text:
Van Koningsveld Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology
Uploaded by Mersi-Ha
saveSave Van Koningsveld Revisionism and Modern Islamic The... For Later
Albaseerah Newsletter 5 and 6 - Family Issue
Early Manuscripts of the Qur'An
Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, Michael Marx the Quran in Context Texts and Studies on the Quran 2009
Lipinski-Semitic Languages- Outline of a Comparative Grammar
Al-Hujurat...Islamic Studies semester project
The Jewish Foundation of Islam - By Charles C. Torrey
Khatame Nabbuwat
The Quran: Unbreakable Rescue Rope
The Life Of Prophet Muhammed Before His Mission
Martin Lings - Proofs of Islam
GOLDHIZER Ignaz (1917) Mohammed and Islam
Prophet Muhammad Pattern of Communication Toward Women
Karl-Heinz Ohlig, Gerd-R Puin (ed.) - The Hidden Origins of Islam. New Research into Its Early History - 2009.pdf
Teks Pidato Bhs. Inggris
En the Fundamentals of Islam
islam is- pete seda
History of Islam- Aggregate (82)
Aspects of Islamic History
Goldziher i (1920) Richtungen
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology P. S.
van Koningsveld ,,Until recently", stated Muhammad Kalisch, professor of Islamic Theology in Munster (Germany), ,,I was firmly convinced that in Muhammad we are dealing with a historical person. (...) I have abandoned this point of view now (...)." ,,It is only the Islamic tradition which assures us that the Koran", says Kalisch, ,,only goes back to Muhammad. If Muhammad did not exist at all, the Koran, of course, could not have come from him."2 Even if ,,the Islamic tradition"3 writes Kalisch, contains a kernel of historical truth, ,,how will one be able to find this kernel and discern it from myth and legend?"4 According to Kalisch, Muslims have never been genuinely interested in the historical Muhammad. The idea of the imitation of the prophetic example always had been a pious illusion. In reality, each theologian created his own Muhammad, just like in Christianity, where there were as many theologians as there were views of Jesus. ..Whichever person", adds the revolutionary theologian from Munster, .Acknowledges this self-conceit, will also be able to easily practice Islamic Theology without the historical Muhammad, just as Christian theology can be practiced without a historical Jesus. Muhammad is then merely the symbol of the ideal human being, of an ideal to which man should aspire. It is then completely irrelevant whether a historical human being has practiced this ideal him/herself in this manner or not. (...) Islamic Theology then comes to portray Muhammad as the ideal of the perfect man."5 Kalisch believes that ,,in religion metaphysical truth, rather than historical truth is at stake."6 ,,In my view", stated Kalisch, ..religion is [identical to, VK] mystical philosophy which, in the form of a myth, is presented in a graphic manner in order to make it understandable for the majority of the people. (...) This dual-track has also been continued in Islam by mystics and philosophers."7 In other words: the myth of a prophet who had the name of Muhammad and a of a divine book labelled the Koran were fabricated and maintained in order to teach the illiterate masses in a simple manner the lofty truths of a certain mysticism and philosophy. In the modern era however, added Kalisch, this dual-track can
Dr. P. S. van Koningsveld is Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University. Muhammad Kalisch (2008), Theologie ohne historischen Mohammed - Anmerkungen zu den Herausforderungen der historisch-kritischen Methode fiir das islamische Denken. [2009], Pdf-ftle, 30 pp., pp.1. http://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/religioesestudien/islam/ v/kalisch_islamische_theologie ohne_historischen_muhammad.pdf. Ibidem pp. 8. ,,Die islamische Uberlieferung" (my italics, VK). 1 will return to this key concept, which is generalising in nature in Kalisch's discourse below. Ibidem pp. 18: ,,Selbst wenn sie einen historischen Kern beinhalten sollte: Wie soil man diesen Kern fmden und ihn von Mythos und Legende unterscheiden?". Ibidempp. 18-19. Ibidem pp. 20. ,,Nach meiner Auffassung ist Religion mystische Philosophic, die in die Form des Mythos, die biidlichanschauliche Darstellung gebracht wurde, um sie der Mehrheit der Menschen verstandlich zu machen. In der ganzen Antike gab es die Parallelitat von Mymos/Religion einerseits und Philosophie/Mystik andererseits. Auch im Islam ist diese Parallelitat von den Mystikern und Philosophen weitergefuhrt worden" (Ibidem pp. 22). 6 HIKMA
no longer be maintained in the context of the omnipresence of the mass media and the Internet, and religion should now be discussed openly before all people. Kalisch considers the hiding of knowledge and the continuing classification of people into a ,,mass" who merely consume ,,myths" on the one hand, and an ,,elite" which is solely entitled to know the truth on the other, as being ..profoundly undemocratic and (...) irreconcilable with a modern image of man, which presupposes that all people (or 'men') should be educated." Kalisch stresses that his position is ..really nothing other than the consequent conclusion from the present state of knowledge."8 He summarizes this current available knowledge in the following sentence: ,,We hardly possess original sources dating back to the first two centuries of Islam."9 At this point, however, Kalisch must be refuted. 1. The Codex of Utman Islamic tradition tells us that Caliph 'Utman promulgated the official text of the Koran around the year 28 (650). The study of manuscripts, inscriptions and historical data contained in written sources confirms the reliability of this information. This officially recognised text of the Koran has ousted other codices, which, according to the aforementioned Islamic tradition, had been compiled in the period shortly before. These earlier mushafs were characterized by a different redaction, often a different order, of the chapters or suras. It is conceivable that an old fragment from Yemen, in which a somewhat different reading has been found, originally came from a non-'Utmdnic codex of this nature.10 Differing textual readings of the non- 'Utmanic codices have been documented with certain details in old sources." Sources sometimes even refer to a concrete manuscript composed in a deviating arrangement of the Suras, for instance to a mushaf written in the handwriting of 'Uqba ibn 'Amir (who died in 59/679), which was preserved in Cairo.12 Non-'Utmanic codices are quoted frequently in the exegetical literature when discussing the meaning of certain words or passages, but they ought not to be used for liturgical purposes when reciting the Koran. The consensually accepted official Codex ascribed to 'Utman is exclusively valid when reciting the Koran. This official text is indeed the one which is generally employed. This is also the case in the oldest available manuscripts. The earliest available manuscripts of the Koran contain a defective version of the written text. As a rule, the script lacks diacritical signs to distinguish between certain consonants; it also lacks signs for vowels and for the remaining punctuation marks. The 11thcentury Andalusian specialist in the study of Koranic manuscripts, ad-Dam, explains this situation in the following fashion: ,,[Originally], the Koran existed in the codices merely in its ductus, [as a rule without any additional signs to distinguish consonants, vowels,
,,lch halte meine Position eigentlich nur fur eine konsequente Schlussfolgerung aus dem bisherigen Wissenstand" (ibidem pp.1). In a note to this sentence, Kalisch refers to Joseph van Ess, Theologie and Gesellschaft im 2. it. 3. Jh. H., Bd. 1, S.VI11. However, van Ess only discusses Islamic theological and dogmatical texts and provides no views on the Islamic sources in general; Kalisch's generalisation is unjustified. Gerd R. Puin, Observations on early Qur'anic manuscripts in San'a'. In: The Koran as text. Ed. Stefan Wild, Leiden: Bril 1996pp. 107-1 ll.esp. 110-111. See here amongst others: Abu 'Ubaid al-Qasim ibn Sala al-Bagdadi, Kitdb fadd'il al-qur'an. Ed. alHayyatl. Rabat: Wizarat al-Awqaf, 1995, deel 2, pp. 105-45. A. Jeffery, Materials for the history of the text of the Qur'dn. The old codices. Leiden: E.J. Brill 1937. Ibn Hagar, Isaba, nr. 5605; as-Sam'anT, Al-Ansab, vol. 2, pp. 134; ad-DahabT, Ta'nh al-isldm, 4, pp. 271-4.
. .,,,,4^., _J,,_,
Tfl* ,1 _..j ' r J tl, ^C Xfcl'k^i&^ifiXjjUk&i*.^^
Article / Artikel etc.]". This ductus, which is devoid of any additional signs, is called rasm in Arabic. Manuscripts in this archaic, defective script are extremely rare. Famous ancient manuscripts are preserved in Cairo,14 London,15 Paris16 and St. Petersburg.17 These manuscripts date back to the period preceding the reform of the Arabic script, which, on the basis of data derived from historical sources, must be placed at around the end of the 7lh century (around the year 75 of the Islamic era). This reform is, among others, connected to the name of a famous scholar, Abu al-Aswad ad-Du'all (who died in 69/688). In the period following the reform, manuscripts of the Koran were as a rule copied with diacritical signs, vowels and other punctuation marks. Traces of an old dated manuscript from the period following the script reform can be found in the work of the already mentioned Andalusian scholar ad-Dam (who died in 444/1053) who set out to look for the oldest Koranic manuscripts which had up until this period been preserved. He refers to a manuscript that had been copied by a certain Mugira ibn Mlna and completed by the same person in Ragab 110 (728). The vowels - as well as the signs for the hamza, the duplication of consonants and the tanwin - consisted of dots in red ink.18 A good example of an ancient manuscript with the same characteristics is the codex of the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul.19 Additionally, within the small group of Koranic manuscripts written in defective script, a further distinction can be made by examining the differing types of script, punctuation marks and other ornaments. In one group, represented amongst others by the codices in Paris and St. Petersburg as well as London, the lines are (still) disproportional and angular, and there are hardly any signs or ornaments marking the transition from one verse to another or one sura to another, there are no marginal signs for purposes of recitation etc. Verses may have been separated from each other by a few simple strokes in the same ink as the one used in the text, or by small spaces left blank. In another group, the script can, in contrast, be described as being proportional and even calligraphical at times. In addition, round forms and small circles are at times used in these manuscripts, and there is already some degree of ornamentation in the transitional spaces between verses and suras, an ornamentation that would develop in later manuscripts to such an extent as to make the Koran the Islamic text with the richest forms of decoration and the highest degrees of calligraphy. Manuscripts belonging to the first group, represented amongst others by the manu,Jcana I-qur'anu mugarradan ft 1-masahif (ad-Dam, al-Muhkam, 2). Mushaftalit al-hulafa' ar-rasidtn amir al-mu 'miriln Dl an-Nurain 'Utman ibn 'Afjan. CD of the Ministry of Awqaf in Cairo, 2009 (with complete images of the voluminous manuscript, preceded by an introduction with data about the history of the manuscript). Francois Deroche et Sergio Noja Noseda, Les manuscrits de style higdzi. Vol. 2, tome 1, Le mamiscrit Or. 2165 (f. 1 a 61) de la British Library. ISBN 88-87281-01-7 Lesa Fondazione Ferni Noja Noseda, 2001 XCn-237 p: fac-sim.; 43 cm. Deroche, F. et S. Noja Noseda, Sources de la transmission du texte coranique. I Les manuscrits du style higdzi. Losa: Fondazione Ferni Noja Noseda, 1998. Facsimile edition of Ms Arabe 328b of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. A specimen of this fragmentary manuscript, that originally belonged to the same codex as the manuscript in Paris, has been reproduced in F. Deroche, La transmission ecrite du Coran dans les debuts de I'islam. Le codex Parisino-petropolitanus. Leiden-Boston: Brill 2009 185. al-Muhkam, 87. Complete facsimile of this manuscript in the edition of TRCICA, al-Mushaf as-sarif attributed to 'Utman bin 'Afian (The copy at the Topkapi Palace Museum). Istanbul 2007, 820 + 109 + 117 pages (With a study by Tayyar Altikulac). Scriptio plena. Proportional, calligrafic script. 8 HIKMA
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology
scripts of Paris, St. Petersburg and London, contain the oldest handwritten textual tradition of the Koran preserved. They can be cautiously attributed to the period between the years 50 (672) and 70 (692). Various ancient authors, who were experts in the study of ancient Arabic manuscripts, provided descriptions of the type of script employed in the oldest codices of the Koran they knew. The famous calligrapher of early 'Abbasld Bagdad, Ibn Muqla (who died in 328/940), described it as a ,,large script in every aspect, in which any element of rounding was lacking."20 The bibliographer of Bagdad, Ibn an-NadTm (who died around 400/1010), speaks in his book The Catalogue of an angular script with long obliquely hanging alifs.21 The medieval expert in the field of documents and manuscripts, al-Qalqasandi (who died in 821/1418), compares the script of the oldest Koran with a type of script in documents of his own time, that is, the so-called tiimar-smpl, which was characterized, amongst other things, by very tall alifs.22 These three experts seem to have commented upon the same group of Koranic manuscripts we have just described as being the oldest ones preserved. Careful imitation of the Codex of 'Utman in the transmision of the Koranic text has always been and continues to be a duty in Islam.23 However, this duty is only related to the mere ductus of the script, the so-called rasm. We have already seen that ,,the Koran", as ad-Dani expressed himself, ,,[originally] only existed in its ductus [i.e. without any additional signs or marks] in the codices." The diacritical marks introduced later, as well as the vowel signs and the punctuation marks, never acquired the same status as the 'Utmanic rasm. This was impossible, as different ,,Masoretic" traditions governing the reading of the . holy text were developed by various Koranic experts. And even though seven of these traditions obtained authority sanctioned by consensus (igma'), none of them could claim to be the one and only system that clearly indicated the way in which the Koran had been recited at the time of Uthman, or even before that, during the life of the Prophet. At the time of the Prophet, and in the first decades after his death, the script of Koranic codices was still defective and remained devoid of the refined system of signs and marks developed by the later philological scholars. The defective period in the transmission of Koranic manuscripts gave, quite logically, rise to the circulation of different reading traditions. It is impossible to Jump over" these reading traditions and define the one and only authoritative reading of the Koranic text. It is fully understandable, however, that in their studies Koranic scholars attempted, among other things, to obtain as exact as possible an image of the ductus of 'Utman's Codex and this for every single letter or even for parts of it. One method employed in an attempt to reach this goal, was to set out to trace the most ancient Koranic manuscripts preserved and to compare those written in one province, for instance Syria, with those from another province, for instance Iraq. By making use of this critical, comparative method, the scholars hoped to be able to identify any element of the script which might have entered the ductus of the Codex of Uthman as a novelty in its orthography. Another
Ahmad, Nas'at, 35, based on al-Qalqasandl, Subh al-a'sa, 3/43, 145. Deroche, 2009 (see note 17). Ahmad, Nas 'at, 35, based on al-QalqasandT, Subh al-a 'sd, 3/43, 145. al-SinqTtT, Kitdb ~iqaz al-a 'lam llwugiib ittibd' rasm al-mushaj al-imdm, Cairo: Matba'at al-Ma'ahid, 1345, 62 pp. In Suyutl's Ilqan one of the sources mentioned is: ar-Radd 'a/a man hdlafa rnushaf 'Utman by Abu Bakr al-Anbari. Edition 1996, vol. 1,31. 9 Hi KM A
Article / Artikel method consisted, of course, in directly searching for the original manuscript of Caliph 'Utman, which is referred to in ancient sources as the ,,chief codex of the Koran" (almushaf al-imam). The previously mentioned scholar Abu 'Ubaid al-BagdadT (who died in 223/837 of 224/838) applied both methods in his book on Koranic readings (kitab alqira'ai) which, unfortunately, we only know from (numerous) quotations, as no manuscript has been traced so far.24 He compared the manuscripts of different provinces and related that he had also been able to study the original chief codex of the Koran, in the library of an 'AbbasTd prince in Bagdad. He provides exact data on the ductus of this extremely important copy.25 Abu 'Ubaid left Bagdad in the year 214/829 in order to settle in Mecca, where he later died.26 A report from the month of RabT' I of the year 223/838 confirms the presence of the original Codex of 'Utman in Bagdad in the early 'AbbasTd period. This report stems from a certain Abu Bakr Ibn Sayba, who, by order of Caliph al-Mu'tasim, produced a new binding for this famous codex. ,,I measured", relates Ibn Sayba, ,,the hight of the Codex and I ascertained that it measured two spans and the thickness of four fingers. I counted the lines of a few leaves and these appeared to be 28 lines per page."27 The history of the Codex of 'Utman can even be traced further. The highly respected historian of Medina, Ibn Sabba (who died in the year 262/876), relates that the mushaf a? 'Utman, at his order, had been placed in the mosque in Medina so that it might be recited each morning. This report then describes that 'Utman's mushaf had come into the possession of his grandson, Halid ibn 'Amr ibn 'Utman.28 According to Ibn Qutayba (who died in the year 276/889), 'Utman's codex had initially been inherited by his descendants, but their line had later died out.29 The manuscript remained in Medina, where, according to the already-quoted commentary by Abu Sama, the famous founder of the Malikite school of law, Malik ibn Anas (who died in the year 179/796), who was in his time regarded as the leading scholar in Medina, was able to gain access to it. He is reported to have consulted it in order to verify whether the name of IbrahTm was read with an alif (thus reading Ibrahim) or rather with a ya' (thus reading IbrahTm) in the Codex of 'Utman.30 According to another source, a study of the Koran by Ibn KatTr (who died in 774/1373), the same Malik ibn Anas had, when asked about the Codex of 'Utman, at a later point in time, replied that it had Disappeared."31 I conclude that the Codex was transferred to Bagdad before the death of Malik ibn Anas (as said, in the year 179/796). The 'AbbasTd rulers accorded an important role to this venerable manuscript of the Koran in the ceremonies of their court. In the well-known
See the detailed description of this source by al-Hayyati in the introduction to his edition of Abu 'Ubayd's Kitab fada'H al-qur 'an. Rabat, 1995, 2 vols, vol. 1, pp. 130-133. ad-DanT, al-Muqni \, 15; see also: Ibraz al-ma 'dm min hirz al-amani fi l-qira 'at as-sab' of Abu Sama ad-Dimasqi (died in 1268), Internet edition (Abmeshkat.net), passim. GAL 1, 107; al-HayyatT estimates that he arrived in Mecca in the year 219 H. (op. cit., sec note 24, p. 107). al-Marrakusi, ad-Dayl wa-t-tahnila li-kitdbai al-mawsul wa s-sila, vol. 1/1 (ed. M.Ben Santa, Bayrut: DaratTaqafa, n.y, 165-166. 1996, vol. 1,31. Kitab al-ma 'arif, edition Tarwat Ukasa, Cairo, p. 201. Ibraz al-ma 'am min hirz al-amani ft l-qira 'at as-sab' of Abu Sama ad-Dimasqi. Internet edition (Almeshkat.net), vol. 1, pp. 279-80. Ibn KatTr, Fada 'il al-qur 'an, 47. 10 HIKMA
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology book about the ceremonies of the caliphate by Abu Ishaq as-Sabi (who died in 384/994) it can be read how the Caliph was in session on his throne, covered by the mantle of the Prophet, girded with the Prophet's sword, with the Prophet's staff in his hand. The Codex of 'Utman was solemnly placed in front of him.32 The vicissitudes of the copies of the codex of 'Utman, which, in accordance with historical tradition, had been written with the intention of being sent to the main centres of the empire, where they were to serve as authoritative source-references for the further spreading of the official text, fall outside the scope of our discussion. For their part these copies played important ceremonial roles on various solemn occasions, such as those which took place in Mecca, Damascus, Cairo, Cordoba and Marrakesh, amongst others. However, what is of direct interest for our present discussion is the eye-witness report given by the Andalusian traveller Ibn Gubayr (who died in the year 1217) of the Koran Codex he saw in Mecca and here especially the date and the name of the copyist which he quotes from its colophon: ,,It was written in the handwriting of Zayd ibn Tabit - may God be pleased with him! - and copied in the year 18 after the death of the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace! Many leaves of it are missing. It is bound between two wooden covers with locks of brass, and it has large wide leaves. I saw it with my own eyes and cherished it by kissing it and placing it close to my cheeks. May Allah reward the intention of that act!"33 2. Muhammad The Koran documents the existence of a man named Muhammad who acted as a prophet in order to convey messages in the Arabic language which he believed to have been inspired or revealed to him by Allah, usually through the intermediary of Gabriel (Gibril). This prophet or messenger occupies a central position, as the person addressed or directly involved, in numerous texts of the Koran. The name of this messenger, Muhammad, is mentioned four times explicitly.34 Amongst other things, this was done in order to explain that not the human and therefore mortal persona of the messenger but rather the divine message he conveyed within the framework of the prophetical office would be of lasting value. Sura 3/144: ,,Muhammad is but a messenger; and messengers have passed away before him. Will you, when he dies or is slain, turn back on your heels [go back to your old religion, VK]?" The passage this verse is part of is, according to Koranic commentaries, directly related to the Battle of Uhud in the month of Sawwal in the year 3, when suddenly the rumour was spread that Muhammad had been killed, causing panic among the Muslim ranks and even the flight of some of them.35
as-Sabi, Rusum dar al-hilafa, Bayrut 1986, 80-81; compare ad-Dahabi, Ta'rih al-islam, volume 26, 273; the report refers to a session in the year 369(979-980). Ibn Gubayr, Rihla (1964), 80: ,,Wa-fi 1-qubba al- 'abbasiya al-madkura hizana tahtawf 'ala tabut niabsut muttasa 1 wa-fthi mushaf ahad al-hulafa' al-arba'a ashab Rasul Allah - $^& - wa bi - halt yad Zayd ibn Tabit radlya 1-lahu 'anhu- muntasah sanat tamaniya 'asrata min walat Rasul Allah - X^- Wa-yanqusu minhu waraqat katlra wa-huwa bayna daffatay 'ud mugallad -magaMq min sufr, kablr al-waraqat wasi'uha. 'Ayannahu wa-tabarraknahu bi-taqbllilii wa-mash al-hudud fihi -naffa'a 1-lahu bi n-niyyati fidalika". Sura 3/144; 33/40; 47/2; 48/29. Ibn KatTr.- Muhtasar tafsir Ibn Kafir. Ihtisar wa-tahqiq Muhammad 'AIT SabunT. Bayrut, 1981, vol. 1, 322; Muqatil ibn Sulaiman.- Tafsir muqatil ibn Sulaiman. TahqTq Ahmad FarTq. Bayrut: Dar al-Kutub al-
Article / Artikel Another Koranic text, predicting the final victory of Islam over all other religions, contains a verse in which the Messenger of Allah is praised by name and the attitude of his followers towards infidels and towards each other is also praised: ,,Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are stern with disbelievers and merciful among themselves." (Sura 4S/29)36 With reference to his family relations it is said in the Koran: ,,Muhammad is not the father of one of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal [viz. the concluding confirmer] of the Prophets" (Sura 33/40). Elsewhere is said in the Koran: ,,And those who believe and do good works, and accept that which has been sent down to Muhammad - which is the very Truth from their Lord - [Allah] will remove their sins from them and set their condition right." (Sura 47/2) Whenever ,,Muhammad" is mentioned in the Koran, we are dealing with a genuine proper name. It is an Arab proper name already in use in pre-Islamic times. The 15th century scholar Ibn Hagar al-'Asqalaril, perhaps the greatest expert in the field of Arabic onomastics in the history of Islamic civilisation, dedicated a short essay to those who were called Muhammad in the period prior to Islam. He successfully traced some 15 persons with the name of Muhammad in ancient Arabic sources. Two of these had also been the Prophet's contemporaries, viz. Muhammad ibn 'Adi at-Tam7mi as-Sa'dT and Muhammad ibn al-Bara'a al-Bakr!.37 As Muhammad is explicitly presented in the Koran as the prophet and messenger entrusted with the transmission of the divine revelation contained in it and at the same time the Koran only mentions one single person to which this office was entrusted, it is clear that the same Muhammad is meant in all places where that messenger and prophet is mentioned without adding his name. In his quality as Prophet of Messenger of Allah, Muhammad drafted a series of treaties and letters. As a rule, the texts of these documents have only been preserved in historical sources, with only a few of them being also preserved as separate documents. An important part of this material was published by Julius Wellhausen in 1889, in Arabic with a German translation, drawn by him from the original works of Ibn Ishaq (who died circa 770) and Ibn Sa'd (who died in the year 845).38 The text of the document drafted by ,,Muhammad the Prophet" to serve as a treaty between the ,,believers and the Muslims of Qurais" and Yatrib (Medina), in which the foundation was laid for the earliest Muslim community and body politic at the same time, was judged by Wellhausen to be ,,an important document providing us direct and authentic information." Concerning the letters, the author remarked that ,,generally speaking there is no reason to doubt their authenticity." There are incidental cases of falsification, but these, says Wellhausen, "are few in number and do not hinder the historical use thereof." ,,If we possessed the originals themselves,
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology then a palaeographical verification would be possible and perhaps also decisive."3il Wellhausen's work was continued in the 20* century by Muhammad Hamldullah, whose political documents from the time of the Prophet and the Righteous Caliphate were published in a 5* edition in 1984, containing the text of more than 400 documents, based on a comparative study of the texts as they appear in a wide variety of sources.40 In these documents, Muhammad's numerous contacts with the different regions and tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, the contacts leading to their joining Islam and the exact conditions and agreements under which this took place figure. Also his international contacts for instance with Arab tribes under Byzantine protection and with Egypt, are reflected in these documents. The very idea that such a rich treasure of data could have been invented with the aim of falsifying history and disseminated over hundreds of different sources in order to parachute into history a purely mythical Muhammad, seems to be insane. As a rule, scholars of history41 have followed the line of Wellhausen and accepted, with occasional exceptions, these documents as authentic sources of the history of early Islam. These sources indicate, amongst other things, that Muhammad could read but did not practice writing, although he was able to write his name as a signature under a treaty.42 He made use of secretaries for the writing of his letters and documents. Sources mention the names of approximately 48 persons who served him as scribes or secretaries.43 Drawing a cross-cultural comparison, we can say that about one and a half centuries later, the great European emperor Charlemagne showed an almost identical profile of literacy proj~t 44 file. Generally speaking, the oldest Jewish and Christian sources from the Near East are fairly well informed about the early expansion of the Arabs and Islam outside the Arabian Peninsula that commenced shortly after the death of Muhammad. Their respective authors lived mostly at the same time as these events took place or shortly afterwards. In the absence of more accurate information available to them, these sources, however, invented an image of Muhammad primarily based on their own, often negative evaluation of the new power structures. Nau published a Syriac document in 1915 with the report of a conversation between the Jacobite patriarch John I and a certain ,,Emir Amrou", in a city in Syria, on Sunday 9 May 639 (in the year 18 of the Higra). This ,,Emir Amrou" is the Arab general 'Amr ibn al-'As, whose activities are also documented in detail in Arabic sources. In his report, the patriarch calls on the Christians of Mesopotamia to pray for the emir, lest God grant him wisdom, etc. It can be assumed that the patriarch had circulated the letter among
Ibidem, pp. 67, 90, 91. Magmu'at al-wata'iq as~siydsiya It l-'ahd an-nabawi wa l-hilqfa ar-rasida. Gama'aha Muhammad HamTdallah. Bairut: Dar al-Nafa'is, 1984. M. Lecker, The Banii Sulaym. A contribution to the study of early Islam. Jerusalem 1989, 160 (,,wa-kataba al-'Ala ibn 'Uqba wa sahida"); ibidem (,,sahida 'AIT ibn AbT Talib wa-Hatib ibn AbT Balta'a"); 161; 162; 174; 177 (,,wa-kataba Halid ibn Sa'Td"); 183-4 (,,wa-kataba Halid ibn Sa'Td"); 185 (,,wa-kataba alArqam"); 187; 197 (kataba al-'Ala ibn 'Uqba wa sahida"). Compare 'Atamina, H.: ,,an-Nabiyy al-Ummiyy": An Inquiry into the Meaning of a Qur'anic Verse". Der Islam 69 Heft I (1992) 61-80. See also: al-BagT (died in 474/1081), TahqTq al-madhab li-AbT al-Walid Sulaiman ibn Halaf al-Bagl. Yatluha agwibat al-'ulama" bayna mu'ayyid wa-mu'arid hawla da'wa kitabat ar-rasul (,jii) li-ismihi yawm sulh HudaybTya. Ed. Ibn AqTl az -Zahiri. Ar-Riyad, 1983. M.M. al-A'zaml, Kuttab an-nabT. Bairut: al-Maktab al-islami, 1974. Allesandro Barbero, Charlemagne. Father of a continent. London: The Folio Society, 2006 pp. 216-217.
'IlmTya, vol. 1, 2003, 194; 'Abd ar-Razzaq as-San'am.- Tqfsir 'Abd ar-Razzaq al-San'am. Ed. 'Abd alMu'tT Amm Qal'agi. Bayrut: Dar al-Ma'rifa, vol. 1, 1991, 137; Abu al-Lait as-Samarqandl- Tqfsir asSamarqandi al-musamma bahr al- lulum. Bayrut, Dar al-Kulub al-'llmlya, vol. 3, 1993, 305. Ibn KatTr, op. cit, vol. 3, 354-5; Muqatil ibn Sulaiman, op. cit., vol. 3, 254; Abu al-Lait as-Samarqandl, op. cit., vol. 3, 259. Quoted in a fatwa given by the Egyptian mufti 'AtTya Saqr of May 1997, as an answer to the question ,,Who gave the Messenger of God Muhammad his name? Fatawa al-azhar, vol. 8, p. 1 88. In: Skizzen und Vorarbeiten. Viertes Heft: 2. Muhammads Gemeindeordnung von Medina, pp. 67-83; 3: Seine Schrciben, und die Gesandtschaftcn an ihn, pp. 67-194 + 78 pp. Arabische Texte.
12HIKMA
Article / Artikel his communities in Mesopotamia. It can also be assumed that 'Amr ibn al-'As, when conquering Mesopotamia shortly afterwards, did so too, with the support of the patriarch.45 The same Arab general 'Amr ibn al-'As also figures several times in the chronicle of John, Coptic bishop of Nikiu, who was born around the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs46 and who still lived in the year 690 of the Christian era. In his study of the Arab conquest of Egypt, Butler rightfully qualifies this chronicle as ,,indispensable."47 ,,And now many of the Egyptians" states John, ,,who had been false Christians denied the holy orthodox faith and life-giving baptism, and embraced the religion of the Moslem, the enemies of God, and accepted the detestable doctrine of the beast, this is, Mohammed, and they erred together with those idolaters, and took arms in their hands and fought against the Christians. And one of them, named John, the Chalcedonian of the Convent of Sinai, embraced the faith of Islam, and quitting his monk's habit he took up the sword, and persecuted the Christians who were faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ."48 Muhammad is identified in this source with the Beast from the Abyss, a manifestation of the Antichrist, figuring in the Revelations of John in the New Testament as the future ruler of the world, dominator of world power in its final form, or ruler of the last world-empire. He will rise against God and pass himself off as God, fully inspired by Satan whom he will represent personally.49 We have here one of the oldest documents of a Christian theological view of Muhammad. Although in the aforementioned text of John of Nikiu the terms ,,Muslims" and ,,faith of Islam" are used, we are not entitled to automatically conclude that the author would have used both terms literally himself. This should be verified in the original. But we only have an Ethiopian translation of a (so far unknown) Arabic original at our disposal. This Arabic original for its part was a translation of the Coptic original of which no manuscript has been found so far. For a correct understanding of the early history of Islam, it is important to realise that the meaning of the concept ,,al-islam" as used in the Koran could not yet have been identical to the complex social phenomenon of the Religion of Islam" which, when examined in hindsight, appeared to have resulted from the movement Muhammad had initiated. In the Koran, al-islam is primarily an indication of the single and continuously identical religious conviction which was preached to mankind by the prophets over the centuries and transmitted by those through the divine revelations that were conveyed to them, from Adam up until and including Muhammad. This conviction consisted of the belief in one God. Islam, in other words, is primarily monotheism. Only gradually could this central concept become the name of the new religion which, as a complex social phenomenon, developed into a system of fixed doctrines and institutions. An important step in the process of the formation of Islam as a system was certainly the promulgation of the official text of the Koran by Caliph 'Utman, an event that probably took place in the year 28 (650), as we saw earlier.
Nau, F., Un colloque du patriarche Jean avec 1'emir des Agareens et faits divers des annees 7 1 2 4 7 1 6 d'apres le ms. du British Museum Add. 17193. Journal Asiatique 5 (1915), 225-279; pp. 226-7. The chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu translated from Zotenberg's Ethiopic text by R.H. Charles. London and Oxford 1916, chapters 112, 114-9. Butler, Arab Conquest of Egypt, p. ix. Charles (1916), 121,10-11. Christelijke Encyclopaedic, s.v. Beest (article by S. Greijdanus).
14 H ( K M A
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology The public proclamation of the Islamic doctrine via monumental inscriptions on public buildings and texts on official coins meant for public circulation, were further important steps in the process of the formation and institutionalisation of Islam. These subsequent steps could only be taken after the completion, to a certain extent, of a process of administrative centralisation of the enormous multicultural and multi-religious empire. An important part of this process was the introduction of Arabic as the official language of the empire during the reign of Caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, who ruled from 65-86 (685705). This Caliph ordered the earliest public monumental texts with a compilation of Koranic texts to be placed in a position on the outer and inner walls of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, in the year 72 (691-2). In the selected Koranic texts derived from various suras, the two main elements of the Islamic creed - the unity of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad - are emphasized, in addition to the rejection of Jesus' divine nature.50 It appears from historical sources that the Dome of the Rock had originally been designed as the centre of an alternative pilgrimage centre for Muslims at a period in which important parts of the Islamic Empire were ruled by a rebellious anti-Caliph who had entrenched himself in Mecca and was challenging the central power of the Umayyads in Damascus from there.31 In these inscriptions, the ruling dynasty in Damascus legitimized itself in front of its Muslim subjects with this genuinely Islamic testimony at a time in which the great majority of the population were still Christians. It was also during the rule of the same Caliph 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan that the first official monolingual coins were minted in Arabic with, amongst others, the two main articles of the Islamic confession of faith. Earlier coins in the Islamic empire had, as a rule, been bilingual, and, in a religious sense, more ,,ecumenical" or ,,trans-religious" in the legends displayed on the coins as well as in their iconography. Thus, the establishment of Islam as the public religion of the state took place no more than about 40 years after the promulgation of an official Koran text by Caliph ' Utman. The rapid speed of this process can scarcely be explained without pointing out the fact that Islam was the faith of the new Arab rulers and thus found itself in a very favourable position for further establishment and institutionalisation. Caliph al-Walld I ordered the inscription of a second important series of Koranic texts onto the southern wall of the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina between 88 (706) and 91 (710). The verses include the complete text of the shorter suras 1 and from 91
M. van Berchem, Jerusalem ,,Haram", Materiaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, pt. 2, Memoires de I'bistilut francais d'archeologic orientale, 154.1-2 (Cairo, 1925-27): 22946, no. 215. Cf. Busse, ,,Die arabischen Inschriften in und am Felsendom in Jerusalem," Das Heilige Land 109 (1977): pp. 12-14, cf. pp.22-23; O. Grabar, The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem (Princeton, 1996), 58-61. S. Nuseibah & O. Grabar, The Dome Of The Rock, 1996, Thames and Hudson: London (UK); C. Kessler, ,,'Abd al-Malik's Inscription In The Dome Of The Rock: A Reconsideration", 1970, Journal Of The Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 2-14; K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture: Part 1 Umayyads, A.D. 622-750. With A Contribution On The Mosaics Of The Dome Of The Rock in Jerusalem And Of The Great Mosque In Damascus By Marguerite van Berchem. 1932, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, Plates 6-9, 13-22; M. van Berchem, Materiaux Pour Un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, 1927, Tome 2 / 2 , Memoires publics par les membres de Hnstitut Franfais d'archeologie orientale du Caire, Imprimerie de I'Institut fran9ais d'archeologic orientale: Le Caire, No. 215, pp. 228-246. A. Elad, ,,Why did 'Abd Al-Malik build the Dome of the Rock? A re-examinalion of the Muslim sources". In J. Raby and J. Johns (Eds.), Bayt al-Maqdis. 'Abd al-Malik's Jerusalem. Vol. 1 (Oxford 1992), pp. 33-58; idem, Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship. Holy Places, Ceremonies, Pilgrimage. Leiden 1995. 15 H1KMA
Article / Artikel through 114, which, among other things, play an important liturgical role in Islamic religious services. These inscriptions were made on the occasion of the expansion of the mosque, during which process the sepulchral chamber of the Prophet (al-hugra) was also incorporated into the inner space of the mosque. This chamber had previously been the private property of Muhammad's wife 'A'isa and of members of her family in the years following her death. The expropriation of the Prophet's grave and the ensuing expansion of his mosque crowned the restoration of Marwanid power over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and considerably strengthened the legitimacy of their dynasty as the ruling dynasty of the whole Islamic Empire. " 3. Revisionism and Early Islamic History Let us now return to the revolutionary theologian from Munster! Mohammed Kalisch grounds his sceptical views in the first place on the authority of a Dutch author. ,,The fact that one is obliged to develop a sceptical attitude towards the facts known concerning the historical existence of Muhammad, is also shown by the recently published biography of Muhammad by Hans Jansen, who clearly elaborates the incredibility of the Islamic tradition."53 I am afraid that Kalisch, who as a Protestant young man converted to Islam only later in his life, did not realise when writing this that Jansen, who was once also a Protestant young man, also later converted, not to Islam but to Catholicism, when he was about 40 years old. Jansen converted to Catholicism, ,,because of, as he himself explained, ,,the high degree of organisation of that religion and its greater readiness to fight against Islam."54 - Jansen also finds it difficult to understand conversions of Westerners to Islam and is convinced that ,,a number" of these conversions have ..undoubtedly resulted from muddle-headedness."55 In the Netherlands, Jansen is also known as the author of sensaPieter Sjoerd van Koningsveld, The Tomb of the Prophet. Attitudes and Discussions Around A Major Religious Symbol in Islam. Lecture Inaugurating the Academic Year 2006-2007 at the Faculty of Theology (now Faculty of Religious Studies) Leiden University, Netherlands. Originally in the Dutch, now in the English Language. Followed by the Arabic translation of the preceding lecture prepared by Mohammed Ghaly. With a selective list of the author's other publications. Leiden University 2007. Estelle Whelan, ..Forgotten Witness: Evidence For The Early Codification Of The Qur'an". Journal of the American Oriental Society, 118, 1998, 1-14. Ibn Rusta, Kitab al-a'Iaq an-nafisah, ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leiden, 1892; repr. Leiden, 1967), p. 70; cf J. Sauvaget, La Mosquee omeyyade de Medine (Paris, 1947), 79. [39] See also Ibn 'Abd RabbihT (246-328/860-940), Kitab al- 'iqd al-farid, ed. A. Amm, I. al-Abyari, and A. Harun (Cairo, 1368/1949), 6: 261; cf. M. Shaft, ,,A Description of the Two Sanctuaries of Islam by Ibn 'Abd RabbihT (940)," in A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented to Edward G. Browne on His 60th Birthday, ed. T. W. Arnold and R. A. Nicholson (Cambridge, 1922) pp. 420-21. Ibidem, p.l. Met geciteerde boek van Jansen is: Hans Jansen (2008), Mohammed - Eine Biographie. Munchen 2008. Mohammed als ijskonijn by Herman Veenhof. Nederlands Dagblad, 28 maart 2007. Elseviers Magazine 19.10.1985, pp. 98-111: ,,De Islam in opmars" (interview with an anonymous Dutch Islamicist = Hans Jansen): In order to arm himself against the current march of Islam, the interviewed Islamicist had considered becoming a Catholic, because, as he had told his colleagues, of the high degree of organisation of this religion and the higher degree of readiness to fight Islam which came with it." (cf. Shahid & van Koningsveld, Demythe van het islamitische gevaar. Hindernissen bij integratie. Kampen, 1995 (2de druk), 16. ,,Bekeringen van Nederlanders en andere WesterlingerT, aldus Jansen, ,,zijn moeilijker verklaarbaar. Ongetwijfeld komt een aantal bekeringen uit warhoofdigheid voort (...)" (..Conversions to Islam of Dutchmen and other Westerners are more difficult to explain. Undoubtly some of these result from muddleheadedness.") (J.J.G. Jansen, Inleiding tot de islam. Muiderberg 1987, 163). 16HIKMA
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology tional booklets which surf on the current waves of Islamophobia with titles, such as the following, which do not require any further comment: Islam voor varkens, open, ezels en andere beesten (,,Islam for pigs, apes, donkeys and other animals").56 In reality, Kalisch continues a longstanding tradition of radical scepticism and indeed of revisionism that came to the forefront in different periods of the Western study of early Islamic history. Since the 1970s, English authors such as Wansbrough,37 Crone, Cook and Hawting and German authors such as Luling,58 Luxenberg,59 Puin, Ohlig, as well as Popp have themselves taken an increasingly radical, sceptical and indeed revisionist approach towards the early history of Islam. The term 'revisionist' or 'revisionism' indicates the radical approach which categorically rejects all ancient Islamic sources as unreliable in their representations of the early history of Islam. This approach usually attempts to rewrite this early history by making use of non-Islamic sources, usually Christian, Jewish or others. As a rule, when examining the work of these authors, we are dealing with an implicit or explicit conspiracy theory which aims to explain the origin of Islam, a kind of pathological impulse with fanaticism to match, towards a radical revision of the history of the origins of Islam. This impulse finds expression in various apodictally formulated ,,idees directrices" (..leading ideas") which function as dogmas to which the interpretation of the available sources is subjected. Thus, according to this theory, all sources contradicting the revisionist dogmatic have to be continuously rejected as being completely unreliable. In the course of history we can distinguish between various manifestations of revisionism.
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Van Praag; first impression March 2008; fourth impression April 2008. John Edward Wansbrough (February 19, 1928 - June 10, 2002) was an American historian who taught at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He argued that the Koran was put together from various sources some 200 years after the Prophet Mohammed's death. Wansbrough's research suggests that a great deal of the traditional history of Islam appeared to be a fabrication of later generations seeking to forge and justify a unique religious identity. Within this context, the character of Muhammad could be seen as a manufactured myth created to provide the Arab tribes with their own Arab version of the Judeo-Christian prophets. Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1977. The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition Of Islamic Salvation History. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1978. he argued that the Koran was put together from various sources some 200 years after the Prophet Mohammed's death. ,,We don't really have any Islamic literature that you can really date much before about 800 AD." (,,John Wansbrough remembered. 26 June 2002. Radioprogramma Radio National, Australia". Interview with Gerald Hawting, disciple of Wansbrough). Gilnter Luling: (1) Uber den Ur-Qur'an. Ansatze zur Rekonstniktion vorislamischer chrisllicher Strophenlieder im Qur'an. Erlangen: 1974; 3rd, revised edition, Erlangen: 2004; English version of the 21"1 German edition of 1993: A challenge to Islam for reformation: the rediscovery and reliable reconstruction of a comprehensive pre-lslamic Christian hymnal hidden in the Koran under earliest Islamic reinterpretatiom. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 2003. (580 pages). ISBN 81-208-1952-7. (2) Der christliche Knit an der vorislamischen Kaaba als Problem der Islamwissenschaft und christlichen Theologie. Erlangen: Luling, 1977; 2nd, revised edition, Erlangen 1992. 'Christoph Luxenberg', Die syro-aramciische Lesart des Koran: Bin Beitrag zur Entschlusselung der Koransprache. 2000, Das Arabische Buch: Berlin. Rev. by Francois DE BLOIS, Journal ofQur'anic Studies, 2003, Volume V, Issue 1, pp. 92-97; see also ,,Qur'an and History - A Disputed Relationship. Some Reflections on Qur'anic History and History in the Qur'an", Journal ofQur'anic Studies, 2003, Volume V, Issue I, pp. 1-18; Hoyland, Robert: ,,Nevv Documentary Texts and the Early Islamic State", in: BSOAS: vol 9, part 3, 2006; Corriente, F.: On a prosposal for a 'Syro-Aramaic' reading of the Qur'an, in: Collectanea Christiana Orienlalia No. 1.
Article / Artikel The first revisionist movement was that of the European-Christian Middle Ages, Here the view prevailed that Islam had come into being as an heretical development from Christianity and in fact was the product of an anti-Christian conspiracy. The origin of this conspiracy can be found in the rancour of a cardinal or bishop who had been excommunicated by the Pope, and who infused Muhammad with anti-Christian views behind the screens. We find this view expressed in many variants in medieval Christian writings and even up until the period of Enlightenment. This approach has been analysed by, amongst others, Norman Daniel in his well-known book Islam and the West: The making of an Image.60 2. A second revisionist approach taken towards the history of the origins of Islam was defended by the Dutch Arabist Reinhard Dozy (1820-1883) in his book De Israelieten te Mekka. Van Davids tijd tot aan de vijfde eeuw onzer tijdrekening (,,The Israelites in Mecca. From David's time until the fifth century of our era")- In this book, the author defended the theory that one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel, viz. that of the Simeonites, established themselves in Mecca where they built a copy of the ancient Israelite temple, in the form of the Ka'ba. The religious rituals related to the Ka'ba in pre-Islamic times, including the hajj, were, according to Dozy, of Hebrew-Israelite origin. In order to substantiate his thesis, Dozy cited as evidence the existence of an ancient inscription on the Black Stone in the wall of the Ka'ba. This inscription was first documented by the author al-Fakihi in his History of Mecca. Dozy identified the language of this inscription as Hebrew and deciphered its text. However, his theory was totally rejected62 and forgotten.63 3. A third revisionist approach was presented in Germany in the 1970s. This approach claims that Islam was originally a continuation of the ancient, genuinely Unitarian, ,,Semitic" Christianity which had come into conflict with Hellenistic Christianity in Arabia. However, in a further stage of development this ancient form of genuinely Unitarian Christianity, including its polemics with Hellenistic Trinitarianism, had been overgrown by the suffocating weeds of Arabian paganism. As a consequence, we find in the Koran two different ,,editorial layers." The first and original ,,layer", that of the so-called Urkoran (the Koran in its most original form) was, in Luling's view, purely Unitarian and Christian and even contained several Christian hymns (!). In its second and last ,,layer" the text of the Koran had, however, been reworked and imbued with the spirit of Arabian heathenism. This view was first proposed by Giinter Liiling in his book Ueber den Urkoran and in his work Der christliche Kult an der vorislamischen Kaaba als Problem der Islamwissenschaft und christlichen Theologie. As can be gauged from the latter title, Liiling assumed that the central sanctuary in Mecca (the Ka'ba) was in pre-Islamic times a church and he was also convinced that the Meccans at that time were the result of a systematic falsification of the sources with the aim of
Oxford: Oneworld Publications Ltd, 1993 (revised edition). Haarlem: Kruseman, 1864. See among others: K.H. Graf, De Israelieten te Mekka van Dr. R. Dozy. Beoordeeld door K.H. Graf. translated from the German by H.A. Leenmans. Utrecht: Kemink, 1866; H. Oort, De dienst der Baalim in Israel: naar aanleiding van het geschrift van Dr. R. Dozy De Israelieten te Mekka ". Leiden 1864. See his dissertation of 1880, entitled Het Mekkaanse feest, C. Snouck Hurgronje aimed at replacing the book of Dozy. 18HIKMA
Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology obscuring the Christian origin of the Meccans. Liiling - himself a Unitarian Christian - calls on all Muslims to return to what he believes to be their Unitarian Christian origins. If the Muslims followed his call, he believes, worldwide ecumenism would be supported considerably. Luxenberg followed a more or less similar line of thought but added his own, completely novel accent. He postulated, amongst other things, that the Meccans used a language which was a mixture of Aramaic and Arabic and in which also the Koran had been written. In an attempt to conspire against history, the Aramaic origins of the Koran had been obscured, just as in the writings of Liiling, it had been the Christian fate of the pre-Islamic Meccans that had been concealed. However, this theory of mixed Aramaic-Arabic language in pre-Islamic Mecca stands in contradiction to the numerous sources available that cast a clear and unequivocal light on the language used by the Meccans in pre-Islamic times in general and in the Koran in particular. Luxenberg's theory that the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem originally had nothing to do with Islam, but marked the grave of a Christian saint is also characterised by a complete absence of any form of evidence. In further elaboration of Luxenberg's theory, other authors even proposed that the Dome of the Rock had in fact been the grave of Jesus. I have already indicated that there is clear and detailed evidence in reliable sources available, which detail the motives behind Caliph 'Abd al-Malik's decision to have the Dome of the Rock built and the approach he took towards realising his historical project. However, this evidence is completely ignored by Luxenberg and his followers. 4. The fourth revisionist approach was first presented in the second half of the 1970s. It claims that Islam was originally a Judeo-Christian sect. This sect was, according to this theory, more Jewish than Christian, as it was a messianistic movement where aim was the return to the Holy Land from North Arabia. We are dealing here, in other words, with a kind of Zionism ,,avant la lettre". Originally, Mecca and Medina played no role in this movement. Their role as holy cities of Islam where the Prophet had lived and preached was, in the view of this Anglo-Saxon school, only an invention, just like the whole biography of the Prophet itself, after the messianic movement had burnt out and had frozen to fixed matter in the form of Islam. This is especially the view of authors like Crone and Cook. According to the founder of the Anglo-Saxon approach, Wansbrough, the text of the Koran had only been fixed around the year 800 and it had been compiled from different pieces which had existed as separate and independent units of different origins. If Muhammad had ever existed, he most certainly would not have been the ,,prophet Muhammad" of whom is spoken in the Islamic sources. At this point I should like to refer the reader back to what was said at the beginning of this article about the oldest Koranic manuscripts preserved. It seems to be crystal clear that the evidence of these ancient manuscripts alone is a largely sufficient refutation of the Anglo-Saxon and the German revisionists together. Leave alone the tenability of their arguments in the light of all the other available evidence! 5. Finally, there is now also the approach taken by Kalisch, a fresh shoot from the old revisionist trunk! Kalisch has embraced the ideology of the so-called ,,Traditionalism", in the meaning of the philosophia perennis. This is the ,,ongoing philosophy", which, according to its adherents, existed and survived through all ages and civilizations and consequently can be traced all over the world in various traditions and eras. This ,,on-
Article / Artikel going philosophy", according to Kalisch, is also found in Islamic mysticism and philosophy, in which the salvation of mankind is described as a cognitive process in the human soul, without the attached condition of the belief in a certain religion. In the view of ,,Traditionalism", Islam is only one of the many ways to find this philosophia perennis. No single religion can claim for itself the absolute truth, because every religion results from subjective, spiritual experience. In the last instance, religion should thus, in the view of Kalisch, be replaced by philosophy, as human beings do not need anything more than science, philosophy and mysticism. According to its adherents, the esoteric-Gnostic stream of thought of traditionalism" counts among its adherents a remarkably large number of European intellectuals who initially converted to Islam but in the end appeared not to feel at home in what they experience as the pinching shackles of Islamic doctrines and laws. According to Kalisch, Islam was originally a form of Gnostics. Muhammad was (like Jesus) originally a myth, one of the stages of spiritual development in Gnosticism, represented for simple people with limited intellectual faculties in the form of the biography of a human being with a revelation (the Koran). We are dealing here with an author who is using his revisionist approach in order to lay the foundations for his personal liberation from what he perceives as the pinching ties of his Islamic religious convictions. Denial of the historicity of Muhammad is the solution Kalisch chooses for his personal crisis. He apparently does not consider this denial as injuring his Islamic identity, as he believes religion is not about historical but metaphysical truth. As a reply to this, I should like to say the following: I can understand what Kalisch wants to say, but why does he stress to such an extent the fact that his view concurs with the present state of scholarship? In fact, it does not. Revisionism and conspiracy theory are identical twins. Both of them are mere aberrations of genuine scholarship. They are polemical models of zealots and charlatans64 which, under the very special circumstances in which our world finds itself today, obtain enormous attention which they do not deserve on strictly scientific grounds. Muhammad was, is and will remain, not only in the view of Muslims but also on strictly scientific grounds, a historical person who, in the faith of a prophetic mission, preached messages he believed to have been revealed to him. Various codices (mushaf's) in which these Koranic messages had been brought together were replaced around the year 650 by the official text of the Codex of 'Utman. The Koran, just like the numerous documents drafted by order of Muhammad, forms the basis of the study of his biography, in addition to the philologically sifted poems of contemporaries (both in support of him and also occasionally against him), as well the extensive data in the sources of HadTt (prophetic traditions), after having been duly verified with the methods of historical criticism. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the right method to teach and to research which I have tried to follow myself and which 1 recommend to you, once again, as the most reliable guideline for your own studies in the future. Islamische Religionspadagogik und Theologie im Konstruktionsprozess Michael Kiefer Viele Fragen Folgt man den zahlreichcn Absichtserklarungen der Landesregierungen, die in den letzten drei Jahren abgegeben wurden, dann ist die Einfuhrung eines Islamischen Religionsunterrichts eine beschlossene Sache. Vorlaufig behilft man sich in NRW, Bayern, BadenWurttemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Niedersachsen und Schleswig-Holstein mit Schulversuchen. Diese sollen jedoch nach Losung der rechtlich komplizierten Anerkennungsproblematik, die mit der Griindung islamischer Religionsgemeinschaften einhergeht, mittelfristig von einem ordentlichen Islamischen Religionsunterricht abgelost werden. Unstrittig ist, dass die Qualitat des neu einzurichtenden Islamischen Religionsunterrichts, der zurzeit zumeist in uberschaubaren Laborsituationen erprobt wird, in einem erheblichen Mafie vom Ausbildungsstand der Lehrkrafte abhangen wird. In Anlehnung an die bestehenden Ausbildungsstandards, die fur die bercits erteiltcn Religionsunterrichte gelten, planen die Kultus- und Wissenschaftsministerien der Lander mit grofiem muslimischem Bevolkerungsanteil ordentliche Studiengange, die eine hochwertige universitare Ausbildung fur das Fach islamische Religionslehre sichern sollen. Als Pioniere auf diesem Gebiet erwiesen sich bisher die Universitaten Munster, Erlangen, Frankfurt und Osnabriick, die vier Lehrstuhle fur die Lehrerausbildung bzw. islamische Religionswissenschaft (Frankfurt) eingcrichtet haben. Weitere sollen an den genannten Standorten und in Berlin und Hamburg in den nachsten Jahren folgen. Es liegt in der Natur der Sache, dass der Lehrbetrieb zunachst einen eher cxperimentellen Status aufweist. Die Lehrstuhlinhaber sind keine ausgewiesenen islamischen Theologen oder Religionspadagogen. Sie sind zum Teil Autodidakten und haben ihre Qualifikation in angrenzenden Fachern erworben: Muhammad Kalisch (Miinster) ist Jurist, Bulent Ucar (Osnabriick) ist Islamwissenschaftler und hat als Seiteneinsteiger in NordrheinWestfalen mehrere Jahre das Fach Islamkunde unterrichtet und war daruber hinaus in der Lehrplancntwicklung tatig, Harry Harun Behr (Erlangen) war vor seiner Berufung gleichfalls als ausgebildeter Lehrer im Schuldienst tatig. Daruber hinaus ist zu konstatieren, dass Lehrbucher und wissenschaftliche Literatur, die Islam im deutschen Kontext thematisieren, nur in einem geringen Umfang bereitstehen. Fur den Schulunterricht stehen mit dem Saphir 5/6,65 Mem Islambuch66 und der Schonen Quelle61 bislang drei zugelassene Schulbticher zur Verfiigung. Die religionsdidaktische Diskussion beschrankte sich zunachst auf die
In the Netherlands, apart from Hans Jansen also Eildert Mulder and Thomas Milo in their newspape articles bundled in the bookDe omstreden bronnen van de islam. (,,The disputed sources of Islam") Zoetermeer: Meinema 2009. 20 HIKMA
Dr. Michael Kiefer ist Islamwissenschaftler in Dusseldorf und forscht zum Themenfeld Islamischer Religionsunterricht. Lamya Kaddor / Rabeya Muller / Harry Harun Behr (Hg.), Saphir 5/6 Religlonsbuch fiir junge Musliminnen und Muslime, Munchen 2008. Scrap Erkan / Evelin Lubig-Fohsel / Giil Solgun-Kaps / Bulent Ucar (Hg.), Mem Islambuch, Munchen 2008. Hawa Yakar / Seniz Onel / Huseyin Cetin / AH Topcuk / Dorothea Paschen / Klaus Gebauer (Hg.), Die schone Quelle, Koln 2009.
Prophets And Messengers In Islam
Documents Similar To Van Koningsveld Revisionism and Modern Islamic Theology
munisb
moh_abd288
iftiswelt
EVEU
Arslan Kiani
Gilbert Hanz
Jeryullah Khan
Jamiatul Ulama South Africa
juan_de_herat
Ali Zohery, Ph.D.
Ismael6323
Dias Rizka Darisa
Helmon Chan
BellaGianelli
Waris Husain
islam-is
HF Habib
Counter-Narrative Articles-Javed Ahmad Ghamidi_1
z_shan6199
Aggressive Mistranslations Against Women
Alimedeen.com-226 the Name of Allah and the Noble Quran
itsokok
"Verily! in the Creation of the Heavens and the Earth,
Mahwish
How to Live Islam Within a Family
abdulmusaver
QS 5 Al Maidah - Maududi
A Halim Hamid
noorlaw
Brief History of Compilation of the Quran.
Mikel Alonso
Quranic Erroneous Science and Contradictions - By Syed Kamran Mirza
More From Mersi-Ha
interkult_2012
Mersi-Ha
preporuka ramazan-2011internet (1)
Ramadan Health Effects of Fasting the Lancet
BILTENLAST2
Zašto muslimani žele šerijat
Abdullah Arifović
Ahmet Alibašić, Savremene muslimanske dileme
amir_duran50
Popular in Quran
McAuley, Ibn Arabi Pp. 59-92
Ahmad Ladhani
100 MCQS from Al-Qur'an
Mehreen Khurshid
Presenting Islam Today - Challenges and Thought Share eBook 2
Lalu Khan
Islam Influence Part2
swamy_me
Virtues of Quran - Hadith 1
pencildr
Hadith 2
aqueelpremjee
HUMSS
Ser Gilbert
Ctu 082 Chapter 1 the Concept of Islamic Education
Nor Ila Che Man
Creed of Shia Explained[1]
Abu hurrairah
Ahmed MaLik
Importance of Islamic Months
Rizwan Ahmed
Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur'ān.pdf
MehdiSaid
Farrakhan is Right - Complete
Abdul Khaliq Muhammad
Eden Rivers
Dr Yusuf
Megat Marwan Megat Nizar
Aug_08
ivaupload
God's Eternal Promise to Pharaoh Ramesses II
Da_Rad_Dad
islamiyat question
Khatm-e-Khawajgan
stranger786
Sajdah Suras in The Qruan
z_eguy
The Muslim Creed > MuslimCreed9-2001
2059 p1 History Topical With Comments & Marking Scheme
Shirin Jalal
Guidelines for Memorizing the Holy Qur'Aan - 072109
Sulaiman Ebrahim
Angelica Neuwirth
Ken Padmi
How Many Daughters Did the Prophet Have - A Research by a Shia
AhleSunnat WlJamat
Evolution of Term Salafi in Islamic History
KHAIRUL
Makalahfilsafatmaqasid 1.PDF
Sharikha Al Mustashrikha Albeirr
n 0215029095
urais aceh
Khutbah 09 Januari 2014 Translation
sauspy
ingilizce_peygamberimi_ogreniyorum
ustun_insan


text:
I read paragraphs like this and I shudder:
"The Caribbean Premier League and the English T20 Blast loom as possible platforms for Australian players to bide their time in the second half of the year. Under normal circumstances, CA must provide no-objection certificates for players to take part in overseas T20 leagues, but pushing players out of contract would open up the market in unprecedented fashion – not only in terms of competitions, but also the commercial and sponsorship rights of players." – Daniel Brettig writing for Cricinfo.
When the best players in the world turn their back on the international game and its most vaunted traditions like the Ashes and look instead to play in as many T20 leagues as possible–like mercenaries sailing the seven seas looking for loot–then that will be what finally kills off this game.
I am not saying it is the players' fault, nor am I say it is the fault of Cricket Australia, for who is at fault really doesn't matter, for in the end an Ashes boycott would truly be the beginning of the end.
Sure, the sport might survive, but it wouldn't look like the sport we all know, it would be a shadow of its former self. Picture the IPL but 12 months a year. And the players, and Cricket Australia, need to both take a step and realize what they are doing to the game they supposedly love. David Warner was quoted in the same article linked to above as saying that "if we don't have contracts we are going to have to find some cricket to play somewhere else because that's what we love doing," If you love the game so much, Mr. Warner, then have some respect for it.
Again that's me having a go at the players. Which is only half fair. In a second article (which I recommend wholeheartedly) Mr. Brettig takes a deeper dive on the unfortunate affair saying, in part, that "the inability of either party to communicate effectively with the other is the greater problem, one with roots going back at least five years." That's it. That's all it is. The toxic atmosphere created by both sides' inability to communicate like grown ups is threatening to postpone the Ashes and cast a long, dark shadow over the whole of the game. It's time for both sides to do what's right: pull their socks up, shake hands, make up, and cut a deal. The sport you love–and that has made you a lot of money–is on the line. And it is on the line not just for you, but for the next generation of young cricketers and the generation after them and the generation after them.
Many folks will read this and point to the Major League Baseball in the early 1990s–Brettig himself references this and mentions that it cost the league over $700 million–and those folks will say that despite the financial losses, baseball is stronger than ever. Attendances are up, owners and the union have avoided a single day's work stoppage for over 20 years, players are fairly compensated, there's revenue sharing to allow smaller market teams to compete, and finally there is a performance enhancing drug policy with some teeth it. And all those things are true. Baseball is stronger than ever. But it's also nearly unrecognizable to those of us who grew up with it. Inter-league play, endless playoffs, games that last forever, little to no player loyalty, teams holding cities hostage demanding tax payer funded stadiums as ransom, instant replay, and on and on. The survived, but to survive it had to change, and those changes made the game worse, not better.
Of course that's just my opinion. Cricket needs to change to survive too, and maybe this how it survives, by becoming a loose knit collection of international T20 leagues. Maybe this is what brings it the Olympics, and even, yes, to America. But I don't think so. So let's have it, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketer's Association. Come to the table. Figure it out.
I am tired of writing about things like this. I am looking forward to actually writing about something that happens on the field instead of in a boardroom. Thankfully the first ODI of the Champions Trophy is just two weeks away. The tournament opens with England playing Bangladesh at the Oval. This is, truly, a must win match for both teams if they want to have any shot at making the knock out stages. For, as I pointed out in my last post, it's an uphill climb for both of them.
And that's why I rather like these quick-hit tournaments. For the lower seeded teams it's more or less three knock out matches, and for the higher seeded teams it's three hazardous icy patches they need to negotiate. That packs a lot narrative into a short tournament, and I am very much looking forward to it.
We are the robots, part 2
There's one thing you can say about cricket that you can't say about most sports: it's fair. 99 times out of 100 the better time wins. You don't see giant killings like you do in other sports. They happen, sure, but they are the definition of rare.
And who the better team is is usually defined using the ICC rankings. And so, as I have done before, I thought I would take the current ICC rankings (as they are today, not as they were when the teams qualified) and see how the upcoming Champions Trophy would play out if the rankings were gospel. I.e. if the team ranked higher always won.
When I did this previously the robots got about 88% of the group stage matches correct (or thereabouts) and three of the four knockout stage teams right (they picked Pakistan which missed out, the West Indies taking their place). They got both semi-final winners right (Sri Lanka and India) and they nailed the final.
Not bad.
So according to the rankings how does the Champions Trophy shape up? Let's take a look. (This is of course assuming there are zero no-results during the tournament which is of course silly because it's England in June, but hey this is just meant to be fun.)
Group A:
Group B:
Knockout stages:
And so there we have it. Congrats to Australia.
I'll check in on the robots during the tournament and see how they're doing.
Robots aside but that India v South Africa Group B match has "match of the tournament" written all over it.
Boycott this
In December of 1979, Soviet Union troops–disguised as Afghani solders–entered the city of Kabul, Afghanistan and led a coup against the internationally recognized government of president Hafizullah Amin, who was killed after the Soviets stormed Tajbeg Palace on the evening of December 27. By next day the coup was complete, the Soviets held Kabul, and Russian tanks, troops, and vehicles spilled over the mountains in an effort to control town and cities throughout the country. It was a sign of unchecked aggression by a nation that most of the world would prefer to stay checked. Most saw the move, which horrified the West, as an attempt for the USSR to ultimately seize control of the entire Middle East and gain access to the Indian Ocean.
The international outcry was swift and severe. Ministers from 34 Muslim nations–including, interestingly, Ayatollah Khomeini, whose newly founded theocracy in Iran was a fierce enemy of most of the West–condemned the invasion and called for immediate Soviet withdrawal. The United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution protesting the Russian action. And the President of the United States, on top of his work with NATO to stem the flow of weapons into the region, famously issued an ultimatum to the Russians in January of 1980: withdraw from Afghanistan in one month or the USA would boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics, due to be held in Moscow the following summer. The Russians stood firm, and the USA stayed home, as did more than 60 other nations. Four years later, the Soviets boycotted the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Russian occupation of Afghanistan, and the ensuing guerrilla war, would last for nine years, one month, three weeks and one day. It would result in the deaths of over 120,000 Russian and Afghanistan troops, as well as the deaths of (estimates vary) at least 500,000 Afghani civilians, but probably a lot more than that.
Starting in 1949, the South African government began to issue a series of Apartheid laws. There was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act; the Immorality Act, which banned sexual relations between people of differing races; the Population Registration Act, which classed all citizens into one of four racial categories; and the Group Areas Act, which began segregating the nation's population based on their predetermined racial category. From 1960 to 1983, nearly four million citizens of color were forced from their homes and into segregated neighborhoods.
The worldwide outcry was not insignificant and notably included an arms and weapon embargo instituted by the United Nations. Also included in the backlash were boycotts of the nation by rock bands, orchestras and, of course, international sport organizations. For instance, four years before the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics, 26 African nations refused to participate in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal because the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand after the All-Blacks traveled to South Africa for a Rugby tour.
Previous to the action in 1976, South Africa had been banned from the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo; in 1968 the United Nations called for an international boycott of all South African sports that support Apartheid (this is the edict that New Zealand, and several other nations, violated); and in 1970 the ECB cancelled the South African's cricket team's tour of England after several nations threatened to boycott the Commonwealth Games to be held that summer in Scotland.
Apartheid would last until 1996. It is without a doubt one of the darkest stains on humanity, a stain that will never come clean.
Apartheid and the 1980 and 1984 Olympics are arguably the most famous sporting boycotts, but there have been many others. Several nations did not participate in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics for several different reasons; in 1988, North Korea, Cuba, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua boycotted the Seoul Olympics; in 1996, Australia and the West Indies refused to play in Colombo due to security concerns; and in 2009 the England Cricket team cancelled Zimbabwe's tour because of their government's human rights abuses.
Every nation pulled out due to various reasons, but they were all justified, or at least logical. Be those reasons geo-political, humanitarian, or the safety of their athletes; Apartheid, unchecked Soviet Aggression leading to a decade long war or state sponsored protestor beatings in Harare. Even less politically sensitive boycotts, such as the ATP tennis players boycotting Wimbledon in 1973 could be seen as attempts to protect the rights of athletes. Sporting boycotts have always been a weapon of last resort, for good reason, as restless populations might see the boycott as a last straw by an oppressive government, and the isolation that ensues after boycotts can be see as detrimental to third world nations getting access to the West's money and weapons. It is last resort, and the reasons have to be good ones.
India, meanwhile, want to boycott the Champions Trophy because the ICC is making an effort to fix a broken system.
Related: BCCI Should Grow Up, via The Full Toss.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Prince Harry accuses royals of complicity in Meghan's pain
Harry accused royal family of getting 'into bed with the devil' to gain tabloid spot
A poster advertising the launch of the book "Spare", by Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, is seen in the window of a bookstore in London, Britain, January 9, 2023. Image Credit: Reuters
London: Prince Harry has accused the royal family of being complicit in his wife Meghan's anguish, claiming his stepmother Camilla, the queen consort, had leaked private conversations to the media in order to burnish her own reputation.
In interviews broadcast Sunday, Harry accused members of the royal family of getting "into bed with the devil" to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla's efforts to rehabilitate her image with the British people after her longtime affair with his father, now King Charles III.
"That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press," he told CBS. "There was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being queen consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street."
More on Prince Harry
Prince Harry says memoirs written because of '38 years of spin and distortion'
Diana, William, Meghan, and Camilla: Highlights of Prince Harry's bombshell interview
Prince Harry set to deliver more scandalous memoirs in TV interviews
Prince Harry book gets critical mauling in UK
Harry spoke to Britain's ITV and CBS's "60 Minutes" to promote his book, 'Spare', which is due to be widely released Tuesday. It has already generated incendiary headlines with its details of bitter family resentments.
He repeated his claim on ITV that there was "concern" in the royal family about his unborn child's skin color after he married biracial American actress Meghan Markle. Harry and Meghan first mentioned the incident during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, but they haven't identified the family member who expressed concern.
The royal family needed to 'learn and grow'
Harry insisted the family wasn't racist, but said the episode was an example of unconscious bias, adding that the royal family needed to "learn and grow" in order to be "part of the solution rather than part of the problem."
"Otherwise unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism," Harry said. He said that "especially when you are the monarchy – you have a responsibility, and quite rightly people hold you to a higher standard than others."
"Spare" explores Harry's grief at the death of his mother in 1997, and his long-simmering resentment at the role of royal "spare," overshadowed by the "heir" — older brother Prince William. He recounts arguments and a physical altercation with William, reveals how he lost his virginity and describes using cocaine and cannabis.
Taliban fighters
"Spare" is the latest in a string of public pronouncements by Harry and Meghan since they quit royal life and moved to California in 2020, citing what they saw as the media's racist treatment of Meghan and a lack of support from the palace. It follows the Winfrey interview and a six-part Netflix documentary released last month.
A member of the public poses in his front room in Manchester, north-west England, watching a television interview broadcast on ITV, being given by Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex on January 8, 2023, ahead of the publication of his book, 'Spare'. Image Credit: AFP
In the ghostwritten memoir, Harry, 38, describes the couple's acrimonious split from the royal family after their request for a part-time royal role was rejected.
The television interviews are just two of several given by Harry that are set to pile more pressure on the royal family. He is also appearing on "Good Morning America" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
Royal officials haven't commented on any of the allegations, though allies have pushed back on the claims, largely anonymously.
An effort to "own my story" after years of "spin and distortion" by others
Harry has defended the memoir describing it as his effort to "own my story" after years of "spin and distortion" by others. In the "60 Minutes" interview, Harry denied said his book wasn't intended to hurt his family.
Omid Scobie, author of "Finding Freedom," a book on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said Harry is offering the look behind the palace walls that the public has always desired.
"Of course, that does come with some downsides for those who have been part of his journey,'' Scobie told the BBC. "We heard some sort of really startling confessions and stories about members of the royal family, particularly when it comes to Camilla and her relationship with the press.''
While Harry said that he hadn't spoken with his father or brother in a while, he hopes to find peace with them. Harry told ITV that he wants reconciliation with the royal family, but "the ball is in their court."
"They've shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile," he said.
Missile attack kills one, damages power grid inUkraine
Flight MH17 crash investigators to reveal new findings


Vacations are about many things, but one of our favorite parts of every trip we take is having the opportunity to taste the foods that are special to that region. Shrimp and grits in Georgia, TexMex in Texas, clam chowder in Massachusetts, and a little mixture of everything in Los Angeles. Dine L.A. Restaurant Week takes place every January. 2017's just ended (restaurant week began January 13th and ended on the 27th), but that's ok because the summer restaurant week is held in the middle of July!
For two weeks out of every year, local restaurants offer a special prix fixe menu. Our chefs are amongst the best in the land, and during restaurant week, they are at their best! Featuring multiple course meals in all price ranges, foodies will love the opportunity to try restaurants that might normally be out of their budget! The cheapest dinners we have found start at $15, with the most expensive running up to $95, so there's something out there for all vacation budgets! Your most difficult problem will be narrowing down your options. There are burgers, lobster, Italian food, Greek delicacies, and more; Los Angeles is a multi-cultural city, and it shows in the restaurant options you will find during Dine L.A. Restaurant Week—summer or winter!
The Best Vacation Memories Involve Good Food, Company, and a Great Vacation Home!
Book your Luxury Rental Group vacation home away from home today and enjoy an epicurean adventure of savory delights. The summer Dine L.A. Restaurant Week will be here before you know it—don't wait too long!


text:
/* ###
 * IP: GHIDRA
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package log;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.logging.log4j.Level;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.*;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.AbstractAppender;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.Property;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.plugins.*;
import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout;

/**
 * Log4j appender that writes messages to the log panel in the main Ghidra window.
 * This is configured in the various log4j configuration files
 * (generic.log4j.xml, generic.logjdev.xml, etc...).
 * <p>
 * Note: This appender is created when the log4j configuration is processed and will
 * start receiving log messages immediately. These messages will be dropped on the
 * floor however, until an implementation of {@link LogListener} is instantiated and
 * the {@link #setLogListener(LogListener)} method is invoked.
 */
@Plugin(name = "LogPanelAppender", category = "Core", elementType = "appender", printObject = true)
public class LogPanelAppender extends AbstractAppender {

	// The panel all messages will be displayed in. This must be set or incoming
	// log messages will be ignored.
	private LogListener logListener;

	protected LogPanelAppender(String name, Filter filter, Layout<? extends Serializable> layout) {
		super(name, filter, layout, true, Property.EMPTY_ARRAY);
	}

	@Override
	public void append(LogEvent event) {

		if (logListener == null) {
			return;
		}

		// An error is identified as any log that is tagged ERROR or FATAL.
		boolean isError = event.getLevel().isMoreSpecificThan(Level.ERROR);
		String message = event.getMessage().getFormattedMessage();
		logListener.messageLogged(message, isError);
	}

	@PluginFactory
	public static LogPanelAppender createAppender(@PluginAttribute("name") String name,
			@PluginElement("Layout") Layout<? extends Serializable> layout,
			@PluginElement("Filter") final Filter filter,
			@PluginAttribute("otherAttribute") String otherAttribute) {
		if (name == null) {
			LOGGER.error("No name provided for LogPanelAppender");
			return null;
		}
		if (layout == null) {
			layout = PatternLayout.createDefaultLayout();
		}
		return new LogPanelAppender(name, filter, layout);
	}

	public void setLogListener(LogListener listener) {
		// Note: this method may be called multiple times in a single JVM instance, such as
		//       when testing.
		this.logListener = listener;
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Solar Energy Business Association of New England
iSun Adds Three Solar Projects to New England Portfolio - Solar Industry
January 30, 2023 9:36 AM | Anonymous
"iSun inc. has picked up three contracts with a total value of $9.7 million to implement solar energy solutions in communities in northern New England. The new projects result from a new partnership that iSun has formed with an integrated nationwide solar developer. The new awards of 9 MW in total will add to iSun's already completed portfolio of projects in northern New England."
Massachusetts Unveils New Plan to Roll Back Back Gas in New Buildings - Energywire
January 18, 2023 2:06 PM | Anonymous
"Late last year, the Department of Energy Resources issued draft and final rules that promote electrification of space and water heat. The draft rule, released for public comment on Dec. 23, outlines conditions for participation in a first-of-its-kind demonstration program where up to 10 Massachusetts towns and cities can ban fossil fuels in new buildings."
SEBANE RELEASES GUIDE ON SOLAR CONSUMER PROTECTION
July 19, 2022 8:28 PM | Anonymous
Westford, MA – (July 19, 2022) Today, Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) has released the Massachusetts Solar Consumer Protection Best Practices Guide for companies engaged in residential solar projects. This guide is one of the first of its kind and marks SEBANE's continued commitment to the solar industry and community.
"We at SEBANE are so proud of the work that our members have done in conjunction with other solar organizations to create this guide." said Mark Sylvia, President of SEBANE. "Part of SEBANE's mission is to educate people who use, produce, and sell solar energy materials. This guide is just one way that we are fulfilling that mission."
The Massachusetts Solar Consumer Protection Best Practices Guide covers all aspects of the consumer experience and suggests ways to protect consumers and grow the demand for solar energy. The guide is specifically for companies that are engaged in the sales, construction, and management of residential solar projects. It covers the entire consumer experience – from marketing to maintenance – under the three available models: customer ownership, third-party ownership, and community solar subscription.
"This guide demonstrates that the Massachusetts solar industry can work together for the greater good. Understanding consumer protection issues and being proactive in addressing and preventing them is key for the long-term success of the overall industry. SEBANE is proud to have worked with a wide range of stakeholders to produce this valuable guide," said Daniel Mello Guimaraes, Vice President of SEBANE.
This guide is the result of multiple roundtable discussions with leaders in the solar industry with decades of experience. These professionals have come together and produced a comprehensive guide for Massachusetts solar companies to implement consumer protection measures. Access the guide (here).
ABOUT SEBANE
SEBANE is a non-profit organization founded in 2001 whose mission is to promote the New England solar industry through education, programming, and policy intervention. SEBANE aims to help create a sustainable solar economy through engaging key stakeholders and coalition building.
For more information about SEBANE, visit https://www.sebane.org/ or email operations@sebane.org.
SEBANE TESTIMONY ON RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARD REGULATION CHANGES FILED WITH THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS, UTILITIES, AND ENERGY
May 12, 2021 8:31 PM | Anonymous
SEBANE delivered testimony on May 12th at the Legislature's Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy (TUE) Committee hearing on the RPS regulations refiled by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). SEBANE reiterated comments from the December 23 joint letter submitted to the TUE Committee from NECEC, MassSolar, SEBANE, and CCSA. Specifically, SEBANE's comments raise concerns regarding curtailment of credits under the SREC I program and harmful changes to the Class I Alternative Compliance Payment Rate. The TUE Committee has until May 28th to provide a letter with feedback to DOER on the refiled RPS regulations.
SEBANE CELEBRATES SIGNING OF CLIMATE BILL
March 26, 2021 8:33 PM | Anonymous
Boston, Massachusetts – The Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) applauds Governor Baker for signing S-9, An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy. The Climate Bill removes net metering caps on 25kW-2MW systems and increases the Renewable Portfolio Standard by 3 percent each year from 2025-2029 resulting in 40 percent renewable energy by 2030. It also prioritizes equitable access to the state's solar programs by low income communities and sets benchmarks for the adoption of clean energy technologies.
"SEBANE applauds Governor Baker for signing the Climate Bill which continues Massachusetts' nation-leading fight to combat climate change head on," said Mark Sylvia, president of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE). "SEBANE and our members look forward to working with the Legislature and Department of Public Utilities to address critical issues like interconnection and rate design that inhibit solar resources from making a greater contribution to our clean energy future."
SEBANE STATEMENT ON MASSACHUSETTS CLIMATE BILL (S.9)
Boston, Massachusetts – The Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) applauds the Legislature and the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy for their historic leadership on Bill S.9, An Act Creating a Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy. SEBANE celebrates the first major update to the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, and the expansion of equitable access to renewable energy.
"S.9 is an important step forward for the Commonwealth, and sets us on the right path to address climate change head-on," said Mark Sylvia, president of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE). "SEBANE and our members urge the passage of S.9. We also look forward to working with the legislature to address critical issues like interconnection and rate design that inhibit solar resources from making a greater contribution to our clean energy future."
SEBANE STATEMENT ON BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE ORDERS ON JOBS, CLEAN ENERGY AND CLIMATE JUSTICE
February 11, 2021 8:34 PM | Anonymous
Boston, Massachusetts – The Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) commends the Biden-Harris Administration for acting quickly to advance clean energy policies through several executive orders designed to combat climate change and drive clean energy jobs growth, while ensuring an equitable transition to a clean energy future.
"The President went right to work delivering on campaign pledges to support clean energy jobs and infrastructure investments," said Mark Sylvia, president of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE). "These actions are a critical first step to build back our country and our economy. As the business voice for solar in New England, SEBANE applauds President Biden and his Administration's embrace of clean energy, innovation, and justice".
While the country continues to recover from COVID-19 disruptions, the President's actions ensure that the ongoing energy transition leaves no American behind. Massachusetts and the country more broadly are presented with an opportunity to utilize solar resources, large and small, to deliver good paying jobs to those hit hardest by not only economic upheaval but also the lingering environmental crisis.
With a clear directive from the President, SEBANE calls on Massachusetts leaders in the Baker Administration, the Massachusetts Legislature and the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to harness this generational opportunity and deliver the economic promise of a clean energy revolution – led by solar. Enacting ambitious clean energy policies could reinforce the role of Massachusetts and the Northeast as clean energy and climate justice leaders for decades to come. SEBANE stands ready to work alongside the President to deliver on his vision to address the climate crisis, while driving economic growth and building a more sustainable energy system.
Solar Energy Business Association of New England, 4 Lan Drive, Suite 100, Westford, MA 01886


Authors: Cardoso, L.N.F.; Nogueira, T.C.M.; Rodrigues, F.A.R.; Oliveira, A.C.A.; Luciano, M.C.S.; Pessoa, C.O.; De Souza, M.V.N.
Source: Medicinal Chemistry Research, v. 26, p. 1605-1608, 2017.
In this study, we present a series of N-acylhydrazones containing thiophene nuclei as a new anticancer class. Fifty-seven compounds in this series were evaluated for their activity against four human cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity (IC50) ranged from 0.82 to 12.90 μM. The compound (E)-N′-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)thiophene-2-carbohydrazide displayed good cytotoxic activity in all cell lines (IC50 = 0.82–5.36 μM) and yielded the best result in this series; therefore, it is an important lead compound in this new class.


text:
Ekaterinburg Legacy | 100 Years After the Russian Revolution
Freeman 's is honored to offer the collection of Father Ivan Storojev, including materials relating to the last days of the Imperial family and a collection of theological works. The lot is to be sold on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in our Oct. 17 Silver, Objets de Vertu, & Russian Works of Art sale. On July 14, 1918, only two days before her execution by the hands of a Bolshevik firing squad in the basement of the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg, the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wrote In her diary, "10:30. Had the joy of an obednitsa [church service] - the young Priest [came] for the 2nd time.This was the last religious service the deeply pious Imperial family would ever attend, and the 'young priest ' was Father Ivan Vladimirovich Storojev (1878-1927)."… Guards from the Ipatiev House had banged on his door early that morning. Father Storozhev thought they had come for him, but no, they wanted him to go next door to conduct a service for the family. "Just stick strictly to what the service is all about", they warned. "We don 't believe in God now, but we remember what the service, the funeral service, is all about.So, nothing but the service. Don 't try to communicate or anything or else we 'll shoot.…During the service, the whole family had seemed to Storojev to be greatly oppressed in spirit … He came away shaken to the core by what he had seen. The Romanovs had, uncharacteristically, all fallen to their knees when his deacon, Buimirov, had sung rather than recited 'At Rest with the Saints ' — the Russian Orthodox prayer for the departed.*… At the end of the service they had all come forward to kiss the cross and Nicholas and Alexandra had taken the sacrament. Covertly, as Storojev passed them to leave, the girls softly whispered a thank-you. "I knew, from the way they conducted themselves," Father Storojev later recalled, "that something fearful and menacing was almost upon the Imperial Family."Rappaport, Helen. The Romanov Sisters, New York: St. Martin 's Press, 2014. Pps. 374-375Storojev was shaken by the experience and wrote about it in pages of the missal he used at the final service for the Romanovs. He preserved the items he used at Ekaterinburg for the rest of his life. Storojev later fled to China where he lived in Harbin, becoming one of the central figures of the Russian community. His family fled China during the Japanese occupation ultimately settling in the West.The collection includes theological books from the 18th through the 20th century all with marginalia notes. The collection includes the missal, blessing cross, pectoral cross, and gospel used at the final church service attended by the Romanovs. The collection also includes medals and orders by Keibel and Eduard, as well as personal effects, such as a silver pocket watch by J. Blondel.Freeman 's is honored to be offering the library and collection of Father Ivan Storojev which has descended in the family, and which will be offered as a single lot, to maintain the integrity of this valuable historic collection.View more from the Silver, Objets de Vertu, & Russian Works of Art sale here.