In brief, the presentation will argue that the formation of the quranic codex can be dated to before the reign of the second caliph, ʿUmar b. Khattab. Ground-breaking developments have been made in the studies related to the textual history of the Qur’an. Once, the field lamented the scarcity of reliable historical data, but the past few decades have seen rapid advancement thanks to the development of new methods and the discovery of the Ṣanʿāʾ Manuscripts. Presently, there are two types of primary historical data that may provide information on the textual history of the Qur’an: Hadith studies and the study of archaeological data. First Harald Motzki published his research (‘The Collection of the Qur’an: A Reconsideration of Western Views in Light of Recent Methodological Development’, Der Islam 78 (2001): 1–34.) on the Sunni accounts of collection of the Qur’an and successfully dated these traditions to 741-42 based on the use of the isnād-cum-matn method. Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi (‘Ṣanʿā 1 and the Origins of the Qur’ān : Der Islam’, Der Islam 87/1–2 (2012): 1–129.), through the implementation of the radiocarbon dating method, dated the Ṣanʿāʾ Manuscripts to the period between 578 and 669. Based on this finding, the authors concluded that ‘It is highly probable, therefore, that the Ṣanʿāʾ 1 manuscript was produced no more than 15 years after the death of the Prophet Muḥammad.’ In my earlier research, through analysing Muslim traditions attributed to Ali b. Abi Talib, I dated the formation of the earliest quranic codex to year 728, a date slightly earlier than Motzki’s finding. However, in my follow-up research, which is again based on the analysis of Muslim traditions though isnād-cum-matn method, I reached an even earlier date, 644. The research findings indicate that the Qur’anic codex had been sealed even before the reign of second caliph ʿUmar. This date corresponds with the findings of Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi’s research. Thus, it leads to the conclusion that the methodologies converge in their findings on the textual history of the Qur’an.

This paper will interrogate Armenian historical narratives produced between the seventh and tenth centuries with the intention of illuminating Armenian sexual attitudes as they manifest through their discourse with Islamic thought. The earliest Armenian texts elevate to exceptionally high esteem the virtue of sexual continence. This tradition initially constructs itself in opposition to a Zoroastrian suzerain. The arrival of Islam c. 640 provided the Armenians a novel adversary onto which to project these hostilities. Many of the Armenians’ reactions to and misconceptions of the newly arrived Muslim faith center its sexual customs and the ways in which those customs conflict and contrast with native Armenian values of restraint, moderation, and carnal containment. This research engages with a robust body of literature concerning the political, theological, and medical approaches to sexuality as both a temporal and eternal experience in Islamic culture. Primary sources under inquiry include those of Sebeos, Ghevond, Tovma Artsruni, Yovhannes Drasxanakertc’i, and Movses Dasxuranc’i. In addition, this project will consult the texts of Ibn Sina and al-Razi, as well as their Hippocratic and Galenic progenitors. Medieval Armenian texts express astonishment and revulsion, often performatively so, at the perceived sexual libertinism of Islamic culture. Specific targets of Armenian literary outrage include: 1) Islamic attention to female genitalia (never acknowledged in the Armenian literature other than through the proxy of Armenian-Islamic discourse); 2) The Islamic embracement of sexual pleasure, condemned by the Armenians even within a marital context; 3) The sensory imagery with which marital sex is endorsed in Islamic thought; and 4) Inflated accusations of Islamic hypersexuality, citing such practices as concubinage and temporary marriage. The sexual proclivities of the prophet Muhammad himself feature prominently in these narratives – a device often employed to caricature the libidinal alterity of the newly arrived Islamic exogeneity and underscore the moral malignancies alleged of Islam by the Armenians. The methodology will critically focus the medieval Armenian orientation toward asceticism as the primary filter through which Islamic sexuality was interpreted, maligned, and ultimately assimilated by the Armenians. In so doing, this research reconstructs the development of sexual cultures in the region as it transitioned from Zoroastrian to Islamic suzerainty between the seventh and tenth centuries.

Conjunctionalism sits at the intersection of premodern science, history, and belief. Early medieval writers like Mashallah ibn Athari used the theory to formulate a universalist history which situated the rise of Islam and the subsequent Abbasid empire as the legitimate inheritor of the past. Pre-Islamic history was drawn into a religious narrative and granted scientific explanation as part of imperial ideology. Abbasid caliphs promoted and elevated prognostications by al-Kindi and Abu Ma’shar to project a sense of stability and endurance. In the 9th and 10th century, the Abbasid caliphate faced a series of rebellions and direct threats to their legitimacy; rebels seized trade routes, disrupted the Hajj pilgrimage, and sacked Mecca. This paper will examine how conjunctionalism became a site of contestation formed within the context of the rise of heretical religious rebellions and the methods by which Abbasid sympathizers formulated a world history which rejected the legitimacy of rival claimants. Through a contextual reading of al-Kindi and al-Biruni this paper will situate conjunctionalism and the arguments of Abbasid legitimacy as discursive strategies unpacking the political anxieties the dynasty. Rejecting the apocalyptic fervor of the uprisings, the Abbasids would lean on conjunctionalism to explain the political and historical climate while projecting a sense of continuity and stability. This paper will provide an intervention into the early history of Islamic science and its role in empire-building.