Muhammad and the Empires of Faith

Sean W. Anthony is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University and author of The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba and the Origins of Shiism and Crucifixion and Death as Spectacle: Umayyad Crucifixion in its Late Antique Context.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsThe Caliphs, 632–809Introduction: The Making of the Historical MuhammadPART I. BEFORE THE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE1. The Earliest EvidenceThree Early Non-Muslim Testimonies to MuhammadRevisiting the Doctrina IacobiThe “Keys to Paradise” in Late Antique Religious DiscourseThe “Keys to Paradise” in Early Islamic PreachingThe Doctrina Iacobi and the Historical Muhammad    2. Muhammad the MerchantThe Earliest Depictions of Muhammad as a MerchantMuhammad’s Occupation in the Hadīth and Sīrah-Maghāzī LiteratureMuhammad as a Trader in Arabic SourcesMuhammad and the MonkThe Merchants of MeccaPART II. THE BEGINNINGS OF HTE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE3. The Beginnings of the CorpusThe Umayyads and the Beginnings of the Sīrah-Maghāzī Tradition`Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān and `Urwah ibn al-Zubayr    4. The Letters of `Urwah ibn al-ZubayrThe Chains of Transmission for `Urwah’s LettersA Translation of the Letters Attributed to `Urwah ibn al-ZubayrLetter 1. From the Persecutions in Mecca to the Hijrah to YathribLetter 2. Khadījah’s death and the Prophet’s marriage to `A'ishahLetter 3. The Battle of BadrLetter 4. On al-Hudaybiyah, a Gloss on Q. Mumtahinah 60:10–12Letter 5. The Conquest of Mecca and al-TāʾifLetter 6. On the HumsLetter 7. `A'ishah’s AccusersLetter 8. On Khuwaylah, the wife of Aws ibn al-Sāmit, a Gloss on Q. Mujādalah 58:1–4Letter 9. On the Prophet’s Marriage to a Sister of al-Ash`ath ibn Qays    5. The Court ImpulseIbn Shihāb al-Zuhrī and the UmayyadsThe Corpus of Ibn Shihāb al-ZuhrīIbn Ishāq and the AbbasidsThe Corpus of Ibn Ishāq    PART III. LOCATING THE SIRAH-MAGHAZI LITERATURE IN LATE ANTIQUITY  6. Prophecy and Empires of FaithProphecy and the Rhetoric of EmpireThe Vision of HeracliusIbn Shihāb al-Zuhrī’s Christian SourceTranslatio Imperii in the Early Sīrah-Maghāzī Literature    7. Muhammad and CædmonCædmon’s Call and The Iqraʾ NarrativeFrom Muhammad’s Call to Cædmon’s CallMechanisms of Narrative InfluenceThe Iqra' Narrative—Early, but not HistoricalExcursus: Alternative Accounts of Muhammad’s First Revelation    Epilogue: The Future of the Historical Muhammad    BibliographyIndex

"This carefully researched book provides a thorough analysis . . . [as well as] a new perspective on the study of Muhammad and makes a significant contribution to the scholarly literature. Recommended."