archaeology and the history of early islam

7/29/2019 Archaeology and the History of Early Islam

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ARCHAEOLOGYAND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAM:THE FIRST SEVENTY YEARSBY

JEREMYJOHNS*Abstract

The rarityof material evidence for the religion of Islam duringthe first seventy years ofthe hijra (622-92 CE) has been used to attack the traditionalpositivist account of the rise ofIslam. However, the earliest declarations of Islam are to be found on media producedby theearly Islamic state. It is therefore mistake to read too much significance into the absence ofsuch declarationspriorto the formation of that state by 'Abd al-Malik (685-705 CE). Thereis little prospect that archaeologywill uncover new evidence of Islam from the first seventyyears.Le manque de donn6es mat6rielles sur la religion de l'Islam pendant les sept premieresd6cennies de l'h6gire (622-92) a 6t6 utilis6 pour r6futer a th6oriepositiviste traditionelledel'essor de l'Islam. Cependant, es premieresd6clarationsde l'Islam sont a trouver dans desoeuvres produitespar l'Etat islamiquea ses d6buts.Il est donc erron6d'attribuer ropde sensa l'absence de telles d6clarationsavant la formation de cet Etat par 'Abd al-Malik (685-705).Ii y a peu de perspectivesde nouvelles d6couvertesarchdologiquessur l'Islam des sept pre-mieres d6cennies.Keywords:Epigraphy,Numismatics,Papyri, Religion, State Formation

In 1991, Judith Koren and the late Yehuda Nevo issued a methodologi-cal challengeto historiansof early Islam. They were encouraged o do so bytheir readingof the so-called 'revisionist'historians, ncludingPatriciaCrone,Michael Cook, GeraldHawting,Moshe Sharon,and JohnWansbrough,whosework, Koren and Nevo believed, had completelyunderminedhe foundationsuponwhich the traditional ositivistaccountof the rise of Islam had been con-structed.None of the writtenIslamicsources for the first two hundred ears ofthe hijracould be used as evidence for what had actually happened.Archaeol-ogy, which in any case consistedof objectivefacts thatwere alwaysto be pre-ferredover subjectivewrittensources,was thereforealmost the only evidenceavailable,and shouldbe used to composea new accountof the originsof Islam

* Jeremy Johns, The OrientalInstitute,Universityof Oxford,Pusey Lane, OxfordOX1 2LE, [email protected]? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden,2003 JESHO46,4Also availableonline- www.brill.nl


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412 JEREMYOHNSthatwouldberadicallydifferentrom he traditional istorical arrative. hepolem-ical style permittedhistoriansto dismiss this article as not worth an answer,while Nevo's unorthodox interpretationof material evidence embarrassedarchaeologistsnto silence (Fig. 1).' What,it was widely asked,could have per-suadedDer Islam to waste space in this manner?The editor,the late AlbrechtNoth,was himself one of the radicalhistorians.2He, as much as any, was keenly aware of the problematiccharacterof theIslamic literarysources.3This has rarelybeen describedmorejudiciouslyandsuccinctlythanby StephenHumphreys1991: 69-70):

If our goal is to comprehend he way in which Muslims of the late 2nd/8th and 3rd/9thcenturiesunderstood the origins of their society, then we are very well off indeed. Butif our aim is to find out 'what really happened'-i.e., to develop reliably documentedanswers to modem questions about the earliest decades of Islamic societies-then weare in trouble.The Arabic narrativesources representa rather late crystallisationof a fluid oral tra-dition. These sources can become an adequate foundation for 'scientific' history onlywhen we have learned a great deal more than we presentlyknow about this oral tradi-tion: its origins, the social and cultural institutionsby which it was shaped and trans-mitted, the variationsand transformations t underwent n the course of transmission, hecircumstancesin which it was first committed to writing, the degree of alteration suf-fered by early written versions before they at last achieved their definitive form in themid-3rd/9thcentury, etc. Questions of this kind have been discussed over and over bymodern scholars, but so far their conclusions remain more in the realm of speculationthan of demonstration.The evidence is such, in fact, that reasonablecertainty may bebeyond our grasp.... The first seventy years of Islamic history command our attention,therefore,notonly because of the enormous interest of this period, but also because of the extraordi-nary methodologicalproblemsposed by our principalsources for it.

Noth, a pioneer of new methodological approachesto the Islamic literarysources,was attractedby the methodological erms of the challengeissued byKoren and Nevo, and believed that Der Islam should give archaeologistsa chance to air their views (personalcommunication).A similar respect for

I See also Nevo and Koren (1990: 23-44), Nevo (1994; 1993; 1991). For a critique seeFoss (1995: 231-33). The publicationof Nevo's Crossroadsto Islam was halted by his deathin February1992, but it was published in June 2003 by PrometheusBooks, Amherst, NewYork, ISBN 1591020832. This essay was already in press before it appeared. Unlike hisinterpretation f the excavations at Sde Boqer, Nevo's epigraphicstudies demand to be takenseriously.2 The firstpartof his Habilitationsschrift,QuellenkritischeStudienzu Themen,Formen undTendenzenriihislamischer Geschichtsiiberlieferung,. Themenund Formen was published by

the Departmentof Oriental Studies in the Universityof Bonn in 1973, and was read and citedwith approval by Cook, Crone, Hawting, and Wansborough. Although the second part, onTendenzen,was never published,a revised English edition subsequentlyappearedas Noth andConrad(1994).3 For an up-to-dateand wide-rangingintroduction o the controversy,see Berg (2003).


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ARCHAEOLOGYAND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAM 413

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Figure 1: Ground plan of eighth-century (?) domestic structures from Area J at SdeBoqer (Naqab); the inset shows an elevation of a doorway (after Nevo 1990: figs 3 &7b). Nevo interpreted such structures as part of a "pagan sanctuary," analogous to theMeccan haram; each structure (for Nevo, a hijr-cf. Mecca) contained shards of ceram-ics and glass, grinding stones, animal bones, ash, etc., i.e. ordinary domestic refuse,which Nevo interpreted as ritually deposited fragments or hatim (cf. Mecca), while heidentified the jambs of the doorways as "ansib" or stelae.


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414 JEREMYOHNSarchaeology as a sovereign discipline that is not the mere slave of historyclearly informs the initiativeby JESHOto which this essay is a contribution(Yoffee 2002).Korenand Nevo were not the firstto turnto archaeology or evidencein sup-portof a radicalreinterpretationf the rise of Islam.Forexample, n Hagarism,Croneand Cook (1977: 3) had explored he possibilitythatone way around hehistoriographicalroblemposedby the Islamic sourceswas "to step outsidetheIslamic traditionaltogetherand startagain."Althoughtheir accountof the for-mation of Islam as a religion was based for the most part upon non-Islamicwrittensources,they occasionallycitedarchaeological videncein corroborationof it. For example, the proposition hat the original sanctuaryof the primitiveMuslims(muhdjirun)was not Mecca but Bakka(Qur'an3.90), an unidentifiedsite in north-westernArabia well to the north of Medina,was "dramaticallyconfirmed"by the eccentric orientation(qibla) of the mosques excavated atWasit(Fig. 2) and UskafBani Junayd bothin Iraq).4Hagarism s perhapsnowbest regardedas a highly entertainingand provocative thought-experimentwhich, "with a certainrecklessness" o use the authors'own words, attemptedextensive reconstructionat a time when the task of deconstructionwas stillunderway.The authorsmade no attemptto collect systematicallyall the evi-dence independentof Islamic tradition or the rise of Islam. That was left toRobertHoyland,a pupil of Crone.Again, his principalconcernwas to surveyand evaluatethe non-Islamicwrittensources,but he did makeextensiveuse ofarchaeologicalevidence and, in an appendix, isted all securelydated Islamicwritingsfrom the hijrato 72/691-2, and all religiousdeclarations ttributableocaliphsfrom then until the fall of the Umayyads(Hoyland1997:545-90, 687-703). To what does this amount?From as early as 22/643, coins, papyri,building inscriptions,tombstones,travelers'graffiti,andpossibly(butprobablynot) a tirazsilk, were writtenbismAllah ("Inthe name of God"),and some were datedaccording o a new calen-dar correspondingo the era of the hijra.Some of the formulaeused are iden-tical to those which are later characteristically slamic-e.g. bism Alldh al-rahmanal-rahim("Inthe nameof God, the Merciful, he Compassionate"),ndamir al-mu'minin"Commanderf the Believers," .e. the caliph)-and a phrasecommonin graffiti,and first securelyattested n 64/683-4, also appears n theQur'an-md taqaddama min dhanbihi wa-md ta'akhkhara ("May God forgivehim for his sins, the earlier and the later ones"Qur'an48.2). It is remarkable,

4 See Crone and Cook (1977: 23 and n. 26) and Crone (1987: 198, n. 131). For a bal-anced discussion of the question, see RobertHoyland (1997: 560-73).


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Figure 2: Groundplan of the excavationsat Wisit, showing MosqueI (probably703 C.E.), orimagneticnorth(1942), laying beneathMosqueII which is alignedon 197', close to the trueqib


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416 JEREMYOHNShowever,thatnone of these early religious writingsmentionseither the ProphetMuhammad r his religion,Islam.Thus,for example,the earliesttombstoneofa Muslim, dated 31/651-2, from Egypt (Fig. 3), makes no reference to theProphet,an omissionthat almost neveroccurs after72/691-2 (el-Hawary1930;Hoyland1997:689, n. 5). The first clear and detailedproclamation f Islam andof the role of Muhammads in the inscriptionsof the Dome of the Rock, builtby 'Abd al-Malikb. Marwan 65-86/685-705)and dated72/691-2.5This marksa watershed,andimmediately hereafter eligiousdeclarations ecomecommon,andonly exceptionallydo religious nscriptionsail to mention he Prophet.Andyet, even beforethe reignof 'Abd al-Malik,non-Muslimobserversalreadyper-ceived the Arabsto constitutea distinctreligiouscommunitywith Muhammadas its leader (Hoyland 1997: 549).6 The problem is therefore how to account forthe absenceof Islam and the Prophet rom the archaeological ecord.Absence of evidence is not evidenceof absence,and it is certainlypossiblethat new researchwill uncoverexplicit declarationsof Islam earlierthan 72/691-2. Possible but not, I believe, probable.All of the earliestdeclarationsofIslam are found on coins, documents,and monumental nscriptionsproducedunder'Abd al-Malikand his successors.After 72/691-2, such media becomeincreasinglycommon;before, they are extremelyrare. But it is not just thatcoins, documents,and inscriptionsare so scarce.Not one single publicmonu-ment built underthe conquerorshas yet been foundthat can be securelydatedbefore the reign of 'Abd al-Malik.The earliestreligiousbuilding s the Domeof the Rock itself, and a centuryof increasingly ntensivearchaeological xca-vationand surveyhas foundno mosquethatcan be shownto be earlier. n thefirsthalf of the eighthcentury,mosquessuddenlyabound.7New mosquesof this

5 For the Dome of the Rock inscriptions see van Berchem (1920-27, vol. 2: 223-55),Kessler (1970), Grabar(1996: 184-86, figs. 42-49), and Nuseibeh and Grabar(1996: 78-96).For the argument hat the date of 72/691-2 recordsthe foundationof the Dome of the Rock,not its completion, see below.6 An analysis of early Arabic poetry, one of the few Muslim sources that can be shownto be contemporarywith the events to which it refers, leads to the same conclusion.7 See Johns (1999). What little materialevidence there is regardsKufa and Jerusalem.AtKilfa, the re-entrantangle between the qibla wall of the mosque and the outer wall of theGovernor's palace (Ddr al-Imdra) are said "to be one piece of work." This has never beensatisfactorilydocumentedand, in any case, the palace cannot be securely dated, although it

is generally ascribed on historical grounds to Ziyad b. Abi Sufyan in 50/670. In a long-awaited study, Julian Raby will argue that the earliest traces of the Aqsa mosque-RobertHamilton's Aqsa I-are earlier than 'Abd al-Malik, and should be attributedto Mu'awiya(early 40s/660s). There does seem to have been a mosque on the Temple Mount by circa639, but the evidence is all literary (see note 20 below). Only a relative sequence can be


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Figure3: The tombstoneof 'Abd al-Rahm&nbn Khayral-HIajri, gypt,Jumada I 31 /January-February52 (afterel-Hawary1930:plateIIIb):bismAlldhal-rahmcnal-rahimh/dhd l-qabr li-'Abdal-RahmdinbnKhayral-Hajrialldhumma hfirlahu/ wa-dkhulhuft rahmaminka wa-dtindma'ahu/ istaghfir ahu idha quri'a hddhal-kit[d]b wa-quldminwa-kutibahddhd I-kit[d]bft jum[d]ddl-d- / kharmin sanat idhadwa- / thal[d]-thin."Inthe name of God the Merciful, he Compassionate. his tomb/ belongsto 'Abdal-Rahmanbn Khayral-Hajri.God forgive him / and admit him to Your mercy, andmake us go with him. / Ask pardonfor him, when reading this writing, / and say'Amen.'This writingwas written in Jumada II in the year one and / thirty."date continue to be discovered (Almagro and Jimenez 2000; Walmsley 2003).The earliest palace is perhaps that at Kifa which is attributed on the weakestof historical grounds to Ziydd b. Abi Sufyan in 50/670, although there is not ashardof archaeological evidence to support that attribution.Kfifa was first exca-vated seventy years ago, but since then no earlier palace has yet been found.Soon thereafter, hroughoutBilad al-Sham, therewas a boom in palace construction.Indeed, new examples from the first half of the eighth century of both the urban

establishedor the archaeologicalemains f theAqsa,and the argumentor absolutedatingis againpurelyhistorical.


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418 JEREMYOHNSgovernor'spalace (ddral-imdra)and the luxuryruralvilla (qasr) are found sofrequently hat it is difficult o keep up to date.8The questionto be answered,therefore,s not why proclamations f Islam are absent,butwhy the media thatcarrysuch proclamations fter72/691-2 are so rarein the precedingperiod.The answer,I suggest,is that the polity that founditself rulingthe conquestswas a loose confederationof Arab tribes,not a hegemonicstate. It might bearguedthat the rulers of the Arabpolity, based as it was upon Arabkinship,requiredno legitimization or their rule beyond the fact of conquest.But thatwould be to ignore the testimony of Arabic poetry that from the time of'Uthman, f not of 'Umar, the Arab leader claimedto rule as "the Deputy ofGod"(khalifatAlldh) (Croneand Hinds 1986: 30-42). Well into the Marwanidperiod, and beyond, poetry remained the primary medium through whichthe rulersof Islamproclaimed he ideologicalbasis of theirrule,but only fromthe eleventh century do we find legitimatory verses inscribed on palaces.Archaeologyhas to date furnishedno evidencefor the ideologicalbasis of theearly caliphatebecause therewas not yet any state to commissionthe coins,documents,and inscriptions hroughwhich such declarationscould be made.Only duringand immediatelyafterthe Second Civil War (680-92) did a seriesof significantadvances n the processof stateformation ead to the adoptionofmaterialcultureas the mediumfor a "new rhetoricof rule."9We shall examineshortlythe materialevidence for the natureof Marwanid tate formation,butfirstwe need to focus moreclosely upon the caliphateof Mu'awiya.Mu'awiyab. Abi Sufyan,the firstUmayyadrulerin Syria (661-80), figureslargelyin both the Islamicliterary raditionand the non-Islamic ources(Hinds1991;Hawting1986:24-45). He also stands out in the archaeological ecordasthe firstMuslimrulerwhose nameappearson coins (Fig. 4) (see Walker1941,vol. 1: 25-26; Album 1992: 178; Album and Goodwin 2000: 15 and plates17.245-6, 18.269; Foss 2002: 360 and n. 28), documents,10nd monumental

8 A probabledcr al-imdra has been located, but not yet excavated, next to the Umayyadmosque in Jarash,see Walmsley (2003: 18). An Umayyadqasr with extraordinarywall-paint-ings has come to light 2 km south of Balis (Syria), see Leisten (2002; 1999-2000).9 For the natureof the Arab polity and the crucial role of the Second Civil War in theformationof the Marwanidstate, see Robinson (2000). He writes of "a very loose tributarystate," "the Arab kinship state," "the nascent Islamic state," etc., and I too have elsewherereferredto "the early Islamic state,"but the seminarthat we convened on "'Abd al-Malik b.Marwanand the Marwanids"at the OrientalInstitute,Oxford, in Hilary Term 2003, has per-suaded us that the term must be used with greater precision.10 A single protocol bearing the ruler's name in Greek and Arabic-abdella Mouaouiaamiralmoumnin 'abd Alldh Mu'dwiyaamir al-mu'minin.See Grohmann(1960: 6-13). ThatMu'awiya's name appearsonly on this protocol, and never in the text of the papyri,indicateshow limited was central influence upon the provincialadministrationof Egypt.


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ARCHAEOLOGYND THEHISTORYOF EARLY SLAM 419

Figure4: Drachmof Mucawiya, Darabjird, irca 54-55/674 (ShammaCollection7481,after Album andGoodwin2002: plate 17.245).Obverse ield:typicallate Arab-Sasanianbust with name of Mu'awiyaamir al-mu'minin in Middle Persian).Obversemargin:bism Alldh. Reverse field: typical Arab-Sasanian ire-altarwith attendantswith mint(abbreviation) nd date in MiddlePersian, .e. frozenyear43 (circa 54-55/674).Reversemargin:plain.

inscriptions (Fig. 5)." (After Mu'~wiya, the name of the ruler again disappearsfrom these media until 'Abd al-Malik.)'2 In a recent article, Clive Foss hasargued that Mu'cwiya governed a "highly organized and bureaucratic" realmand that, because "a sophisticated system of administration and taxation em-ploys coinage," the Arab-Byzantine bronze types with bilingual inscriptions andmint-marks, and a few rare gold coins, all of which were assigned to 'Abd

" A Greek nscription ated42/662-3recordinghe restoration f the baths at HammetGader Palestine) y thegovernor symboulos)AbdAllahb. AbiHgshim"in thedaysof theservantof GodMu'Awiya,hecommander f thebelievers"--abdallaMaaviaamera almoumenen.See GreenandTsafrir1982:94-96). An Arabic nscriptionated58/678recordinghe con-struction f a dam nearTa'if(Arabia) on behalfof the servant f GodMu'awiya,he com-mander f thebelievers... O God,forgive he servant f GodMu'dwiya,he commanderfthe believers,strengthen im andhelp him, and let the faithfulprofitby him." See Miles(1948: 237, 241, plate XVIIIA, also 239, n. 18 for a possible thirdinscriptionof Mu'awiya).12An Arab-Sasanianrachm earson the reversemargin helegend n Persian"Yearoneof Yazid," .e. Yazid I b. Mu'&wiya,1/681.See Mochiri 1982).A silk tirdz-inscriptionnthe name of ['Abd] Allch Marwdn amir al-mu'[min]in has been attributed to Marwan I(64/684-65/685) y Day (1952). It is moreprobablyn the name of Marwan I (127/744-132/750)as was originally houghtby Grohmann1967-71,vol. 2: 81).


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420 JEREMYOHNS

3.,k~~atS4-IjMJLL-:=4

'-:4tL~:,yJ4_A Ij,Figure 5: Inscriptions rom the dam of Mu'awiya,east of Ta'if, Saudi Arabia(afterMiles 1948:plateXVIIIAandfig. 1). The inscriptionn the name of Mu'lwiya is upper-most;beneath t is an undatedgraffito,assignedto the late firstor early secondcentury,invoking"thepeace of God and His blessing"for threegenerations f the same family,al-HIakam,is son Muhammad, nd his grandson"AbdAllih.


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ARCHAEOLOGYND THEHISTORYOF EARLY SLAM 421al-Malik by Michael Bates, must in fact have been minted in Syria underMu'~wiya(Foss 2002: 356-57). Although t is now increasingly ikely that theMuslimsdid mint coins in Syria during he reignof Mu'awiya, ust as they didin Iraq,the case is being made,andwill have to be proven,upon purelynumis-matic grounds.13Fortunately or Foss, it does not depend upon demonstratingthe sophisticationof Mu'~wiya'sadministrative nd fiscal apparatus-becausethat he fails to do.Foss assumes that the clear evidence in the papyri from Nessana in theNaqab (Palestine)for the continuityof pre-conquestadministrativenstitutionsat the local level in the 670s impliesthatMu'awiyagoverned hrougha sophis-ticated centraladministration ndbureaucracyFoss 2002: 356-57). This is theview of a Byzantinist, eeing through he eyes of an 'Abbasidhistorian. n fact,the Nessanapapyritell a very different tory, in two episodes,one set before,and one after,the accessionof 'Abd al-Malik.The "abrupt emands"-the phrase s Foss's own-made in the years674-77by the Arabgovernorof Gaza to the villagersof Nessana are not for taxes tobe paid in money,but for rizq (Greekrouzikon), he "food allowance"paid inkind to local Arab troops.14The rizq, consistingof equal numbersof units ofwheat and oil, was payablein advance,usuallyat periodsof two months. Butthe amountsvariedwidely from a maximumof 310 to a minimumof 90 modiiof wheat andsextariiof oil. This, as the editorpointsout, is clear evidence thatthese were not regular axes collected as partof a uniformand centralizediscalsystem,but "irregularequisitionsdemandedas needed"(Kraemer1958: 178).There is no suggestion hatany of these demandsoriginatedn a centraladmin-istrationat Damascus,or anywhereexcept in Gaza.The rizqwas deliverednotto fiscal officers,but directlyto individualrepresentatives f the Arab tribes.These irregular equisitionswere not a heavy burdenon the villagers.An ac-count of therizqrequisitionedromNessana in one completeyear (indiction X,possibly680-1), when converted nto moneyfor accountingpurposes,amountedto 864/5 solidi, a modest sum comparedwith the 14442/3solidi paid by the vil-lage as annualtaxes in the mid-sixthcentury(Kraemer1958: 199-201, no. 69;cf. 119-25, no. 39).All this changedunder 'Abd al-Malik. The firstevidence of interventionby

13 See Morrisson (1992), Treadwell (2000), Foss (2002: 360-64), Album and Goodwin(2002: 99-107) and Oddy (2003). In addition to the numismaticevidence, see the famouspassage in the Maronite Chronicle (quoted below) and the discussion of this passage inHoyland (1997: 136-8).

14 See Kraemer (1958: 175-87, 190-95, nos. 60-63, 67-6; 188-90, no. 64, is not fromNessana).


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422 JEREMYOHNSthe central administrationn the affairs of the Naqab comes in a Greekday-book that records the names of individual Arab soldiers against their dutiesand/orthe paymentsmade to them. For each entry,the name of the authorizeris also noted, includingthe amir al-mu'minin Abd al-Malik,and his brother'Abdal-'Aziz, the governorof Egypt."1 romthe sametime, comes the first evi-dence thatNessana was now fully integratednto the administrativetructure fthe whole military-provincejund) of Filastin,in the form of an orderfor twolaborers and two camels to perform unspecifiedpublic service on the roadbetweenCaesarea ndScythopolis, 00 kilometers istant rom hevillage(Kraemer1958: 209-11, no. 74). The first evidence for a cadastralsurveyof Nessana'slands datesfrom the 680s.16And a registerof households iablefor the poll-tax(epikefalion),dated circa 687-9, providesthe first evidencefor a census of thepopulation Kraemer1958:215-221, no. 76). Demands or paymentof the poll-tax (Kraemer1958: 202-203, no. 70), and receipts for paymentof both thepoll-taxandthe land-tax demosia),also first occurat this time (Kraemer1958:153-55, no. 55 and 172-74, no. 59). The annualpoll-tax paid by Nessanamaybe calculatedat 1044 solidi (Kraemer1958:219); with the land-tax, his wouldhave amounted o a far heavier burden han the irregular ribute n kind leviedin the 670s. So onerouswere the new taxes, that four or morevillages, includ-ing Nessana, plannedto send a joint delegation to the governorin Gaza toprotestand to seek remission.17The evidencefromNessana matchesthe far more extensivetestimonyof theEgyptianpapyri,and the variedevidence-including that of Islamic sources-for northernMesopotamia:a centralizedadministrative nd fiscal apparatussabsentunderMu'awiya,andis first ntroduced nder Abdal-Malikand his suc-cessors.18 A contrastbetween the two reigns is also drawnby non-Muslimauthors,who howl in protestat the administrative nd fiscal reforms nstitutedby 'Abdal-Malik.19 he reignof Mu'cwiya, n comparison,heyremembered sa golden age, when the Arabs exacted only the tribute(Syriac madattn)and

15 See Kraemer (1958: 290-9, no. 92). There is nothing to connect the day-book withNessana and the editor suggests that it may have been "compiledin anotherfort town in theNaqab and thrownaway by the commandantor an adjutantwhile passing throughNessana."For the date, see below.16 Kraemer 1958: 168-71,no.58):"the andsurveyof the Saracens"geo6metria6nSaraken6n).17 See Kraemer(1958: 212-14, no. 75). The letter bears no date, but is post-conquest.18 For Egypt, see Morimoto(1981) and the relevantsections in Simonsen (1988); for north-ern Mesopotamia,see Robinson (2000).19See the ZuqninChronicle,pseudo-Methodius,and pseudo-John he Less, all convenientlyin Robinson (2000: 45-8). See the discussion of all these in Hoyland (1997: 263-7, 267-70,409-14).


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ARCHAEOLOGYAND THE HISTORYOF EARLY ISLAM 423

allowed the conqueredpopulation"to remain in whatever faith they wished,""justiceflourished... and there was greatpeace in the regionsunderhis con-trol;he allowed everyoneto live as they wanted,"harvestswere plentiful,andtradeprospered Brock1987:61; Hoyland1997: 194-200,263 n. 14; Robinson2000: 47).And yet, althoughMucawiya did not governby meansof a sophisticated ndcentralizedadministration,e did attempt o found his own monarchy.The fol-lowing muchquotedpassagefrom the MaroniteChroniclemay have beenwrit-ten by a nearcontemporary f these events:ManyArabsgathered t Jerusalem nd madeMu'awiyaking... In Julyof the sameyear the emirs and many Arabs gatheredand gave their allegiance to Muc'wiya. Thenan order went out that he should be proclaimedking in all the villages and cities of hisdominion and that they should make acclamations and invocations to him. He alsominted gold and silver, but it was not accepted because it had no cross on it.Furthermore,Mu'awiya did not wear a crown like other kings in the world. He placedhis throne in Damascus and refused to go to the seat of Muhammad.(Palmer, Brock,and Hoyland 1993: 31-32; Hoyland 1997: 136-39).

As we have already seen, it was Mu'awiya who introduced his name or thetitle amiral-mu'minin n coins, documents,and monumentalnscriptions--clearevidence of his royal pretensions (see above). He also built or repaired publicbuildings, including the mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem,20 a churchin Edessa,21a bath-housein Palestine, and a dam (or two) near Ta'if (seeabove).Significantly, he non-Islamic ourcessuggestthathe was a rulerto notjust the Arabs, and that he arbitratedin disputes between his non-Muslim sub-jects (Palmer,Brock,and Hoyland1993: 30-31; Adomnan 1965: 192-94). But,

20 Anastasius of Sinai, apparentlywriting at the time of constructionof the Dome of theRock (circa 691) witnessed demons clearingthe "Capitol" or the Muslims 'thirty years ago,'i.e. circa 661. See Flusin (1992: 25-26). In the 670s, the pilgrim Arculf saw a 'house ofprayer' (orationis domus) built by the Saracens on the site of the Temple, see Adomnan(1965: 186). The Jewish Apocalypse on the Umayyads prophesizes that Mu'awiya will"restore the walls of the Temple," see Levi (1994). The tenth-centuryMuslim author,AbfiNasr al-Mutahharb. al-Mutahharal-Maqdisi,also reportsthatMu'awiyarestoredthe Temple,and adds that it was there that the Muslims swore the oath of allegiance to him, see al-Maqdisi (1899-1919, vol. 4: 87; trans. 82). There was apparently a mosque (Georgianmidzgitha from Arabic masjid) on the Temple Mount before the death of the PatriarchSophronius (circa 639), see Flusin (1992: 19-22). (See the discussion of these sources inHoyland [1997: 61-5, 101, 219-23, 316-7].) For possible archaeologicalevidence, see note 7above. There is no published archaeological evidence for or against the suggestion thatMu'awiya may have begun the palatial complex to the south of the Temple Mount, seeHoyland (1997: 222-3).

21 See the sources cited in Hoyland (1997: 646 n. 96) and in Robinson (2000: 41 andn. 47).


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424 JEREMYOHNSalthoughthe evidence for his rule is distributed rom Egypt to Iraqand fromthe Hijazto northern yria,it was in Jerusalem ndDamascus hat he based hiskingdom, and he is reported o have "favoured he people of the West overthose of the East, since the formerhad submitted o him".22 he survivingevi-dence is admittedly parseandpatchy,but it suggeststhatMu'~wiyaattemptedto found his monarchy n Syria upon the material rappingsof kingshipratherthan upon the business of government.He sought to look like a king, ratherthan to build solid administrativeoundations or his kingdom. Again, all thiswas to changeunder'Abd al-Malik.The Greek day-book,discussed above, which shows the amir al-mu'minin'Abd al-Malik assigning duties and authorizing the pay of Arab soldiersstationed n the Naqab,dates from the year of his accession,66/685, or imme-diately thereafter.23The otherNessanapapyrithat attest to the increasing nter-vention of the centraladministrationn the affairsof Nessana all belong to theearly years of his reign. This datingis highly significant or it establishes,onarchaeologicalevidence, that 'Abd al-Malik's administrative eforms in Syriaand Egyptwere initiated mmediatelyuponhis accession.That 'Abd al-Malik's fiscal reforms date from as early as 66/685, offers anew perspectiveuponthe debate over the dateof the Dome of the Rock. It hadalwaysbeen assumed hat the datingclause at the end of the mosaicinscriptionon the outer fagade of the octagonal arcade recorded the completionof thebuilding:

Therebuilt this dome the servant f God 'Ab[dal-Malik, ommander]f the believersin theyearseventy-two,mayGodaccept t fromhimand be pleasedwith him. Amen.Lordof theWorlds, o Godbelongspraise.Until, that is, Sheila Blair (1992) arguedforciblythat the date referred o thebuilding's nception,and should be regardedas the terminusa quo for its con-struction.The testimonyof the Nessanapapyrisignificantlyweakens her initialobjection hat the Dome of the Rock could not have been built in a period"notconducive to financing major construction" Blair 1992: 62).24 Her principal

22 See the sources cited in Hoyland (1997: 644 and n. 76).23 See above. The account was written after indiction XII. During the reign of 'Abd al-Malik, indiction XIII correspondsto either 684-5 or 699-700. If the Assoun in line 15 is to

be identifiedwith Hassan b. Malik b. Bahdal-see Kraemer(1958:298 n. 14[c] and n. 23)-who governed Filastin until 64/683-684, then the year in which it was written must be 685.24 That 'Abd al-Malik was not short of ready cash is also suggested by the tributehe issaid to have agreedto pay ConstantineIV in 685, see Hoyland (1997: 647 n. 102). (But sucha haemorrhage f gold to Byzantium might ratherstrengthenBlair's point.)


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ARCHAEOLOGYND THEHISTORYOF EARLY SLAM 425

arguments-epigraphic, numismatic, and artisanal-are entirely circumstantialand may, or may not, be right. It is the historical case that is decisive.A persistent report has it that 'Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock aspart of his struggle with 'Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr. The latter had taken controlof Mecca and, during the hajj, "used to catalogue the vices of the Marwanidfamily, and to summon [the people] to pay homage to him." 'Abd al-Maliktherefore forbade the Arabs of Syria from performing the pilgrimage, and builtthe Dome of the Rock "in order to divert their attention from the hajj [toMecca]." Before beginning construction, 'Abd al-Malik consulted widely inorder to draw the sting of the inevitable criticism from Ibn al-Zubayr. None-theless, the rebel added the Dome of the Rock to his list of charges against'Abd al-Malik, claiming that he had "transferredthe tawdf (ritual circumambu-lation) from the House of God [in Mecca] to the qibla of the Children ofIsrael." The fullest and most circumstantial account, from which I have quotedhere, is based upon the testimony of, amongst others, Muhammad b. al-Sa'ib,whose father was a supporter of Ibn al-Zubayr and died fighting alongside hisbrother, Mus'ab b. al-Zubayr, against 'Abd al-Malik.25In 1950, Shlomo Dov Goitein argued that this report should be rejected asanti-Umayyad Shi'ite propaganda, and most recent historians of the Dome ofthe Rock have accepted his view (Goitein 1950; 1966; Rabbat 1989; 1993).Undoubtedly, the report is anti-Umayyad propaganda. Indeed, the harshest crit-icism of 'Abd al-Malik is put into the mouth of Ibn al-Zubayr. There is goodreason, therefore, to distrust the charge that 'Abd al-Malik was seeking to sup-plant Mecca with Jerusalem. However, since Amikam Elad published the fullestand most circumstantial version of the report yet known, together with a newstudy of the historiographical and historical circumstances, it has become in-creasingly difficult to dismiss the whole episode as fiction. In particular, it isbecoming increasingly clear that the context in which the foundation of Domeof the Rock must be seen is the ideological contest between 'Abd al-Malik andhis opponents during the Civil War.26Moreover, if Blair were right, then thepropagandists would be extraordinarily incompetent. For, by moving the dateof the inception of the Dome of the Rock back to 69/688-9, to the height ofthe Civil War, when Mecca was securely in the hands of Ibn al-Zubayr, the

25 See Elad (1992). The quotationsare from 53 (trans. 34) and 54 (trans. 35)-with fullreferences to the primarysources and secondaryliterature.26 Before the fall of the Umayyads it was already claimed that 'Abd al-Malik had"destroyed he Sacred House of God and revived the way of the foolish [Jews?], then he gavethe Rock a form like that of the Place [of Ibrthim], to it the rough Arabs of Syria go on pil-grimage!"Elad (1992: 49-51).


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426 JEREMYOHNSpropagandistswould have provided Abd al-Malik with the perfectexcuse forhis actions-that Ibn al-Zubayrpreventedpilgrimage o Mecca-an excuse that,by all accounts,he used.27Whereas,had the propagandistseft the date of con-structionunchanged, o that'Abdal-Malikbeganto build what they claimed tobe a counter-Ka'baonly after his victory over the rebels in Iraq and a fewmonthsbefore he regainedcontrol of Mecca and defeatedand killed Ibn al-Zubayr, hen therewould have been no mitigation or his diverting he hIajjoJerusalem.For the moment,therefore, shall carryon believing that the Dome of theRock was completed n 72/691-2. If so, 'Abd al-Malikbegan the formationofhis statewith administrativend fiscalreforms,and,some threeyearslater,pro-ceeded to build the Dome of the Rock. This was only part of a far moreambitiousproject hatin time included: he development f the entireHaramal-Sharif, ncluding he Aqsa Mosque,a numberof minorstructures,ts walls, andits gates;the foundationof the palatialcomplexto the south;and the construc-tion of a networkof roadsleadingto Jerusalem.Whetheror not 'Abd al-MalikintendedJerusalem o replaceMecca as the destinationof the hajj, the redevel-opmentof the city on such an ambitiousscale clearlyissued a challengeto thelord of Mecca, his opponentIbn al-Zubayr.Whatmakes this interpretationoattractiveis that the rebels had already begun to use material culture as aweaponfor ideologicalconflict.In 66/685-6, the year after CAbdal-Malik's accession (Ramadan65/April-May 685), the Zubayridgovernorof Bishapir, 'Abd al-Malik b. 'Abd Allah[b. 'Amir], issued a silver drachm (Fig. 6) that bore the so-called "short"shahada-bism Allah Muhammad rasuilAlldh ("In the name of God, Muham-mad is the messengerof God").The issue was repeated n 67/686-7 (Walker1941, vol. 1: 96-97; Gaube 1973: 62; Album and Goodwin 2002: 25, plate11.151-55). In 69/688-9, anotherrebel, Qatari b. al-Fuja'a, had control ofBishapur,and therestrucka drachmbearingthe Kharijite loganbism Alldh lahukma illa li-lldh ("In the name of God, judgment belongs to God alone"), andhis ownnameand itles n MiddlePersian-"theServant fGod,Katari,Commanderof the Believers" Walker1941, vol. 1: 112-13;Album and Goodwin2002: 30,plates3.32-34, 13.193-95, 18.265-66,22.320). In 72/691-2, the Zubayridgover-nor of Sistan,'Abd al-'Azizb. 'AbdAllah, strucka uniquedrachmwith a ver-sion of the "long"shahada n MiddlePersian(Fig. 7) (see Mochiri1981; Sears1989;Ilisch 1992;Albumand Goodwin2002: 27). No Umayyadcoin had pre-

27 See also the theological justifications that al-Ya'quibiputs into 'Abd al-Malik's mouth,and the discussion of them by Elad (1992: 43-4).


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ARCHAEOLOGYNDTHEHISTORYFEARLYSLAM 427

Figure6: Drachm of 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd Alliah,Zubayridgovernorof Bishapuir,66/685-6(ShammaCollection7496,afterAlbumandGoodwin2002:plate11.152).Obversefield: typical late Arab-Sasanian ust with name of 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd Allah (inMiddle Persian).Obversemargin:-/ bism Alldh / Muhammad asal / Alldh. Reversefield: typicalArab-Sasanianire-altarwith attendantswith mint (abbreviation) nd datein MiddlePersian, .e. 66/685-6. Reversemargin:pellet at 7h30.

viously borne any religious declaration except the basmala, but the first goldand silver coins struck in Syria by 'Abd al-Malik, and the first silver issues byhis governors in Iraq, all carried one version or other of the shahada (seeTreadwell 1999: 243-45 and table 3; Album and Goodwin 2002: 27-28). Itseems highly probable, therefore, that the Marw~nids learnt from their oppo-nents to use the coinage in this way (Hoyland 1997: 550-53, 694-95 followingCrone and Hinds 1986: 25-26).We shall come back shortly to the Marwanid coinage, but first it is neces-sary to return briefly to the Dome of the Rock. The inscriptions on the outerand inner faqades of the octagonal arcade, dated as we have seen to 72/691-2,contain the earliest securely datable occurrence of passages which also appearin the Qur'dn. This is not the place for a detailed discussion of the implicationsof these inscriptions for the debate over the date at which the text of the Qur'&nbegan to crystallize. Suffice it to say that both those who favor a date before72/691-2, and those who argue that the text was only fixed later, have cited theinscriptions of the Dome of the Rock in their support (Whelan 1998).


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428 JEREMY OHNSW-F%

Figure 7: Drachm of 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah, the Zubayrid governor of Sistan,Sijistin, 72/691-2 (afterMochiri1981:plateI). Obverse ield:typicallate Arab-Sasanianbust with Middle Persian nscriptions, left) "Mayhis glory increase," right)"'Abdal-cAzizibn 'Abd Allih ibn Amir."Obversemargin: ? / bism Alldh / al-'aziz,"? / In thename of God / the glorious."Reverse field: Middle Persianinscriptionon five lines,"Seventy-two One God, except He / no othergod exists / Muhammad is] the mes-senger of God" (cf. Arabic "There s no god but God alone, Muhammads the mes-sengerof God").Reversemargin:plain.

Attention has tended to focus upon the inscription on the inner fagade of theoctagon, which is principally concerned with defining the position of Jesuswithin the Islamic scheme. In the context of Marwanid state formation, it is theinscription on the outer fagade that is of greater interest. Here, it is the figure


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Figure8: Transcriptionf partof the mosaicinscriptionrom the outeroctagonalarcadein the Dome of the Rock,north-east ide (afterKessler1970:9). Forphotographs f thesameinscription, ee Nuseibeh and Grabar 1996: 98-99; mislabelled Southeast').

of Muhammad that dominates. The inscription consists of four unitarian and/oranti-trinitarianverses, punctuated by five invocations to Muhlammad.The invo-cation on the north-east side particularly attracts attention (Fig. 8): "Muhtammadis the messenger of God. May God bless him and accept his intercession on theday of the resurrection on behalf of his [His?] community" (Muhammad rasillAlldh salld Allah 'alayhi wa-taqabbala shaf[d]'atahu yawm al-qiy[da]ma ftummatihi). It calls upon God to accept the intercession of Muhammad for theMuslims on the Day of Judgment. The idea is not Qur'anic, for nowhere in theQur'an does Muhammad appears as an intercessor.28What is more, the idea ofMuhammad as intercessor does not fit comfortably with the Umayyad concep-tion of the caliphate, according to which the most direct path to salvation ledthrough the caliph (Crone and Hinds 1986: 27-42). After this appearance in theDome of the Rock, Muhammad does not again appear in the role of interces-sor for some 150 years. This particular venture was an experiment that failed.Nor was it the only one.For five to seven years after 72/691-2, 'Abd al-Malik in Damascus and hisgovernors in Iraq introduced an extraordinary series of images on their coinage,including the "Standing Caliph" (Fig. 9), the "Caliph Orans" (Fig. 10), and the

28 See Hamza 2002: 124-49) or a detaileddiscussion f theearly historyof theProphetas intercessor.


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430 JEREMYOHNS

Figure9: "StandingCaliph"dinar with transformed ross-on-steps everse,presumablystruckat Damascus,andproduced achyear from74/693-4to 77/696-7 (Ashmoleanpur-chase,Peus. 24.3.71, lot. 1029, afterAlbum and Goodwin2002: plate45.705). Obverse:normaltanding aliph igure, urroundedybismAllah1i ildha lldAllhwahdahuMuhammadrasfilAlldh("Inthe name of God,there s no god butGodalone,Muhammads the mes-sengerof God").Reverse:transformedross-on-steps, urrounded y bismAlldhduribahIdh 1-dindr anatsab' wa-sab'in "In he nameof God,this dinarwas struckn theyearseventy-seven").

~t* i.?rn\i?~..?;,?J*~;;~I~-~L:'~1~Z2~:a:Ai~L~ ?:-*,f:?,

t~17~

Figure10: So-called"CaliphOrans" rachm,Basra75AH/694-5CEBibliothbqueationale1969.75,afterTreadwell 999:266, BI). Obverse ield:typical ateArab-Sasanianustwiththe nameof Bishr bnMarwin in MiddlePersian).Obversemargin:egend n quarters -3:AN?(in MiddlePersian) bismAlldhMuhammadrasalAllaih.Reverse ield:withinthreebeaded ircles, hreestandingigures.Thelargecentral igure, lanked y two attendants,astraditionallyeen dentified s the"Caliph rans," ut moreprobablyepresentsheMarwinidkhatib, ither hecaliph Abdal-Malik r his brotherBishr,deliveringheFridaykhutbawithbothhandsraised.Mint-name nd date(in MiddlePersian):Basra,seventy-five.


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ARCHAEOLOGYAND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAM 431"Mihrab and cAnaza" (Fig. 11). Such a variety of images over such a shortperiod demonstrates that this was a phase of intense experimentation, whichcame to an abrupt end when all representational imagery was dropped from thecoinage, and the purely epigraphic dinar was introduced in 77/696-7 (Fig. 12),followed by the dirham in 79/698-9. The meaning of these images has beenmuch discussed and is beyond the scope of this essay (see Jamil 1999; Treadwell1999; Treadwell forthcoming). What matters here is the experiment, its failureand abandonment, and then the prodigious success of the epigraphic coinagewhich was to be the model for Islamic coinage for the next half millennium.

1., -A-'.

..

'

..

Figure 11: The so-called "Mihrdb nd 'Anaza"drachm,no mint or date, but probablystruck n Damascus in the mid-70s AH (sold Sotheby's 12thJuly 1993, no. 167, afterTreadwell1999:269). Obverse ield:within two dottedcircles,rightfacing bustflankedby standardMiddle Persian nscriptions"Mayhis glory increase Khusraw."The bustis an extensivelymodifiedversion of the Sasanianprototype; ote, in particular,he cap,the visible arms,and the sheathedsword held in his righthand. Obversemargin:bismAlldh ld ildha illd AlldhwahdahuMuhammadasal Alldh("Inthe name of God, thereis no god but God alone, Muhammads the messengerof God").Reversefield:withinthree dotted circles, two columns supportinga ribbed arch (the "mihrdb"), raminga spear the"'anaza"), ndflankedby inscriptions:left)amiral-mu'minin, theCommanderof the Believers,"(right)khalifatAlldh, "the Caliphof God," (flanking spear)nasaraAlldh,"MayGod aid [him]"or nasr Alldh"thevictoryof God." Treadwell forthcom-ing) argues convincinglythat the arch on columns of the reverse should be seen as asacrum,not as a mihrdb.Reverse margin:Middle Persian nscription,perhapsAF[D],"praise."


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432 JEREMY JOHNS

Figure12: Epigraphicdinar,anonymous 'Abd al-Malik),Damascus,77/696-7. Obversefield: Id ildha illd AlldhwahdahuId sharikalahu, "There s no god but God alone, Hehas no associate."Obversemargin:Muhammad asal Alldh alladhi arsala rasilahu bi-1-huddwa-dinal-haqqli-yuzhirahuald al-din kullihi,"Muhammads the messengerofGod whom He sent with guidanceand the religionof truth hat He mightmake it pre-vail over all religion" Qur'an9.33). Reverse field:AlldhahadAlldhal-samad amyalidwa-lamyulad wa-lamyakunlahu kufuwanahad, "Godis one, God the eternal,He didnot beget and was notbegotten" Qur'an112). Reversemargin:bism Alldhduribahddhd1-dindr anat sab' wa-sab'in,"Inthe name of God this dinarwas struck n the year sev-enty-seven."

The evidence of the Dome of the Rock and of the coinage confirms what wemight expect-that the process of articulating public declarations of the reli-gious basis of the Marwanid state was not without difficulties. Unlike theByzantine emperor, who could draw upon more than half a millennium's expe-rience of bending material culture to the service of the state, 'Abd al-Malik wasa complete beginner. The ideological basis was already there, and al-Farazdaqand other poets show themselves to be masters at its manipulation, but poetrywas more equivocal than lapidary and numismatic inscriptions; it had a morelimited audience, and did not circulate as widely as did the coinage amongst thepopulation at large.

During the Civil War, two Zubayrid governors had already attempted to usethe medium of coinage to claim that Muhammad fought on their side. Aftertheir victory, the Marwanids used all available state media to broadcast theircounter-claim to the Prophet. But, in giving such new prominence to Muham-mad, the Marwanids forged new weapons for their opponents-not only forthose who claimed descent from Muhammad but, ultimately, also for those whosought to interpose the figure of the Prophet between the caliph and God (Croneand Hinds 1986:33). We can only speculate why 'Abd al-Malik allowed Muhammad


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ARCHAEOLOGYND THEHISTORYOF EARLY SLAM 433to appear n the role of intercessor n the Dome of the Rock, but in doing sohe weakenedhis own claimto be the best pathto salvation.We can only guesswhat forces caused 'Abd al-Malik to drophis own image and titles from thecoinage in favor of religious inscriptions that proclaimedthe centrality ofMuhammad nd omittedall mentionof the caliph,but-purely numismatic on-siderations side--it is difficultnot to see this as an ideologicalcompromisehatwas forceduponhim. Nor do we know whatpressuresed his son, Sulaymdn-of all names!-to turn his back on Jerusalem and build his new capital atRamla, but his abandonment f the city in which his father and brotherhadinvested such energyand wealth was a clearvictoryfor Mecca in her ongoingstrugglewith Jerusalem or dominanceover the new sacredgeographyof Islam.This essay has arguedthat the shortageof archaeologicalevidence for thereligionof Islam duringthe firstseventy years of the hijrais not surprising. tis only with the formationof the statethatproduced he media thatpreserve heevidence for the religion that archaeologybegins to be able to contribute owhat is essentiallya historical,and above all historiographical,ebate. This isunlikelyto change.Withevery year thatpasses without new materialevidencebeing found for the emergence of Islam before 70/690, despite the inten-sification f archaeologicalieldwork,he more ikelyitbecomes hatsuchevidencesimply does not exist. This absence of evidence is frustrating, ut it cannot beused to arguethat a cult bearingthe essentialcharacteristics f Islam had notalready emerged-on that, the testimony of non-Muslim authors is clear(Hoyland 1997: 548-49). It is particularly rustrating hat there has been noarchaeologicalnvestigationof the Arabianenvironmentraditionally ssociatedwith the life of the Prophetand the early developmentof Islam. Nor will therebe. The Mosque of the Haramat Mecca and the Mosque of the ProphetatMedina have been razed to the groundand completelyrebuilt n such a man-ner as to deny any possibilityof archaeological xcavation,even were it to bepermitted.Outside he precinctsof the two Holy Mosques,archaeologicalnves-tigationof sites in Saudi Arabia hatmight yield evidencefor the natureof reli-gion in the sixth andseventhcenturiess activelydiscouraged.Historians annotexpect any deus ex cavea.

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Corpus christianorum eries latina 175. Turnhout:Brepols.Album, Stephen. 1992. An Arab-Sasanian dirham hoard from the year 72 Hijri. StudiaIranica 21: 161-95.Album, Stephen, and Tony Goodwin. 2002. The Pre-ReformCoinage of the Early IslamicPeriod. Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean 1. Oxford:Ashmolean Museum.


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