Wahb ibn Munabbih

Abū 'Abd Allāh Wahb ibn Munabbih ( Arabic وهب بن منبه, DMG Wahb b. Munabbih ; * around 654 in Dhimar, Yemen ; † 728 or 732) was a South Arabian narrator and narrator of Israiliyyat (Judeo-Christian traditions in Islam ).

Wahb ibn Munabbih was born in Dhimar, which is two days' journey from Sanaa , the capital of Yemen . His father, who was of Persian origin, is reported to have converted to Islam at the time of the Prophet Mohammed . Wahb lived in Sanaa with his five brothers; four of them are counted among the Tabi'in , the "successors" of Mohammed, who were born after his death, but were contemporaries of his companions ( Sahaba ). In Sanaa Wahb officiated as a judge and should first of all free willaccepted but later rejected this teaching in light of the revealed scriptures. He was imprisoned for a period of time, likely as a result of arguments over these beliefs, and died as a result of a flogging sentence to which the governor of Yemen had sentenced him.

Numerous books are ascribed to Wahb ibn Munabbih, the contents of which were passed down by Jewish and Christian scholars and some of them were recorded in writing during the author's lifetime. However, since literacy in Islamic Arabia did not begin fully until the middle of the 8th century, more precise information in this area is hardly ever available. The works ascribed to Wahb ibn Munabbih concern firstly biblical narratives and commentaries, secondly the pre-Islamic Arab period (especially in Yemen), and thirdly works with a purely Islamic content, including Maghazi Rasul Allah ("The Campaigns of the Messenger of God"), The only copy of which is a papyrus that is kept in Heidelberg.

literature

• Raif Georges Khoury: Art. "Wahb b. Munabbih" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. 11, 34a-36a.
• Michael Pregill: "Isrāʾīliyāt, myth, and pseudoepigraphy: Wahb b. Munabbih and the early islamic versions of the fall of Adam and Eve" in Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 34 (2008) 215-284.