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About Fred McGraw Donner's Thesis on Islamic Historiography and the Movement of Believers

Year 2020, , 435 - 467, 31.03.2020
https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.638757

Abstract

This paper discusses Fred M. Donner’s thesis on the rise and spread of Islamic movement in the 7th century and assesses criticism towards the movement in the Western science world. It initially provides brief information about Donner’s academic life, works, methodology and success and then reveals the views on his thesis called the Movement of Believers and the dynamics of rapid expansion of the movement within the historical context. Donner’s main argument is that Muhammad as a religious leader had initiated a monotheist and an ecumenist religious movement consisting of the Muslims of pagan background along with the Jews and Christians. According to him, the initial aim of the movement was to revive pietistic monotheism rather than to create a separate community of believers. Almost a century later, the Movement of Believers became a single and an exclusive belief group which we now know as Muslim community, by excluding the Jews and Christians in the reign of Umayyad Caliph Abdulmalik b. Marwan. The subsequent sections of the paper touch upon reactions against Donner’s thesis in the West and finally give place to critical analyses.

References

  • el-Âlûsî, Şehabeddin Mahmûd. (t.y.). Ruhu'l-Meâni fi Tefsiri'l-Kur'ani'l-Azim ve's-Seb‘i'l-Mesâni, I-XXX. Beyrut: Dâru İhyâi’t-Türasi'l-Arabiy.
  • Başaran, Ezgi, (2010, 31 Ekim). Donner: Hz. Muhammed 3 dinin lideriydi. Radikal. Erişim Adresi: http://www.radikal.com.tr/hayat/hz-muhammed-3-dinin-lideriydi-1026539/.
  • Bell, Richard. (1926). The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Macmillan.
  • Brown, Jonathan (2009). Hadith Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oxford: Oneworldbooks.
  • Carrillo, Guadalupe. (2015, 3 Mart). Stanford fellow delves into archival materials that shed new light on the early days of Islam, Erişim Adresi: https://news.stanford.edu/2015/03/03/early-days-islam-030315/.
  • Cobb, Paul M. (2012). Introduction: Narratives of Fred McGraw Donner. Paul M. Cobb (ed.). The Lineaments of Islam, Studies in Honor of Fred McGraw Donner içinde (s. 1-11). Leiden: Brill.
  • Crone, Patricia - Cook, Michael. (1977). Hagarism: the Making of Islamic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crone, Patricia. (2010, 10 Haziran). Among the Believers: A New. Look at the Origins of Islam. Tablet (Online). Erişim Adresi: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/42023/among-the-believers.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1981). The Early Islamic Conquests. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1989). The Role of Nomads in the Near East in Late Antiquity. F.M. Clover-R. S. Humphreys (ed.). Tradition and Innovation in Late Antiquity içinde (s. 73-85). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1998). Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing. Princeton: Darwin Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2002). Seeing the Origins of Islam in its Historical Perspective. First Wadie Jwaideh Memorial Lecture, Indiana University, 2002. Erişim Adresi: http://www.indiana.edu/~nelc/events/documents/Jwaideh/jwaideh_lecture_2002.pdf.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2002-2003). From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-Identity in the Early Islamic Community. Al-Abhath 50-51, 9-53.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2008). The Qur’ān in Recent Scholarship-Challenges and Desiderata. Gabriel Said Reynolds (ed). The Qur’ān in its Historical Context içinde (s. 29-50). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2010). Muhammad and the Believers, At the Origins of Islam. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2011a). Modern Approaches to Early Islamic History. C. Robinson (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam içinde (cilt, 1, s. 629-631). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2011b). The Historian, the Believer, and the Qur’ān. Gabriel Said Reynolds (ed.), New Perspectives on the Qur’ān: The Qur’an in its Historical Context 2 içinde (s. 25-37). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2013) How Ecumenical was Islam. The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington, The eleventh Farhat J. Ziadeh Distinguished Lecture in Arab and Islamic Studies. 5-25. Erişim Adresi: https://nelc.washington.edu/sites/nelc/files/documents/events/ziadeh_2013_booklet_fred_donner_edits428.pdf.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2015, Novenber 23). The Study of Islam’s Origins since W. Montgomery Watt’s Publications. Univeristy of Edinburgh. Erişim adresi: https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/professor_fred_donner.pdf.
  • Görke, Andreas –Moztki, Harald- Shoeler, Gregor. (2012). First Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad? A Deba¬te. Der Islam 89 (2), 2-59.Harvey, Van A (1996). The Historian and the Believer: The Morality of Historical Knowledge and Christian Knowledge, Urbana and Chicago: University Illinois Press.
  • Hawting, Gerald R. (2002). The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History. Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (1997). Seeing Islam as others saw it. Princeton, New Jersey: Darwin Press.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (2007), Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and Solutions. History Compass 5 (2), 581-602.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (2012) Review of Muhammad and the Believers. International Journal of Middle East Studies 44(3), 573-576.
  • Humphreys, R. Stephen. (1991). Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Judd, Steven C. (2011, September). Review of Muhammad and the Believers. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 79( 3), 762-765.
  • Koren, Judith – Nevo, Yehuda D. (1991). Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies. Der Islam 68, 88-89.
  • Korkmaz, Aysenur ve Karasu, Hanife. (2012, Ekim). Muhammed ve İnançlılar Hareketi”. Haksöz Haber. Erişim Adresi: https://www.haksozhaber.net/okul/muhammed-ve-inanclilar-hareketi-7119yy.htm.
  • Nevo, Yehuda D. (1994). Towards A Prehistory of Islam. Jerusalem Studies of Arabic and Islam 17, 108-141.
  • North, Albrecht, ve Conrad, Lawrence I, (1994). The Early Arabic Historical Tradition: A Source-critical Study, trc. Michael Bonner. Princeton: Darwin Press.
  • Schacht, Joseph. (1975). The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
  • Sezgin Fuad, (2015). Arap-İslâm Bilimleri Tarihi. Cilt 1. (2. bs). İstanbul: Fuad Sezgin İslâm Bilim Tarihi Araştırmaları Vakfı Yayınları.
  • Taberî, Muhammed b. Cerîr. (t.y.). Târîhu’r-rusül ve’l-mülûk, Cilt 1-6, Beyrut: Daru Kutubi’l-İlmiyye
  • Tannous, Jack. (2011). Review of Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam. Expositions 5(2), 126-141.
  • Torrey, Charles Cutler (1933). The Jewish Foundation of Islam. New York: Jewish Institute of Religion Press.
  • Wansbrough, John. (1977). Qur’anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Watt, W. Montgomery. (1990). The Reliability of Ibn Isḥāq’s Sources. W. Montgomery Watt, Early Islam: Collected Articles içinde (s. 13-23). Edinburgh: University Press.

Fred McGraw Donner’in İslâm Tarihçiliği ve İnananlar Hareketi Tezi Üzerine

Year 2020, , 435 - 467, 31.03.2020
https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.638757

Abstract

Bu makale, Fred M. Donner’in VII. yüzyılda İslâmî hareketin doğuşu ve yayılmasına ilişkin tezi ile Batı ilim dünyasında buna yöneltilen eleştirileri ele almaktadır. Konuya giriş bağlamında Donner’in akademik hayatı, çalışmaları, metodolojisi ve başarısı hakkında kısaca bilgi verilmekte, bilahare İnananlar Hareketi adını verdiği tezi ve hareketin tarihsel bağlamda hızla genişlemesinin dinamiklerine ilişkin görüşleri ortaya konulmaktadır. Donner’in temel tezi şudur: Hz. Muhammed (SAV.) dinî bir lider olarak İslâm’ı benimseyen putperest geçmişli insanların yanı sıra Yahudi ve Hristiyanları da içine alan monoteist ve ekümenik karakterli dinî bir hareket başlatmıştır. Ona göre hareketin başlangıçtaki amacı ayrı bir inanç topluluğu oluşturmak değil, dindar yaşam biçimine dayalı tevhit akidesini ihya etmekti. İnananlar Hareketi yaklaşık yüz yıl sonra, Emevî Halifesi Abdülmelik b. Mervân döneminde, Yahudiler ve Hristiyanları dışlayarak, Müslüman toplum olarak bildiğimiz tek ve ayrı bir inanç grubu hâline dönüşmüştür. Makalenin ilerleyen kısımlarında Donner’in tezine yönelik Batı’daki reaksiyonlara temas edilmekte, son olarak da eleştirel tahlillere yer verilmektedir

References

  • el-Âlûsî, Şehabeddin Mahmûd. (t.y.). Ruhu'l-Meâni fi Tefsiri'l-Kur'ani'l-Azim ve's-Seb‘i'l-Mesâni, I-XXX. Beyrut: Dâru İhyâi’t-Türasi'l-Arabiy.
  • Başaran, Ezgi, (2010, 31 Ekim). Donner: Hz. Muhammed 3 dinin lideriydi. Radikal. Erişim Adresi: http://www.radikal.com.tr/hayat/hz-muhammed-3-dinin-lideriydi-1026539/.
  • Bell, Richard. (1926). The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. London: Macmillan.
  • Brown, Jonathan (2009). Hadith Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oxford: Oneworldbooks.
  • Carrillo, Guadalupe. (2015, 3 Mart). Stanford fellow delves into archival materials that shed new light on the early days of Islam, Erişim Adresi: https://news.stanford.edu/2015/03/03/early-days-islam-030315/.
  • Cobb, Paul M. (2012). Introduction: Narratives of Fred McGraw Donner. Paul M. Cobb (ed.). The Lineaments of Islam, Studies in Honor of Fred McGraw Donner içinde (s. 1-11). Leiden: Brill.
  • Crone, Patricia - Cook, Michael. (1977). Hagarism: the Making of Islamic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crone, Patricia. (2010, 10 Haziran). Among the Believers: A New. Look at the Origins of Islam. Tablet (Online). Erişim Adresi: http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/42023/among-the-believers.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1981). The Early Islamic Conquests. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1989). The Role of Nomads in the Near East in Late Antiquity. F.M. Clover-R. S. Humphreys (ed.). Tradition and Innovation in Late Antiquity içinde (s. 73-85). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (1998). Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing. Princeton: Darwin Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2002). Seeing the Origins of Islam in its Historical Perspective. First Wadie Jwaideh Memorial Lecture, Indiana University, 2002. Erişim Adresi: http://www.indiana.edu/~nelc/events/documents/Jwaideh/jwaideh_lecture_2002.pdf.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2002-2003). From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-Identity in the Early Islamic Community. Al-Abhath 50-51, 9-53.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2008). The Qur’ān in Recent Scholarship-Challenges and Desiderata. Gabriel Said Reynolds (ed). The Qur’ān in its Historical Context içinde (s. 29-50). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2010). Muhammad and the Believers, At the Origins of Islam. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2011a). Modern Approaches to Early Islamic History. C. Robinson (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam içinde (cilt, 1, s. 629-631). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2011b). The Historian, the Believer, and the Qur’ān. Gabriel Said Reynolds (ed.), New Perspectives on the Qur’ān: The Qur’an in its Historical Context 2 içinde (s. 25-37). London and New York: Routledge.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2013) How Ecumenical was Islam. The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington, The eleventh Farhat J. Ziadeh Distinguished Lecture in Arab and Islamic Studies. 5-25. Erişim Adresi: https://nelc.washington.edu/sites/nelc/files/documents/events/ziadeh_2013_booklet_fred_donner_edits428.pdf.
  • Donner, Fred M. (2015, Novenber 23). The Study of Islam’s Origins since W. Montgomery Watt’s Publications. Univeristy of Edinburgh. Erişim adresi: https://www.ed.ac.uk/files/atoms/files/professor_fred_donner.pdf.
  • Görke, Andreas –Moztki, Harald- Shoeler, Gregor. (2012). First Century Sources for the Life of Muhammad? A Deba¬te. Der Islam 89 (2), 2-59.Harvey, Van A (1996). The Historian and the Believer: The Morality of Historical Knowledge and Christian Knowledge, Urbana and Chicago: University Illinois Press.
  • Hawting, Gerald R. (2002). The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History. Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (1997). Seeing Islam as others saw it. Princeton, New Jersey: Darwin Press.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (2007), Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and Solutions. History Compass 5 (2), 581-602.
  • Hoyland, Robert. (2012) Review of Muhammad and the Believers. International Journal of Middle East Studies 44(3), 573-576.
  • Humphreys, R. Stephen. (1991). Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Judd, Steven C. (2011, September). Review of Muhammad and the Believers. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 79( 3), 762-765.
  • Koren, Judith – Nevo, Yehuda D. (1991). Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies. Der Islam 68, 88-89.
  • Korkmaz, Aysenur ve Karasu, Hanife. (2012, Ekim). Muhammed ve İnançlılar Hareketi”. Haksöz Haber. Erişim Adresi: https://www.haksozhaber.net/okul/muhammed-ve-inanclilar-hareketi-7119yy.htm.
  • Nevo, Yehuda D. (1994). Towards A Prehistory of Islam. Jerusalem Studies of Arabic and Islam 17, 108-141.
  • North, Albrecht, ve Conrad, Lawrence I, (1994). The Early Arabic Historical Tradition: A Source-critical Study, trc. Michael Bonner. Princeton: Darwin Press.
  • Schacht, Joseph. (1975). The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
  • Sezgin Fuad, (2015). Arap-İslâm Bilimleri Tarihi. Cilt 1. (2. bs). İstanbul: Fuad Sezgin İslâm Bilim Tarihi Araştırmaları Vakfı Yayınları.
  • Taberî, Muhammed b. Cerîr. (t.y.). Târîhu’r-rusül ve’l-mülûk, Cilt 1-6, Beyrut: Daru Kutubi’l-İlmiyye
  • Tannous, Jack. (2011). Review of Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam. Expositions 5(2), 126-141.
  • Torrey, Charles Cutler (1933). The Jewish Foundation of Islam. New York: Jewish Institute of Religion Press.
  • Wansbrough, John. (1977). Qur’anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Watt, W. Montgomery. (1990). The Reliability of Ibn Isḥāq’s Sources. W. Montgomery Watt, Early Islam: Collected Articles içinde (s. 13-23). Edinburgh: University Press.
There are 37 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Yaşar Çolak 0000-0002-7932-6155

Publication Date March 31, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2020

Cite

APA Çolak, Y. (2020). Fred McGraw Donner’in İslâm Tarihçiliği ve İnananlar Hareketi Tezi Üzerine. İnsan Ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 9(1), 435-467. https://doi.org/10.15869/itobiad.638757
İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi  Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.