Belief Religion and Identity; Religion and Politics; Religion and Authority

When are Allah’s revelations dictated to Muhammad by Jibril?

c.610 CE

Christian pilgrimes continue to visit Jerusalem after what?

The Muslim conquest, and capture in 638

Eranshahr’s core comprised which modern day nations?

Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan

Eran may have given way to what concept?

da al-Islam (House of Islam)

What has been used to study the relationship between mediaeval Jewish communities in Egypt, Spain, North Africa, Ukraine?

Fragments from the Cairo geniza, in Fustat, Old Cairo

Why were these fragments from the Cairo geniza left intact? What did they deal with, and from when?

Intact as they invoked the name of Yahweh, and dealt with religious matters from 9th-15th centuries.

Islamic worldview allowed for other peoples of the Book provided that they …

Paid the Jizhya tax

Term Shi’a comes from what?

Shi’at Ali - ‘Party of Ali’

An example of local interpretation of Islam stems from an anonymous Armenian text. When was this text, and what did it claim?

c.980-1020. Claimed Muhammad was a Persian from Reyy, who was taught by a Nestorian Monk in Syria and fights his brother-in-law Ali.

Traditional birth date of Muhammad

570 AD

Death of Muhammad

632

How do early Muslims describe the period before Islam?

‘Age of Ignorance’

What chronicles do we have for pre-Islam Arabia? What is remarkable?

No chronicles, not even from Yemen with its history of literacy

What is the largest source for Muhammad’s life

Qur’an

Where else can we get pre-Islamic information?

Poetry

When does the term ‘Sultan’ emerge and what does it mean?

11th century, meaning ‘power’

Hadiths look to what?

Sasanian origins

Who gets bodyguards for the first time?

First Umayyad Caliphs

What does Zaman argue has happened by the time the Abbasids come to power?

That the ulama were en route to terminating Caliph religious authority

Ibn al-Muqaffa states legal decisions was the sole prerogative of …

The Caliph

Al-’Anbari asks for what?

Conformity of the ruler’s decisions to the Qur’an

Abu Yusuf promotes the powers of who? Sees ulama as what?

The Caliph. Sees Ulama as key for reforming abuses.

Before al-Ma’mun caliphs …

Don’t appear to have challenged Ulama authority

In the pre-mihna Abbasid period, what were Abbasid caliphs trying to do?

Claim the competence the ulama were known for

Mihna has been argued to be …

Simply a conflict between scholars

The failed mihna thus …

Does not alter the character of caliphal authority nor the caliph’s relations with the ulama

The Classical Model suggests that ….

Ulama and caliphs were in sharp conflict over religious authority

Shi’is believed in what as the basis of legitimacy?

Proximity to Ali

When do Shi’ism and Sunnism become distinct theological doctrines?

8th century, but coalesce slowly as political ideologies before this

What catalysed these doctrines?

Events such as Abu Bakhr’s appointment as Caliph

Where was high level eduation taught, which included Islamic law and theology?

Madrasas

Give a case example of mosque with a madrasa

Great Mosque of the Majadhib

Students as far west as … were trained in Islamic law

Kordofan