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Abstract

Qurʾān 5:90 is understood as prohibiting khamr (wine made from grapes). However, according to Ḥadīth traditions the Prophet permitted his followers the consumption of nabīdh (date-wine), a potentially alcoholic beverage. Various aspects of the proper preparation of nabīdh were discussed in the first Islamic centuries. One of the most debated issues was which receptacles may be used for nabīdh. Many traditions attributed to the Prophet, his Companions, and their Successors, prohibited various receptacles, like green jars and tarred jars. This dissertation explores the development of this prohibition from its earliest traceable beginnings, through the formation of the major legal schools, and beyond. It focuses on different aspects of the prohibition of receptacles as they are reflected in the following sources: Ḥadīth literature, early Islamic legal sources, non-Islamic legal sources, and the archeological record.There is a vast corpus of Ḥadīth traditions pertaining to this topic. The dissertation examines this corpus to track the development of the debate over prohibited receptacles and to assign different legal opinions to various times, places, and individuals. It then examines how the nascent major legal schools continued the discussion of this prohibition begun by the Hadith transmitters. The dissertation investigates the prohibition’s influence on certain ceramic jars known to archeologists. These jars were manufactured in the Near East from the Parthian era until the end of the early Abbasid period. They include the Iraqi green-glazed jars and torpedo jars, and the Egyptian Late Roman Amphorae 7 (LRA 7). It is shown that these jars correspond to various jars commonly prohibited in Hadith. It is suggested that the prohibition partly caused the decline in their production. A series of appendices accompany the dissertation. In each appendix, traditions about the preparation of nabīdh in receptacles attributed to a single early authority or his or her circle are examined. Notably, Appendix A highlights the pivotal role of the Umayyad Caliph ʿUmar II in promoting the prohibition of nabīdh and other fermented beverages in jars. By examining a wide variety of material, both textual and archeological, it is possible to witness the development of Islamic law in theory and in practice.

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