Critical Assumptions

[dklei...@gmail.com]

I think it might be useful to outline my general position about the
early days of Islam:

It seems to be certain that the man known as Muhammad was a religious
teacher in the Hijaz (used in the broader sense) active just after the
turn of the seventh Christian century (the 600's).
Nothing more can be assumed with such assurance. His actual name may
not have been Muhammad - some traditions have stated his name was
Qutham.

The dogma that Muhammad was a messenger, or prophet, of God is first
documented in the 72nd Muslim year (691 CE) in the inscriptions of the
Dome on the Rock in Jerusalem. In the interim a great deal had
happened about which we only limited documentation.

First, the Roman empire at Constantinople and the Sassanian empire in
Persia fought a long war which reduced both parties to exhaustion. The
war ended in 632 CE and immediately thereafter both empires were
attacked by raiders from Arabia. The Persian empire soon collapsed,
but the Romans limited the advance toward Constantinople to northern
Syria although they lost all their possessions south of Anatolia
including whatever they ruled in Africa.

When the smoke clears away and some reliable records can be found a
man named Mu'awiya is ruling over an empire from his capital in
Damascus. We have good reason to believe that Mu'awiya came into
absolute power when his principle opponent, a man named 'Ali was
assassinated. 'Ali's assassination is traditionally dated to the 40th
Muslim year (661 CE). With a fair degree of assurance we know that
there had been an earlier ruler who was himself assassinated around
the 35th Muslim year (656 CE) and Mu'awiya and 'Ali were struggling
over his legacy. Not very reliable records say that the previous ruler
was named 'Uthman and that he had been named emir by a small group of
elite Arab leaders.

Later tradition which I feel cannot be trusted names two earlier
rulers - Umar and Abu Bakr - between 'Uthman and Muhammad. There is no
reason to accept the legend that Muhammad was a ruler or that he was
succeeded by, first, Abu Bakr and then by Umar. There is considerable
evidence to support the idea that "Uthman's capital was the oasis of
Yathrib in the northern Hijaz where a city called al-Madinat (which is
Arabic for "the city") grew up.

We do not know much about the religion Mu'awiya practiced. Reasonable
records show him dealing with Christians and Jews on a familiar basis.
In his best preserved inscription he calls himself OBD ALLE, slave (or
servant) of Allah and nothing connects him with any pagan cults.

The Muslim era started in 622 CE and it was in use widely within
twenty years. We have no real idea what event, or even whether there
was an event, from which the era was measured. Later traditions state
that the era commemorates Muhammad's move from Makkat to Yathrib, but
to accept that explanation is to accept that Muhammad did so move and
that is very dubious. The traditional abbreviation AH for Muslim years
is based on this theory.

After Mu'awiya died in 60 AH (680 CE) civil war broke out. One event
that had later important consequences was the massacre of a man
claiming to be 'Ali's son Husayn and his party at Karbala in 61AH (680
CE). Mu'awiya's direct line of descendants failed and the leadership
in Damascus passed to a cousin, Marwan. But Marwan was opposed by
Abdullah bn al-Zubayr and the civil war went on until AH 73 (692 CE)
when the army of Marwan's son Abd al-Malik killed al-Zubayr in Makkat.
This is our first real information about Makkat and it seems clear
that it was Ibn al-Zubayr who made Makkat famous and built the first
real ka'aba there.

Abd al-Malik began a strenuous campaign to create an Arab empire at a
par with empire in Constanople. He sponsered the idea, which might
have surprised the historical Muhammad, that Islam was a new religion
on a par with Christianity and Judaism. It seems certain that memories
of the teaching of Muhammad had been circulating, often in written
form, ever since his death. Some of this material is first documented
in the inscriptions on the Dome on the Rock. The final form of these
teachings - the Qur'an that has come down to us - was made around
150-160 AH (because Ibn Ishaq appears not to be aware of it and Malik
ibn Anas is). In the meantime a large mostly oral tradition grew up
called the hadith literature.

This is really only intended to summarize Islamic history down to 73
AH and a great deal more is known about what happened thereafter than
I have mentioned here.