[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-46177-en":3,"doc-seo-46177-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":96},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},46177,962075114765,"Quinn","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",8,"Research & Report","Reflections on the Identity of the Arabian Conquerors of the Seventh-Century Middle East","This paper reflects on how to understand the identity of the seventh-century Arabian conquerors in the Middle East, drawing on the author’s experience writing In God’s Path (Oxford, 2015). It engages with influential arguments by Fred Donner and Peter Webb and aims to respond to their publications while exploring how the scholarly debate can move forward. It also addresses methodological limits, especially sparse early documentation and the interpretive flexibility of surviving evidence.","Reflections on the Identity of the Arabian Conquerors of the Seventh-Century Middle East  \nRobeRt G . Hoyland  \nInstitute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University  \n([rgh2@nyu.edu](rgh2@nyu.edu))  \nAbstract  \nThis paper offers some reflections on the nature of the identity of the seventh-century Arabian conquerors of the Middle East based on the author’s own experience of writing about this topic in his book In God’s Path (Oxford 2015). This subject has been considerably enlivened by the influential and provocative publications of Fred Donner (Muhammad and the Believers, 2010) and Peter Webb (Imagining the Arabs, 2016) . What follows is an attempt to respond to and engage with these publications and to offer some thoughts on how this debate might productively move forward.  \nIntroduction  \nThis article began its life as a reply to some negative reviews of my book In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the First Islamic Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), in particular those by Fred Donner and Peter Webb. However, in the process of reflection I became more interested in the issues which underlay their reviews, especially the matter of the identity of the key participants in the Arabian conquest of the Middle East. Both scholars have written books which deal innovatively with this issue and which, despite their recent date, have already had a substantial impact upon the field.1 This is due in part to the originality of their ideas and in part to the current enthusiasm for this topic, for, as Webb has recently observed,“the study of communal identities in the early Muslim-era Middle East is perhaps  \n1. Donner articulates his theory in three works: “From Believers to Muslims: Confessional Self-identity in the Early Islamic Community,” al-Abhath 50-51 (2002-03): 9-53; Muhammad and the Believers. At the Origins of Islam (Cambridge MA: Belknap Press, 2010); and his review of my In God’s Path in Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā 23 (2015): 134-40. Webb presents his theory in his book Imagining the Arabs: Arab Identity and the Rise ofIslam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016), on which see Philip Wood’s review in this issue of Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā; in his review of my In God’s Path: “The March of Islam”, Times Literary Supplement, 13 March 2015, 24; and in the article in the following footnote.  \nAl-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā 25 (2017): 113-140  \nthe most direct pathway into the heart of pressing questions about the rise of Islam”.2 What follows is a discussion of their theories about the identity of the Arabian conquerors together with some ideas of my own and replies to what I feel are misunderstandings of my position in In God’s Path. Since the three of us have thought long and hard about this topic, it is to be hoped that it will be of some benefit to readers to see our different perspectives contrasted and compared.  \nAlthough it is by now something of a ritual, it is necessary to highlight, for newcomers at least, the paucity of documentation coming from within the community of the prophet Muhammad in the first sixty years after his death in 632 CE, which makes it difficult to say anything concrete about this community’s self-definition. It is not just that documents are few, but also they are not really of the right sort (mostly they are army requisition notes, tax demands, prayers and coin legends) to yield information on this topic.3 Inevitably this has led to a proliferation of theories about what was going on. It is crucial to bear in mind, though, that all are to some extent speculative—notwithstanding their purveyors’ often assiduous protestations to the contrary—and the scraps of evidence that are deployed to underpin them are open to different interpretations. For example, the most striking thing in the eyes of many is that Muhammad is not mentioned on any media until the 680s, but conclusions from that vary from the non-existence of Muhammad (Yehuda Nevo) to the ecumenical nature of early Islam (Fred Donner) .4  \nW","cbCaiqyLANjWIYTv","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqyLANjWIYTv","pdf",337588,10,1,28,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Scholarly context and motivations\n## Limits of early documentation and evidence\n## Competing theories and interpretive challenges","[{\"question\":\"What is the main focus of this paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper reflects on how to understand the identity of the seventh-century Arabian conquerors in the Middle East and how scholarly debate on that identity should proceed.\"},{\"question\":\"Which works does the author engage with?\",\"answer\":\"The author responds to and builds on influential publications by Fred Donner (Muhammad and the Believers, 2010) and Peter Webb (Imagining the Arabs, 2016), and connects this discussion to his own book In God’s Path (2015).\"},{\"question\":\"Why is it difficult to determine early community self-definition?\",\"answer\":\"Documentation from within the prophet Muhammad’s community in the first sixty years after 632 CE is scarce and often not the right kind of material, leaving conclusions open to multiple interpretations.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the author assess later Muslim accounts as historical sources?\",\"answer\":\"Later ninth-century Muslim narratives are treated with caution because they function as legal and moral proof texts, reducing their reliability as straightforward historical evidence.\"}]",1783472394,71,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":91,"head_meta":93,"extra_data":95,"updated_unix":28},"reflections-on-the-identity-of-the-arabian-conquerors-of-the-seventh-century-middle-east","",{"@graph":36,"@context":90},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/reflections-on-the-identity-of-the-arabian-conquerors-of-the-seventh-century-middle-east/46177/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19","2026-07-08",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82,86],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What is the main focus of this paper?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"The paper reflects on how to understand the identity of the seventh-century Arabian conquerors in the Middle East and how scholarly debate on that identity should proceed.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Which works does the author engage with?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The author responds to and builds on influential publications by Fred Donner (Muhammad and the Believers, 2010) and Peter Webb (Imagining the Arabs, 2016), and connects this discussion to his own book In God’s Path (2015).",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"Why is it difficult to determine early community self-definition?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Documentation from within the prophet Muhammad’s community in the first sixty years after 632 CE is scarce and often not the right kind of material, leaving conclusions open to multiple interpretations.",{"name":87,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":88},"How does the author assess later 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