THE EVOLVING LIFE-STORY OF ABU 'UBAYDAH b. AL-JARRAH

177 Pages·2017·2.19 MB·English

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE CALIPH:
THE EVOLVING LIFE-STORY OF ABU ‘UBAYDAH b. AL-JARRAH

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
İSTANBUL ŞEHİR UNIVERSITY

BY

ALİ GALİB CEBECİ

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN
HISTORY

JUNE 2018

ABSTRACT

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE CALIPH:
THE EVOLVING LIFE-STORY OF ABŪ ‘UBAYDAH b. AL-JARRĀḤ

Cebeci, Ali Galib
MA in History
Thesis Advisor: Assist. Prof. Abdurrahman Atçıl
June 2018, 164 pages

Upon the death of the Prophet, Abū Bakr reportedly nominated two candidates to
lead the Islamic polity: ‘Umar and Abū ‘Ubaydah b. al-Jarrāḥ. Ultimately Abū Bakr
himself was chosen, and he appointed ‘Umar as caliph after him. Later, ‘Umar
reportedly remarked that had Abū ‘Ubaydah lived longer, ‘Umar would have
appointed him as third caliph. The reports that document Abū Bakr and ‘Umar’s
alleged support for Abū ‘Ubaydah’s caliphate seem to contradict foundational
aspects of Sunni identity, namely that the best Companions are the first four caliphs
(Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, and ‘Alī) by virtue of their receiving the caliphate in that
order. However, despite their problematic implications, these reports continued to
be narrated.

This thesis studies why Sunni historians narrated these reports, how they
interpreted them, and how they understood Abū ‘Ubaydah’s legacy. It analyzes
about fifty biographical entries on Abū ‘Ubaydah from Sunni historians of the
3rd/9th to the 10th/16th centuries. The study finds that a majority of entries
narrate at least one of these reports, and that the rate of narration increases over
time. However, many of these same historians also explicitly supported the Sunni
doctrine on ranking Companions. They were willing to narrate reports that did not
fit established doctrine - suggesting that Sunni historiography was to some degree
resilient to the external pressure of doctrine - but they were unwilling to explore
the theological implications of such reports - suggesting that in other respects,
Sunni historiography was not fully insulated from theological pressures. The issue is
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important not just because it clarifies the hitherto-understated legacy of a man who
nearly became Islam’s first caliph, but also because it sheds light on the
interpretative tools Sunni historians deployed to deal with problematic reports, and
explores the dynamic between historiography and theology in Islamic thought.

Keywords: Sunni historiography, prosopography, hadith, khabar, caliph, Abū
‘Ubaydah

v
ÖZ

NEREDEYSE HALİFE OLAN SAHABE:
EBU UBEYDE b. EL-CERRAH’IN DÖNÜŞEN HAYAT HİKAYESİ

Cebeci, Ali Galib
Tarih Yüksek Lisans Programı
Tez Danışmanı : Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Abdurrahman Atçıl
Haziran 2018, 164 sayfa

Peygamberin vefatı üzerine Ebu Bekir'in İslam toplumuna liderlik etmesi için iki aday
gösterdiği rivayet edilir: Ömer ve Ebu Ubeyde b. el-Cerraḥ. En nihayetinde Ebu
Bekir’in kendisi seçildi ve kendinden sonra halife olması için Ömer’i atadı.
Rivayetlere göre Ömer daha sonra şöyle dedi: eğer Ebu Ubeyde daha uzun yaşamış
olsaydı, onu üçüncü halife olarak atardım. Ebu Bekir ve Ömer’in halife olması için
Ebu Ubeyde’ye verdikleri söylenen bu destek, Sünni kimliğin temel yönlerinden biri
olan “makamı en yüksek sahabeler, halifeliğe geldikleri sıra hasebiyle; ilk dört
halifedir (Ebu Bekir, Ömer, Osman, Ali)” fikri ile çelişiyor gibi görünüyor. Ancak,
sorunlu olabilecek içermelerine rağmen, bu rivayetler nakledilmeye devam edildi.

Bu tez çalışması, Sünni tarihçilerin bu raporları neden aktardıklarını, bunları nasıl
yorumladıklarını ve Ebu Ubeyde’nin mirasını nasıl anladıklarını araştırmaktadır. Bu
tez, 3’üncü/9'uncu ve 10’uncu/16’ıncı yüzyıllar arasında Sünni tarihçilerin Ebu
Ubeyde hakkında yazdıkları 50 biyografik kaydı analiz etmektedir. Bu araştırmada,
kayıtların çoğunun bu raporlardan en az birini içerdiği ve bu rivayetlerin nakledilme
oranının zaman içerisinde arttığı görülmektedir. Fakat aynı tarihçilerin çoğu, sahabe
makamlarının sıralamasında Sünni doktrini açıkça desteklemiştir. Yerleşik doktrine
uymayan rivayetleri nakletmeye razı olmaları Sünni tarihyazımının bir dereceye
kadar doktrinin dış baskısına karşı dirençli olduğunu gösteriyor, fakat aynı zamanda
bu tür rivayetlerin teolojik içermelerini incelemeye isteksiz olmaları da diğer bir
açıdan Sünni tarihyazımının teolojik baskılardan tamamen yalıtılmış olmadığını
gösteriyor. Bu araştırmanın ehemmiyeti, sadece Müslümanların ilk halifesi
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olabilecek bir sahabenin şimdiye dek hafife alınmış mirasını açıklığa kavuşturmakta
değil, aynı zamanda Sünni tarihçiler tarafından sorunlu rivayetlerle başa çıkmak için
kullanılan yorumlayıcı araçlara da ışık tutmakta ve İslam düşüncesinde, tarihyazımı
ve teolojinin arasındaki dinamik ilişkiyi incelemektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Sünni tarihyazımı, prosopografi, hadis, rivayet, halife, Ebu
Ubeyde

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to thank Professor Abdulrahman Atçıl for his continued support
over the course of this entire project. The thesis has something to commend itself,
it is through his many points of feedback and guidance. I would also like to thank
Professor Abdulhamit Kırmızı and Professor Hasan Karataş, both of whom provided
me with the feedback needed to improve the project, and the encouraged needed
to continue down this particular path of research. I must further thank Professor
Abdulhamit for supplying the idea that sparked the entire project, and for laying the
methodological groundwork without which this would not be possible. I wish to
thank Professor Engin Akarlı for taking the time to help me develop that idea into a
practical project, whether this meant dedicating hours of class time to drilling me
on the thesis structure or giving up his lunch-breaks to talk over the wider
significance of the project. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Tufan Buzpınar,
who so warmly welcomed me to the department and made my transition into
academic life in Istanbul far easier than it otherwise might have been.

I cannot express enough thanks to my family - we were always a big family and
today we are bigger, with the happy result that I am not sure who to name first and
who to name last. I duck the issue by noting that to each and every one of them I
owe a great deal of gratitude that I may not be able to always express, but I hope
they know is always there.

All that being said, I must end with the humble admission that all ḥamd is for God,
Rabb al-‘Ālamīn.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iv
Öz vi
Acknowledgements viii
Table of Contents ix
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xii
List of Symbols and Abbreviations xiii
CHAPTERS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Structure & Sources 8
1.2. Ranking the Companions 10
2. THE LIFESTORY(S) OF ABŪ ‘UBAYDAH 14
2.1. Classical Sunni Portrayal 19
2.2. Referencing the Reports 23
3. SET 1 PRIMARY SOURCES 30
3.1. Three paradigms on the origins of Islamic historiography 30
3.2. Set 1 Entries 39
3.3. Analysis of Set 1 63
4. SET 2 PRIMARY SOURCES 65
4.1. Khalidi on History and Adab 65
4.2. Khalidi on History and Hikma 67
4.3. Set 2 Entries 68
4.4. Analysis of Set 2 84
5. SET 3 PRIMARY SOURCES 87
5.1. Khalidi on History and Siyasa 87
5.2. Set 3 Entries 90
5.3. Analysis of Set 3 105
6. SET 4 PRIMARY SOURCES 107
6.1. Set 4 Entries 107
6.2. Analysis of Set 4 136
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7. CONCLUSION 138
7.1. Development of the Genre 144
7.2. Comprehensiveness 144
7.3. Usage of Isnād 147
7.4. Ordering of Entries 150
BIBLIOGRAPHY 155

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