Chroniclers retreated to year-by-year genre conventions when unable to fit Islam into God’s plan.

Evidence

For Theophanes, the Islamic conquests are clearly part of God’s plan: they are foretold by prophets and by natural disasters, and Muhammad’s life corresponds to that of previous heresiarchs. Just as God had in previous times sent Amalek from the desert to smite Israel when it went astray, so he did again in the reign of Heraclius. Yet Theophanes seems at a loss to draw any broader or clearer conclusions. He suggests no role for Islam in the apocalyptic drama of the last days, nor does he make any reassuring predictions of its imminent demise. Apparently baffled by Islam’s continuing success, Theophanes does not pretend to know what God has in mind. This may come, in part, from the chronicle genre, in which the author often limits himself to narrating events year by year, rather than trying to explain the underlying causes of history. Yet the very fact that Theophanes and other writers of the period retreated into the safe conventions of the chronicle genre perhaps shows their inability to explain these events as part of a Christian divine plan. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 415

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader thesis about justifying the ways of God through writing; resonates with genre-form-determines-thought arguments like McCluhan/Innis.