6
The Use of Islamic Materials
by Non-Muslim WritersYehoshua FrenkelThe collection and transmission of narratives about the emergence of Is-
lam and the links between the new religion and neighboring communities
was a popular practice among Muslim authors from the early years of the
caliphate. Yet this tradition of learning and teaching was not confined to
Muslim communities, and vestiges of several Islamic historical traditions
can be identified in both Jewish and Christian sources. These texts, writ-
ten in Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac, seem to reflect a mirror-
image of the Islamic narrative.
This study dwells upon a few historical narratives that support the the-
sis that the various communities making up the rich human mosaic of
the central lands of the caliphate’s vast domain were bound together by
an Arabo-Islamic cultural symbiosis. This development could take place
only after the enrooting of the caliphate in the Near East, the unchal-
lenged recognition by its population of the hegemonic position of Islam,
the canonization of sacred Islamic history, the evolution of identity, and
the development of a sense of place.^1 The acknowledgment of Islam’s he-
gemony was not limited to the Muslims. This perception was respected
by all of the religious communities that lived within the boundaries of the
Abode of Islam.
It will be argued that narratives of the past actually reflect the authors’
identities and their religious community interests. The historical dis-
course illuminates the conflicting communal concerns. Chroniclers were
apparently resolved to fortify their publics’ positions. This led authors