0021-1818_islam_98-1-2-i-259

First Century Sources for the Life of Mu1ammad? A Debate 39
data from the European Middle Ages can be transferred to medieval Arabia, but to
draw conclusions from an average value to a single case is always problematic.
As it is an average value, it includes both those persons who died at a considerably
younger age and those who grew considerably older. Even with an average
life expectancy of around 50 years, there will have been quite a number of people
who lived for more than 75 or 80 years. This assumption is corroborated when we
have a look at what was considered to be old in the Middle Ages. Shulamith Shahar
studied the conception of “old” in the works of several authors and legal
texts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 169 She observed that for several
authors “old age” begins at 60 or 70, with some only after 72. 170 In many legal texts
of the time, the age of exemption from military or administrative duties is set at
either 60 or 70. 171 She also discusses retirement of higher clergy from their positions
or possible exemptions from non-salaried public duties, and finds that in
the 11 th to 13 th century (the data that Shoemaker adduces are from the 14 th century)
retirement from such positions was apparently impossible before the age
of 60 or 70, and exemptions from public duties were usually only granted after
reaching the late 60s or 70. 172 Among the persons she studied, some reached the
age of 89 or even 95, and several more examples of persons reaching at least their
80s could easily be adduced.
Coming back to the Muslim tradition, it is quite feasible that it were the
people who happened to live longer who became important transmitters, just
because of their greater age. 173 According to the Muslim biographical tradition,
Hisham is said to have been born around 61/681, which would make him about 82
at the time of his death – admittedly most probably much longer than the average
life expectancy, but not at all impossible.
If we leave aside the speculation about Hisham’s age, how far do the texts
ascribed to Hisham < ^Urwa and al-Zuhr\ < ^Urwa support Shoemaker’s thesis?
Firstly, it has to be remarked that the different versions traced back to al-Zuhr\ <
^Urwa differ considerably. There are a number of elements that occur in only one
or two of the three longer recensions (Ibn Is1aq, Ma^mar and ^Abd al-Ra1man b.
^Abd al-^Az\z); i.e., only Ibn Is1aq mentions that ^Al\ actually wrote the contract,
the number of the participants differs between 700, 1300–1900, and 1800 in the
respective versions, the order of the delegates differs, there are differences in the
169 Shahar, “Who were Old in the Middle Ages?,” 313–341.
170 Ibid., 317–319.
171 Ibid., 329–335.
172 Ibid., 337–339.
173 See also Motzki, “Quo vadis Hadi©-Forschung? 62–64 (Engl. transl. “Whither Hadith
Studies?,” 69–70).