Thread by @shahanSean

Well-known among historians is that Muḥammad was not the only seventh-century claimant to prophecy from Arabia. There are at least four others: three men (Maslamah, Tulayḥah al-Asadī, and al-Aswad al-ʿAnsī) and a woman (Sajāḥ).

Of all these, we only have a substantial selection of the revelations of one: Maslamah, the prophet of the Ḥanīfah tribe of Yamāmah (called Musaylimah al-kaḏḏāb, ‘little Maslamah the liar’). Let’s take a look at some of his *qurʾān*. A thread …

Like Muḥammad, Maslamah claimed to receive revelation from ‘al-Raḥmān’ via the archangel Gabriel. Maslamah believed Muḥammad to be a prophet but wanted mutual recognition. Muḥammad would be prophet of Quraysh in the Ḥijāz; he would be prophet of Ḥanīfah in Yamāmah.

His offer was rebuffed, but he outlived Muḥammad and the Ḥanīfa continued revereing him. After Muḥammad’s death Maslamah uttered these verses:
ḫudī l-daffi yā hāḏihī wa-lʿabī * wa-baṯṯī maḥāsina hāḏā l-nabī * tawallā nabiyyu banī hāshimin * wa-qāma nabiyyu banī yaʿrubī

Translation: O you, woman, take the tambourine and play *and disseminate the virtues of this prophet! *Passed away the prophet of Banū Hāshim * and rose up the prophet of Banū Yaʿrub
Now, the message was, revelations came solely to him.

The task of defeating Maslamah and his followers fell to Abū Bakr Ṣiddīq, who sent Khālid ibn al-Walīd (‘God’s sword’) against them. They were defeated in an intense battle at ʿAqrabāʾ in 11/632.

A depiction of the battle from the early-14th century; from the second volume of a MS of the Tarikhnama (Book of history) by Bal’ami (died ca. 992-997), a Persian translation of the chronicle of al-Ṭabarī.
freersackler.si.edu/object/F1947.1…

A modern depiction (take it cum grano salis)

One of issues with studying Maslamah's revelations is that later authors often made parodies of them, or simply invented them whole cloth. One can see these, in particular, in the obscene revelations attributed to him (pardon the poetic license in the translation):

Some of them -- mostly about animals of some sort -- seem too patently absurd to take too seriously. (See these about goats and frogs w/ translations below)

ḍifdaʿu bintu ḍifdaʿayni * naqqī mā tunaqqīn * aʿlāki fī l-māʾi wa-ʾasfaluki fī ṭ-ṭīn * lā l-māʾa tukaddirīn * wa-lā š-šāriba tamnaʿīn * lanā niṣfu l-ʾarḍi wa-li-qurayšin niṣfuhā wa-lakinna qurayšan qawmun yaʿtadūn

Frog, daughter of two frogs * Croak what you croak! * Your top in water soaking * Your bottom in mud poking! * the drinker you rile not * the water you soil not * We have half the earth and the Quraysh the other half, but Quraysh are a hostile lot!

wa-š-šāʾi wa-alwānihā * wa-l-aʿğabuhā as-sūdu wa-albānuhā *wa-š-šātu s-sawdāʾ wa-l-labanu al-abyaḍu * innahu la-ʿağabun maḥaḍun * wa-qad ḥarrama l-madhqa fa-mā tumağğiʿūna

By the goats and their ilks * the black one, most amazing of all, and their milks * by the black she-goat and white milk * a wonder its pure as silk * He has forbidden dilution to mix it with dates.

Yet, of all of these there is one that is rather compelling. It's about the women of Yamāmah. In form and style it's very similar to the 100th sura of the Qur'an.

In other words, there's conventions being followed here whether the revelations attributed 2 Maslamah or genuine or not. They show something about the style of Qur'an (usually in a way that redounds to the Qur'an), which is usually treated as sui generis, a genre in and of itself

These are the conventions of Arabic rhythmic rhymed prose (سجع|sağʿ) and maybe even the larger structures of surahs. The easiest thing to notice is the use of end-rhyme. But there's also: oaths, syllable count, tripartite structure, etc.

The Qurʾān, however, is considered to be miraculously eloquent and inimitable. How much of it, though a word? A sentence? Or an entire chapter?
The smallest possible unit considered to be miraculous is the ‘sūrah’, the shortest of which is al-Kawthar (‘Abudance’)

It's a mere three verses long. There are parodies of it, too. (See the attached text.)

I'm straying off topic now, but for those interested in more about Maslamah, the most important and comprehensive study Meir J. Kister's "The Struggle against Musaylima and the Conquest of Yamāma," which you can access here:
kister.huji.ac.il/content/strugg…