“Superiority is due to us, and the king should come from among us” : The Arab Conquests and Conflicts of the Early Umayyad Era in a 7th-Century Syriac Universal History of Yoḥannān bar Penkāyē
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The last few decades have seen considerable interest in non-Muslim sources that contain material on the earliest stage of Islam. This paper examines one such witness, The Book of the Main Points by Yoḥannān bar Penkāyē, a 7th-century Syriac universal history, that provides an account of the Arab conquests, the first decades of the Umayyad caliphate, with a special focus on the events of the Second Fitna. The paper includes a commentary on selected passages from the History concerning the conquests and early Muslim rule, a comparative study of Syriac Christian sources on the Second Fitna, and a lexico-historical sketch of the phenomenon of the šurṭa (slaves and prisoners of war) fighting on the side of al-Muḫtār during the Second Fitna.
Source: Der Islam
Authors: Yulia Furman, Dmitry Cherkashin
Institutions: Freie Universität Berlin, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,489
OpenAlex ID: W4403242062