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Uploaded: 29 Apr 2023 (3 years ago) · Shared: 21 Aug 2025
Duration: 1:54:04
Uploaded: 29 Apr 2023 (3 years ago) · Shared: 21 Aug 2025
Duration: 1:54:04
Youtube Description
Three Ramadan Nights with Harvard Scholars, Qur’anic Topics, MIT, April 17-19, 2023 (Ramadan 1444) Lecture 2: In 2010, Fred Donner published Muhammadand the Believers: At the Origins of Islam, a follow up to his 2003 article, “From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-Identity in the Early Islamic Community.” In these works, Donner argues that the Prophet Muhammad’s followers were actually called Believers (muʾminūn) as opposed to Muslims (muslimūn). Moreover, the early Believers’ movement, as he calls it, was “ecumenical” and consisted of Jews, Christians, and (potentially) other monotheists. Initial reactions to his theory were mixed, but the concept of a Believers’ movement (as opposed to a reified Islamic religion in the lifetime of the Prophet Muḥammad) has resonated widely with scholars. I argue in this study that although Donner was broadly correct in his thesis, he made a basic mistake, which has been subsequently reproduced by numerous scholars since.
The mistake Donner made was to accidentally swap the terms muʿmin and muslim. My close reading of the Qurʾān, as I will expound herein, reveals that the term muʿmin (as well as alladhīna āmanū) refers to a Believer in the Prophet Muhammad and in the Qurʾān (i.e. a follower of Qurʾānic law). As such, it is actually the narrower term, referring to what we today think of as a Muslim. Meanwhile, the term muslim in the Qurʾān itself refers to a Submitter — or, more specifically, a Submitting Monotheist — and encompasses not just muʿminūn (composed mostly but not exclusively of Arabian pagan converts) but also Jews and Christians. As such, muslim is the wider term. The umma muslima (the Submitting community) of the Prophet Muhammad thus consisted of Believers as well as Jews and Christians.
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#prophetmuhammad
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Javad Hashmi Early Islam Judaism IslamSearch Google Search Explore Topics
Who is Javad Hashmi?Javad Hashmi is a board-certified emergency physician, Former Fellow of Medical Ethics, and PhD candidate in the Study of Religion (Islamic Studies) at Harvard University. In addition to his medical training, Dr. Hashmi has bachelors and masters degrees in Arabic & Islamic Studies from UC Berkeley and Harvard, respectively. Currently, he is completing his doctoral dissertation on the topic of jihad in the Quran and during the lifetime of the historical Mu?ammad.
What is Early Islam?Early Islam or the history of Islam is believed, by most historians to have originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE. Although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abrahamic prophets, such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus, with the submission (Islam) to the will of God. According to the traditional account, the Islamic prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations in 610 CE, calling for submission to the one God, preparation for the imminent Last Judgement, and charity for the poor and needy.
What is Judaism?Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is a monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its foundational text (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. The Jews are an ethnoreligious group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2012, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14 million, or roughly 0.2% of the total world population. About 42% of all Jews reside in Israel and about 42% reside in the United States and Canada, with most of the remainder living in Europe.
What is Islam?One of the major religions of the world, Islam literally translates to "submission," as a follower of Islam (Muslims) devotes their life to that of their God. The religion began with the teachings of Muhammad in the 7th century. The theology of Islam is based on the Qur'an, which was given to Muhammad by God. Some of the major fundamental principles of Islam include the Five Pillars, which hope to unite all Muslims into a community. Two different factions of Muslims exist - the majority are known as Sunni, with a small percentage known as Shi'a - both predominantly reside throughout the Middle East. Muhammad died in 632 AD and the religion of Islam formally started after his death. The Quran was formally compiled and finalised in 650 AD, prior to which it was 'memorised' and written across many parchments.
