as a vexation for the Persians in response to pressure from Byzantium. But it certainly brought Abraha into close contact with major centers of paganism and Judaism in central and northwest Arabia.}} | Obviously, the expedition of 552 cannot be the same expedition as the legendary one, if we are to credit the coincidence of the year of the elephant (‘Ām al fīl) with the year of the Prophet’s birth.12 But increasingly scholars and historians have begun to suppose that the Quranic date for the elephant is unreliable, since a famous event such as the Prophet’s birth would tend naturally, by a familiar historical evolution, to attract other great events into its proximity. Hence the attack on Mecca should perhaps be seen as spun out of a fabulous retelling of Abraha’s final and markedly less sensational mission.</i> This is not to say that it might not also have been intended as a vexation for the Persians in response to pressure from Byzantium. But it certainly brought Abraha into close contact with major centers of paganism and Judaism in central and northwest Arabia.}} | ||