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Muhammad: The Mecca and Medina Stories
528 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2005
About the author
Hans Jansen
25 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Johannes Juliaan Gijsbert "Hans" Jansen (17 November 1942 – 5 May 2015) was a Dutch politician, scholar of contemporary Islam and author.
Jansen is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam, his doctorate in Arabic is from the University of Leiden. He has worked in Egypt, where he was the Director of the Dutch Institute in Cairo. From 1983 he was an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at Leiden University. Up to 2008, he was Professor of Modern Islamic Thought at the University of Utrecht.
Johannes Juliaan Gijsbert "Hans" Jansen (17 November 1942 – 5 May 2015) was a Dutch politician, scholar of contemporary Islam and author.
Jansen is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam, his doctorate in Arabic is from the University of Leiden. He has worked in Egypt, where he was the Director of the Dutch Institute in Cairo. From 1983 he was an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at Leiden University. Up to 2008, he was Professor of Modern Islamic Thought at the University of Utrecht.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 11, 2019
Hans Jansen (1942-2015) was a respected expert in Islamic and Arabic studies, a professor at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands). This book is not aimed at academics, but nevertheless it is a specialized, rather dry treatment of the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Jansen follows in detail the first biography written by Ibn Ishaq, around the year 750, so more than a century after the death of the Prophet.
He continually points to inconsistencies in that biography and especially to the inadequate knowledge we generally have about Arabia in the first half of the 7th century, the early period of Islam. Whoever expects to read the real story about Muhammad's person will be disappointed: Jansen makes it very clear that it is almost impossible to find verifiable biographical elements, especially about the earliest, Meccan time. He also exemplifies that both the Ishaq biography and the Koran texts and the subsequent commentaries bear the traces of later historical developments: the internal battle between Sunnis and Shiites and between the Umajad and the Abassid dynasty, for example, or the external battle with Christians and Jews.
Such a 'historicising' reading may seem obvious to a Western reader; in traditionalist/fundamentalist Muslim circles it clearly is not accepted and in most cases even contested vehemently (although there are also currents within islam that have less issues with such an approach). Jansen himself goes for the middle ground: he obviously defends the scientific, historicizing approach, but at the same time he also expresses respect for a 'religious' reading of the texts, as is the case with Christians and other religious groups. He never is explicit about this, but I have the impression that his opinion is that both 'truths' are valuable, though as a scientist he claims the right to ask critical questions and to point to historically 'wrong' information; and rightly so!
ADDENDUM. Looking back on the biography of Hans Jansen I noticed that his view on islam has shifted throughout time. Until the year 2000 his approach was rather academic and sympathizing with certain aspects of islam. But after Nine Eleven and especially the murder on Theo Van Gogh, 2004, he became very critical of the radical tendencies within islam, urging him to become an aide for the extremist Geert Wilders and even to become European parliamentarian for his party. In interviews he warned explicitly against the islamization of Western society. In this book this radical and critical point of view is rather implicit, Jansen remains within the academic tradition of keeping distance, and using the critical instruments of science to point to certain issues.
He continually points to inconsistencies in that biography and especially to the inadequate knowledge we generally have about Arabia in the first half of the 7th century, the early period of Islam. Whoever expects to read the real story about Muhammad's person will be disappointed: Jansen makes it very clear that it is almost impossible to find verifiable biographical elements, especially about the earliest, Meccan time. He also exemplifies that both the Ishaq biography and the Koran texts and the subsequent commentaries bear the traces of later historical developments: the internal battle between Sunnis and Shiites and between the Umajad and the Abassid dynasty, for example, or the external battle with Christians and Jews.
Such a 'historicising' reading may seem obvious to a Western reader; in traditionalist/fundamentalist Muslim circles it clearly is not accepted and in most cases even contested vehemently (although there are also currents within islam that have less issues with such an approach). Jansen himself goes for the middle ground: he obviously defends the scientific, historicizing approach, but at the same time he also expresses respect for a 'religious' reading of the texts, as is the case with Christians and other religious groups. He never is explicit about this, but I have the impression that his opinion is that both 'truths' are valuable, though as a scientist he claims the right to ask critical questions and to point to historically 'wrong' information; and rightly so!
ADDENDUM. Looking back on the biography of Hans Jansen I noticed that his view on islam has shifted throughout time. Until the year 2000 his approach was rather academic and sympathizing with certain aspects of islam. But after Nine Eleven and especially the murder on Theo Van Gogh, 2004, he became very critical of the radical tendencies within islam, urging him to become an aide for the extremist Geert Wilders and even to become European parliamentarian for his party. In interviews he warned explicitly against the islamization of Western society. In this book this radical and critical point of view is rather implicit, Jansen remains within the academic tradition of keeping distance, and using the critical instruments of science to point to certain issues.
August 6, 2015
Het is moeilijk om over de profeet Mohammed en de Koran te schrijven. Een wetenschappelijke benadering staat op gespannen voet met het sacrale karakter van het onderwerp. Hoe kan men twijfelen aan een boek dat door God geopenbaard is. Het zeer leesbare boek van Hans Jansen maakt dit goed duidelijk. Het laat bv zien dat de Koran begrijpelijker wordt, wanneer we accepteren dat het woorden uit het Syrisch bevat. Dat is onaanvaardbaar voor de meeste moslims, omdat aangenomen wordt dat de Koran in het Arabisch gedicteerd is. Bij het lezen van dit boek vroeg ik me af waarin het ontstaan van de Islam afwijkt van de Mormonen. De laatste geloven ook dat het boek van Mormon direct gegeven is via de Gouden Platen aan Joseph Smith. Mohammed heeft ongetwijfeld meer succes.
January 20, 2019
Kritisch-wetenschappelijk, maar naar mijn mening nog steeds vrij toegankelijk voor een breed publiek. De auteur positioneert zich duidelijk ten opzichte van andere historische trends. Niet bang van controverse schuwt hij ook de minder mooie verhalen niet, die door anderen al makkelijker worden weggelaten.
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October 2, 2023Interesting, sure, but a mixed bag. See my extensive review in my General account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
April 12, 2012
Jansen reconstrueert met nuchterheid en hier en daar stoute ironie de Medina-periode in het leven van krijgsheer Mohammed op basis van de biografieën van Ibn Ishaak en Ibn Hisham. Jansens vertelstijl is onderhoudend, al kan ik me voorstellen dat vrienden van de Islam niet gediend zijn met zijn gevoel voor humor, noch de kanttekeningen die Jansen plaatst bij de historiciteit van bepaalde gebeurtenissen of de morele integriteit van Mohammed (de Slag bij Badr was gewoon een ordinaire roofoverval, die dan theologisch gerechtvaardigd wordt, bv.) In Medina, ook blijkens de soera's, was geen lieve periode, maar het resultaat van een concrete uitbouw van een dictatuur/theocratie, geleid door Mohammed. Als aanvulling hierop en op de 'Mekkaanse verhalen' zijn Jansens hoorcolleges 'Islam' en 'Mohammed' welkom. Ook daarin benadert hij zijn onderzoeksobject op zijn bekende en bijwijlen geestige manier. Hou een glas water in de buurt.
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December 21, 2012Touched reading this book with new acquintances around the world, 4 years ago seating while staring Nabawi Mosque from its outside, seated on its cold floor, miss it a lot!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews