Al Quran 2:164 is the first occasion that asserts that God is One, but occurs on a number of other occasions. This left the Jews having to flee and seek refuge with the tribes of Aus and Khazrajites. 1A: The Central Islamic Lands from Pre-Islamic Times to the First World War, ed. After all, these were ... President Trump announced Wednesday he has pardoned his former national-security adviser, Michael Flynn, ending a years-long legal battle with the government that began with the Russia investigation. Irfan Shahid, “Pre-Islamic Arabia,” 3. 24. 34. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests; Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the 6th to the 11th Century, 2nd ed. WWCs are either cute, neighborly, and folksy, or they constitute a tawdry, alien life form. The Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA) accused him of making “baseless assumptions” and engaging in “selective scholarship”. What offended me is not something unique to Holland but shared by most portrayals of Islam in the UK: they miss out about 1,300 years of it. How could you ever hope to understand Christianity if you only knew (what little there is to know) about Jesus but did not know about St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Luther, Descartes, C.S. The gap between western liberalism and Islamic liberalism suddenly looked frighteningly large. He claimed to be a prophet of God; whether one accepts this claim or not is a totally different issue. The documentary – to abridge it considerably – argues that the Prophet Mohammed was not from Mecca, but more likely from the present day Israel-Jordan-Palestine area. These elements were not alien to the Arab people; this Islamic society accepted tribal identity26 only for identification purposes, but associated nobility with piety.27 Monotheistic, religious sentiment that had been passed down to the Arab society by Abrahamic religions became pivotal in the whole structure28; trade, which was at the heart of major civilisations and affected the economic atmosphere of Arabia, was given rules based on notions of faith like honesty, piety, mutual agreement, forgiveness, kindness etc.29 Above all, the fragmented people of Arabia were given the political vision that they lacked to become a nation and to prosper as a nation united in faith.30 All these elements were not alien, but those of the Arabic society—the cradle of Islam. Again, there can be a difference of opinion on the date, month or year of birth of the Prophet Muhammadsa, but there is absolutely no doubt, historically speaking, about his existence and his epic, revolutionary achievements, ranging from faith to polity, that changed the face of the world. After and with the winding caravans of ancient trade-routes, all of which stamped their contribution as one related to material culture, the Arabs now ride out of their peninsula as Muslim, inspired and animated by the ideals of the new faith, and establish a theocratic state within which develops a civilisation, religious in spirit and manifestation, that of medieval Islam.”11. He followed only the religion of Love. Not so with Islam, around which non-Islamic scholars tread with extreme caution. Holland is no attention-seeking, neo-Conservative, Niall Ferguson lookalike. 3. And this programme was basically more of the same. Al Quran 49:14 ‘Verily, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you.’. The authenticity of the history of Islam was challenged and conclusions were drawn such as that nothing about Islam, its origins and early history can be said with certainty. Ameen. With the birth of Muhammadsa, Arabia became ‘the Cradle of Islam.’”10, “The extraordinary events of seventh century completely reversed the role of the Arabs and changed the nature of their contribution. Holland was threatened online with a torrent of abusive messages on Twitter. 7. Lapidus, “The Arab Conquests and the Transformation of the Islamic Society,” 20. As with any religion, the origin is only half the story; but with Islam it is the only half we regularly hear about. Similar disagreements can and do exists regarding his motives behind “building” this “empire”; many believe it was to spread the Word of God, others assert it was his interest in the Christian tribes in and around Arabia; some might see it as merely a power hungry political ambition. The feelings of solidarity grew weaker as tribes combined to form a greater tribe for the obvious reason that the tribes would have joined hands to deal with a temporary situation and demanded no permanent loyalty anyway.19, From the different lineages and sub-lineages that existed within a tribe would be one that was classed as the Ahl al-Bayt, or the ruling house. Its transformation into a place of commercial and religious attention is owed to Qusayy, who undoubtedly is accepted by Western historians as an historical figure. Lapidus, “The Arab Conquests and the Transformation of the Islamic Society,” 20. 19. Historian Tom Holland’s Channel 4 film Islam: The Untold Story sparked more than 1,000 complaints when it was broadcast. In my role as your go-to purveyor of unpopular opinions, I offer this: We should jack up the entrance fees for our national parks — a lot. The case, however, is different with Islam in the sense that historians tend to confuse civilisation with faith. Lapidus, “The Arab Conquests and the Transformation of the Islamic Society,” 20. 22. But she questioned the centrality of Mecca in the origins of Islam, believing it had Jewish as well as Arabian roots. Which he more or less got, as Nasr told him that what he had discovered was "quite interesting, so long as you don't try to impose your view on the Muslim world", as that would be tantamount to "western imperialism". We know as a historical fact that the Quraish had firm belief on being the descendants of Ishmaelas, (and Abrahamas), which made them possessive about the Ka’aba and gave them the conviction that they were its custodians. Recently, British religious historian Tom Holland presented his research on theorigins of Islam in the form of a documentary titled: Islam: The Untold Story. I'm often quick to forget to count my blessings, but one thing I am always grateful for is Jimmy McGovern. asked historian Tom Holland. asked historian Tom Holland. Thanksgiving is increasingly portrayed as, at best, based on falsehoods and, at worst, a whitewash of genocide against Native Americans. Julius Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall: Orientalism (Taylor & Francis, 1927); Irfan Shahid, “Pre-Islamic Arabia,” in The Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. Anthropologists and sociologists unanimously agree that pre-Islamic Arabia was a tribal society. Even though the question came right at the beginning of Islam: The Untold Story (Channel 4), it was still far too late, as Holland had already published the – generally – well-received In the Shadow of the Sword earlier this year, in which he attempted to do just that. Even though the question came right at the beginning of Islam: The Untold Story (Channel 4), it was still far too late, as Holland had already published the – generally – well-received In the Shadow of the Sword earlier this year, in which he attempted to do just that. This week, some may have taken offence at Holland’s questioning of the prophet’s birthplace and his views on early Islam. But for those who believe the Qur'an is the word of God passed directly to man and that inconvenient lacunae of knowledge are merely events that have yet to be properly explained, then Holland's view is almost certainly blasphemous. Historian Tom Holland’s Channel 4 film Islam: The Untold Story sparked more than 1,000 complaints when it was broadcast. Historians have almost unanimously agreed that it was in this societal backdrop that Islam emerged and brought about the revolution that turned this fragmented population into a civic society. What offended me is not something unique to Holland but shared by most portrayals of Islam in the UK: they miss out about 1,300 years of it. It was on his way to achieve this goal that he attacked Makkah, but was destroyed.32 This epoch of Arabian history is described in the Qur’an in Chapter 105 (Surah Al-Fil). TV review: In Islam: The Untold Story the host applied his sceptical academic rigour to questions of religious belief and in the process gave himself a mountain to climb. I'm all for cultural and religious sensitivity, but the degree to which Holland tiptoed around the subject and apologised for his findings went way beyond what was required.