نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 گروه تاریخ، دانشکده ادبیات و علوم انسانی، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد، مشهد، ایران
2 دکتری، گروه تاریخ اسلام، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Alongside the meticulous recording of Qur'anic verses, the life and conduct of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), as a religious model for Muslims, attracted significant attention from early Islamic scholars and writers, to the extent that even the Prophet's gaze or facial expressions during specific events were carefully documented. This meticulous attention laid the foundation for Islamic historiography, which emerged as one of the earliest sciences in Islamic civilization and significantly influenced the development of various perceptions about the Prophet in later periods—some of which, whether intentionally or unintentionally, presented a biased portrayal of his life. Among these perceptions is the image of Islam as a religion spread by the sword, a notion that has been perpetuated over time. A major part of this skewed portrayal originates from the way early Islamic authors, particularly in their treatment of the Prophet’s military campaigns, emphasized violence
in the Prophet’s methods of expanding Islam, while others—due to either academic shortcomings or lack of critical perspective—reproduced these narratives. This trend was further reinforced in post-18th century orientalist writings, where references to Islamic sources lent a pseudo-academic legitimacy to these biases. Central to this process is Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 923 CE) and his seminal work Tārīkh al-Umam wa al-Mulūk (commonly known as Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī), which holds an indispensable position in Islamic historiography, particularly due to its preservation of otherwise lost earlier sources and its comprehensive inclusion of diverse narratives. The prominence of Ṭabarī’s account in subsequent historical texts has rendered it highly influential in shaping prevailing perceptions of the Prophet’s life among Western scholars. One of the most critical of these perceptions is the notion that the Prophet predominantly employed violence in spreading Islam. This study seeks to assess the extent to which violence was highlighted in Ṭabarī’s portrayal of the Prophet, in contrast to his other peaceful methods such as preaching, education, treaty-making, and trust-building. By defining independent variables for both peaceful and forceful methods—such as verbal invitation, kind behavior toward opponents versus conflict, threats, war, assassination, exile, execution of captives, and retaliation—the study reveals that Ṭabarī's historical narrative significantly amplifies acts of violence, while relegating the Prophet’s peaceful strategies to the margins.
کلیدواژهها [English]
)