Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments xi
4. Timelines xiii
5. Maps xviii
6. General Introduction 1
7. Part One. The prophet and the empires of the caliphs (ca. seventh–tenth centuries)
8. Introduction 33
9. 1. Conversion in the Qurʾān 41
10. 2. The Conversion of Khadīja bt. Khuwaylid by Muhammad b. Ishāq 46
11. 3. On Three Jewish Converts to Islam from the Banū Qurayza, by Ibn Hishām 51
12. 4. Women Converts and Familial Loyalty in the Time of the Prophet, by Muhammad b. Saʿd 54
13. 5. Reports on Tribal Delegations to the Prophet, by Muhammad b. Saʿd 58
14. 6. The Spread of Islam in Arabia: Expressing Conversion in Poetry, by Selected Early Arabic Poets 63
15. 7. Early Hadīth Touching on Marriage and Conversion, by Ibn Abī Shayba 69
16. 8. Practicalities and Motivations of Conversion as Seen through Early H.adīth and Law, by ʿAbd al-Razzāq b. Humām al-Sanʿānī and Abū Bakr Ah.mad b. Muhammad al-Khallāl 74
17. 9. Christian Conversions to Islam in the Wake of the Arab Conquest, by Anastasius of Sinai 79
18. 10. Jacob of Edessa’s Canonical Responsa about Conversion and Islam, by Jacob of Edessa 83
19. 11. A Multireligious City in Khurāsān Converts to Islam? by Shaykh al-Islām Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh al-Wāʿiz al-Balkhī 88
20. 12. ʿUmar II and the Treatment of the Mawālī, by Ahmad b. Yahyā b. Jābir al-Balādhurī, Muhammad b. Jarīr al-Tabarī, and Abū Muhammad ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Hakam 94
21. 13. Mass Conversion of Christians in Northern Mesopotamia, by Joshua the Stylite of Zuqnīn 101
22. 14. Conversion and Martyrdom in ʿAbbasid Damascus, Anonymous 105
23. 15. Three Accounts of Zoroastrian Conversion to Islam, by Muhammad b. ʿAbdūs al-Jahshiyārī, ʿAlī b. Yūsuf al-Qiftī, and Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahānī 109
24. 16. Conversion to Islam among the Armenian Elite, by Tʽovma Artsruni 114
25. 17. Conversion and Martyrdom in Córdoba, by Eulogius of Córdoba 119
26. 18. A Christian Intellectual Declines to Convert to Islam, by Hunayn b. Ishāq 123
27. 19. The Religious Commitment of the ʿAbbasid “Slave Soldiers,” by Muh.ammad b. Jarīr al-T.abarī and Ah.mad b. Yūsuf “Ibn al-Dāya” 128
28. 20. Zoroastrian Priests Offer Legal Advice about Conversion, by Ādurfarnbag son of Farroxzād and Ēmēd son of Ašawahišt 131
29. 21. A Muslim Poet Consoles a Christian Friend Whose Nephew Has Converted to Islam, by al-Qāsim b. Yahyā al-Maryamī 136
30. Part Two. The islamic commonwealth (ca. tenth–thirteenth centuries)
31. Introduction 141
32. 22. A Christian Convert’s Examination of His Former Faith, by al-Hasan b. Ayyūb 147
33. 23. A Monk’s Conversion to Islam, by Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahānī 152
34. 24. The Conversion of the Volga Bulgars, by Ahmad b. Fadlān b. al-ʿAbbās b. Rāshid b. Hammād 156
35. 25. Notarial Forms for the Conversion of Non-Muslims to Islam, by Ibn al-ʿAttār 160
36. 26. A Monk Deploring the Assimilation of the Christians to the Hagarenes, attributed to a monk called Apollo 167
37. 27. The Foundation of Shaykh Abū Ish.āq Kāzarūnī’s Congregational Mosque, by Mahmūd b. ʿUthmān 172
38. 28. Conversion to Islam under the Fatimid Caliph al-Hākim bi-Amr Allāh, by Michael of Damrū (Mīkhāʾīl al-Damrāwī), Bishop of Tinnīs 178
39. 29. Conversion from Motives of Expediency, by Sibt Ibn al-Jawzī 184
40. 30. Conversion, Confession, Prayer, and Apostasy, by Ibn Rushd al-Jadd al-Qurtubī 186
41. 31. The Conversion of the Turks, by Michael the Syrian 193
42. 32. The Tribulations of a Converted Man’s Daughter, by Bar Hebraeus 196
43. 33. A Polemical Treatise by a Twelfth-Century Jewish Convert to Islam, by Abū Nasr Samawʾal b. Yahyā al-Maghribī 199
44. 34. Anecdotes about Conversion in Twelfth-Century Syria, by Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī, Ibn Rajab, and Diyāʾ al-Dīn al-Maqdisī 205
45. 35. Selections from Two Armenian Martyrologies, Anonymous 210
46. 36. A Letter of Maimonides about Conversion and Martyrdom, Attributed to Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) 215
47. 37. Apostasy in Jewish Responsa, by the Geonim of Babylonia and Abraham Maimonides 220
48. 38. Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam, Anonymous 227
49. 39. Conversion to Islam in the Period of the Crusades, by John of Ibelin, Odo of Deuil, Pope Alexander III, and Anonymous 232
50. 40. Conversion Tales in the Vita of Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh al-Yūnīnī, the Lion of Syria, by Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ahmad ʿUthmān 238
51. Part Three. Sultans, conquerors, and travelers (ca. thirteenth–sixteenth centuries)
52. Introduction 245
53. 41. The Conversion of Medieval Ghāna as Narrated by a Later Ibādī Scholar, by Abū al-ʿAbbās Ahmad b. Saʿīd al-Darjīnī 253
54. 42. Cheraman Perumal and Islam on the Malabar Coast, Anonymous 256
55. 43. The Conversion Miracles and Life of the Dervish Sarı Saltuq, by Muhammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Sarrāj 263
56. 44. The Providential Conversion of the Mongol King of Iran, by Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAlī b. Muh.ammad al-Qāshānī and Rashīd al-Dīn Fad.l Allāh Abū al-Khayr 267
57. 45. The Conversion of ʿAbd al-Sayyid, a Damascene Jew, by Qutb al-Dīn Mūsā b. Muhammad al-Yūnīnī 272
58. 46. An Account of the Conversion of Egypt’s Copts under Duress at the End of the Thirteenth Century, by Taqī al-Dīn Ahmad b. ʿAlī al-Maqrīzī 275
59. 47. A Syriac Communal Lament over Apostasy, Anonymous 280
60. 48. Conversion to Islam in South Asia as Transformation of the Heart, by Hażrat Khwāja Nizām al-Dīn Awliyā and Amīr Hasan ʿAlā Sijzī 286
61. 49. A Jurist’s Responses to Questions Regarding the Conversion of One Spouse, by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya 290
62. 50. Anselm Turmeda/ʿAbd Allāh al-Tarjumān: A Former Mallorcan Franciscan in the Service of the Hafsids in North Africa, by Anselm Turmeda/ʿAbd Allāh al-Tarjumān 295
63. 51. Three Stories of Conversion from the Life of Sayyid Ah.mad Bashīrī, a Sufi of Timurid Central Asia, Anonymous (or Nāsir b. Qāsim b. Hājjī Muhammad Turkistānī Farghānaʾī) 300
64. 52. The Conversion of the Kingdom of Pasai, Indonesia, Anonymous 306
65. 53. A Tract against “Unbelieving Believers” in West Africa, by Muh.ammad b. ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Maghīlī 313
66. 54. Conversions to Islam in a Late Medieval Chronicle from Damascus, by Shihāb al-Dīn Ah.mad b. Tawq and Shams al-Dīn Muhammad b. Tūlūn 317
67. 55. Documentary Records of Conversions among Ottoman Palace Personnel, by Ottoman Officials and Elite Servants of the Sultan 323
68. 56. A Conversion Tale from Java, Indonesia, Anonymous 326
69. 57. The Story of Master She Yunshan’s Conversion in Changzhou, China, by Zhao Can 330
70. Appendix: Sources 337
71. List of Contributors 349
72. Index 351