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Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam
This book offers a new approach to the vexing question of how to write the early history of Islam. The first part discusses the nature of the Muslim and non-Muslim source material for the seventh- and eighth-century Middle East and argues that by lessening the divide between these two traditions, which has largely been erected by modern scholarship, we can come to a better appreciation of this crucial period. The second part gives a detailed survey of sources and an analysis of some 120 non-Muslim texts, all of which provide information about the first century and a half of Islam (roughly A.D. 620-780). The third part furnishes examples, according to the approach suggested in the first part and with the material presented in the second part, how one might write the history of this time. The fourth part takes the form of excurses on various topics, such as the process of Islamization, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam, the development of techniques for determining the direction of prayer, and the conquest of Egypt.
Because this work views Islamic history with the aid of non-Muslim texts and assesses the latter in the light of Muslim writings, it will be essential reading for historians of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism--indeed, for all those with an interest in cultures of the eastern Mediterranean in its traditional phase from Late Antiquity to medieval times.
872 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Robert G. Hoyland
27 books87 followersRobert G. Hoyland is a scholar and historian, specializing in the medieval history of the Middle East. He is a former student of historian Patricia Crone and was a Leverhulme Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 7, 2021
This volume is an absolutely essential resource. It should be published, however, in an affordable edition; this edition is a deluxe hardcover and priced more for institutions. As one commenter noted, it is now available relatively affordably in electronic (e.g., Google Books and Kindle) format. Additionally, a synopsis is archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/201802061...
October 8, 2023
In this book, Robert Hoyland brings together late antique and medieval non-Muslim writings on Islam. He also brings in a few Muslim-authored texts when he discusses apocalypticism, but his main focus is non-Muslim texts in Muslim lands.
The book is divided into four parts. Part I provides a contextual background for thinking about the rise of Islam in the late antique Near East, addresses questions of continuity and change, identity, and the forms of textual sources available. Part II, the bulk of the book, is divided into two main sections: incidental and intentional references to Islam. The final two parts of the book address questions of studying Islamic history from non-Islamic sources, and an initial excurses into six hitherto unpublished or untranslated Christian texts.
This book is valuable on several fronts. The wide range of languages and religious traditions represented alone are noteworthy. Hoyland includes Christian Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Latin sources, Christian and Muslim Arabic texts, as well as Jewish, Persian, and Chinese sources. Another contribution is his subdivision of intentional references by genre, hence providing an overview of the apocalypses, chronicles, histories, and theological disputations that were written about Islam. This subdivision helps readers differentiate between the forms of religious polemic that were prevalent at the time, from discourses aimed at the insider non-Muslim community only and others meant for Muslim ears, and the degrees of animosity they included.
The book is divided into four parts. Part I provides a contextual background for thinking about the rise of Islam in the late antique Near East, addresses questions of continuity and change, identity, and the forms of textual sources available. Part II, the bulk of the book, is divided into two main sections: incidental and intentional references to Islam. The final two parts of the book address questions of studying Islamic history from non-Islamic sources, and an initial excurses into six hitherto unpublished or untranslated Christian texts.
This book is valuable on several fronts. The wide range of languages and religious traditions represented alone are noteworthy. Hoyland includes Christian Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Latin sources, Christian and Muslim Arabic texts, as well as Jewish, Persian, and Chinese sources. Another contribution is his subdivision of intentional references by genre, hence providing an overview of the apocalypses, chronicles, histories, and theological disputations that were written about Islam. This subdivision helps readers differentiate between the forms of religious polemic that were prevalent at the time, from discourses aimed at the insider non-Muslim community only and others meant for Muslim ears, and the degrees of animosity they included.
November 12, 2016
البحث عميق ومتشعب ربما أعود لاستعراضه في وقت لاحق.
February 27, 2021
What Hoyland has tackled here is no less than a complete literary survey of any non-Islamic writing that refers to Islam between its 630 AD emergence and 780 when it had achieved a degree of self-definition.
Any scrap of writing (including that on artefacts and buildings) from this period that has any bearing on Islam has been documented and, in very many cases, quoted where it has anything to say about the rise of this influential religion.
The scope is exhaustive, and it is meant to be. It is a quite astonishing scholastic achievement which included, among other things, Hoyland actually translating documents into English where this had never been done. I wouldn’t describe it as a page-turner, at times it’s a bit dry. However, you do expect that from this genre. Get into the texts he presents however and it brings this era of history alive in a way that I’d never experienced before.
The motivation for such a work is laid out in the introduction
"Islamicists, who once rejoiced that their subject “was born in the full light of history,” have recently been discovering just how much apparent history is religio-legal polemic in disguise, some even doubting whether the host of Arabic historical works that appear in the late eighth and early ninth centuries contain any genuine recollection of the rise and early growth of Islam." page 3
He then goes on to cite the examples of Cahen, Crone and Cook who delved into this area but laments the fact that others have not pursued this line of enquiry. To address that, his work is an attempt
"to elucidate and expand what constitutes Islamic history, …. [by] … drawing upon the writings of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians"page 3
His thesis is sound: If you want to be sure of what someone claims, you need first hand testimony as well as witness testimony.
So, what did I learn?
Well, I learned that isnads shouldn’t be dismissed summarily:
"By the late ninth century, isnad criticism was highly developed and scholarship professional, so one should not simply dismiss isnads as fictitious without some consideration." page 493
Instead, we can dismiss them after “some consideration”.
I learned that claims that Hajjaj ibn Yusuf revised the text of the Qur’an are attested by both Islamic and non-Islamic sources and that we can trust the latter to the extent that they are corrobated by the former.
But the greatest thing I learned was that the burden of proof for the traditional story of the origins of Islam lies fairly and squarely with those who promulgate it:
"before AH 72 the archaeological record is strangely silent about Islam, and this despite the fact that we do have a fair amount of material from this time. A similar problem occurs with regard to the Qur’an, which seems to have been ignored by Muslims as a source of law until the early eighth century." page 550
There are also a few more problems the story that we typically hear.
"The total lack of specifically Islamic declarations made by the Sufyanid line of Umayyads, the proliferation of them issued by the Marwanid branch and the religious causes espoused by the various opposition movements of the intervening civil war lead us to the conclusion that it was pressure from rebel factions that induced the Marwanids to proclaim Islam publicly as the ideological basis of the Arab state." page 553
This is where that “consideration” Hoyland mentioned comes into play. We have isnads, but when we consider specific hadith and their respective isnads, we have to give “some consideration” as to why we have the ones we do.
For anyone with an interest in pursuing the reality of the origins of Islam, it’s a masterpiece and a required read.
For more reviews and the 1001 Books Spreadsheet, visit http://arukiyomi.com
Any scrap of writing (including that on artefacts and buildings) from this period that has any bearing on Islam has been documented and, in very many cases, quoted where it has anything to say about the rise of this influential religion.
The scope is exhaustive, and it is meant to be. It is a quite astonishing scholastic achievement which included, among other things, Hoyland actually translating documents into English where this had never been done. I wouldn’t describe it as a page-turner, at times it’s a bit dry. However, you do expect that from this genre. Get into the texts he presents however and it brings this era of history alive in a way that I’d never experienced before.
The motivation for such a work is laid out in the introduction
"Islamicists, who once rejoiced that their subject “was born in the full light of history,” have recently been discovering just how much apparent history is religio-legal polemic in disguise, some even doubting whether the host of Arabic historical works that appear in the late eighth and early ninth centuries contain any genuine recollection of the rise and early growth of Islam." page 3
He then goes on to cite the examples of Cahen, Crone and Cook who delved into this area but laments the fact that others have not pursued this line of enquiry. To address that, his work is an attempt
"to elucidate and expand what constitutes Islamic history, …. [by] … drawing upon the writings of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians"page 3
His thesis is sound: If you want to be sure of what someone claims, you need first hand testimony as well as witness testimony.
So, what did I learn?
Well, I learned that isnads shouldn’t be dismissed summarily:
"By the late ninth century, isnad criticism was highly developed and scholarship professional, so one should not simply dismiss isnads as fictitious without some consideration." page 493
Instead, we can dismiss them after “some consideration”.
I learned that claims that Hajjaj ibn Yusuf revised the text of the Qur’an are attested by both Islamic and non-Islamic sources and that we can trust the latter to the extent that they are corrobated by the former.
But the greatest thing I learned was that the burden of proof for the traditional story of the origins of Islam lies fairly and squarely with those who promulgate it:
"before AH 72 the archaeological record is strangely silent about Islam, and this despite the fact that we do have a fair amount of material from this time. A similar problem occurs with regard to the Qur’an, which seems to have been ignored by Muslims as a source of law until the early eighth century." page 550
There are also a few more problems the story that we typically hear.
"The total lack of specifically Islamic declarations made by the Sufyanid line of Umayyads, the proliferation of them issued by the Marwanid branch and the religious causes espoused by the various opposition movements of the intervening civil war lead us to the conclusion that it was pressure from rebel factions that induced the Marwanids to proclaim Islam publicly as the ideological basis of the Arab state." page 553
This is where that “consideration” Hoyland mentioned comes into play. We have isnads, but when we consider specific hadith and their respective isnads, we have to give “some consideration” as to why we have the ones we do.
For anyone with an interest in pursuing the reality of the origins of Islam, it’s a masterpiece and a required read.
For more reviews and the 1001 Books Spreadsheet, visit http://arukiyomi.com
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September 24, 2015A masterclass of a huge variety of non-Arabic sources contextualized, explained, and partially (and sometimes fully) translated into English covering the first century of Islam. Not necessarily the best introduction for a layman however, but it is a very useful resources for historians.
March 8, 2025
Me ha parecido muy interesante como otras religiones interpretaban la llegada del islam. También pongo en valor este libro ya que muestra la importancia de usar fuentes no árabes y no islámicas para la reconstrucción del nacimiento de esta religión y la expansión del califato islámico clásico.
Además, hay que tener en cuenta que, aunque se suela pensar a los cristianos, judíos y zoroastrianos como minoría en época del califato islámico clásico, realmente estás comunidades conformaban la base social de este imperio. El islam es proselitista, el califato islámico clásico no lo era, por lo que, hay que poner en valor cómo estas comunidades vivieron la llegada del islam.
Además, hay que tener en cuenta que, aunque se suela pensar a los cristianos, judíos y zoroastrianos como minoría en época del califato islámico clásico, realmente estás comunidades conformaban la base social de este imperio. El islam es proselitista, el califato islámico clásico no lo era, por lo que, hay que poner en valor cómo estas comunidades vivieron la llegada del islam.
January 4, 2026
عرفت مؤلف الكتاب من خلال مؤلفه عن الفتوحات الإسلامية In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire
واستمتعت بقراءته، وعندها عرفت أن للمؤلف كتاب آخر ضخم عن وجهة نظر غير المسلمين للمسلمين في بدايات الإسلام، وعن بحث عنه وجد الكتاب أكاديمي وغالي السعر، لذا تركته، حتى حضرت معرض الرياض للكتاب في عام ٢٠٢٥ ووجدته بالصدفة مترجما. اشتريت الكتاب مع معرفتي أنه موجه للمتخصصين وليس لعموم الناس ولكن حب الاقتناء فرض على شراءه. عندما رجعت للبيت وبدأت بتصفح الكتاب وجدتني مستمتع بقراءته لذا قررت أن اتابع الكتاب حتى نهايته.
الكتاب هو جرد لكل ما ذكر عن الإسلام والمسلمين من بداية الفتوحات الإسلامية وحتى خلافة الخليفة العباسي المهدي. قسم المؤلف كتابه لثلاثة أجزاء: الأول خلفية تاريخية وأدبية لعصر الفتوحات الإسلامية، والثاني وهو جل الكتاب مقسم لقسمين: المصادر التاريخية التي ذكرت الإسلام عرضا ولم يكن هو موضوع الكتابة والقسم الثاني هو المصادر التاريخية التي ذكرت الإسلام قصدا. ثم الجزء الأخير يعنى بالصعوبات التي تلف الكتابة عن التاريخ المبكر للإسلام.
عموما الكتاب ممتع وسلس وجميل، وأيضا لا أنسى أن أنوه عن الترجمة المبدعة لهلال الجهاد والذي جعل كتاب أكاديمي كهذا سهل لغير المتخصص.
واستمتعت بقراءته، وعندها عرفت أن للمؤلف كتاب آخر ضخم عن وجهة نظر غير المسلمين للمسلمين في بدايات الإسلام، وعن بحث عنه وجد الكتاب أكاديمي وغالي السعر، لذا تركته، حتى حضرت معرض الرياض للكتاب في عام ٢٠٢٥ ووجدته بالصدفة مترجما. اشتريت الكتاب مع معرفتي أنه موجه للمتخصصين وليس لعموم الناس ولكن حب الاقتناء فرض على شراءه. عندما رجعت للبيت وبدأت بتصفح الكتاب وجدتني مستمتع بقراءته لذا قررت أن اتابع الكتاب حتى نهايته.
الكتاب هو جرد لكل ما ذكر عن الإسلام والمسلمين من بداية الفتوحات الإسلامية وحتى خلافة الخليفة العباسي المهدي. قسم المؤلف كتابه لثلاثة أجزاء: الأول خلفية تاريخية وأدبية لعصر الفتوحات الإسلامية، والثاني وهو جل الكتاب مقسم لقسمين: المصادر التاريخية التي ذكرت الإسلام عرضا ولم يكن هو موضوع الكتابة والقسم الثاني هو المصادر التاريخية التي ذكرت الإسلام قصدا. ثم الجزء الأخير يعنى بالصعوبات التي تلف الكتابة عن التاريخ المبكر للإسلام.
عموما الكتاب ممتع وسلس وجميل، وأيضا لا أنسى أن أنوه عن الترجمة المبدعة لهلال الجهاد والذي جعل كتاب أكاديمي كهذا سهل لغير المتخصص.
July 7, 2017
Well, Robert G. Hoyland does here basically what he set out to do. In excruciating thoroughness, he mentions every non-Muslim source from the first few centuries of Islam that mentions the new religious movement or its adherents (though many of them refer, not to "Muslims," but to "Arabs," "Saracens," "Hagarenes," etc.).
In that sense, it's very thorough. But since he translates very little of any of these sources (except the most incidental mentions), often it was frustrating - more than an endless string of abstruse studies of this theme or that theme in some obscure writer, we need reliable, modern translations of a vast wealth of material from numerous languages, and modern scholarship has scarcely scratched the surface!
But Hoyland, despite a mild revisionist bent (as befitting someone so heavily influenced by Patricia Crone), does end up assessing the material as confirming, albeit at times qualifying, many elements of the standard historiography of early Islam - exceptions being some imprecision in the early qiblah setting, a marked uptick in 'Islamic' language around AH 72, a greater prevalence of sacrificial themes than has otherwise been suspected, and so forth.
A useful reference, in its own way.
In that sense, it's very thorough. But since he translates very little of any of these sources (except the most incidental mentions), often it was frustrating - more than an endless string of abstruse studies of this theme or that theme in some obscure writer, we need reliable, modern translations of a vast wealth of material from numerous languages, and modern scholarship has scarcely scratched the surface!
But Hoyland, despite a mild revisionist bent (as befitting someone so heavily influenced by Patricia Crone), does end up assessing the material as confirming, albeit at times qualifying, many elements of the standard historiography of early Islam - exceptions being some imprecision in the early qiblah setting, a marked uptick in 'Islamic' language around AH 72, a greater prevalence of sacrificial themes than has otherwise been suspected, and so forth.
A useful reference, in its own way.
July 11, 2022
Seeing Islam As Others Saw It is fascinating book in wich author collected various sources of Jews, Christians and pagans on early islamic rule. It is interesting to note that many conteporary people mostly didn't consider Arabs to much of a threat and that they will disapeare quickly, they where obviusly wrong. There are many quotations on how Arabs initialy operated and how theyr islamic system took root to this day.
Only minus of the book is that it is not to readable in some parts. That being said this is must read to all people who are interested in early islamic rule.
Only minus of the book is that it is not to readable in some parts. That being said this is must read to all people who are interested in early islamic rule.
August 9, 2018
20 years later, this is still an invaluable resource. It contains clear translations of the only known contemporary accounts of the Arab conquests, in addition to several texts written in the centuries afterwards, as well as easy-to-follow background information accompanying each passage. The book is divided into geographical region (east Syria, Iran, Egypt, etc) and the type of text (historical accounts, apologetics, incidental mentions, etc). Everyone even mildly interested in this era of history should at least flip through this book.
October 13, 2021
An extremely valuable resource.
February 15, 2025
Crucial to any study of Islam’s origins.
October 9, 2014
Fantastic book
January 28, 2021
Remarkable and thorough collection of resources, and probably indispensable reference book for writing about Islam by non-Muslims in late antiquity.
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