Muhammad and The Jews — Page 11
INTRODUCTION spectively when the camel caravan of the unlucky B. al-Na9ir wound its way from Medina to K. haybar. It was on such an occasion when Noldeke simply remarked: "It may have been so; but maybe it was entirely different. "1 But one thing is certain: lbn Isl)aq's attitude, as we shall see later in our examination of his reports, is consistently tilted against the Jews of the J:Iijaz. lbn Isl)aq has been commended by the early Muslim rijiil specialists and modern scholars-Muslim and non-Muslim. Though "as is usual in the literature of djarh wa ta"- di!, we find the early Muslim critics expressing diametrically opposed judgments on Ibn Isl)ak", 2 the majority holds him in high regard. Al-Zuhri described him as "the most knowledgeable of men in maghiizi" 3 and "-A~im b. "-Umar b. Qatadah said that "knowledge will remain amongst us as long as lbn lsl)aq lives''. 4 Shu"-bah b. al-I;Jajjaj (85/704-160/776) described him the amir of Traditionists because of his memory. 5 Sufyan b. "-Uyaynah (107/725-198/813) said he did not know anyone who accused (yattahim) lbn Isl)iiq (in !jaduh). 6 Imam Shafi"-! said, "he who wants to study the maghilzi in depth should consult Ibn lsl)aq". 7 Yal)ya b. Ma"-in and Imam Al)mad b. J:Ianbal considered him trustworthy. 8 Malik b. Anas, however, called him a "dajjiil {charlatan) who belongs to the dajiijilah". 9 According to various versions, Hisham b. "'Urwah also did not considerlbn lsl)aq worthy of credence. lo The 1 Quoted by Franz Rosenthal in his introduction to Charles Cutler Torrey, The Jewish Foundation of Islam, p. 7. 2 J. M. B. Jones, "Ibn Isl,lak", Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed. , Vol. III, pp. 810-811. 3 lbn Sayyid al-Nas, "'Uyiin al-Athar fi Funiin al-Maghiiziwa al-Shamii" iii wa al-Siyar (Cairo, 1356), Vol. I, p. 8. Though a late writer (d. 734/1334), Ibn Sayyid al-Nas collected all the available references to Ibn Isl,laq, both favourable and unfavourable and then tried to defend him against his critics. In his introduction to "'Uyiin (pp. 5-21) Ibn Sayyid al-Nas has provided the most comprehensive summary of Muslim opinion oflbn Isl,laq. 4 Ibid. , p. 9; Tahdhib, Vol. IX, p. 44. 5 Al-Bukhari, Kitiib Ta'rikh al-Kabir, Vol. I. p. 40. 6 Ibid. ; Ibn Khallikan, Vol. IV, p. 276. 7 Ibn Khallikan, Vol. IV, p. 276. s Ibid. , pp. 276-7; Ibn Sayyid al-Nas, pp 10-11. 9 Yaqiit, Mu"'jam al-Udabii', (Cairo, 1935-38), II. p. 400. 1 o See for fuller discussion, Joseph Horovitz, "The Earliest Biographies of the Prophet and their Authors", Islamic Culture, April 1928, pp. 169-80; Hamidullah (1967). 11