Crossroads to Islam: The Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State
Encyclopedia
Crossroads to Islam: The Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State is a book by archaeologist Yehuda D. Nevo
and researcher Judith Koren. The book presents a radical theory of the origins and development of the Islamic state and religion based on archeological, epigraphical
and historiographical research.
and the records of the local non-Muslim populations.
They provide a large selection of inscriptions until now overlooked and uncited in the traditional histories, which for the most part are datable to the 7th and 8th centuries, and use them to trace an historical narrative considerably different from the traditional accounts.
of the 7th and 8th century that lacks the preeminence of any "prophet" or the existence of a religion that would later come to be known as Islam.
Based on the evidence that is presented in the book the authors conclude that
The evidence presented by the authors effectively corroborate the view of other scholars, such as Fred Donner
's historiographical work, John Wansbrough
or Patricia Crone
and Michael Cook
's book Hagarism
who on different grounds propose that Islam and the Qu'ran were not the work of Muhammad or the Arabic deity.
"Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies" in Ibn Warraq
, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad p. 425
The corroboration test used here may be likened to inferential statistics. The null hypothesis is that the historical event assumed by force of tradition alone did not happen. The alternative hypothesis is that it did happen. If we find sufficient corroborative evidence, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that it did happen. If we do not find sufficient corroborative evidence we fail to reject the null hypothesis. In that case we may conclude only that there is insufficient evidence to support the traditional account. It is not possible to conclude that the event "simply did not happen". Between what we know has happened and what we know for sure did not happen is a large gray area of history of stuff we just don't know for sure. Most of history is not known and much of it will never be known.
, compares the work to Holocaust denialism, noting "like Holocaust deniers the authors don't merely question some aspects of the consensus view, they reject it wholesale". Wells critiques the authors as well, noting that while there are other works that question the historicity of early Islam, but the "authors are unusual only in rejecting the traditional version outright, not in interrogating it".
A review in the Middle East Quarterly
by David Cook notes that the book covers new ground not addressed by previous works, as the authors delve into areas of archeology and epigraphy
to support their thesis. Cooks finds that the book "employs a very rigorous, historical methodology", and the results to be "plausible or at least arguable".
Yehuda D. Nevo
Yehuda D. Nevo b. 1932 was a Middle Eastern archeologist living in Israel. He died after a long battle with cancer in 1992.Nevo discovered Kufic inscriptions in the Negev desert in Israel, four hundred of which were published in Ancient Arabic Inscriptions from the Negev...
and researcher Judith Koren. The book presents a radical theory of the origins and development of the Islamic state and religion based on archeological, epigraphical
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
and historiographical research.
Methodology
Using a very rigorous, historical methodology the authors examined not only Muslim literature but hitherto neglected sources datable to before the 9th century such as archaeological excavations, numismatics, rock inscriptionsEpigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
and the records of the local non-Muslim populations.
They provide a large selection of inscriptions until now overlooked and uncited in the traditional histories, which for the most part are datable to the 7th and 8th centuries, and use them to trace an historical narrative considerably different from the traditional accounts.
Thesis
From the archeological evidence and the lack thereof of the 7th century and Islamic period, the authors cast doubt onto the veracity of the traditional accounts of early Islamic origins that are still cited as fact in most history books. Notably, the archeological, epigraphical and historiographical evidence provides, according to the authors a view of the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
of the 7th and 8th century that lacks the preeminence of any "prophet" or the existence of a religion that would later come to be known as Islam.
Based on the evidence that is presented in the book the authors conclude that
- Traditional narratives of the 7th and 8th century are a complete construct and cannot stand up to historical examination on the basis of archeological and epigraphical evidence and non-Muslim records.
- The Arabs were in fact pagan when they assumed power in the 7th century in the regions formerly ruled by the Byzantine EmpireByzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
.
- The Arabs took control almost without a struggle, because ByzantiumByzantiumByzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
had effectively withdrawn from the area long before.
- After taking control, the Arabs adopted a simple monotheism based on Judaeo-Christianity, which they encountered in their newly occupied territories, and gradually developed it into an Arab religion which culminated in Islam in the mid-8th century .
The evidence presented by the authors effectively corroborate the view of other scholars, such as Fred Donner
Fred Donner
Fred McGraw Donner is an Islamic scholar and Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.-Early life:Donner was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where he attended public schools...
's historiographical work, John Wansbrough
John Wansbrough
John Edward Wansbrough was an American historian who taught at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies . Wansbrough's emphasis was on the critique of traditional accounts of the origins of Islam...
or Patricia Crone
Patricia Crone
Patricia Crone, Ph.D., is a scholar, author, Orientalist, and historian of early Islamic history working at the Institute for Advanced Study. She established herself as a major challenger to the established narrative of the early history of Islam.- Career :Patricia Crone completed her...
and Michael Cook
Michael Cook (historian)
Michael Allan Cook is an English-Scottish historian and scholar of Islamic history. He has co-authored a book with Patricia Crone, notably Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World....
's book Hagarism
Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World
Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World is a controversial, scholarly book on the early history of Islam written by the historians Patricia Crone and Michael Cook...
who on different grounds propose that Islam and the Qu'ran were not the work of Muhammad or the Arabic deity.
Quote
- Since external evidence is necessary to corroborate a view derived solely from the MuslimMuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
literary account, lack of such corroboration is an important argument against that account's historicityHistoricityHistoricity may mean:*the quality of being part of recorded history, as opposed to prehistory*the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth or legend, for example:** Historicity of the Iliad**Historicity...
. This approach is therefore more open than the 'traditional' to acceptance of an argumentum e silentioArgument from silenceThe argument from silence is generally a conclusion based on silence of opponent, failing to give evidence. In the field of classical studies, it often refers to the deduction from the lack of references to a subject in the available writings of an author to the conclusion that he was ignorant of it...
. For if we are ready to discount an uncorroborated report of an event, we must accept that there may be nothing with which to replace it: that the event simply did not happen. That there is no evidence for it outside of the "traditional account" thus becomes positive evidence in support of the hypothesisHypothesisA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that it did not happen. A striking example is the lack of evidence, outside the Muslim literature, for the view that the Arabs were Muslim at the time of the Conquest.
"Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies" in Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq
Ibn Warraq is the pen name of a polemical author of Pakistani origin who is critical of Islam, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society . He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry focusing on Qur'anic criticism...
, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad p. 425
The corroboration test used here may be likened to inferential statistics. The null hypothesis is that the historical event assumed by force of tradition alone did not happen. The alternative hypothesis is that it did happen. If we find sufficient corroborative evidence, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that it did happen. If we do not find sufficient corroborative evidence we fail to reject the null hypothesis. In that case we may conclude only that there is insufficient evidence to support the traditional account. It is not possible to conclude that the event "simply did not happen". Between what we know has happened and what we know for sure did not happen is a large gray area of history of stuff we just don't know for sure. Most of history is not known and much of it will never be known.
Reception
Colin Wells, writing for the Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewBryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review is an open access journal founded in 1990. It publishes reviews of current scholarly work in the field of classical studies including classical archaeology. This journal is the second oldest online humanities scholarly journal. It provides both online and print...
, compares the work to Holocaust denialism, noting "like Holocaust deniers the authors don't merely question some aspects of the consensus view, they reject it wholesale". Wells critiques the authors as well, noting that while there are other works that question the historicity of early Islam, but the "authors are unusual only in rejecting the traditional version outright, not in interrogating it".
A review in the Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
by David Cook notes that the book covers new ground not addressed by previous works, as the authors delve into areas of archeology and epigraphy
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
to support their thesis. Cooks finds that the book "employs a very rigorous, historical methodology", and the results to be "plausible or at least arguable".
Further reading
- The Quest for the Historical Muhammad
- Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic WorldHagarism: The Making of the Islamic WorldHagarism: The Making of the Islamic World is a controversial, scholarly book on the early history of Islam written by the historians Patricia Crone and Michael Cook...
- Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical WritingNarratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical WritingNarratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing is a book by historiographer of early Islam Fred Donner.The book presents a tradition-critical account of the origins of Islam...