HISTORICAL SOURCES RELATING TO EARLY ISLAM

Historical sources relating to early Islam

Historical sources relating to early Islam

Introduction

It would be impossible to include all thinkers, concepts, and movements that are part of this period of Islamic political thought. Such an endeavor should begin with Muhammad's life and his political contributions to the first Islamic state, the religious and political schism within Islam, a discussion of the Sunni tradition (sunna), and the Shi'ite theories of leadership (imamah; 622-1000), an overview of the theory of the caliphate in din wa dawal (religion and the state; 1000-1220); and an explanation of Shari'a ideology and the spread of Islam (1220-1500). In addition, a summary of the works of major Islamic political philosophers and thinkers during this period should be included. 1 All this is summarized briefly next beginning with Muhammad's life as both a religious and political leader (Esposito, 2003, 82).

Generally, political philosophy refers to the study of state affairs and processes as well as to the in-depth search for rationales in politics and ethics in public behavior (Walzer, 1963). To this, Islamic political thought adds a specific framework—that of Islam—to study, explains, and rationalizes all things political. This framework is derived from the very sources of Islam: the Qur'an (comprising revelations to Muhammad), supplemented by the hadiths (stories about Muhammad's life, words, and deeds). Thus, Islamic political thought began from the very inception of Islam (circa 622), and its development is generally divided in two main periods: classical orpremodern (645-1500), from the historical origin of Islam to the end of the classical period, and early modern and modern Islamic political thought (1500-present), which includes the dynastic period from the Safavid empire to contemporary Islamic political movements (Fuller, 2003, 55).

The Koran As Cornerstone Of Islam

In the recorded history of humankind, few events have had the kind of impact on human society created by what Christian theologian Kenneth Cragg once termed the 'event' of the Koran. Starting out as a loosely assembled collection of utterances believed to have emanated from God, and committed to writing over a period of years on a motley assortment of materials such as deerskin and camel bone, the Koran grew in stature and influence until, just a century after Muhammad's death, it had become the intellectual and emotional focal point for a faith community that stretched from Spain to India (Hairi, 2003, 28).

Some 1,400 years later, virtually nothing has changed - including, Muslims assert, the text of the Koran itself, which reads today exactly as it read at the time of Muhammad. The Koran is still the hub around which the global Muslim community claims to revolve, only today that community is a billion strong, and the profile of the 'Holy Book' extends far beyond the faith community of which it is an integral component: there can be few non-Muslims who are unable to identify the Koran as the 'sacred book of Islam'.

Early Sources: Biographies and early history books

The standard Muslim biography of Muhammad, composed well over a ...