The Pact (amana) between Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan and Amr ibn al-As (656 or 658 CE): 'Documents' and the Islamic Historical Tradition

A written pact between Mu'āwiya ibn Abī Sufyān and ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ is widely discussed in the early Arabic historical tradition. However, only Ibn Sa'd (d. 845) preserves a copy of it. Analysis of the form, content and context of this ‘document’ shows it to have much in common with other early agreements, such as the so-called ‘Constitution of Medina’ and the ‘Ṣiffīn Arbitration Agreement’. It also suggests that it reached Ibn Sa'd from al-Wāqidī (d. 823). The ‘document’ has some unusual features — notably a date that suggests a different context to that given by both Ibn Sa'd and modern commentators. On balance, however, it seems that the ‘document’ may indeed reflect elements of an original agreement. Nonetheless, no single ‘document’ from this early period should be relied upon in isolation; rather such texts should be viewed as a corpus in which evolutions in form and content can be identified.