Table Of ContentSTUDIES IN
LATE ANTIQUITY AND EARLY ISLAM
13
SEEING ISLAM
AS OTHERS SAW IT
A SURVEY AND EVALUATION OF
CHRISTIAN, JEWISH AND ZOROASTRIAN
WRITINGS ON EARLY ISLAM
ROBERT G. HOYLAND
THE DARWIN PRESS, INC.
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
1997
Copyright @ 1997 by THE DARWIN PRESS, INC., Princeton, NJ 08543.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hoyland, Robert G., 1966-
Seeing Islam as others saw it : a survey and evaluation of
Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian writings on early Islam / Robert
G. Hoyland.
p.
em. - (Studies in late antiquity and early Islam ; 13)
Includes bibliographical references (p.
) and index.
ISBN 0-87850-125-8 (alk. paper)
1. Islamic Empire-History-622-661-Historiography. 2. Islamic
Empire-History-661-750-Historiography. 3. Middle East-
Civilization-History-To 622-Historiography. I. Title.
II. Series.
DS38.l.H69 1997
939.4-dc21
Second Printing, 2001.
97-19196
CIP
The paper in this book is acid-free neutral pH stock and meets the guidelines
for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines
for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Printed in the United States of America
In Memory of My Father
"The essential vocation of interpretive anthropology is
... to make available to us answers that others ... have
given, and thus to include them in the consultable
record of what man has said." (Clifford Geertz, The
Interpretation of Cultures, Fontana, London 1993, 30)
"It is incumbent upon every writer to set forth what
the various scholars have said according to the sense
in which they said it." (Mas'udl, Muriij al-dhahab, ch.
xlix, §1205)
CONTENTS
Abbreviations ................................................. xv
Acknowledgements ........................................... xvii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I
The Historical and Literary Background
1. The Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Late Antiquity to Early Islam: Continuity or Change? ........ 12
Identity and Allegiance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Apocalypticism .............................................. 26
2. The Nature of the Sources .............................. 32
Redactional Identity and Unavowed Authorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Orality ...................................................... 40
Dialectic and Debate ......................................... 44
PART IIA
Incidental References to Islam
3. Greek Sources ............................................ 53
Prelude ...................................................... 53
A Christian Apologist of 634 ................................. 55
John Moschus (d. 619 or 634) ................................ 61
Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. ca. 639) ............... 67
Pope Martin I ( 649-55) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4
Maximus the Confessor (d. 662) .............................. 76
Anti-Jewish Polemicists of the Seventh Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
The Miracles of S. Demetrim and S. George .................. 87
Anastasi us of Sinai (d. ca. 700) ............................... 92
Patriarch Germanus (715-30) and Iconoclasm ............... 103
Vll
Vlll
Contents
Cosmas of Jerusalem (wr. mid-eighth c.) and Hymnography
107
Stephen the Sabaite (d. 794) ................................ 109
Dubia ...................................................... 110
John the Eremopolite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
A Greek-Coptic Papyrus ................................. 111
Berlin Papyrus no. 10677 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Timothy the Sty lite ..................................... 113
4. West Syrian, Coptic and Armenian Sources .......... 116
Fragment on the Arab Conquests ............................ 116
Thomas the Presbyter (wr. ca. 640) ......................... 118
Homily on the Child Saints of Babylon ...................... 120
Gabriel of Qartmin (d. 648) ................................. 121
Sebeos, Bishop of the Bagratunis ( wr. 660s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Benjamin I, Patriarch of Alexandria (626-65) ................ 132
A Maronite Chronicler ...................................... 135
George of Resh' aina (d. ca. 680) . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. .. . 139
Daniel, Bishop of Edessa (665-84) ........................... 142
Athanasius of Balad, Patriarch of Antioch (683-87) .......... 147
Isaac of Rakoti, Patriarch of Alexandria (689-92) ............ 149
John, Bishop of Nikiu ....................................... 152
Theodotus of Amida (d. 698) . .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . 156
Jacob of Edessa (d. 708) .................................... 160
Zacharias, Bishop of Sakha (d. 720s) ........................ 167
Simeon of the Olives (d. 734) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Dubia ...................................................... 171
A Coptic Papyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Theophilus of Alexandria (ps. ?) . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . 172
A Letter of Bishop Jonah ................................ 172
5. East Syrian Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4
Isho'yahb III of Adiabene (d. 659) .......................... 174
A Chronicler of Khuzistan (wr. ca. 660s) .................... 182
Rabban Hormizd (d. ca. 670) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
George I ( 661-81) and the Synod of 676 . . .. . .. . .. .. . . .. .. .. . 192
John bar Penkaye (wr. 687) ................................. 194
I:Inanisho' the Exegete (d. 700) .............................. 200
John of Day lam (d. 738) .................................... 203
Contents
IX
Isho'bokht, Metropolitan of Fars ............................ 205
The Abbots of the Convent of Sabrisho' ..................... 209
Isho'dnal; of Ba~ra (wr. ca. 850) ............................ 211
Thomas of Marga ( wr. 860s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
6. Latin Sources ............................................ 216
Fredegar, a Frankish Chronicler ( wr. 650s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Arculf (fl. 670s) and Early Islamic Jerusalem ................ 219
Willi bald (fl. 720s) and Other Pilgrims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Later Testimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Dubia ...................................................... 231
Historia miscella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Morienus the Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
7. Jewish, Persian and Chinese Sources .................. 237
Jewish Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Persian Sources ............ _ ................................ .
Chinese Sources ........................................... .
T'ung tien ............................................. .
The Official T'ang History .............................. .
T ' f
..
k
.
s e- u yuan- uez ...................................... .
PART liB
Deliberate References to Islam
241
243
244
249
253
8. Apocalypses and Visions ............................... 257
Syriac Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Ps.-Ephraem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Ps.-Methodius ........................................... 263
The Edessene Ps.-Methodius and John the Little ......... 267
Bal;ira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Ps.-Ezra ................................................ 276
Copto-Arabic Texts ......................................... 278
Ps.-Shenute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Ps.-Athanasius .......................................... 282
Samuel of Qalamun and Pisentius of Qift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Coptic Daniel, XIV Vision ............................... 289
X
Contents
The Apocalypse of Peter/ Book of the Rolls .............. 291
Greek Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Ps.-Methodius, Greek Translation ........................ 295
Greek Daniel, First Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
The Vision of Enoch the Just ........................... 299
Stephen of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
The Andreas Salos Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Hebrew Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
The Secrets of Rabbi Simon ben Yo}_lai ................... 308
Pesiqta rabbati .......................................... 312
The Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer ........................... 313
Jewish Apocalypse on the Umayyads ..................... 316
Signs of the Messiah .................................... 317
On That Day ........................................... 319
A Judaeo-Byzantine Daniel .............................. 320
Persian Texts ............................................... 321
Bahman yasht ........................................... 321
Jiimiisp niimag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Bundahishn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Denkard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
A Pahlavi Ballad on the End of Times ................... 327
The Prophecy of Rostam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
A Judaeo-Persian Daniel ................................ 328
Muslim Arabic Texts ....................................... 330
Signs of the Hour ....................................... 331
'AbdAllah ibn al-Zubayr and the Mahdi ................. 332
Tiberius, Son of Justinian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
An Apocalyptic Chronicle ............................... 334
9. Martyrologies ............................................ 336
Greek Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 7
Sixty Martyrs of Gaza (d. 638) .......................... 347
George the Black (d. 650s) .............................. 351
A Christian Arab of Sinai (d. ca. 660) ................... 352
Peter of Capitolias (d. 715) .............................. 354
Sixty Pilgrims in Jerusalem (d. 724) ..................... 360
Elias of Damascus (d. 779) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Contents
Xl
Romanus the Neomartyr (d. 780) ........................ 365
Copto-Arabic Texts ......................................... 367
Menas the Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Thomas, Bishop of Damascus ............................ 369
Armenian Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
David of Dwin (d. ca. 703) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Vahan (d. 737) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Syriac Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Dubia ...................................................... 379
Michael the Sabaite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
'Abd al-Mas11; al-Najran1 al-Ghassan1 .................... 381
A Muslim at Diospolis ................................... 383
10.
Chronicles and Histories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Syriac Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Short Chronologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Theophilus of Edessa and the Syriac Common Source . . . . 400
The Zuqnin Chronicler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
The Ehnesh Inscription .................................. 415
Dionysius of Tellmal;re .................................. 416
The Chronicles of 819 and 846 .......................... 419
Elias of Nisibis (d. 1049) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Latin Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
The Byzantine-Arab Chronicle of 741 and the
Hispanic Chronicle of 754 ............................ 423
Greek Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Theophanes the Confessor (d. 818) ....................... 428
Patriarch Nicephorus (d. 828) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
A Short Chronology ad annum 818 ...................... 434
Armenian Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Christian Arabic Texts ...................................... 440
Agapius, Bishop of Manbij (wr. 940s) .................... 440
Eutychius of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
The Chronicle of Siirt ................................... 443
The History of the Patriarchs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Jewish Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Samaritan Texts ............................................ 451
Xll
Contents
Derivative Accounts
451
11. Apologies and Disputations ........................... 454
Syriac Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Patriarch John I and an Arab Commander ............... 459
A Monk of Beth J:Iale and an Arab Notable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Timothy I (780-823) .................................... 472
Bal;tira .................................................. 476
Greek Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
John of Damascus (wr. 730s) ............................ 480
The Correspondence of Leo III (717-41) and
'Umar II (717-20) .................................... 490
Christian Arabic Texts ...................................... 502
Fz tathlzth Allah al-wii~id ................................ 502
Papyrus Schott Reinhard no. 438 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Masii'il wa-ajwiba 'aqlzya wa-iliihi:ya ..................... 504
Jewish Texts ............................................... 505
The Ten Wise Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Targum Ps.-Jonathan ................................... 509
Persian Texts ............................................... 511
Latin Texts ................................................. 512
Istoria de Mahomet ..................................... 512
Tultusceptru de libro domni Metobii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
Dubia ...................................................... 516
John the Stylite ......................................... 516
Abjuration .............................................. 517
Ms. Mingana 184 ........................................ 519
PART III
Writing the History of Early Islam
12. Non-Muslim Conceptions of Islam ................... 523
The Tool of God's Wrath ................................... 524
Deliverance from the Wicked Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
An Age of Adversity ........................................ 531
The Fourth Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Contents
Xlll
Abrahamic/Primitive Monotheism .......................... 535
The New Jews .............................................. 538
A Worldly Religion ......................................... 541
13. Using Non-Muslim Sources: an Empirical
Approach ................................................. 545
Islam in the First Century AH ............................... 545
Sacred Direction in Islam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
The Conquest of Egypt ..................................... 574
14. Using Non-Muslim Sources: an Argumentative
Approach ................................................. 591
What is the Source of the Observation? ..................... 592
What is the Character of the Observation? .................. 594
What is the Subject of the Observation? .................... 595
PART IV
Ex curses
A. The Canons and Resolutions of Jacob of Edessa ..... 601
Questions of Addai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
Canons of Jacob ............................................ 603
Further Questions of Addai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
Questions of Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Questions of John .......................................... 609
Questions of Abraham ...................................... 610
B. The Byzantine-Arab Chronicle of 741 and Its
Eastern Source ........................................... 611
C. An Outline of the Syriac Common Source . . . . . . . . . . . 631
D. The Passion of David of Dwin ......................... 672
E. Georgian Historical Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
F. Dated Arabic Writings, AH 1-135/622-752 .......... 687
Dated Writings before AH 72/691 ........................... 688
Religious Declarations by Caliphs in Dated Writings
of AH 72-135/691-752 ................................... 695
XIV
Contents
Maps
705
Bibliography 1: Primary Sources ........................... 709
Bibliography II: Secondary Sources ........................ 747
Index ......................................................... 827
