1st Edition

Epigraphy and Theory in the Study of Early Islam

By Ilkka Lindstedt Copyright 2026
320 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

320 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The studies in this book deal with religious groups and notions in late antique Arabia (ca. 150–750 CE), drawing especially on inscriptions and other contemporary sources. They explore the religious and societal dynamics of Arabia during this pivotal period in world history. Islam did not emerge in a vacuum, nor was it completely sui generis ; rather, the book emphasizes the existence of shared... Read more

Chapter 1

Reflections on Method and Theory in the Study of Islam’s Origins

Previously unpublished.

Chapter 2

Pre-Islamic Arabia and Early Islam

Herbert Berg (ed.), Routledge Handbook on Early Islam, 159–176, London: Routledge (2018). Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group.

Chapter 3

The Qurʾan and the Putative Pre-Islamic Practice of Female Infanticide

Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association 8/1 (2023): 5–29. Reproduced by permission of The International Qur’anic Studies Association.

Chapter 4

Arabic Rock Inscriptions until 750 CE

Andrew Marsham (ed.), The Umayyad World. London: Routledge (2021), 411–437. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group

Chapter 5

Religious Groups in the Quran

: Raimo Hakola, Outi Lehtipuu, and Nina Nikki (eds.), Common Ground and Diversity in Early Christian Thought and Study: Essays in Memory of Heikki Räisänen, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (2022), 289–311. Reproduced by permission of Mohr Siebeck.

Chapter 6

Signs of Identity in the Quran

Ilkka Lindstedt, Nina Nikki, and Riikka Tuori (eds.), Religious Identities in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Walking Together & Parting Ways, Leiden: Brill (2022), 66–91. Reproduced by permission of Brill.

Chapter 7

“One Community to the Exclusion of Other People” – A Superordinate Identity in the Medinan Community

M.B. Mortensen, G. Dye, T. Tesei, and I. Oliver (eds.), The Study of Islamic Origins: New Perspectives and Contexts, Berlin: De Gruyter (2021), 325–376. Reproduced by permission of De Gruyter.

Chapter 8

Muhājirūn as a Name for the First/Seventh Century Muslims

Journal of Near Eastern Studies 74/1 (2015): 67–73. Reproduced by permission of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.

Chapter 9

Who Is in, Who Is out? Early Muslim Identity through Epigraphy and Theory

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 46 (2019): 147–246. Reproduced by permission of the Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation.

Chapter 10

The Last Roman Emperor, the Mahdī, and Jerusalem

Antti Laato (ed.), Understanding the Spiritual Meaning of Jerusalem in Three Abrahamic Religions, Leiden: Brill (2019), 205–225. Reproduced by permission of Brill.

 

 

Biography

Ilkka Lindstedt (Ph.D.), is Senior Lecturer in Islamic Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki. He has authored a large number of academic studies on pre-Islamic Arabia, early Islam, Arabic historiography, and epigraphy. His previous publications include Muhammad and His Followers in Context: The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia (2024). He is particularly interested in changes in religious groups and ideas in Arabia on the cusp of and in early Islam.