Chronicle, and in turn as reflecting more or less what Dionysius likely found in Theophilus’s now lost mid-eighth-century Chronicle.
Therefore this Muhammad, while in the measure and stature of youth, began to go up and come down from his city Yathrib to Palestine for the business of buying and selling. And while he was engaged in this region, he encountered the belief in one God, and it was pleasing to his eyes. And when he went back down to the people of his tribe, he set this belief before them, and when he persuaded a few, they followed him. And at the same time he would also extol for them the excellence of the land of Palestine, saying that “Because of belief in the one God, such a good and fertile land has been given to them.” And he would add, “If you will listen to me, God will also give you a fine land flowing with milk and honey.” And when he wanted to prove his word, he led a band of those who were obedient to him, and he began to go up and plunder the land of Palestine, taking captives and pillaging. And he returned, laden [with booty] and unharmed, and he did not fall short of his promise to them.
Since the love of possessions drives such behavior to become a habit, they began continually going out and coming back for plunder. And when those who were not yet following him saw those who had submitted to him becoming wealthy with an abundance of riches, they were drawn to his service without compulsion. And when, after these [raids], the men following him became numerous and were a great force, he no longer [went forth but] allowed98 them to raid while he sat in honor in Yathrib, his city. And once they had been sent out, it was not enough for them to remain only in Palestine, but they were going much further afield, killing openly, taking captives, laying waste, and pillaging. And even this was not enough for them, but they forced them to pay tribute and enslaved them. Thus they gradually grew strong and spread abroad, and they grew so powerful that they subjugated almost all the land of the Romans and the kingdom of the Persians under their authority.99
The indication that the initial Islamic attacks on Palestine began during Muhammad’s lifetime and under his leadership is quite clear here, and comparison with Michael’s Chronicle confirms that Dionysius must have written something very similar in his early ninth-century Chronicle. Since Dionysius is believed to best preserve Theophilus’s lost chronicle, it is further likely that this account bears a strong resemblance to Theophilus’s description of the rise of Islam. Nevertheless, Theophanes and Agapius are not able to confirm the presence of this report in Theophilus’s Chronicle, since they have both utilized other sources in their descriptions of the rise of Islam.100 Fortunately, another source is available to verify that Theophilus’s Chronicle almost certainly contained a passage similar to the one above and, more importantly, that it described Muhammad’s leadership during the initial phase of the conquest of Palestine. The East Syrian Chronicle of Siirt, written in Arabic during the tenth century, also depends on Theophilus’s lost Chronicle for its knowledge of many early seventh-century events, including the rise of Islam in particular.101 Although many details found in Dionysius’s account do not appear in the Chronicle of Siirt, the latter similarly indicates Muhammad’s leadership during the initial assault on the Roman Near East in a report that almost certainly depends on Theophilus’s earlier Chronicle. The Chronicle of Siirt begins its account of the rise of Islam by introducing Muhammad’s appearance among the Arabs and briefly describing his religious teachings. Then it continues to relate the events of the conquests: “And Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullah was a strong and powerful leader. In the eighteenth year of Heraclius [627/28], Emperor of the Greeks, the year in which Ardasir the son of Siroe the son of Khosro Parvez reigned [629/30], the Arabs began their conquests, and Islam became powerful. And after that Muhammad no longer went forth in battle, and he began to send out his companions.”102 This passage is obviously much more terse than the account in Dionysius’s Chronicle, but it is sufficient to confirm that the Chronicle of Theophilus, which was their common source, described Muhammad as initiating Near Eastern conquests and then withdrawing, entrusting the command during further expansions to others among his followers.
It would seem that Theophilus has perhaps here also combined two separate traditions about Muhammad’s relation to the Near Eastern conquest: one reporting his direct involvement, as indicated in the first section, and a second that remembered Muhammad as remaining behind, sending forth his followers instead to assault the Roman and Persian empires. Quite possibly, this structure reflects an effort to merge the divergent accounts of the Christian historical tradition with the early biographies of Muhammad that were just beginning to emerge at this time. As Conrad has demonstrated, Theophilus appears to have had access to the nascent Islamic historical tradition in some form, and one would imagine that this was the source of his second tradition separating a still-living Muhammad from later events of the conquests.103 Thus, in a schema that offers an intriguing parallel to the Spanish Eastern Source, which also seems to have had knowledge of the early Islamic historical tradition, Theophilus has possibly harmonized these disparate memories according to a two-stage narrative of the Islamic conquests that begins with Muhammad’s leadership of the initial attacks on Palestine and then is followed by his withdrawal to Medina and a more extensive conquest of the Near East after his death under the leadership of Abū Bakr. Like the Spanish Eastern Source, Theophilus achieves this structure by advancing the onset of the Islamic conquests several years in order to place the initial Islamic attacks on Palestine within the traditional lifespan of Muhammad, that is, before 632, a date that Theophilus may also have learned from his Islamic sources.104
Theophilus’s Chronicle is certainly not free from polemic in its description of the rise of Islam, at least if the Chronicle of 1234 at all represents his account accurately. The earliest followers of Muhammad are depicted as being interested only in plunder, and their successful conquest of the Near East is ultimately accredited to their excessive greed. Moreover, Muhammad’s early travels to Palestine as a merchant are clearly linked with a greater narrative having an apologetic agenda. These trips introduced him to the monotheistic beliefs of the Jews and Christians living there, and the chronicle identifies these as the source of his religious inspiration. The clear implication seems to be that Islam represents nothing more than a rehashing of the Judeo-Christian monotheistic traditions that Muhammad picked up during his visits to Palestine. Nonetheless, Muhammad’s leadership during the conquest of Palestine plays no discernable role in this polemical narrative of Islamic origins: only Muhammad’s travels to Palestine as a merchant are enlisted to mark Islam as derivative of Judaism and Christianity. Moreover, in contrast to his followers, Muhammad does not act out of greed but instead because of his devotion to the monotheistic traditions that he encountered in Palestine. Thus, his leadership of the initial attacks on Palestine is not ascribed to the covetous motives of his followers but instead to a prophetic call to lead them to the land of divine promise. In any case, Theophilus’s identification of Muhammad as alive and leading the initial assaults on Palestine is clear, and the fact that he preserves this tradition perhaps in the face of new information issuing from the nascent Islamic historical tradition is a testament to how deeply engrained the tradition of Muhammad’s leadership during the Palestinian campaign remained in Christian historiography approximately one century after the events.
The Short Syriac Chronicle of 775 (ca. 775 CE)
Among several short Syriac chronicles from the eighth century is an anonymous chronicle sometimes known by the title that it bears in the unique manuscript preserving it: “An Account of the Generations, Races, and Years from Adam until the Present Day.” This chronicle runs very quickly through the main events and figures of the Bible, following these with a list of Roman emperors and the length of their reigns. When it reaches the seventh century, the chronicle interrupts the reign of Heraclius with a brief mention of the Islamic conquests; then it continues to give a list of the early Islamic rulers and the number of years that each reigned, up until the accession of the caliph al-Mahdi in 775, which is the likely date of the chronicle’s completion. The chronicle’s transition from Roman and Muslim authorities, which hinges on the Islamic conquests, is related as follows:
Maurice, 27 years and 6 months; Phocas, 8 years; Heraclius, 24 years. In the year 930
