robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)

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scholars will not be interested in the results. An Iraqi scholar, Ibn Ishaq (c. 760), wrote a book that is the basis of all biographies of Muhammad. No biographical sketches of Muhammad exist that do not depend on Ibn Ishaq. If an analysis of Ibn Ishaq's book establishes that for whatever reason it cannot be seen as a historical source, all knowledge we possess about Muhammad evaporates. When Ibn Ishaq's much-quoted and popular book turns out to be nothing but pious fiction, we will have to accept that it is not likely we will ever discover the truth about Muhammad. Next to Ibn Ishaq, the Qur'an itself looks like reasonably reliable testimony about Muhammad and his career. But we run into trouble when we want to reconstruct Muhammad's life and teachings from the Qur'an, for the book as we know it today may not be an authentic reproduction of an Arabic text dictated to Muhammad in the early seventh century. There are reasons to believe that the Qur'an took its present shape not in the seventh century but later or even much later. The Arabic alphabet in which the Qur'an is written did not yet exist in the early seventh century, so it is improbable that Muhammad's secretaries, if brought back to life, would be able to recognize a modern edition of the Qur'an as part of the holy text that was dictated to them in fragments during Muhammad's lifetime—that is, if such dictation occurred. The collections of Islamic traditions known as the Hadith form the third source from which Muhammad's life may be reconstructed. The Hadith are actually not one source but rather a group of sources, of unequal quality. Some of the traditions are unreliable even according to Muslim scholarly opinion. Muslim scribes and scholars accuse some of the transmitters of this material of fabricating their stories. It is perfectly possible to fabricate stories about real persons (see any newspaper, or Facebook), but to form a picture of the life of someone as eminent as Muhammad, one would rather not make use of stories that may have been fabricated. To find out the truth about Richard Nixon was difficult, and it would have been impossible without the tapes. In the case of Muhammad, there are no tapes. There is not much at all. There actually is so little that the gravest suspicions are justified. Johannes J. G. Jansen served as Houtsma Professor for Contemporary Islamic Thought at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) until his retirement in 2008. He is the author of several books, including The Dual Nature of Islamic Fundamentalism and The Interpretation of the Koran in Modern Egypt, and he has translated the Qur'an into Dutch.
Chronology of Key Events In this chronology, incidents that rest on less than firm historical ground than is ordinarily assumed are marked in italics. 610: Muhammad receives his first revelation of the Qur'an from Allah, through the angel Gabriel 610–632: Muhammad periodically receives revelations of the Qur'an 632: Muhammad dies 632–634: Caliphate of Abu Bakr 632–633: Wars of Apostasy 632: December: Battle of Yamama, death of many who had memorized portions of the Qur'an; according to Islamic tradition, this was the impetus for the first collection of the Qur'an 633: Arabian invasion of Iraq 634–644: Caliphate of Umar 636–637: Arabian conquest of Syria and Palestine Late 630s: Christian document is published that mentions an unnamed and still-living Arabian prophet “armed with a sword” 639: Arabian conquest of Armenia and Egypt Early 640s: Thomas, a Christian priest, mentions a battle between the Byzantines and the “tayyaye d- Mhmt” east of Gaza in 634 644: Arabian conquest of Persia 644–656: Caliphate of Uthman 640s–650s: Coin in Palestine bears the inscription “Muhammad” but depicts a figure holding a cross
Page 2 and 3: DID MUHAMMAD EXIST? An Inquiry into
Page 4 and 5: Dedicated to all those who do not f
Page 6 and 7: Contents Foreword by Johannes J. G.
Page 10 and 11: 650s-660s: Arabian conquest of Nort
Page 12 and 13: Muhammad and His Family, According
Page 14 and 15: Introduction
Page 16 and 17: historicity of Muhammad. Although t
Page 18 and 19: No one knows, for it has never rece
Page 20 and 21: Some of the bold scholars who have
Page 22 and 23: Influenced by this, the historians
Page 24 and 25: 1
Page 26 and 27: ut this could apply to any of the Q
Page 28 and 29: Was That Muhammad? In light of all
Page 30 and 31: leader as the “devil.” It is un
Page 32 and 33: them, reprimand them, warn them, an
Page 34 and 35: was not even able to save himself f
Page 36 and 37: of polemical hyperbole or using a t
Page 38 and 39: 2
Page 40 and 41: encountering some mention of Islam,
Page 42 and 43: The first biographer of Muhammad, I
Page 44 and 45: Allah [is] great in greatness and g
Page 46 and 47: This Qur'anic material is the earli
Page 48 and 49: that orthodox theologians produced
Page 50 and 51: Arabic language, he was eloquent an
Page 52 and 53: 3
Page 54 and 55: The same can be said of an explanat
Page 56 and 57: “anyone who establishes in Islam
Page 58 and 59:
But with Muhammad held up as an exe
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When Ibn Umar says that yes, he did
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these are known as as-Sahih as-Sitt
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was self-contradictory or absurd on
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latter's “godlessness and opposit
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Switching On the Full Light of Hist
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Ibn Ishaq's Reliability So are thes
Page 72 and 73:
Muhammad's virtues, or a combinatio
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Jansen administers the coup de grâ
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Central to Islam, therefore, is the
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(Nor, for that matter, do Muslim hi
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5
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The problem with the third option i
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years of age. 6 The earliest Islami
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elationship, the Qur'an also has Ma
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einforced the point that Muhammad h
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“worked on Allah's Apostle so tha
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The Unchanging Qur'an Changes The Q
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during the eighth and ninth centuri
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did not worry over such matters, wh
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Rajam be inflicted on him who commi
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telling indications that it has bee
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ut suddenly verses 238 and 239 inte
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The Non-Arabic Arabic Qur'an A Book
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“We know indeed that they say,
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Puin explains: “The Koran claims
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a person dies, his Book (of deeds)
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The Syriac influence is not restric
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To provide the new religion with it
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What the Qur'an May Have Been A Clu
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An Islamic scholar writing late in
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Luxenberg states that if Qur'an “
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symbolism of the wine of Paradise.
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Syriac connection, has revealed—c
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unbelievers, may say, “What did G
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gods except the Creator of all, nor
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in Paradise reserved exclusively fo
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9
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who have been true in their covenan
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for them to brandish. Nor is it eve
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The First Mention of the Qur'an If
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Uthman approved did not survive, ev
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10
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years after its birth, Islam has re
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The realm of political theology, th
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The real proliferation of material
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from long after the time he is supp
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Notes Introduction: The Full Light
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34 Ibid., 63-64 (= Patrologia Greca
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6 Al-Qastellani, X, 342 (quoted in
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7 Arthur Jeffery, “The Quest of t
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Chapter 6: The Unchanging Qur'an Ch
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29 Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, v
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49 Nevo and Koren, Crossroads to Is
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Further Reading There is a great de
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Acknowledgments I could not have wr
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Muhammad and, 2, 7, 24-28, 41, 48,
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Ephraem
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Islamic calendar, 48-49, 204 Islami
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Mufid, Sheikh al-, 81 Mughira, al-,
Page 179 and 180:
Rosenthal, Franz, 154 Ruqayya (daug
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