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First Century Sources for the Life of Mu1ammad? A Debate 11
deemed it appropriate for different reasons, nobody so far has ever suggested that
he invented traditions and ascribed them to Ibn Is1aq, and Shoemaker fails
to provide any evidence why this would be likely. In any case, it is not true that
the story is recorded by Ibn Hisham only. Al-^Utarid\ also quotes Ibn Is1aq on
this passage (on the authority of Yunus b. Bukayr), and while the order of the elements
is slightly different, the wording is close to the one given by Ibn Hisham. 44
We can therefore assume that the story indeed was told in this way (without mentioning
Abyssinia as Abu Bakr’s destination) by Ibn Is1aq.
In addition to the three versions mentioned so far (Ma^mar, ^Uqayl, and Ibn
Is1aq), Shoemaker suddenly notes that there is a fourth one, traced back to al-
Zuhr\ through ^Abdallah (b. Wahb?) < Yunus b. Yaz\d. However, he immediately
discards this version on the grounds that it is only quoted by al-Bukhar\ and only
in a single – minor – edition of al-Bukhar\’s collection, while all the major editions
of his work name ^Uqayl instead of Yunus. Shoemaker concludes that this
isnad cannot be trusted and he omits it from his figure on the transmission of the
story of Abu Bakr and Ibn al-Dughunna. 45 However, Shoemaker is wrong in his
observation. The tradition is indeed included in the major editions of al-Bukhar\’s
collection with the isnad Yunus < al-Zuhr\. 46 Possibly he overlooked it as it is
usually not numbered separately, but is adduced by al-Bukhari as a confirmatory
tradition directly following the one of ^Uqayl. In addition, parts of this version are
also quoted by Ibn Khuzayma on the authority of ^Abdallah < Yunus < al-Zuhr\. 47
So we may infer that there are indeed four versions of al-Zuhr\’s tradition, not
three, as Shoemaker maintains. Thus altogether, the version according to al-
Zuhr\ is better attested than Shoemaker claims. Three of these versions are very
similar in content and in wording (Ma^mar, ^Uqayl, and Yunus); all indicate that
the story of Abu Bakr and Ibn al-Dughunna took place on the way to Abyssinia.
The versions of Ma^mar and ^Uqayl also connect this story to the account of
the hijra. Yunus’ version as quoted by al-Bukhari is shorter than the other two
versions and does not include the hijra, but the quotations by Ibn Khuzayma
indicate that this version originally was also longer and included mention of
the hijra. 48 On the other hand, Ibn Is1aq’s version is much shorter, does not have
a link to Abyssinia and does not include the hijra. With three versions agreeing
that the story is linked to Abyssinia and only one that disagrees, it might seem
44 Ibn Is1aq, Kitab al-Siyar wa-l-Maghazi, 235. Cf. Görke and Schoeler, Die ältesten Berichte,
62.
45 Shoemaker, “In Search of ^Urwa’s Sira,” 290.
46 This information was kindly provided by Christopher Melchert.
47 Ibn Khuzayma, Sahih, 1:133ff., 4:132. Cf. Görke and Schoeler, Die ältesten Berichte, 54.
48 Görke and Schoeler, Die ältesten Berichte, 54.