HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

'Ensemble' (Copyright Salvatore Puleio 2020) PRE-ISLAMIC SOCIETY IN ARABIA: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRIBES   If you wonder how society was structured before the advent of Islam, the answer is simple; the tribe, as a matter of fact, was the horizon guiding people lives. Everyone belonged to one of the many tribes, which were groups, organized around kinship, whose members helped each other. There was no State, and there were no particular institutions which had to keep the order and apply the law; the only safeguard came from the relatives of the same family, who were tasked to protect each other. These were duties each member was supposed to fulfil; in the case this did not happen, the person was regarded as the worst criminal. This kind of action, in fact, could bring disruption to the entire tribe.   It was a very different setting from what we know nowadays, although the tribal belonging still plays a significant role in the Arabian Peninsula still now; in fact, all the male a

THE  HARAM DECLARATION AND THE   MECCAN CONSTITUTION    In the previous posts, I discussed the presence and meaning of harams in pre-Islamic Hijaz, Madinah (or Medina) was the site of one of them, as we already know; now it seems interesting to see what happened after the advent of Islam. In this article, and eventually in the next ones, we’ll try to answer this question, in order to understand what happened and how the sacred spaces were configured in Islamic Madinah. As a matter of fact, Prophet Muhammad made use of the former haram after he fled to Madinah; the case of Medina is different from the others, as we have many information about this event. For Makkah (or Mecca) we cannot know how the site became an haram , since the Holy Quran does not provide any historical account, in the case of Medina we are luckier. The same goes for the site of Waji, as already noted in the previous article; in the case of Medina, on the contrary, the situation is different.   I am not denying that

SACRED SPACES IN PRE-ISLAMIC HIJAZ   In a previous post, I discussed the difference between haram and hima in the region oh Hijaz, where Madinah is located; here, it seems interesting to explore with more depth the harams  present there. On this regard, one may note that in Hijaz, not all the himas  were sacred in a strict sense; however, the custom to sanctify a place is well known and the harams  existed in the proximity of the cities of Makkah and Madinah. These places, in particular, as historians suggest, must have been known by the Prophet Muhammad; although the evidence is still generally lacking, this seems reasonable.   A UNIQUE HARAM ?   An interesting questions, then, is about the number of this places in the region of Hijaz before Islam; in fact, the Holy Quran mentions only one haram , but the available evidence seems to suggest that there must have been other harams as well. Besides the well known haram in Makkah, the historians point to Waji and Buss, which were associat

ARABIA BEFORE ISLAM   When we think at the Arabian peninsula, we immediately associate it with Islam; Arabia is the cradle of Islam, and this is not only a Religion but a culture as well. Arabic culture and Islam are strictly associated, and it’s difficult to think at one without the other. Nonetheless, there was an Arabia before the advent of Islam, very different from what we know nowadays; it is so far in time that it is practically lost. However, historians can help us to rebuild that world, and, as a matter of fact, there were many religious traditions; among them, one can mention, above all, Christianity and Paganism. Judaism, Zoroastrism, and Manicheism were there as well, but played a secondary role; thus, while we acknowledge their existence, from an historic point of view, we have to focus on the two main groups that played a major role.   Christianity   The importance of Christianity, as a social and religious phenomenon, mainly relies upon its relevance in shaping the late

THE BATTLES FOUGHT BY ABU BAKR   Volume XI of the History of Al-Tabari reports in great detail the events unfolding during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq and his successor. In fact, the period taken into consideration goes from 633 to 635 CE; following the Muslim calendar, the years are from 12 to 13 AH.   The events taking place in this period are thus covered in great detail, more than in other books of Al-Tabari and the reason is simple. In fact, it is in this brief period that the Caliphate truly becomes an Empire, going well beyond the borders of the Arabic Peninsula.   Of particular importance, then, are two battles, the one fought in Al-Madhar and the one which took place in Al-Walajah.   THE CHARACTER OF ABU BAKR AND MUSLIMS DURING WARS   In the previous post, we saw the intent of the Caliph to come to terms with the traitors who rebelled against his rule. Now, we want to see another aspect, not very known, of his character; in fact, he dictated the rules to be followed du

  A PICTURE OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ FROM AL-TABARI   Who was Al-Tabari?   Al-Tabari was an influential scholar and he was the muslim who compiled a huge work on early Islamic history. He was born in Tabaristan, modern Iran around 839 CE and died in Bagdad, Iraq, in 923 CE. To him, we owe a tafsir too, namely an exegesis of the Quranic verses. Every historian nowadays quote him when it comes to the Islamic early history; his work is really immense and precise and from his account we can have an internal point of view on what happened in the first centuries of the Caliphate. For this reason, I’ll use many volumes, and in particular: - the 5 th  volume, on Sasanids, Byzantines, and Lakmids - the 10 th  volume, on the conquest of Arabia, the Riddah wars, 632-633 CE - the 11 th  volume, on the challenge to the empires (633-635 CE)   As I don’t know Arabic, I’ll use the english translation.   A LETTER OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ TO THE APOSTATES   In the previous post, I gave account of the elect