Other Sources for the Study of Early Islam

Islamic History: the First 150 Years

© 2006 Abdur Rahman

Session Plan

1. Coins

2. Inscriptions

3. Papyri

4. Archaeology

Early Islamic Coins

• Early Islamic coins another important area of study

• Academic study known as numismatics

• Coins can help our study in a number of ways

• However, they do have a number of drawbacks

• Let’s look at them briefly now…

Early Islamic CoinsAdvantages

• Government Image: what ideas do they convey? Why?• Linguistic Analysis: what language do they use?• Imagery? Pictures? Aniconic? Why?• Economic History• Date• Religious Values?

Drawbacks• Government inspired: bias? Selectivity? • Physical size: often small, what can they tell us?• Not always clear• Selective survival of material: perhaps what has survived

is unrepresentative?

Early Islamic Coins• Two main forms of currency in Islamic world• Dirham and Dinar• The word dinar based on the old Roman coinage denarius• The first Islamic coins copied pre-existing types• Mostly Byzantine (Roman) and Sassanid (Persian)• Earliest Islamic coins can be identified by small Arabic

inscriptions on them• This coinage was used until the time of the Caliph Abd al-

Malik (685-705CE)• Aniconic (without pictures) issues introduced• These coins used religious phrases and/or Quranic

quotations• Became the standard form of Islamic currency very

quickly

Roman Coins: a Comparison

Byzantine Coins

Earliest Islamic Coins

Earliest Islamic Coins

Post-Reform Coinage

Post-Reform Coinage

Inscriptions

• Pre- and Early Islamic Arabia largely illiterate

• Reading and writing not wide spread• The ‘epigraphic habit’• A wide range of material recorded on

stone, other materials perish• Strengths and weaknesses of epigraphic

material…• See Handout

InscriptionsAdvantages

• Complement existing sources• Linguistic Analysis: what language do they use?• Grammar & Idiom: how do they express themselves?• Context: what do they say and how?• Date• Religious Values?

Drawbacks• Selectivity: difficult, if not impossible, to draw general

conclusions • Physical issues: often very worn, not in original context• Not always clear• Difficult to understand: anachronism

Inscriptions

Inscriptions

• Translation(i)- One mile from(ii) - the postal stage(iii)- which is the(iv) - sixty second(v)- postal stage from(vi) - al- Kufa (to Makkah)

Inscriptions

• Let’s look briefly at some very early examples

• Example One

• Example Two

• Example Three

• Example Four

A Brief Pause

• Turn to the person next to you and spend a couple of minutes summarising the lecture thus far.

• Questions?

Papyri• Papyri are texts written on papyrus• Papyrus was the ‘paper’ of the ancient world• Very fragile• Tend to survive in hot dry climates• Dead Sea Scrolls• Most commonly found in Egypt• Useful for providing further useful evidence• Particularly useful in a period of language change,

as the early Islamic era was• Let’s look briefly at an example now• Limited applicability?

Archaeology• Archaeology is the study of material culture• Archaeological evidence often overlooked• A vast range of material available…• Mosques• Castles• Palaces• Roads• Artefacts• Papyri• We will look more closely at archaeological

evidence in the final session

Islamic Archaeology• Issues…• Very uneven archaeological work• Some areas well understood• Others virtually unknown• Important early Islamic settlements still inhabited

today (Basra and Damascus)• Difficult to access relevant archaeological layers• Mecca and Medina• Archaeological research at the two Mosques

prohibited and unlikely to ever be carried out given sacred nature of these sites

ArchaeologyAdvantages

• Reveals other side of history• Physical remains provide many clues to life• Artwork? Texts? (Dome of the Rock)• Economic & Social History• Dates?• Religious Values? (Mosque orientation)

Drawbacks• Selective survival of material: perhaps what has survived

is unrepresentative?• Vast range of material• Not always clear• Exact date hard to establish definitively, without

supporting evidence• Uneven record

Archaeological Evidence

• Qusayr `Amra

• World Heritage site (link)

• Dates to time of Walid I (712-715CE)

• Luxurious desert palace

• Wall paintings depict the Caliph with other major powers:

• Byzantine ruler, Shah of Persia, Visigothic king of Spain, possibly kings of India and China

Qusayr `Amra

Qusayr `Amra

Qusayr `Amra