25-02-13
Islam, Arabs and the Hijra - Tingis Redux
EDITORIALS
BLOG
ARTICLES
ABOUT
JOIN TINGIS
Islam, Arabs and the Hijra
By Robert M. Kerr
Published: February 22nd, 2013
Share
Comments (0)
Text Size A A A
The traditional account of Muhammad’s life tells us that in June of 622, upon
getting wind of an assassination plot against him at Mecca, he escaped with
some of his loyal followers and eventually made his way to Yathrib/Medina.
The traditionally accepted reference for this event is in Surah 9: 100, which
in the translation of Pickthall reads:
“And the first to lead the way, of the Muhajirūn and the Anṣār, and those
who followed them in goodness—Allah is well pleased with them and they
are well pleased with Him, and He hath made ready for them Gardens underneath which
rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.”
CONTRIBUTORS
F eatured
Islam, Arabs and the Hijra
Islam: The Arab Religion
The Language of the Koran
Jerusalem and the Emergence of
Islam
In Islam, this event is viewed as so significant a turning-point that the Islamic calendar commences
with the “year of the exile” (sanat or `am al-hijra, not referred to in the Koran). We know the
Muhajirūn (from a root hajara “to emigrate, go into exile”) as the “émigrés” who left with
Mohammad. The Anṣār (from a root naṣara “to aid, to help”) are understood to be the “helpers”
who welcomed the Prophet and his fellow exiles at Medina. Until now we have taken all this as a
given.
But several problems arise from this narrative. First, the Koranic quotation is vague at best. Second,
as the Koran is by all accounts the first book in Arabic, we lack internal comparative evidence for
the meanings of key words. Reference to related Semitic languages might help a bit, but this is
actually where more problems begin. Neither of the roots’ definitions has support from other
Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Aramaic, Ethiopian, or Hebrew. The first root (hajara) is only
attested in South Semitic in the meaning of “city(-dweller)” and in Hebrew and Aramaic as the name
of Abraham's concubine, Hagar. The second root (naṣara) is well-attested in Semitic languages, but
not in the meaning “to help.” That these rather mundane bits of vocabulary appear to be unique to
Arabic and that the meaning of the terms “émigrés” and “helpers” is not attested in other Semitic
languages can only raise our suspicion about the traditional narrative.
We know about the Islamic dating system, which begins with the “year of the exile,” from
contemporary evidence in Arabic, Syriac, Greek and even Chinese sources. The Syriac and Greek
sources usually refer to a “year of the Arabs.” We further know that in Late Antique literatures, one
of the many synonyms for Arabs is “Hagarite” (along with Ishmaelite and Saracen, for example),
and that in Syriac we find a derivation mhaggrāyā (also borrowed into Greek as magaroi). An
Greek inscription of the Caliph Mu`awiyah from Hammat Gader, dated in Classical fashion, includes
the year of the colony, the indiction years for taxation (indicating that there still was some association
with Constantinople, imagined or real) and the year of the local Metropolitan. In addition, it is dated
“year 42 katà ’Arabas” which, based on the other dating systems, denotes the year 664. Arabic
sources, such as an inscription of Mu`awiyah from Taif (modern Saudi Arabia), as well as Chinese
sources, mention only the year, without reference to the dating system. Indeed, Mu`awiyah’s
inscriptions have no Islamic content whatsoever, posing additional serious questions about the
traditional narrative. From the comparative evidence we have briefly touched upon here, it seems
clear that the Muhajirūn are Arabs and not émigrés.
Anṣār poses similar problems. As we noted above, its semantics are unique to Arabic.
Furthermore, the Semitic root nṣr (“to watch, regard, guard”) becomes nẓr in Arabic. What is most
interesting is that the root nṣr in Arabic (and other Semitic languages) is used as a basis for a
www.tingisredux.com/article/islam_arabs_and_the_hijra.html
1/3
25-02-13
Islam, Arabs and the Hijra - Tingis Redux
specifically Christian vocabulary, such as naṣrānīya (Christianity) and tanṣīr (Christianization,
baptism).
The root is the same as that of Nazareth (Arabic an-nāṣira), i.e., Jesus of Nazareth. Every student
of the gospels knows that Jesus never had anything to do with Nazareth—he was a Galilaean. The
notice that Pilate had affixed to the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (John 19:19),
can only mean “Jesus the Nazarene” in Greek. What a Nazarene means here has been a matter of
contention, but the best answer would seem to lie in Isaiah 11:1, an Old Testament verse frequently
read at Christmas: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch (neṣer)
shall grow out of his roots”—a verse that in Jewish circles has a long tradition of Messianic
interpretation. Neṣer here means “branch,” from which root the Davidic Messiah shall come forth
(hence the infamous Branch Davidians of recent memory).
Semitic Christians used derivations of this root as a term for their religion. We know about them
from the writings of Church Fathers, such as Eusebius, Jerome and particularly Epiphanius, who in
his collection of heresies and heretics, the Panarion, notes that the Nazarenes and a sub-group, the
Ebionites, were, in Greek Christian eyes, essentially Jews who believed in Christ. The Ebionites also
went so far as to believe in the virgin birth, as does Islam. Both, as does Islam, held to a semblance
of the Jewish law, which is what made them heretics in the eyes of the Greeks. While Pauline
Christianity was the norm in Greek Christianity, Semitic Christians largely rejected his teaching and
considered him a heretic. In return, the adherence to Jewish rites made the Nazarenes and Ebionites
heretics for Greco-Pauline Christians (cf. Galatians 5: 3-4: “For I testify again to every man that is
circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”).
We have, then, a group of Judaeo-Semitic Christians, the Nazarenes (and their Ebionite sub-sect,
the exact distinction is hazy) who, to some extent, adhered to Jewish Law and believed in the virgin
birth. At the same time, they professed psilanthropism, the claim that Jesus was a “mere man,” a
teaching rejected by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325. The Council explicitly
condemned the notion that Jesus was not fully divine, and as a clear statement of the doctrine of his
divinity formulated the Nicene Creed. That in Islam an ancient pre-Nicene Semitic Christology has
been preserved is not a new observation. Indeed, today we easily forget that “Christianity” began
with multifarious views on whether Jesus was human, divine or a combination of these. Doctrinal
diversity abounded before and even after the formulation of Chalcedonian Christianity (to which
Catholics and Protestants belong) in 451. Even today the Council of Chalcedon (which made
official the dogma of the Trinity) is still rejected by the Armenian, Syrian, Coptic, and Ethiopian
churches, collectively known as Oriental Orthodoxy. In light of this, it is no surprise that in the
homeland of Christianity most people have rejected Hellenistic Christianity. They either cling to a
non-Chalcedonian branch or have converted to Islam.
An interesting point about the Nazarene/Ebionite “heresy” is that the Church Fathers note that their
New Testament consisted of only a Semitic (probably Aramaic) Gospel similar to that of Matthew
(probably a collection of Matthean logia). This would seem to correspond with the Koranic practice
(e.g. 9: 111) of referring to this previous revelation only in terms of a single Gospel (injīl; ultimately
from the Greek evangélion). That it refers to the Christian Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as the
Torah (tawrat) is not surprising. The five books attributed to Moses are often used pars pro toto.
“Gospel,” however, is never used to denote the New Testament in such a fashion (and Arabic has a
plural of this word, ānājīl).
So, to summarize: we know that the root nṣr is well attested in Arabic for denoting things Christian.
And we know that there is no support for the meaning “to aid,” and that the Anṣār are a wellknown group of early Semitic Christians, the Nazarenes (and Ebionites). And, finally, we know that
these groups had only one Gospel (injīl). That they, along with the Arabs (muhajirūn) were
supposedly “the first to lead the way,” severely undermines the traditional Islamic narrative.
So if, as comparative evidence indicates, the Muhajirūn are Arabs and the Anṣār are Semitic
Christians who kept some form of Jewish law and rejected the divinity of Jesus while accepting his
parthenogenesis, what are the origins of the Islamic year (hijra)? For one answer, we know that
Easter 622 was when the Romano-Byzantine Emperor Heraclius initiated a “Holy War.” Led by an
icon of Christ said to have come into existence miraculously (acheiropoíeta), that is, as if led by
Christ himself, Heraclius’ goal was to re-conquer lost Syro-Palestinian possessions and then
ultimately destroy the Sassanid Empire. These are the events that led to the formation of the
www.tingisredux.com/article/islam_arabs_and_the_hijra.html
2/3
25-02-13
Islam, Arabs and the Hijra - Tingis Redux
Umayyad Caliphate, a Byzantine shadow empire in which the Arabs and not the Romans were to
rule the region. They marked the birth of an Arab dynasty—not an Islamic one—that would rule
much of the former Roman and Sassanid Empires.
This is what was meant by “the year of the Arabs.” The hijra from Mecca to Medina described in
Islamic sources has no historical underpinnings.
16
Like
1
Tw eet
subm it
reddit
email
About the Author
Robert M. Kerr read Classics and Semitics at Tübingen and Leiden Universities. At the latter, he
received his doctorate on the survival of Punic in Roman North Africa. He currently teaches Hebrew
at the University of Waterloo.
© 2012 Tingis Redux
All Rights Reserved.
A forum for progressive and liberal writers engaging in a critical analysis
of Islam in its historical and global contexts.
Editorials
Blog
Articles
About
Join Tingis
Contributors
716 Stevens Avenue, Portland, ME 04103
www.tingisredux.com/article/islam_arabs_and_the_hijra.html
3/3