The Treaty between Muḥammad and the Christians of Najrān in the Chronicle of Seert: Negotiating the Rights of the Conquered and the Re-writing of the Past

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that the Chronicle of Seert preserves an ʿAbbāsid-era re-imagination of the correspondence between the Prophet Muḥammad and the Christians of the Arabian Peninsula. These narratives were responses to Muslim efforts to produce consistent rules for non-Muslims in the caliphate with regard to tax levels and political rights. They draw on knowledge of the Qurʾān and the Sīra to assert better rights for Christians that were rooted in alleged historical precedents