Wellhausen’s Islamic-period preferences were shaped by German patriotism

Evidence

In this field too he was a great lover and hater. He loved the Umayyad caliphs, who presided over the Arabheartlands from 661 till 750. He hated the Abbasid caliphs who came after them. ‘To hell with the Abbasids! They might as well already be there.’ A fervent patriot, he thought that the Abbasids were not fit to hold a candle to the German Kaisers. Wellhausen much preferred what he saw as the earlier Umayyads’ penchant for politicking and high living. He was also a keen if decidedly belated supporter of the seventh-century Kharijites who rebelled against the caliphate and whom he admired for their passion and activism. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 330

Categorization

• SEED: Late-nineteenth-century German scholars importing imperial/patriotic axes into early Islamic history is a sharp angle for a piece on how historians’ politics quietly choose their heroes and villains.

Related

• Wellhausen read pre-Islamic Arab lore as evidence for early Hebrew life (similarity 0.78)