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'''''Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World''''' (1977) is a controversial book on the early history of [[Islam]] written by the historians [[Patricia Crone]] and [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]].  

'''''Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World''''' (1977) is a controversial book on the early history of [[Islam]] written by the historians [[Patricia Crone]] and [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]].  

Drawing on [[archaeological]] evidence and contemporary documents in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Coptic language|Coptic]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Latin]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]], ''Hagarism'' depicts an early Islam very different from the traditionally-accepted version derived from Muslim historical accounts..<ref>[[Daniel Pipes]]. "[http://www.meforum.org/article/480 Lessons from the Prophet Muhammad's Diplomacy]". ''The Middle East Quarterly''. September 1999. Volume VI: Number 3. ''Hagarism, a 1977 study by Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, the authors completely exclude the Arabic literary sources and reconstruct the early history of Islam only from the information to be found in Arabic papyri, coins, and inscriptions as well as non-Arabic literary sources in a wide array of languages (Aramaic, Armenian, Coptic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac).''</ref><ref>[[Oleg Grabar]]. Speculum, Vol. 53, No. 4. (Oct., 1978), pp. 795-799. ''What we know as Islam, the authors claim, was a Jewish messianic movement known, primarily in Syriac (but also reflected in Armenian and Hebrew) sources, as Hagarism, which moved into the Fertile Crescent, was heavily influenced by the Samaritans and by Babylonian Judaism, and at a certain point (presumably at the time of Abd al-Malik, ca. 690) shed its Judaicizing identity to become Arab Islam. This first change required the recasting of whatever memories or records existed of the movement’s birth into a more or less coherent form, a process which occupied much of the following century.''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/04/28/d60428020635.htm|title=Hagarism: The Story of a Book Written by Infidels for Infidels|accessdate=2006-06-12|author=Liaquat Ali Khan}}''The book titled "Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World," questions just about everything Muslims believe as historical truths. It challenges the common belief that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad over a period of 22 years (610-632) in Mecca and Medina. Instead, the book contends that the Quran was composed, possibly in Syria or Iraq, more than fifty years after the Prophet's death, projected back in time, and attributed to the Prophet. ''</ref>

Drawing on [[archaeological]] evidence and contemporary documents in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Coptic language|Coptic]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Latin]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]], ''Hagarism'' depicts an early Islam very different from the traditionally-accepted version derived from Muslim historical accounts.<ref>[[Daniel Pipes]]. "[http://www.meforum.org/article/480 Lessons from the Prophet Muhammad's Diplomacy]". ''The Middle East Quarterly''. September 1999. Volume VI: Number 3. ''Hagarism, a 1977 study by Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, the authors completely exclude the Arabic literary sources and reconstruct the early history of Islam only from the information to be found in Arabic papyri, coins, and inscriptions as well as non-Arabic literary sources in a wide array of languages (Aramaic, Armenian, Coptic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac).''</ref><ref>[[Oleg Grabar]]. Speculum, Vol. 53, No. 4. (Oct., 1978), pp. 795-799. ''What we know as Islam, the authors claim, was a Jewish messianic movement known, primarily in Syriac (but also reflected in Armenian and Hebrew) sources, as Hagarism, which moved into the Fertile Crescent, was heavily influenced by the Samaritans and by Babylonian Judaism, and at a certain point (presumably at the time of Abd al-Malik, ca. 690) shed its Judaicizing identity to become Arab Islam. This first change required the recasting of whatever memories or records existed of the movement’s birth into a more or less coherent form, a process which occupied much of the following century.''</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/04/28/d60428020635.htm|title=Hagarism: The Story of a Book Written by Infidels for Infidels|accessdate=2006-06-12|author=Liaquat Ali Khan}}''The book titled "Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World," questions just about everything Muslims believe as historical truths. It challenges the common belief that the Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad over a period of 22 years (610-632) in Mecca and Medina. Instead, the book contends that the Quran was composed, possibly in Syria or Iraq, more than fifty years after the Prophet's death, projected back in time, and attributed to the Prophet. ''</ref>

According to ''Hagarism'', the [[Arab]] conquests and the formation of the [[caliphate]] were a peninsular Arab movement inspired by [[Jewish]] [[messianism]], which, in alliance with [[Jews]], attempted to reclaim the [[Promised Land]] from the [[Byzantine Empire]]. The [[Qur'an]] would then be the product of 8th-century edits of various materials drawn from a variety of [[Judeo-Christian]] and [[Middle East|Middle-Eastern]] sources, and [[Muhammad]] the herald of [[Umar]] "the redeemer", a [[Jew|Judaic]] messiah.<ref>The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book, 1998 [[Ibn Warraq]] ''A group of scholars influenced by Wansbrough took an even more radical approach; they rejected wholesale the entire Islamic version of early Islamic history. Michael Cook, Patricia Crone, and Martin Hinds writing between 1977 and 1987 regard the whole established version of Islamic history down at least to the time of Abd al-Malik (685-705) as a later fabrication, and reconstruct the Arab Conquests and the formation of the Caliphate as a movement of peninsular Arabs who had been inspired by Jewish messianism to try to reclaim the Promised Land. In this interpretation, Islam emerged as an autonomous religion and culture only within the process of a long struggle for identity among the disparate peoples yoked together by the Conquests: Jacobite Syrians, Nestorian Aramaeans in Iraq, Copts, Jews, and (finally) peninsular Arabs.''</ref>

According to ''Hagarism'', the [[Arab]] conquests and the formation of the [[caliphate]] were a peninsular Arab movement inspired by [[Jewish]] [[messianism]], which, in alliance with [[Jews]], attempted to reclaim the [[Promised Land]] from the [[Byzantine Empire]]. The [[Qur'an]] would then be the product of 8th-century edits of various materials drawn from a variety of [[Judeo-Christian]] and [[Middle East|Middle-Eastern]] sources, and [[Muhammad]] the herald of [[Umar]] "the redeemer", a [[Jew|Judaic]] messiah.<ref>The Origins of The Koran: Classic Essays on Islam’s Holy Book, 1998 [[Ibn Warraq]] ''A group of scholars influenced by Wansbrough took an even more radical approach; they rejected wholesale the entire Islamic version of early Islamic history. Michael Cook, Patricia Crone, and Martin Hinds writing between 1977 and 1987 regard the whole established version of Islamic history down at least to the time of Abd al-Malik (685-705) as a later fabrication, and reconstruct the Arab Conquests and the formation of the Caliphate as a movement of peninsular Arabs who had been inspired by Jewish messianism to try to reclaim the Promised Land. In this interpretation, Islam emerged as an autonomous religion and culture only within the process of a long struggle for identity among the disparate peoples yoked together by the Conquests: Jacobite Syrians, Nestorian Aramaeans in Iraq, Copts, Jews, and (finally) peninsular Arabs.''</ref>

==Impact==

==Impact==

Hagarism is widely cited by many modern historians of early Islam, including [[Bernard Lewis]],<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''The Jews of Islam'', Princeton University Press, p.203,p. 231</ref> [[Robert G. Hoyland]],<ref>Robert G. Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'' (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam), Darwin Press, 1998</ref> [[Reza Aslan]],<ref>Reza Aslan, ''No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam'', Random House, 2005</ref> [[G. R. Hawting]],<ref>G. R. Hawting, ''The First Dynasty of Islam'', Southern Illinois Univ Press, pp.19, 44, 71, 121, 132, 133, 140</ref><ref>G. R. Hawting, ''The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History From Polemic to History''</ref> [[Herbert Berg]],<ref>Herbert Berg, ''Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins'', Brill, Leiden and Boston, 2003, pp. 114, 126, 133, 288, 297, 374, 391</ref> [[Francis Edwards Peters]],<ref>F. E. Peters, ''Muhammad and the Origins of Islam'', State University of New York Press </ref> [[S. N. Eisenstadt]],<ref>S. N. Eisenstadt, ''Jewish Civilization: The Jewish Historical Experience in a Comparative Perspective'', State University of New York Press, 1992</ref> [[Ziauddin Sardar]],<ref>Ziauddin Sardar, ''Orientalism'',  Open University Press, 1999</ref> [[Malise Ruthven]],<ref>Malise Ruthven, ''Islam in the World'', Oxford University Press, 2000</ref> [[Richard Landes]],<ref>Richard Landes, ''The Apocalyptic Year 1000: Religious Expectation and Social Change, 950–1050''</ref> and [[John Wansbrough]],<ref>J. Wansbrough, <!--article title?--> ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, '''41''':1:155-156 (1978)</ref>[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=Hagarism&num=100&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_allsubj=all&hl=en&lr=] as well as critics (like [[Ibn Warraq]]<ref>Ibn Warraq, ''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'', Prometheus Books, 2000</ref>). It is on the suggested reading list of the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] of London [http://www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/IslamicLaw/ReadingList.html] and other various major universities' Middle East studies reading lists [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/programs/civreadinglist.htm][http://www.unc.edu/~elg/Islamic_studies_syllabus.html].

Hagarism is widely cited by many modern historians of early Islam, including [[Bernard Lewis]],<ref>Bernard Lewis, ''The Jews of Islam'', Princeton University Press, p.203,p. 231</ref> [[Robert G. Hoyland]],<ref>Robert G. Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'' (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam), Darwin Press, 1998</ref> [[Reza Aslan]],<ref>Reza Aslan, ''No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam'', Random House, 2005</ref> [[G. R. Hawting]],<ref>G. R. Hawting, ''The First Dynasty of Islam'', Southern Illinois Univ Press, pp.19, 44, 71, 121, 132, 133, 140</ref><ref>G. R. Hawting, ''The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History From Polemic to History''</ref> [[Herbert Berg]],<ref>Herbert Berg, ''Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins'', Brill, Leiden and Boston, 2003, pp. 114, 126, 133, 288, 297, 374, 391</ref> [[Francis Edwards Peters]],<ref>F. E. Peters, ''Muhammad and the Origins of Islam'', State University of New York Press</ref> [[S. N. Eisenstadt]],<ref>S. N. Eisenstadt, ''Jewish Civilization: The Jewish Historical Experience in a Comparative Perspective'', State University of New York Press, 1992</ref> [[Ziauddin Sardar]],<ref>Ziauddin Sardar, ''Orientalism'',  Open University Press, 1999</ref> [[Malise Ruthven]],<ref>Malise Ruthven, ''Islam in the World'', Oxford University Press, 2000</ref> [[Richard Landes]],<ref>Richard Landes, ''The Apocalyptic Year 1000: Religious Expectation and Social Change, 950–1050''</ref> and [[John Wansbrough]],<ref>J. Wansbrough, <!--article title?--> ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, '''41''':1:155-156 (1978)</ref>[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=Hagarism&num=100&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_allsubj=all&hl=en&lr=] as well as critics (like [[Ibn Warraq]]<ref>Ibn Warraq, ''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'', Prometheus Books, 2000</ref>). It is on the suggested reading list of the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] of London [http://www.soas.ac.uk/Centres/IslamicLaw/ReadingList.html] and other various major universities' Middle East studies reading lists [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/programs/civreadinglist.htm][http://www.unc.edu/~elg/Islamic_studies_syllabus.html].

In 1995, [[Michael Lecker]] proposed much more conservative theories of early Jewish/Islamic relations in ''The conversion of Himyar to Judaism and the Jewish Banu Hadl of Medina''<ref>Michael Lecker, ''The conversion of Himyar to Judaism and the Jewish Banu Hadl of Medina'', Die Welt des Orients 26, Gottingen, 1995</ref>, and ''Judaism among Kinda and the'' ridda ''of Kinda''<ref>Michael Lecker, ''Judaism among Kind and the'' ridda ''of Kinda'', Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, New Haven, 1995</ref> and ''Zayd b. Thabit, 'a Jew with two sidelocks': Judaism and literacy in pre-Islamic Medina (Yatrib)''.<ref>Michael Lecker, ''Zayd b. Thabit, 'a Jew with two sidelocks': Judaism and literacy in pre-Islamic Medina (Yatrib)'', Journal of Near Eastern Studies 56, Chicago, 1997.</ref>

In 1995, [[Michael Lecker]] proposed much more conservative theories of early Jewish/Islamic relations in ''The conversion of Himyar to Judaism and the Jewish Banu Hadl of Medina'',<ref>Michael Lecker, ''The conversion of Himyar to Judaism and the Jewish Banu Hadl of Medina'', Die Welt des Orients 26, Gottingen, 1995</ref> and ''Judaism among Kinda and the'' ridda ''of Kinda''<ref>Michael Lecker, ''Judaism among Kind and the'' ridda ''of Kinda'', Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, New Haven, 1995</ref> and ''Zayd b. Thabit, 'a Jew with two sidelocks': Judaism and literacy in pre-Islamic Medina (Yatrib)''.<ref>Michael Lecker, ''Zayd b. Thabit, 'a Jew with two sidelocks': Judaism and literacy in pre-Islamic Medina (Yatrib)'', Journal of Near Eastern Studies 56, Chicago, 1997.</ref>

In 1997, [[Robert G. Hoyland]] described the legacy of ''Hagarism'' this way: "Almost two decades ago Patricia Crone and Michael Cook followed [French historian Claude Cahen's] advice in their reconstruction of the rise of Islam, which they attempted to write on the basis of testimony external to Islamic tradition.  Yet, with a few notable exceptions [Conrad and Morony for example] this line line of inquiry has not been pursued. This is unfortunate ... surely if one wishes to gain a proper understanding of the events and developments of this age, one must elicit the opinions of all those who participated in them... It is this belief and the example of the aforementioned scholars [referring to Crone & Cook] that have inspired this book ["Seeing Islam as others saw it"]"<ref>Robert G. Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'' (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early; Darwin Press, 1998; p. 2-3</ref>  He characterizes ''hagarism'' as evolving into wider inter-disciplinary and promiscuous literary approach, and goes on to say that further studies will emerge in the [http://www.darwinpress.com/Darwin%20SLAEI%20Series/SLAEI.html ''Studies in Late Antiquity and Early'' series] in which his book appears.  Since then the "SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies"<ref>(SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies). Albany, NY, U.S.A.: State University of New York Press</ref> has also collected a selection of authors who are continuing in a modified form of this theory.

In 1997, [[Robert G. Hoyland]] described the legacy of ''Hagarism'' this way: "Almost two decades ago Patricia Crone and Michael Cook followed [French historian Claude Cahen's] advice in their reconstruction of the rise of Islam, which they attempted to write on the basis of testimony external to Islamic tradition.  Yet, with a few notable exceptions [Conrad and Morony for example] this line line of inquiry has not been pursued. This is unfortunate ... surely if one wishes to gain a proper understanding of the events and developments of this age, one must elicit the opinions of all those who participated in them... It is this belief and the example of the aforementioned scholars [referring to Crone & Cook] that have inspired this book ["Seeing Islam as others saw it"]"<ref>Robert G. Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'' (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early; Darwin Press, 1998; p. 2-3</ref>  He characterizes ''hagarism'' as evolving into wider inter-disciplinary and promiscuous literary approach, and goes on to say that further studies will emerge in the [http://www.darwinpress.com/Darwin%20SLAEI%20Series/SLAEI.html ''Studies in Late Antiquity and Early'' series] in which his book appears.  Since then the "SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies"<ref>(SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies). Albany, NY, U.S.A.: State University of New York Press</ref> has also collected a selection of authors who are continuing in a modified form of this theory.