Sectarian Milieu: Content And Composition of Islamic Salvation History

by John Wansbrough, G.R. Hawting (Foreword)

One of the most innovative thinkers in the field of Islamic Studies was John Wansbrough (1928-2002), Professor of Semitic Studies and Pro-Director of London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. Critiquing the traditional accounts of the origins of Islam as historically unreliable and heavily influenced by religious dogma, Wansbrough suggested radically new interpretations very different from the views of both the Muslim orthodoxy and most Western scholars. In The Sectarian Milieu Wansbrough "analyses early Islamic historiography – or rather the interpretive myths underlying this historiography ― as a late manifestation of Old Testament 'salvation history.'" Continuing themes that he treated in a previous work, Quranic Studies, Wansbrough argued that the traditional biographies of Muhammad (Arabic sira and maghazi) are best understood, not as historical documents that attest to "what really happened," but as literary texts written more than one hundred years after the facts and heavily influenced by Jewish, and to a lesser extent Christian, interconfessional polemics. Thus, Islamic "history" is almost completely a later literary reconstruction, which evolved out of an environment of competing Jewish and Christian sects. As such, Wansbrough felt that the most fruitful means of analyzing such texts was literary analysis. Furthermore, he maintained that it was next to impossible to extract the kernel of historical truth from works that were created principally to serve later religious agendas. Although his work remains controversial to this day, his fresh insights and approaches to the study of Islam continue to inspire scholars. This new edition contains a valuable assessment of Wansbrough's contributions and many useful textual notes and translations by Gerald Hawting (University of London), plus the author's 1986 Albert Einstein Memorial Lecture, "Res Ipsa Loquitur."

Genres: Islam

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Dmcconkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book and when you are finished, you say self - "I am going to have to read that again!" Well that is this book for me. There are some nuggets, but need to read again. Part of the problem is there are untranslated foreign language text that does not help in understanding points of the text. There is also liberal used of foreign phrases that specialist are familiar with but not to the novice. This definitely a text for the advanced student of Islam.

[Harlan Prine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I guess I don't understand literature criticism. It seems those who pick apart arguments of the meaning of the piece, use esoteric words to describe small passages taken out of context. Then thru deduction? prove their point? Making me do all the work. I don't like all the Latin used. Does this Author state that Islamic history was intentionally made up? If so, he could start the argument from there. Clearly and intellectual ass. Also, a non-believer. I find folks proposing outlandish claims cloak themselves in intellectualism without ever making a believable point. Don't waste your time with this book unless you like confusion. Apparently, he makes a claim that Muhummad came up with the Koran via the dead sea scroll community. What a closed-minded dope. At least add that to the description.
Also, all the reviews I saw came from the publisher. search the title and all results lead back to this book. The author could have outlined his book better by explaining the title at least. No table of contents. One big, convoluted argument. Like when someone is so delusional in their argument you just agree with them. They sound smart right?

[Lisa Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult yet interesting book about the "context" of the Qur.an.