278 Notes
“super-tribe” is from The Arabs (1937); Marshall G. S. Hodgson’s term “neo-tribe”
is from The Venture of Islam, vol. 1 (1974). Anthony Black provides a valuable insight
into the similarities between the purpose and function of rituals of the Ummah and
the pagan tribes in The History of Islamic Political Thought (2001).
I am convinced that the shahadah was originally addressed not to God, but to
Muhammad, because a great many of those who had proclaimed the shahadah (and
thereby joined the Ummah) while Muhammad was alive considered their oaths to
be annulled with the Prophet’s death (according to tribal custom, the bay‘ah never
survived the death of the tribe’s Shaykh). As we shall see in Chapter 5, the annul-
ment of the bay‘ah eventually led to the Riddah Wars. Incidentally, the word “Islam”
to designate Muhammad’s movement may not have been applied by the Prophet
until his farewell pilgrimage: “Today I have perfected your religion, I have com-
pleted my blessings upon you, and I have approved Islam as your religion” (5:5).
There are many versions of the al-Ayham story. Mine is taken from Watt,
Muhammad at Medina, p. 268. For more on Muhammad’s market, see M. J. Kister,
“The Market of the Prophet,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
(1965).
There are, of course, two creation stories in Genesis. The first, which is derived
from what is referred to as the Priestly tradition, can be found in the first chapter, in
which God creates man and woman simultaneously. The second and better-known
tradition of Adam and Eve is from the second chapter.
For Muhammad’s reforms aimed at women and the reactions to them, see
Fatima Mernissi, The Veil and the Male Elite (1991); al-Tabari’s quote is taken from
page 125 of Mernissi’s book. How exactly the inheritance was to be divided between
the male and female heirs can be found in the Quran 4:9–14, and is explained ade-
quately by Watt in Muhammad at Medina, pp. 289–93. Watt also provides a valuable
discussion of the transition from matriliny to patriliny in Meccan society on pp.
272–89. For more on the rules regarding the wife’s dowry, see Hodgson (1974), p.
- The traditions of pre-Islamic marriage and divorce, as well as the imposition of
the veil, are dealt with in detail in Leila Ahmed’s excellent book Women and Gender
in Islam (1992).
Those interested in the issue of stoning as punishment for adultery should see
my article “The Problem of Stoning in Islamic Law: An Argument for Reform,”
UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law (2005); also Ahmad Von Denffer,
Ulum Al-Qur’an (1983), pp. 110–11. The punishment of stoning to death was actu-
ally derived from Hebrew law, where it was prescribed for a number of crimes
including adultery (Deut. 22:13–21), blasphemy (Deut. 24:14), calling up spirits
(Deut. 20:27), and disobeying one’s parents (Deut. 21:18–21). The Quran estab-
lishes the punishment of lashes for the adulterer in one verse (24:2) and lifelong
imprisonment in another (4:15–16). However, both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih al-
Hajjaj claim that Muhammad had himself ordered stoning for adultery. But there is
a great deal of confusion within these traditions. For instance, Abdullah ibn Aufa
reports that Muhammad did indeed carry out stoning, but when asked whether
Muhammad prescribed stoning before or after the Surah an-Nur, which clearly
endorses lashes for the adulterer, Ibn Aufa replies that he did not know (al-Bukhari
8.824). For more on Umar’s misogynist innovations, see Leila Ahmed (1992), pp.
60–61.
For the commentary on sufaha and Abu Bakra’s hadith, see Mernissi, 126; 49
(also 45–46). The hadith on the rights of women is from Kitab al-Nikah, no. 1850;
the Prophet’s quote about women’s deficiencies is from al-Bukhari, vol. 1, no. 304;