Muhammad and the believers : at the origins of Islam
Offers a vision of how Islam first evolved. This title argues that the origins of Islam lie in what we may call the Believers' movement begun by the prophet Muhammad - a movement of religious reform emphasizing strict monotheism and righteous behavior in conformity with God's revealed law.
Print Book, English, 2010
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2010
xviii, 280 s. : illustrations
9780674050976, 9780674064140, 0674050975, 0674064143
1001697551
The Near East on the eve of Islam. The empires of the late antique Near East ; Arabia between the Great Powers ; Mecca and Yathrib (Medina)
Muhammad and the Believers' Movement. The traditional biography of Muhammad the Prophet ; The problem of sources ; The character of the early Believers' Movement
The expansion of the Community of Believers. Sources ; The Community in the last years of Muhammad's life ; Succession to Muhammad and the Ridda Wars ; The character of the Believers' early expansion ; The course and scope of the early expansion
The struggle for leadership of the Community 34-73/655-692. Background of the First Civil War ; The course of the first Civil War (35-40/656-661) ; Between civil wars (40-60/661-680) ; The Second Civil War (60-73/680-692) ; Reflections on the civil wars
The emergence of Islam. The Umayyad Restoration and return to the imperial agenda ; The redefinition of key terms ; Emphasis on Muhammad and the Qur'an ; The problem of the Trinity ; Elaboration of Islamic cultic practices ; Elaboration of the Islamic origins story ; The coalescence of an "Arab" political identity ; Official vs. popular change
Appendix A. The Umma document
Appendix B. Inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem