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22 results in Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam

Page 1 of 2

The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East
  • Problems in the Literary Source Material
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, Lawrence I. Conrad
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    01 October 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • This volume focuses on the problems researchers face when using (Byzantine) Greek, Syriac and Arabic sources together for the reconstruction of Near Eastern history from 400-c.800. Contributions to the volume set the stage for a critical re-reading and revisionist interpretations of selected sources in the various cultural and literary traditions. The volume thus brings together neighbouring disciplines in ways that shed new light on this vitally important time in history.

The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East
  • Elites Old and New
  • Edited by John Haldon, Lawrence I. Conrad
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • A collection of critical analyses of the structure, historical development, and composition of the elite strata of late Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic societies in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Culture change, economic foundations, political roles and function, social composition, and background and origins of old and new elites are the focus of the contributions by scholars who deal with the fate of the later Roman elite and its successors.

The 'Constitution of Medina'
  • Muḥammad's First Legal Document
  • 2nd edition
  • Michael Lecker
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2024
  • The 'Constitution of Medina' is probably the first legal document of Mu?ammad and dates back to the first year after his hijra (622 CE), or 'emigration', which brought him from his hometown Mecca to the cluster of towns known as Yathrib or Medina in the Hijaz (northern Arabia) and marked the beginning of the Islamic era.

    Muslim historians and jurists have been familiar with this important document for centuries, and aware of its legal and theological implications for Islamic law. It was first brought to the attention of scholars in the West at the end of the nineteenth century by Wellhausen, who accepted it as an authentic document from the time of the Prophet. Since then, such leading orientalists as Goldziher, Gil, Serjeant, Goto, U. Rubin and J. B. Simonsen have studied various aspects of it.

    This monograph offers an edited translation and interpretation of the earliest and most important document from the time of Mu?ammad. Lecker's focus is on the Jewish tribes, the Treaty of the Mu'minun and the Treaty of the Jews.

    Formerly published by Darwin Press.

The Place to Go
  • Contexts of Learning in Baghdad, 750-1000 CE
  • Edited by Jens Scheiner, Damien Janos
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • This work focuses on the intellectual and educational history of Baghdad in the early ?Abbasid and Buyid periods (eighth-tenth centuries). It covers a wide range of disciplines taught in the metropolis before the institutionalization of the madrasa system.
    Among these fields of knowledge are Arabic poetry and literature, the transmission of prophetic reports, Arabic historiography and astronomical-astrological teaching. Christian learning in the city is highlighted by two contributions, while two more papers focus on Jewish practices of knowledge production.

    The volume seeks to promote a better understanding of Baghdad's multi-cultural circles of learning, the transmission of knowledge, and common patterns of patronage during this period.

Studies in Early Islamic History
  • Martin Hinds
  • Edited by Jere Bacharach, Lawrence I. Conrad, Patricia Crone
  • Introduction by G. R. Hawting
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • A collection of all of Martin Hinds' (1941-1988) full-length articles which appeared in journals as well as one of his articles for the 'Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition'. Most of the articles have to do with the early period of Islamic history, while two others deal with the early Abb sid caliphate.

    The volume is especially important in light of the fact that all of the articles were revised by the editors based on Hinds' own corrected copies.

The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East
  • States, Resources and Armies
  • Edited by Averil Cameron
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • A comparative analysis of Byzantine, Sasanian and Muslim armies and their impact on state resources. Contributions discuss the organization and financing of the army in the late Roman state, the transformations and continuities of the late Sasanid state and with authority and armies in the early Muslim state. Thus, the volume brings together perspectives from neighbouring fields, presents military issues in an intercultural manner and assembles important pieces of knowledge in a comprehensive manner.

The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East
  • Land Use and Settlement Patterns
  • Edited by Geoffrey King, Averil Cameron
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    25 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • This volume revisits archaeological evidence from Syria, Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Egypt describing a variety of land-use patterns and the development of a particular type of settlement across the Near East.

The Late Antique World of Early Islam
  • Muslims among Christians and Jews in the East Mediterranean
  • Edited by Robert G. Hoyland
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    09 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • This book offers a number of innovative studies on the three main communities of the East Mediterranean lands-Muslims, Jews and Christians-in the aftermath of the seventh-century Arab conquests. It focuses principally on how the Christian majority were affected by and adapted to their loss of political power in such arenas as language use, identity construction, church building, pilgrimage, and the role of women. Attention is also paid to how the Muslim community defined itself, administered justice, and regulated relations with non-Muslims.

    This book will be important for anyone interested in the ways in which the cultures and traditions of the late antique Mediterranean world were transformed in the course of the seventh to tenth centuries by the establishment of the new Muslim political elite and the gradual emergence of an Islamic Empire.

Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī and his Kitāb al-Futūh
  • Author, Textual Tradition, and Ridda Narrative: New Edition of the Text on the Ridda
  • Mónika Schönlebér
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    02 September 2025
    Print publication:
    31 March 2025
  • This two-volume study explores the life of the Muslim scholar Ibn A?tham al-Kufi and his historical work, the Kitab al-futu? (Book of Conquests). This study re-contextualises Ibn A?tham within the early fourth/tenth century, highlighting his contributions to Islamic historiography.

    Volume 2 (eISBN: 9783959941921) presents a new critical edition of the work's opening sections, focusing on the saqifa and ridda narratives, based on manuscripts kept at Forschungsbibliothek Gotha (Germany) and Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna (India).

Al-Ṭabarī
  • A Medieval Muslim Historian and His Work
  • 2nd edition
  • Edited by Hugh N. Kennedy
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2024
  • This volume provides a discussion of the works of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-?abari (d. 932 CE), the greatest historian of the early Islamic world. An international team of well-known scholars examine the life of the man, his work, the sources he used and his intellectual legacy.

    Grouped around four major themes - Caliphate and power, economy and society, Abbasids, and frontiers and the others - the contributions deal with the history, archaeology, architecture and literature of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond, from the time of the Prophet until the fifteenth century.

    It is difficult to say whether we should treat him as an author or as an editor, repackaging earlier works, all fully acknowledged. What were his biases and prejudices? Was he a propagandist for the reigning Abbasid dynasty or simply a passer on of the traditions he found? This volume, bringing together some of the most eminent scholars of early Arabic historiography, is the first attempt to answer some of these questions and it will be of fundamental importance to anyone interested in the early Islamic world or in comparative historiography.

    First edition published by Darwin Press.

The Eye of the Beholder
  • The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims: A Textual Analysis
  • 2nd edition
  • Uri Rubin
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2024
  • A detailed examination of traditions about Muhammad which illustrate particular themes thought to be part of the biblical prophetic paradigm: attestation, preparation, the experience of revelation, persecution, and 'salvation,' this last meaning the hijra. The author analyzes the ways in which Muhammad's early biographers sought to shape the Prophet's biography through biblically based, and later Qur'anic, modes of authentication.

    The author has abandoned the quest for the historical Muhammad because of the impossibility of separating the 'real' Muhammad from legends about him. He challenges the notion that earlier traditions about Muhammad are more authentic than later ones, arguing that the molding of accounts of Muhammad's life according to what were perceived as standard criteria of prophethood began at the outset, as Muslims sought to prove themselves worthy successors to the civilizations of the Jews and the Christians.

    Formerly published by Darwin Press.

Between Bible and Qur'an
  • The Children of Israel and the Islamic Self-Image
  • 2nd edition
  • Uri Rubin
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2024
  • This book investigates the literary role played by the Bible in Islamic sources. It focuses on the tension between Biblical and Qur'anic models as revealed in Islamic texts describing contacts between the Muslims and the 'Children of Israel', as Jews and Christians are usually called in the context of world history.

    By adopting the method of his earlier work on the image of the Prophet Muhammad, 'The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims', Rubin examines hadith reports of the first three Islamic centuries that draw on Qur'anic and biblical material. Each of the work's three parts reflects a particular historical attitude toward the Jews and definition of the relationship between Jews and Muslims.

    This book is of interest to students of the history and interpretation of the Qur'an and of early Islamic tradition and dogma and early Islamic history, as well as to all those interested in comparative religion and intercultural relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

    Formerly published by Darwin Press.

The Earliest Writings on the Life of Muḥammad
  • The 'Urwa Corpus and the Non-Muslim Sources
  • Andreas Görke, Gregor Schoeler
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    29 February 2024
  • The main part of this book consists of a compilation and evaluation of the corpus of traditions about the life of Mu?ammad attributed to the early scholar 'Urwa ibn al-Zubayr (c. 643-c. 712). 'Urwa was the nephew of the Prophet's wife 'A'iša, who was also his most important informant. The authenticity of a large part of these traditions is certain, since they were handed down independently from each other by two or more tradents of 'Urwa. They are thus the oldest authentic Muslim reports about the Prophet. The authors argue that 'Urwa's reports by and large correctly reflect the basic features of the historical events described.

    Somewhat older than 'Urwa's traditions about Mu?ammad is only a report in a non-Islamic Armenian source attributed to the chronicler Sebeos (wrote around 660). This and other external evidence partly agree with the Islamic sources, sometimes providing new perspectives on the life of the Prophet. But there are also contradictions. The authors can show that in such cases the 'Urwa transmission is preferable.

    The crux of the much-discussed so-called Hagarism hypothesis, which proposes an alternative narrative of the origins of Islam (Mu?ammad, after having established a community which comprised both Arabs and Jews, set off with these allies to conquer Palestine) is demonstrably based on a misreading of a Sebeos passage.

Ibn Aʿtham al-Kūfī and his Kitāb al-Futūh
  • Author, Textual Tradition, and Ridda Narrative: New Edition of the Text on the Ridda
  • Mónika Schönlebér
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 March 2025
  • This two-volume study explores the life of the Muslim scholar Ibn A?tham al-Kufi and his historical work, the Kitab al-futu? (Book of Conquests). This study re-contextualises Ibn A?tham within the early fourth/tenth century, highlighting his contributions to Islamic historiography.

    Volume 1 examines his biography, refines the timeline of his life and work, and traces its reception across the Muslim world. It provides codicological descriptions of the surviving Arabic manuscripts, analyses the narratives of the ridda ('apostasy') wars, and includes critical editions of the Kitab al-futu?'s collective isnads, accompanied by translations and analyses.

The Christian Communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic Rule
  • An Historical and Archaeological Study
  • Robert Schick
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    30 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • An assessment of the nature and social continuity of Christian communities in Palestine from 602-813. By synthesizing literary and archeological evidence, it provides a detailed discussion of disparate historical and archeological data.

    In the first part, the Sasanian, Byzantine and early Muslim invasions of southern Syria and the changing of government policies towards Christians are discussed. Topical studies about church use, conversion and iconoclasm, are also included.

    The second part offers a useful alphabetical list of more than 500 sites that document Christian and Muslim presence and settlement in the area.

Narratives of Islamic Origins
  • The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing
  • Fred M. Donner
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    23 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • How and why did Muslims first come to write their own history? The author argues in this work that the Islamic historical tradition arose not out of idle curiosity, or through imitation of antique models, but as a response to a variety of challenges facing the Islamic community during its first several centuries.

    In the first part, the author presents an overview of four approaches that have characterized scholarship on the literary sources, including the source-critical and the skeptical approaches, then it discusses historiographical problems raised by the Qur'an and hadith.

    In the second part, the work analyzes major themes in historical narratives and presents formal and structural characteristics of early Islamic historiography. The monograph concludes with the proposition of a four-stage chronology regarding the evolution of historical writing in Arabic.

The Continuatio of the Samaritan Chronicle of Abu l-Fath al-Samiri al-Danafi
  • Annotated Translation
  • Edited by Milka Levy-Rubin
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    23 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • A complete facsimile edition of the previously unedited Samaritan sequel to the Kitab al-Ta?rikh by Abu l-Fat? Ibn Abi l-?asan al-Samiri al-Danafi (c. 1355). The edition of this chronicle photographically reproduces Paris BN Ms. Samaritain 10, which, written in Middle Arabic, seems easily readable but poses a plethora of editorial problems.

    The editor entitled the work a 'Continuatio', and translated it into English with full editorial and explanatory annotation. The work describes the local history of the Samaritan people in Palestine up to the tenth century and contains valuable information about major political events presented, according to caliphates up to al-Ra?i.

Arabs and Others in Early Islam
  • Suliman Bashear
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    23 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • This work investigates available early Arabic hadith and exegetical literature in order to determine the great complexity of how Arabs, Muslims and Arab-Muslims viewed themselves and members of other communities.

    In particular, it focuses on the relation between definitions of 'Arabness' and 'otherness' with Islamic ascriptions of believers and nonbelievers and endeavors to trace the changing of these views over time. Moreover, this is an in-depth analysis of a series of hadiths and isnads that discusses when, where, why, and by whom traditions were circulated during the eighth and nineth centuries.

Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic
  • David Cook
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    21 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • A detailed study on the nature of Muslim apocalyptic material in Islam, both Sunni and Shi'i. Taking a transcultural perspective by also discussing Christian and Jewish apocalyptic traditions, it offers in eight studies and three appendices a typology of apocalypses and many new insights into the matter.

    For instance, historical apocalypses as well as apocalyptic figures, like the Dajjal, the Sufyani and the Mahdi are discussed. Moreover, apocalyptic ?adith literature, in particular Nu?aym b. Hammadi's (d. 844) Kitab al-Fitan, and apocalyptic material in tafsir works are presented. The author argues for a comprehensive understanding of this important feature of the Islamic religious tradition.

The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and their Authors
  • Josef Horovitz
  • Edited by Lawrence I. Conrad
  • Published by:
    Gerlach Books
    Published online:
    21 August 2025
    Print publication:
    31 January 2021
  • Josef Horovitz (1874-1931) wrote this classic monograph a century ago in two parts in German. The editor added footnotes, corrections and the preface, and it is now a book in its own right.

    The translation was prepared by Marmaduke Pickthall. Lawrence I. Conrad, who re-edited the articles also presents a slightly corrected textual version, expanding and updating the notes and bibliography and adding a new introduction dealing with Horovitz's and other orientalists' work on early Islam in the early twentieth century.

    Horovitz deals with thirteen early scholars who transmitted traditions or compiled sira or maghazi works, such as Urwa b. al-Zubayr, Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi.

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