Michael Lecker - Böcker

Most of the articles in this volume belong to what can be described as the preparatory work which is prerequisite to the study of pre- and early Islamic history. Lecker’s interests include tribal Arabia (including tribes in the Yemen and Hadramawt), the history of the Arabian Jews, the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, and early Islamic literature in general. While the studies are based on a wide range of sources, they often focus on illuminating small accounts which are analyzed and placed in their historical context. The comprehensive index renders the articles easily accessible.

The emergence of Islam has in recent years become a matter of heated debate, mainly because Islamic historiography is a battle-field of contradictory versions of the past. In this second collection of studies, several of which appear here for the first time, Michael Lecker distances himself from the clash of theories, concentrating instead on several basic issues. They all belong to the preparatory work that still remains to be done on the social and economic environment in which Islam emerged. The volume includes the following sections: Arabia on the Eve of Islam; Muhammad and his Companions; and Arabian Tribes in Pre- and Early Islamic Arabia. The third section includes much extended and fully-documented versions of nine Encyclopaedia of Islam articles dealing with Arabian tribes and tribal society.

This volume includes 20 articles published between 1994 and 2020 on the subject of Muḥammad and the history of early Islam, covered in five sections: Arabia on the Eve of Islam, Muḥammad at Medina, Muḥammad and the Jews, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and the sīra and studies on early Islamic literature. The book focuses on a variety of historical questions, from the presumed Ghassanid/Byzantine involvement in the hijra to Muḥammad’s treaties with the main Jewish tribes of Yathrib/Medina. Predilection for detail, especially in the realms of genealogy and geography, is a salient characteristic of Lecker’s research, which in recent years has been increasingly based on digitized text repositories. Many of the articles deal with the social and economic environment of early Islam, which is vital for the study of Muḥammad’s biography. They are conceived of as building blocks in a future critical biography of the Arabian prophet.Studies on the Life of Muhammad and the Dawn of Islam will appeal to those interested in the history of pre- and early Islam, with an emphasis on Muḥammad’s life and his relations with the Jews of Arabia.

This volume includes 20 articles published between 1994 and 2020 on the subject of Muḥammad and the history of early Islam, covered in five sections: Arabia on the Eve of Islam, Muḥammad at Medina, Muḥammad and the Jews, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and the sīra and studies on early Islamic literature. The book focuses on a variety of historical questions, from the presumed Ghassanid/Byzantine involvement in the hijra to Muḥammad’s treaties with the main Jewish tribes of Yathrib/Medina. Predilection for detail, especially in the realms of genealogy and geography, is a salient characteristic of Lecker’s research, which in recent years has been increasingly based on digitized text repositories. Many of the articles deal with the social and economic environment of early Islam, which is vital for the study of Muḥammad’s biography. They are conceived of as building blocks in a future critical biography of the Arabian prophet.Studies on the Life of Muhammad and the Dawn of Islam will appeal to those interested in the history of pre- and early Islam, with an emphasis on Muḥammad’s life and his relations with the Jews of Arabia.

Muslims, Jews and Pagans examines in much detail the available source material on the 'Āliya area south of Medina on the eve of Islam and at the time of the Prophet Muḥammad. It provides part of the necessary background for the study of the Prophet's history by utilizing in addition to the Prophet's biographies, various texts about the history, geography and inhabitants of this area.

The 'Constitution of Medina' is probably the first legal document of Muhammad and dates back to the first year after his hijra (622 CE), or "emigration", which brought him from his hometown Mecca to the cluster of towns known as Yathrib or Medina in the Hijaz (northern Arabia) and marked the beginning of the Islamic era. Muslim historians and jurists have been familiar with this important document for centuries, and aware of its legal and theological implications for Islamic law. It was first brought to the attention of scholars in the West at the end of the 19th century by Wellhausen, who accepted it as an authentic document from the time of the Prophet. Since then, such leading orientalists as Goldziher, Gil, Serjeant, Goto, U. Rubin and J. B. Simonsen have studied various aspects of it. This monograph offers an edited translation and interpretation of the earliest and most important document from the time of Muhammad. Lecker's focus is on the Jewish tribes, the Treaty of the Mu'minun and the Treaty of the Jews..

This study focuses on Sulaym in the crucial transition period from Jāhiliyya to Islam, and hence it contributes to the study of the Prophet and his time. Most of the study concentrates on the Arabian Peninsula, although a few leading families are followed into the Islamic conquests and the early Umayyad period. The focus on one tribe makes it possible to collect a large amount of data from a variety of sources: biographical dictionaries, genealogical literature, geographical literature, sīra and adab compilations, poetry Dīwāns and Qur’ān exegesis. Contains an index, a genealogical chart and a map.An earlier version of this work was published by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Press in 1989.