The Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement and statecraft in early Islamic political documents
In this article we study the different recensions of the Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement and classify them into six different versions. Despite the differences in length and language among them, we note that these can be traced to a source document. We then highlight the key features and terminology found in the different versions of the Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement and observe the striking parallels that they share with the covenants attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad. We argue that the key political actors who composed the Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement were in all likelihood part of the same governing and administrative body that had a hand in drafting the Covenants. The startling similarities between the Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement and the Covenants therefore set the foundations for a comparative method that will help us better understand statecraft in the study of early Islam’s political documents.
Other information
Published in: Journal of Islamic Studies
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
See article on publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/etac001
History
Language
- English
Publisher
Oxford University PressPublication Year
- 2022
License statement
This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International LicenseInstitution affiliated with
- Hamad Bin Khalifa University
- College of Islamic Studies - HBKU