The Adoption of Zayd and the Finality of the Islamic Prophecy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.33352Keywords:
adoption, Biblical motifs, Muʾtah, Prophecy, khātam al-nabiyyīn, ākhir al-nabiyyīn, al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, Ibn Hishām, Ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad, Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Ubayy b. Kaʿb, Usāma b. Zayd, Zayd b. Ḥāritha, ZaynabAbstract
A recent book of David S. Powers, entitled Zayd: The Little Known Story of Muhammad’s Adopted Son, casts doubts about the traditional historiography concerning the events regarding Zayd, Zaynab, the military expedition of Mu'tah, and Zayd’s son Usama. Powers does not believe that the narratives on the foundation of Islam describe the true history of Islam. The author wants to demonstrate a close dependence of the narratives about the origins of Islam from similar Biblical events. The methodological approach of Powers leads him to give a new interpretation of Q. 33:37 such as to justify the doctrine of the finality of prophecy of Muhammad. He believes that this verse was not revealed on the purpose to allow Muhammad to marry the previous wife of Zayd, Zaynab, thus abolishing adoption, as it is usually understood, but rather to establish the dogma of the finality of prophecy.
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