Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook

Published by University of California Press 2020

Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age

A Sourcebook

Edited by: Nimrod Hurvitz

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520969100

Overview
Contents

About this book

Conversion to Islam is a phenomenon of immense significance in human history. At the outset of Islamic rule in the seventh century, Muslims constituted a tiny minority in most areas under their control. But by the beginning of the modern period, they formed the majority in most territories from North Africa to Southeast Asia. Across such diverse lands, peoples, and time periods, conversion was a complex, varied phenomenon. Converts lived in a world of overlapping and competing religious, cultural, social, and familial affiliations, and the effects of turning to Islam played out in every aspect of life. Conversion therefore provides a critical lens for world history, magnifying the constantly evolving array of beliefs, practices, and outlooks that constitute Islam around the globe. This groundbreaking collection of texts, translated from sources in a dozen languages from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries, presents the historical process of conversion to Islam in all its variety and unruly detail, through the eyes of both Muslim and non-Muslim observers.

Author / Editor information

Hurvitz Nimrod :

Nimrod Hurvitz is Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel and the author of The Formation of Hanbalism: Piety into Power.

Christian C. Sahner is Associate Professor of Islamic History in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of St Cross College, and the author of Christian Martyrs under Islam: Religious Violence and the Making of the Muslim World.

Uriel Simonsohn is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel and the author of A Common Justice: The Legal Allegiances of Christians and Jews under Early Islam.

Luke Yarbrough is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles and the author of Friends of the Emir: Non-Muslim State Officials in Premodern Islamic Thought.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Timelines Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Maps Publicly Available Download PDF	xviii
General Introduction The Editors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. The prophet and the empires of the caliphs (ca. seventh–tenth centuries)
Introduction Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
1. Conversion in the Qurʾān Abdullah Saeed, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
2. The Conversion of Khadīja bt. Khuwaylid by Muhammad b. Ishāq Sean W. Anthony, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
3. On Three Jewish Converts to Islam from the Banū Qurayza, by Ibn Hishām Michael Lecker, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
4. Women Converts and Familial Loyalty in the Time of the Prophet, by Muhammad b. Saʿd Keren Abbou Hershkovits, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
5. Reports on Tribal Delegations to the Prophet, by Muhammad b. Saʿd Ella Landau-Tasseron, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
6. The Spread of Islam in Arabia: Expressing Conversion in Poetry, by Selected Early Arabic Poets Peter Webb, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
7. Early Hadīth Touching on Marriage and Conversion, by Ibn Abī Shayba Christopher Melchert, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
8. Practicalities and Motivations of Conversion as Seen through Early H.adīth and Law, by ʿAbd al-Razzāq b. Humām al-Sanʿānī and Abū Bakr Ah.mad b. Muhammad al-Khallāl Yohanan Friedmann, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
9. Christian Conversions to Islam in the Wake of the Arab Conquest, by Anastasius of Sinai Yannis Papadogiannakis, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
10. Jacob of Edessa’s Canonical Responsa about Conversion and Islam, by Jacob of Edessa Jack Tannous, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
11. A Multireligious City in Khurāsān Converts to Islam? by Shaykh al-Islām Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh al-Wāʿiz al-Balkhī Arezou Azad, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	88
12. ʿUmar II and the Treatment of the Mawālī, by Ahmad b. Yahyā b. Jābir al-Balādhurī, Muhammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, and Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Hakam Gerald Hawting, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
13. Mass Conversion of Christians in Northern Mesopotamia, by Joshua the Stylite of Zuqnīn Christian C. Sahner, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
14. Conversion and Martyrdom in ʿAbbasid Damascus, Anonymous Johannes Pahlitzsch, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
15. Three Accounts of Zoroastrian Conversion to Islam, by Muhammad b. ʿAbdūs al-Jahshiyārī, ʿAlī b. Yūsuf al-Qiftī, and Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahānī Michael Cooperson, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
16. Conversion to Islam among the Armenian Elite, by Tʽovma Artsruni Tim Greenwood, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
17. Conversion and Martyrdom in Córdoba, by Eulogius of Córdoba Kenneth Baxter Wolf, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
18. A Christian Intellectual Declines to Convert to Islam, by Hunayn b. Ishāq Barbara Roggema, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
19. The Religious Commitment of the ʿAbbasid “Slave Soldiers,” by Muh.ammad b. Jarīr al-T.abarī and Ah.mad b. Yūsuf “Ibn al-Dāya” Matthew Gordon, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
20. Zoroastrian Priests Offer Legal Advice about Conversion, by Ādurfarnbag son of Farroxzād and Ēmēd son of Ašawahišt Christian C. Sahner, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
21. A Muslim Poet Consoles a Christian Friend Whose Nephew Has Converted to Islam, by al-Qāsim b. Yahyā al-Maryamī Luke Yarbrough, Nimrod Hurvitz and Christian C. Sahner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
Part Two. The islamic commonwealth (ca. tenth–thirteenth centuries)
Introduction Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
22. A Christian Convert’s Examination of His Former Faith, by al-Hasan b. Ayyūb Clint Hackenburg and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
23. A Monk’s Conversion to Islam, by Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahānī David Cook and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
24. The Conversion of the Volga Bulgars, by Ahmad b. Fadlān b. al-ʿAbbās b. Rāshid b. Hammād Gerald Mako and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
25. Notarial Forms for the Conversion of Non-Muslims to Islam, by Ibn al-ʿAttār Linda G. Jones and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
26. A Monk Deploring the Assimilation of the Christians to the Hagarenes, attributed to a monk called Apollo Arietta Papaconstantinou and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
27. The Foundation of Shaykh Abū Ish.āq Kāzarūnī’s Congregational Mosque, by Mahmūd b. ʿUthmān Neguin Yavari and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
28. Conversion to Islam under the Fatimid Caliph al-Hākim bi-Amr Allāh, by Michael of Damrū (Mīkhāʾīl al-Damrāwī), Bishop of Tinnīs Mark Swanson and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
29. Conversion from Motives of Expediency, by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī D. G. Tor and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
30. Conversion, Confession, Prayer, and Apostasy, by Ibn Rushd al-Jadd al-Qurtubī Maribel Fierro and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
31. The Conversion of the Turks, by Michael the Syrian Maria Conterno and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
32. The Tribulations of a Converted Man’s Daughter, by Bar Hebraeus Maria Conterno and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
33. A Polemical Treatise by a Twelfth-Century Jewish Convert to Islam, by Abū Nasr Samawʾal b. Yahyā al-Maghribī Gregor Schwarb and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
34. Anecdotes about Conversion in Twelfth-Century Syria, by Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī, Ibn Rajab, and Diyāʾ al-Dīn al-Maqdisī Daniella Talmon-Heller and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
35. Selections from Two Armenian Martyrologies, Anonymous Sergio La Porta, Zaroui Pogossian and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
36. A Letter of Maimonides about Conversion and Martyrdom, Attributed to Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) Ryan Szpiech and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
37. Apostasy in Jewish Responsa, by the Geonim of Babylonia and Abraham Maimonides Oded Zinger and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
38. Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam, Anonymous Moshe Yagur and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
39. Conversion to Islam in the Period of the Crusades, by John of Ibelin, Odo of Deuil, Pope Alexander III, and Anonymous Uri Shachar and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
40. Conversion Tales in the Vita of Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Yūnīnī, the Lion of Syria, by Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ahmad ʿUthmān Daphna Ephrat and Uriel Simonsohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
Part Three. Sultans, conquerors, and travelers (ca. thirteenth–sixteenth centuries)
Introduction Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
41. The Conversion of Medieval Ghāna as Narrated by a Later Ibādī Scholar, by Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad b. Saʿīd al-Darjīnī Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
42. Cheraman Perumal and Islam on the Malabar Coast, Anonymous Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
43. The Conversion Miracles and Life of the Dervish Sarı Saltuq, by Muhammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Sarrāj A. C. S. Peacock and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
44. The Providential Conversion of the Mongol King of Iran, by Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī b. Muh.ammad al-Qāshānī and Rashīd al-Dīn Fad.l Allāh Abū al-Khayr Jonathan Brack and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
45. The Conversion of ʿAbd al-Sayyid, a Damascene Jew, by Qutb al-Dīn Mūsā b. Muhammad al-Yūnīnī Yehoshua Frenkel and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	272
46. An Account of the Conversion of Egypt’s Copts under Duress at the End of the Thirteenth Century, by Taqī al-Dīn Ahmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī Frédéric Bauden and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
47. A Syriac Communal Lament over Apostasy, Anonymous Thomas A. Carlson and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	280
48. Conversion to Islam in South Asia as Transformation of the Heart, by Hażrat Khwāja Nizām al-Dīn Awliyā and Amīr Hasan ʿAlā Sijzī Raziuddin Aquil and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	286
49. A Jurist’s Responses to Questions Regarding the Conversion of One Spouse, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Antonia Bosanquet and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
50. Anselm Turmeda/ʿAbd Allāh al-Tarjumān: A Former Mallorcan Franciscan in the Service of the Hafsids in North Africa, by Anselm Turmeda/ʿAbd Allāh al-Tarjumān Clint Hackenburg and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
51. Three Stories of Conversion from the Life of Sayyid Ah.mad Bashīrī, a Sufi of Timurid Central Asia, Anonymous (or Nāsir b. Qāsim b. Hājjī Muhammad Turkistānī Farghānaʾī) Devin DeWeese and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	300
52. The Conversion of the Kingdom of Pasai, Indonesia, Anonymous Alexander Wain and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
53. A Tract against “Unbelieving Believers” in West Africa, by Muh.ammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Maghīlī Ulrich Rebstock and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
54. Conversions to Islam in a Late Medieval Chronicle from Damascus, by Shihāb al-Dīn Ah.mad b. Tawq and Shams al-Dīn Muhammad b. Tūlūn Tamer el-Leithy and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
55. Documentary Records of Conversions among Ottoman Palace Personnel, by Ottoman Officials and Elite Servants of the Sultan Sanja Kadrić and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	323
56. A Conversion Tale from Java, Indonesia, Anonymous Ronit Ricci and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	326
57. The Story of Master She Yunshan’s Conversion in Changzhou, China, by Zhao Can Suofei Liu, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Luke Yarbrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	330
Appendix: Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Pages
- Main content: 382

eBook

Published: December 15, 2020
ISBN: 9780520969100