Narratives of Islamic Origins
Author | : Fred McGraw Donner |
Publisher | : Darwin Press, Incorporated |
Total Pages | : 384 |
Release | : 1998 |
ISBN-10 | : UOM:39015045625731 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (31 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Donner challenges the scholarly assumption that the earliest Muslim believers wanted to write history out of "idle curiosity" and suggests that Islamic historical tradition resulted from a variety of challenges facing the community during the seventh to tenth centuries, C.E. He identifies the intellectual context in which Muslims began to think and write historically; sketches the issues, themes, and forms of the early Islamic historiographical tradition; considers the value of some radically revisionist interpretations of early Islam that have appeared in the past 20 years; and discusses the problem of sources in studying Islamic origins.