Conversion to Islam: Competing Themes in Early Islamic Historiography

by Ayman S. Ibrahim

Why did non-Muslims convert to Islam during Muhammad's life and under his immediate successors? How did Muslim historians portray these conversions? Why did their portrayals differ significantly? To what extent were their portrayals influenced by their time of writing, religious inclinations, and political affiliations? These are the fundamental questions that drive this study.

Relying on numerous works, including primary sources from over a hundred classical Muslim historians, Conversion to Islam is the first scholarly study to detect, trace, and analyze conversion themes in early Muslim historiography, emphasizing how classical Muslims remembered conversion, and how they valued and evaluated aspects of it. Ayman S. Ibrahim examines numerous early Muslim sources and wrestles with critical observations regarding the sources' reliability and unearths the hidden link between historical narratives and historians' religious sympathies and political agendas. This study leads readers through a complex body of literature, provides insights regarding historical context, and creates a vivid picture of conversion to Islam as early Muslim historians sought to depict it.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published February 17, 2021

About the author

Ayman S. Ibrahim(PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary; PhD, Haifa University) is Bill and Connie Jenkins Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He was born and raised in Egypt and has taught in various countries in the Muslim world and in the West. His articles on Islam and Christian-Muslim relations have appeared in the Washington Post, Religion News Service, and First Things, among others. Ibrahim is the author of The Stated Motivations for the Early Islamic Expansion.