Sean Anthony: The Historical Muhammad, Crucifixion, and the Arab Conquests

Great guest and excellent topic!

It was nice hearing about the state of the academia as well

Great video

I relate with what Gabriel Said Reynolds said about the Egyptian dialect. I studied classical Arabic in Egypt but still have less trouble with Levantine dialects.

This channel is just such a rich treat. I've been teaching myself the history of Islam for years now and these conversations are incredibly value as I struggle to orient myself in the field. My graduate work was in early medieval history, in particular, Christianity (dissertation was on the role of ritual in conversion and christianization). And I'm currently teaching a religion in history course at a prep school and have been trying to develop a command of the material to do Islam justice. It's not easy to replicate the graduate school experience necessary to do that but this channel certainly helps in terms of basic orientation to the field. And the conversations are just so cool! I'd love to just hang out with you guys! All of which is to say thank you; I'm deeply grateful (and inspired!)!

Thank you for sharing .

Thank you very much for the video, Dr. Reynolds. And thank you to Dr. Anthony. As a believer & an avid learner of Qur’anic studies & religion in general, its a fantastic blessing to be able to access these scholarly discussions and resources from the comfort of our own home, and be connected to such erudite thinkers like yourself for free. Definitely not to be taken for granted. It’s also a nice coincidence that I was just introduced to Dr. Sean Anthony & his work very recently, and then this video was released :) I also just happened to be thinking about the idea of crucifixion as well, and specifically the claim made by some critics that the Qur’an is mistaken in referring to “crucifixion” at the time of Pharaoh, Joseph & the ancient Egyptian dynasties—but, as Dr. Anthony himself confirmed, the term “sallab/yusallab” in Arabic can simply refer to any impalement-like state of being (that is centered around the torso or abdomen); and hence the word itself derives from “sulb”—which literally means ‘abdomen’. And so despite frequent inaccurate translations of the Qur’an (due to an innocent lack of historical knowledge & awareness on the part of imperfect translators), the word is often flatly translated “crucifixion” when in fact it can also validly be rendered as “impaled”. And in fact, this actually fits in more nicely and makes more sense in the context of the Qur’anic image of the Pharoah, which explicitly declares him to be the “possessor of stakes” (أوتاد) which we now know was among the primary tools of choice for many for traitors & other criminals in those ancient Egyptian dynasties. Moreover the Qur’an quotes the Mosaic Pharaoh as saying things like ”I shall cut off your hands and feet from opposite ends, and THEN I shall impale you” (la’usallibannakum) which only makes sense if we think of traditional ‘impalement’ on a stake, as opposed to Roman-like crucifixion, where the hands & feet were necessary to lock in with nails or ropes. But, I digress. Dr. Sean Anthony seems to have a lot of other great works and ideas, and I’ll definitely be checking out his others works soon. Thanks again for the upload, and I hope to see the next one soon! P.S. Could I humbly recommend that you consider inviting Dr. A’isha Y. Musa of the United States to your show? She wrote a fascinating book some years ago titled ”Hadith As Scripture: Discussions on the Authority of Prophetic Traditions in Islam” which I think is a fascinating topic, especially in light of the large wave of Qur’an-only (Hadith-rejecting/skeptical) movements currently sweeping the Islamic world. I know it’s not directly tied to the Qur’an, per say, but the implications it has to the Qur’an and its history & exegesis (and the history of Islamic thought as a whole) is nonetheless momentous and profound. Peace/Salam.

Great discussion. Thank you.

Kindly invite Dr Ali Attie to your prodcast: He is a staunch scholar in the historical aspect of Judaism,Chrisainty and Islam: well versed in Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek. He will enrich your activity in the history of the Abrahamic faith.

Host is amazing very knowledgeable , fair and balanced.

Came here from MythVision...

I have been a great fan of Dr. Anthony ever since I read his work the Caliph and the heretic His dissection of the sources an early shiaism has them was great especially the section on the followers or alleged followers of Ibn Saba But with extreme sadness I have to say that his views have seem to lot closer now To that of Jonathan Brown ( apologetic of early Arab sources and accepting them without question ) than healthy skepticism of Fred Donner Maybe Dr Anthony now has changed his faith That is reflecting on his scholarship Anyway fascinating to hear anybody talking about this time. And again deeply appreciate the host for giving us that opportunity

55:49

I am a sckeptic of Islam Traditions. That is, complete codexes of Hadiths, Tafsir, Sirat are very late 11th to 12th century CE and attributed to scholar of the 9th and 10th century....Professor Anthony, seems to think and have references to sustain the tradition stories. Please explain.

Adel Imam is great! Morgan Ahmed Morgan is hilarious!

I am reading Muhammad and the Empires of Faith now. I am really enjoying it--very well-researched.

I wonder what Dr. Anthony would think about Muhammad's 'Read!' revelation relating to St. Augustine's account of an apparently angelic voice telling him to 'take and read' the scriptures, having been inspired by the example of the desert hermit St. Anthony the Great: "I flung myself down beneath a fig tree and gave way to tears... all at once I heard the singsong voice of a child, 'Take it and read it, take it and read it...' I opened the book of the Scriptures and read the first passage my eye fell on, for I had heard the story of Anthony, and I remembered how he happened to go into a church while the Gospel was being read and taken it as a counsel addressed to himself when he heard the words, 'Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and come and follow me.'" -- Ward, B., The Desert Fathers, Penguin, 2003, p. xix

I often hear phrases such as “the extremes of revisionism or a naive approach to the sources…” I’d be very interested in a topic that defines some of these approaches. Who are some academics whom are labeled as such but still garner some respect for their vigor in research? Perhaps a panel conversation would help define the spectrum of academic study in your field?

This is not about the historical Muhammad. False click bait title.

Comparison of Caedmon and Muhammad: 1. Caedmon withdraws from society, in order to find solitude. 2. Caedmon falls asleep. 3. Caedmon receives a vision of an angel. 4. The angel commands Caedmon to recite. 5. Caedmon protests that he cannot. 6. The angel again commands Caedmon to recite. 7. Caedmon asks what he is to recite. 8. The angel tells him to sing of Creation. 9. Caedmon recites the hymn. 10. Learned Christian scholars validate the experience. 1. Muhammad withdraws from society, in order to find solitude. 2. Muhammad falls asleep. 3. Muhammad receives a vision of an angel. 4. The angel commands Muhammad to recite. 5. Muhammad protests that he cannot. 6. The angel again commands Muhammad to recite. 7. Muhammad asks what he is to recite. 8. The angel tells him to sing of the Creator. 9. Muhammad recites the Quran. 10. A learned Christian scholar validates the experience.