Ilkka Juhani Lindstedt's Early Islamic Rock Inscriptions (690–710 AD)

 

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Ilkka Juhani Lindstedt is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Theology at the Faculty of Theology at University of Helsinki in Finland, with a PhD and the title of Docent in Arabic and Islamic Studies. His specialization is early Islam, Arabic historiography, Arabic epigraphy (including rock inscriptions), and Late Antiquity Arabia.

His work has examined Arabic rock inscriptions and graffiti from Late Antiquity and the earliest Islamic centuries. His research focuses on dated inscriptions from approximately the 7th–8th centuries CE, especially material from Arabia that provides direct archaeological evidence from the early Islamic period. Rather than relying on later literary traditions, these inscriptions are contemporary texts carved into stone by people living during and shortly after the formative Islamic era.

In Lindstedt’s studies of early Arabic inscriptions, he observed that the earlier inscriptions in his corpus are frequently short invocations, prayers, personal names, and expressions of piety. Based on the inscriptional material he examined, explicit references to Muhammad become visible later in the surviving record, particularly around the period 690–710 CE. His published discussions place Muhammad-related confessional formulas within this later phase of early Islamic inscriptions. 

(Note: The prophet died in 632 AD. The well-known earliest securely dated monumental inscription mentioning Muhammad is the inscription of Dome of the Rock, dated 72 AH / 691–692 CE, containing “Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” That is a monumental inscription, not a desert rock graffito. This is a distinct category of evidence - not part of Linstedt's rock inscriptions).

One inscription highlighted in Lindstedt’s discussions is a rock graffito discovered near Ṭāʾif in western Saudi Arabia, dated internally to 78 AH (697–698 CE). It is attributed to al-Rayyān ibn ʿAbd Allāh and is significant because it contains a testimony mentioning Muhammad. The inscription reads:

“Al-Rayyān son of ʿAbd Allāh testifies that there is no god but God and he testifies that Muḥammad is the Messenger of God. This was written in the year the Masjid al-Ḥarām was rebuilt, year seventy-eight.”

The date derives from the inscription itself through its historical reference to the rebuilding of the Sacred Mosque and corresponds to 78 AH / 697–698 CE.

In Lindstedt’s work, this inscription serves as an example of how early Islamic identity and confessional language appear in surviving rock inscriptions from Arabia. It is distinct from monumental inscriptions such as the Dome of the Rock and instead belongs to the category of personal desert graffiti carved into stone by individuals. Such inscriptions are valuable because they constitute primary archaeological evidence originating from the period itself.

Dr Jay Smith (watch out he is an Islamophobe) also discusses related points in his podcast here.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT