Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam

Muhammad and the Believers is a history of Islamic Origins from what we could call a moderate revisionist perspective. Unlike Cook and Crone or Wansbrough, Donner accepts that the Islamic religious tradition began in 7th century Mecca and Medina under the leadership of a man named Muhammad and that the Qur'an is a document produced by this movement in the same region and period. He argues, however, that the Islamic religious tradition did not begin as a distinct religion. Rather, he makes the case that Muhammad was the leader of an ecumenical "Believers Movement" that included Jews, (non-trinitarian) Christians, and new converts to monotheism.Some of his arguments for this position are:1) That the Qur'an refers some 1000 times to "Believers" (sing. mu'min) but only 75 times to Muslims or Islam.2) That the early successors to Muhammad were called not Caliphs, but Commanders of the Believers (amir al-mu'minin).3) The fact that the "Umma Document" (usually referred to as the "Constitution of Medina") plainly includes non-Muslims in the umma and prefers the term "believer" to the term "Muslim" when referring to members of the community.4) That there is ample evidence of ready cooperation on the part of the early "Muslim" conquerors and Christians and Jews.This movement was strictly pious and apocalyptic. The Believers Movement retained its ecumenical character throughout the early conquests and only became a distinct religion beginning with the Umayyad ruler `Abd al-Malik in the late 7th century.Among the innovations that marked this shift were:1) Changes in coinage.2) the emergence of the "double testimony (shahada)" that included not only "There is no god but God" (which Christians and Jews could also wholeheartedly accept) but also the now standard second half "Muhammad is the Messenger of God".3) The construction of the Dome of the Rock.4) The emergence of distinct Islamic ritual practices such as facing Mecca during prayer (reference to a change in the direction of prayer in Qur'an 2:142 are dismissed as vague and accounts in the sira called a later addition).The process was not complete until several decades later.Islamic Origins is not my specialty and I am not current on the state of the field. As far as I know (and I may be wrong), Donner's book is the first monograph to spell out a comprehensive moderate revisionist scenario of Islamic origins. This being the case, we might expect him to have written a closely argued, meticulously documented specialist's study. He did not. Instead, he has written a book that could be used for teaching undergraduates and for a general-ish audience (though the novelty of his presentation would be largely lost on anyone not at all familiar with the traditional narrative of Early Islam).The great advantage of this is that there is now an accessible resource for teaching Islamic origins and early Islamic history that is in keeping with recent scholarship from a number of scholars of Early Islamic History (such as Donner himself), Early Islamic Archeology, Qur'anic studies (such as Angelika Neuwirth), and studies of the Sira (biography of Muhammad) (such as Uri Rubin).The disadvantage is that, because there are no footnotes, anyone who knows the traditional account will frequently find themselves asking "how can he claim this?" and having no direct way of answering the question by following a footnote to a specific source. Donner rejects many central components of the traditional history of Islamic origins but accepts others. Often he justifies his decisions, but there are times when he does not and the reader is left wondering whether, once he had made the general case for the "Believers Movement" scenario, he rejected material that supports the traditional view and accepted material that supports his revisionist approach without other specific evidence to back these decisions. However, the lack of footnotes is made up for by the extremely rich and helpful "Notes and Guide to Further Reading" section divided into sections corresponding to individual chapters. Anyone who sits down with the corresponding section after reading each chapter will probably find the answers to her questions about sources. Furthermore, Donner is drawing on some of his own earlier work, like his article "From Believers to Muslims," which does closely argue the case for his revisionist scenario. So the detailed case for the different components of his scenario has usually been made elsewhere.In the end, I think Donner made the right call. This book is suitable for teaching undergraduates, while in the past, instructors had a choice between accessibly written traditional narratives of Islamic origins, disparate and often very arcane moderate revisionist studies of individual facets of Islamic origins, and radically revisionist histories of Islamic Origins such as the writings of Wansbrough and Cook and Crone's Hagarism, which have not gained wide acceptance. With the publication of Muhammad and the Believers, the moderate revisionist view of Islamic origins, which had been available only to a small body of specialists, is now accessible to a more general audience, which is a great thing and worthy of five stars.That having been said, chapters 3 and 4, nearly half of the text of the book, are a re-telling of the early Islamic conquests, the "civil wars" between Muslims, and the emergence of the Umayyad Caliphate--and Donner's retelling of these events seems too detailed to be for a book pitched to a more general audience. Maybe more importantly, his account of these events in the light of his "Believers" hypothesis differs little from the traditional account. If you want to focus on what is new in Donner's account, you can safely skip from chapter 2 to chapter 5. On the other hand, if you are teaching early Islamic history, the accounts of the conquests and the civil wars is solid and suitable for undergraduates--though the profusion of personal and place names will be a bit much for undergraduates.

Fred Donner is a top scholar in the field of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and the pedigree shows here. But while some fine academics will produce good academic results, Donner has managed a far more difficult achievement--making the topic approachable for the person with a more general interest.The classic challenge in studying the period of Muhammad and the century following is disentangling legend from fact. The sources are generally late and external historical sources almost completely absent. It seemed to me that Donner had made the best of a difficult lot.If you have a yen to know what happened in the Arabian peninsula that set the stage for the Muslim expansion across the Mediterranean, this is the best book you can find on the subject.

Back in the early 1980's while the Cold War was still raging, I used to joke that I must be on some FBI and/or CIA watchlist because of my growing collection of books on the Soviet Union, including books (in translation) authored by Soviet writers who were not dissidents. My curiosity about all things Russian stemmed from my idea that you can't "hate" an enemy that you know nothing about.Fast forward to 9/11 when we realized that we were facing a new enemy, radical Islam. Again, my curiosity was sparked, but finding books about Islam that didn't demonize it have been difficult to come by. Author Fred M. Donner, a professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago, presents us with an objective look at the beginnings of Islam in his book "Muhammad and The Believers", which he has been working on since 2000. It is a badly needed perspective on the hotly debated subject of the origins of some of the more radical beliefs espoused by today's terrorists.Most books and opinion pieces today take one of two positions. Either Islam is a religion of peace or it is a religion of jihad. Professor Donner shows us that it is both. Islam started out as a radical movement of monotheists in an area of the world dominated by polytheists. Members of the movement, who called themselves The Believers, stood out from other cults and religions because of their piety and righteous behavior. Initially, they embraced Christians and Jews who were also pious. It was only after the death of Muhammad and the question of succession had been settled after two civil wars that Islam was rigidly defined and codified, restricted to only those who followed the teachings of the Koran who were now called Moslems.Towards the end of Muhammad's life, The Believers embarked on what we today call jihad, battling the adjacent Persian and Byzantine Empires that they considered ungodly. Within just a few generations, Islam had spread across North Africa and into Spain. Admittedly, the initial impetus to the expansion was the overthrow of neighboring infidel empires, but after some time, the Islamic leadership began to depend on the revenue generated by taxes imposed on subject states.I think that this is what should concern us in the 21st century. Those who claim that modern day jihadists are twisting Muhammad's teachings or that jihad is a modern concept are wrong. Jihad and the forced conversion or overthrow of non-Islamic states is nothing new. It has been going on since the founding of Islam. But, just as Christianity was able to evolve from the militancy of the Crusades and the Inquisition, to more peaceful means of recruiting new members, so should Moslem leaders begin to turn their followers from the concept of violent jihad to non-violent jihad, converting new members with missionaries rather than soldiers.Although written for a popular audience, Professor Donner is unable to break out of his scholarly writing mode. He has taken a subject that is incredibly fascinating and made it dry, dry, dry. Dull, dull, dull. I literally fell asleep several times while reading it. In the future, I would suggest that he employ a ghost writer geared toward popular readership. The topic that he writes about is much too important not to be accessible to as many people as possible.

The book presents an important perspective about the message delivered to the people of Muhammad's day. It was a message for all believers, peoples of previous scriptures, as well as converts to monotheism The research by Dr. Donner shows that Islam as we know it today, did not begin to emerge until 200+ years after the prophet's death. Muhammad delivered a unifying message for monotheistic worshippers, which later evolved into an exclusive religion for Muslims following a religion called Islam. This book is a must-read for anyone serious about studying the origins of the movement that has come to be known as Islam.

Fred Donner I must admit is brilliant in my eyes. Taking a history of the Islamic Caliphates at University I was skeptical of what it was going to talk about or how I would receive it. This was the required reading. Being a book that can be understood by nonacademic people, it is really engaging and most appropriate for the history of a religion. I applaud Donner on his conceptions on the early history and rise of Islam. It challenges popular conceptions on a historically touchy subject. His use of archeology, linguistics and etymology that help to prove his thesis is astounding. By the end of the book all I could think was, “I never thought of it like that”. Jaw dropping book, as it makes you think more deeply about the early relationship between Muslims, Christians and Jews. This is the definition of good history and research! I tip my hat to you Sir Donner!

Excellent ouvrage facile à lire pour le non spécialiste, Fred Donner résume de manière convaincante le mouvement des croyants monothéistes arabes appelés plus tard musulmans, un mouvement de rassemblement dans le sens "Oecumeunique" acceptant Juifs et Chrétiens en terre d’Arabie comme en témoigne la charte de Médine.

The book provides an excellent introduction into the world into which Mohammad was born, and connects this to the later growth of the Islamic faith. As such, it has clearly annoyed many who would prefer to believe that the Quran are the actual words of God - immutable and unchangeable - just as some Chrsitians prefer to believe that the NT is the actual word of God. However, just as all scholarship now accepts that the Gospels we have are the result of endless redaction, such a view still finds problems within parts (only parts) of the Islamic community. The book answers the question as to what faith(s) people had in pre-Islamic Arabia, and comes out with the result that forms of Christianity such as Nestorianism thrived, along with Judaism. These provided the background for the Islamioc faith. Such is not to denigrate that faith, no more than the acceptance that Christianity grew out of Judaism denigrates either faith or prophet. However, it is clear that the early Islamic faith accepted all montheists (the 'believers' of the title). It brings into full view what a total disaster the Crusades actually were. This book provides a quiet voice of reasoning in a world full of trumpeting bigots.

Good service and product

Excellent, if short, book on the true story of the expansion of the early years of Islam. Donner uses the earliest sources to try to give a more accurate, if obviously incomplete, explanation than the traditional narrative. For anyone fascinated by how a previously obscure collection of tribal nomads could have risen from the desert and come to dominate the two super-powers of the age, this book explains how muddy the waters were at that time. It also demonstrates how the traditional narrative of a fully formed religion coming out of the desert simply could not be true. Very interesting book.