Arabs and Others in Early Islam (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, No. 8) (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam)

In this book the author pursues some of the ideas first set forth in his controversial Introduction to the Other History (1984, in Arabic) in a ground-breaking study of the ways in which the relations between Arabs and non-Arabs developed during the first centuries of Islam. Arabs and Others in Early Islam argues that with the rise of the Arab empire in the seventh century, paradigms of Arab or Islamic identity did not yet exist in their classical forms. In the course of arguing this thesis, Bashear also offers important insights on the social and cultural history of early Islam, including changing attitudes toward bedouins, non-Arabs, and non-Muslims, the notion of Arabia as the Arab homeland, and apocalyptic insecurities. -- Publisher description. ## PREFACE T h e PRESENT WORK is the product o f teaching and research efforts over more than a decade. The core o f it was sketched out in Chapter VIII, Al-Islam wa-l-'Arab, o f my last major work, Muqaddima Ft al-Târïkh al-Àkhar (Jerusalem 1984, in Arabic). After the loss o f my job in the University o f Nablus, West Bank, in the wake o f the publication o f that book, and some unfortunate personal complications which fol lowed, my research work suffered serious interruptions. However, with the moral support o f my colleagues at the Hebrew University, above all that o f my teacher, Professor M.J. Kister, and a generous grant from the Truman Institute o f the University, I was able to resume my work. For this encouragement I am very grateful. I would also like to thank the administrators o f the Fulbright Fund for a two-year fellowship in the United States in 1985-87. My visiting fellowship at Princeton Uni versity in 1986-87 was especially fruitfull and enabled me to use the rich and well-organized collections o f Firestone Library. Parts o f the thesis in this work were presented at various colloquia and seminars, as well as occasionally discussed with some o f my colleagues in private. I have greatly benefited from the reactions and criticism evoked, especially when I presented my concluding notes at the Fifth International Colloquium held by the Institute o f Advanced Studies o f the Hebrew University o f Jerusalem in July 1990. To Profes sor M.J. Kister, who virtually taught me the art o f reading years after my father decided that I should learn it, I owe a special debt o f grati tude. I have also benefited from the discussions that I have had with This work investigates available early Arabic adth 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 adths and isnds that discusses when, where, why, and by whom traditions were circulated during the 8th and 9th centuries. I. Bedouins and Non-Arabs II. The Impact of the Arab Polity in Retrospect III. The Great Fusion IV. Ambivalent Attitudes V. Apocalyptic Insecurities VI. Summary Discussion and Concluding Notes CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. BEDOUINS AND NON-ARABS II. THE IMPACT OF THE ARAB POLITY IN RETROSPECT III. THE GREAT FUSION IV. AMBIVALENT ATTITUDES V. APOCALYPTIC INSECURITIES VI. SUMMARY DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING NOTES GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY General Index Suliman Bashear. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 127-142) And Index.