Musaylima - Dale Eickelman

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Musaylima: An Approach to the Social Anthropology of Seventh Century ArabiaAuthor(s): Dale F. EickelmanSource: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Jul., 1967), pp.

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2/37

MUSAYLIMA

AN

APPROACH

TO

THE

SOCIAL

ANTHROPOLOGY

OF SEVENTH CENTURY ARABIA*

BY

DALE

F.

EICKELMAN

(University

of

Chicago)

One of the most

significant

nd least

analyzed

spects

of

the

Ridda,

or

"apostasy",

which

occurred n the last

years

of

Muhammad's

ife

and in the caliphate f Abi Bakr

(632-634)

is the fact that the most

adamant

pposition

o

the

incipient

eligious-economic-politicalystem

of

Islam

in all

regions

of Arabia

except

al-Bahrayn

nd

'Umin was

directed

by

the

so-called"false

prophets",

our of

whomare known

by

name:

l-Aswad

Yemen), ulayha

.

KhuwaylidB.

Asad),

adjih

(B. Tamim),

and

Musaylima

b.

IHabib

al-Yamima)

).

The most

significant

of these

"false

prophets",

and the

one

on whom

the most information s available,s Musaylima.With an army of

allegedly

40,000

men

he

crushed

two

Muslim

armies

before

being

overwhelmed

by

a

third,

underthe Muslim

general

Khilid b.

al-Walid

2).

V.

V.

Barthold

and

W.

Montgomery

Watt,

among

others,

have

assessed

Musaylima's

movement

to have been the

most

serious threat

faced

by

thenascent

Islamic

tate

).

With the

exception

of V. V.

Barthold,

cholars

dealing

with

the

firsthalfof the seventhcenturyn Arabiahave not examinedn detail

*)

My

thanks are due to

the

following

persons

for

reading

and

offeringsuggestions

on an earlierversion of this

article: Dr. C.

J.

Adams,

Director,

Institute of Islamic

Studies,

McGill

University

(Canada);

Dr.

Bruce

Trigger,

Department

of

Anthropo-

logy,

McGill

University;

Dr.

James

Fernandez,

Department

of

Anthropology,

Dartmouth

College (U.S.A.);

and

Dr.

Ibrahim

Abu

Lughud,Department

of

Govern-

ment,

Smith

College (U.S.A.).

I)

V.

V.

Barthold,

"Musaylima",

Bulletin

de

l'Acaddmie

es Sciences

e

Russie,

XIX

(1925), 493;

W.

Montgomery

Watt,

Muhammad

at

Medina

(Oxford,

1962),

p.

148;

also

SEI.

2)

Tabari,

Ta'rih,

p.

1730;

L.

Caetani,

Annali

dell'

Iskldm

Milan,

1907),

Vol. II

(I),

p.

452.

3)

Barthold,

493;

Watt, Medina,

p.

I36.

JESHo, X

2

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3/37


4/37

MUSAYLIMA

19

social

anthropologist

).

Hopefully

this article

will show how the social

anthropological approach

can contribute

substantially

to an

under-

standing of events in seventh century Arabia, and encourage other

social

anthropologists

to

deal

with

the

relatively

abundant resource

materials or this

period.

Sources

Given

Musaylima's

role as a "false

prophet",

it must be asked

whether

here are

historiographic roblems

peculiar

o

the

material

on

him

whichwould render ruitless

ny

detailed

nalysis.

One critical

bjection

which

has

been raised

s that

allnarrators nd

reporters

f events

concerning

Musaylima

were

Muslim,

had

an anti-

Musaylima

ias,

and

therefore

must

be

regarded

s unreliable.n

many

ways

this bias s

an

advantage,

or

unlikeevents

completely

withinthe

Islimic

movement

reported

by

various

factions

of Muslims o their

own

advantage,

all

reporters

of

Musaylima's

ctions have the same

bias

against

him. Thusone neednot

speculate

s to which factiona

particulareporter

elonged.

The final est of

validity

must come after

theaccounts elevant o

Musaylima

re

divided

nto

subject ategories:

geographical

ata,

al-Yamima

before

Musaylima,military

ampaigns,

B.

Hanifa

relationswith other non-Muslim

groups

in

Musaylima's

time,

Musaylima's

evelationsand

religious

teachings

and

when,

vis-a-vis

Muhammad,

Musaylima

irst

claimed

prophecy.

The last two

categories

re

the ones in

which

obviously

distorted

r fabricated ata

are most likelyto be found. "Miracle" toriesand otherinventions

abound within

these

two

categories

o

prove

the

"uniqueness"

f

Muhammad,

nd

great

caution

mustbe exercised

y

the historian.

In the

remaining

subject

categories

the sources show

few,

if

any,

signs

of consciousdistortion.

Nothing

would be

gained

or lost

by

manipulating

hem,

unlike the

sensitive

question

of

when

Musaylima

claimed

prophecy.

The

preservation

f

many

details

unfavorableo

Muslims,such as the tauntsof Meccans hat Muhammadwas an

I)

Watt, Medina,

pp.

v-vi;

Chelhod,

Introduction

a

la

Sociologie

e

l'Islam

(Paris,

195

8),

pp. vii-viii.



5/37

20 DALE F. EICKELMAN

"imitator"

of

Musaylima,

are

signs

of an

attempt

at

impartial

reporting

of tradition.

In the accounts of the

campaigns against Musaylima,

serious Muslimshortcomingsarerecorded.To the discreditof Khilid's

perspicacity,

ll traditions

eport

hatthe

nobles

(shurafa')

f B.

I.anifa

won

a lenient truce for themselvesafter their defeatat

the

battle

of

'Akrabi',

by

dressing

B.

Hanifa

women

in men's

clothing

and

lining

them

along

the

walls

of

al-IHadjr,

Musaylima's

apital

city.

Khiid,

unwilling

o risk another

ierce

battle,

acceded

o an

armistice ather

than

obey

Abi

Bakr's

rders o killall adultmalemembers f the

tribe').

Likewise ccounts f the alliances f the B.Hanifawithadjoiningribes

and

of

relations

among

the

varioussubdivisions

f

B.

Hanifa

appear

accurate. o

falsify

he

complicated

nterrelations

etween

hese

groups

(as

far as

they

can be

known),

Muslimand

non-Muslim,

would

have

distorted

he

entire

picture

of

tribalrelationsas

portrayed

y

recent

authors

2),

and could be detected

by

careful

cross-checking.

Some

efforts were

made

by

later

generations

of B.

Hanifa

to cover

up the "apostate"activities of their ancestors,but these fabrications

were

recognized

as such

by

the Muslim chroniclers hemselves.

Y.ikit,

or

instance,

cites some verses of

'Ali,

son of Hawdha

(d. 629)

of the

B.

Hanifa

).

'Ali

lived

through

he

defeatof

Musaylima.

n one

of

his

poems

he

defendshis tribe

from

abjuring

he faith

of

Islam

during

he

Riddaas had

other tribes.

Yikiit was awareof the

falseness

of

'Ali's

verses,

and n fairness o

'Ali,

also

quotes

him as

saying:

"Wehad

been

deceived.O If onlyour deceivershad no children "

).

While not

minimizing

the

problems

involved,

it can

be concluded

that

the textual

problems

relating

o the

accountsof

Musaylima

re

roughly

he

samewhich

plague

all

documentswhich

pertain

o seventh

century

Arabia.

Carefully

tilized,

hey

shedconsiderable

ight

on

many

aspects

of

Musaylima's

movement.Lacunae

emain,

but

these

may

be

duemore

to a lack of interest

by

the

Muslim

chroniclersn a

religious

I)

Barthold,

5oz02

f.

2)

The

most

comprehensive

account is

given

in

Watt,

Medina,

pp.

78-I

0.

3)

Hawdha

was ruler

of mostof B.

Hanifa

prior

to

Musaylima.

4)

Cited

in

Barthold,

495.



6/37

MUSAYLIMA

2

I

movement

which

failed,

than a

conscious

attempt

to

suppress

infor-

mation

on

all

aspects

of

it.

With only a few exceptions,the Europeansources which have dealt

with

Musaylima

have done

so

only

tangentially

or with

insufficient

ana-

lysis

of the

evidence

available.To

consider the

major

writers of

this

century,

Margoliouth (1903) ~)

and

Lyall

(1903)

2)

referred

to

Musay-

lima in the

course

of their

controversy

over the

etymological

"origin"

of

the terms

"Muslim"

and

"Hanif"

(in

their

context,

pre-Islimic

monotheist),

both

rather

unconvincingly basing

their

arguments

upon

a number of assumptions not justified by the limited quantity and

quality

of the

data

available. Their

arguments

are

considered

later.

Caetani

(1907)

in his

monumental

Annali

dell'

Isldm

reproduced

the

traditions

known to him

regarding Musaylima,

but

failed

to

integrate

his

overall

concept,

that "the

almost

successful

movement

of

Musaylima

should be

considered as an

event

synchronous

and

parallel

to

Islam,

created

by

analogous

causes"

3),

with

his

evidence.

In

fact,

Caetani's

treatmentof Musaylimahas been regardedby Barthold as perhapsthe

"least

successful"

part

of

the

Annali4).

Barthold's

account

(1925)

is

by

far

the

most

comprehensive,

reconstructing

he

historical events as

far

as the

evidence

allows,

and

thoroughly

reviewing

and

criticizing

all

previous

European

and

Muslim

scholarship

on the

question.

His

gathering

of

citations in

Y.kfit

relating

to al-Yamima

which are not

found in

Wiistenfeld's

index of

Mu'djam

al-Bulddn

s

particularly

useful. Biihl's

summary

or

the

first El

5)

was

intended

only

as

a

brief

summary

of

common

historical

fact;

Montgomery

Watt,

although

he

demurs that

he

treats

the

problem

"only

so

far as

concerns

the life of

Muhammad"

),

nevertheless

makes several

incisive

observations on

Musaylima's

movement,

some

of which I

will

develop

in

this

article.

I)

"On

the

Origin

and

Import

of

the Names Muslim

and

JHanif",JRAS,

XXXV

(1903),

467-493.

2)

"The

Words 'Hanif

'and

'Muslim'", JRAS, XXXV, 771-784.

3)

P.

643.

4)

485.

5)

Reproduced

in

SEI,

p.

416.

6)

Medina,

pp.

I36-I37.



7/37

22

DALE

F.

EICKELMAN

Werner

Caskel's work

on

the tribal

groupings

of eastern Arabia

in

the sixth and seventh centuries

s

valuable

for

making

sense of

the

tribal

groupingsin al-Yam~ma

).

Prelude o theseventh

entury

n Arabia

Historians

dealing

with sixth

and

seventh

century

Arabia have

tended to dichotomize

their materials nto

"pre-Islamic"

nd

"Islimic".

In

discussing

the

Islamic

Weltanschauung

his

conceptualization

s most

useful,

since

the

ideological system

of

Islim,

as

analyzedby

European

and Muslim scholarsalike, representeda substantialbreak with "pre-

Islamic"

beliefs

2)

However

this

dichotomy

has

also been

mistakenly

applied

to as-

sumptions

on

the fundamental structure

of Arab

social,

economic,

and

political

institutions

3).

Several authors

have

erroneously

asserted

that a

sharp

"break" n these fundamentalstructures

correspond

with

Muhammad's

acquisition

of

temporal

authority.

For

example

one

Orientalhistorian, n anotherwise excellentandpioneeringwork on the

seventh

century,

assertsthat Arabia was

undergoing

a

transition from

a

matrilineal

to a

patrilineal

kinship system during

Muhammad's

lifetime

4).

This view is based on

an

outmoded

evolutionaryhypothesis

of social

organization, justified

neither

by anthropologicaltheory

nor

evidence from

Arabia,

not taken

seriously

since its

refutation

shortly

after

Robertson Smith

(following

McLennan)

first

proposed

it in

Kinship

nd

Marriage

n

Early

Arabia

(I885)

6).

It is

beyond

the

scope

of this

paper

systematically

o

analyze

n

their

entirety

the social

and

cultural transformations which

occurred

in

I)

In

E12,

esp. pp.

962-964.

2)

E.g.

T.

Izutsu,

God and

Man

in the Koran

Tokyo,

1964),

pp.

198-229; Ignaz

Goldziher,

Mubammedanische

tudien,

p. 219-228.

3)

J.

Chelhod,

Les

Structures u Sacrl

chez

es Arabes

(Paris,

1964), P.

I?4.

4)

Watt,

Medina,

p.

388.

5)

See Robert F.

Spencer, "The

Arabian

Matriarchate:

an Old

Controversy",

Southwestern

ournal

of

Anthropology,

VIII

(I952),

478-502,

and

J.

Henninger,

"La

Soci&t6

Btdouine

Ancienne",

in F. Gabrieli

(ed.),

L'Antica

Societh

Beduina

Rome,

1959),

PP.

90-92.

For

similar difficulties

of

this nature see R. B.

Serjeant's

review

of

Medina in

BSOAS,

XXI

(1958),

I87-I88.



8/37

MUSAYLIMA

23

seventh

century

Arabia,

but it is useful

to

indicate certain

key concepts

which have been introduced

or

modified

by

recent studies

and

in-

vestigations.

Among

the

most

significant

studies

are

Serjeant's analysis

of

the

Sira

and

the

"Constitution of

Medina"

documents

1),

Watt's

analysis

of

tribal

relations

during

the

Ridda,

which

he

uses

to

clarify

Muham-

mad's tribal

policies previous

o the

Ridda

2),

and

Joseph

Chelhod on

political organization

and

religious

institutions

3).

The

conclusion of

each of these

works

(in

their

respective

subject-areas)

s that the funda-

mentalpoliticaland social structureof Arabiashows no sudden "break"

with the

pre-Hidjra

past,

at

least

through

the

period

of

the Ridda.

Thus Watt was able to

explain

Muhammad's ribal

policies

by

formula-

ting

certain

patterns

of

tribal custom as

practiced during

the

Ridda;

Serjeant

how

the "Constitutionof Medina" conformed to

pre-existing

standards of

tribal

diplomacy.

Therefore

what

is known

of

tribal

custom outside of the

period

of the

Ridda can be used to

weigh

the

significanceof the data on Musaylima,most of which covers the years

630

to

634.

There is

a

misconception

in

some of the

sparse

anthropological

literature on

seventh

century

Arabia

which,

if

corrected,

will render

the materialon

al-Yamima

in the

following

section more

intelligible:

it

is that the

sedentarization

of

nomads

and

the

spread

of trade in the

Hidjiz

from the fifth

century

onwards was an unusual event in

an

overwhelmingly

nomadic land

and

had as its

immediate,

unique

conse-

quence

the foundation of Mecca

(ca. 400),

and

eventually,

to

complete

the

"evolutionary"

sequence-the

formation

of

a

"rudimentary

tate

organization"

4).

I)

"Professor A. Guillaume's Translation of

the

Sirah", BSOAS,

XXI

(i95

8),

I-I3;

R.

B.

Serjeant,

"Haram

and

IHawtah,

he Sacred

Enclave

in

Arabia",

in Ml-

langes

Taha Husayn

(ed.

A.

Badawi) (Cairo,

1962),

pp.

41-57;

"The Constitution

of

Medina",

Islamic

Quarterly,

VIII

(1964),

3-16.

2)

Medina,

pp.

78-150o.

3) Esp.

Introduction.

4)

E.g.

Eric

Wolf,

"The

Social

Organization

of

Mecca

and the

Origins

of

Islam",

Sw.J.

Anthro.,

VII

(i9S

),

329-330.



9/37

24

DALE F.

EICKELMAN

However,

an

examination of the

history

of

pre-Islhmic

Arabia,

based on

inscriptions,

early

accounts

by

non-Arab

travellers,

and

the

traditionalMuslimsources,indicatesthatthe processof sedentarization

was not confined

to

the

period

immediately

preceding

the

rise

of

Islam

1),

nor was

the

process

of

state-formation

rom both

nomadic

and

sedentary

tribal

groups

2).

Urban centers of

predominantly

Arab

settlers were

numerous

and

well-established.The

tone of the

following

quotation

from

Sidney

Smith in

BSOAS

(1954) suggests

that he

felt

his Orientalist

colleagues,

as

well as members

of

other

disciplines,

occasionally neglected these facts.

Social

conditions

in Arabia

demand a new

treatment.

The

land

was

not,

before

the

appearance

of the

Prophet,

a

closed

box,

in

which there were

a

few

Jews

and

Christians,

solated

from

the

great

states.

Lopsided

views

have

been

inducedfrom

quaint

stories of

thejahiliyah

"ignorance",

.e.

pre-Islamic

Arabia],

and

the

abiding

predilection

[of

scholars

on the

period]

for nomad

ways...

There were

thriving

cities in

Arabia,

old

foundations,

as civilized

as

any

in

Syria

or

'Iraq...

The

Christian

and

Jewish

communities were

large,

and

not

mainly

foreigners.

Arabs had

faced the

formidable

Abyssinians.

Military

eaders

had

fought

men

trained in

Persian

armies on

equal

terms

3).

Thus,

while

the

events

leading

to the

hegemony

of Mecca

are

clouded

with

uncertainty,

the sudden

rise

of

Kuraysh

there to

wealth and

importance

n a

settled

environment

was not a

singular

event in

"pre-

Islimic"

history.

Rather it was

part

of

a

continuing

pattern

of the

rise

and

fall of

urban

centers,

fluctuating

with the

vicissitudes of

interna-

tional

trade

and

politics

4).

Mecca,

in this

perspective,

was one

of

a

numberof

settlements

which

at

various

times

managed

to

transcendthe

narrow confines

of

a

kin-

based

society

and

form a

city-state6).

Thus

the

premise

that

the

rise

of

Islam

was

"causally

connected with the

spread

of

trade",

as

suggested

by

one

anthropologist

6),

becomes

untenable

when the

sources

for

I)

E.g.

D.

Schlumberger,

La

Palmyrine

du Nord-Ouest

(Paris,

1951),

pp.

131x

ft.

2)

E.g.

G.

Levi

Della

Vida,

"Pre-Islamic

Arabia",

in

The Arab

Heritage,

ed.

N.

A.

Faris

(Princeton,

1964),

pp.

35-37, 39;

G.

Olinder,

The

Kingsof

Kinda

Lund,

1927).

3)

"Events in Arabia

in

the

6th

Century

A.D.", XVI,

466-467.

4)

Smith,

467.

5)

Chelhod,

Introduction,

p.

65-9

~

6)

Wolf, 329.



10/37


11/37

26

DALE F.

EICKELMAN

The

haram

s a clear

example

of a fundamental ocial institution with

its

origins

in

pre-Islamic

imes

which carried

over,

virtually

unchanged,

into Arabsocietyin someregionsuntilat least633

1).

Thereis evidence,

analyzed

ater,

that

Musaylima

set

up

such

a

lharam.

R. B.

Serjeant,

n

the

passage

below,

related the "Constitution of

Medina"

documents

to the institution of the

haram.

While

his

interpretation

of

specific

clauses and technical

terms

is not of direct relation to the

present

inquiry,

his

general

conclusions

support

our

position

that no sudden

break in fundamental social

conventions

occurred in the

620zo's

and

630's.

The

progress

revealed

by

this remarkable eries of

agreements

preserved

by

Ibn

Hishim,

is from

a confederation

presided

over

by

a member of

a

holy

house

[such

as

IKuraysh]

o

regulateprocedure-and

this

is

what I understand when

the

agreementsstipulate

that

any point upon

which

the

Medinantribes

disagree

to is to be referred o

Mulhammad

who knows what

the

law

is-to

the

founding

of a

haram

within which

God,

for

practical

purposes

Muhammad,

s

virtually

absolute,

surrounded

by

tribes

self-governing

but

linked to the haram

2).

After

analyzing

he "Constitution"

lause

by

clause,

Serjeant

on-

cludes:

Muslim

sources

present

a

picture

of Islamic aw

as

sanctioned

by

Muhammad's

practice

at

Medina,

but one has

only

to read the Strab

and the series of 8 docu-

ments

of the

so-called

"Constitution

of Medina" to

perceive

that the

already

established

system

of

law and custom was

Muhammad's

practice...

It

might

be said

that

Muhammad itted into the custom into which he

was born

3).

Politicaland

social conditions

n

the

regions

surrounding

entral

Arabia

played

an

important art

n the internal

evelopments

f central

Arabia.Untilthe end of the sixth

century

he Arabian

peninsula

was

surrounded

y

three formidable

owers,

the

Byzantine,

Persian,

and

Abyssinian,

one of

which

was

willing

to

permit

he formation

f

any

major

rival

commercial r

politicalpower

in Arabia.To these

three

shouldbe

added he various tates

of

Southern

Arabia,

at least

during

the

periods

when free of Persian

and

Abyssinian

ontrol

4).

Were

an

Arab

movement o

have arisen

before

the

seventh

century,unifying

i)

Chelhod,

Sacr6,

pp.

232-233.

2)

Milanges, p.

50.

3)

Ibid,

p.

51.

4)

H. St.

J.

B.

Philby,

The

Backgroundf

Islam

(Alexandria,

1947),

pp.

Io8

ff.



12/37

MUSAYLIMA

27

nomads and settlers in

common

economic,

political,

and

religious

interests

antithetical

to

those of the established

powers,

it could

not

have sustained itself or expanded without meeting stiff opposition, as

is

witnessed

by

the

Abyssinian

force

sent

against

Mecca

n

569/70,

soon

after Mecca had

assumed

major

commercial

importance.

"Client"

states on the Arabian

peninsula

of

predominantly

sedentary

and

semi-

sedentary

Arabs

1)

were

maintained

by

the

major powers

to

keep

the

Arabs of the Interior in

check

2)

and to

prevent

the Arabs

on

the

fringes

of their

empire

from

forming

or

joining

an Arab state

independent

of

their respective spheresof influence. The best-known of these buffer

states

were,

in

the

north,

the

Byzantine

Ghassinid state

3)

and the

Persian

Lakhmid

dynasty

at

al-JHlira

);

and

in

the south the

short-lived

IHimyarite

Kinda

kingdom

of centralArabia

5).

However,

by

the third

quarter

of

the sixth

century

the

economic

and

politicalsystem

of

the

majorempires

had

begun

to

collapse.

"In

Persia his

took the

formof a

disputed

uccession,

s often

before

and

since"

6).

After the

last

Arabking died at

al-HiIra

n

604,

direct

govern-

ment

by

the

Persians

produced

he

rebellionswhich culminated n

634-635.

n

particular,

he chain

of events

n

Persia fter

he

deathof the

SasSinid

uler

Khusraw

II

(29

February628)

rendered

neffective

Persian

attempts

o

control

the tribes

on

their

fringes, ncluding

al-

Yamima

7).

By

the

abdication of

Justinian

II

in

578

the

Byzantine

empire

was

politically

and

economically

exhausted;

Abyssinian

power

had

likewise waned.

In

South Arabia

the breaking of the dam

at

Ma'rib

(540)

was a

dramatic

sign

of

decay

in

a state

comparatively

prosperous

for

over a

thousand

years

s).

As is

well-known,

the

Islamic

I)

Levi Della

Vida,

p.

42;

H.

Charles,

Le

ChristianismeesArabesNomades

Paris,

1936),

P. 4.

2)

Wolf,

342.

3)

I.

Khilidi,

"The

Arab

Kingdom

of

Ghassin",

MW,

XLVI

(1956), 193-206.

4)

Smith,

465, 467.

5) Olinder, p. 37.

6)

Smith,

467.

7)

Barthold,

498.

8)

Smith,

467-468;

W.

Caskel,

"The

Bedouinization of

Arabia",

in Studies n

Islamic

Cultural

History,

ed. G.

Von

Grunebaum

(Menosha,

1954),

P.

40.



13/37

28

DALE F.

EICKELMAN

movement was

eventually

to

benefit from the

ensuing

power

vacuum,

but not before

facing

rivalry

(or

resistance)

from other

Arab

move-

ments such as that led by Musaylima.

Al-Yamdma

beforeMusaylima

Musaylima

b.

Habib

al-Kadhdhib,

"the

Liar",

as

he

is

known

by

the

traditional

accounts

1),

was

a

member of the B.

Hanifa,

a

tribe which

like

the

IKuraysh,

had

some

experience

with

settled life and non-kin

society

before the

emergence

of their

prophet.

The B.

Hanifa,

in

turn,

were partof the largertribalgroup of B. Bakrb. Wi'il (laterknown as

Rabi'a,

after

their

eponymal

ancestor),

which had

originally migrated

from

South

Arabia and

by

5o3

had become

the

leading

tribe

of the

central ArabianKinda

empire, indicating

an

early

transformation

rom

relatively

unorganized

nomadic life

to

participation

n an

extra-tribal

form

of social

organization.

B. Bakr

lived

in

al-Yamima,

adopting

al-Hadjr

near

present-day

r-Riy~4id)

s their

"capital".

Al-Hadjr

was

originally n the hands of the B. Hanifa,althoughother tribalgroupsof

the

B. Bakr

joined

them later

2).

Informations

to the land

surrounding

al-H.adr

is

especiallympor-

tant

in

determining

whether

Musaylima's

ollowers were

primarily

nomads

or settlers

3).

The

region

surrounding

al-Hadjr

was an

agricultural

ne where

wheat

was

grown,

as

Y.kfit,

al-Hamdini,

and

Philby

concur

4).

Y.kiit

ven mentions a ninth century Arab who constructed an irrigation

canal

in

the

region

5).

Al-.Hadjr

itself was at

the

confluence

of the

I)

Musaylima's

genealogy

is

variously given.

See

SEI,

p.

416.

2) E12,

962-964.

3)

Such

a

division is

quite significant

n

discussing

cultural nstitutions and

social

organization.

R.

Blachlre,

Histoire de la

Littirature

Arabe

(Paris,

1964),

Vol.

II,

pp. 243-247,

recognized

this in his

division of Arab

poets

by

region,

and

in

each

region by

nomadic

and

sedentary

groupings.

See

Chelhod,

Sacri,

pp.

3-33;

H. Rosen-

feld,

"The

Social

Composition

of

the

Military

in

the Process of State Formation

in

the ArabianDesert",JRAI, XCV

(1965), 183;

A. Musil,NorthernNe]d (New York,

I928),

p.

257.

4)

Barthold,

486.

For recent evidence drawn

roughly

from

the same

region,

see

F. S.

Vidal,

The

Oasis

of

al-Hasa

(New

York,

I9

5).

5)

Barthold,

486.



14/37

MUSAYLIMA

29

fertile

sections

of Arabia with the inland

desert,

so situated that there

must have been

frequent

interaction between the nomadic and

agri-

culturalelements of the B. Hanifaand other tribes

1).

The evidence

availablefor the seventh

century,

detailed

below,

also

indicates

the

strength

of

sedentary

elements in al-Yamima

2).

Date

palms

were cultivated

on

all

oases of

al-Yamima,

and

grain

was

grown

in the 'Ird

valley

and

in

al-Khardj

as well. In

good years,

according

to

Caskell,

grain

was sent

to

Mecca,

but

in

bad

years

was not

sufficient even

for

local

consumption

3).

Further evidence

is

provided

by Muhammad'srelations with Thum~mab. Uthdl, leader of a sub-

section of the

B.

Hanifa,

who was

captured

by

a

Muslim

raiding

party

and

later

won to

Islam

by

kind treatment

rom

the

Prophet.

To

support

Muhammad's ampaignsagainst

the Meccans

(before

628),

he told

the

Meccans,

whom

he

had been

providing

with

grain,

that

"Never, no,

never,

by

God,

will

you

ever

again

received a

grain

of

wheat from

al-Yamima without the

Prophet authorizing

it "

4).

Barthold

states

thatMuhammad,upon hearingthat the Meccanswere starving,allowed

the

grain

shipments

to

be resumed

5).

Thum~ma

remained

faithful

to

Islaim

until his

death,

and

played

a

significant

part

in

several later

campaigns,

including

the one

against

Musaylima

and

another

in

al-

Bahrayn,

where

he died

in

combat

6).

It

is

most

likely

that the

division

of

leadership

between

Thumima

and

Musaylima

corresponded

with the

nomadic-sedentary

division

of the tribe

7).

On the

basis of the

story

of

Thumama's

prohibiting

the

exportation

of wheat to

Mecca,

Barthold infers that

Thumima

was

ruler

of

the western

region

of

al-Yamima,

much less

hospitable

to

agriculture

than the

region

surrounding

al-.Had~jr.

Unlike the

al-.Had4jr

region,

western

al-Yamima was

suitable to desert

nomadism,

and

I)

Barthold, 488; Tab.,

p.

1939.

2)

Watt, Medina,

p.

133;

Barthold,

489.

3) E12, p. 963.

4)

Buldari,

Les

Traditions

Islamiques,

r.

O. Houdas

(Paris,

1908),

Vol.

III,

p.

214.

5)

492.

6)

Barthold,

492-493.

7)

Watt, Medina,

p.

133.



15/37

30

DALE F.

EICKELMAN

would be

the most

likely place

to cut off trade between

Mecca and

al-Hadj~r

).

The evidence that Thumima controlled the nomadic element of

B.

Hanifa

s

only

inferential,

s can

be

seen.

However,

t

is

certain hat

Thumima did

not

control more than a

small faction

of the

B.

.Hanifa,

hether

hey

were nomadicor

settled.

Thumima

had

to

waitfor the

main

body

of Muslims

under

Khilid before

entering

nto

conflict

with

Musaylima

in

the

decisive

battle

of

634

2).

B.

Hanifa,

although

there

were a

few nomads

among

them,

were

regarded primarilyas a settled group. Barthold mentions that when

Ziy

d b.

Abi,

Muslim

governor

of

'Ir.k,

named as his

deputy

in

Khu-

risan

a

member

of

the B.

Hanifa,

the

poet

Ibn Anis

(of

the nomadic

B.

Tamim,

rivals of B.

Hanifa?)

wrote

derogatory

verses

calling

the

B.

Hanifa

slaves and

tillers of

land,

employing

all the scorn for

sedentary

life that a

nomadic

poet

was

capable

of

mustering

3).

Many

of

Musaylima's

extant

revelations are directed

exclusively

to

a settled audience, and none are directed specifically to nomads. The

following

revelation,

recorded

in

Tabari,

would

obviously

have no

appeal

to

nomads,

as

Musaylima

swears

by

various

agricultural

occu-

pations,

exhorts

his listeners to

defend themselves

against

nomads,

and establishes the

merit of non-nomadic life:

I

swear

by

the

sowers and

reapers

of the

harvest,

and

the winnowers and

millers

of

wheat,

and the

bakers

of

bread...

You

are better than

the nomads

(ahl

al-wabar)

and no

worse than towndwellers

(ahl

al-madar).

Defend

your

fields, shelterthe poor, and drive off the attackers4).

To rid himself of the

"false

prophetess"

Sajaih

nd

her

B. Tamim

followers who were

driven to

al-Yamima

by

their

B.

Tamim

opposition,

Musaylima

offered

them

half the

harvest

of

al-Yamima,

with a

promise

of half the

coming

year

as

well,

according

to a tradition

from

Sayf

b.

'Umir

6).

The

ability

to make

such an

offer

depended,

of

course,

I) 492.

2)

Barthold,

503;

Tab.,

p.

1962.

3) 489.

4)

P.

1934.

5)

Tab.,

pp.

1919-1920.



16/37


17/37

32

DALE

F.

EICKELMAN

as

al-'AshB

(d. 625),

a

poet

from

al-Yamama.

Al-'Ash~i

relates that

Hawdha,

after

capturing

a

large

number

of

prisoners

in

a

long-standing

conflict with the B. Tamim, hoped to get God's grace by releasing

them

on

Easter

1).

The

northern sections of B. Bakr

living

near

al-.Hira

ere

definitely

Christians,

and there is

evidence that at

least some

sections of the B.

.Hanifa

were

practising

some form

of

Christianity

as

well

2). Lyall

strains

his evidence

by

asserting

that the entire

B.

Hanifa were

Christians

),

but

for

our

purposes

it is sufficient

o

recog-

nize

(as

did

Watt

for

Mecca)

that

Christian

nfluenceswere "in the air"

and familiarto the settledpopulationof al-Yamima

4).

There is some direct

evidence

of

political

contacts

between al-Ya-

m~ima

and

non-Arab

powers

in

the

period immediately

preceding

Musaylima's ascendancy

to

power.

Hawdha,

who was

"possibly

the

strongest

man

in

centralArabia

at

this

time",

was allied to the

Persians

and

"responsible

for

the

safety

of

their caravanson a certain

section

of

the

route from Yemen to Persia"

5).

For his

cooperation

with

(or

submission to) the Persians, Hawdha received an honorary uniform

and

wreath,

and was

known

from

the time he

received

the

gifts

as

"the wreath-bearer". In addition to the above evidence of Persian

political

influence

in

al-Yamima,

several

Hanifi

occupied

major

posts

in

the

Persian

bureaucracy

6).

Al-Yamima

was

also influenced

by

developments

in the

Hidjiz.

Recognizing

Hawdha's

mportance,Muhammad

ent him a letter

shortly

before his armisticewith the

IKuraysh

t

Hudabiya

n

June628, inviting

himto

accept

slam.

Hawdha eplied

hat he

would,

on condition

hat

I)

Barthold,

490;

EL2,

p. 964.

z) E12,

p. 964.

3)

784.

4)

Watt, Medina,

pp.

15

8-I61.

5)

Ibid.,

p.

I33;

also

Barthold,

491;

EI2,

p. 964.

On the

basis

of

Hawdha's

responsibility

for

the

safety

of

Persian

caravans,

Watt

(Medina,p.

133)

infers

that

he

was

a member

of the nomadic section of B.

Hanifa. Does

this

necessarily

follow?

Kuraysh

was a settled tribe

which

could

arrange

for and

guarantee

the

safe

passage

of caravans.

There

arealso

ethnographic

instances of settled

groups achieving hege-

mony

over nomadic

groups.

See

Serjeant,

"Hid",

I35,

and

"Two Tribal

Cases

(Documents)

(Wihidi

Sultanate,

South-West

Arabia)",JRAS,

i9

i,

i68.

6)

Barthold,

49I.



18/37

MUSAYLIMA

33

Muhammad would name him co-ruler and

heir,

a

proposal

which

Muhammad

rejected,

not

willing

in

any

way

to

compromise

his claim

to

supreme religious

and

political

authority

).

The discussions

of most Orientalists

regarding

Musaylima's

move-

ment have centered around

the

question

of

its

origin

in

relation

to

Islam.

Essentially

three

positions

have

been

taken:

(I)

Some historians

have

argued

that

Musaylima

was

preaching

before Muhammad and

was

relatively

well-known.

The

only

buttress for

this

position

is

Sfira

XXV:

6o

and the

responding

taunt of the Meccans that Muhammad

received his revelations rom a manin al-Yamima called"ar-Rahmin":

But

when

they

are

told,

"Bow

yourselves

to

ar-Rahm~n,"

hey say,

"And

what

is

ar-Rahmimn?

hall

we bow ourselves

to

what

thou biddest us?" And

it

increases

them

in

aversion

(Sara

XXV:

60).

[The

Meccans retorted to

Muhammad

that]

the

only

Rahm~nof whom we

know

is

the

Rahman of

al-Yamimah;

i.e.

Musaylimah

he

Liar

(al-Baghawi)

2).

The

only

Orientalist

completely

to

adopt

this

position

was D. S.

Margoliouth. Perhaps

not

paying enough

attention

to historical

method,

he took an extreme

(and

arbitrary) nterpretation

of

Siira

XXV:

6o

and

al-Baghwi's commentary

on

it,

and maintained that

Muhammadmodelled his

early

Sftiras

pon

Musaylima's.

Margoliouth

based his

argument

on the

non-sequitur

hat "in

any question

of

literary

ownership

there

must

be

a

presumption against

Mohammed,

for in

cases

where we know his sourceshe

indignantly

denies the

use of

them",

and hence

"there is

a

suspicion

that

he

is the imitator rather

than

the

imitated". After Muhammadborrowed from Musaylima or his early

verses,

Margoliouth argues

that "he found it

expedient

to desert

Musaylimah

or the Old and New Testaments and

the

sayings

of the

Jewish

fathers"

3).

(2)

The second alternative is to

accept

uncritically

the

reverse

assumption,

favored

by

the Islamic source

material,

that

Musaylima

I)

Caetani,p.

640;

al-Balidhuri, TheOriginsof the IslamicState, tr. P. K. Hitti

(New

York,

1916), p.

33.

2)

Margoliouth,

485.

3)

Ibid.,

492.

JESHO, X

3



19/37

34

DALE F. EICKELMAN

was

merely

an imitator of

Muhammad

).

A

highly improbable

explana-

tion

of how

Musaylima

earned

of

Mulhammad

s found

in

Ibn

Ish.ik:

A shaykhof B. Hanifafrom thepeople of al-Yamimatold me thatthe incident

happened

otherwise

[immediately

above this account is

a

story

that

Musaylima,

hiding

in

"garments",

came within earshot

of

the

Prophet,

who sensed

his

presence].

He

alleged

[note

the

use of

this

term]

that the

deputation

came

to

the

apostle

having

left

Musaylimah

behind

with the camels and the

baggage.

When

they

had

accepted

Islam

they

remembered where he

was,

and told

the

apostle

that

they

had

left

a

companion

of

theirs

to

guard

their

stuff.

The

apostle

ordered that

he

should

be

given

the

same as the

rest,

saying,

"His

position

is

no worse

than

yours",

i.e.

in

minding

the

property

of his

companions.

That is

what

the

apostle

meant.

They had left the apostle andbrought him what he hadgiven him. Whenthey

reached

al-Yamima

the

enemy

of

God

apostasized,

gave

himself

out

as a

prophet,

and

played

the

liar.

He

said,

"I am a

partner

with him

in

the

affair,"

and

then

he said

to

the

deputation

that

had been

with

him,

"Did

he

not

say

unto

you

when

you

mentioned me to

him

'His

position

is no worse

than

yours'?

What

can

that

mean but

that

he knows

that

I

am

a

partner

with him in the affair?"

Then

he

began

to

utter

rhymes

in

saj'

and

speak

in imitation of the

style

of

the

Quran:

"God has been

gracious

to the

pregnant

woman;

he has

brought

forth

from her

a

living being

that

can move from her

very

midst." He

permitted

them

to wine and

fornicate,

and let them

dispense

with

prayer, yet

he

was

acknow-

ledging the apostle as a prophet, and Hanifaagreed with him on that. But God

knows what the truth

was

2)

The first count

against

the

story

is

the several

internal

contradictions

within

it.

The

clumsy

and naive invention of

having

Musaylima

hide

with the

baggage

is

hardly

orthodox

etiquette

for

the leader

of

a

large

Arab

tribe,

or one about to be drafted

for

leadership

).

The account

that

Musaylimapermitted

wine and

fornication

to

his

people

is

contra-

dicted by all other accounts (mentionedin the next section). Secondly,

as A.

Guillaume notes

in the

introduction to his translationof

the

Sira,

Ibn

Ishik

prefaced

this

episode

with "he

alleged",

which leads us

to

assume

that Ibn

Ishi.k

placed

less

credence

in

this account than

those

accounts which are

not

qualified

by

those words.

Finally,

the B.

Hanifa

delegation story

is

one

of a

number of

delegation

accounts,

as

Watt

I) E.g. Tab., pp.

1749-1750.

G. H. Bousquet, "Observations sociologiques sur

les

origines

de

l'Islam",

SI,

II

(I954),

71,

also took

this

position;

"L'apparition

ultdrieure

de faux

prophetes

est

un cas

d'imitation

(cf.

les

fausses

Jeanne

d'Arc)".

2)

The

Life of

Mlubammed,

r. A. Guillaume

(London,

195

3),

PP.

636-637.

3)

Caetani,

p.

45

2.



20/37

MUSAYLIMA

3 J

notes,

which were invented to

increase the

prestige

of

Muhammadat

the

expense

of Abtx Bakr

1).

If a

delegation

did

occur,

it

probably

involved a discussion of primarily political matters, almost certainly

not

the submission of the entire tribe

to

Islam

2).

A much

more

likely

account

supporting

this alternative is

that

Musaylima

earned of

Muhammad's

verses and

techniques

through

the

medium

of a certain

Nahir

ar-Rahhil

"the

traveller",

alternatively

given

as

ar-Radjdj~il)

.

'Unfuwa,

who was either a

member of

the

alleged

B.

Hanifa

delegation

to

Muhammad who later

apostasized

3),

or a Kur'~inic teacher (mu'allim) sent by Muhammad to the B. Hanifa

who did the same.

In

the latter case he

pressed

Musaylima's

claim

by

saying

that

Musaylima

was

an "associate" in

prophecy

with

Muhammad

(innahu

dad

ushrik

ma'ahu)

4).

In

either

case

he is said to

have

joined

forces with

Musaylima,

nstructed him in the

imitation of

Muhammad,

and

acted as

his

close adviser

5).

(3)

Our own

position

is

to

deny

that there is

sufficient

nformation

to fix the origin of Musaylima'smovement.We canconclude,however,

that

Musaylima

was some sort of

religious

figure

in

al-Yamima

who

did

not

attract

substantial

public

attention or

support

until

Hawdha's

death

6).

The contention

that

Musaylima

was

merely

an

imitator

of

Muhammad leaves

many

questions

unanswered.

Musaylima

may

well

have

borrowed

or

copied

from

Muhammad,

very

possibly through

the

medium of

an-Nah~ir.

But the reasons for

Musaylima's

success

in

converting

the

majority

of

his

tribe

and

fighting

with

an

army

of

40,000

are

still

unexplained. Why

would

the

B.

Hanifa

have been

so

willing

to

accept

an imitator of

Muhammad,

the

prophet

of

.Kuraysh?

More

pertinently,

what needs

did

a

prophet

such

as

Musaylima

fill

among

the B.

Hanifa,

so that

they

were

willing

to

fight

until deathwith him?

I)

See

Watt, Medina,

pp.

79-80.

2)

Caetani,

p.

643.

3) Bal1dhuri, p.

132;

Watt, Medina, p. I34; Tab., p.

1932.

4)

Tab.,

pp.

1932,

194x;

ad-Diyirbakri,

Ta'rik

al-Khamis

(Cairo,

[A. H.]

1302),

p.

I7

5; Balidhuri,

p.

133.

5)

Watt, Medina,

p. I36;

Tab.,

p.

I932;

Barthold,

499.

6)

This

position

is

substantially

hat of Watt in

Medina,

p.

136.



21/37

36

DALE F. EICKELMAN

Traditional

scholarship

on

Musaylima,

most of it on the

"origin"

question,

has concentrated

on the historical "diffusion" of ideas

and

techniques,andwho "imitated"whom. These questionsareinteresting

in

their

own

right,

although

they

cannot

be answered

with the materials

presently

at

our

disposal.

Our

present

analysis

has a somewhat different

focus.

The

following

two

sections

will

try

to indicate which cultural

mechanisms

Musaylima

had to utilize

to

gain supporters

or his claimsof

religious

and

political

authority,

and how

he could then maintain

such

support.

Musaylima-The

Foundations

f

Authority

From

what is

known

of the cultural

acceptance

of claims to

religious

authority

and

supernatural

communication

in

general,

their initial

acceptance

depends

not

upon

innovations in the form and content

of

the

claim,

but

rather

upon

those elements

in

it which

are

already

familiar

).

This

is the

case

even if the overall intent of the claim is

to

endow old symbols and acts with new meaning

2),

and perhaps (as was

the case

with the movement

begun

by

Mu.hammad)

to offer

society

ma-

terial

and

ideological

benefits from identificationwith some definable

new cultural

system,

or

Weltanschauung

).

The

starting-point

n an

analysis

of the basis of

Musaylima's uthority

is the

style

of

his

revelations.

Unlike his

ordinary

speech,

which is

in

prose,

Musaylima's

revelations

take the form of oaths

using

unusual

words

or

images,

or

sadj' verse,

"short

sentences

in

rhythmic prose,

with

single

or more

rarely alternatingrhyme"

4).

This

style

was used

prior

to the seventh

century

(and

afterwards as

well) by

the

kdbins,

or

soothsayers

5),

and,

at least to some

extent,

by

poets (sing.

shd'ir).

I)

E.g.

T.

Schwartz,

The

Paliau

Movement

n

the

Admiralty

slands,

1946-1954

New

York,

1962), pp. 392-393;

see also

Watt,

Mecca,

p.

8i.

2)

V.

Lanternari,

The

Religions

f

the

OppressedToronto,

1965), P.

185.

3)

Wallace,

273.

4)

SEI, p.

2o7.

5)

"K3ihinship"

is often

mistakenly

considered

an

exclusively

"pre-Isl~mic"

institution.

The

use

of

sadj'

verse

by

kshins

as a

sign

of

supernatural

ommunication

has

been

fairly

constant

over

the

centuries.

Al-Mas'idi, Muridj,

ed. de

Meynard

and

de

Courteille

(Paris,

1865),

Vol.

III,

pp.

379

ff.,

mentions

the

South

Arabian

kihina



22/37

MUSAYLIMA

37

Another use of the

cryptic

"kihinesque"

form of

speech

occurs in some

of

the

early

IKur'~inic

erses,

as

analyzed by

Richard

Bell

1).

Below are several examples of Musaylima's revelations, or of parts

of them.

I

have

transliterated

the Arabic of the first to

give

a

clearer

idea

of

their

sound.

Croak,

frog,

as thou

wilt:

part

of

thee

in the waterand

part

in the

mud;

thou

hinderst

not the

drinker,

nor dost

thou

befoul the

stream

2).

Yad

1ifdi',

bnat

difdi',

Nuk~bi

md

tanukkin,

A'ldk

i

i-ma',

Wa 'asfalk

l

t-tin,

Ld

sh-shdrib

amna'in,

IWa

d

I-mad'

tukaddirin

).

The

elephant,

what

is

the

elephant,

andwho shall

tell

you

what

is

the

elephant?

It has a

poor

tail,

and

a

long

trunk;

and is

a

trifling part

of the creations of

thy

God.

Verily

we have

given

thee the

jewels:

so take

them

to

thyself

and

hasten;

yet

beware lest

thou be

too

greedy

or

desire too

much.

By

the land

covered

with

grass, by

the

mountains

covered

with

whiteness,

by

the horses

bearing

saddles...

By various types of sheep..,. by the black sheep and its white milk, indeed

it is

a

pure surprise,

and

the

wine was

forbidden-Why

don't

you

wonder

about these

things

?

4)

Unfortunately

the

context in

which the

above verses

occurred

is

not

known,

although

the verses

cited

elsewhere do occur in context.

With

the

contextless

verses,

form

alone

can be

discussed.

Anyone

wishing

to

establish a claim to

supernatural

ommunication n seventh

.arifa;

Tab., III,

2

gives an exampleof a kshin using sadj'as late as 749, well after

the

Islamizition

of

Arabia;

A.

Musil,

TheManners

nd

Customs

f

the

RwalaBedouins

(New

York,

I928), p.

403,

gives

a

contemporary example.

See also

R.

Montagne,

La

Civilisation u

Desert

(Paris,

1947),

P.

85.

i)

Introductiono

the

Qur'dn

Edinburgh,

1963),

p.

76.

2)

This and

the

following

two verses are translated

by Margoliouth,

488.

3)

Tab.,

p.

I3934.

4)

Ibid.,

p.

1933.

Palgrave

is not

considered to be

the

most reliable of

i9th

century

travellers,

but

he writes

the

following

on

Musaylima

n Narrative

of

a

Year's

ourneyhrough

entral

and

Eastern

Arabia

(London, 1866),

Vol.

I, p.

382:

"I

have,

while

in

Nejed,

been

favoured

with

the

recitation of

many

of

[Musaylima's]

udicrous

pieces, yet

retained

by

tradition;

but,

like

most

parodies,

they

were

little

worthy

of

memory,

and

often

very

coarse". If the

account

has

any validity,

it

is

regrettable

that

Palgrave

neither

recorded

the

alleged sayings

nor

the tribalaffiliationsof their reciters.



23/37

38

DALE

F.

EICKELMAN

century

Arabia was

obligated,

at least at the

beginning

of

his

career,

to exhibit

the

traditionally

recognized

form

of

communicationwith the

supernatural.All speechwhose origin was attributed o unseenpowers,

or

had

something

to

do with the

unseen

powers,

"such

as

cursing,

blessing,

divination,

incantation,

nspiration,

and

revelation,

had to be

couched

in

[sadj']"

1).

In

some

details,

such as the use of

sadj'

verse,

Musaylima

used the

same conventions as the

kihin.

In the next section I

will deal with

Musaylima's

implementation

of

authority,

but at this

juncture

it is

significantto note that the conceptof kihin, on the basis of his super-

natural

power,

often had considerable

political

influence,

as

well as

religious,

which

frequently

extended

beyond

the limits of his

own tribe.

Thus the idea of a

religious personage assuming

control

of one or

several tribes was not

unknown

in the two centuries

prior

to

Islam:

Their

[kshins]

mantic

knowledge

is

based

on ecstatic

inspiration... [which]

is of demonical

origin:

a

djinni

or

shaitdn

"demon"...

The

kihins often

express

themselves

in

very

obscure

and

ambiguoislanguage.They give greater

emphasis

to their utteranceby striking oaths, swearing by the earthand sky, sun, moon

and

stars,

light

and

darkness,

evening

and

morning,

plants

and

animals of

all

kinds...

Kihins

play

an

extremely

important part

in

public

as well as

private

life.

They

are

interrogated

on all

important

tribal and state

occasions ... In

private

life the kihins

especially

act as

judges

in

disputes

and

points

of law

of all

kinds

...

Their

decisions

considereds

a kind

of

divine

udgement gainst

which

here

s

no

appeal...

The

influence

of these men and women

was

naturallygreat

and often

stretched

ar

beyond

he

bounds

f

their

ribes

2).

An exampleof a seventh century kihin who was also chief of his

tribe was

Tulayha

b.

Khuwaylid

of B. Asad. His dual

role

(at

least

before

the

Ridda)

of chief

and

kihin was

emphasized

by

al-Dihiz,

among

others

3).

Tulayha

is

an

especially pertinent

example

since

during

the Ridda he further assumed the

role of

"prophet"

of a

tribal

confederation under

his

aegis,

at least until his

conversion to

Islim

4).

I)

Izutsu,

p.

I73.

2)

Italics

mine,D.E.; SEI, p. 207;see also G. Ryckmans,pp. I1-iz; Blachare,His-

toire,

pp.

188-195.

3)

In

Blachare,Histoire,

p.

191;

also

H.

Lammens,

L'Arabie

Occidentale

Beirut,

I928),

p.

257.

4)

SEI,

pp.

595-596.



24/37

MUSAYLIMA

39

Muhammad'suse

of

the traditionalforms

of

communication with

the

supernatural

t the

beginning

f

his

careerhas been

studied

in

consi-

derabledetail. He invested these forms with a new significancefrom

the

outset,

but what we wish to

establish

is that

only by

use of the

recognized

signs

of

supernatural

communication could

Muhammad

initially

establish his claim to

inspiration ).

The

source of

Musaylima's

revelations is

variously

identified as

"ar-Rahman"

2),

and

simply

"he who comes to

me from

heaven"

(al-ladhi

a'ti

min is-sama') ).

Elsewhere

Musaylima

identifies himself

as a "messengerof God" (rasil illdh)4). Like Muhammadhe did not

claim

to receive

revelations

from

any

of a number of

undistinguished

_d/inn

r

shaytidn,

s did the

ordinary

kihin

or

soothsayer;

nstead

Musay-

lima

claimed to receive his

inspiration

from

a

superior

supernatural

being.

Whether this

concept

was borrowed from Muhammad

or

whether it

was

independentlydeveloped

by Musaylima at

least to some

extent)

is a

question upon

which there is no reliable evidence. The

implications of the claim to a "superior" supernaturalsource are

numerous. Most

importantly,

such a claim

distinguished

Muhammad

and

Musaylima

from

the kahins who surrounded

them,

making

their

claim to

authority

superior,

although

in the

case of

Musaylima

(since

he

allegedly recognized

Muhammad's

prophecy),

not

unique.

It is

difficult o

place

Musaylima's

movement

(as

well as

Muhammad's)

and

innovations

in

a

neat

evolutionary sequence

with

preceding

Arab

political

and

religious

movements and

institutions.

This

is

primarily

because of

the

heavy

"acculturative"

nfluences

in what is

known

of

his

teachings.

As was

the case in the

Hidiajz,

l-Yamima'ssettled centers

had

long

been

influenced

by

the

ideas, institutions, commerce,

and

people

from

outside central

Arabia,

as

previously

indicated

5).

Al-

Djihiz

presents

a

particularly

nteresting

account of how

Musaylima

was

directly exposed

to

Persian

and

Byzantine

culture,

paralleling

the

1) SEI, p.

207;

also

Bell, pp. 75-76.

2)

Tab.,

p. I937.

3)

Ibid.,

p.

1933.

4) Ibid., p. I749.

5)

See

Bell,

pp.

8o-8i

;

Izutsu,

pp.

lo9

ff.



25/37

40

DALE

F.

EICKELMAN

accounts

of

Muhammad's

journies

to the

Ghassinid state in his

pre-

prophetic

days

).

Before

Musaylima's

"pretensions"

to

prophecy,

al-Dj~.hiz

writes, he travelled to the market towns situated between

the

Arab lands

(ddr

al-'arab)

and

Persia

(al-'ad/am),

learning

sorcery,

astrology,

and tricks of

magic,

and

"then returned to his

tribe,

who are

Arabs,

and claimed

prophecy" 2).

Specific

data

regarding

the

religious

teachings

of

Musaylima

are

highly

limited in

the

primary

sources.

Among

what

is known

of

Musay-

lima's

teachings,

he

"insisted

upon uprightness

of

life,

and

taught

the

doctrine of resurrectionand Divine judgment based on what a man

has done

during

his

life",

as well as

prescribing

three

formal

prayers

daily, fasting,

and the

recognition

of a

sanctuary

or

sacred

territory

in al-Yamima

upon

his followers

3).

These

influences,

Watt

believes,

were

predominantly

Christian,

as was

Musaylima's

use

of

certain

phrases

such

as

"kingdom

of heaven"

(mulk

as-samdi')

).

Watt's

inference

is

highly

probable,

since

al-Yamima was

a

region

highly

influenced

by

Christianity.Furthermore, he nomadic B. Tamim,who Livedadjacant

to the B.

HI.anifa,

were

largely

Christian,

although

converted

to

Islam

in time to

join

the Muslims

in

battle

against

B.

Hanifa

at

the

battle

of

'AkrabB'.

One account

in

Tabari

describing

the

meeting

between

Saiiah

of

the B. Tamim

with

Musaylima

describes her as

having

been

"firmly

rooted"

in

Christianity rdsikha

i

n-nasrdniyya)

).

There is one

further,

highly questionable,

detail of

Musaylima's

teachings.

Watt

refers to

Musaylima's"regulation"

that "a man was

not to

have

intercoursewith

any

woman so

long

as

he had a

son

alive",

saying

that it was

"perhaps

ntended

to

deal

with the economic basis"

of

al-Yamima;

"the

disappearance

of the trade between the Yemen

and

Persia

had

perhaps

affected the Yamimah

adversely"

6).

If the

account in Tabari were

accepted

as

valid,

the

implications

of

I)

T.

Andre,

Mohammed:

The

Man

and

His

Faith

(New

York,

I960o),

pp.

37-38,

40-4I;

Blachere,

Le

Probleme de

Mahomet

(Paris,

I95

z), p.

35.

2)

Cited

in

ad-Diyirbakri,

p.

176.

3)

Watt, Medina,

p.

3

5,

based

upon

Tab.

pp.

1916-19

1

7.

4)

Tab.

p.

1917;

Medina,

p.

136.

~) Tab., p. I9I6? 6)

Medina,

p.

135;

Tab.,

p.

1917.



26/37

MUSAYLIMA

41

such

a

"regulation"

are

much

more

disastrous than Watt

indicates.

Such

a

prohibition

is

diametrically pposed

to

the

Arab ideal

of

having

as manymaleoffspringas possible,which is recognizedby everywriter

on

nomadic

and

sedentary

Arabs

1).

Further,

how could

such

a

"regu-

lation"

be

enforced?

A

claimant

to

authority

could do

nothing

but

weaken

his claim

by

advocating

measures

inherently

unenforceable.

If the most creative

response

of

Musaylima

o

economic

difficulties

n

his

principality

was

to

go against

established

values

and restrict

family

size

(which

in

any

case could

not

solve

an

economic or

population

pro-

blem until years later), rather than conquer or subject to tribute rich

regions

beyond

al-Yamima,

then this

regulation

would

support

the

contention that

Musaylima

was unable

to create

an

ideology

capable

of

generatingsupport

n the

cultural

situation

of

centralArabia.

However,

this

"regulation"

s so

obviously against

Arab

values

of

both

today

and

of

seventh

century

Arabia

that

it is

most

likely

an

invention on the

part

of the

Muslim chroniclers or their

informants.

Musaylima - Dale Eickelman

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