Table Of ContentMUHAMMAD'S
GRAVE
•
Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society
Leor Halevi
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since I893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2007 Leor Halevi
Paperback edition, 2011
All rights reserved
The author and the press thank the Medieval Academy of America, the College of Liberal
Arts at Texas A&M University, and the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities
Research for grants supporting in part the publication of this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Halevi, Leor.
Muhammad's grave : death rites and the making oflslamic society I Leor Halevi.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-13742-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-13743-o (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-51193-~ (e-book)
1. Islam-History. 2. Islam-Social aspects. 3. Funeral rites and ceremonies, Islamic.
4. MulJ.ammad, Prophet, d. 632. I. Title.
BP50.H34 2007
297.3'85-dc22
2006025614
@
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c10987654
p10987654321
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Map xvi
INTRODUCTION
Funerary Traditions and the Making oflslamic Society
Tradition, Law, and Practice 5
CHAPTER ONE
Tombstones: Markers of Social and Religious Change, 650--800 14
Commemorating the Muslim Fathers 17
7he Process ofI slamization 20
Traditionist Opposition to Tombstones 32
Early Shi'ite Versus Late Sunni Concessions 38
7he Paradox ofI slamization 41
CHAPTER TWO
Washing the Corpse in Arabia and Mesopotamia 43
Everyman's Prophet and His Wives 45
Washing Corpses in Medina 51
7he Sexual Boundary in Iraqi Law 55
vi CONTENTS
Beautifying the Body 64
Mamicizing the Corpse 68
The Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian Contexts 76
CHAPTER THREE
Shrouds: Worldly Possessions in an Economy of Salvation 84
Remembering Mul;ammad's Shrouds After the Arab Conquests 85
Sources ofR eligious or Worldly Distinction 94
Family Debts rno
Shroud Gifts in the Age oft he Caliphs rn6
CHAPTER FOUR
Wailing for the Dead in the House oflslam n4
The Birth ofT ragedy in al-Jahiliyya n6
Reactions to a Ritual ofM ourning 119
Padlocking the Women in Kuja 127
Women in Defense ofL ament 135
The Rise ofI slam and the Question ofW omen 138
CHAPTER FIVE
Urban Processions and Communal Prayers:
Opportunities for Social, Economic, and Religious Distinction 143
The Urban Context: Cemeteries 146
Against Pomp in Processions 149
Ethiopian Biers for Notable Women 153
Muslim Participation in Jews' or Christians' Funerals 155
Communal Prayer for Impeifect Muslims 160
CHAPTER SIX
The Politics of Burial and Tomb Construction 165
The Funeral Hierarchy: Governors, Patriarchs, and Husbands 168
An Imam of Their Own 177
Gestures ofL eadership, or The Imam and the Hermaphrodite 179
Inserting the Corpse Into the Tomb 182
CONTENTS vii
A Prayer for God's Slave 186
Low Graves Facing Mecca 187
The Marwanid Reconstruction ofM ul;ammad's Sepulcher 191
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Torture of Spirit and Corpse in the Grave 197
The Qur'dnic al-Barzakh Between Bones and Soul 202
The journey oft he Spirit and the Sojourn in the Grave 207
Purgation or Retribution in the Grave 215
The Efficaciousness ofR ituals and the Afterlife 226
EPILOGUE
Death Rites and the Process oflslamic Socialization 234
List of Abbreviations 241
Notes 243
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Records ofM aterial Culture 339
2. Primary Sources 343
3. Secondary Sources 351
Index 379
Illustrations
1.1. The tombstone of Fatima hint al-1:lasan (d. 102
AH/721 CE) 22
3.1. An early Islamic tunic of undyed wool 89
3.2. The fragmented wool tapestry identified with caliph
Marwan 93
3. 3. A seventh- or eighth-century weaving from a Persian or
Mesopotamian loom 94
4. 1. Desperate women and mournful men 121
5. 1. Man bearing a bier 145
Acknowledgments
I
began researching Islamic death rituals in Paris in the spring of 1999,
wrote the first chapter in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and drafts of oth
ers in Philadelphia; I revised the manuscript in College Station, Texas,
and completed the book in Washington, O.C., in the winter of 2005. Over
the course of researching and writing, I incurred many debts I am glad to
acknowledge. In the first place', I would like to express my gratitude to my
teachers, Roy Mottahedeh, Michael Cook, and Wolfhart Heinrichs. They
read an early draft of this book (my doctoral dissertation), provided me with
key suggestions that led me to reconsider arguments and translations, and
expanded my horizons by introducing me to new sources. William Graham
also served as a reader of my thesis and made many helpful comments, for
which I am grateful. Everett Rowson, Muhammad Qasim Zaman, and
Gerald Hawting served as the "anonymous" readers of the manuscript for
Columbia University Press. Thanks to their generous, meticulous criticism
and insightful suggestions, the revised manuscript is far better than my
original submission. Throughout this book I have tried to do justice to the
high standards of these seven scholars. Despite my best efforts, certain errors
may remain, and for these I must claim sole responsibility.
A number of fellowships enabled me to devote several years of my life to
researching in various libraries. The American Council of Learned Societies
granted me the Library of Congress Fellowship in International Studies.
On account of this fellowship, I was able to research Arabic manuscripts at
the Library of Congress, both in the Law Library and in the African and
xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Middle Eastern Reading Room, and to write in the supportive, intellectual
environment of the John W Kluge Center. Harvard University's Packard
Fellowship in the Humanities provided me with the necessary funding to
conduct research at the University of Pennsylvania's Van Pelt Library and at
Princeton University's Firestone Library. Thanks to the Center for the Study
of World Religions, which granted me a residential fellowship, I enjoyed the
recondite treasures of Harvard University's Widener Library and the Law
School Library. In addition, Harvard University and Texas A&M University
supported my work with a series of modest but instrumental grants. Kindly
honoring my requests, librarians at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks
Library and at Texas A&M University's Evans Library acquired a number
of rare or essential books. I am grateful to all of these institutions and their
staff for facilitating my research.
My work benefited also from the suggestions of numerous individuals
who commented critically on a draft, engaged me in a stimulating dialogue,
or recommended readings that nurtured my imagination. In particular I
should like to thank Eli Alshech, Terry Anderson, Peter Brown, Patricia
Crone, Brian Delay, David Frankfurter, C::emal Kafadar, Hayim Lapin,
Christopher Melchert, Hossein Modarressi, Harald Motzki, Maya Muller,
Kevin Reinhart, Paula Sanders, Bernard Septimus, and Lennart Sundelin. I
also thank the members of various writing groups at Harvard, the University
of Pennsylvania, and Texas A&M, and the anonymous readers of my articles
in Past & Present and History ofR eligions.
These articles are "Wailing for the Dead: The Role of Women in Early
Islamic Funerals," Past & Present 183 (2004): 3-39; and "The Paradox of
Islamization: Tombstone Inscriptions, Qur' anic Recitations, and the Prob
lem of Religious Change," History ofR eligions 44 (2004): 120-152. I thank
the Past and Present Society, Oxford University Press, and the University of
Chicago Press for granting me the permission to reprint with modifications
my contributions to their journals.
Christopher Graff designed the map, in consultation with me and under
the guidance of the geographer Christian Brannstrom. Rob Fellman copy
edited the manuscript; Robert Swanson indexed it; and Michael Haskell
edited it. I thank them all for their fine work.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
My editor at Columbia University Press, Wendy Lochner, has been
amazingly effective in replying to my numerous queries. I thank her, also,
for her enthusiasm for this project.
Lauren Clay, my wife and colleague, advised me on nearly every aspect
of this book. I am most grateful for her companionship over the years, for
her critical reading of two drafts, and for indulging my fascination with
the rise oflslam. Our son, Joshua, has spent half of his life in Washington,
D.C., away from our home in Texas, to allow me to write this book while
enjoying his company. With his extrabiblical stories about the origins of the
Israelites, my grandfather, Saba Bela (Benyamin Karmeli), first kindled my
interest in the history of religion. I dedicate this history to his memory.
MUHAMMAD'S GRAVE
