The Composition of Sayf b. ‘Umar's Account of King Paul and His Corruption of Ancient Christianity

Abstract

The discovery and publication of the manuscript of the Kitāb al-ridda wal-futūḥ of the 2^nd/8^th century historian Sayf b. ‘Umar al-Tamīmī brought with it the potential for profound new insights into the Sayfian historical corpus as well as into the origins of Islamic historiography more generally speaking. The present study examines a new, previously unknown Sayfian narrative brought to light by this manuscript concerning the origins of Christanity and its corruption by Paul the apostle. After demonstrating how Sayf employs this extended narrative as a prolegomena for his considerably more (in)famous narrative of the early heretic Ibn Saba'/Ibn al-Sawdā' – a scheming Jew whom he blames for the emergence of Muslim sectarianism in the caliphate of ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān – this essay demonstrates that Sayf composed his narrative of early Christianity from a mélange of sources (qur'ānic, exegetical, and even Jewish). Finally, the study concludes with a re-evaluation of Sayf's methods and corpus in light of his narrative of Christian origins.