Abū Qays Ṣirma ibn abī Anas: A Christian Follower of Muḥammad from Medina (Ilkka Lindstedt)

1. This article presents and discusses the biography and poetry of Abū Qays Ṣirma ibn abī Anas, a Medinan contemporary to the Prophet Muḥammad. Interestingly and importantly, he appears to have been Christian, a fact which his poetry and the narratives about his life reflect. In one poem, he praises the Prophet, though in a rather moderate fashion, characterizing him as a preacher and exhorter. Though Ṣirma’s poems survive in narrative sources such as Ibn Hishām’s (d. ca. 218/833) al-Sīra al-nabawiyya rather than in specialized poetry collections, I argue that two out of the three (or, sometimes, four) poems ascribed to him in the sources are probably authentic (though there is some debate about the attribution of some verses in the poems). Ṣirma’s life and verses have been overlooked in modern academic literature on early Islam. However, they speak to a number of important topics and debates in the field. First, his verses represent new (or, rather, rediscovered) instances of pre- and early Islamic Christian poetry in Arabic. Second, Ṣirma serves as an example of a Medinan Christian; this is significant since while many Qur’anic passages seem to indicate – or indeed evidence – the existence of Christians in Medina, Arabic sources offer very few reports on them.
2. The issue of the missing Medinan Christians
3. The (growing) corpus of Arabian epigraphic material from the fifth and sixth centuries CE indicates that there were a number, perhaps a large number, of Christians and Jews as well (see Lindstedt, Muḥammad and His Followers, 58–73) in Western Arabia, though fieldwork concentrating on pre-Islamic remains in Mecca and Medina and their immediate surroundings has not yet been possible in large scale. Thus, it is in all likelihood not true, as Stephen Shoemaker has recently claimed, that the central Hijaz was a “Christ-barren milieu.”

• 1) Abū ʿĀmir, nicknamed al-Rāhib (“the Monk”); he was from Aws and fought against the Prophet’s followers at Badr, according to the sources. He is reported to have died at the court of Heraclius.
• 2) According to some sources, Ṣayfī ibn al-Aṣlat, another figure from Aws, had also converted to Christianity.
• 3–4) The two sons of Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Anṣārī, who converted at the influence some Christian oil merchants, who came to Medina from Syria.
• 5) Ṣirma, whose life will be the subject of the next section.

We see more Christians in Arabic Literature for Mecca rather than Medina though:

1. The biography of Abū Qays Ṣirma ibn abī Anas
2. Ibn Isḥāq/Ibn Hishām recounts: [Ṣirma] was a man who lived as a monk (qad tarahhaba) during the jāhiliyya and took up the mantle of a monk (labisa al-musūḥ). He said that he worshipped the Lord of Abraham when he abandoned idols and loathed them. When the Messenger came to Medina, he became a good Muslim. He was an old man (or: a learned man, shaykh kabīr), who always spoke truth and glorified God during the jāhiliyya. He composed some excellent poetry. Ṣirma still describes himself as praying in churches at a time when the Prophet was in Medina. The statement that he, though a monk, did not in the end fully embrace Christianity, should also be understood as an attempt to forget his Christian affiliation.

His verses show him still praying in churches during the Prophet’s sojourn in Medina. Ṣirma had a son, Qays, to whom some ḥadīths were attributed. The information that Ṣirma’s father also composed poetry is possible but I have not been able to locate any verses.

Though the author of the poem does not explicitly identify as Christian, the Christians are presented in a very positive manner. They are God’s servants, celebrating and commemorating Christian festivals and holidays (verse 6). Monks are described in a revering manner (verse 7). Furthermore, Guillaume notes that the poem contains Syriacisms, such as shammasa (verse 6) and tukhūm (verse 12) (Transl. Guillaume, 238, n. 1).

This is one of his poems, I highlighted the parts where he praises Muhammad:

That the Prophet Muḥammad is said to yudhakkiru (verse 1) and, even more importantly, yaquṣṣu (verse 5), is one of the main reasons for me to accept the poem as authentic: though Qur’anic (7:176), the later classical Arabic literature rarely describes the Prophet as conveying qaṣaṣ

Prophetology:

Refutation/responses however have happened: https://www.academia.edu/114853774/Of_Ṣirma_and_Sura_A_response_to_Ilkka_Lindstedt_Abū_Qays_Ṣirma_ibn_abī_Anas_A_Christian_Follower_of_Muḥammad_from_Medina_?uc-sb-sw=61425892