Editing Heraclius (section)

=== Islamic view of Heraclius ===
{{Coatrack section|date=May 2025|details=Refer to the [[talk:Heraclius#Islamic view of Heraclius - Coatrack|talk page]]}}

[[File:Muhammad-Letter-To-Heraclius.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Purported letter sent by Muhammad to Heraclius, emperor of Byzantium; reproduction taken from
Majid Ali Khan, ''Muhammad The Final Messenger ''Islamic Book Service, New Delhi (1998).]]
[[File:Resalat.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|Purported letter sent by Muhammad to Heraclius, emperor of Byzantium; original version of the letter.]]
{{See also|Diplomatic career of Muhammad#Letter to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire|Ar-Rum}}
In early Islamic and Arab histories, Heraclius is the most popular Roman emperor, who is discussed at length.{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=7}} Owing to his role as Roman emperor at the time Islam emerged, he is remembered in [[Arabic literature]], such as the Islamic [[hadith]] and [[Prophetic biography|sira]]. He is also indirectly mentioned in [[Sura]] [[Ar-Rum]] and his victory against Sassanid empire was prophesied here. In the third and fourth verses, the Muslim community is promised that the Byzantines will reverse their defeat into a victory and retake Jerusalem "in a few years' time".<ref>Abdel Haleem, M. A. 2004. ''The Qurʼan.'' Oxford University Press, 257.{{ISBN?}}</ref>
{{blockquote|{{Cite Quran|30|2 |end=5 |t=[[Laleh Bakhtiar]] |q=The Romans were vanquished in the closer region, and they, after being vanquished, will prevail within a certain number of (from 3 to 9) years. To [[God in Islam|God]] belongs the command before and after. And that day, ones who believe will be glad with the help of God. He helps whom He wills. And He is The Almighty, The Compassionate.}}}}

According to Islamic traditions, a letter was sent from Muhammad to Heraclius, through the Muslim envoy [[Dihyah bin Khalifah al-Kalbi]], although [[Irfan Shahîd|Shahid]] suggests that Heraclius may never have received it.<ref name="isal">Irfan Shahid, [[Arabic literature]] to the end of the [[Umayyad period]], Journal of the [[American Oriental Society]], Vol. 106, No. 3, p. 531</ref> He also advances that more positive sub-narratives surrounding the letter contain little credence. According to Nadia El Cheikh, Arab historians and chroniclers generally did not doubt the authenticity of Heraclius' letter due to the documentation of such letters in the majority of both early and later sources.<ref name="Nadia">Muhammad and Heraclius: A Study in Legitimacy, Nadia Maria El-Cheikh, Studia Islamica, No. 89. (1999), pp. 5–21.</ref> Furthermore, she notes that the formulation and the wordings of different sources are very close and the differences are ones of detail: They concern the date on which the letter was sent and its exact phrasing.<ref name="Nadia" /> [[Muhammad Hamidullah]], an Islamic research scholar, argues for the authenticity of the letter sent to Heraclius, and in a later work reproduces what is claimed to be the original letter.<ref name="Nadia" /><ref>Footnote of the El-Cheikh (1999) reads: "Hamidullah discussed this controversy and tried to prove the authenticity of Heraclius' letter in his "La lettre du Prophete P Heraclius et le sort de I'original: Arabica 2 (1955), pp. 97–1 10, and more recently, in Sir originaw des lettms du prophbte de I'lslam (Paris, 1985), pp. 149.172, in which he reproduces what purports to be the original letter."</ref>

The account as transmitted by [[Muslim historians]] is translated as follows:<ref name="Nadia" />

{{Blockquote|[[Basmala|In the name of God, the Gracious One, the Merciful]]<br />From Muhammad, servant of God and His apostle to Heraclius, premier of the Romans:<br />Peace unto whoever follows the guided path!<br />Thereafter, verily I call you to submit your will to God. Submit your will to God and you will be safe.  God shall compensate your reward two-folds. But if you turn away, then upon you will sins of the peasants.<br />Then "O [[People of the Book|People of the Scripture]], come to a term equitable between us and you that we worship none but God and associate with Him nothing, and we take not one another as Lords apart from God. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we peace makers."{{cite quran|3|64}}<br />[[Seal of Muhammad|Seal]]: Muhammad, Apostle of God}}

According to Islamic reports, Muhammad dispatched [[Dihyah al-Kalbi]]<ref name=bukhari>{{cite web |title=Sahih al-Bukhari 2940, 2941 – Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad) – كتاب الجهاد والسير |url=https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2940 |website=sunnah.com |publisher=Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) |access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref><ref name="al-islam.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.al-islam.org/message/43.htm |title=The Events of the Seventh Year of Migration – The Message |website=www.al-islam.org |publisher=Al-Islam.org |access-date=25 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805184742/http://www.al-islam.org/message/43.htm |archive-date=5 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to carry the epistle to "[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]" through the government of [[Bosra]] after the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Byzantine defeat of the Persians and reconquest of Jerusalem]].<ref name=sirat2>{{cite book |last1=Guillaume |first1=A. |title=Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah – The Life of Muhammad Translated by A. Guillaume |date=1955 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume}}</ref><ref name=mishkat>{{cite web |title=Mishkat al-Masabih 3926 – Jihad – كتاب الجهاد |url=https://sunnah.com/mishkat:3926 |website=sunnah.com |publisher=Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) |access-date=19 August 2021}}</ref><ref name=bukhari /> Islamic sources say that after the letter was read to him, he was so impressed by it that he gifted the messenger of the epistle with robes and coinage.{{sfn|Mubarakpuri|2002|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}} Alternatively, he also put it on his lap.<ref name=sirat2 /> He then summoned [[Abu Sufyan ibn Harb]] to his court, at the time an adversary to Muhammad but a signatory to the then-recent [[Treaty of Hudaybiyyah]], who was trading in the [[region of Syria]] at the time. Asked by Heraclius about the man claiming to be a prophet, Abu Sufyan responded, speaking favorably of Muhammad's character and lineage and outlining some directives of Islam. Heraclius was seemingly impressed by what he was told of Muhammad, and felt that Muhammad's claim to prophethood was valid.<ref name="Nadia" /><ref name="bukhariherac">{{Hadith-usc|bukhari|usc=yes|1|1|6}}</ref>{{sfn|Mubarakpuri|2002|p=420}} Later reportedly he wrote to a certain religious official in [[Rome]] to confirm if Muhammad's claim of prophethood was legitimate, and, after receiving the reply to his letter, called the [[Byzantine Senate|Roman assembly]] saying, "If you desire salvation and the orthodox way so that your empire remain firmly established, then follow this prophet," to the rejection of the council.{{sfn|Mubarakpuri|2002|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Sahih al-Bukhari 7 – Revelation – كتاب بدء الوحى |url=https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7 |website=sunnah.com |publisher=Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) |access-date=19 August 2021}}</ref><ref name=sirat2 /> Heraclius eventually decided against conversion but the envoy was returned to Medina with the felicitations of the emperor.{{sfn|Mubarakpuri|2002|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}} Described in [[History of the Prophets and Kings|Tarikh al-Tabari]] that, then Heraclius sent Dehia Kalbi to invite the Christian priest [[:ar:الأسقف صغاطر|Dagatir]], Dagatir converted to Islam and called the people to Islam by witnessing Muhammad as Ahmad described in the Bible. The people of Rome were enraged and immediately beat him to death.<ref>{{cite web |title=DAGĀTIR |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/dagatir |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |access-date=15 March 2025 |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Damla |first1=Nurdan |title=Mencintai Rasulullah - 365 Hari Bersama Nabi Muhammad SAW |date=13 August 2009 |publisher=Gramedia Pustaka Utama |isbn=978-979-22-4853-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OlVJDwAAQBAJ&dq=dagatir&pg=PA365 |access-date=15 March 2025 |language=id}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=AYVALLI |first1=Prof Dr Ramazan |title=My Beloved Prophet: sall-Allâhu 'alaihi wa sallam |date=1 December 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKATCwAAQBAJ&dq=dagatir&pg=PT223 |language=en}}</ref>

Scholarly historians disagree with this account, arguing that any such messengers would have received neither an imperial audience or recognition, and that there is no evidence outside of Islamic sources suggesting that Heraclius had any knowledge of Islam.{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p={{page needed|date=May 2024}}}}

This letter is mentioned in Sahih Al Bukhari.<ref>https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2938 {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}}</ref>

The [[Swahili language|Swahili]] ''[[Utendi wa Tambuka]]'', an [[epic poem]] composed in 1728 at [[Pate Island#Pate Town|Pate]] Island (off the shore of present-day [[Kenya]]) and depicting the wars between the Muslims and Byzantines from the former's point of view, is also known as ''Kyuo kya Hereḳali'' ("The Book of Heraclius"). In that work, Heraclius is portrayed as declining the Prophet's request to renounce his belief in Christianity: he is therefore defeated by the Muslim forces.{{sfn|SOAS|loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165114/http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/perl/Project/showSwahiliItem.pl?ref=MS%2045022a "Scope and content"]}}

In Muslim tradition, he is seen as a just ruler of great piety, who had direct contact with the emerging Islamic forces.{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=9}} The 14th-century scholar [[Ibn Kathir]] (d. 1373) went even further, stating that "Heraclius was one of the wisest men and among the most resolute, shrewd, deep and opinionated of kings. He ruled the Romans with great leadership and splendor."{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=7}} Historians such as Nadia Maria El-Cheikh and [[Lawrence Conrad]] note that Islamic histories even go so far as claiming that Heraclius recognized Islam as the true faith and [[Muhammad]] as its prophet, by comparing Islam to Christianity.{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=12}}{{sfn|Conrad|2002|p=120}}{{sfn|Haykal|1994|p=402}}

Islamic historians often cite a letter in which they claim Heraclius wrote to Muhammad: "I have received your letter with your ambassador and I testify that you are the messenger of God found in our New Testament. Jesus, son of Mary, announced you."{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=9}} According to the Muslim sources reported by El-Cheikh, he tried to convert the ruling class of the Empire, but they resisted so strongly that he reversed course and claimed that he was just testing their faith in Christianity.{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=14}} El-Cheikh notes that these accounts of Heraclius add "little to our historical knowledge" of the emperor; rather, they are an important part of "Islamic [[kerygma]]," attempting to legitimize Muhammad's status as a prophet.{{sfn|El-Cheikh|1999|p=54}}

Most Western academic historians view such traditions as biased and proclamatory and of little historical value.{{sfn|Conrad|2002}} Furthermore, they argue that any messengers sent by Muhammad to Heraclius would not have received an imperial audience or recognition.{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=236}} According to Kaegi, there is no evidence outside of Islamic sources to suggest Heraclius ever heard of Islam,{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=229}} and it is possible that he and his advisors actually viewed the Muslims as some special sect of Jews.{{sfn|Kaegi|2003|p=230}}