Ibrahim Mohamed Zein, Ahmed El-Wakil
Paperback, 326 pages
9781032412344

 

From Shared Historical Memory to Peaceful Co-existence

 

Through analysis of the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad, which pledge protection to diverse faith communities, this book makes a profoundly important contribution to research on early Islam by determining the Covenants’ historicity and textual accuracy.

 

The authors focus on the Prophet Muhammad’s relationship with other faith communities by conducting detailed textual and linguistic analysis of documents which have received little scholarly consideration before. This not only includes decrees of the Prophet Muhammad, ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Mu‘āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān, but also of important Muslim rulers. They present their findings in relation to contemporaneous historical writings, historic testimonies, official recognition, archaeological evidence, historic scribal conventions, date-matching calculations, textual parallelisms, and references in Muslim and non-Muslim sources. They also provide new and revised translations of various Covenants issued by the Prophet Muhammad which were attested by Muslim authorities after him. The authors argue that the claim of forgery is no longer tenable following the application of rigorous textual and historical analysis.

 

This book is essential reading for Muslims, Christians, Jews, Samaritans, and Zoroastrians, as well as anyone interested in interfaith relations, Islamophobia, extremist ideologies, security studies, and the relationship between Orthodox and Oriental Christianity with Islam.

 

Contents
1. The Covenants as a Shared Historical Memory
2. The Prophet's Convenant with the Monks of Mount Sinai
3. The Prophet’s Covenant with the Christians of Najrān
4. The Prophet’s Covenants with Other Christian Communities
5. Covenants with the Samaritans, the Jews, and the Magi
6. The Covenants of the Prophet during the Caliphate of ‘Umar
7. Epilogue: Developing a New Criteria for Assessing the Veracity of the Covenants