MundhirEI.pdf al-Mundhir b. Sāwā (or Sāwī) b. ɈAbd Allāh b. Zayd b. ɈAbd Allāh, a chief of the tribal division of Dārim of Tamīm. The tribal branch of the ɈAbd Allah b. Zayd were, according to tradition, called al-Ispadhiyyūn. This name, obviously of Persian origin, is said to have referred to this people because they worshipped a horse (asp); according to another tradition, they were called so because they came from a place called Ispadh. A third tradition assumed that this name was attached to a group of scattered tribal factions joined together and united (al-djummāʿ). Some Western scholars have assumed that the word is derived from the Persian Ispahbadh; this may indicate that this group served as a force of the Ispahbadh of Baḥrayn. There is indeed a report according to which the Ispadhiyyūn were a force stationed in the fortress of alMushaḳḳar (see LA, s.v. s-b- dh). The tribal division Dārim of Tamīm were in close relations with the Persians. AlMundhir b. Sāwā is mentioned in the Arabic sources as the “Master of Hadjar” (ṣāḥib Hadjar) or as the “King of Hadjar” (malik Hadjar). These “kings”, says Muḥammad b. Ḥabīb in al-Muḥabbar, were appointed by the kings of Persia and controlled the market of Hadjar. One of the traditions says explicitly that al-Mundhir b. Sāwā was appointed by the Persians to control the Arab tribes (kāna ʿala ʾl-ʿarabi min ḳibali ʾl-fursi; alBalādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, ms. ɈĀshir Ef. 597-8, fol. 969a; and see idem, Futūḥ albuldān, 106). After his conversion to Islam, the Prophet is said to have appointed him as governor (ʿāmil) of al- Baḥrayn. Reports of the sīra compilations mention unanimously that the Prophet sent ɈAlāɇ b. alḤa ramī with a letter to al-Mundhir b. Sāwā summoning him to embrace Islam. They differ, however, as to the date of the event: whether it took place in the year 6 H. or in 8 H. The exact date cannot be established. But it is plausible to assume that the Prophet sent his emissary to Mundhir after his conquest of Mecca; the conquest strengthened his position in the Arab peninsula considerably and he could, due to his newly acquired authority, widen his influence in some districts which were remote from Mecca and which, though they formed part of the Persian empire, were entrusted by the Persian kings to Arab leaders. The plan to dispatch the messenger was probably stimulated by the fact that the merchants setting out to Hadjar (literally: to alMushaḳḳar) had to cross the territory of Mu arī tribes and had to get the protection of Ḳuraysh (sc. of the Meccans). Without this protection, the merchants could not reach Hadjar with their merchandise (see Ibn Ḥabīb, op. cit.). Mundhir responded by stating that he had embraced Islam, that he had read the letter of the Prophet to the people of Hadjar and that some of them converted to Islam, while others refused to do it. Some traditions say that the Arabs of Baḥrayn embraced Islam. Mundhir asked the Prophet for instructions as to the positions of the Jews and the Magians in Baḥrayn. The Prophet decreed that the djizya should be imposed on them if they stuck to their faiths. In another letter of the Prophet, written to the Magians of Hadjar, the Prophet added two stipulations: the believers should not marry Magian women and should not eat meat of animals slaughtered by the Magians. The Prophet is said to have sent to ɈAlāɇ a list of the mandatory taxes levied as ṣadaḳa from camels, cattle, sheep and fruits. The poll tax was imposed according to the social position of the taxpayer: people who had no landed property had to pay four dirham a year and deliver a striped cloak (ʿabāʾa) made of hair or wool; others had to pay a dīnār. It is noteworthy that the poll-tax imposed on the people of the garrison of Hadjar (al-waḍāʾiʿ) who had been settled there by Kisrā, with whom a separate treaty was concluded by the Muslim authorities, also amounted to one dīnār. The Prophet is said to have dispatched special emissaries (mentioned are Abū Hurayra, Abū ɈUbayda b. al-Djarrāḥ and ɈAlāɇ b. Djāriya alThaḳafī) who would carry out the functions of tax- collectors and instructors in the performance of religious duties. The full authority of the Prophet in the area can be gauged from a particular phrase in the letter of the Prophet to al-Mundhir: “... as long as you act rightly we shall not depose you”. Certain cases of deviation and disloyalty seem to have taken place; this is implied in an utterance of the Prophet saying that “... he had the ability to drive them (i.e. the people of al-Mundhir b. Sāwā) out from Hadjar”. The Prophet enjoined the converts to Islam to obey his messengers and to aid them in carrying out their mission. The Prophet kept direct contacts with the believers of Hadjar; he is said to have received a deputation of the believers of al-Baḥrayn and to have welcomed them. Another tradition mentions that the Prophet met some believers from Hadjar and interceded in favour of Mundhir. The messengers of the Prophet in Hadjar passed favourable reports about Mundhir to the Prophet. The tradition saying that al-Mundhir b. Sāwā came with a group of believers to visit the Prophet was refuted by the majority of the scholars of the sīra. Another tradition says that “the king of Ḥadjar” sent Zuhra b. Ḥawiyya as his envoy to the Prophet; Zuhra embraced Islam and became a faithful believer. Mundhir is said to have died shortly after the death of the Prophet. A rare tradition says that at the Prophet's death the governor of Baḥrayn was Abān b. SaɈīd b. al-ɈĀṣī b. Umayya. The position of al-Mundhir b. Sāwā and his peculiar relation with the Prophet is examined by Ibn Ḥazm in his Fiṣal. Mundhir is included in the list of the “Kings of the Arabs” who deliberately and voluntarily embraced Islam, became sincere believers and gave up their authority and prerogatives transferring them to the messengers of the Prophet. Their forces, says Ibn Ḥazm, were much stronger than those of the Prophet and their territory was vaster than that of the Prophet. The letters of the Prophet to al-Mundhir b. Sāwā in which the Magians of Baḥrayn were granted the right to stick to their religion and were obliged to pay the poll tax, djizya, are in fact the earliest documents reporting on this decision of the Prophet. This ruling of the Prophet is said to have stirred a wave of discontent and anger among the Hypocrites (al-Munāfiḳūn) of Medina and is reflected in one of the earliest commentaries of the Ḳurɇān, the tafsīr of Muḳātil. The Hypocrites were enraged and argued that the Prophet had violated his own decision to accept the djizya only from People of the Book; they complained bitterly that on the basis of that ruling the forces of the Prophet had fought and killed their fathers and brethren. The believers were perturbed by these arguments and informed the Prophet about it. Then the well known verse of sūra II, 256, lā ikrāha fi ʾl-dīn, explicitly forbidding to compel anyone to change his faith, was revealed. Another verse of the Ḳurɇān, sūra V, 105, yā ayyuhā ʾlladhīna āmanū ʿalaykum anfusakum lā yaḍurrukum man ḍalla idhā ʾhtadaytum was also revealed in connection with the claim of the Hypocrites; the very early tafsīr of Muḳātil glosses the passage lā yaḍurrukum man ḍalla by min ahli hadjar. Later scholars tried to present the stipulations of the agreements concerning the position of the non-Muslim population on a broader ideological basis. Ibn Ḥazm states in his al-Muḥallā that the djizya of Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians may be accepted on the condition that they acknowledge (aḳarrū) that Muḥammad is a messenger of God to us (i.e. to the Muslim community) and do not offend him nor the faith of Islam. Mālik formulated this stipulation as follows: “... he who says that Muḥammad was sent as a prophet to us (i.e. to the Muslim community), not to them, is free of punishment. He who claims that Muḥammad was not a prophet should be killed”. The treaties concluded between ɈAlāɇ b. al-Ḥa ramī and the population of Hadjar according to the instructions of the Prophet were, of course, considered valid and the territories of Baḥrayn and Hadjar were assessed as ṣulḥ territories (Abū ɈUbayd, alAmwāl, 100). Some scholars attempted to justify the imposition of the djizya on the Magians by the fact that the Magians had had a sacred Book, which was concealed by their sinful king; this assumption was however rejected by a great majority of Muslim scholars of tradition and law. Some scholars claimed that the Magians were granted the right to pay the tax of the djizya because they had “something like a Book” (shubhat al-kitāb) and rules applying to the People of the Book are valid for them as well (Abū YaɈlā Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Farrāɇ, al-Aḥkām al-sulṭāniyya, 154). The Prophet's ruling imposing the djizya on the people of Hadjar and Baḥrayn was not well-known in the Muslim community of Medina. Even ɈUmar was unaware of it, and was informed about it by some Companions of the Prophet. The injunction of the Prophet was supported by his utterance sunnū bihim sunnata ahli ʾl-kitāb (see Ḥumayd b. Zandjawayh, Kitāb al-Amwāl, 136, no. 122), “treat the Magians according to the sunna of the Prophet applied to the People of the Book”. The stipulations of the treaties concluded with the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) and the Magians in Baḥrayn were applied in other territories of the Muslim empire. The Magian population in the Muslim empire became an integral part of the community, and the Muslim lawyers took care to provide details of their legal status; this can be seen e.g. in some chapters of the early Muṣannaf of ɈAbd al-Razzāḳ. The revolt against Islam, the ridda, which flared up in Baḥrayn after the death of the Prophet and after the death of al-Mundhir b. Sāwā, was quelled by ɈAlāɇ b. al-Ḥa ramī, who headed some of the Muslim forces and succeeded in conquering some adjacent territories. Thus the Tamīmī al-Mundhir b. Sāwā played an important role in the islamisation of the territories of al-Baḥrayn and in enabling the religious communities of Jews, Christians and Magians in Baḥrayn to survive. (M. J. Kister) Bibliography ɈAbd al-Razzāḳ, al-Muṣannaf, ed. Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān al-AɈẓamī, Beirut 1392/1972, vi, 30-2 (mīrāth mad̲j̲ūs), 68-71 (akhdhu ʾl-djizya mina ʾl-madjūs), 77-8 (al-madjūsī yadjmaʿu bayna dhawāti ʾl-arḥām thumma yuslimūn), 80-1 (nikāḥu ʾl-madjūsī ʾl-naṣrāniyya), 108 (āniyatu ʾl-madjūs), 108-9 (khidmatu ʾl-madjūs wa-aklu ṭaʿāmihim), 121 (dhabīḥatu ʾlmadjūsī), 121 (ṣaydu kalbi ʾl-madjusī), 124 (diyatu l-madjūsī) Abū Ḥātim al-Bustī, al-Sīra al-nabawiyya wa-akhbār al-khulafāʾ, ed. ɈAzīz Bak, Beirut 1407/1987, 316 Abū Yūsuf, K. al-Kharādj, Cairo 1382, 128- 32 Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, ms. ɈĀshir Ef. 597-8, fol. 969a idem, Futūḥ, ed. ɈAbd Allāh Anīs al-ṬabbāɈ and ɈUmar Anīs al-TabbāɈ, Beirut 1377/1958, 106-18, tr. Ḥittī, 120- 31, tr. O. Rescher, Leipzig 1917, 76-85 ɈAlī b. Burhān al-Dīn al-Ḥalabī, Insān al-ʿuyūn fī sīrat al-amīn al-maʾmūn (= al-Sīra alḥalabiyya), Cairo 1382/1962, 283 below-284 Fayrūzābādī, al-Ḳāmūs al-muḥīṭ, Cairo 1371/1972, s.v. s-b-d̲h̲ Hishām b. Muḥammad al-Kalbī, Djamharat al-nasab, ed. Nādjī Ḥasan, Beirut 1407/1986, 201 Ḥumayd b. Zandjawayh, K. al-Amwāl, ed. Shākir Dhīb Fayyā , Riyā 1406/1986, 13650 Ibn ɈAbd al-Barr al-Namarī, Tadjrīd al-tamhīd li-mā fī ʾl-Muwaṭṭaʾ min al-asānīd, Beirut n.d., 26, no. 32, 154, no. 487 Ibn al-Djawzī, al-Wafā bi-aḥwāl al-muṣṭafā, Cairo 1386/1966, 742 Ibn Ḥadjar al-ɈAsḳalānī, al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba, ed. ɈAlī Muḥammad al-Bidjāwī, Cairo 1389/1970, i, 17, no. 2; ii, 571, no. 2823; iv, 540, no. 5645; v, 423, no. 7093; vi, 214-16, no. 8222, 91, no. 7935 idem, al-Wuḳūf ʿalā mā fī Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim min al-mawḳūf, ed. Madjdī al-Sayyid Ibrāhīm, Cairo, n.d., 18 Ibn Ḥazm, al-Muḥallā, ed. Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir, Cairo n.d., vii, 317, no. 941 idem, Djawāmiʿ al-sīra, ed. Iḥsān ɈAbbās, Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Asad and Aḥmad Muḥammad S̲h̲āḳir, Cairo n.d., 25 idem, al-Fiṣal fī ʾl-milal wa-ʾl-ahwāʾ wa ʾl-niḥal, ed. Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Naṣr and ɈAbd al-Raḥmān ɈUmayra, Beirut 1405/1985, ii, 224 Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawiyya, ed. al-Saḳḳā, al-Abyārī and Shalabī, Cairo 1356/1936, iv, 222, 254 Ibn Ḳayyim al-Djawziyya, Aḥkām ahl al-dhimma, ed. Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ, Damascus 1381/1961, i, 1-2 Ibn Manẓūr, LA, s.v. s-b-dh Ibn SaɈd, al-Ṭabaḳāt al-kubrā, Beirut 1380/1960, i, 263, 275-6, iv, 360-2 Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, ʿUyūn al-athar fī funūn al-maghāzī wa ʾl-shamāʾil wa ʾl-siyar, Cairo 1356, ii, 266 penult.-267 Maḳrīzī, Imtāʿ al-asmāʿ bi-mā li-Rasūl Allāh min al-anbāʾ wa-ʾl-amwāl wa-ʾl-ḥafada waʾl-matāʿ, ed. Maḥmūd Muḥammad Shākir, Cairo 1941, i, 308-9 Muḥammad b. ɈAlī al-Anṣārī, al-Miṣbāḥ al-muḍīʾ fī kuttāb al-nabīyyi ʾl-ummī wa-rusulihi ilā mulūk al-arḍi min ʿarabiyyin wa-ʿadjamiyyin, ed. Muḥammad ɈAẓīm al-Dīn, Beirut 1405/1985, i, 163, 211, ii, 280- 4 Muḥammad b. Ḥabīb, al-Muḥabbar, ed. Ilse Lichtenstaedter, Hyderabad 1361/1942, 265 Muḥammad b. ɈAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dimashḳī, Raḥmat al-umma fi ʾkhtilāf al-aʾimma, Beirut 1407/1987, 317 Muḥammad b. Shākir al-Kutubī, ʿUyūn al-tawārīkh, ed. Ḥusām al-Dīn al-Ḳudsī, Cairo 1980, i, 260 Mughulṭāy, Mulakhkhaṣ al-zahr al-bāsim fī sīrat Abi ʾl-Ḳāsim, ms. Shehīd ɈAlī 1878, fol. 71a, l. 3 from bottom Muḳāṭil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr, ed. ɈAbd Allāh b. Maḥmūd Shaḥāta, Cairo 1969, i, 135, 348 Niẓām Dīn al-Ḥasan al-Ḳummī al-Naysābūrī, Gharāʾib al-Ḳurʾān wa-raghāʾib al-furḳān, ed. Ibrāhim ɈAṭwa ɈAwa , Cairo 1381/1962, vii, 46 SamɈānī, al-Ansāb, ed. ɈAbd al-Raḥmān b. Yaḥyā al-MuɈallamī, Hyderabad 1382/1962, i, 195 ult.-196 Shīrawayh b. Shahrdār al-Daylamī, Firdaws al-akhbār bi-maʾthūr al-khiṭāb al-mukharradj ʿalā kitāb al-shihāb, ed. Fawwāz Aḥmad al-Zimirlī and Muḥammad al-MuɈtaṣim bi-ɇllāh Baghdādī, Beirut 1407/1987, ii, 436, no. 3212 Ṭabarī, Taʾrīkh, ed. Muḥammad Abu ɇl-Fa l Ibrāhīm, Cairo 1961, ii, 645, iii, 29, 137, 301, 488 Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-nuzūl, Cairo 1388/1968, 13 Zamakhsharī, al-Fāʾiḳ fī gharīb al-ḥadīth, ed. ɈA. Muḥammad al-Bidjāwī and Muḥammad Abu ɇl-Fa l Ibraḥīm, Cairo 1971, i, 43 Zurḳānī, Sharḥ ʿala ʾl-mawāhib al-laduniyya li-ʾl- Ḳasṭallānī, Cairo 1326, iii, 350-2 Abū Ḥafṣ ɈUmar al-Mawṣilī, K. al-Wasīla, Hyderabad 1397/1977, iv/2, 115 Aḥmad b. AɈtham al-Kūfī, K. al-Futūḥ, Hyderabad 1388/1968, i, 48-55 W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford 1956, 131-2, 360-62 M. Cook, Magian cheese: an archaic problem in Islamic Law, in BSOAS, xlvii (1984), 44967 Muḥammad Ḥamīdullāh, Madjmūʿat al-wathāʾiḳ al-siyāsiyya li-ʾl-ʿahd al-nabawī wa-ʾlkhilāfa al- rāshida, Beirut 1407/1987, 144 (no. 56)-156 (no. 67), 572-7 (and see the editor's comments) ɈAwn al-Sharīf Ḳāsim, Nashʾat al-dawla al-islāmiyya ʿalā ʿahd Rasūl Allāh, Cairo 1401/1981, 177-94, 323-9 J. Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten. IV. Gemeindeordnung von Medina, Berlin 1889, 103-4 (no. 9), 117-19 (no. 42) W. Caskel, Ǧamharat an-Nasab, Das genealogische Werk des Hišām ibn Muḥammad alKalbī, Leiden 1966, ii, 430. [Print Version: Volume VII, page 570, column 1] Citation: Kister, M.J. "al-Mundhir b. Sāwā (or Sāwī) b. ɈAbd Allāh b. Zayd b. ɈAbd Allāh." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman; , Th. Bianquis; , C.E. Bosworth; , E. van Donzel; and W.P. Heinrichs. 

khadija.pdf TIlE SONS OF KHADIJA M.J. Kister I The reports about the various events in the life of the Prophet, recorded in the early sources of the sira, hadith, historical works and adab literature, are divergent and even contradictory. The discrepancies in the traditions occasionally relate to prominent incidents in the Prophet's career, which had a bearing upon the relations between the Prophet and the influential families in Mecca, and which shaped, to some extent, the destiny of the Prophet and the fate of the nascent Muslim community. One such case which deserves to be examined and elucidated concerns certain events in the matrimonial life of Khadija. These are brought to light in the reports about the two husbands who preceded the Prophet, and also the children she bore these husbands during the period of the Jahiliyya and in the first years of Islam. Some of the early reports are concise. According to a tradition on the authority of Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Yunus b. Bukayr,l Khadija's first husband, whom she married when she was a virgin, was 'Atiq b. 'A'idh b. 'Abdallah b. 'Umar of the Makhzum. She bore him a female child. 'Atiq died and Khadija married AbU Hala b. Zurara al-Nabbashi of the 'Amr b. Tamim She bore him one male and one female child. He died and Khadija, again a widow, married the Prophet He was her third husband, she was his first wife. 1 Ibn Ishaq, al-Siyar wa-i-fTIIlghlui, ed. Suhayl Zakkar, Damascus 1398/1978,p. 82 60 Kister: Sons of Khadija In contrast to this is the report given in Ibn Sa'd's Tabaqat? Khadija was "mentioned" to Waraqa b. Naufal, but the marriage was not concluded. Khadija's first husband was Abu HIHa Hind b. al-Nabbash b. Zurara b. Waqdan b. Habib b. Salama b. Ghuwayy b. Jurwa b. Usayyid b. 'Amr b. Tamim. Two phrases which occur in this report on the authority of Ibn al-Kalbi are of some importance: Abu Halas father was a man of high position in his (tribal - K) group,' He settled in Mecca and became an ally of the Banii 'Abd al-Dar b. QU$aYY. The explicatory phrase "and Quraysh used to give their allies their daughters in marriage?' helps us to understand the relations between the influential clans in Mecca and their allies, the newcomers whom they welcomed, aided and tried to absorb into their clans and families. Khadija indeed married Abu Hala and bore him one male child named Hind and another named Hala Her second husband was 'Atiq b. 'Abid [not: 'A'idhl b. 'Abdallah b. 'Umar b. Makhziim. She bore him a female child named Hind. The kunya of Khadija was Umm Hind. Hind grew up, married Sayfi b. Umayya al-Makhziimi, and bore him a son named Muhammad, The children of Hind and Sayfi were called Banii 1-Tahira, because of Khadija, the mother of Hind; Khadija was called al- Tahira, The progeny of Muhammad b. Sayfi, who settled in Medina, perished. Similar to this account is the tradition recorded by Muhammad b. Habib in his Muhabbari Khadija's first husband was Abu Hala, to whom she bore a male child, Hind b. Abi Hala; but no other child of Abu Hala is mentioned. She bore her second husband, 'Atiq b. 'Abid of the Makhziim, a female child named Hind. A corroborative tradition which sheds some additional light on the position of the tribal members who flocked to Mecca and entered alliances with the prominent clans there is recorded by al- Tabari: Abu Hala al-Nabbash b. Zurara b. Waqdan b. Habib b. Salama b. Ghuwayy b. Jurwa b. Usayyid b, 'Amr b. Tamim came to Mecca with his two 2 3 4 5 Beirut 13nl1958, vn, 14-15. Wa-kana abUhu Iln text erroneously: abUhii] dhil sharafin Ii qawmihi. Wa-kanat qurayshun tuzawwiju halilahum. Ed. llse Lichtenstaedter, Hyderabad 136111942,pp. 78, 452 Kister: Sons of Khadija 61 brothers, 'Auf and Unays. They were accepted as allies of the Banu 'Abd al-Dar b. Qusayy, Abu Hala married Khadija bint Khuwaylid and she bore him two male children: Hind and Hala, Hala died,6 but Hind survived beyond the advent of Islam, to which he became a convert. Al-Hasan b. 'Ali transmitted Hind's traditions about the Prophet, mentioning that Hind was his maternal uncle. Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna reported that Hind died in Basra, and that people left their businesses in order to attend his burial? The report recorded by Ibn Habib in his al=Munammaq' is slightly different: AI-NabOOsh b. Zurara of the Banii Usayyid of Tamim joined the Banii Naufal b. 'Abd Manaf as an ally; but the author notes that the reasons for the conclusion of this alliance are not clear to him. Al-Nabbash b. Zurara, whose kunya was Abu Hala, married Khadija before her marriage to the Prophet; she bore him two male children, Hind and Hala, Certain new details are given in the Shi'i compilation of al-Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar" A tradition on the authority of Qatada says that Khadija's first husband was 'Atiq b. 'A'idh al-Makhziimi, and the second Abu Hala Hind b. Zurara al-Tamimi; Khadija bore him a son, Hind, who was thus called Hind b. Hind Another tradition says that Khadija married Abu Shihab 'Amr al-Kindi; her second husband was 'Atiq b. 'A'idh, after whose death she was courted by 'Uqba b. Abi Mu'ayt and al-Salt b. Abi Yahab, both of them very rich men: each possessed four hundred slaves. Abu Jahl wanted to marry her too; she refused all these matrimonial proposals'? A report transmitted on the authority of Abu Talib, that Khadija's first husband was 'Atiq b. 'A'idh, and the second 'Umar al-Kindi, to whom she bore a child, seems to be confused. A new detail is supplied by al-Baladhuri; The first husband was Abu Hala Hind b. al-Nabbash of Tamim; Khadija bore him Hind b. Abi Hala, The second husband was 'Atiq b. 'Abid of Makhziim, to whom she bore a female child named Hind 'Atiq divorced her and 6 7 8 9 10 Before the advent of Islam - K. Al-Tabari, Dhayl aJ-mudhayyaJ, Cairo 1358/1939, p. 40. Ed. Khurshid Ahmad Fariq, Hyderabad 1384/1964, p. 399. Tehran XVI, 10. Ibid., p. 22 62 Kister: Sons of Khadija she married her third husband, the Prophet" This is in fact the first report saying that Khadija was a divorcee (not a widow) when she married Muhammad, Some divergent details deserve to be noted in Nur al-Din al-Haythami's Maimd al-zawatd wa-manbd al-Fawii'id:12 Khadija bore her first husband, 'Atiq b. 'A'id, a son named Hind; he was thus named Hind b. 'Atiq, She bore her second husband, Abu Hala Malik b. Nabbash b. Zurara, the ally of the Banii 'Abel al-Dar, Hind and Hala, Thus Hind b. 'Atiq, Hala and Hind b. Abi Hala, Khadija's children from her two first husbands, are brothers of Khadija's children from the Prophet The controversial problem of Abii Hala's name and the fate of the children of Khadija born to her first two husbands are examined in al-Zurqani's Shark al-mawahib al-laduniyyal? Al-Zubayr (scil, Ibn Bakkar - K.) and (the transmitter - K.) al-Daraqutni say that his name was Malik. Ibn Manda and al-Suhayli record his name as Zurara, Abii 'Ubayd gives his name as al-Nabbash, Al-'Askari records his name as Hind Abii Hala's son, Hind, is said to have fought on the side of the Prophet in the battle of Uhud or in the Battle of Badr. He spread the tradition on the description of the person of the Prophet; this tradition was transmitted on his authority by al-Hasan b. 'Ali Al-Zubayr b. Bakkar reported that he was killed in the Battle of the Camel, fighting on the side of 'Ali; others say that he died in the plague of Basra, The son of Khadija and Abii Hala, named Hala, was recorded as one of the companions of the Prophet According to one tradition, the Prophet arose and saw Hala in his room. He pressed him to his breast and uttered joyously: hala, hala, halal" A contradictory report states, however, that Hala, borne by Khadija to her husband Abii Hala, was in fact a female child Indeed, al-Muhibb al- Tabari in his al-Sinu 11 Al-Baladhurl, Ansab al-ahraf, ed. Muhammad Hamidullah, Cairo 1959, I, 406-407. I2 Beirut 1967, IX, 219. I3 Cairo 1325, I, 199-201 14 See e.g. Ibn I;Iajar, al-I $aba fi tamyizi /-$aI)iiba, ed. 'Ali Muhammad al-Bijiiwi, Cairo 1971,VI, 516, no. 8919. Kister: Sons of Khadija 63 al-thamin tf manaqib ummahiu aJ-mu'minfn.15 records that Hala was the daughter of Khadija and al-Nabbash b. Zurara, who was accordingly given the kunya Abu Hala, Al-Muhibb records further traditions discussing the name of Abu Hala (Malik: b. al-Nabbash, Hind b. Zurara) and the problem of whether he was the first or the second husband of Khadija," Al-Muhibb reiterates the tradition that Hind b. Hind, the stepson of the Prophet, grew up, embraced Islam and was killed in the Battle of the Camel fighting on the side of 'Ali; another tradition says that he died in the plague of Basra, Important information about the son and grandson of Abu Hala is given in Ibn al-Kalbi's Jamharat al-nasabl' Khadija bore Abu Hala Hind b. al-Nabbash b. Zurara a son named Hind He fought in the Battle of Badr or in the Battle of Uhud, His son Hind b. Hind b. Hind was killed fighting on the side of Ibn al-Zubayr. This family perished and none of their progeny remained. It is worth noting the statement of al-Muhibb that nothing is known about the life and fate of the two female children borne by Khadija to her two husbands" Al-Diyarbakri quotes from the Sira of Mughultay some interesting reports: Khadija bore 'Atiq b. 'A'idh of Makhziim a female child named Hind and a male child named 'Abdallah or 'Abd Maruif. Al-Qurtubi, in his Tajsir (= al-Lami li-ahkam ai-qur'an),19 records a tradition saying that Khadija bore 'Atiq a male child named 'Abd Maruif. No less interesting is the tradition recorded by Diyarbakri that Khadija bore Abu Hala Hind a daughter, Zaynab, and two male children: al-Harith and Hind The tradition about a male child borne by Khadija to 'Atiq b. 'Abid is recorded in Ibn Hazm's Jawami' ai-sirai" Khadija, says the report, bore her first husband a male child named 'Abdallah, She bore 15 16 17 18 19 20 Cairo 140211983, p. 23. Pp. 6, 23. MS. Br. Mus, Add. 'l32fJ7, fol 93b. This very report is recorded in Diyabakrfs Ta'rikh ol-khamis I, 261 Cairo 1387/1967. XIV. 104. Ed. ll,Jsiin 'Abbas and Nasir al-Dln al-Asad, Cairo, rut, P. 3l 64 Kister: Sons of Khadija her second husband Abu Hala Hind b. Zunlra two male children, Hind and al-Harith, and a female child named Zaynab. Hind b. Hind fought in the Battle of Uhud and dwelt in Basra. Al-Harith embraced Islam and was killed by an unbeliever at the Rukn al- Yamiini More details about al-Harith are provided by al-Baladhuri," Al-Harith b. Abi Hala was the first man killed at the Rukn al- Yamani, fighting for the sake of GodP One tradition says that he was under the tutelage of Khadija (ji hiin khadikua); he embraced Islam, manifested his faith openly and summoned people to convert to Islam. One day when he was with a group of Quraysh and heard a man slandering the Prophet he tried to defend the Prophet A row ensued in which al-Harith was beaten by a rude unbeliever who trampled him down and trod on his belly. He was carried away wounded and later died. Another tradition says that he was killed while performing his prayer at the Rukn al- Yamiini Ibn I:Iajar23provides us with information about the beginnings of al-Harith's missionary activity, which occurred when the Prophet was enjoined to call openly upon the people to convert to Is1am..24 Ibn I:Iazm25 records the story of al-Harith and furnishes us with an additional detail about him: $afwiin b. $afwiin b. al-Nabbash of Tamim is said to have been the first believer who killed an unbeliever after the mira; he killed the murderer of al-Harith b. Abi Hiila.26 Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi, in Jiimi' al-athar fi maulidi l-rasidi l-mukhtar,27 records a significant report of Ibn 'Abd al-Barr stating that Khadija bore Abu Hala a male child named al- Tahir; he was the brother of Hind and Hala, The Prophet is said to have sent him as governor (ami!) to a district in al- Yemen, 21 Ansah ai-ashr1Jf, MS. foL 969b. 22 n sabili llah. 23 AI-I saba, I, 604, no. 1501 24 ... an yasdda bimii amarahu ... ; see SUrat ai hijr, 95: [a-sdd bimii tumaru wa-drid 'ani l-mushrikin: 25 Jamharas ansab ai-'arab, ed. 'Abd al-Salam Hariin, Cairo l382/1962, p. 210. 26 And see about Safwiin b. Safwan: al-Tabarl, Ta'rikh; III, 268 and Ibn Hajar, ai-I saba, m. 435, no. ~. 27 MS, Cambridge Or. 9l3, foL 25Oa.. Kister: Sons of Khadija 65 Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in fact records a tradition transmitted by Sayf b. 'Umar on the authority of Abu Miisa al-Ash'ari saying that al-Tahir was among the five governors sent by the Prophet to the different districts of al-Yemen." An extended report about al-Tahir is given by Ibn I:Iajar.29According to the tradition transmitted by Sayf b. 'Umar, Tahir b. Abi Hala was sent as governor to a district of al-Yemen, as already mentioned. The important additional report says that al-Tahir succeeded in quelling the rebellion of the 'Akk (called al-akhilbith). These reports are corroborated by the information provided by al-Tabari; al-Tahir b. Abi Hala was appointed by the Prophet to be in charge of the 'Akk in Mecca. He was later sent as governor to a district of al-Yemen, or according to another version, was appointed over the tribes of 'Akk and the Ash'ariyyin, He faced the forces of al-Aswad al-Ansi and succeeded in crushing the rebellion of the 'Akk and the Ash'ariyyin after the death of the Prophet Later he was sent by Abu Bakr to San'a in order to help the Abna' in their fight against the unbelievers." Not much is known about al-Zubayr b. Abi Hala, Sayf b. 'Umar used to transmit his traditions. Ibn Manda reported his tradition saying that the Prophet killed a detained Qurashite and stated: ''Nevermore should a detained (or imprisoned - K) man from Quraysh be killed,'?' It is obvious that the traditions concerning the two husbands of Khadija to whom she was married prior to her marriage to the Prophet are obscure, confused and very often contradictory. The reports about the children borne by Khadija to these two husbands are 28 Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, aI-lsti'ab. II, 775,no. 1297. 29 Al-I$aba,m, 515,no. 3258. 30 Al-Tabari, Ta'rikh al-rusui wa-l-muIUk, ed. Muhammad Abii l-Fadl Ibrahim, Cairo 1969,III, 228, 230, 318,320-321,328. 31 Ibn l:Iajar, al-Isaba; II, 558, no. im; and see Ibn al-Athir, Usd al-ghiiba tt mariiaii l-sahiiba; n.p., 1280 (repr, Tehran), II, 199inf~ and see this tradition with a significant phrase added: "Nevermore should a detained man from Quraysh be killed except the murderer of 'Uthman, you ought to kill him; but if they do not do it, then tell them that they will be slaughtered as a ewe is slaughtered," in Ibn 'Adiyy, al-Kiimil [i 4u'ala'i i-rijaI, Beirut 1405/1985,VI, 2361 66 Kister: Sons of Khadija blurred; there is hardly any agreement among the genealogists and the transmitters of haditb as to the details of the stories. Only a few of the persons mentioned in the reports lived until the advent of Islam, and we are told that even those few died or were killed and that their progeny ceased to exist It is noteworthy, however, that the settings of the stories about the two husbands possibly reflect the situation in Mecca. It is plausible that Khadija married a man from the aristocratic clan of Makhziim, in accordance with her position and wealth; but it is equally plausible that she married a Bedouin immigrant to Mecca., as this was a common custom in Meccan society. In this way the Meccan clans tried to strengthen their ties with the Bedouin tribes and to secure the commercial activities of the Meccan families. n The traditions concerning the Prophet's age when he married Khadija are divergent and confused. Many traditions report that he married her at the age of twenty-five, and that Khadija was then forty years 0ld32 Some sources record the tradition transmitted on the authority of Hakim b. Hizam, which confirms the data mentioned above: Khadija was born fifteen years before the Year of the Elephant; Hakim was born thirteen years before the Year of the Elephant; she was thus two years older than Hakim, and he could easily have established her age as forty. The Prophet, born in the Year of the Elephant, was thus twenty-five years old at the time of their marriage. 33 32 Al-Dimyati, al-Mukhiasar Ii sirati l-nabiyyi Cs), MS. Chester Beatty 3332,foL lOb; al-Mutahhar h Tahir, Kitah al-bad' wo-l-tdrikh; ed. ct. Huart, Paris 1916, V, 10; al-Majlisi, Bil)iJr al-anwiir, XVI, 19; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya; V, 193!oo the authority of Hakim h l;Iizam); Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiu VIII, 15 (on the authority of Haklrn h l;Iizam);. al-Baladhurf, Ansah al-ashrii], ed. Mohammad Hamidullah, Cairo 1959,I, 98 (with the remark: "this is the accepted opinion of the scholars"). 33 See Ibn Nasir aI-Din, Jami' al-iJJhlJr, fol. 250a (quoted on the authority of Miisii b. 'Uqba and traced back to Haklm b, Hizam); aI-Majlisi, BiI)lu al-anwiir, XVI, 12; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiu, VIII, 17; and see H. Lammens, "L'Age de Mahomet et Ia Chronologie de la Sira," Journal Asiatique, XVII (1911)2()<}-150; and see the Kister: Sons of Khadija 67 Ibn Qutayba'" only records the age of Muhammad when he married Khadija: He was twenty-five years 0ld3s An additional detail in connection with the date of his marriage is given by Ibn Qutayba" in a tradition saying that the Prophet went to Syria with the merchandise of Khadija when he was twenty-five years old; he married Khadi ja two months after his return. A corresponding tradition is recorded in the Sira aJ-halabiyya;37 He was twenty-five years old; some say twenty-five, two months and ten days; others say: and fifteen , days. Mughultay, in his aJ-Zahr ai-basim Ii sirat abi l-qasim,38 is even more precise in a tradition recorded on the authority of Abu 'Umar (i.e. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr); The Prophet married Khadija two months and fifteen days after his return from Syria, at the end of Safar in the year twenty-six, which corresponds to twenty-five years, two months and ten days after the Day of the Elephant The tradition of Ibn 'Abd al-Barr is recorded in Ibn Nasir aI-Din's Jam;' aJ-iithilr.39 Mughultay mentions a tradition from Ibn 'Asakir saying that the Prophet returned with Maysara from Syria on the fourteenth night from the end of Dhii l-Hijja in the year twenty-five counting from the Day of the Elephant 40 Niir al-Din al-Haythami records a tradition saying that the Prophet married Khadija at the age of twenty-five, and supplies 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 detailed study by Lawrence I. Conrad, "Abraha and Muhammad: some observations apropos of chronology and literary topoi in the early Arabic historical tradition," BSOAS L (1987),225-240. AJ-Ma'arif, ed. Tharwat 'Ukasha, Cairo 1969,p. 131 And so: al-Majlisi, Biblu, XVI, 10 on the authority of 'Amr b. 'Ala; Ibn Hazm, Jawarnl ol-sira; p. 31 P.15O. I, 154. MS. Leiden, Or. 370, foL 93a. MS. Cambridge, Or. 913, fol. 250a. And see Ibn 'Abd al-Barr's tradition: al-Zurqani, Sharh al-mawahib ol-laduniyya; I, 199. See this tradition: al-Maqrizi, Imt(/ al-asmd bimlJ li-l-rasidi miTUJl-anba' wa-l-amwill wa-l-haiadou wa-l-mata', ed. Mahmiid Muhammad Shakir, Cairo 1941,I, 9. 68 Kister: Sons of Khadija another detail: Quraysh were then building the Ka'ba 41A contradictory tradition says that the Ka'ba was being built by Quraysh when the Prophet was thirty-five years old 42 However, al-Majlisi records yet another tradition in which the building of the Ka'ba by Quraysh is coupled with the date of Fatima's birth and the date of the Revelation granted to the Prophet 43 Some traditions about the age of the Prophet when he married Khadija are diverse: According to a report traced back to al-Zuhri, the Prophet was twenty-one years old when he married her.44 Another tradition says that he was twenty-three years old at the time," A tradition recorded on the authority of Ibn Jurayj says that he married her when he was thirty-seven years old 46 Other traditions give the age of the Prophet at his marriage as thirty'? or twenty-nine," The traditions recording the age of Khadija when she married the Prophet are likewise contradictory and blurred. The tradition based on the report that Khadija was born fifteen years before the Year of 41 Majma' al-zawii'id, IX, 219; the same tradition is quoted in Ibn Kathir's al-Bidiiya wa-l-nihaya; V, 293; al-Mutawwa'I, Man sabara zafira; MS. Cambridge, Or. 1473 (10),foL 38a. 42 A1-Majlisi, Bihiu aI-anwar, XVI, 7. 43 A1-Majlisi, Bi/JiJr,XVI, n. 44 Al-Zurqani, Sharh. al-mawahib, I, 199, III, 220 (and see the refutation of this report: al-Zurqani, ibid III, 227); 'Abd ai-Malik b. Husayn al-Tsaml, Simi aI-nujUin aI-'awiiJi, Cairo 1380, I, 365; al-Maqrizi, 1m/a', 1,9; al-Suhayli, ol-Raud al-unui, II, 246; al-Haythami, Majmd aI-zawa'id, IX, 219; al-Muhibb al-Tabarl, aI-Simt al-thamin; p. 14; Ibn Kathir, ol-Bidiiya wa-l-nihiiya, V, 293. 45 Muhammad b. Habib, ai-Muhabbar. p. 78; al-Baladhuri, Ansah aI-ashral, I, 98; al-Maqrizi, 1m/a', I, 9. 46 Al-Zurqanl, Sham al-mawahib, I, 199; al-Maqrizi, Imtis", I, 9; Mughultay, al-Zahr al-biisim; fol. 93a; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidiiya; V, 293; Ibn Nasir ai-Din, Jaml aI-1JJhiu,foL 25Oa. 47 Al-Muhibb al-Tabari, al-Sim; al-thamin; p. 14; Ibn N~ al-Din, Jaml aI-1JJhiu, fol. 25Oa; al-Zurqani, Shark al-mawahib, II, 199, III, 220, 227; al-S3liI:li,Subulu l-huda wa-l-rashad fi siraii khayri l-'ibad, ed. Mustafa 'Abd al-WaI.tid.Cairo 139411974, n. 225; al-Suhayli, al-Raud n 246. 48 Mughultay, al-Zahr al-basim; fol. 93a (nearing thirty}, aI-Maqrizi, Imtd, I, 9 (nearing thirty); al-Zurqani, Sharb aI-mawiihib, 1,199; al-S3liI:li,Subul al-huda; Il, 225 (nearing thirty). Kister: Sons of Khadija 69 the Elephant, that the Prophet was born in the Year of the Elephant and that he married her when he was twenty-five years. old and she forty is, of course, consistent in itself, and adapted to the widely circulated data about the birth and death of the Prophet Divergent traditions say that Khadija was forty-five years old when she married him.49 Other reports relate that she was thirty years oldsO A tradition, traced back in some sources to Ibn (Abbas, states that she married the Prophet when she was twenty-eight years old," There are isolated traditions saying that she was thirty-five or twenty-five years old when she married the Prophet," All these traditions should be taken into consideration in evaluating the reports about the children Khadija bore the Prophet Scholars of haditb and sira are unanimous as to the number of female children borne by Khadija to the Prophet She bore him four daughters, all of whom were still young at the advent of Islam and embraced the new faith. All of them married, but only three bore children. Their progeny died, except for that of Fatima; they are the descendants of al-Hasan and al-Husayn, the sons of Fatima Scholars, however, are at odds as to the number of male children borne to the 49 Ibn Kathir, ai-Bidiiya; V, 293 (on the authority of al-Wiiqidi); Mughultay, al-Zahr al-biisim; fol 93a; Ibn N~ir al-Din, Jam'" al-iUhiir, fol 250a; Ibn 'Asiikir, Ta'rikh Dimashq (tahdhib), ed. 'Abd al-Qadir Badriin, Beirut 1399/1970, I, 302-303 (on the authority of al-Wiiqidi: forty-four years old); al-Zurqiini, Sharh al-mawllhib, I, 199 (on the authority of Ibn Sa'd), III, 220; al-Halabi, Sira; 1,156. 50 Al-Zurqani, Sharh al-mawilhib, I, 200, III, 220; Ibn N3$ir al-Din, Jami' al-llthllr, fol 250a; Ibn 'Asiikir, Ta'rikh (tahdhib) I, 302; al-$iilibi, Subul al-hudll, II, 225; al-l;Ialabi, Sira; I, 156. 51 Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; V, 293; al-Zurqiini, Sharb al-mawahib, I, 200, III, 220; Mughultay, al-Zahr ai-basim; fol 93a; Ibn N3$ir al-Din, Jam'" al-llthiir, fol 250a (on the authority of Ibn Sa'd~ al-$iilibi, Subul, II, 225; Ibn 'Asiikir, Ta'rikh (tahdhib), I, 302 (on the authority of Ibn al-Kalbi); al-l:lalabi, Sira; I, 156; al-l:liikim, al-Mustadrak; Hyderabad (repr, Riyiid), III, 182; Muhammad b. Habib, al-Mul)obbar, P. 78; al-MajJ.isi,Bihlu al-anwlu, XVI, 12 52 Al-l;Ialabi, Sira; I, 156. 70 Kister: Sons of Khadlja Prophet by Khadija," The various traditions about the male children of Khadija are examined in the following lines. A significant report formulated concisely and recorded in an early source says that the Prophet began to practice tahannutb after some of his female children were born, Khadija bore him al-Qasim; some scholars claim that she also bore him another male child called al- Tahir, but other scholars say that she bore only one son, al-Qasim/" Al-Zurqani quotes the tradition saying that Khadija bore the Prophet only one son, al-Qasim, but provides us with a comprehensive review of other traditions which record various numbers for the male children whom Khadija bore the Prophet According to some of these traditions, Khadija bore the Prophet thirteen children," According to a tradition recorded by Ibn Ishaq, the male children of the Prophet were born before the Call; they were al-Qasim, al-Tahir and al-Tayyib, The Prophet's agnomen tkunya) was Abu l-Qasim, All the male children of the Prophet died before the advent of Islam (i.e. before the Call). Some traditions stress that they died while suckling," 53 'Abd al-Razzaq, al-Musannaf, V, 321, no. 9718 ( ... wa-la-qad zdama bddu I-'ulamll annahii waladat lahu ghuliiman akhara yusamma al-tahir; wa-qda ba'4uhum: mij ndlamuha waladat lahu ilia l-qasim ... ). 54 See the tradition quoted from Ibn IsQaq'sal-Mubtadd stating that Khadija bore the Prophet only one son, named al-Qasim: Mughultay, al-Zahr al-basim; foL 94b: ... wa-it l-mubtada'i 'ani bni ishaqa: za'ama ba'4u I-'ulamlli anna khadijata (r) lam talid li-l-nabiyy! (s) mina l-dlwkUri ilia l-qasima; wa-hM.hil la shay'a. 55 Al-Zurqiini, Sharb al-mawahib, III, 193-194; see the tradition of the one child, al-Qasim, pp. 193, L 2 and 194, L 11:wa-tahsulu min jami'i l-aqwaJi thamaniyaiu dhukiain: ithnllni muuafaqun 'alayhima, al-qasimu wa-ibrahlmu wa-sittaiun mukhialatun fihim ... 56 Ibn Ishaq, al-Siyar wa-l-maghazl, pp. 82, 245; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidiiya wa-l-nihaya; V, 293; SulaymfuJb. Miisii al-Kalii'i, al-Iktifa' fi maghazi rasidi llllhi wa-l-thaliuhaii l-kJuJafa', ed. Mustafa 'Abd al-Wal).id, Cairo 138711968, I, 199 (on the authority of Ibn IsQaq}, l-Isaml, Simi aJ-fUljUm, , 406; Ibn 'Asakir, a I Ta'rikh Dimashq (tahdhlb), ed. 'Abd al-Qiidir Badran, Beirut 139911979, I, 302, ult.; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, 'Uyu.n al-athar, II, 288 and ibid. this tradition recorded on the authority of Ibn Isbiiq; and see 'Abdallah b. Abi Zayd al-Qayrawanl, Kitiib aJ-jaml, ed. Muhammad Abu l-Ajfiin and 'Uthman Binikh. Beirut-Tunis Kister: Sons of Khadija 71 According to the tradition of al-Zubayr b. Bakkar, Khadija bore the Prophet only two male children: al-Qasim and 'Abdallah; 'Abdallah was also called al-'Tayyib and al-'Tahir. 'Abdallah was born after the Call and died as a small child. The first child of the Prophet who died was al-Qasim; the second was 'Abdallah," Some scholars identified al- Tahir with another child, named al-Mutahhar, alleged to have been the son of Khadija and the Prophet. They argued that al-Tahir was the name given to a child whom Khadija bore to a previous husband. However, this argument is rejected on the grounds that Khadija could not have given the same name to a child of a previous husband and a child of the Prophet" According to a tradition traced back to al-Zuhri she bore the Prophet only two children: al-Qasim and 'Abdallah," Other traditions say that the two male children borne by Khadija were named 1402/1982, pp. 128 ult-129, l 1; and see al-Zurqiini, Sharh al-mawiihib, III, 194, I. 7: ... wa-qala bnu isbaqa fi l-siraii 'inda dhikri tazawwu]i l-mustafi: khadi jata: kulluhum ghayra ibrahima wuIida qabla l-islluni. wa-m1Jtal-banUna qabla l-islluni wa-hum yarta4tfm ... 57 Ibn Kathir. al-Bidiiya; V, 307; Ibn l:Iajar al-iAsqalani, al-Isaba; IlL 549 (al-Zubayr b. Bakklir on the authority of Musab, and see ibid another tradition transmitted on the authority of al-Zuhri); Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiu, VIII, 16; al-Kazariinl, al-Sira al-nabawiyya; MS. Br. Mus., Add. 18499, fol. 83a-b; al-Kala'I, al-Iktita', L 199 penult, (on the authority of al-Zubayr b. Bakkar); al-Zurqiini, Sharb al-mawiihib, IlL 193;Ibn 'Aslikir, Ta'rikh Dimashq (tahdhib). L 293; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, 'UyiUI al-aihar, IL 288 (two traditions); Muhammad b. l:Iabib, al-Muha/Jbar,p. 78; Ibn al-Kalbi, Jamharat al-nasab, MS. Br. Mus.,Add. 23297, fol. 9a; al-Dimyati, al-Mukhiasar [i sirati I-nabiyyi ($), MS. Chester Beatty 3332, fol. 14a (a tradition of al-Kalbi traced back to Ibn 'Abbas as in al-Nuwayri, Nihaya: al-arab [i luniln al-adab, Cairo 1964, XVIII, 208 on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas: the first child born before the Call was al-Qlisim, who was followed by the four daughters. In the end Khadija bore the Prophet a male child named 'Abdallah who was also called al-Tayyib and al-Tahir, but some scholars assume that 'Abdallah is not to be identified with al-Tayyib and al-Tahir, and that they are two additional children). 58 Ibn Hajar, al-I$1Jba, I, 262; al-Zurqiini, Sharh al-mawiihib,III, 193info V 59 Ibn Hajar, al-lsaba; IlL 549; cf. al-Dimyati, al-Mukhta$ar, fol 14a; Ibn N~ al-Din, Jami' al-iUhiJr fol, 250b (on the authority of Hishlim b. 'Urwa and another tradition on the authority of Ibn 'Ahhii") 72 Kister: Sons of Khadija al-Qasim and al- Tahir.60 A peculiar tradition is recorded on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas: Khadija bore the Prophet a child named 'Abdallah. Then there was a period during which Khadija ceased bearing children, One day during that period the Prophet met al-'& b. Wa'il, who mockingly called him al-abtar, and then the sura: al-kauthar was revealed. Later Khadija bore the Prophet Zaynab, Ruqayya, al-Qasim, al-Tahir, al-Mutahhar, al- Tayyib, al-Mutayyab, Umm Kulthiim and Fatima," The number of male children borne to Muhammad by Khadija according to this list was six; the number of female children was, as mentioned, four. Thus Khadija bore the Prophet ten children, A tradition transmitted by Ibn Lahi'a records four male children: al-Qasim, al- Tahir, al- Tayyib and 'Abdallah'" Noteworthy is a report which shortens the period in which Khadija bore children: al-Tayyib and al-Mutayyab were twins; al- Tahir and al-Mutahhar were also twins.63 A curious tradition is recorded in Ibn Nasir al-Din's Jami' ai-athar.64 Khadija, says the tradition, bore the Prophet four male children: al-Qasim, al- Tahir, Ibrahim and al- Tayyib, This tradition was nevertheless rejected by the scholars and considered erroneous, as Ibrahim was borne by the slave girl Mariya, not by Khadija. It is noteworthy that a very late compiler of a maulid commentary records an early tradition, according to which Khadija bore the Prophet only one male child, al-Qasim, while the scholars are 60 Abu I-Husayn Ahmad b. Faris, Aujazu l-siyar li-khayri l-bashar, Cairo 1359/1940,p. 9; Ya'qiib b. Sufyan al-Fasawi, aJ-Ma'rila wo-l-tarikh; ed. A.kram I;>iya'al-Umarl, Beirut 140111981, 'lfj9 inf.-270. II, 61 Ibn Kathir, ol-Bidiiya, V, m; Ibn 'Asiikir, Ta'rikh Dimashq;I, 294. 62 Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; V, 307; Ibn Nasir aI-Din, Jamr al-iuhar, fol. 251a; al-Zurqanl, SharlJ,aJ-mawahib,III, 191 63 Mughultay, al-Zahr al-basim; fol. 94b; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; V, 308; Ibn 'Asiikir, Ta'rikh, I, 294; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, 'Uyful al-athar, II, 288; Ibn Hajar, al-Lsaba; VI, 262; al-Zurqani, Sharb al-mawahib, III, 193; al-'I$iimi, Simi al-nujiim; I, 406; 'Ali b. Burhan al-Din al-Halabl, Insim al-'uyful Ii sirati l-amini I-ma'miin (= ai-Sira aJ-/Jalabiyya),Cairo 1382/1962,III, 345; Ibn Niisir al-Din, Jarnl aJ-lIthiu,foL 25la 64 FoL 25la Kister: Sons of Khadija 73 at variance as to whether she bore him another child. 'Abdallah," ill A remarkable tradition concerning Khadija's male children born to the Prophet reports that Khadija bore the Prophet two children: 'Abd al-'Uzza and 'Abd Manaf. This tradition was transmitted by al-Haytham b. 'Adiyy (d. 206 A.H.) on the authority of Hisham b. 'Urwa (d, 146 All) and traced back to his father 'Urwa,66 Ibn Nasir al-Din mentions another tradition quoted from a book by Abii 'Ubayda Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna (d 209 All, evidently from his Azwaju i-nabiyyi ts); mentioned fol. 251b), stating that in the period of the Jahiliyya Khadija bore the Prophet four children: al-Qasim, 'Abd Manaf, al-Tayyib (= 'Abdallah) and al-Tahir, This brings the number of children borne to the Prophet by Khadija to eight: four male and four female children. Abii 'Ubayda argues that 'Abd Manaf was born during the period of the Jahiliyya; had he been born during the period of Islam he would not have been called 'Abd Manaf, says Abii 'Ubayda, as stated in the summary of Ibn Nasir al-Din.67 It is indeed fortunate that Abii 'Ubayda's T asmiyatu azwaji i-nabiyyi ts) wa-auladihi is extant, and was edited by Nihad Miisii..68 Abii 'Ubayda's report in this treatise differs in an essential detail from 65 Muhammad Nawawi b. 'Umar al-Jawl, Tar ghib al-mushtiiqin li-bayiini manziimati l-sayyidi l-barzanji zayni l-'abidin, Cairo, n.d.,p. 24: ... wa- jumlatu auladihi $alla llahu 'alayhi wa-sallam sab'atun: thaliithatu dhukilrin wa-arbdu iniuhin; lakin wabidun mukhtalaiun [ihi; [a-l-dhukkr» l-qasimu wa-ibriihimu; wa-hadhan! muuajaqun 'alayhima, wa-'abdu llahi wa-hluiha mukhtalafun fi hi; wa-yuqalu lahu ai-tay yibu wa-I-rahiru; wa-l+qaulu t-athbatu wuiiiduhu; wa-summiya 'abdu llahi bi-I-rayyibi wa-l-tahiri li-annahu wulida bdda l-nubuwwati ... 66 Al-Zurqanl, Sham al-mawahib, III, 193 inf.-194 sup.; Ibn Nasir al-Din, Jami' al-iuhar, foL 252a; al-Tsaml, Simt al-nujism al-'awali, I, 408; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; V, '!JJ7,308; Ibn I:Iajar al-'AsqaIani, Lisan al-mizlin, Hyderabad 1331, VI, 210,no. 740. 67 And see an anonymous tradition recorded in al-Halabfs Sira; III, 345 ult., saying that a child born to the Prophet before the Call was named 'Abd ManM. 68 Majallat mdhad al-makh{iUiital-'arabiyya, XIII (1967),244-279. 74 Kister: Sons of Khadija the summary provided by Ibn Nasir al-Din; al-Qasim, says the report, was born during the period of Islam. The four daughters were born during the period of the Jahiliyya, The three male children of the Prophet borne by Khadija, 'Abd Manaf, al-Tayyib (= 'Abdallah) and al- Tahir, were also born in the period of the Jahiliyya,69 The arguments Abu 'Ubayda uses to support his chronology of the births of Khadija's children are instructive, and help us to understand the ideological basis of his treatise. The Prophet, says Abu 'Ubayda, gave his daughter Zaynab in marriage to Abu l-'As b. al-Rabi', When she converted to Islam, the Prophet prohibited her from staying with Abu l-'As, who remained an unbeliever, but when Abu l-'As later embraced Islam, the Prophet authorized their bond on the basis of the previously concluded Jahili marriage. The same applies to the marriages concluded between Ruqayya and Urnm Kulthiim with Abu Lahab's sons 'Utba and 'Utayba respectively, with the approval and blessing of the Prophet As for 'Abd Maniif, he was born during the period of the Jahiliyya; had he been born during the period of Islam the Prophet would not have given him this name. Further evidence that the male children of the Prophet borne by Khadija lived and died during the period of the Jahiliyya is adduced by Abu 'Ubayda, who cites the tradition about Khadija's conversation with the Prophet as to the fate of their deceased infants. The Prophet assured her that their infants were in Paradise, but added that the children borne by her to her former husbands, the unbelievers, were placed in He1l70 This had/til, argues Abu 'Ubayda, indicates that the male children of the Prophet, except al-Qasim, were born and died during the period of the Jahiliyya; had they died during the period of Islam, Khadija would not have enquired about their fate," It is evident that the problem touched upon in Khadija's conversation with the Prophet is the fate in the hereafter of children of believers, in contradistinction to the fate of children of unbelievers. The story about Khadija's grief at the death of al- Tahir also belongs 69 Tasmiya; pp, 248, ll, 1-2, 12-14, 249, ll, 1-12 70 See this tradition: Ibn Nasir al-Din, Ja,nl ai-iuhar, fol 25lb. 71 P.249. Kister: Sons of Khadija 75 here. The Prophet consoled her, promising that after her death al- Tahir would welcome her at the gates of Pamdise.72 The essential question at issue, however, is whether the Prophet was granted infallibility before the Revelation, whether he was cleansed from the impurity of idol worship and of close contacts with unbelievers (kuffiir or mushrikun), and whether, prior to the Call. he refrained from committing deeds which might have been considered adherence to the customs or practices of the unbelievers. It is thus remarkable that the story of the Prophet's daughters who were married to unbelievers with the approval of the Prophet (a story adduced by Abu 'Ubayda as evidence for the validity of the tradition about the Prophet's child being named 'Abel Manat) is quoted and explicated by Ibn Qutayba (d. 276 A.H.) in his T awil mukhtaJif al-hadith'? as proof that the Prophet believed in God and yielded to His injunctions and commands. The Prophet gave his daughters in marriage to unbelievers because this had not been forbidden at that time according to God's injunctions, shard i'l" It was Ibn Qutayba's aim to prove that the Prophet acted in accordance with God's commands as revealed to former prophets, and to explain that the tradition about the Prophet's adherence to the tenets and beliefs of his people, kana 'alii dini qaumihi; means in fact that the Prophet followed his people, Quraysh, who adhered to certain beliefs, tenets and injunctions of the "Faith of Ishmael," din ismdil. Several of these practices were closely observed by the people of the Prophet, Quraysh," Bihar al-anwar, XVI, 16; and see ibid .• p. 15, a similar tradition on the consolation of Khadija after the death of al-Qssim; the Prophet promised her that al-Qasim would welcome her after her death at the gates of Paradise. 73 Cairo 1326, 134-139. 74 See p. 139. 75 See e.g. al-Suyutl, al-Rasaila His', Beirut, 1405/1985 (Masalik al-hunafi: [i walidayi l-mustafa salla llahu 'alayhi wa-iilihi wa-sallama); p. 49: ... [a-hasala mimma auradnahu anna ab1J'al-nabiyyi salla lliihu 'alayhi wa-sallama min 'ahdi ibriihima ila kabi bni lu'ayyin kanu kulluhum 'ala din: ibriihima 'alayhi l-saliimu, wa-waladuhu murratu bnu kdbin al-"fiihiruannahu kana ka-dhldika Li-anna abahu ausiihu bi-l-imani, wa-baqiya baynahu wa-bayna 'abdi l-muttalib arbdaiu aba' ... ; and see ibid .• p. 47: ... wa-qad akhraja ibnu 72 Al-Majlisi, 76 Kister: Sons of Khadija This subject was discussed comprehensively by Muslim scholars. Ibn Hazm, for example, concludes his lengthy analysis by stating that the prophets could not have committed any sin or perpetrated any transgression before they were granted prophethood: ... ta-bt-yaqinin nadri anna llaha ta'aJa 'asamahum qabla l-nubuwwati min kulli mil yudhauna bihi bdda l-nubuwwaii ... 76 The problem of the Prophet's infallibility is discussed at length in al-Khafaji's commentary Nasim ai-riyad sharb shifa'i l-qQ.4i 'iyQ.4:77 The Prophet, like other prophets, was protected from any sin whatsoever both before and after being granted prophethood. The tradition saying that the Prophet adhered to the tenets of his people for forty years, kana 'ala amri qaumihi arbdina sanatan, does not indicate that he had no knowledge of belief in God; he merely lacked knowledge of God's ordinances and precepts, the taraid. which were granted him after the Revelation. The opinion of al-Kalbi and al-Suddi, who interpreted the words wa-wajadaka dalton; "and He found you erring" literally as denoting unbelief, kutr, "and God found you as an unbeliever" (scil, amongst the unbelieving people - K.) conflicts with the consensus of the community; it is inconceivable that such an accusation of shirk could be levelled against the Prophet 78 The same opinion appears in al-Mawardi's A'lam aJ-nubUWWa.79 The Prophet did not worship idols, and he distinguished himself by his noble character, his belief in the unity of God and his high moral qualities and ethical principles. Scholars disagreed as to which faith. religious law of God, shari'a the Prophet followed before he was granted the Revelation: the shari'a of Abraham, of Moses or of Jesus," 76 77 78 79 80 habiba [i ta'rikhihi 'ani bni 'abbiisin qiila: kana 'adniinu wa-mo'addun wa-rabi'atu wa-mudaru wa-khuzaymatu wa-asluhu (?) 'ala millati ibrahima 'alayhi l-saliimu la-Ia tadhkuriihum. ilia bi-khayrin ... Ibn Hazm, ai-Fisal [i l-milal wa-I-ahwa'i wa-l-nihai, Cairo, n.d.,IV, 55. Cairo 1327,repr. aI-Madina, IV, 48 seq. Ibid., p. SO. Beirut, n.d.,pp.221-221 And see about his purification from idolatry, ibid., p. 224, inf.; and see the discussion as to the nature of the shari'a followed by the Prophet before the Revelation: Mughultay, al-Zahr al-basim fol. llOa-llOb; and see the lengthy discussionof this subject al-Zurqani, Sharn al-mawahib; VII, 239-242 Kister: Sons of Khadija 77 Muslim scholars have tried to justify the attendance of the Prophet at certain ritual celebrations of the unbelievers in their places of worship. A tradition transmitted by 'Othman b. Am Shayba (d, 235 A.H.), and traced back to the Companion Jabir b. 'Abdallah, records such an event: the Prophet, says the report, used to visit the places of celebration of the unbelievers, kana rasidu llahi is) yashhadu mda l-mushrikina mashahidahum: Once he heard an angel behind him saying to another angel: "Let us go and stand behind the Prophet" The second angel answered: ''How can we stand behind him, when it was his desire to attend the stroking of the idols?' tkayt« naqiunu khaltahu wa-innama 'ahduhu bi-sttlam: l-asnami qablu). The Prophet indeed never again attended the ritual practices of the unbelievers," It is the usual method of the Muslim scholars to reject controversial traditions of this kind by censuring some of the transmitters as "weak," "unreliable" or "neglected," and by appropriate explication and interpretation of the tradition itself. In the case of the tradition mentioned above, the editor quotes the opinions of the orthodox scholars denouncing the transmitter 'Uthman b. Abi Shayba. As for the content, the scholars explain that the Prophet aimed by his attendance at the ritual practices of the unbelievers to reproach them for these practices. Such was also the approach of the authors of the compendia of haditn and the authors of the sira in their assessment of the tradition of al-Haytham b. 'Adiyy. The isnad given in Ibn Nasir al-Din's Jami' aI-athilr ending with 'Urwa is extended in Ibn Kathir's al-Bidaya V, 307 to the first transmitter, Sa'id b. al-Musayyib (d. 94 A.H.), who transmitted traditions and utterances of the Prophet and of the companions of the Prophet and reported about their lives and their political activities," Al-Haytham's tradition about the sons of the Prophet allegedly named 'Abd al-Tlzza and 'Abd Manaf is completely rejected by the orthodox scholars of Islam. He is described as a liar, and the traditions 81 Abu Ya'la, Musnad, ed. Husayn Salim Asad, Beirut, 1404/1984, n, 398, no. 1877; and see this tradition: Niir al-Dln al-Haythaml, Majmd al-zawllid, vm, 226. 82 See e.g. Ibn Hajar al-'AsqaIani, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, Hyderabad 1325, IV, 84, no. 145. 78 Kister: Sons of Khadija transmitted by him are described as reprehensible," It is impossible, says a comment on the tradition of the pagan names of the two children, that a deed of this kind could have been done by the Prophet," Al-Zurqani records the opinions of the scholars of haditb stating that none of the reliable transmitters (thiqiu) related the tradition of al-Haytham on the authority of Hisham b. 'Urwa," The opinion of Qutb aI-Din al-Halabi as recorded in his al=Maurid al-iadhb is that nobody is permitted to say that the Prophet called his children by these two names. There is, however, a certain reservation in the words of Qutb al-Din; If this in fact happened (ie, if the two children were really named 'Abd al-Uzza and 'Abd Mana! - K), it might have been done by one of Khadija's relatives; the Prophet might then have changed them (i.e, into Muslim names - K.). Further, Qutb al-Din conjectures that if this happened, it was because the Prophet was assiduously engaged in the worship of God so that the information about the names did not reach him; in addition, the life span of the two children thus named was very short Finally, he surmises that some of the Satans invented it in order to instill confusion in the hearts of the people of feeble faith..86 It was indeed a harmonizing solution to affirm the report that the two sons of the Prophet were named 'Abd al-'Uzza and 'Abd Manaf, and that these names were changed by the Prophet into al- Tahir and al- Tayyib," The full version of Haytham b. 'Adiyy's tradition contains an additional passage which reveals the essential differences of opinion and attitude between two centres of hadith: the Iraqi and the Medinan. The full version is recorded in Ibn Nasir al-Din's Jami' ai-athiu, in Ibn Kathir's al=Bidaya, in Zurqani's Sharb al-mawahib and in Ibn 83 See e.g. al-Dhahabi, Miziin al-itidiil, N, 324, no. 9311 84 Ibn Hajar, Lisan al-mizan; VI, 210 sup.; and see Ibn Nasir aI-Din, Jiimi' a/.-athiir, foL 252a 85 Sharb al-mawahib, III, 193penult 86 Al-Zurqani, Sharb al-mawahib, III, 194, sup; al-'I$iimi, Simi a/.-nujilm a/.-'awiili, 1, 408. 87 Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; V, ?JJ7. Kister: Sons of Khadija 79 Hajar's Lisan al-mizan: But the tradition with full isnads is recorded in Abu l-Jahm al-'Ala b. Miisa's (d. 228 Ali) Juz'.ss Itis noteworthy that another MS. of this JUZ'89 was identified and perused by Suliman Bashear, who quoted this very tradition in his rook, Muqaddima ti l-tarikh aI-Qkhar.90 The passage contains a conversation between al-Haytham b. .Adiyy and Hisham b. 'Urwa concerning the tradition that Khadija bore the Prophet 'Abd al-Tlzza, 'Abd Manaf and al-Qasim, Al-Haytham questioned Hisham about the sons of the Prophet, al-Tayyib and ul-Tahir, and Hisham b. 'Urwa answered: "That is a lie which you, the people of Iraq, have invented; but our elders, ashyakhunll, said: 'Abd Ill-'Uzza, 'Abd Manaf and al-Qasim?" 'Urwa's answer clearly reflects the rift between the Medinan and Iraqi hadith scholars. The Medinan lind Syrian scholars accused the Iraqis of forging hadiths of sectarian inclinations, of spreading reports encouraging rebellions and inflating utterances and traditions." IV According to tradition, the children of Khadija died while she was still alive. She was consoled by the utterance of the Prophet that they were granted residence in Paradise. As to al-Qasim, who did not live to complete his suckling, the Prophet promised Khadija that he would be given a wet nurse in Paradise to complete his suckling," xx MS.Hebrew Univ~Ar. 8" 273, pp. 59-60. !l9 MS.Z8hiriyya, Majmil 83, fols. 2115. 90 Jerusalem 1984, p. 168, n. 60. 91 Abu 1-Jahm, J uz', P. 60. iya' l-'Umari, al-Najaf 1386/1967, p. 9-10: a p in the Year of the Elephant, forty years after, thirty years after or fifteen years before; and see the different dates recorded in Muhammad b. Siilim al-Himawi, Ta'rikh al-siilihi, MS. Br. Mus., Or. 6657, fol 13Oa; and see the various traditions: Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya; II, 262: ten years after the Year of the Elephant, twenty-three years after, thiny years after, forty years after and fifteen years before the Day of the Elephant (this tradition is marked as gharib, munkar and (ja'it); and see the various dates recorded in al-Bayjiiri's 82 Kister: Sons of Khadija Scholars of haditb and sira stress that the aim of the story of the miraculous salvation of Mecca was to herald the advent of the Prophet, and to emphasize the elevated position his people gained after humiliation during Abraha's expedition'?' Another crucial event mentioned in connection with the Prophet's birth was the Battle of Iabala. This battle was waged seventeen years before the birth of the Prophet; Islam began fifty-seven years after Iabala. Thus when 'Amir b. Tufayl, who was born on the Day of Jabala, came to visit the Prophet in the year of the Prophet's death he was eighty years old; the Prophet was then Hiuhiyatun 'ala mauiidi abi l-baraka: sayyidi ahmadi l-dardlr, Cairo 1294, pp, 44-45; aI-Sinjari, Manllil)u l-karam bi-akhbari maldeota wa-l-haram; MS. Leiden, Or. 7018, fol. 58a: born in the Year of the Elephant, or fifty days after the attack of the troops of the Elephant, or thirty years after the Year of the Elephant, or forty years after the Year of the Elephant Many traditions are recorded in Ibn N~ al-Din's Jami' al-iithiu, fols. 179b-180b:the Prophet was born in the Year of the Elephant, he received the Revelation forty years after the Elephant (The fight at - K.) 'Ukaz took place fifteen years after the Elephant and the Ka'ba was built twenty-five years after the Elephant; the Prophet was born thirty days after the Elephant, or fifty days, or fifty-five days, or two months and six days, or ten years; some say twenty years, some say twenty-three years, some say thirty years, some say that God sent the Prophet with his mission fifteen years after the Ka'ba was built, and thus there were seventy years between the Elephant and the mission (mab'aJh) of the Prophet; some say that he was born fifteen years before the Elephant, some say forty days or fifty days, some say thirty years before the Elephant, and finally, some say that there were ten years between the expedition of the Elephant and the mission, wa-bayna an buitha: See al-Bayhaqi, Dala'i/, I, 65: the Prophet was on the Day of 'Ukaz twenty years old; p. 67: the Ka'ba was built fifteen years after the Year of the Elephant and the Prophet received his revelation forty years after the Elephant According to another tradition, the Prophet received his mission fifteen years after the building of the Ka'ba, the mission of the Prophet, al-mab'ath; was seventy years after the Year of the Elephant; p. 68: the Prophet was born ten years after the Year of the Elephant 101 Al-Zurqanl, Sharb al-mawahib, I, 89: ... wa-qad kiinat h1uJhihi l-qissatu dallatan 'ala sharafi sayyidinii muhammadin wa-irhasan iahii ... wa-fzazan li-qaumihi ... ts) wa-tdsisan li-nubuwwaiihi Kister: Sons of Khadija 83 sixty-three years 01d102 The link between the date of the Prophet's birth and the Expedition of the Elephant is, however, denied by the Mu'tazila: God caused the miraculous event of Abraha's defeat for another prophet before Muhammad, such as Khalid h Sinful or Quss h sa'ida103 It is evident that the divergent and contradictory traditions give no clue as to the exact date of the Prophet's birth or of his marriage to Khadija, or the number of male children Khadija bore and their fate. Traditions about the death of Khadija link the time of the event with the time of the hijra of the Prophet to Medina She is said to have died three years before the hijra.104 Some sources record 102 Jarlr and Farazdaq, Naqlli4, ed. Bevan, pp. 230, 676, 790; and see Abu l-Baqa' Hibatullah, al-Manilqib al-mazyadiyya Ii akhbari i-mulUki l-asadiyya; MS. Br. Mus., Add 23296, foL 54b = ai-Manjjqib, ed. Siilil,1Miisii Dariidika and Muhammad 'Abd al-Qadir Khuraysat, 'Amman 1984, I, 191 ult.-I92, 1. 1: ... wa-qila inna yauma jabala kana qabia i-isiami bi-thiJIOlhina'iiman; wa-qila bi-arbdina ... ; and cf. al-Baladhuri, Ansah al-ashral, MS. Ashir Ef1 fol. 960a: ... wa-kanat [abalatu qabla maulidi i-nabiyy bi-sab'a 'ashrata sanatan; and see the detailed analysis of the Jabala tradition: Mughultay, al-Zahr al-basim, MS. Leiden, Or. 370, foL 130h 103 Al-Tabarsi, Majma' al-bayan [i tafsiri i-qur'an, XXx, 239: ... wa-kana hadha min a'?ami l-mujiziui i-qahirat wa-i-ayati i-bahirat [i dhiilika l-zamiin azharahu liahu ta'ala li-yadulla 'ala wujUbi mdrifauhi wa-lihi irhasun li-nubuwwaii nabiyyinii $alia llllhu 'alayhi wa-saliam li-annahu wulida [i dhalika i-'am; wa-qala qaumun mina i-mu'taziIaJiannahu klJna mu'jizatan li-nabiyyin mina i-anbiya'i [i dhalika i-zamiini wa-rubbama qalu huwa khiUidu bnu sinllnin . .. and see the cautiously formulated comment of 'AM al-Jabbar in his Mutashilbih al-qur'iin, ed. 'Adniin MuI,1ammad Zarziir, Cairo 1969, IL 700:.... [a-amma qauluhu ta'ala tarmihim bi-l)ijaratin min sijjil [a-innahu 'indanii ia budda min an yakiina dhalika mu'jizan li-ba'di i-anbiya'i [i dhiUika l-waqti li-anna [ihi 1UUJ.da 'adatin wa-dhalika ia yaiiau ilia Ii azmiini i-anbiya'i. 104 See e.g. al-Qayrawiini, Kitah al-jlunl, p. 131;Ibn Hazm, Jawlunl al-sira; p.31; Niir al-Din al-Haythami, Majma' al-zawa'id, IX, 219, ult, And see ibid an additional detail: she died in the seventh year of the Prophet's mission;and see al-'Isami, Simi al-nujiim; I, 367: she died three years before the hijra. Additional details: she lived with the Prophet for twenty-four years, five months and eight days, fifteen years of which preceded the Revelation; al-Mutahhar b. Tahir al-Maqdisi, Kitah al-bad' wo-i-tarikh; V, 11:she died 84 Kister: Sons of Khadija divergent and conflicting data about the death of Khadija. The traditions that she died three years before the hijra are contradicted by a tradition that she died two years before the hijra and by another that she died five years before the hijra.IOS Ibn Qutayba'P" provides us with two different details: she died three days after the death of Abu Talib, and the Prophet went out to al- Ta'if accompanied by Zayd b. Haritha three months after her death. Al-Zurqani records different traditions about the date of Khadija's death:"? she died three, four, five or six years before the hijra. She died in the same year in which Abu Talib died. Further, Zurqani stresses that some of the details concerning Khadija's age at her death are not congruent with the data about the age of the Prophet when he married her.IOS Al-Hakim, who records the tradition saying that she died three years before the hijra; mentions nevertheless another tradition which holds that she died one year before the hijra. Noteworthy is the comment of al-Hakim concerning the tradition that she died at the age of sixty-five: according to him, this is an odd tradition; in his opinion she did not reach the age of sixty.109 The two comments as to the incompatibility of the contradictory, divergent and equivocal traditions indicate that these 105 106 107 I~ 109 three years before the hijra: Two additional details are provided: she died after the Banii Hashim left the shib, three days after the death of Abii Talib, AI-SaI.il:Ii, ubuJ ol-hudii; II, 571 Additional details are given: she died on the S tenth of Ramadan, The date coincides with the tenth year of the mission of the Prophet, after the Banii Hashim left the shi'b; Ibn 'Asakir, T'a'rikh Dimashq (tahdhlb) I, 303 has a similar report He records, however, an additional detail: her death occurred two years after the Banii Hashim had left the shi'b; al-Maqrizi, [mtTl al-asmd, I, 29 records that she died three years before the hijra; and mentions that her death occurred eight months and twenty-one days after the Banii Hashim had left the shib. Ai-Ma'1JTif, p. 151 Shml;z ai-mawahib, III, 2Zfr-227. Shark ol-mawahib. III, 227: ... amma 'ala anna sinnahu il;zda wa-tishrkna au thaJ.lIJhUna fa-Ia yatr/atta in qllla inna mautahiJ sanaia 'ashrin mina l-bdthaii: Al-Hakim, ai-Mustadrak, III, 182:... 'an hishami bni 'urwata qala: tuwuifiya: khadi jatu bint u khuwaylidin wa-hiya bnatu khamsin wa-sittina sanatan; hlzdhlz qaulun shadhdhun, [a-inna lladhi 'indi annahii lam tablugh siuina sanoian: Kister: Sons of Khadija 85 stories have to be reassessed against the background of the possible activities of the Prophet and his position during the initial period of his marriage in Mecca. It is plausible that during the first years of his marriage the Prophet devoted himself to his commercial business and the management of his household. Tradition explicitly says that he started to practice tahannuih after the birth of some of his daughters, and that all his daughters were born before the Call and the Revelation. It was only during the second period of his stay in Mecca that Muhammad was granted prophethood and became conscious of his mission. During that period, when he was faced with opposition and stubborn resistance, Khadija became his devoted adherent and intrepid supporter. It is possible that the Prophet married her when he was twenty-five years old, loving her passionately.'" In all probability, Khadija was not forty years old, and could still have borne him four daughters and one or two sons. The tradition that she was twenty-eight years old when she married the Prophet seems to be the sound one. If this is the case, and if we further accept as sound the tradition that she lived with him for twenty-four years, then she must have died at the age of fifty-two; the Prophet was then forty-nine years old. The early tradition that Khadija bore the Prophet only one male child, al-Qasim, seems to be trustworthy; the infant died after a short time. It is possible that Khadija bore him another male child, 'Abdallah, but it is not likely that she bore him other male children, as reported in later equivocal and dubious traditions/" v The death of one or two sons of the Prophet is reflected in several traditions, and is echoed in the commentaries of the Qur'an, According to tradition, the first of the children of the Prophet who died was al-Qasim; afterwards 'Abdallah died. Then al-'A~ no ill (0$1. al-hamdu li-lliihi lladhi at'amani l-khamir wa-zawwajani khadijaia wa-kuniu lahiJ 'iishiqan: See e.g. al-I;Iakim, ai-Mustadrak., III, 182, inf; ... 'ani l-zuhri: qala rasUlu llllhi wa-albasani l-harir See the examination of the traditions about the children of the Prophet: A Sprenger. Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad. Berlin 1869, I, 188-206; W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad oJ Mecca, Oxford 1953, pp. 58-59. 86 Kister: Sons of Khadija b. Wa'il called the Prophet al-abtar. God responded in the siirat a/-kauthar, the "Sura of Abundance," in which he revealed the verse: inna shimi'aka huwa t-amar, "surely he who hates thee is the one cut off.'~12The widely diffused tradition saying that al-'~ b. Wa'il called the Prophet al-abtar after the death of 'Abdallah, or al-Qasim or 'Abdallah and al-Qasim is contradicted by a version of the tradition traced back to Ibn 'Abbas, which holds that after the birth of 'Abdallah, there was a period during which Khadija ceased bearing children. AI-'~ b. Wa'il then called the Prophet al-abtar, because people used to call a man whose wife ceased bearing children a/-abtar. Khadija afterwards bore him al-Qasim and his other childreu'" In all 112 Ibn al-Jauzi, al-Wafa bi-aqwaJi i-n-wstafa..p. 655. And see: Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, VII, 389; al-Suyiitl, al-Durr al-mamhia, VI, 404; al-Shaukanl, FaJn al-qadir, Cairo, repro Beirut, n.d., V, 503; 'AIxI al-Razzaq, Tafsir, MS. Dar al-kutub, Tafsir 242, fol. 301a; Yabya b. Salam al-Taymi, Tafsir, Mukhtasar Ibn Zamanin MS. Fas, Qar. 34, p. 399121; al-Kazariini, al-Sira; MS. Br. Mus.,Add 18499,fol. 83a; al-Tabari, Jaml al-bayan fi tafsiri l-qur'an (= Tafsir), Biilaq 1329,XXx, 212;Ibn IsI)aq,al-Siyar wa-l-maghazi, pp. 245, 271; al-'As b. wsu called him al=abt ar after the death of al-Qasim, and then the siira: al-kauthar was revealed; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiu, I, 133; al-Nuwayri, Nlhaya: at-arab. XVIII, ~ Abii Hayyan al-Jayyani, Tafsir al-bahr al-rrwJ;it,Cairo 1328, VIII, 520; Ibn 'Asakir, Ta'rikk Dimashq (tahdhib), I, 293; Ibn Nasir al-Din, Jiimi' al-athiir, fol. 251a: the man who named the Prophet al-abtar after the death of al-Qasim was 'Amr b. al-'As, but other reports say that the man who insulted the Prophet was al-'As b. Wa'il; Muqatil, Taf sir, MS. Ahmet III, 74-2, foL 254a; Al-Wiibidi, Asbab al-nuziU, Cairo 1388/1968, pp, 306 inf.-307; al-Khazin, Lubab al-tawil [i ma'iini i-tanzii (= Tafsir); 1381, VII, 253; al-Baghawi, Ma'aJim al-tanzil (= Tafsir), on margin of al-Khazin, Tafsir, VII, 253; al-Fakhr al-Razi, al-Tafsir al-kabir, XXXII, 132:After the death of 'Abdallah, the son of the Prophet, al-'As b. Wa'il offended the Prophet, calling him al-abtar. the man who had become cut off, devoid of male progeny; and see al-Qurtubi, Tafsir, XX, 222; and see al-Katakanl, al-Burhan [i tafsiri l-qur'iin; ed. Mahmiid b. Ja'far al-Zarandi, Qumm 1394, IV, 515: at-shant' refers to 'Amr b. al-'As. And see about the slirat al-katuhar Harris Birkeland, The Lord Guideth; Studies on Primitive Islam; Oslo 1956,pp. 56-99. ll3 Al-Mu'afa b. Zakariyya al-Nahrawani l-Jarirl, al-Jallsu i-SaJi/J al-kafi wa-l-anisu i-nlI.$ihui-shafi, MS. Topkapi Saray, ill Ahmet, No. 2321.foL 217a; Ibn 'Aslikir, Tdrikk Dimashq; I, 294; al-Suyutl, al-Durr al-manthUr,VI, 404. Kister: Sons of Khadija 87 these traditions the enemy of the Prophet who is said to have insulted him was al-'~ h Wa'il There are, however, other traditions in which the word ai-shimi' is attributed to other persons. According to a report recorded by al-Fakhr al-Razi, the person who insulted the Prophet out of hatred after the death of the Prophet's son was Abu Jahl114 Other traditions say that the person who insulted the Prophet after the death of his son was Abu Lahah'" A conciliatory explanation is given by al-Halabi in his Sirct16 al-'~ and Abu Lahab were both named aJ-abtar because their sons had embraced Islam and they had become cut off from them; they are not considered to be "the children of Abu Lahab and al-'As," and are not permitted to receive the inheritance of their fathers. Several traditions do not link the verses of the sura with the death of the children of the Prophet,"? There are some other traditions saying that the verse inna shani'aka huwa l-abtar refers to the unbelievers who insulted the Prophet by calling him ai-abtar, thus referring to their assumption that he would not find adherents and helpers and would be cut off. This was denied by the sura, which assured him that God and Jibril would give him succour and help.118 According to a tradition recorded in Ibn 114 Al-Fakhr al-Razi, al-Tajsir al-kabir, XXXII, 133, 1ll-3; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, VII. 390; and see al-Shaukani, Fatl) ai-qadir, V, 501 115 Ibn Kathir, Taisir, VII, 390. ll; and see al-Fakhr al-Razi, al-Tafsir aI-kabir. XXXII, 133 sup; Abii Lahab called the Prophet ol-abtar after the prediction about Abii Lahab's doom and perdition was declared in Siira CXI: tabbat yadii abi lahabin wa-tobba; and see the article by Uri Rubin, "Abu Lahab and siira ocr; BSOAS XLII (1979).13-28. 116 Al-Sira aI-l)alabiyya, m. 346. 117 See e.g. al-Fakhr al-Razi, ai-Tafsir aI-kabir. XXXII, 132 inf; Quraysh invited Ka'b b. al-Ashraf as arbiter and recounted the virtues by which they surpassed Muhammad; Ka'b confirmed their superiority in relation to Muhammad, a. al-Shaukanl, Fatl) al-qadlr, V. 504; al-Tabari, Tafsir, Xxx, 213; al-Khiizin, Tatsir, VII, 253; al-Baghawi, Tatsir, VII, 251 And see al-Fakhr al-Razi, ibid, for another tradition recorded on the authority of 'Ikrima and Shahr b. Haushab; the Prophet summoned Quraysh to embrace Islam; they refused, arguing that he had disobeyed his people and had become cut off from them 118 Al-Fakhr al-Razi, aI-Tatsir al-kobir, xxxn. 131 88 Kister: Sons of Khadija Kathir.'" al-Fakhr al-Razi,120 al-Tabaril" al-Jawr22 and al-Suyiiti,123 the word shimi' refers to 'Uqba b, Abi Mu'ayt, An odd tradition links the verse inna shani'aka huwa /-abtar with the person of Abu Jahl, but does not connect it with the death of the children of the Prophet Abu Jahl hated the Prophet and spoke about him with scorn. One day he asked his guests to accompany him to Muhammad's abode. When they reached the house of the Prophet, Abu Jahl summoned him to a wrestling contest which he hoped would expose the weakness of the Prophet The Prophet, however, succeeded in flinging Abu Jahl down and putting his leg on Abu JahI's chest.124 The story of the Prophet's wrestling with an adversary and defeating him is not unique; in the case of Rukana, the Prophet wrestled with him and flung him down to the ground, and Rukana became convinced of the prophethood of Muhammad and embraced 1slam12S It is evident that all these traditions refer to the Meccan period in the life of the Prophet, and it is thus plausible that the siirat ai-kauihar was regarded as Meccan There are, however, traditions which speak of this siira being revealed under quite different circumstances. A report recorded by al- Tabarani on the authority of Abu Ayyiib says that after the death of Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet, the unbelievers told each other joyously that the Prophet had become an abtar. The sisrat al-kauthar constituted a denial of this false claim.126 A tradition traced back to al-Suddi reports that when al-Qasim and 'Abdallah died in Mecca and Ibrahim in Medina, the unbelievers Ai-Tafsir aJ-kabir, xxxn m Tafsir, xxx, zn Marah labid, Cairo, n.d., II, 468. Ai-Durr aJ-manlhUr, VI, 404. AI-Fakhr a1-Razi, Tafsir, XXXII, 133; a1-Jiiwi,MarlJh labid, II, 468. A1-Fakhr remarks that the connection of the word shani' with Abu Jahl and the wrestling event is based on stories circulated by the qrL$oYll$. 125 See e.g. Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba; II, 497, no. 2691; and see the story of Rukfula in a1-Fiikihi, Tdrikk makka; MS. Leiden, Or. 463, fo1474b. 126 A1-Silaukiini,Fath aJ-qadir, Y, 504; a1-Suyiiti,aJ-Durr aJ-manlhUr, VI 403 info 120 121 122 123 124 119 Tafsir, VII, 389. Kister: Sons of Khadija 89 in Mecca said that the Prophet had become an abtar, a man bereft of progeny. The siaa: al-kauthar was a denial of this claim; in fact, the progeny of the unbelievers were cut off, while the progeny of the Prophet increased and grew abundantly,"? The "pseudo-historical background" of the tradition seems to indicate that after the death of Ibrahim in Medina (in the year 10 All.) there were quite strong groups of Qurashi opponents who expected the power of the nascent Islamic community in Medina to be shattered. But some traditions linking the revelation of siir at al-kauthar with the death of one or more sons of the Prophet are clearly anachronistic. To this group belongs the tradition reported on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas saying that when Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet, died, Abii Jahl joyously told his companions that Muhammad had been cut off from his progeny, butira muhammadun: Then God revealed the sisrat al-kautharli" The legendary character of this tradition is evident Abii Jahl was killed in the Battle of Badr in 2 AH., while Ibrahim died in the year 10 AR It is no wonder that the scholars of the Qur'an held different views as to whether the siira was revealed in Mecca or in Medina..129 A peculiar tradition, obviously Shi'i, on the authority of al-Hasan b. 'Ali, gives a significant background for the shani' verse of the siinu al-kauihar: the Prophet saw in a dream the Banii Umayya successively ascending his minbar; he was grieved by this vision, and then God revealed the siaa: al-kauthar. The word shimi' thus refers to the Banii Umayya. Al-Fakhr al-Razi remarks that the rule (mulk) of the Banii Umayya had indeed vanished and they had become cut off.l30 127 AI-Fakhr al-Razi, Taisir, XXXII, 133; cf. al-Qurtubl, Tajsir, xx, 222-223; and see the comments in al-Fadl b. al-Hasan al-Tabarsi's Jawami< aI-jarni' ti taisiri l-qur'ani I-majid, Tabriz 1379, pp. 553-554. 128 Abu H3yy8n. aI-Bahr aI-mu/.lit,VIII, 520; al-Shaukani, Fath d-qadir, V, 503; al-Qurtubi, Tafsir, xx. 222 129 See e.g. Abu Hayyan, al-Bahr al-muhit; VIII, 519: hadhihi I-suratu makkiyyatun [i l-mashhuri; wa-qaulu I-jumhuri madaniyyatun [i qauli l-hasani wa-Tkrtmata wa-qasadata; and see T. Noldeke-F. Schwally, GeschichJedes Qorlms, Hildesheim 1961. I, 92. 130 Al-Fakhr al-Razi, Tofsir, XXXII, 134 sup. 90 Kister: Sons of Khadija The conflicting views of the Muslim scholars as to whether the sura: ai-kaiahar is Meccan or Medinan are revealed in a remarkable discussion of a tradition about a nap the Prophet took, reported on the authority of Anas b. Malik. The Prophet is said to have taken a nap. Then he lifted his head and smiled. When asked about the reason for his smile he told the attending people that he had earlier (1m.ifan)been granted a sura; he then recited the siira: at-kauiharl" The pivotal issue in the discussion is whether the vision the Prophet had during his nap in Medina was merely a recollection of the Meccan sura, or a new revelation. or a vision of a sura, which would be endorsed by a revelation. The serious topic which had to be considered was whether a revelation of a sura could be granted during a nap. Some scholars were of the opinion that prophets could be granted revelation in dreams, while others denied it It was probably a conciliatory opinion put forward by some scholars who maintained that the verse inna shani'aka huwa I-abtar had been revealed in Mecca. while the two other verses had been revealed in Medina. This presumption was, however, contradicted by reports in which the sisrtu aJ-kauthar was included among those suras which came down as complete, undivided units revealed at once (dar atan wahidatan). To these sil.ros belong the fiuiha; the sUrat a/-ikhlas and the siaa: al-kaiahar." The sura: al-kauthar probably reflects the Prophet's grief after the death of his child and the mocking of his enemies in Mecca who called him al-abtar, but the reports of the transmitters referring to some historical events cannot be considered reliable and trustworthy. It is noteworthy that there was some aversion to recording chronological data relating to age. Malik b. Anas is said to have been reluctant to reveal a person's age: laysa min muruwwati I-rajuli an yukhbira bi-sinnihi.133 Al-Zurqani explains that the dates of the Prophet's children's deaths and their ages at the time are unknown due to the lack of Falh al-qadir, Y, 503; Ibn Kathir, Taf sir, YIL 384; aI-Suyii~i,aJ-Durr aJ-manthUr, VI, 401 132 Al-l;IaIabi, al-Sira aJ-haIabiyya, III, 346. 133 Ibn al-'Arabi, Ahkiim al-qur'iin; ed. 'Ali Muhammad al-Bijiwt, Cairo 1388/1968, N, 1968. 131 See e.g. al-Shaukani, Kister: Sons of Khadija 91 historical interest in that period: ... lam tulam muddatu hayatlhi li-qillati l-ttindt bi-l-ta'rikhi idhdhilka.134 The male children of the Prophet borne by Khadija died as infants; some traditions say that they died as sucklings. Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet borne him by the slave girl Mariya, died as a small child of sixteen or eighteen months. The Prophet, afflicted by this distress, gave vent to his feelings, weeping and bewailing the beloved son. A significant utterance of the Prophet emphasized the high status of the deceased child: "Had he survived he would have been a siddiq and a prophet'[" It was indeed a fatal calamity which the Prophet had to acceptl36 However, by God's grace the Prophet was compensated for his suffering and distress at the loss of his male progeny. He is said to have asked God to grant him children of the highest quality, and God responded and granted him female children. The Prophet further proudly stated in his utterance that anyone wanting to see the ''Father of Daughters" should see the Prophet, as he is the Father of Daughters. Miisa, Shu'ayb and Lut were also ''Fathers of Daughters'P? Another tradition of this kind is reported on the authority of Abu Hurayra and 'Uqba b. 'Amir: ... la takrahis l-banaii fa-inni aha I-banati wa-innahunna I-ghizlibiltu I-mu'nisiltu I-mujhiriltupa 134 Al-Zurqiini, Shorb,ol-mawahib, III, 193,112 135 See e.g. al-Suyiiti, al-Hiiwi li-I-falawi, ed. Muhammad Mubyi l-Din 'Abd al-Hamid, Cairo 1378/1959, II, 187-190;and see the detailed study of the different versions of this tradition in Y. Friedmann's "Finality of Prophethood in Sunni IsIam,"JSAl 7 (1986),187-191 136 Ibn Hajar, ai-I saba, I, 175:... inna l-'ayna tadmau wo-l-qalba yahzanu wa-llI naqUluilia rna yurdi rabbaniJ... 137 Al-Daylami, Firdaus ol-akhbar, MS. Chester Beatty, no. '!JJJ7, fol 89b: Ibn Mas'iid: ... sa'oltu rabbi khayra l-waladi fa-alani rabbi khayra l-woladi [a-razaqani l-baniiti; fa-man kana yuridu an yara aba l-baniiti fa-anii abu l-baniiti wa-milrii abu l-baniiti wa-slulayb abUl-baniiti wa-liil abU l-baniiti. 138 AI-Daylami, Firdaus, MS. Chester Beatty, no. '!JJJ7, fol187a; and see a similar tradition in which, however, the expression abu l-baniit is not mentioned: Ibn 'Adiyy, al-Kiimil [i du'af1ii l-rijaIi. Beirut 1405/1985, I, 2281 and Niir aI-Din V aI-Haythami, Majmd ol-zaw1iid. 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Mus., Add '132fJ7. Ibn Kathir. ol-Bidiiya wa-i-nihilya, Beirut-al-Riyad Cambridge, Or. 911 Ibn Qutayba. al-Ma'iirif. ed. Tharwat 'Ukiisha., Cairo 1969. Ibn Sa'd, al-'(abaqiit al-/cubra, Beirut 1377/1958. Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, 'Uyiulu l-ahar fi funUni i-maghllzi wa-i-sliamliiJ Cairo 1356. al-Isfahani, aI-~i. wa-i-siyar, 1966. Ibn Nasir al-Din aI-Dimashqi. Jluru~ al-iithiir fi maulidi l-rasiili l-mukhiiir; MS. Simu: i-nujiuni l-'awiili [i anlxii l-aw1iiJ wa-i-tawiili. Cairo 1380. Abii Nu'aym. DaliiiJ al-nubuwwa, Hyderabad 13fJ7/19TI. Jarir wa-l-Farazdaq. Naq1ii4. ed. AA Bevan, Leiden 1905-12 al-Jawi, Muhammad Nawawi MarlllJ labid = al-Tafsir ol-munir li-mdiilimi i-tanzil, Cairo 1276, repro 94 al-Jawi, Muhammad Nawawi Kister: Sons of Khadija Targhibu l-mushJaqin li-bayfmJ manzumasi l-sayyid: l-barzanfi zayni l-'iibidin, Cairo, n.d. al-Jayyani, Abii Hayyan, Tafsiru l-bahri l-muhit, Cairo 1328. al-Kala'I, aJ-lktilll [i maghlui rasUJillahi wa-l-thalathati l-kJuJalll, ed. Mustafa 'Abd al-Wii1:rid, Cairo 138711968. al-Katakanl, aJ-BurhlJn [i tafsiri l-qur'iin, ed. Mal,uniid Ia'far al-Zarandi, Qumm 1394. al-Sira al-nabawiyya; MS. Br. Mus., Add 18499. al-Khafaji, Nasimu l-riy1J4 sharI) shillli l-q1J4i 'iy1J4, Cairo 1327. Khalifa b. Khayyat, Tdrikh; ed. Akram ])iya' al-'Umari, Najaf 1386. al-Khlizin Lubiibu Hdwil [i ma'ani l-tanzll, Cairo 1381 Lammens, R "L'Age de Mahomet et Ia Chronologie de Ia Sira," Journal Asiatique, XVII [19111 al-Majlisi. Bil;iu al-anwar, Tehran 1392 al-Maqdisi, al-Mutahhar b. Tahir. Kitiib aJ-bad'i wa-l-tarikh; ed. a Huart, Paris 1916. al-Maqrizl, lmlfl ol-asmd bi-rna li-l-rasidi mina l-anblIi wa-l-amwali wa-l-hafadati wa-l-matii.', ed. Mal,uniid Muhammad Shakir, Cairo 194L al-Marziiqi. oi-Azmina wa-l-amkina; Hyderabad 1332 al-Mawardi, A'lfJmu l-nubuwwa; Beirut, n.d. Mughultay, Talkhisu l-sira; MS. Shehid 'Ali, 1878. Mughultay, al-Zahru l-basim Ii sirat abi l-qasim; MS, Leiden, Or. 370. Muhammad b. Habib, al-Muhabbar, ed. lIse Lichtenstaedter, Hyderabad 136111942 Muhammad b. Habib, al-Munammaq, ed. Khurshid Ahmad Fliriq, Hyderabad 138411964. Muqatil b. Sulaymlin Talsir, MS. Ahmet III, 74-2 al-Nahrawani, Mu'lifa b. Zakariyya, aJ-JaJisu l-saii/:w l-kafi, MS. Topkapi Saray, Ahmet III, no. 232L T. Noeldeke-F. Schwally. Geschidue des Qorans, Hildesheim 196L al-Nuwayri, Nihaya: al-arab [i lunii.ni l-adab, Cairo 1964. al-Qayrawani 'Abdallah b. Abi Zayd Kitabu l-jarnl, ed. Muhammad Abii I-Ajflin wa-'Uthman Bittikh, Beirut-Tunis 1402/1982 al-Qurtubl, Tafsir = al-Iiuni Ii-ahkiimi l-quriin; Cairo 138711967. al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din, ai-Taisir al-kabir, Cairo 135711938. Rubin, U. "Abii Lahab and siira CXI," BSOAS XLll [19791 al-SIDil:Ji.Subulu l-hudii. wa-l-rashiJd fi sirati khayri l-'ibii.d, ed. Mustafa 'Abd al-WliI:lid, Cairo 139411974. al-Kazariini Kister: Sons of Khadija al-ShaukanL Fat/pll-qadir, aJ-jlunl bayna tQI//IIJyiI-riwaya wa-I-dirlJya min 'ilmi l-taisir, Cairo, n.d., repr. Beirut al-SinjarL ManitiJ)JlI-lcaram bi-akhblui moJcIuua wa+l)aram. MS. Leiden, Or. 7018Sprenger, A Vas Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad, Berlin 1869. al-Suhayli. ol-Raud aJ-unut, ed. 'Abd al-RaI:unin al-Wakil, Cairo 1387/1967. al-SuyiitL aJ-Durru l-manlhiIT [i l-tafsir bi-l-ma'lhilT, Cairo 1314. al-SuyiitL aJ-lIllwi Ii-l-tatllwi, ed. Mubammad MuI;Iyi I-Din 'Abd al-l:Iamid, Cairo 1378Il959. al-Suyiiti. aJ-RaslJ'Uu I-li%, Beirut 1405/1985. al- Tabari, Mul)ibbu l-Dln, aJ-Si/nfu I-thamin fi maniJqib ummahOti I-mu'minin. Cairo 1402/1983. al-Tabarl, Mul;lamrnad b. Jarlr, Dhaylu l-mJldhayyaJ, Cairo l358/l939. al-Tabarl, Muhammad b. Jarir, ol-Tafsir = Jaml aJ-baylm fi tafsiri I-quran., BWaq 1329. al-Tabari, Mul;lamrnad b. Jarir, Tdrilchu I-rusu/ wa-I-mulUk, ed. Mubammad AbU I-Fa41 Ibrahim, Cairo 1969. al-Tabarsi, al-Fadl b. al-Hasan, Majma' aJ-baylm fi taisiri I-quran., Beirut 138O/196L al-Tabarsi, al-Fadl b. al-Hasan, Jawaml aJ-jlunl fi taisiri l-qurluJi l-maiid, Tabriz 1379. al-Taymi, Yal,Iyii b. SaIiim. Tafsir, mukhiasar Ibn Zamanin. MS. Fas, Qar. 34. Watt, W.M MuJ;ammad at Mecca, Oxford 1951 al-Zurqiini. aJ-Mawahib aJ-laduniyya, Cairo l325. 95 

sirah.pdf THE SIRAH LITERATURE Sirah literature (biography of the Prophet), inspired as it was by the imposing personality of the Prophet and bearing the marks of the stormy political events of the conquests, of the social changes in the Muslim community and of the struggle of the different factions, came into being in the period following the death of the Prophet. It developed in the first half of the first century of the hijrah, and by the end of that century the first full-length literary compilations were produced. The development of Sirah literature is closely linked with the transmission of the Hadith and should be viewed in connection with it. Most of the reports about utterances and orders of the Prophet were, during his lifetime, transmitted orally, and few of them seem to have been written down. Although some accounts about the recording of the utterances, deeds and orders dictated by the Prophet to his Companions are dubious and debatablel and should be examined with caution (and ultimately rejected), some of them seem to deserve trust. The pacts which the Prophet concluded with the different groupings in Medina after his arrival in that city were apparently written down so as to serve as the legal basis for their communal life. His letters to rulers, governors and chiefs of tribes are recorded in some of the compilations of the Sirah. The Sirah also contains accounts of pacts concluded between the Prophet and conquered tribes or localities and of grants bestowed upon tribal leaders. Information about tax-collectors appointed by the Prophet was conveyed to the tribal units to which they were dispatched. The news about the victories of the Prophet and his conquests were widely circulated in the vast areas of the Arabian Peninsula. All this material came to form an essential part of the Sirah. In addition to this, the affection of the Companions of the Prophet and 1 E.g., on the sahifah of' Ali, cf. Ahmad b. 1:1anbal,Musnad, II, nos 1306, 1307, 1297. The Prophet did not single out the' Alids by anything not granted to others; the only thing hy which they were singled out was the sahifah attached to the scabbard of' Ali's sword (or in other sources that of the Prophet or that of 'Umar). It contained some short utterances about taxes imposed on camels (or, according to some, sheep), about the sanctity of Medina, the obligation to give protection to the People of the Book, etc. 352 THE SIRAH LITERATURE 353 their loyalty, respect and awe for him, in contrast to the attitudes, customs and practices of other communities towards their rulers, leaders and chiefs, constituted a favourite topic of conversation at the gatherings of his Companions as well as of his enemies, and were embodied into the compilations of the STrah. The daily contacts of the Prophet with his family and relatives, his adherents and adversaries, formed the subject matter recorded by the transmitters. The STrah aimed at giving information about the men who aided the Prophet loyally and faithfully, about stubborn opponents and enemies who persecuted him and those who later fought him, about hypocrites who concealed unbelief and hatred in their souls and about Companions who suffered and fought for him. Consequently the STrah became a record of the life of contemporary society, reflecting as it did the mutual relations between tht> Prophet and this society. Every member of this society is therefore assessed as to his virtues, views and actions and is placed on a graded scale according to his rank as believer, fighter, adherent and supporter, or as enemy or hypocrite. It is thus plausible that, in the early compilations of the STrah, people eagerly compiled lists of the first men who embraced Islam, the first who suffered for the cause of Islam, the first who emigrated to Abyssinia, the first Medinans who gave the oath of allegiance, the men who opposed the Prophet in Mecca, etc. Later special treatises dedicated to such subjects, the awa'il, were compiled.2 The careful evaluation of the deeds and actions of the Companions of the Prophet gave rise to the compilation of biographies of the ~a4abah. Furthermore, certain passages in the Qur'an, pointing to some events in the life of the community, required explanation and elucidation. It was necessary to specify to what people or events certain expressions or phrases referred. For an interpretation to be reliable in the opinion of the Muslim community it had to be based on an utterance ascribed to the Prophet or to one of his Companions. These utterances, stories or reports expounded the background and the circumstances of the verses of the Qur'an, establishing to whom they referred and providing details of the event recorded. These groups of Traditions, forming an essential part of the Sirah, developed into an independent branch of Quranic exegesis, the asbab al-nuziil (" the reasons for the revelations "). The lengthy passages from the early Tafsir of al-KalbI recorded by Ibn Tawiis,3 the bulk of Traditions transmitted on this subject of the asbab al-nuziil by many scholars in their commentaries bear evidence to the richness of this material and its role in the interpretation of the Qur'an. On the other hand the Sirah compilations recorded verses of the Qur'an, providing corresponding 2 For the aw;li/literature, cf. Sezgin, GAS, I, 176, 196, l zz. 3 Sa'd, 20 9-20. 354 THE SiRAH LITERATURE material of the circumstances of the revelation. The development of Sirah literature thus ran on parallel lines with that of the Tafsir, intertwining and overlapping, corroborating and sometimes contradicting it. EARLY COMPILATIONS A subject of considerable importance in the formation of Sirah literature, comprehensively dealt with also in some commentaries on the Qur'an, was the stock of stories about the creation of the world, as well as about the messengers and prophets mentioned in the Qur'an, who were sent by God to different peoples. These stories were extended and supplemented by additional material derived from Jewish, Christian and Zoroastrian sources, transmitted by converts from these religions to Islam. It is evident that these" biblical stories" had to get the approval of the orthodox circles. This could only be achieved, as is usual in Islam, by an utterance transmitted on the authority of the Prophet. The utterance used in this case (" Narrate [traditions] concerning the Children of Israel and there is nothing objectionable [in that]") legitimized the flood of the "biblical" legends and stories which poured into the domain of Islam. The first compilation of this kind seems to have been the book of Hamrnad b. Salamah (d. 167/783), a contemporary of Ibn Ishaq, entitled Akhbtir Bani Isrii'il. The process of elaborating and enlarging upon the stories of the Qur'an widened the scope of the Muslim conception of history. The biography of Muhammad and the formation of his community were decreed by God before the creation of Adam. Muhammad was destined to be a prophet long before the creation of Adam. Were it not for Muhammad, God would not have created Adam. Nine thousand years before things were created, says a Tradition, God created the Light of Muhammad, This Light turned around the Power (qudrah) and praised Him. From this Light God created a jewel; from this jewel He created sweet water and granted it His blessing. For a thousand years the water raged and could not come to rest. Then, from this Light God created ten things: the Throne, the Pen, the Tablet, the Moon, the Sun, the Stars, the Angels, the Light of the Believers, the Chair and Muhammad, The Light of Muhammad, which resided in the pure ancestors of the Prophet, was transmitted in the line of descendants until it reached the Prophet. God granted Adam the ku,!)ah (honorific name) Abu Muhammad, The name of Muhammad is written on the Throne of God; Adam saw this inscription when he was created. When he committed his sin, he begged God to forgive him by referring to the name of Muhammad, EARLY COMPILATIONS 355 The contact between the Muslim conquerors and the population of the conquered territories, bearers of ancient cultural and religious traditions with a rich lore of prophetical beliefs and stories, brought about the appearance of literature concerning the miracles of the Prophet. Stories about miracles, either performed by the Prophet himself or wrought for him by God, were widely current and were later collected; compilations of stories about his miracles were Amarii! al-nubuwwah, A'Iam al-nubuwwah, Dala'il al-nubuwwah. The miraculous power granted the Prophet by God, and his extraordinary feats, are often compared in these books with the miracles performed by the preceding prophets.! Tradition emphasizes that the Prophet was superior to other prophets in the graces granted to him and the miracles performed by him. God enjoined the prophets to tell their peoples of the appearance of Muhammad and to bid them embrace his faith. The assumption that this genre of the dala'il grew up under the impact of the contact with other faiths is confirmed by the account of a letter sent by Hartin al-Rashld to the Byzantine emperor in which he recorded the "proofs of the prophethood" (a'Iam al-nubuwwah) of Muhammad. The letter was compiled by Abii 'l-Rabi' Muhammad b. al-Layth al-Qurashi after a detailed perusal of the" books of the foreigners". 5 Al-Ma'miin, the son of Harun, is credited with a book entitled A'Iam al-nubuwwah; this seems to be the earliest compilation on this subject. It was followed by a treatise of al-j ahiz (d. 256/870), entitled Dala'il al-nubuwwah,6 and by al-j uzajani's (d. 259/873) Amaral al-nubuwwah. Later Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889) compiled his A'Iam al-nubuwwah. Books of dala"'il al-nubuwwah were compiled in the same period by Ibn Abi 'l-Dunya (d. 281/894) and Ibrahim al-Harbl, Other dala"'il books were compiled by al-Firyabi (d. 301/914), Ibrahim b. Harnmad b. Isbaq (d. 323/935), Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Naqqash (d. 351/962), Abii 'l-Shaykh al-Isfahanl (d. 369/979), Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Shashi (d. 365/975) and Abii Hafs 'Umar b. Shahin (d. 386/996). A comprehensive book of dala"'iI, entitled Sharaf al-Mu~(afa, was compiled by 'Abd ai-Malik b. Muhammad al-Khargiishi (d. 407/1016). The" proofs of prophethood " form a considerable part of this compilation; however, it contains extremely rich material about the life of the Prophet. The author touches upon the pedigree of the Prophet, his virtues, his battles, his proverbs, his dreams, virtues of his family, virtues of Medina and of the Mosque of the Prophet, virtues of his Companions, virtues of Mecca and stories foretelling the appearance of the Prophet. AlKhargushi's book was widely circulated and it is often quoted by both • See e.g. al-Mawardl, A'liim, 68-70. 5 'Abd al-Jabbiir, Tathbit, I, 77-8. • Cf. al-Sandiibi, Rasa~iI, 1'7-14; Ift9aj al-nlihli/ll/llah. THE SiRAH LITERATURE Sunni and Shl'i authors. The famous Mu'tazili scholar 'Abd al-jabbar al-Hamadhani (d. 415/1024) discusses in his Tathbit dala'il al-nubuwwah the miracles of the Prophet against a wide background of historical situation, having recourse to comparisons with other religions and entering into polemics with the unorthodox sects of Islam. The compilations of the first half of the fifth century, the Dala'il of Abu Bakr Ahmad al-Bayhaql (d. 458/1066) and the Dala'il of Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani (d. 430/1038), became very popular. Another book of dald'i! was written in the same period by Abu Dharr al-Harawi (d. 435/1043). Often quoted in later compilations of the Sirah literature is the compilation of the great scholar al-Mawardi (d. 450/1058), A'lam al-nubuwwah. In the same period, the Dala"'il of al-Mustaghfiri (d. 432/1040) was compiled. Among the many compilations of this genre the famous book of Qadl 'I ya<;l. al-Yahsubl (d. 544/ 1149), al-Shifa"' fi ta'rif I;uqiiq al-Mu{tafa, deserves special mention; it became one of the most popular and most admired books in some Muslim countries. The glorification of the person of the Prophet, as expounded in these compilations of the" proofs of prophethood ", was indeed a continuation of a very early trend which, as mentioned above, began shortly after the death of the Prophet. The miracles wrought by the Prophet, or for him, form an essential part of the Sirah of Ibn Ishaq ; in the Jami' of Ma'mar b. Rashid, a special chapter is devoted to this subject. Miraculous elements were included in the Sirah of Miisa b. 'Uqbah? and in the Sirah traditions reported by al-Zuhri.8 The earliest Sirah compilation, the Sirah of Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/728 or 114/732), contains an unusual amount of miraculous stories as attested by the fragments of the papyri." Flick was right in his conjecture, made before he read the fragments of the papyri, that the Sirah of Wahb was a work in which truth and legend about the life of the Prophet were interwoven, turning it into an entertaining story. 10 Indeed, the fragments of the papyri of Wahb contain the same kind of miraculous elements as can be found in later compilations. The role of the Devil in the council of the Meccans, convened to get rid of Muhammad, corresponds to what we have in later biographies of the Prophet. The setting of the story of the hijrah in the papyrus is similar to the accounts in later compilations: it contains, for instance, the miraculous story of Umm Ma'bad, recorded, with few variants, in almost every later Sirah; the story of Suraqah ; the story of the dove and the spider at the entrance of the cave and the dust thrown at the heads of the watching Qurashi guard , Cf. e.g. Sachau, "Berliner Fragment", 469 (the story of Suraqah}; 470 (the Prophet sees in his dream Jesus performing the circumambulation of the Ka'bah). 8 Duri, "al-Zuhri", the story of Suraqah. • Khoury, Wahb b. Mllnabbih, 1I8-7j. 10 Fuck, Mllqammad, 4. EARLY COMPILATIONS 357 besieging the house. All these stories are essential elements of the later biographies. Some passages of the papyrus of Wahb cannot, however, be traced in later compilations; they were apparently discarded. Such are the cases of al-Tufayl b. al-Harith's letter to Ja'far b. Abl Talib in Abyssinia and the story of Abu Bakr's meeting with the Devil; neither could be traced in other stories. A part of the papyrus contains a record of an expedition of 'All against Khath'am. This story fully attests the impact of the Shl'l trend on the development of early Sirah literature. A number of scholars have analysed with insight the various stages of the early compilations. The fragments of Wahb's Sirah corroborate the conjectures of these scholars about the popular and entertaining character of the early Sirah stories, a blend of miraculous narratives, edifying anecdotes and records of battles in which sometimes ideological and political tendencies can be discerned. These stories were widely circulated among the believers; pious men used to narrate the Sirah in mosques and to discuss the maghazi at their meetings. It was considered less binding as a duty to narrate the maghazi than to transmit utterances of the Prophet. Scholars refrained from recording Hadith utterances transmitted by unreliable scholars while they did not hesitate to relate maghazi material on their authority. It was only later, in the first half of the second century, that Haditb scholars reacted strongly against the popular Sirah literature and made attempts to discard dubious folk-stories by applying strict rules of Hadith criticism. They did not, however, succeed; the Sirah literature absorbed these narratives and they continued to be transmitted there. The fragment of Wahb's papyrus reflects the very early stage of the formation of the legendary type of Sirah; the Sirah of Ibn ISQaq is in fact a selective collection of this material. Late compilations such as al-Sirah al-If.alabryyah, al-Sirah al-Shamryyah, al-Zurqanl's Shar4 al-Mawahib and Mughultay's al-Zahr al-bdsim contain references to early popular Traditions not incorporated in the generally approved Sirah compilations. POETRY IN THE SiRAH A characteristic feature of early Sirah literature is the numerous poetical insertions.P The heroes of the stories narrated often improvise verses referring to the events recorded; in these poetical passages opponents blame others in verse, fighters expound their virtues and extol the virtues of their clans or their leaders, poets or relatives bewail the warriors killed in battle. These poetical compositions are generally of rather poor quality. The poetical passages attached to the maghazi stories closely resemble the 11 Cf. below cap. 18, "The poetry of the Siroh literature". THE SIRAH LITERATURE poetry of the ~yam (days of battle). A part of this poetry is false, and some of these forgeries were convincingly shown to be so by 'Arafat;12 a certain portion seems, however, to be authentic. But even the fake poems, reflecting as they do the internal struggles in the Muslim community, are of some importance: the historical allusions in .these verses may help to gain an insight into the event referred to; the activity of the forgers had its inception in the first decades of the first century, and the forgers were closely acquainted with the details of the event. Of interest are popular verses in the Sirah literature. Some are attributed to unseen persons, who recited them to the jinn, to idols, to the Devil or to his progeny. Such specimens of popular poetry can be found in the fragments of Wahb's Sirah, in the compilations of Ibn ISQaq,al-Tabari, Abu Nu'aym, al-Bayhaql and in the later biographies of the Prophet. This trend is well represented in the Sirah compilations of Abu 'l-Hasan al-Bakrl, Poems in praise of the Prophet preserve elements of the laudatory poems addressed to tribal leaders. The contents of the eulogies of the Prophet differ, however, in some respects; they specially stress his prophetic mission, emphasize his spiritual qualities, praise the new religion and point out personal or tribal allegiance to the Prophet and Islam. They breathe a spirit of the new faith and stress the moral values of Islam, often coupling them with the old ideas of tribal pride and boasting. Some observations on the change of attitude towards poetry in the early period of Islam may help us to gain a better insight for evaluating the poetry of the Sirah. The attitude towards poets and poetry in the Qur'an was clearly and explicitly unfavourable.P Some pious circles persisted in their negative attitude towards profane poetry, further supporting their argument by the famous utterance attributed to the Prophet: "It is better for a man that his body be full of pus than that he be full of poems."14 It is in accordance with this view that 'A'ishah vigorously denies, in a Tradition attributed to her, the claim that Abu Bakr ever recited poetry. In a speech ascribed to Mu'dwiyah poetry is counted among the seven things forbidden by the Prophet. A version of the Prophet's saying contains the following addition, which demonstrates the tendency to restrict its scope: "than that he be full of poems by which I was satirized" .15According to this enlarged version the transmission of poetry which does not contain satirical verses against the Prophet is permitted. 12 'Ararat, "Aspect", 31-3; 'Ararat, "Early critics", 4l3-63. 13 Qur'an, xxvi.ZZI-8. 1. Goldziher, Mlls/im S tudies, II, 16. 16 AI-SubkI, Tabaqdt, I, zz6-8. POETRY IN THE SiRAH 359 The same trend of concession and compromise is reflected in another Tradition attributed to the Prophet. The Prophet is said to have stated that some poetry is wisdom. A considerable part of poetry containing aphorism, exhortation, edification or moralizing clearly won the approval of orthodox circles. Another utterance attributed to the Prophet permits poetry if its aim is to gain justice from oppression, to gain means of deliverance from poverty and expression of gratitude for a favour received. It was pointed out that the reason why the transmission of poetry was forbidden was the fact that it served to excite inter-tribal discussions and disunity. The libellous and defamatory verses which might threaten the peaceful relations in Islamic society were dangerous and harmful. Such poetry was censured and rejected. But poetry supporting the Prophet and his struggle against the Unbelievers and verses written for the cause of Islam were, of course, praiseworthy. The exceptive phrase in Qur'an xxvi.zzS was explained as referring to the poets of the Prophet, who were commended. They were described as striking the Unbelievers with their verses. Consequently Sirah literature and adab compilations record stories that the Prophet encouraged poets who composed poems in praise of God, and liked to listen to good and beautiful poetry recited by poets. Abu Bakr, a Tradition says, came to the Prophet and, in his presence, met a poet who recited a poem. Abu Bakr asked: "How is that? Qur'an and poetry?" "Sometimes Qur'an and sometimes poetry," answered the Prophet.P There was thus good poetry, which was permitted and which the Prophet even sometimes recited, and bad poetry, which was forbidden. 'A'ishah formulated it as follows: "There is good and bad poetry: take the good and leave the bad."17 A similar Tradition is attributed to the Prophet: "Poetry is like speech; good poetry is like good speech, bad poetry is like bad speech.Yl" According to this utterance the ban on poetry is almost entirely lifted; the listener had to distinguish between good and bad poetry and choose the good, just as he ought to distinguish between good and bad speech and choose the good. The pious Ibn 'Umar indeed acted in this way: he listened to a recitation of a poet; when the poet began to recite unseemly verses he stopped him. A further step in the development of the favourable attitude towards poetry was the legitimization of Jahiliyyah verse. A Tradition, attributed to the Prophet on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, states that the Prophet gave licence for the transmission of Jahiliyyah poetry with the exception 16 17 18 Al-Isfahanl, Muqa4arat, r, 79. AI-JIlini, Fadl, II, 314, no. 866. Qurtubl, Jam,', XIII, r 50. THE SIRAH LITERATURE of two poems (one of Vmayyah b. AbI 'I-Salt, the other of al-A'sha). The same idea is reflected in Traditions that the Prophet used to sit with his Companions and listen to their recitation of pre-Islamic poetry, smiling (that is, with approval). Among the pieces recited in the presence of the Prophet are verses of praise, of contemplation on life and death, of belief and piety; there are also some erotic verses, verses recited by women at a wedding celebration, and even a complaint of a poet deserted by his wife.l" The favourable attitude towards poetry is represented in Traditions stating that the four Orthodox Caliphs were poets, that they either quoted verses or listened to recitations of poems. 'A'ishah is said to have had a good know lege of poetry; she recited verses of JihilI poets and encouraged people to study poetry. Ibn Mas'fid used to recite poetry of the cryyam (battles of the pre-Islamic Arabs). Abu Dharr (d. 604/ I 2°7) quotes an opinion of a Muslim scholar, that the ban on the transmission of poetry was imposed when there were conflicts between Muslims and unbelievers. But once people had embraced Islam and animosities between believers had disappeared there was no objection to transmitting poetry. This view is in fact based on the actual situation in Muslim society of the first century. Poetry was widely transmitted; poems were recited at private meetings, in the markets and even in the mosques. The great scholar al-Sha'bI (d. 103/721) recited poetry in the mosque of Kufa. 'Abdullah b. al-Zubayr was surprised to find a group of people reciting poetry in the court of the mosque of Mecca; they argued that it was not the kind of poetry which was forbidden. When 'Vmar reproached Hassan for reciting poetry in the mosque of Medina, he said: "I recited poetry in this mosque in the presence of a man who was better than you." Hassan was referring, of course, to the Prophet. 'Vmar left him and permitted poetry to be recited in the mosque. Muhammad b. Slrln was asked, when in the mosque, whether it was permitted to recite poetry during the month of Ramadan (some people even went so far as to claim that recitation of poetry nullified the ritual ablution). He immediately recited a verse which was far from being chaste, and stood up straightaway to lead the prayer. It was Ibn SIrIn who, when rebuked for reciting a J ahilI verse, said: "What is disliked is poetry composed in Islam; poetry composed in the period of the Jahiliyyah has already been condoned." It is possible to guess at the identity of those who persisted consistently in stubborn opposition to the transmission of poetry from a significant remark by Sa'Id b. al-Musayyab. Having been told that some people in Iraq disliked poetry, he said: "They became ascetics in a non-Arab fashion." 19 See al-A'sha, Dfwiin, 218-19. POETRY IN THE SiRAH Transmission of poetry was encouraged by rulers and governors; poetry became one of the subjects essential to the education of the Umayyad prince. Poetry continued to be one of the most favoured preoccupations of Muslim society in the first century and even fighting troops on the battlefield showed a vivid interest in it. What poet surpasses others in the art of poetry? Who is the best poet? These were common subjects of talk and discussion. An alleged saying of the Prophet accurately reflects the love of poetry of the Arabs: "They will not give up poetry until camels give up yearning [for their resting places ]."20 Ibn AbI 'l-Sa'ib al-Makhziimi expounded it in an utterance very much to the point: "By God, were poetry banned, we would be punished at court several times every day [that is, for reciting it]. "21 The origin of the Sirab poetry, its formation and growth have to be viewed against the background of the uninterrupted transmission of poetry and the struggle for its legitimization. Simple, not elaborate, but vivid, it became a regular component of the early Sirab literature, and was popular and widespread. It was not earlier than the second/eighth century that the content of the early Sirahs came under the scrutiny of scholars and the criteria of ijad{th scholars were applied to assess their validity. This applied to the poetry in the S{rah as well as to its prose portions. GENEALOGY Genealogy was an essential subject of the S{rah literature. Traditions stress the purity of the Prophet's pedigree and the qualities of his ancestors. Special chapters were dedicated to the virtues of Quraysh and the family of the Prophet, the Hashimites. Utterances attributed to the Prophet tried to prove that there was a close link between the ancestors of the Prophet and Islam. Ka'b b. Lu'ayy is said to have foretold the appearance of the Prophet. The Prophet is said to have forbidden the disparagement of Mudar because he was a proto-Muslim. Other versions of the utterance of the Prophet forbid the disparagement of RabI'ah, Imru' al-Qays, Asad b. Khuzaymah, Tamlm and al-Harith b. Ka'b; they all were said to have been Muslims or believers in the faith of Abraham. Another list of the ancestors of the Prophet whom it was forbidden to abuse, because they were true believers, includes 'Adnan, Ma'add, Udad, Khuzaymah, Tamim, Asad and Dabbah. Khuzaymah b. Mudrikah was the first who uttered the testimony of faith. Al-Yas b. Mudar was also a true Believer; he was the first who offered 20 21 Ibn Rashiq, 'Umdah, Ibid. I, 17. THE SIRAH LITERATURE sacrifices in the baram of Mecca and it is forbidden to abuse him. Ma'add was a follower of the Hanlfiyyah of Ibrahim (Abraham), 'Adnan acted according to the Hanlfiyyah ; he was the first who clothed the Ka'bah with leather clothes. Nizar was endowed with the "light of prophethood", which was handed on to Muhammad, The glory of the pedigree of the Prophet was extended, as a matter of course, to include the whole of Quraysh; the idea of the excellency of Quraysh was embodied in the rich literature of Fac/ii'il QurC!Jsh. Quraysh, says a Tradition traced back to 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas, were the light in the presence of God two thousand years before the creation of Adam; this light, reposited first in Adam, passed on and was transmitted to the Prophet.V The excellence of the pedigree of the Prophet is formulated in an utterance of the Prophet: "The best of the Arabs are Mudar ; the best of Mudar are 'Abd Manaf; the best of 'Abd Manaf are Banu Hashim; the best of Banii Hashim are Bami 'Abd al-Muttalib, By God, since God created Adam never was there a division of people into two parts without my being in the better one.'?" An opposite tendency, that of depreciating the excellence of Quraysh, is evident in a Tradition stating that all the Arab tribes have their share in the pedigree of the Prophet. Pious circles in the Muslim community, struggling against the excessive study of genealogy, nevertheless stressed the value and importance of the genealogy of the Prophet. The interdiction on tracing genealogical lineages beyond Ma'add was not followed in the case of the pedigree of the Prophet; his genealogy was traced back to Abraham and the close link of descent and prophecy between him and Abraham was especially stressed. FACTIONALISM The constant struggles between the various political and ideological factions in Islamic society left their mark on the formation of the Sirah. Invented stories and alleged utterances served the cause of the rulers, pretenders and rebels. Some examples are quoted below. The 'Abbasid bias can be clearly seen in the story of the attempt to sacrifice the father of the Prophet, 'Abdullah. It was al-f Abbas, according to this version, who drew him out from under the feet of 'Abd al-Muttalib, trying to save his life. It was al-'Abbas who was the first to kiss the Prophet after he was born; his mother took him to the abode of Aminah, the Prophet's mother, and the women in the house drew him to the cradle of the Prophet, encouraging him and saying: "Kiss thy brother!" The same tendency is evident in the story that al-'Abbas took the oath of .2 Ghanamah, Maniiqil, fols 3b-4a. •• Suyutl, Durr, III, '94-j. FACTIONALISM allegiance from the An~ar for the Prophet at the 'Aqabah meeting. Not less tendentious is the report that al-'Abbas embraced Islam before the battle of Badr and served as a spy of the Prophet in Mecca. The utterance attributed to the Prophet, "Al-'Abbas is indeed my trustee (wa!i) and my heir; 'All and I are closely related",24 bears the mark of an 'Abbasid and anti-Shi'ite tradition, standing in contrast to the ShI'I tradition about the trusteeship of 'AII.25 The general expression '''AlI and I are closely related" merely serves to emphasize the special position of 'Abbas. The famous utterance of the Prophet known as the" Tradition of the Garment" (Ifadith al-kisa"'), when he is said to have covered 'AlI, al-Hasan and al-Husayn with a garment, establishes the entity of the" Family of the Prophet" (AM al-Bt!Yt) and provides an essential argument for the legitimacy of 'All's claim to the caliphate; it has its counterpart in an opposing Tradition, according to which the Prophet covered al-'Abbas and his sons with a garment and said that they were the Family. It is not surprising to find a ShI'I Tradition describing how al-'Abbas and Abu Lahab instigated people against the Prophet and publicly denounced him as a liar. The Tradition about the pact of fraternity (mu'akhah) between the Prophet and 'AII26 is contradicted by a Tradition that the Prophet said: "If I had chosen a friend I would have chosen Abu Bakr, but he is my brother and Companion.t'P? The Tradition which talks about the close fraternal relation between the Prophet and 'AlI is of crucial importance for proving 'AlI's legitimate claim to the caliphate. The contradictory reports about the first man to embrace Islam, whether it was Abu Bakr, 'Allor Zayd b. Harithah, reflect the different opinions of the religio-political parties. The ShI'ah vigorously affirm, of course, that the first believer was 'AlI. An Umayyad bias can be noticed in a peculiar Tradition reporting that the family of Abu Sufyan, himself an Umayyad, were the first to be admonished and warned by the Prophet. Abu Sufyan rejected the scornful words of his wife, saying that the Prophet was not a liar or a wizard. There are divergent and contradictory reports about various events in the life of the Prophet. Some incidents, even very prominent ones, are subject to debate by transmitters and scholars. Only a few cases may be reviewed here. Varying Traditions about the number and identity of the children of the Prophet were further blurred by the tendentious inventions of the AI-MuttaqI 'I-HindI, Kanz, XII, 280, no. ,649, .6 GanjI, Kifiiyat, 260-1. .8 Ibid., '92-3 . • 7 Ibn AbI 'l-Hadld, Shar~ nahj al-baliipha, XI, 49. .4 THE SIRAH LITERATURE religio-political factions. A ShI'I report stated that Ruqayyah and Zaynab were the daughters of Halah, the sister of Khadljah ; another Tradition claimed that they were the daughters of J ahsh, 28 This served as a weighty argument in ShI'I polemics against 'Uthman, who was called Dhii '1-Nurayn, it was said, because he had married two daughters of the Prophet. There are different reports also about the date of birth of the Prophet, of his revelation, about the age of Khadijah when she married the Prophet, about the hijrah, the change of the qiblah (direction of prayer) and about the chronology of the battles and raids of the Prophet. Lists of participants in crucial events were deliberately rearranged or changed. Some of the An~ar, says a report of Ibn al-Kalbi and al-WaqidI, omitted certain names from the list of participants at the' Aqabah meeting, substituting the names of their relatives, who had not attended the meeting. The lists of participants at the battle of Badr were also a subject of debate. Ibn Sa'd felt constrained to consult the genealogy of the Ansar, and having done this, he removed a spurious name from the list of those who took part in the battle of Badr.P" The reports about the number of the Companions who were present at the oath of allegiance at al-I:fudaybiyah are divergent. There were conflicting Traditions about the person appointed to take charge of Medina when the Prophet went out to Badr and the one bidden to divide the booty after the battle. Reports concerning the warriors who remained with the Prophet at Uhud and those who deserted the battlefield are similarly divergent; among the latter group ShI'I tradition counts Abu Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthrnan, while' AlI was, of course, of those who stayed with the Prophet and defended him. How far political interests had a bearing upon the transmission of the Sirah can be seen in the following story. Al-ZuhrI told his student, Ma'mar b. Rashid, that it was 'AlI who had written out the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah, and added, laughing: "If you asked these people they would say it was 'Uthrnan who wrote the treaty." By" these people", Ma'mar remarks, "He meant the Umayyads.t'P" Another anecdote illustrates the attempts made by the Umayyads and their governors to denigrate 'AlI in the Sirah. Khalid b. 'Abdullah al-Qasri bade al-Zuhrl write down the Sirah for him. AI-ZuhrI asked: "If I come across events related to 'AlI, may I mention them?" "No," said Khalid, "except when you see him in the lowest part of Hell. "31 In another story al-Zuhri courageously refuses to transfer the guilt of slandering of' A'ishah from 'Abdullah b. Ubayy to 'AlI.32 28 2. 31 Ibn Shahrashub, Malliiqib iii Abi Tiilib, Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqdt, III, j' 3. Horovitz," Biographies ", 49. I, '38, '40. 30 32 'Abd al-Razzaq, Mu{allllaj, v, 343, no. 9722. Horowitz, "Biographies ", I. C. II, 41. FACTIONALISM The favours bestowed on al-Zuhri by the Umayyads and the close relations between him and the rulers aroused the suspicions of independent Haditb scholars as to his integrity. The pious Sa'd b. Ibrahim b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Awf chided al-ZuhrI for transmitting a qadith in which the Prophet said that a caliph may not be invoked. Sa'd mentioned a case in which the Prophet was invoked and said: " How can it be that the Prophet was invoked and ai-Wand should not be invoked P'" It is evident that the aim of the Tradition invented was to encourage respect for the Umayyad rulers. Salamah b. DInar Abu Hazim, a pious scholar, sent to al-Zuhri a lengthy letter censuring him for his co-operation with the oppressive Umayyad rulers and criticizing him severely for helping them in caring for their power and authority and in their aiming at worldly gain. He serves the oppressive rulers, "who have turned him into the axle of the wheel of their falsehood and into a bridge for their deceit and error", says Salamah. By his services they sow doubts in the souls of scholars and gain the favour of the ignorant. It is hard to deny that these accusations have some foundation, and the assertion that he (i.e. al-ZuhrI) "was not influenced by political parties and tried to give an impartial account of what he had seen in Medina "34 is open to doubt. The possibility that his Traditions concerning the STrah were influenced by his ties with the Umayyad court cannot be excluded. ShI'I scholars counted him among the Traditionists whose attitude towards' All was hostile. Although highly respected by Sunni scholars engaged in assessing the credibility of Ff.adTthtransmitters Uarq wa-ta'dTI), he was nevertheless recorded in the lists of the mudallisiin. An early report of al-Asrna'I, traced back to Hisham b. 'Urwah, states that al-ZuhrI used to expand or abbreviate the long accounts recorded by his father, 'Urwah. A closer examination of the activities of al-ZuhrI and of the Traditions transmitted by him may help us to acquire an insight into the formative stage of the development of Sirab lore and Haditb. It is, furthermore, important for the evaluation of the formation of Sirah literature to consider the differences between the various schools of Tradition, especially those between Medina and Iraq. These differences were often pointed out in the literature of Hadith and a special compilation was dedicated to this problem. The attacks against the Iraqi school were fierce and passionate, and the Traditions of its scholars were often stigmatized as lies. It is noteworthy also that divergences and contradictions could be found between the accounts transmitted by the disciples of the same Traditionist. 33 3' Ibn Durayd, Mujtana, II. Dud, "al-Zuhri", roff, THE SiRAH LITERATURE MAJOR SiRAH COMPILATIONS The section on the biography of the Prophet in the Ta'rikh of al-Tabari (d. 310/922) records a wealth of early Traditions carefully provided with isndds. The philologist and commentator on the Qur'an, al-Zajjaj (d. 3II/923) is credited with a Maghazicompilation.35 Muhammad b. Hartin al-Ansari al-DimashqI (d. 353/964) wrote a book entitled ~iJat al-nabi. The great scholar of Haditb, Muhammad b. Hibban al-Bustl (d. 354/965), the author of a book on the ~aqabah, compiled a biography of the Prophet. At the end of the fourth century the philologist Ahmad b. Faris compiled a book on the names of the Prophet and another about the life of the Prophet. A concise 5 irah compiled by Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064)36 was based on the terse biography of the Prophet composed by Ibn 'Abd ai-Barr (d. 463/1071), al- Durar .ft' khti!ari I-magnazi tua-l-siyar, The later compilations, like the commentary of al-SuhaylI (d. 581/1185) on Ibn Hisharn's Sirah, al-Rawq al-unuJ, the Bid4Jat al-su'iil of'Abd al-'AzIz b. 'Abd al-Salarn al-SulamI (d. 660/1262), the K. al-1lr-tiJa' of al-Kala'I (d. 634/1236), the Kheldsat siyar St!Yyid al-basbar of al-Muhibb al-Tabari (d. 684/1285), the 'Uyiin al-atbar of Ibn Sayyid al-Nas (d. 734/1333), the section of the Sirah in al-Nuwayri's (d. 732/1331), Nih4Jat al-arab, and the section of the Sfrah in Ibn KathIr's (d. 774/1372) al-Bid4Jah wa-'I-nih4Jah contain a great number of early Traditions derived from lost or hitherto unpublished compilations. Of special importance is the work of Mughultay (d. 762/1360), al-Zahr al-bdsim, Arguing in his polemic against al-SuhaylI's al-Rawq al-unuJ, Mughultay records an unusually large number of quotations from various recensions of diwans, collections of poetry, compilations of genealogy, philology, lexicography, commentaries on the Qur'an, biographies of the Prophet, books of adab and history. The painstaking efforts of Mughultay to establish correct readings, his checking of variants, his pursuit of every record and Tradition, his comprehensive knowledge, turn his compilation into a veritable treasure for the study of Sirah literature and help towards a better understanding of the controversial ideas of the scholars about the activities of the Prophet and his personality. Summarizing compilations of the Sirab were provided by Yahya b. AbI Bakr al-'Amiri (d. 893/1488) in his Babiab, and by Taql 'I-DIn al-Maqrlzi (d. 845/1441) in his Imtd', Three late compilations deserve special attention: theSubul( = Sfrahal-Shamryyah) of Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Salihi (d. 942/1535), the lnsdn al-'''!}'iin.ft sirat al-amin al-ma'miin (= al-Sirah al-fJalabryyah) of'AlIb. Burhan al-Dln (d. 1044/1634), and the commentary '5 Cf. cap. 16, "The Maghiizi literature". 38 Jawami'. MAJOR SiRAH COMPILATIONS by al-Zurqani (d. 1122/1710) on the al-Mawahib al-Iadunryyah of al-Qastallanl (d. 923/15 17)' Al-Sirah al-Shamryyah is one of the most comprehensive compilations of the biography of the Prophet. Al-~alil).I drew, according to his statement in the preface, on more than three hundred books. He accumulated an enormous number of Traditions, narratives and reports from sirab compilations, Haditb collections, books of dala"'il, shama"'il, kha{a"'i{, histories of cities and dynasties, biographies of transmitters of Haditb, and treatises of asceticism and piety, recording carefully the variants of the reported Traditions and attaching detailed lexicographical explanations of difficult words and phrases. AI-Sirah al-Fjalabryyah, although extracted mainly from al-Sirah alShamryyah, contains a great deal of additions by al-Halabi. It is one of the characteristic features of this compilation that al-Halabi records divergent and contradictory Traditions and strives to harmonize them. Al-Zurqani gives, in his meticulous commentary, a wealth of Traditions corroborating or contradicting the reports recorded by al-Qastallani. The late compilations thus contain an immense wealth of material derived from early sources. Some of these Traditions, stories, reports and narratives are derived from lost or hitherto unpublished sources. Some Traditions, including early ones, were apparently omitted in the generally accepted Sirab compilations, faded into oblivion, but reappeared in these late compilations. . Only a small part of the sirab compilations have been mentioned above. The uninterrupted flow of transmission of Traditions on the life of the Prophet embedded in the rich literature of Qur'an commentaries, collections of Haditb, works of adab, history, polemics of religio-political parties and works of piety and edification, is remarkable. The ramifications of Sirah literature, such as the literature on the ,$aqabah, on the ancestors of the Prophet, on his genealogy, servants, secretaries, on the habits and characteristics of the Prophet, on his birth, on the" night-journey" (isra"') and "ascent" (mi'rij), are indispensable for an adequate study of the development of the conception the Muslim community formed, throughout the ages, of the person of the Prophet. The narratives of the Sirah have to be carefully and meticulously sifted in order to get at the kernel of historically valid information, which is in fact meagre and scanty. But the value of thisJnformation for the scrutiny of the social, political, moral and literary ideas of the Muslim community cannot be overestimated; during the centuries, since Muslim society came into existence, the revered personality of the Prophet served as an ideal to be followed and emulated. 

papyrus_nadir-campaign.pdf ARCHIV ORIENTALNI 32, 1964 233 NOTES ON THE PAPYRUS CAMPAIGN TEXT ABOUT MUHAMMAD'S AGAINST THE BANU AL-NADIR M.J. Kister, Jerusalem Document No.5 of the "Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri"1 ,carefully edited by Professor Nabia Abbott contains a passage essential for the evaluation of the document, which deserves re-examination. I Verso lines 14-26 contain the account of the causes of the campaign against the Banii al-Na<;l.ir.Lines 14-16 give an account of the visit which the Prophet paid to the Banii al-Na<;l.irand elucidate the reason for this visit; they are read by Professor Abbott as follows: lind are translated thus: "This is the book of the narrative (14) / of the nffair of the Mjessenger of God when he went to the Banii al-Na<;l.ir seeking tholl' aid in the matter of the two men of Kilab, His a narrative / collected (15 J from that which / has been related concerning it. The Messenger of God and some of his Companions went to the Banii al-Na<;l.irto ask their holp for the two men of Kilab who (16) /had/ surrendered to the Quralsh when they encamped at Ul)ud. The Messenger of God said: 'They (Banii al-Na<;l.lr)accepted them (Banii Kilab) as allies for battle and (then) dishonored /them by/ negligence'." This passage is obscure. The two men from KHab killed by cAmr b. Umayya are said to have surrendered to the Quraish, when they encamped at Ul)ud. How could they, then, have been granted the protection of the Prophet as mentioned on Verso, line 117 In the accounts of the Prophet's 1 16 - Historical orientalni Texts, Chicago 1957. Archiv 234 M. J. KISTER campaigns the word "Ouraish" denotes the unbelievers of Mecca and having surrendered to the Quraish at Uhud they could not have received from the Prophet a promise of safety. Professor Abbott in order to find a solution for the two contradictory statements comments as follows: "The Quraish of 1.16 must be, in view of Verso 1.11-12 and the comments thereon, the Quraishites in Muhammad's own camp and not the entire tribe as such. Muhammad's remark at the end of the line 16 refers to the alliance between the Banu Kllab and the Banu al-Nadir and the latter's reluctance to share in the indemnity of the two that were slain."2 This explanation cannot, however, be accepted. The translation proposed for the crucial expressions J L.•. .\I ~ ~"J.).J J L::A.l1csk ~ "..;~ A "accepted by the Banu Nadir for battle and dishonoured by negligence", does not conform to Arabic style and idiom. In order to elucidate this passage we must start with the correction of these two expressions, which form a clue for the understanding of the historical background of the account. The correct reading is csk. ~;;.:.~ 01.)".J 1 J.~ ,...A>"J..l.J L::A.l "and they spurred them on to fight and showed J I them the way to the gaps [in the frontier, not sufficiently defended]." The two expressions ~~; and r-.A> "J..l.J have as their subject the Banu al-Nac;llr; they spurred "them" on and incited "them" to fight and showed them the weak, undefended spots in the frontier. The object of ~"';'..>o 'r-"') ..I ["them") refers to the Quiraish, mentioned at the beginning of the line; the weak, undefended spots are the weak spots of the Muslim frontier. We thus obtain an important clue for the understanding of the document: the Banu al-Nadir were in peaceful relations with the Quraish when the Quraish encamped at Uhud, They plotted with them, stirred them up to fight the Prophet. The words at the beginning of the line have to be read: ..r!.j J 11".••..1 I"; l5.J "they [the Banu al-Nac;llr) had sent secretly to the . Quraish". The Banti al-Nadlr urged them to fight the Prophet and showed them the weak spots in the frontier of the Muslims. .tJl1 J y".) J w is a misreading; the correct reading is: -ill 1 J" ..•.) Jl:A.l The whole line has, therefore, to be read: I"J j .)~,...r!.J! J 1 1".•...1 I,,; l5.J . . o I) ,Al 1 csk ~"l..l.J J L::A.l csl~ r-.A> 1 ;:.;.""; .tJl1 J" ..•) J L::A.l ~ . t! (16) "and they sent secretly to the Quraish when they encamped at Uhud in order to fight the Prophet and they incited them to fight and showed them the weak spots" ... This line explains the reason why the Prophet came to the Banu al-Nadir asking them to help him to pay the indemnity of the two men of Kilab killed by one of his anderents: the Banu al-Nadir were accused of cooperation with the Quraish when they attacked the Muslim army at Uhud and their payment of a part of the 2 Op. cit., p. 74 supra (Comments Verso, 1.15-17). Notes on the Papyrus Text 235 indemnity was a kind of retribution for their hostile attitude towards the Prophet. There is a passage which closely resembles this line of the papyrus; it is a fragment of the account by Musa b. CUqbaof the campaign against the Banu al-Nadir, quoted by al-Zurqani in his "Shar!) al-Mawahtb'v and runs as follows: Verso, 1.16 is, in fact, a parenthetical sentence forming an explanation of the moral basis of the demand of the Prophet from the Banu al-Nadlr to participate in the indemnity of the two men of Kllab, protected by him and killed by one (or two) of his adherents. It is closely connected with the report of Musa b. 'Uqba: the author of the papyrus does, however, not follow Musa b. 'Uqba in the rest of his report or in his chronological order of the events: this is evident from the account quoted by al-Bukhari on the authority of Musa b. 'Uqba. This account, traced back to Ibn 'Umar, contains a version of the course of the events in the campaign of the Prophet against the Banu al-Nadir which is quite different from that given in the report of the papyrus.s The account of the papyrus is a peculiar one: it combines the tradition about the conspiracy between the Banu al-Nadir and Quraish with the tradition of the payment of the indemnity. It is obvious that we have here a version hitherto un-recorded. Verso 1. 17 is to be read: d: And when the Messenger of God spoke to them about the indemnity for the two men of Kllab they said ... II In an elaborate chapter about the author of the papyrus, Professor Abbott suggests that the author of the papyrus is Ma'rnar b. Rashld.e This conclusion is reached by a process of elimination and looks on the face of it plausible enough. A short notice, however, in al-Zurqanl's "Sharh al-Mawahib" makes this suggestion hardly tenable. Al-Zurqani, discussing the chronology of the Prophet's raid against the Banti al-Nadlr, quotes a passage in al-Suhayli's "AI-Rau<;lal-Unuf" to the effect that CUqaylb. Khalid and another (traditionist) transmitted on the authority of al-Zuhri, that the raid against the Banu al-Nadir took place 6 months after the battle of Badr.s Al-Zurqani remarks: "The other (scholar) is Ma'rnar b. Rashid."? Al-Zurqani quotes, in fact, a tradition on the autority of 'Abd al-Razzaq Ma'rnar - al-Zuhri stating that the raid against the nann al-Nadir took II, 81, 1.12. See J. B. Jones, The chronology of the Maghazt, BSOAS 1957, page 249 n. 23 and p. 268. 5 Op. cit. p. 76. 6 "al-Raud al-Unuf" 11,176 in! led. 1914). 7 Al-Zurqanl, Sharh al-Mawahlb II, 79 I. 18 led. 1325 A. H.). 3 4 16* 236 M. J. KISTER place after the battle of Badr.s The attribution of the text contained in the papyrus to Ma'rnar b. Rashid must be rejected, since according to the correct reading of Verso 1. 16 it is plaintly stated in the text that the raid against the Banti al-Nadir took place after the battle of Uhud, III There is a parallel passage to the account of the raid against the Banil al-Nadir contained in the papyrus: it is found in the "naian al-Nubuwwa" of Abu Nu'iaym al-Isfaham.e The tradition quoted by Abu Nu'aym corresponds almost verbatim to the tradition of the papyrus. It is the only account-as far as I know-in which the story of the conspiracy of the Banil al-Nadir with the Quraish is combined with the tradition about the payment of the indemnity, exactly as in the account of the papyrus. The tradition in the "naian al-Nubuwwa" is told on the authority of cDrwa b. al-Zubayr, and the chain of the transmitters is: Sulayrnan b. Ahmad Muhammad b. "Amr b. Khalld - his father lO Ibn LahicallAbu 'l-Aswadt? - 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr. Both traditions are here reprinted. I am inclined to assume that the authorship of the papyrus can be attributed to Ibn Lalu'a, who lived in Egypt, acted as Qac;H (155-164 A. H.) and died there (ca. 170 A. H.) VIII, 25; his son Abu

The Massacre of the Banū Qurayẓa: A Re-Examination of a Tradition

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 8 (1986): 61-96

The Massacre of the Banū Qurayẓa: A Re-Examination of a Tradition

Author:

M. J. Kister

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banu_qurayza.pdf THE MASSACRE OF THE BANU QURAYZA A re-examination of a tradition The story of the massacre of the Banu Qurayza (April 627 A.D./Dhu l-Qa'da 5 A.H.), l as recorded in various compilations of the Sira-literature, is concerned with the final blow which the prophet Muhammad struck at the last Jewish tribal group in Medina. According to the widely current tradition, transmitted by the early Muslim scholars of hadith, biographers of the Prophet, jurists and historians, Qurayza are said to have concluded a pact with the Prophet in which they committed themselves not to help the enemies of the Prophet. But when the enemies of the Prophet (i.e. the Confederates, Quraysh and their Allies, the Ahzab - K.) besieged Medina the Banu Qurayza are alleged to have aided the forces of the Prophet's enemies, the Ahzab. Huyayy b. Akhtab, a former leader of the exiled Jewish tribe of the Banu Nadlr is blamed for having instigated Ka'b b. Asad, the leader of Qurayza, to violate the agreement with the Prophet and for having pressed him to negotiate with the leaders of the Ahzab. The Prophet succeeded by stratagem to undermine the mutual confidence between Qurayza and the Ahzab and to spoil their strategic plans against him and against the Muslim community at Medina. The failure of the siege of Medina by the Ahzab and their disordered and hasty retreat marked a manifest victory for the Prophet and left Qurayza in a precarious position, facing the forces of the Prophet in isolation. Immediately after the withdrawal of the Ahzab the Prophet was actually summoned by the angel Jibril to march out against the Banu Qurayza. The siege laid by the forces of the Prophet on the stronghold of Qurayza brought about a deterioration of the situation of the besieged shortly afterwards. Their leader, Ka`b b. Asad put forward three proposals as solution: (a) that they should convert to Islam, (b) that they should kill the women and children and march out from the stronghold to fight courageously the besieging force of the Muslims, or (c) that they should l See J.M.B. Jones, The Chronology ofthe Maghazi, BSOAS XIX, 1957, pp. 274, 251. 62 surprise Muhammad and his troops by a speedy and unexpected attack on the eve of Saturday. All the proposals were, however, rejected by the Banu Qurayza. When the situation deteriorated Qurayza sent their messenger to negotiate with the Prophet the terms of their surrender. They proposed to surrender and depart leaving behind their land and property and taking with them movable property only, the load of a camel per person. When this proposal was rejected, the messenger returned asking that Qurayza be permitted to depart without any property, taking with them only their families; but this proposal too was rejected and the Prophet insisted that they surrender unconditionally and subject themselves to his judgment. Qurayza asked for Abu Lubaba, a Companion of the Prophet whom they trusted, to be sent to them in order to have his advice. Abo Lubaba indiscreetly pointed with his hand to his throat, a movement which clearly conveyed slaughter; he regretted his treason towards God and the Prophet, repented and the Prophet was glad to convey to him the joyous tiding of God's forgiveness, as it was revealed to him. The Banu Qurayza, compelled to surrender, descended from their stronghold and were led to Medina. The men, their hands pinioned behind their backs, were put in a court (dar) in Medina; the women and children are said to have been put in another one. When the Prophet was asked by people of Aus, who were allies of Qurayza, to show leniency towards their allies the Qurayza, he proposed to appoint as arbiter a man from Aus, Sa=d b. Mu-adh. Qurayza consented and so did the attending Muslims; among the Muslims were, of course, the Aus who in turn began to intercede with Sa-d for Qurayza; Sa-d's harsh answer was a bad omen for the fate of Qurayza. When all the parties agreed to abide by the judgment of Sa'd he gave his concise verdict: the men shall be put to death, the women and children sold into slavery, the spoils divided among the Muslims. The Prophet ratified the judgment and stated that Sa-d's decree had been issued as a decree of God pronounced from above the Seven Heavens. Accordingly some 400 (or 600, or 700, or 800, or even 900) men from Qurayza were led on the order of the Prophet to the market of Medina; trenches were dug in the place, the men were executed and buried in the trenches. The Prophet attended the executions, which were carried out by CAlI and al-Zubayr. Youths who had not reached maturity were spared. Women and children were sold into slavery; a number of them were distributed as gifts among the Companions. 63 The story of the massacre of Qurayza, of which a short summary has been given above, was thoroughly studied and analysed by several western scholars, who severely criticized the Prophet for it. 2 Although not unanimous in their assessment of certain details of the story, the scholars are in agreement concerning the cruelty of the judgment of Sa-d b. Mu'adh, Some Muslim scholars didn't deny the merciless character of Sa-d's judgment, but justified it pointing out that the Bam} Qurayza had yielded to the treacherous activities of Huyayy b. Akhtab and had committed deeds of treason. Sa-d's decree, although severe and harsh, was a vital necessity as he regarded the fate of the Jews as a question of life and death for the Muslim community. The responsibility for the killing of Qurayza should be placed on Huyayy b. Akhtab who instigated the war-activities against the Prophet.' 2 See e.g. Martin Hartmann, Der Islam, Leipzig 1909, p. 16: "Ein ewiges Schandmal bleibt die Ruchlosigkeit mit der Muhammed gegen den Stamm Quraiza verfuhr: 600 Manner erlitten den Tod durch Henkershand, die Weiber und Kinder wurden verkauft." W. Muir, Mahomet and Islam, London 1895, p. 151: "The massacre of Banu Coreitza was a barbarous deed which cannot be justified by any reason of political necessity... " "But the indiscriminate slaughter of the whole tribe cannot be recognized otherwise than as an act of monstrous cruelty, which casts an indelible blot upon the Prophet's name... " J. Andrae, Mohammed. Sein Leben und sein G1aube, G6ttingen 1932, p. 126: "Es war der letzte Jundenstamm in Medina, Banu Kuraiza, den er nun exemplarisch zu strafen beschloss wegen der Unzuverlassigkeit, die er wiihrend der Belagerung gezeigt hatte. Bei dieser Gelegenheit zeigte er wieder den Mangel an Ehrlichkeit und moralischem Mut, der einen weniger sympathischen Zug seines Charakters bildete... " F. Buhl, Das Leben Muhammeds, Trans!. H.H. Schaeder, Heidelberg 1955, p. 275: "... Diesmal war Muhammad jedoch zu erbittert urn Schonung zu gewahren: aber die Art wie er seinen Willen durschsetzte. hatte etwas in hohem Grade Raffiniertes und zeigt wieder seinen Charakter in einem sehr abstossenden Licht..." M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Mahomet, Paris 1969, p. 145: "L'incident des B. Qoraiza est une vilaine page de l'histoire de Mohammed, mais c'est un acte qui fut tres profitable a la gloire d'Allah et de son prophete ... " W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Medina, Oxford, 1956, p. 214: "Some European writers have criticized this sentence for what they call its savage and inhuman character ... " Maxime Rodinson, Mohammed, New York 1974, p. 213: "It is not easy to judge the massacre of the Qurayza. It must be remembered that the customs of the time were extremely primitive ... " F. Gabrieli, Muhammad and the Conquest of Islam, London 1968, p. 73: "This dark episode, which Muslim tradition, it must be said, takes quite calmly, has provoked lively discussion among western biographers of Muhammed, with caustic accusations on the one hand and legalistic excuses on the other... In this case he was ruthless, with the approval of his conscience and of his God, for the two were one; we can only record the fact, while reaffirming our consciousness as Christians and civilised men, that this God or at least this aspect of Him, is not ours." 3 Muhammad Husayn Hayka!, Hayiu Muhammad, Cairo 135g, p. 321. And see e.g. Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar, Muhammad the Holy Prophet, Lahore 1967, p. 247: "No one can dispute the justice of the sentence on the Quraiza ... Traitors are always executed unless they ask pardon and circumstances justify the pardon being granted... Muhammad was absolutely 64 I Odd assumptions appear in W.N. Arafat's article on this subject.' Arafat tries to prove the unreliability of the account of the events of the massacre of Qurayza as recorded by Ibn Ishaq (d. 151 A.H.) and transmitted by later Muslim scholars, historians and biographers of the Prophet. The later historians "draw, and in most cases depend on Ibn Ishaq", states Arafat and comments: "But Ibn Ishaq died in 151 A.H., i.e., 145 years after the event in question".' Arafat's severe criticism refers first of all to the way in which Ibn Ishaq collected his information: his sources were untrustworthy, uncertain and late; his account is in Arafat's opinion "a sum-total of the collective reports, pieced together". Arafat quotes thrice the opinion of Malik b. Anas (from Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, 'Uyun al-athar) about Muhammad b. Ishaq: "he was a liar", "an impostor" who "transmits his stories from the Jews'" and stresses twice that "against the late and uncertain sources on the one hand, and the condemning authorities on the other must be set the only contemporary and entirely authentic source, The Qur'an." (Sura XXXIII, 26: "He caused those of the People of the Book who helped them (i.e. the Quraysh) to come out of their forts. Some you killed, some you took prisoner." [as quoted by Arafatj).? If 600 or 700 people were killed there would have been a clearer reference to it in the Qur'an; as only the guilty leaders were executed the reference in the Qur'an is very brief - argues Arafat. He rejects without hesitation the widely circulated story about the massacre of the Banii Qurayza and reiterates his argument: the verse of the Qur'an indicates clearly that only those men of Qurayza who were actually fighting were free from blame. The real culprit in this tragedy, for it was a most horrible tragedy... was Huyayy b. Akhtab... " Ameer Ali, A short history of the Saracens, London 1961, p. 13: "It was considered unsafe to leave the traitorous Banu Koraiza so near the city, as their treachery might at any moment lead to the destruction of Medina... This was a severe punishment according to our ideas, but it was customary according to the rules of war then prevalent." Muhammad Hamidullah, Muslim Conduct of State, Lahore 1961, §443: "... The females and children of the Jewish tribe of Banu Quraizah were, by the decision of the arbitrator nominated by themselves, enslaved and distributed as booty. This arbitral award was in conformity with the Jewish personal Jaw... "; §497: "... In the case of the Banu Quraizah, it was the arbitrator of their own choice who awarded exactly what Deuteronomy provided... " 4 W.N. Arafat, "New Light on the Story of Banu Qurayza and the Jews of Medina," JRAS (1976), 100-107. 5 Arafat, op. cit., pp. 101, U. 1-2. 6 Arafat, op. cit., pp, 10I, 1. 8, 102 ult. -103 1.1, 106 U. 2-3. 7 Arafat, op. cit., pp. 1011. 20, 103 1I. 11-15. 65 executed; according to the rule of Islam only those responsible for the sedition were punished. Killing a large number of people is opposed to the Islamic sense of justice and the Qur'anic rule regarding prisoners, argues Arafat. Why should the Qurayza have been slaughtered, asks Arafat, while other Jewish groups which surrendered both before and after the Banu Qurayza were treated leniently and were allowed to go. If so many hundreds of people were indeed put to death in the market-place and trenches were dug for the operation, why, asks Arafat, is there no trace of all that and no sign or word to point to the place? "Had this slaughter actually happened", contends Arafat, "the jurists would have adopted it as a precedent"; "in fact exactly the opposite had been the case" - asserts Arafat. Arafat stresses further that the details of the story imply inside knowledge, i.e. from the Jews themselves. Both the descendants of the Banii Qurayza and the descendants of the Medinan Muslims were eager to glorify their ancestors; it was one of the descendants of Sacd b. Mu-adh who transmitted the judgment of Sa-d and the saying of the Prophet to Sad: "You have pronounced God's judgment upon them [as inspired] through Seven Veils"." Finally Arafat raises some additional questions: how could many hundreds of persons be incarcerated in a house belonging to a woman of the Banu l-Najjar, and how can one explain the fact that some Jews are mentioned as remaining in Medina after the alleged expulsion of all the Jewish tribes? Arafat draws a comparison between the story of Masada as recorded by Josephus Flavius and the story of the Banu Qurayza. Arafat's conclusions are surprising: the descendants of the Jews who fled to Arabia after the Jewish wars superimposed details of the siege of Masada on the story of the siege of the Banu Qurayza. According to Arafat, the mixture provided the basis for Ibn Ishaq's story. Arafat's article was followed by another one by a certain Zaid. In his article entitled "The Masada Legend in Jewish and Islamic Tradition"? the author reiterates Arafat's arguments, arrives at the same con- 8 Arafat's rendering of this sentence is erroneous: min fauqi sao Cati arqi ' The references quoted above from the compilations of al-Shaybant, al-Shafi'T, Abu bought by Mu-awiya]; and see ib. p. 86, no. I; and see e.g. Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, V, 744, sup.: the court (dar) known as dar bani nasr in Damascus was a church (kanisat al-nasaray; Malik b.

On the Papyrus of Wahb B. Munabbih: An Addendum

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 40 (1977): 125-27

On the Papyrus of Wahb B. Munabbih: An Addendum

Author:

M. J. Kister

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Wahb_addendum.pdf NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS ON THE PAPYRUS OF WAHB B. MUNABBIH: AN ADDENDUM The fragments of the Sira of Wahb b. Munabbih carefully edited by R. G. Khoury1 contain some misreadings or misinterpretations, several of which were elucidated in BSOAS, XXXVII, 3, 1974, 545-56. Additional corrections are suggested in the following lines. PB 2 (31) I..\:::>\ 41Z U ";'1 r,;.a I~ J,,_)I ...u -!.l.i~ Lines 2-3: t } '.r!- ~ ~~ .!l!J1 ~ ':J ...ul jl J.f ~ j~ are rendered by Khoury: 2 'Leute, die zweifeln, indem du ihnen den Zweifel und die Blindheit nimmst, als Rechtleitung fur mein Volk; wenn du sie nicht verkiindet hattest, so waren sie nicht rechtgeleitet worden. 3 Du bekennst, dass es nichts ausser Allah gibt, und dass du zum Zeugnisablegen sein Gesandter bist '. The correct reading is : 1..\:.01 U ~ () (~) <;S[:} I r,;.a I-,-~' JJ-".,-JI ....J .!.L..i~ ~~ '.r!- •.; .!l!J1 ~ ~ .)~ 2 ':J ~I l.il J.r!..i.i 3 which should be translated: 2 'Through the light which dispels the doubt and the blindness from them, 2 the guidance of my people (1); had not he uttered it he would not follow the right path. 3 Therefore we testify that there is nothing except God and that you are the Messenger of God'. Line 9: The word of course to Go~. GJ and translates 'Der Gesandte Gottes sah die Wirkung da[vo]n an meiner Erregung'. The correct reading is: ~J the phrase should be rendered: 'and the Messenger of God saw the mark of it in my face'. Line 19: Khoury J.; Line 21: ~y.. -)1 ..j),J1 ;u..1 ~.~!., Line 15 is read by Khoury: PB 13 (42) JA[j] ~~.u~ J .JJI 0.>L, and translated 15 'So Gott will, gibt es in der Stadt Rennpferde, und Hufe tragen die aufbrechenden Rassepferde '. The reading and translation of the first hemistich of this verse are unsatisfactory. Verse 15 forms a continuation of the preceding one in which the story of the horse whose feet sank into the ground was told. Balad is here not , Stadt' and jiyad 'Rennpferde', cannot be understood in any possible syntactical construction. The reading seems to be : ')1:,>-)1 ..j),J1 ;u..1 'JA[!.] .JL;.>- ~ L~ and should be rendered: 'By God's will, in a land with crumbling ground in which the feet of beasts sink (khabar), the hoof lifts up the strong horse of high breed '. 'trafen sie alle angese[henen] Manner von Qurais '. The correct reading seems to be c7: !,Ai~ .P..ri [.>]~l 'they (i.e. the Banu Makhziim-K.) met all the clans of Quraysh '. ('""'.:>-1 ~. '1 i."AI1 Jli l:.,..-.i .r ~.rl ~ 4. r-:~ Jw Jli ..:.~ translated by Khoury: 9 'Da sagten einige von ihnen: "0 'AIr, du hast uns unserer Abstammung beraubt." Und die Leute sagten, sie brechen mit ihrem Neffen '. The phrase beginning i."AI1 JU has, however, been misunderstood by Khoury and consequently misinterpreted. 'Ali is blamed by some people of Makhziim for distorting their pedigree by naming Hudayd as their ancestor; they do not trace their ancestry to him.s 'Alr, of course, answers the accusation of the people. The word qala is not the predicate of al-qaum; qala is a complete sentence in which 'Ali is the understood subject. Al-qaum is the subject of the next sentence, whose predicate is formed by the following words. The~. '1 should be changed into ~. '1. The phrase should be read if. ~. '1 i."Al1 :Jli r-'':>'\ and rendered: 'He (i.e. 'Alr-K.) said: "The people (i.e. the kinsmenK.) would not kill their nephew" '. 'Alr points to the ties of kinship linking the Prophet with the Banii Makhziim and blames them for organizing the plot to kill their nephew. In fact the grandmother of the Prophet, the mother of Lines 1-2: Khoury reads .p..} [~]t::-Its": !,Ai~and translates: PB 14 (43) !fine 9: IS 3 The gloss on the margin asserts that the Banii Makhzfim trace back their pedigree to Husays, but 'Ali changed it in his poem (scil. into Hudayd-s-Kv). But the Makhziim do not trace their pedig ree to Husays ; Husuys is the ancestor of the Banii Jumal;i (see Mus'ab b. 'Abdallah alZubayri, Nasab Quraysh, ed. E. Levi-Proveneal, Cairo, 1953, p. 13, I. 12, p. 386, I. Il). NOTES AND CmnIUNICATIONS 127 'Abdallah, was Fatima bint 'Amr b. 'A.'idh b. 'Imran b. Makhziim. Her mother as well was a Makhzumi woman.! In his answer there is a clear hint that loyal kinsmen would not commit such a shameful deed and therefore they deserved the distortion of their nasab: they cannot be true Makhziimis. Line 15 is read by Khoury: .J. L- '" 4,; i}l [~] I 'J":" \ (n .:,Ja[j] '.r-~.,j-" 11 ~ I '-;-::""" I l._---1J 11 Fill' .~I and translated: 15 ' Als der Mann (von dem Ungliick) befallen wurde, da geizte er mit seinem Fohlen, [und] mein Bruder meinte, we[nn] er tadle, so bleibe Taiban geduldig '. 'I'here is, however, no mention of a person named Tayban, The correct reading is probably: .J.l.- "'~ i}l[>)!I] tj"-i -,:;.4[S"] .~. .~I ,-:-,::,-",i -,:;.4 which should be rendered: 'And when the man was afflicted he clung tenaciously to his colt, like the man (experienced in interpretation) of dreams clings tenaciously to the interpretation (to be given) to the dreamer'. Line 21,' if.;!1 J.::. ~, compare al-A'shii, Diwan, ed. R. Geyer, London, 1928, p. 44 (VI, 31) : <.J"'.;!I ~ J:.. '-U;J. Line 22,' .J.L... :~,;.; ,J y ;JJ':> I..w:.",I "" }II ~.~ is translated by Khoury: 22 'und du hattest. die Gewissheit dass es unabwendbar ist, dass Muhammad ein Reich hat, das seine Spuren aufbauen werden'. The correct reading seems to be It·".:and the verse should be rendered: 'And you would be certain that Muhammad (will) inevitably gain power, the signs of which have already made it evident '. M. J. KISTER UJ • See Muhammad b. Habib, fol. 1b. (p. 10). Il-mmahiit. al-Nub], ed, Husayn 'Ali Mal:tfii~, Baghdad, 1371/1952, 

Notes on a Papyrus Account of the ʿAqaba Meeting

Le Muséon 76 (1963): 403-417

Notes on a Papyrus Account of the ʿAqaba Meeting

Author:

M. J. Kister

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Papyrus_Aqaba.pdf NOTES ON THE PAPYRUS ACCOUNT OF THE 'AQABA MEETING The four pages of the Schott-Reinhardt Papyrus containing the account by Wahb b. Munabbih about the meeting at aVAqaba 1 form one of the earliest documents dealing with the crucial event of the alliance between Mul},ammad and his followers from al-Madina. This document edited by Gertrude Melamede with great care and accuracy 2 contains, however, some words or phrases which the editor was unable to decipher 3, and others which she misread. In the first section of this article an attempt has been made to decipher some words and phrases important for the understanding of the text; in the second and third some traditions about the attendance of aVAbbas at the meeting of al-'Aqaba are discussed. I 49, 1.6:‫ ﺗﺘﻲ‬of Messenger،‫. . . . ﻧﻬﻤﻢ ﻟﻘﻴﻪ ﻣﻦ ﺍﺗﻪﻭﺳﺮﺍ‬ Allah met some of them and they a number of their people.:. The correct reading is not.:r ~..lC. but r~ I rJ.A..c.; the undeciphered Papyrus p. 2, 1.8 48, 1.4 = p. = «And the transl.p. r~Js.~r."AJ1 rJ.A..c. o~ti word is o.,r,a.ti; thus the text reads as follows: .:r .iii I J.,...) ,,;; ~ ~ «And‫ﻘﻮﻡ ﺑﻤﺘﺪﻡ ﺧﺒﺮﻩ ﻓﻲ ﻣﻬﻢ ﻟﺘﻴﻪﻣﻦ ﺍﻧﻪ ﺭﺳﺮﻝ ﻓﻠﻔﻲ‬ ormed him about the arrival of the people and about their number.:. Papyrus p. 2, 1.12 =. p. 48, 1.8: the word undeciphered is probably: ~ 1 C. H. BECJO!:R, Papyri Sohott-Reinhardt 1, Heidelberg 1906, p. 8-9; see Nabia ABBO'l"l', 8tudtB. "" ANI/to Utera", Panri I, Chicago 1951, pp. 61-64; eomp. WATT, J(~mtnad at J(tJCCa, pp. 146-148. II M.o., 1984, pp. 11-58. a See the remark of G. M:iLA.ldDB, op. mt., p. 20 : c The writing is often very indistinct and sometimes impoBBible to decipher.:. 403 404 Papyrus p. 2,1.16 V"~I V"~I J. M. KISTER = p. 48,1.10 = transl. P. 50,1.21 : (~) ~ r*l r*l The reading is with all probability: r ';1 I.!.UjS r ~ ,;! «When (as) they were in this situation aVAbbiis passed by s. The reading of the missing word in the next line is evidently [V"L:JI'"';)'J..;. ~ «who are these men s. The answer of the Prophet: «these are my maternal uncles and your maternal uncles» 4 is elucidated by a tradition quoted by al-Dhahabi" : aVAbbiis taking the oath of allegiance from the An~r stressed that the mother of 'Abd al-Muttalib was from the people of al-Madina, from the Banu al-Najjar. She was in fact from the Banu al-Najjar ; her name was Salma bint 'Amr b. Zayd b. Labid b. Khidash b. Ghanm b. 'Adiyy b. aI-Najjar 6. Papyrus p. 2,1.18 = p. 48, inf. = transl. 49 penult. ~ly:.f Jli ~pli ..~r r.J ~j.J .I..l."....).J ..:i\4~T J.i c:;.;LI.J V".J~" ~ I.!.Uly:.f.J «-My maternal uncles and your maternal uncles, the Aus ':i.J~; and the Khazradj have believed in Allah and His Messenger. And they thought that when they acted in this way they would ». The translation qu¢ed above is inaccurate. The undeciphered word is the correct translation is as follows: «My maternal uncles and your maternal uncles, the Aus and the Khazradj have believed in Allah and His Messenger. They asserted, and they are about to act as they asserted, that they would aid me ... etc.» The phrase ~pli is a «val» clause. r.J Papyrus p. 2,1.20 = p. 50,1.1 =transl. p. 51,1.1 (.4ti Jli .1.:6.) V"~IJ« (He said) : and aVAbbiis permitted him to leave» The reading and the translation are both erroneous: AVAbbiis See note 24. T8.rikh I, 178; it is quoted on the authority of Miis8.b. -Uqba., probably from his Maghazi. 6 MUIiI'abl-Zubayrj, Nasab Quraysh (ed. LEVI-PROVENCAL), a p. 15; Ibn I;Iazm, Jamharat Ansab al -Arab (ed. LEVI·P'BOVENCAL), p. 12; eomp, the story of the death of Amina, the mother of the prophet on her way back to Mecca from a visit of her maternal uncles of the al Najjar: Ibn Hishlim, Sira, I, 177; and see Mul)..b. I;Iabib, Ummahat aZ·Nabi, p. 2 a, 1. 7·11 (Baghdad 1952). 4 I) THE PAPYRUS ACCOUNT OF THE