Reflections on the work of John Wansbrough

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
Charles J. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Near Eastern ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
Historical Reconstructions ◽  
The Many ◽  
Early Islamic

At least some of the negative reactions to and neglect of Wansbrough's work is due to the breadth of his erudition and the turgidity of his style. However, these do not detract from the intriguing methods and theories that he brings to the study of early Islamic texts. Wansbrough's literary method is as problematic for what he believes it suggests about the development of early Islam as for his assertion about what it cannot tell us. Two of his speculative historical reconstructions produced by this method deserve special note. His theory concerning the relatively late canonization of the Qur¸ān has certainly generated considerable opposition. His argument that Near Eastern monotheism played a much greater role in the formation of Islam accounts for the many affinities between Islam and Judaism and Christianity, but perhaps not for Islam's distinctiveness. These contributions, among others, are of such great significance, that no student of Islamic origins can afford to ignore them.

Dreambooks

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-73
Author(s):  
Bronwen Neil
Keyword(s):  
Primary Concern ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Special Training ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
The Many ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Early Islamic

This chapter on dreambooks from our three main religious traditions concentrates on the differences between reported male and female dreaming, and the different interpretative strategies that were applied in these sources to men’s and women’s dreams. It starts by considering where dreambooks or dream key manuals began in the Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman traditions. The importance of generic context is again paramount. Dreambooks were written as manuals for interpreters but eventually came to be used by laypersons without any special training. The problem of discernment between good and evil dreams, and their causes, was not the primary concern of dreambook writers or those who used them, nor did they worry about how dreams related to a future that was governed by providence. They were simply concerned with what a specific dream meant for the present and future: was it good or bad? Dream interpreters attempted to lend scientific credibility to the profession by laying out in detail the many factors that could influence the interpretation of a dream. One of these variables was the gender of the dreamer, as seen in a survey of dream symbols from the Oneirocriticon of Artemidorus, the Book of Blessings, Byzantine dreambooks, and the early Islamic tradition.

Seeking Justice among the 'Outsiders': Christian Recourse to Non-Ecclesiastical Judicial Systems under Early Islam

2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uriel Simonsohn
Keyword(s):  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Legal Pluralism ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Core ◽  
Social Agenda ◽  
The Social ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
Social Heterogeneity ◽  
Judicial Systems

AbstractThe phenomenon of Christian recourse to non-ecclesiastical judicial systems during the first few centuries following the Muslim conquest is at the core of this paper. This phenomenon not only alludes to a reality of legal diversity but also to the social heterogeneity that has characterized Near Eastern societies long before the Arab takeover. Through the adoption of the legal-anthropological paradigm of legal pluralism and the examination of West Syrian legal sources, the paper seeks to identify the social agenda of West Syrian ecclesiastical leaders. Much of the discussion revolves around the term 'outsiders', barrāyē, and attempts to delineate the term's various meanings within the legal discourse.

The implications of, and opposition to, the methods and theories of John Wansbrough1

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Berg
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
Salvation History ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Muslim Scholars

This article serves as an introduction to Wansbrough's methods and theories for the study of the Qur¸dn, its Tafsīr, the Sīra, and other early Islamic texts. Muslim and most non-Muslim scholars work within essentially the same framework: one which reads the literature of early Islam as history. Wansbrough has demonstrated that what these sources provide is not history per se, but salvation history, and that methods appropriate for the study of this genre are not source critical but literary critical. Through the application of these methods Wansbrough has postulated theories, which, if correct, radically alter our understanding of Islamic origins. Islamicists have tended to fixate on these theories at the expense of the methodological approach from which they are derived. Judging by the arguments raised thus far by these opponents of Wansbrough, I suggest that their aversion to his work stems as much from the unwillingness of Islamicists to accept the uncertainty inherent in his methods and the political incorrectness associated with his theories as from their theoretical conservatism and methodological naivete.

scholarly journals HADITH DAN SEJARAH

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-214
Author(s):  
Khairul Amal
Keyword(s):  
Islamic History ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Early Islamic

This paper attempts to discuss the proper methodology in search for the authentic Islamic History. It discusses the relationship between two sister-disciplines, i.e. ?ad?th and History, their likenesses, many problems which the historians of Early Islam have to face in their research and the possibility of employing unique methodology of the study of ?ad?th on the study of Early Islamic History. The paper benefits from a plethora of monographs written by contemporary scholars of Islamic Studies. I conclude that Isn?d-cum-Matn Analysis developed separately by Gregor Schoeler and Harald Motzki seems promising for the study of Early Islam.This paper attempts to discuss the proper methodology in search for the authentic Islamic History. It discusses the relationship between two sister-disciplines, i.e. ?ad?th and History, their likenesses, many problems which the historians of Early Islam have to face in their research and the possibility of employing unique methodology of the study of ?ad?th on the study of Early Islamic History. The paper benefits from a plethora of monographs written by contemporary scholars of Islamic Studies. I conclude that Isn?d-cum-Matn Analysis developed separately by Gregor Schoeler and Harald Motzki seems promising for the study of Early Islam.

Reshaping Marketplaces

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-174
Author(s):  
Fanny Bessard
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Agrarian Society ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
Early Islamic

Early Islamic marketplaces have been studied almost exclusively for their art historical and architectural values, by Maxime Rodinson in the preface of El señor del zoco en España, while their functioning and process of development have not yet been fully elucidated. It is also believed that marketplaces in early Islam functioned as their late antique predecessors, with apparently nothing bequeathed from pre-Islamic Arabia, where dedicated spaces for trade were extremely rare. This chapter considers what happened to urban marketplaces in the Near East after the Muslim conquests, to look at the fate of the late antique legacy under the new Arab masters—a people with contrasting indigenous commercial traditions—in the context of new power dynamics from 700 to 950. It explores the ways in which early medieval marketplaces differed from the late antique past, and the role they played in the agrarian society of early Islam.

Artisans to Producers

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-148
Author(s):  
Fanny Bessard
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Near East ◽  
Physical Change ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Islam

This chapter considers the physical change of the workspace chronologically, geographically, and by industry. From the case studies of pottery, glass, and textile making, as well as food processing, it discusses the standardization of the Roman practice, as seen at Timgad in North Africa, of zoning and conglomerating crafts in early Islam across the Near East and Central Asia. While acknowledging this continuity with the past, it examines the novelty and significance of manufacturing after 800, when ‘post-Roman’ ceased to be a meaningful description of Near Eastern economy, and questions whether urban crafts experienced differentiated or similar forms of development.

Laws in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Greengus
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
The People ◽  
Divine Origin ◽  
The Law ◽  
Criminal Behaviors ◽  
The Many

Biblical laws are found mainly in the Pentateuch (i.e., the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). The laws are linked to the figure of Moses, who is depicted as having received them directly from God in order to transmit them to the people of Israel during the years in the Wilderness after being released from slavery in Egypt. Biblical laws are thus presented as being of divine origin. Their authority was further bolstered by a tradition that they were included in covenants (i.e., formal agreements made between God and the people as recorded in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy). Similar claims of divine origin were not made for other ancient Near Eastern laws; their authority flowed from kings, who issued the laws, although these kings might also be seen as having been placed on their thrones through the favor of the gods. The biblical law collections are unlike other ancient Near Eastern “codes” in that they include sacral laws (i.e., governing cult, worship, and ritual, as well as secular laws: namely, governing civil, and criminal behaviors). This mingling of sacral and secular categories is the likely reason both for the many terms used to denote the laws, as well as for the unexpected number of formulations in which they are presented. The formulations used in biblical law can be classified as “casuistic” or “non-casuistic.” They are not equally distributed in the books of the Pentateuch nor are they equally used with secular and sacral laws. While there are similarities in content between secular laws found in the Hebrew Bible and laws found in the ancient Near Eastern law “codes,” the latter do not exhibit a comparable variety in the numbers of law terms and formulations. The Hebrew Bible tended to “blur” the differences between the law terms and their formulations, ultimately to the point of subsuming them all under the law term torah (“teaching”) to describe the totality of the divinely given laws in the Pentateuch. Biblical studies in general and Pentateuchal studies in particular are challenged by the fact that manuscripts contemporary with the events described have not survived the ravages the time. Scholars must therefore rely on looking for “clues” within the texts themselves (e.g., the laws cited by the prophets, the reform of Josiah, the teaching of torah by Ezra, and evidence for customs and customary laws found in books of the Hebrew Bible outside of the Pentateuch).

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