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Muhammad and the Medinan Jews: A Comparison of the Texts of Ibn Ishaq's Kitab Sirat RasulAllah with al-Waqidi's Kitab al-MaghaziAuthor(s): Rizwi S. FaizerSource: International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Nov., 1996), pp. 463-489Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/176149 . Accessed: 03/09/2014 21:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. . Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to International Journal of Middle East Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 140.182.176.13 on Wed, 3 Sep 2014 21:28:14 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Int. J. Middle East Stud. 28 (1996), 463-489. Printed in the United States of America Rizwi S. Faizer MUHAMMAD AND THE MEDINAN JEWS: A COMPARISON OF THE TEXTS OF IBN ISHAQ'S KITAB SiRAT RASUL ALLAH WITH AL-WAQIDSI' KITAB AL-MAGHA Z This article is based on the assumption that Ibn Ishaq (704-67) and al-Waqidi (747-823) were responsible for my main sources, the compilations entitled Kitab sirat rasul Allah1 and Kitab al-maghdzi,2 respectively. Such an assumption is jus- tifiable. To take Ibn Ishaq's Biography in the recension of Ibn Hisham (d. 834),3 we know that the Ziyad ibn CAbd Allah al-Bakka'i (d. 798) text used by Ibn Hisham was authorized by Ibn Ishaq himself, and indeed had been confirmed by the use of both sam' and Card echniques4 as a correct version.5 At the same time, Ismail K. Poonawala confirms that the redaction of Salama ibn al-Fadl (d. 807) compares closely with the text of Ibn Hisham,6 indicating that the text of Ibn Ishaq had probably been fixed7: Salama's redaction was based on a papyrus manuscript of Ibn Ishaq8 transmitted by Muhammad ibn Humayd ibn Hayyan al-Razi, and was used by al-Tabari n his narration of the Prophet's ife, which forms a part of his compi- lation Ta'rlkh al-rusul wa'l-muluk.9 As for the text of al-Waqidi, evidence indicates that it had been established by al-Waqidi himself from beginning to end, for he not only prefaces his work with the names of his chief transmitters of tradition10 but also provides the basic chronology of all the events that are discussed in his work. Moreover, both Ibn Hisham and Ibn al-Thalji (d. 879)1 refer to their recensions as the compilations of Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi, respectively. Significantly, it is these texts that are used by modern biographers of the Prophet to determine the events that constitute his life. It is these very texts that are used by both Marsden Jones and Patricia Crone for their various appreciations of sira and maghizi compilations.12 It is interesting that all of the transmitters and compilers before Ibn Hisham who dealt with material about the period of the Prophet regarded t as maghdzi material. Ibn Hisham appears to have been the first to bring together this material, as for instance in his recension of Ibn Ishaq, in which he uses the term sira in the title. Thereafter the terms sira and maghdzi came to be used synonymously as a generic label for these compilations.13 n my references to the genre I have found it conven- ient to use the term sira-maghazi so as to avoid any confusion. Rizwi S. Faizer is an independent scholar living in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. ? 1996 Cambridge University Press 0020-7438/96 $7.50 + .10 This content downloaded from 140.182.176.13 on Wed, 3 Sep 2014 21:28:14 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 464 Rizwi S. Faizer Modern approaches to sira-maghdzi have been overwhelmingly concerned with evaluating its content for information about the Prophet's life.14 The justification for such an approach has been that these texts are essentially repositories of archaic and therefore authentic traditions. Authenticity, however, does not imply veracity, so that there is much controversy regarding the historicity of these texts and how they should be interpreted. Scholars have tended to isolate traditions and examine how they have been variously recollected by different transmitters in the hope of discovering the facts behind the narrative-or whether indeed there were any such facts. Little weight has been given to analyzing the material in terms of the nature of the genre concerned and what it meant to the persons who compiled it. Present understanding of sira-maghazi is based largely on J. M. B. Jones's analy- sis. His investigation is primarily a response to Julius Wellhausen, who had noticed two motifs in particular in the Prophet's biography, the raid on Nakhla and the dream of 'Atika, and asserted that al-Waqidi had taken much from Ibn Ishaq with- out acknowledgment-and that in fact he had plagiarized the work of Ibn Ishaq.5l Jones, investigating the motifs for himself, admits that al-Waqidi and Ibn Ishaq made very similar statements, but avers that there is no plagiarism involved, for the lan- guage used reflects the modifications representing the style of the typical storyteller from whom al-Waqidi had probably derived his information. Jones further explains the close parallels that exist between the different narratives by claiming that the compilers of sira-maghazi were in fact drawing upon a common reservoir, or cor- pus, of qass-folk tales-and traditional material.16 It is this notion of a single corpus that has led Crone to declare: Waqidi did not plagiarize bn Ishaq, but he did not offer an independent ersion of the Prophet's ife, either; what he, Ibn Ishaq and others put together were simply so many selec- tions from a common pool of qass material. And it is for the same reason hat hey came to agree on the historicity f events that never ook place....17 I take issue with the above and propose instead that al-Waqidi was the compiler of a unique statement of sira-maghazi, different from that of Ibn Ishaq. I also sug- gest that the intentions of the compilers when they put together their biographical works were not historical. My argument is that, contrary to the assertion made by Jones, the enormous variety of information which the numerous traditions commu- nicate makes it meaningless to view traditions as belonging within a single cor- pus. It thus becomes clear that the choice of materials that are ultimately brought together to establish a given compilation is determined by the purpose of the au- thor-compiler. I therefore view as imperative the need to study each particular work as an integral statement shaped by the goals and views of its author, and to attempt to understand how the author has exploited the genre to say what he wants to say. It is the compiler who selects the pieces of information-available in a decontex- tualized state18-with which to compose his text, and it is the compiler who decides the sequence in which to place them. The compilation must be seen as an integral statement that, to be correctly understood, must not be confused by the introduction of material which has not been included in that particular text. It must be appreci- ated as a creative work in its own right.19 According to sira-maghazi, when Muhammad moved to Medina to escape the torment of the Meccans he found that numerous Jewish communities were already This content downloaded from 140.182.176.13 on Wed, 3 Sep 2014 21:28:14 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Muhammad and the Medinan Jews 465 settled in that town. Although Muhammad waged frequent wars against the pagan Arabs, it is through the subordination of the Jews that his might and authority are established in this literature. As a result, the Jewish faith is superseded by that of Islam. The portrayal of Muhammad's opposition to the Jews makes sira-maghazi a combination of salvation history and Arab saga. The subject of Muhammad's elations with the Medinan Jews has received much attention from scholars because of the contentious issues involved. Important n the context of this article is the way in which modern historians have used the narration of the Prophet's biography by al-Waqidi to interpret what has come to be known as the Constitution of Medina, which is included in the Sira of Ibn Ishaq. From Well- hausen, Arent J. Wensinck, and Leone Caetani to William Montgomery Watt, R. B. Serjeant, Uri Rubin, and Moshe Gil,20 one finds analyses and interpretations which contradict and deny one another. Simultaneously, there has been a rise of Muslim apologetics from scholars such as W. N. Arafat and Barakat Ahmad concerning Muhammad's raids-maghazl-on the Medinan Jews, particularly the B. Qurayza. It has been asserted that the execution of these raids was contradictory to the very essence of Islam.21 M. J. Kister indicates otherwise. In a 1986 article addressing the issue, he tries to discover the facts behind the various traditions.22 n the light of these conflicts, I hope to bring to the study of this topic an understanding of the significance of the motif of Muhammad and the Jews in sira-maghazi, and thus a better understanding of the nature of the genre itself. In order to appreciate the nature of this literature I have undertaken a case study of the material concerning Muhammad and the Medinan Jews in biographical lit- erature on the Prophet. Using methods of comparative textual analysis, I have in- vestigated the differences between the two compilations, the Kitab sirat rasul Allah and the Kitab al-maghdzi, in terms of theme, sources, chronology, and style, to de- termine whether and to what extent Ibn Ishaq's interpretation of the Prophet's life differs from that of al-Waqidi. As far as the basic themes of the two compilations are concerned, it is important to notice how each author imposes his bias upon the work he shapes. The main theme of Ibn Ishaq's work is the history of monotheism, and the confirmation of Muhammad as the last prophet of God. The prophetic essence of Muhammad's person is established from the beginning. His noble heritage is indicated by his very genealogy.23 The plausibility of this thesis is further substantiated by the fact that, like Moses, Noah, and Hud before him, Muhammad brings down the wrath of God on those who deny Him-as, for instance, in the cases of the B. Qaynuqac, he B. Nadir, and the B. Qurayza-in order to effect their subjugation. At the same time, we are also introduced to many instances of Christ-like miracles, such as the healing of wounds24 and the feeding of the multitude.25 This prophetic theme is woven together with universal legendary patterns and mnemonic devices linked through citations of asbab al-nuzul-occasions of revelation-to establish that the Qur'an was the message that God had revealed through Muhammad, His last mes- senger to mankind.26 In al-Waqidi's compilation, the account given by Ibn Ishaq of the biography of the Prophet s related as the plain and simple maghdzi, which literally means raids, but also signifies the achievements of the Prophet. It is interesting to note that unlike Ibn Ishaq, al-Waqidi does not present his reader with the stories of the Prophet's This content downloaded from 140.182.176.13 on Wed, 3 Sep 2014 21:28:14 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
