Thread by @NaqadStudies

The Karbalah Inscription (DKI 163) is dated to 64 AH / 683 CE, and is indicative of a transition period in proto-Islamic expression.

In it, we see the solidification of older prayer formulas, while others were still very much in development.

The inscription begins with the Basmala, in the form we know it today.

In the middle of line five, we see a long rectangle, indicating the end of a set prayer (lines 1-5), probably copied from a known source.

Lines 2-5 lack a verb, indicating the lines are describing Allāh.

After the prayer ends in line five, we read the inscription's appeal to Allāh as "Lord of Gabriel, Michael and I/Asrāfīl."

Before various traditions coalesced around Muhammad as the core prophetic figurehead, 7th c formulae invoked Allāh as Lord of Mūsa, ‘Isà, & other prophets.

DKI 163 represents a late point in religious transition. It would only be a few years before inscriptions would produce the name Muḥammad or Praised One in formulae.

Famously, the Dome of the Rock inscription (70 AH) is a very early example of a Muḥammad-centered formula.

We also read the then-common appeal in inscriptions for an individual to be forgiven of past and future sins, a formula which reminds us passages such as:

"That Allah may forgive thee [Muhammad] of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come." Q 48:2

Lastly, we see the 64 AH date reckoning, which is well known to have been in common use in the 1st/7th c.

We have inscriptions and papyri that supply AH dates to within a few years of 622 CE, so this tradition was well established by the time of the inscriber of DKI 163.

For further reading:

Crossroads to Islam: The Origins of the Arab Religion and the Arab State
By Yehuda D. Nevo, Judith Koren

books.google.com/books?id=_pT0K…