Primary and Secondary Sources for Understanding the Past

Question:

How limited are we in understanding the past. Discuss in relation to issues and examples arising from your readings about the sources?

In general, there are two types of sources available with us to get information for the past. These two sources are broadly classified as primary and secondary sources. Primary sources also referred to as first-hand sources are the ones which are written during which the specific event must have taken place (Bowen, 1928). These primary sources can include original documents, creative works and relics or artefacts. Original documents can be dairies, speeches, manuscripts, interviews, film footage, autobiographies and also official records. Creative works can include poetry, drama, novels, music etc. Further, relics can include pottery, furniture, clothing and building. Alternatively, secondary sources are second-hand sources. These sources, basically interprets the primary sources and are not written or developed during the original events. However, secondary sources can have pictures, quotes and graphics from primary sources. Commonly used secondary sources to know about past can include publications. By definition, publication is defined as developing literature, journals or information and making it available to general public. Publications can be developed in form of textbooks, magazine articles, encyclopaedia, histories etc (Frye, 1975). One of the critical questions that we usually face while referring to primary and secondary sources to know about past is whether the source is credible or not? It is hard to judge whether the source is trustworthy. In such cases, looking for potential evidences to prove that the sources are trustworthy becomes one of the urgent points. This essay is based on examining various sources available to know about the past of Islam.   The easy discusses about what are the sources of understanding the history of Islam and how much can we trust them? For this, we will be talking about two types of sources; traditional and non traditional and criticise them in regards to their trustworthiness. Towards the end, the essay will come down to the fact that compared to other religions the history of Islam is very strong. But there are and will always will be uncertainties and doubts related to it.

In general, different aspects of Islam have been derived from Quran and the Sunna. By definition, Sunna refers to the sayings and habits of Mohammed. Besides Quran and Sunna, other factors influencing political aspects of Islam are Muslim history and non-Islamic political movements. Earlier, political concepts of Islam comprised of Caliphs, Sharia and Shura (Wiley, 2004). By definition, Caliphs are defined as the representatives who were elected or selected successors of Prophets. On the other hand, Sharia was defined as the importance of following of Islamic law and Shura was defined as the duty of the rulers to seek consultation from subjects. The abolition of Caliphate in 1924 was a major turning point in the history of Islamic world politically. Muhammad played a crucial in the Islamic religion and was believed to be last prophet sent by God to mankind. Muslims believe that Muhammad unified Arabia in a once polity called Islam (Sicker, 2000). The views about Muhammad differ among Islamic and non-Islamic communities. It was believed that by Islamic communities that Muhammad restored the original monotheistic faith of prophets including Adam, Mosses etc. Alternatively, non-Islamic communities believed that Muhammad was the founder of Islam. Muhammad lost his parents at an early age and hence, brought up by his paternal uncle. He worked as a merchant after his childhood. It was reported that Muhammad would go to a cave and spent many days there alone and praying to god in her early 40s (Wiley, 2004). As believed by Islamic communities, he received his first revelation with god in the caves only. As a result, after three years of this event, he started preaching Muslims that ‘God is one’. According to his teachings, one should surrender himself to god if he/she wants to get God. His teachings influenced few people in Islam and hence, he gained few followers. He also met with hostility from some Arabian tribes and to get rid of it, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina. This event is particularly referred to as Hijra. This event led to the formation of Islamic calendar called Hijri calendar (Hanne, 2007). Hence, Quran was formed by revelations of Muhammad that he gathered during his life. The death of Muhammad was a turning point in Islam. With his death, there was a chaos that who would be his successor. Many companions of Muhammad were excited to take over as his successor (Richard, 2009).

The Political Aspects of Islam

Historians usually adopt the concept of ‘Historiography’ to gather information about the past. By definition, historiography refers to the study of early Islam from the death of Muhammad to disintegration of Rashidun Caliph in 661 AD. Islam, as per Quran is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion. Quran is a holy book followed by Muslims and is composed of prophetic traditions of Muhammad (Muir, 2005).  To know about the history of Islam, there are two kinds of sources used by researchers; traditional sources and non-traditional sources. Traditional sources used by researchers to know about the history of Islam are Quran and Sunnah of the prophet. Quran is an Islamic holy book, which Muslims believe to be a revelation of God. As per the beliefs of Muslims, Quran was revealed to Muhammad by God. Basically, Quran is Arabic word which means ‘recitation’. As believed, Quran was written during the life of Prophet Muhammad and was complied after his death. Quran is considered as one of the critical sources about history of Islam. The holy book consists of 114 chapters (Surahs) and about 6000 versus. Broadly, the scripture comprises of economic, political, social and moral aspects of the Muslim world. Believed by many Muslim scholars that Quran is not a legal code entirely and it just teaches the kind of relationship that the man should have with God. Since Quran comprises of 6000 versus so these have been divided into three categories; science of speculative theology, rules of human conduct and ethical principles. There have been numerous judgements and opinions about the interpretation of Quran. The most authentic interpretation of versus are done by companions of Muhammad for Sunis and Imams of Shias (Muir, 2005). The reason is that they knew the exact time and place of the revelation of every versus. Besides the Muhammad’s companions, other important aid used to interpret the meaning of Quran is the Hadith. It is the collection of traditions of Islam from which details about the Islamic history can be derived. Then Shariah is the foundation of Islam which is derived from versus of Quran. Since Quran consists of a broad vision about the life of Muslims so interpretation of Quran plays a significant role. There have been numerous interpretations by researchers and Muslim thinkers. However, the authenticity of Quran is never doubtful since it is one of the critical sources to know about the history of Islam. There has been a great textual criticism linked with the Quran. Judaism and Christianity have been suffering from long-held questions about the origin of Bible. On the similar lines, many thinkers have also targeted Quran and claim that some parts of the holy book have been taken from stores of Tanakh. The differences in the versions of Quran and biblical texts reveal that some versus of Quran were not taken from texts rather has been part of oral traditions of Arab peninsula (Muir, 2005). However, this explanation appears weird to Muslims. The critics who have raised the issue of textual criticism against Quran have also sought to find text evolution in early Islam. However, the beliefs of Muslims in Quran entails that there are no inconsistencies and uncertainties in Quran. Hence, Quran is one of the important Islamic sources to know about the past of Muslim world. Besides Quran, other forms of traditional sources to know about history of Islam include Sunna (tradition of the Prophet), Qiyas or Analogy and Ijma or unanimous agreement (Muir, 2005).

The History of the Prophet Muhammad

The Sunna is one of the important traditional sources of Islamic law. Sunnah is an Arabic word that means ‘Method’ in English. Sunnah, popularly known as the tradition of Prophet, was a term brought to life by the Prophet Muhammad as a legitimate word to depict what he believed, did and permitted. The Sunna or tradition of the Prophet includes the words, mottos, conducts, known practices, assertions of the Prophet. All the words, as well as, actions of the Prophet were carefully recorded and maintained a Hadith (Muir, 2005). Numerous records of traditions were assembled by the confidants of the Prophet which were then amalgamated with the pools if Hadith of Muslim, Bokhari, etc.  The collectors of the Hadith (traditions) implemented a very scientific approach of collecting them.  All the traditions they recorded were accompanied with a chain of narrators, back to the Prophet or in some cases Companion of the Prophet. The Sunna is a trusted and reliable set of traditions. The Sunnah and Quran are interdependent. The Sunnah, mainly, explains the Quran in detail.

Qiyas is another important source of Islamic Law. The literal meaning of qiyas is gauging the length, size, weight or quality of something. However, according to the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Qiyas is simply the reasoning by applying the process of deductive analogy. It is a process of deducing a rule for a new issue that has similar aim or motive (Illah) to an already existing rule. In this process, the motive of a known role is compared to that of the new issue, and if both are more or less, the Qiyas can be executed. However, the use of reasoning using deductive analogy among scholars was always wide ranging. While some proponents like Spain’s Ibn Hazm opposed the use of qiyas, others like Imam Abu Hanifa made wide use of them.

Ijma, another significant source of Islamic Law, entails a unanimous or undisputed agreement of a group of jury members of same age on a specific issue. It is the fourth and final source of law according to Shafi’i’s practices. In cases where issues or questions of Quranic clarification stood up and there existed no elucidation on them in either Quran or Sunna, jurists or an exclusive panel of proponents of Islam applied their own reasoning (ijtihaj) to come to a conclusion or an understanding. Different people perceive things differently. In the similar way, intellectual elite always had varied thoughts and so unanimous agreement hardly ever happened. Hence, the meaning of ijma and which ijma should be considered effective, as well as, useful was always a well debated issue (Richard, 2000). The Muslim society believed that it needs a rule making power to come across the practical issues and problems for the execution of Islamic Law and so ijma found its existence. Ijma or the unanimous agreement is thought of as an adequate evidence for action as the Prophet of Islam believed that Muslim could never approve of a wrong matter or deed. These are some of the traditional sources used to know about the history of Islam. The traditions of Prophet have always been questioned due to their validity and authenticity. There were also debates on the issue that on what extend were the traditions religiously imperative.

Traditional and Non-Traditional Sources for the History of Islam

These sources let us know that followers and scholars of Islam believe that Islam has been present since the time of prophet, Adam. However, some literatures mention that Islam came into being in Mecca and Medina. The evolution of Islam state and Muslim state of government went through several stages. Various periods of evolution of Islam state and Muslim state of government comprise of City-state period, Imperial period and Universal period. The City-state period was from 620 to 630. Imperial period lasted from 630 to 750s (Frye, 1975). Finally, Universal period lasted from 750s to 900s. These three periods evolution of Islam state was followed by Decentralization and Fragmentation Period. The Decentralization period was from late 900s to early 1500s whereas the Fragmentation period was from late 1500s to late 1910s. These were followed by the Contemporary period which extends from late 1910s to twenty first century. Historically, the popular prophets in the Islam world comprise of Adam, Moses, Noah, Abraham and Jesus. As a result, the Muslim community has expanded rapidly (Hanne, 2007).  The turning point in the Islamic world was the death of Mohammed. This event led to the expansion of Islamic community from Spain to Indus. During the golden age of Islam, the religion gave rise to many centres engaged in culture and science and led to rise of numerous doctors, philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians etc. As a result, there were technological advancements in the Islamic field and more number of people started reading Quran and it rapidly increased the rate of literacy in the field. In 18th and 19th century, regions of Islam feel under the political invasion of European Great Powers (Muir, 2005). Islamic community were also got affected by socialism and secularism. By definition, socialism refers to a political and economic theory, according to which, means of production, distribution and exchange needs to be owned and regulated by an organisation as a whole. On the other hand, secularism is defined as the principle of separation of government and followers that are authorised to represent the state from religious institutions and dignitaries. In spite of being influenced by the theories of socialism and secularism, the Islamic community dominated the political environment in early 20th century. This was the history and origin of Islamic community (Smith, 2002).

Second types of sources available to know about the history of Islam are non-traditional or secondary sources. These sources are not developed during past rather have been created using traditional sources of Islam only such as interpretation of Quran, Sunna, Qiyas and Ijmas. There can be numerous questions raised about the authenticity of the secondary source. A researcher can find it difficult to judge if the book or magazine developed using the interpretations of Quran is authentic or not. Non-traditional sources available to know about the history of Islam usually provide analysis, commentary and interpretation (Smith, 2002). High quality non-traditional sources available to retrieve data about the past of Islam are referred from multiple sources rather than one single primary source. Many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars have written about historical events, ideas and people of past Muslim world by taking references from first-hand sources. The authenticity of the sources plays a big role. It is often questioned that how do we know, what we know. Millions of Muslims across world believe that texts provided in the collection of hadith provide authentic words. Hence, the advocates of Muslim sources have come up with a criterion to prove that traditional sources used to know past of Islam are authentic. It is believed that narrators of the traditional sources had been alive some fourteen centuries ago so critics can determine, ‘were they check by contemporaries of their times, by hadith scholars or who? But many scholars argue that it is an unreliable and non-acceptable way to check the authenticity of the sources (Smith, 2002).

Considering the traditional and non-traditional sources, it is believed that history of Islam is stronger than other religions. In spite of the textual criticisms that both traditional and non-traditional sources of history of Islam receive from critics and thinkers, these are considered as best sources to know about the history and civilisations of Islam (Wiley, 2004). The sources state that the fundamental concept of Islam is to believe in one God. As per the Islamic sources, Muslims are not required to visualize god but to adore him and worship him like a protector. The sources reveal that although every religion has followers and doubters, pious and pragmatists but Islamic history is one of the stronger histories as Muslims are more committed to their religion than others. As per a poll conducted by a British company in December 2014, it is observed that history of Islam tends to motivate Muslims more than histories of any other religion (Sicker, 2000). However, there have been consistent uncertainties and doubts regarding this.

References

Bowen, H. (1928). “The Life and Times of Ê¿Alí Ibn Ê¿Ísà: The Good Vizier.”, Cambridge University Press. pp. 385.

Frye, N. (1975). “The Cambridge History of Iran.”, Volume Four: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs.

Hanne, E. (2007). “Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate.”, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 55.

Muir, W. (2005).  “The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall.”, Management Press, pp. 256

Smith, J. (2002) “The Oxford History of the Crusades.”, Oxford University Press, pp. 213.

Wiley, M. (2004).  “Donald Sidney Richards, The chronicle of Ibn al-AthÄ«r for the crusading period from al-KÄÂmil fÄ«’l-ta’rÄ«kh.”, University Press, pp. 254

Sicker, M. (2000). “The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna.”, Greenwood Publishing Group.

Richard, J. (2009). “The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem.”, Volume 1. 1979. Page 36.