STUDIES 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. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys- tem, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews. 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