Documentary Evidence In the traditional account of islamic history most of the sources date from more than 200 years after the events that they claim to describe. They can therefore in no way be regarded as the earliest documentary evidence related to the origins of Islam and the Arab conquest. There are, however, many other well-attested documents that describe this period of the Arab conquest. This is because the Arabs conquered territories (including Egypt, Syria and Persia) where literacy was firmly established among the elites. We can, therefore, turn to the writings of these conquered societies to gain a contemporary perspective on the conquest. It should, by now, not be surprising to find that these sources paint a very different picture of the early origins of Islam from the one presented in the traditional Islamic accounts. The basic question that, whether these documents support the idea that Islam emerged fully formed from the Arabian Desert in the 630s CE. It will quickly become apparent that they do not. The Doctrina Jacobi (written between 634 and 640 CE). This is perhaps the earliest document that came down to us in which some of the elements of the Arab conquest are described. A key passage reads: “And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I, having arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens? He replied, groaning deeply: He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out about the prophet who has appeared. So I, Abraham, inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of mens blood. He says also that he has the keys of paradise, which is incredible (i.e. ‘unbelievable’)” It is, firstly, the case that the prophet of the Saracens (i.e. the Arab invaders) is presented as still being alive, despite this text having been written at least two years after Muhammad supposedly died. Secondly, the prophet of the Arabs seems to be proclaiming some version of Christianity, note especially the references that he foreshadowed the Christ who was to come and that he has the keys of paradise. So whoever this prophet was, his actions and beliefs clearly do not correspond to the traditional account of who Muhammad was. The way in which he is presented also contradicts a crucial aspect of the traditional account of Muhammads biography, namely that he died in 632. Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem (died 639 CE). Sophronius was the Patriarch (senior Christian religious leader) of Jerusalem during the Arab invasion. He wrote at length about the plight of the Christian community in Jerusalem under the Arabs and portrays the fall of Jerusalem as part of the judgment of God on a community that strayed from His ways. His accounts are interesting both in terms of how the invaders are portrayed and also in terms of what is absent from this description. Traditional Muslim versions of the story of the capture of Jerusalem by the Arabs state that they were particularly magnanimous and treated the Christian population with the greatest respect. This is certainly not the perspective of the patriarch! He portrays the Arab invasion as an utter calamity and describes their conduct in the bleakest and darkest of terms. Far from respecting the Christians, it seems the Saracens (as he habitually refers to the Arab invaders) even went as far as pulling down churches. This is significantly at odds with the way Muslim sources would later come to interpret these events. What is perhaps more significant for our purposes is the fact that Islam is entirely absent from the descriptions of the Patriarch. He calls the Saracens ‘godless’ and ‘Fighters against God’, but there is no indication in any of these writings that the Arabs had a specific prophet, a specific book or a specific religion called Islam. This is a remarkable omission, given the traditional Muslim account of these events. It is even more so because Sophronius is writing to strengthen his community and to help them to withstand the pressures that the Arabs are applying against them. In this context, it would have made perfect sense to address features of the religious beliefs of the Arabs in order to equip his flock to better interact with them. Yet, in none of the writings of Sophronius that have come down to us is there any indication whatsoever that such a thing as Islam even existed! This is utterly remarkable because it comes from a source that was an eyewitness to the conquest and who lived cheek-by-jowl with the Arabs over an extended period.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 20:43:42 +0000
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