Mohammed and the Rise of Islam

567 Pages·2003·18.078 MB·English

by  D. S. Margoliouth, David Samuel Margoliouth

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Deroes of tbe mations
EDITED BY
lb. m. Carlees Davie
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD
FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE
GLORIA RERUM, OVID IN LIVIAM 266.
THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON
FAME SHALL LIVE.
MOHAMMED
THE ASCENSION OF MOHAMMED.
D'Ohuon's Tableau Général de VEmpire Othoman.
M O H A M M ED
AND
THE RISE OF ISLAM
BY
D. S. MARGOLIOUTH
•À
GORGIAS PRESS
2003
First Gorgias Press Edition, 2003.
The special contents of this edition are copyright <£> 2003 by
Gorgias Press LLC.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press
LLC, New Jersey. This edition is a facsimile reprint of the
original edition published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, London,
1905.
ISBN 1-931956-74-X
GORGIAS PRESS
46 Orris Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
www.gorgiaspress.com
Printed and bound simultaneously in the United States of America and
Great Britain.
PREFACE
T
HE biographers of the Prophet Mohammed*
form a long series which it is impossible to
end, but in which it would be honourable
to find a place. The most famous of them is prob-
ably Sir Walter Raleigh, f while the palm for elo-
quence and historical insight may well be awarded
to Gibbon. %
During the time when Gibbon wrote, and for long
after, historians mainly relied for their knowledge of
the life of Mohammed on the Biography of Abu'l-
Fidä, who died in the year 722 A.H., 1322 A.D., of
whose work Gagnier produced an indifferent edition.§
The scholars of the nineteenth century were natur-
ally not satisfied with so late an authority; and they
succeeded in bringing to light all the earliest docu-
ments preserved by the Mohammedans. The merit
* Of the sources of the biography of the Prophet a valuable ac-
count is given by E. Sachau, Ibn Sad III., i., Preface.
t The Life and Death of Mahomet, London, 1637.
J Among eloquent accounts of ^Mohammed, that in Mr. Reade's
Martyrdom of Man, r4th ed., 260 foil., deserves mention. That
by Wellhausen in the introduction to Das Arabische Reich und sein
Sturz is masterly in the extreme.
§ Oxford, 1723. Abu'1-Fidä is referred to as the chief authority
perhaps for the last time by T. Wright, Christianity in Arabia.
iii
iv Preface
of discovering and utilising these ancient works is
shared by G. Weil, Caussin de Perceval, F. Wiisten-
feld, A. Sprenger, and Sir William Muir; and the
Lives of Mohammed by the last two of these writers *
are likely to be regarded as classical so long as there
are students of Oriental history in Europe; notwith-
standing the fact that Muir's Life is written with a
confessedly Christian bias, and that Sprenger's is de-
faced by some slipshod scholarship and untrust-
worthy archseology.f
Since these works were composed, knowledge of
Mohammed and his time has been increased by the
publication of many Arabic texts, and the labours of
European scholars on Mohammedan antiquities. :j;
The works of I. Goldziher, J. Wellhausen, and Th.
Noldeke have elucidated much that was obscure, and
facilitated the understanding of Arabian history both
before and after the Prophet. And from the follow-
ing Arabic works, most of which have been published
since Sprenger and Muir wrote, many fresh details
of interest and even of importance occasionally have
been furnished.
i. The Musnad,or collection of traditions of Ahmad
Ibn Hanbal, who died in 241 A.H., (855 A.D.: Cairo,
* Muir's, London, 1857-1861 ; Sprenger's (2d ed.), Berlin, 1869.
Wellhausen's judgment of it ( Wakidi, pp. 24-26) is absolutely
fair and sound.
\ The most important Lives of Mohammed which have appeared
in Europe are those by L. Krehl (Leipzig, 1884), H. Grimme (Muns-
ter, 1892-1895), F. Buhl (Copenhagen, 1903). The new editions of
Grimme's work and of Wollaston's Half-hours with Mohammed,
and the magnificent work of Prince Caetani were published too late
for the present writer to utilise.
Preface v
1890, in six volumes, fol.). In this work the sayings
of the Prophet recorded by different individuals are
given in separate collections for each individual. The
same tradition is sometimes given ten, twenty, or
even a hundred times. Much of the matter is
scarcely to be found elsewhere, and is likely to be
genuine. The account of this work given by Gold-
ziher, Z. D. M. G., 1. 463-599, is of course excellent.
2. The gigantic Commentary on the Koran by the
historian Tabari, who died 310 A.H., (922 A.D.: Cairo,
1902-1904, in thirty volumes, fol.). This commentary
is for the historian of far greater value than the pop-
ular commentaries of Zamakhshari and Baidawi, who
lived many centuries later, and were influenced by
later controversies.
3. The Isabah, or Dictionary of Persons who knew
Mohammed, by Ibn Hajar (Calcutta, 1853-1894,
four volumes). In spite of the late date of the author
of this great dictionary, his work is historically valu-
able, owing to the fact that it embodies matter taken
from sources which are no longer accessible. Ibn
Hajar was possessed of an extraordinary library.
4. The works of early Arabic writers, especially
the polygraph 'Amr, son of Bahr, called Al-Jahiz,
who died in 255 A.H. (868 A.D.). Of his works there
are now accessible three edited by the late Van
Vloten, and the treatise on rhetoric published in
Cairo. Though not dealing directly with Moham-
med, they contain many an allusion which it is pos-
sible to utilise.
The present writer has gone through, in addition
to these (so far as they were accessible to him),
vi Preface
the authorities utilised already by his predecessors,
of which the chief are enumerated in the Biblio-
graphy. One of these, the Class Book of Ibn ScUd
(ob. 230 A.H., 845 A.D.) is in course of publication.
Since the authors of books in this series have the
number of their pages limited, it has been found
necessary to abbreviate, and this has been done by
omitting three kinds of matter :
1. Translations of the Koran (except in the rarest
cases).
2. All anecdotes that are obviously or most prob-
ably fabulous.
3. Such incidents as are of little consequence
either in themselves or for the development of the
narrative.
Some principles for estimating the credibility of
traditions are given by Muir in his Introduction, and
by Goldziher in his Muhammadanische Studien. A
few important observations bearing on this subject
are also made by Nôldeke, Z. D. M. G., lii., 16, foil.
The number of motives leading to the fabrication of
traditions was so great that the historian is in con-
stant danger of employing as veracious records what
were deliberate fictions. I can only hope that I
have not displayed greater credulity than my pre-
decessors. In condemning traditions as unhistorical
I have ordinarily considered the obelus of Goldziher,
Nôldeke, or Wellhausen as sufficient.
The standpoint from which this book is written
is suggested by the title of the series. I regard
Mohammed as a great man, who solved a political
problem of appalling difficulty,—the construction of