THE EMERGENCE OF ISLAM IN LATE ANTIQUITY Based on epigraphic and other material evidence as well as more traditional literary sources and critical review of the extensive rele- vantscholarship,thisbookpresentsacomprehensiveandinnovative reconstructionoftheriseofIslamasareligionandimperialpolity.It reassesses the development of the imperial monotheism of the New Rome,andconsidersthehistoryoftheArabsasanintegralpartofLate Antiquity, including Arab ethnogenesis and the emergence of what wastobecomeMuslimmonotheism,comparablewiththeemergence of other monotheisms from polytheistic systems. Topics discussed includetheemergenceanddevelopmentoftheMuh.ammadanpolity anditsnewculticdeityandassociatedritual,theconstitutionofthe Muslim canon, and the development of early Islam as an imperial religion.Intendedprincipally forscholarsofLateAntiquity,Islamic studies and the history of religions, the book opens up many novel directionsforfutureresearch. aziz al-azmeh is CEU University Professor in the Department ofHistory,andDirectoroftheCentreforReligiousStudies,Central European University, Budapest. Previous books (in English) are Ibn Khaldun: An Essay in Reinterpretation (1982); Arabic Thought and Islamic Societies (1986); Muslim Kingship: Power and the Sacred in Christian, Muslim and Pagan Polities (2001); Islams and Modernities (3rd edition, 2009); and The Times of History: Universal Themes in IslamicHistoriography(2006). THE EMERGENCE OF ISLAM IN LATE ANTIQUITY Alla¯h and his People AZIZ AL-AZMEH UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107031876 (cid:2)C AzizAl-Azmeh2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata ‘Azmah,‘Aziz. TheemergenceofIslaminlateantiquity:Allahandhispeople/AzizAl-Azmeh. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-03187-6(hardback) 1.Islam–History–To1500. 2.Islam–Origin. I.Title. bp55.a96 2014 297.09(cid:3)021–dc23 2013023226 isbn978-1-107-03187-6Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. ForNadia Baldheadsforgetfuloftheirsins. Old,learned,respectablebaldheads Editandannotatethelines Thatyoungmen,tossingontheirbeds, Rhymedoutinlove’sdespair Toflatterbeauty’signorantear. .... Lord,whatwouldtheysay, DidtheirCatulluswalkthatway? W.B.Yeats Contents Listofmapsandfigures pageix Preface xi Acknowledgements xix 1 LateAntiquityandIslam:historiographyandhistory 1 2 ThesettingofLateAntiquity 5 Mutation,decadenceandreligion 11 AntiquityandLateAntiquityinspaceandtime 18 Antistropheandtranslation:Rome,NewRome,imperialtranslation 31 ThelocationofIslam 41 Historyandcomparativism 2 Gods,divineeconomiesandemperors 47 49 Cultsandtheonyms 57 Theprofusionofsyncretism 64 Patternsofsyncretism 73 Polytheistictransitions 79 Thesublimationoffetishism 87 Frompantheontopantheos 92 Empiresublimated 3 ArabiaandArabethnogenesisinLateAntiquity 100 Al-‘Arabal-‘A¯ribaandal-‘Arabal-Musta‘riba 103 114 Al-‘Arabal-Musta‘riba:alliancesoflateantiqueempire 126 Al-‘Arabal-Musta‘riba:mechanismsofcontrol 133 Networksofarticulation 146 TheArabtongue 154 TheH.ija¯zunfurled 4 PrefacetoAlla¯h 164 164 LineamentsofArabreligion 167 Thescatteroftheonyms 183 Time:celestialandcultic vii viii Contents 194 Mecca:theorderofsacredtimeandspace 204 Culticreligionandfleetingenergies 223 Contendingwiththepreternatural 248 Arabianmonolatryandambientmonotheism 276 Appendix:noteonscholarship 5 Alla¯h 279 282 Nomenclature 306 Paleo-Muslimdivinity 315 Theconnotativeexpansionofdivinity 326 Space,timeanddivinityreconfigured 346 Godmanifest 6 Paleo-Islam1:charismaticpolity 358 360 Muh.ammadandhispeople 368 Scatteringsofcreed 372 Confederationanddominion 381 Charismaticauthorityamplified 388 Consolidationandscalarextension 403 The‘burdenofIslam’ 419 Qibla:ritualspacedistended 428 Lineamentsofimperialreligion 7 Paleo-Islam2:thePaleo-Muslimcanon 431 432 Abookofdivineenunciation 437 Formsofenunciation 449 Natureofthepre-literarycanon 465 Makingtheliterarycanon 488 AfinalnoteonQur’a¯nicBiblicism 8 Retrospectiveandprospective:IslaminLateAntiquityand beyond 498 500 Appropriation 510 Distinction Bibliography 528 528 Abbreviations 529 Worksofreference 531 Materialsources 533 Lateantiqueandmedievalarabicsources 540 Ancient,lateantiqueandmedievalsourcesinotherlanguages 542 Modernworks Nameindex 615 Subjectindex 624
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