Early Islam has emerged as a lively site of historical investigation, and scholars have challenged the traditional accounts of Islamic origins by drawing attention to the wealth of non-Islamic sources that describe the rise of Islam. A Prophet Has Appeared brings this approach to the classroom. This collection provides students and scholars with carefully selected, introduced, and annotated materials from non-Islamic sources dating to the early years of Islam. These can be read alone or alongside the Qur'an and later Islamic materials. Applying historical-critical analysis, the volume moves these invaluable sources to more equal footing with later Islamic narratives about Muhammad and the formation of his new religious movement.Included are new English translations of sources by twenty authors, originally written in not only Greek and Latin but also Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Hebrew, and Arabic and spanning a geographic range from England to Egypt and Iran. Ideal for the classroom and personal library, this sourcebook provides readers with the tools to meaningfully approach a new, burgeoning area of Islamic studies.
Stephen J. Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies and Ira E. Gaston Fellow in Christian Studies at the University of Oregon. He is a specialist on early Christian apocrypha, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and the rise of Islam. He is the author of The Death of a Prophet, The Apocalypse of Empire, and Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion, among many other publications.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction 1 The Teaching of Jacob the Newly Baptized 2 Synodical Letter, Homily on the Nativity, and Homily on EpiphanySophronius of Jerusalem3 A Syriac Fragment Concerning the Believers' Invasion of Syria4 Letter 14Maximus the Confessor5 Chronicle Thomas the Presbyter6 The Armenian Chronicle of 661 attributed to Sebeos7 The Spiritual Meadow, Appendix to the Georgian VersionJohn Moschus8 Homily on the End-TimesPs.-Ephrem the Syrian9 Letter 14CIshoʿyahb III of Adiabene10 Edifying Tales, Homily on the Lord’s Passion, The Hodegos, and Questions and AnswersAnastasius of Sinai11 The Khuzistan Chronicle 12 The Apocalypse of Rabbi Shimʿōn b. Yohai, The Secrets of Rabbi Shimʿōn b. Yohai 13 Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer 30 14 The Maronite Chronicle 15 On the Holy Places Adomnán / Arculf16 The Apocalypse of Ps.-Shenoute17 The Book of Main Points John Bar Penkaye18 Fourth Letter to John the StyliteJacob of Edessa19 The Passion of Peter of Capitolias 20 Excerpts from a Lost Seventh-Century Greek Source,The Chronicle of Theophanes, The Chronicle of Agapius,The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian, and The Chronicle of 1234NotesBibliographyIndex
"A marvel of concision and originality; best of all, it is readily accessible to the general reader. . . . A Prophet Has Appeared is one of the most readable and exciting books in Islamic history."