{{Short description|Historical study of the Islamic prophet}}{{Muhammad}} The '''historicity of Muhammad''' is the subject of the study of [[Muhammad]] as a historical figure and critical examination of sources upon which traditional accounts (the [[Quran]], ''[[sīrah]]'', ''[[hadith]]'' especially) are based. Other historical sources that can be investigated include sealed documents, orders, treaty texts, [[Islamic archaeology|archaeological findings]] and internal and external correspondence of neighboring states or communities, as well as the discovery of Muhammad's genetic makeup and kinship through his personal belongings and physical remains (hair, beard, etc.) that are among his alleged legacies.
[[Prophetic biography]], known as ''sīra'', along with attributed records of the words, actions, and the silent approval of Muhammad, known as ''[[hadith]]'', survive in the historical works of writers from the second and third centuries of the [[Islamic calendar|Muslim era]] ({{circa|700}}−1000 CE),{{sfn|Donner|1998|p=125}}<ref name="Watt-Mecca-xi">[[William Montgomery Watt]], ''[[Muhammad at Mecca (book)|Muhammad in Mecca]]'', 1953, Oxford University Press, p.xi</ref> and give a great deal of information on Muhammad, but the reliability of this information is very much debated in academic circles ([[hadith studies]]) due to the gap ([[oral tradition]]) between the recorded dates of Muhammad's life and the dates when these events begin to appear in written sources.<ref>John Wansbrough argued that ḥadīth literature is exegetical in origin, i.e., the bulk of the tradition literature is closely tied to the interpretation of the Qur'an, which he believed did not take its final form/canonised until the late eighth / early ninth century.https://www.islamic-awareness.org/history/islam/inscriptions/earlysaw</ref> Islamic tradition traces the [[Family tree of Muhammad|lineage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad]] back to the [[Adnanites|Adnani branch of the Arabs]], through the Hashim family and the Quraysh tribe.{{efn|Wathilah ibn al-Asqa narrated that Muhammad said "Indeed Allah chose [[Ishmael#Islamic view|Isma'il]] from the progeny of [[Islamic view of Abraham|Ibrahim]], chose the [[Banu Kinanah]] over other tribes from the [[Ishmael#Descendants|children of Isma'il]]; He chose the [[Quraysh (tribe)|Banu Quraish]] over other tribes of Kinanah; He chose [[Banu Hashim]] over the other families of the Quraish; and He chose me from Banu Hashim."<ref>{{citation|author=Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj|author-link=Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj|title=[[Sahih Muslim]]}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=al-Tirmidhī|author-link=Al-Tirmidhi|title=[[Sunan al-Tirmidhi]]}}</ref>}}<ref name="ruqaiyyah3">{{cite web |last=Maqsood |first=Ruqaiyyah Waris |url=http://www.ruqaiyyah.karoo.net/articles/prophfamily3.htm |title=The Prophet's Line Family No 3 – Qusayy, Hubbah, and Banu Nadr to Quraysh |publisher=Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood Dawah |access-date=2013-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530213139/http://www.ruqaiyyah.karoo.net/articles/prophfamily3.htm |archive-date=2008-05-30 |url-status=dead }}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2017}}</ref><ref name="IbnHisham">{{cite book |author=Ibn Hisham |title=The Life of the Prophet Muhammad |volume=1 |page=181 }}</ref><ref name="Patrick1885">{{cite book |last=Hughes|first=Thomas Patrick|title=A Dictionary of Islam: Being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, Together With the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JherW50tVyAC&pg=PA19|access-date=July 24, 2010|year=1995|orig-year=First published 1885|publisher=Asian Educational Services|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-206-0672-2|page=19}}</ref> And, Muhammad is believed to be descended from [[Ishmael]], the son of [[Abraham]], through the Hashim tribe who are considered [[prophets in Islam]], a biblical figure; however, neither Abraham nor Ishmael's existence has been independently corroborated by historians. Modern historians don't take the Family tree as a fact.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |title=Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time |date=2007 |publisher=HarperOne |year=2007 |isbn=9780061155772}}</ref> In the pre-Islamic (and early Islamic) period,<ref>Although the ''ayyām'' circulated earlier as scattered oral and written materials, the formation of the genre as a distinct textual corpus is attributed primarily to the Basran grammarian and lexicographer [[Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna|Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar b. al-Muthannā]] (110–209/728–824).{{harvnb|Toral-Niehoff|2021|p=53–54}}</ref> genealogical trees were a product of the [[oral tradition]] of the [[Days of the Arabs]], shaped according to social needs and the interests of the listeners.<ref>Among Bedouin and semi-Bedouin communities, the ''ayyām'' (''Days'') were transmitted as forms of oral tribal history, comparable to other tribal oral historiographical traditions. This mode of transmission rendered the narratives plastic and flexible, allowing them to be reshaped according to present social expectations and the interaction between performer and audience.{{harvnb|Toral-Niehoff|2021|p=47–48}}</ref> Contemporary historiography unveiled the lack of inner coherence of this genealogical system and demonstrated that it finds insufficient matching evidence; the distinction between [[Qahtanites]] and Adnanites is believed to be a product of the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad Age]], when the war of factions (al-niza al-hizbi) was raging in the young Islamic Empire.<ref name="Parolin2009">{{cite book |title=Citizenship in the Arab World: Kin, Religion and Nation-State |url=https://archive.org/details/citizenshiparabw00paro |url-access=limited |last=Parolin |first=Gianluca P.|year=2009 |isbn=978-9089640451 |page=[https://archive.org/details/citizenshiparabw00paro/page/n30 30]|publisher=Amsterdam University Press }}</ref>
The general Islamic view is that the Quran has been preserved from the beginning by both writing and memorization, and its testimony is considered beyond doubt. The earliest Muslim source of information for the life of Muhammad, the [[Quran]], gives very little personal information and its [[History of the Qur'an|historicity]] is debated.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad">''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'', ''Muhammad''</ref>{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}}
Despite any difficulties with the biographical sources, scholars generally see valuable historical information about Muhammad therein and suggest that what is needed are methods to distinguish the likely information from the unlikely.<ref name="The Quest of the Historical Muhammad">{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=F.E. |title=The Quest of the Historical Muhammad |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 1991 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=307|doi=10.1017/S0020743800056312 |s2cid=162433825 }}</ref> In practice it has proven difficult determining which parts of the early accounts of Muhammad's life are valuable to modern scholars.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Hoyland |first=Robert |date=March 2007 |title=Writing the Biography of the Prophet Muhammad: Problems and Solutions |url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |journal=History Compass |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=581–602 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00395.x |issn=1478-0542|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, the majority of classical scholars believe Muhammad existed as a historical figure.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berg |first1=Herbert |last2=Rollens |first2=Sarah |year=2008 |title=The historical Muhammad and the historical Jesus: A comparison of scholarly reinventions and reinterpretations |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/000842980803700205 |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=271–292 |doi=10.1177/000842980803700205 |s2cid=144445914|url-access=subscription|quote=The tacit assumption is that Muhammad is a historical figure whose traditional biography is a reasonably accurate account of his life.}}</ref>
==Geography== {{Main|Bakkah|}}{{See|Revisionist school of Islamic studies}} [[File:Map of the Three Arabias Excerpted Partly from the Arab of Nubia Partly from Several Other Authors.png|upright=1.2|thumb|Non-Islamic testimonies about Muhammad's life describe him as the leader of the [[Saracens]],<ref>"Chapter 1. "A Prophet Has Appeared, Coming with the Saracens": Muhammad’s Leadership during the Conquest of Palestine According to Seventh- and Eighth-Century Sources". The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, pp. 18-72. https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812205138.18</ref> believed to be descendants of [[Ishmael]], lived in the regions Arabia Petrae and Arabia Deserta in the north. According to some sources, Muhammad is not a name but a title.<ref>Volker Popp, Die frühe Islamgeschichte nach inschriftlichen und numismatischen Zeugnissen, in: Karl-Heinz Ohlig (ed.), Die dunklen Anfänge. Neue Forschungen zur Entstehung und frühen Geschichte des Islam, Berlin 2005, pp. 16–123 (here p. 63 ff.)</ref>]] There are a relatively small number of contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous non-Muslim sources which attest to the existence of Muhammad and are valuable both in themselves and for comparison with Muslim sources.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}} As in the case of [[Mecca]], these sources cannot be said to support the traditional Islamic narrative; where there is a lack of pre-Islamic sources that mention it as a pilgrimage center in historical sources before 741 here the author places the region in "midway between [[Ur]] and [[Harran]]" rather than the Hejaz- and lacks pre-Islamic archaeological data.<ref>The ancient history of the holy city of Mecca (Makkah) has been wiped out, and Makkah has been attacked as a city without a pre-Islamic history, due to the lack of archaeological evidence. See [https://archive.org/details/the-history-of-makkah-in-the-light-of-archaeological-finds-2021-r.-o/page/900/mode/2up?q=Mecca here].</ref>{{efn|The first references to Mecca do not use locative expressions except for the Byzantine-Arab Chronicle or ''[[Chronicle of 741]]'', though here the author places the region in [[Mesopotamia]] ("midway between [[Ur]] and [[Harran]]") rather than the Hejaz.<ref name= TH>{{cite book |last= Holland |first= Tom |author-link= Tom Holland (author) |title= In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire |chapter= III.6. Hijra: More questions than answers |year= 2012 |publisher= Doubleday |page= 471 |isbn= 0385531362 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1f_BR2DulRIC&pg=PT471&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=%22midway%20between%20Ur%20and%20Harran%22&f=false |access-date= 18 July 2025}} Republished in the US from original UK edition of the same year published by Little, Brown.</ref>}}
===Modern scholarship on Mecca=== Little is known about the early history of Mecca due to a lack of clear sources. The city lies in the hinterland of the middle part of western Arabia of which there are sparse textual or archaeological sources available.<ref name="Literary">{{Cite book |last=Peters |first=F. E. |title=Mecca: a Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land. |date=1994 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-8736-1 |location=Princeton |pages=135–136 |oclc=978697983}}</ref> This lack of knowledge is in contrast to both the northern and southern areas of western Arabia, specifically the Syro-Palestinian frontier and Yemen, where historians have various sources available such as physical remains of shrines, inscriptions, observations by Greco-Roman authors, and information collected by church historians. The area of [[Hejaz]] that surrounds Mecca was characterized by its remote, rocky, and inhospitable nature, supporting only meagre settled populations in scattered oases and occasional stretches of fertile land. The Red Sea coast offered no easily accessible ports and the oasis dwellers and the [[Bedouin]]s of the region were illiterate.<ref name="Literary" />
Possible earlier mentions are not unambiguous. The Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] writes about [[Arabia]] in the 1st century BCE in his work ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', describing a holy shrine: "And a temple has been set up there, which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians".<ref>Translated by C.H. Oldfather, ''Diodorus Of Sicily, Volume II'', William Heinemann Ltd., London & Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1935, p. 217.</ref> Claims have been made this could be a reference to the [[Ka'bah]] in Mecca.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gibbon |first1=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.533456 |title=The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |year=1862 |series=Book 5 |pages=223–224}}</ref> However, the geographic location Diodorus describes is located in northwest Arabia, around the area of [[Leuke Kome]], within the former [[Nabataean Kingdom]] and the Roman province of [[Arabia Petraea]].<ref>Jan Retsö, The Arabs in Antiquity (2003), 295–300</ref><ref>Photius, Diodorus and Strabo (English): Stanley M. Burnstein (tr.), Agatharchides of Cnidus: On the Eritraean Sea (1989), 132–173, esp. 152–3 (§92).)</ref>
Ptolemy lists the names of 50 cities in Arabia, one going by the name of Macoraba. There has been speculation since 1646 that this could be a reference to Mecca. Historically, there has been a general consensus in scholarship that Macoraba mentioned by [[Ptolemy]] in the 2nd century CE is indeed Mecca, but more recently, this has been questioned.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Crone, Patricia|title=Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1987|isbn=978-1-59333-102-3|pages=134–135}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Morris, Ian D.|year=2018|title=Mecca and Macoraba|url=https://islamichistorycommons.org/mem/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2018/11/UW-26-Morris.pdf|journal=Al-ʿUṣūr Al-Wusṭā|volume=26|pages=1–60|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117022342/https://islamichistorycommons.org/mem/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2018/11/UW-26-Morris.pdf|archive-date=17 November 2018|access-date=16 November 2018}}</ref> Bowersock favors the identity of the former, with his theory being that "Macoraba" is the word "''Makkah"'' followed by the aggrandizing [[Aramaic]] adjective ''rabb'' (great). The Roman 4th-century historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] also enumerated many cities of Western Arabia, most of which can be identified. According to Bowersock, he did mention Mecca as "Geapolis" or "Hierapolis", the latter one meaning "holy city" potentially referring to the sanctuary of the [[Kaaba]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bowersock|first1=G. W.|title=The crucible of Islam|date=2017|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-05776-0|location=Cambridge (Mass.)|pages=53–55}}</ref>
[[Procopius]]' 6th century statement that the [[Ma'add]] tribe possessed the coast of western Arabia between the [[Ghassanids]] and the [[Himyarite Kingdom|Himyarites]] of the south supports the Arabic sources tradition that associates [[Quraysh]] as a branch of the Ma'add and Muhammad as a direct descendant of Ma'add ibn Adnan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shahid |first1=Irfan |title=Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, volume 1, part 1 |date=1995 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=978-0-88402-284-8 |page=163}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Procopius |title=History |pages=I.xix.14}}</ref>
==Islamic sources == [[File:Folio from a Qur’an, sura 91,14-15; sura 92,1-5 (F1929.70).jpg|thumb|left|11th-century Persian Quran folio page in [[kufic]] script]]
The main Islamic source on Muhammad's life are the [[Quran]] and accounts of Muhammad's life based on [[oral tradition]]s known as ''[[sīra]]'' and [[hadith]].
===Historicity of the Quran === {{see also|History of the Quran|Criticism of the Quran}} {{Quran}} ====Islamic narrative==== [[File:Uthman Koran Taschkent a.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Samarkand Kufic Quran]], dated to the early 9th century. It is alleged to be a 7th-century original of the edition of the third caliph, Uthman. It is located in the small Telyashayakh mosque in [[Tashkent]].]] According to traditional Islamic scholarship, all of the Quran was written down by Muhammad's [[Sahabah|companions]] while he was alive (during CE 610–632<ref>Mehdy Shaddel (2022) [https://www.academia.edu/36951072 "Periodisation and the futūḥ: Making Sense of Muḥammad's Leadership of the Conquests in non-Muslim Sources"], ''Arabica'' 69: 96-145</ref>), but it was primarily an orally related document. Following the death of Muhammad the Quran ceased to be revealed, and companions who had memorized the Quran began to die off (particularly after the [[Battle of Yamama]] in 633).<ref name="sunnah.com">{{cite web|url=http://sunnah.com/bukhari/93/53|title=Hadith - Book of Judgments (Ahkaam) - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)|publisher=Sunnah.com|date=2012-04-26|access-date=2015-07-24}}</ref> Worried that parts of the Quran might be irretrievably lost, senior companion [[Umar]] urged Caliph [[Abu Bakr]] to order the collection of the pieces of the Quran which had hitherto been scattered among "palm-leaf stalks, thin white stones, ... [and] men who knew it by heart, ..."<ref>{{cite web |website=Sahih al-Bukhari |title=Volume 6, Book 61, Number 509 |url=https://www.sahih-bukhari.com/Pages/Bukhari_6_61.php |access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref> and put them together.<ref name="sunnah.com"/><ref name=collection>{{cite book|last=Hasan|first=Sayyid Siddiq|author2=Nadwi, Abul Hasan Ali|translator=Kidwai, A.R.|title=The collection of the Qur'an|publisher=Qur'anic Arabic Foundation|year=2000|location=Karachi|pages=34–5}}</ref> Under Caliph [[Uthman]], a committee of five copied the scraps into a single volume, "monitoring the text as they went", resolving disagreements about verses, tracking down a lost verse.<ref name=MCKaVSI2000:120>[[#MCKaVSI2000|Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000]]: p.120</ref> This ''[[Mus'haf|muṣḥaf]]'' – that became known as the "Uthmanic codex" – was finished around 650 CE,<ref name=MCKaVSI2000:6>[[#MCKaVSI2000|Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000]]: p.6</ref><ref name=MCKaVSI2000:119>[[#MCKaVSI2000|Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000]]: p.119</ref> whereupon Uthman issued an order for all other existing personal and individual copies and dialects of the Quran (known as ''[[Ahruf]]'') to be burnt.<ref>(Burton, pp. 141–42 – citing Ahmad b. `Ali b. Muhammad al `Asqalani, ibn Hajar, "Fath al Bari", 13 vols, Cairo, 1939/1348, vol. 9, p. 18).</ref><ref>see also: [[William Montgomery Watt]] in ''The Cambridge History of Islam'', p.32</ref>
====Modern scholarship on the Quran==== As to the historicity of the Quran itself, some scholars also disagree. Some argue "the Quran is convincingly the words of Muhammad" ([[F.E. Peters]]),<ref name="Peters">F. E. Peters (1991)</ref> with the parchment of an early copy of Quran – the [[Birmingham Quran manuscript|Birmingham manuscript]], whose text differs only slightly to modern versions – being dated to roughly around the lifetime of Muhammad.<ref name=birmingham>{{cite web|title=Birmingham Qur'an manuscript dated among the oldest in the world |publisher=University of Birmingham |url= https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2015/07/quran-manuscript-22-07-15.aspx |access-date= 16 October 2017}}</ref> Some Western scholars,<ref>Herbert Berg(2000), p.83</ref> however, question the accuracy of some of the Quran's historical accounts and whether the holy book existed in any form before the last decade of the seventh century ([[Patricia Crone]] and [[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]]);<ref name="Crone">Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, and Gerd R. Puin as quoted in {{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199901/koran|work=The Atlantic Monthly|title=What Is the Koran?|author=Toby Lester|date=January 1999}}</ref> and/or argue it is a "cocktail of texts", some of which may have been existent a hundred years before Muhammad, that evolved ([[Gerd R. Puin]]),<ref name="Crone"/><ref>[http://individual.utoronto.ca/fantastic/The_History_of_the_Quranic_Text_from_Revelation_to_Compilation.pdf THE HISTORY OF THE QUR’ANIC TEXT FROM REVELATION TO COMPILATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427050217/http://individual.utoronto.ca/fantastic/The_History_of_the_Quranic_Text_from_Revelation_to_Compilation.pdf |date=2022-04-27 }} by Muhammad Mustafa Al-A’zami, Leicester: UK, page 12; Al-A’zami quotes a letter that was published in the Yemeni newspaper ''ath-Thawra'', 11 March 1999</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/aug/08/highereducation.theguardian Querying the Koran] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408141934/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/aug/08/highereducation.theguardian |date=2022-04-08 }}, by Abul Taher, The Guardian, 8 August 2000 </ref> or was redacted (J. Wansbrough),<ref>Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation (1977) and The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History (1978) by Wansbrough.</ref><ref>http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/quran3.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905183359/http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/quran3.html |date=2017-09-05 }} (Discusses Wansbrough) </ref> to form the Quran. A group of researchers explores the irregularities and repetitions in the Quranic text in a way that refutes the traditional claim that it was preserved by memorization alongside writing. According to them, an [[Oral tradition|oral period]] shaped the Quran as a text and order, and the repetitions and irregularities mentioned were remnants of this period.<ref name=AGBRtT2014:1-4>[[#AGBRtT2014|Bannister, "Retelling the Tale", 2014]]: p.1-4</ref>
It is also possible that the content of the Quran itself may provide data regarding the date and probably nearby geography of writing of the text. Sources based on some archaeological data give the construction date of [[Masjid al-Haram]], an architectural work mentioned 16 times in the Quran, as 78 AH<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.islamic-awareness.org/history/islam/inscriptions/haram1.html | title=An Inscription Mentioning the Rebuilding of Al-Masjid Al-Haram, 78 AH / 697-698 CE}}</ref> an additional finding that sheds light on the evolutionary history of the Quranic texts mentioned,<ref name="LESTER-1999">{{cite magazine |author-link=Toby Lester |date=1 January 1999 |title=What Is the Koran? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825233826/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/ |archive-date=25 August 2012 |access-date=16 May 2022 |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |location=Washington, D.C. |issn=2151-9463 |oclc=936540106 |author-last=Lester |author-first=Toby}}</ref> which is known to continue even during the time of [[Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf|Hajjaj]],{{sfn|Jeffrey|1952|pp=99–120}}{{sfn|Robinson|1996|p=56}} in a similar situation that can be seen with [[al-Aksa]], though different suggestions have been put forward to explain.{{efn|Arabic and Persian writers such as 10th-century geographer [[al-Muqaddasi]],<ref name="MukaddasiNasir">{{cite book |last=Le Strange |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Le Strange |title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Translated from the Works of the Medieval Arab Geographers |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |year=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA94 |pages=96 |quote=Great confusion is introduced into the Arab descriptions of the Noble Sanctuary by the indiscriminate use of the terms Al Masjid or Al Masjid al Akså, Jami' or Jami al Aksâ; and nothing but an intimate acquaintance with the locality described will prevent a translator, ever and again, misunderstanding the text he has before him-since the native authorities use the technical terms in an extraordinarily inexact manner, often confounding the whole, and its part, under the single denomination of "Masjid." Further, the usage of various writers differs considerably on these points : Mukaddasi invariably speaks of the whole Haram Area as Al Masjid, or as Al Masjid al Aksî, "the Akså Mosque," or "the mosque," while the Main-building of the mosque, at the south end of the Haram Area, which we generally term the Aksa, he refers to as Al Mughattâ, "the Covered-part." Thus he writes "the mosque is entered by thirteen gates," meaning the gates of the Haram Area. So also "on the right of the court," means along the west wall of the Haram Area; "on the left side" means the east wall; and "at the back" denotes the northern boundary wall of the Haram Area. Nasir-i-Khusrau, who wrote in Persian, uses for the Main-building of the Aksâ Mosque the Persian word Pushish, that is, "Covered part," which exactly translates the Arabic Al Mughatta. On some occasions, however, the Akså Mosque (as we call it) is spoken of by Näsir as the Maksurah, a term used especially to denote the railed-off oratory of the Sultan, facing the Mihrâb, and hence in an extended sense applied to the building which includes the same. The great Court of the Haram Area, Nâsir always speaks of as the Masjid, or the Masjid al Akså, or again as the Friday Mosque (Masjid-i-Jum'ah). |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063147/https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA94 |url-status=live}}</ref> 11th-century scholar [[Nasir Khusraw]],<ref name=MukaddasiNasir/> 12th-century geographer [[Muhammad al-Idrisi|al-Idrisi]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Idrīsī |first1=Muhammad |authorlink1=Muhammad al-Idrisi |last2=Jaubert |first2=Pierre Amédée |authorlink2=Pierre Amédée Jaubert |title=Géographie d'Édrisi |publisher=à l'Imprimerie royale |year=1836 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRA7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA343 |language=fr |pages=343–344 |quote=Sous la domination musulmane il fut agrandi, et c'est (aujourd'hui) la grande mosquée connue par les Musulmans sous le nom de Mesdjid el-Acsa مسجد الأقصى. Il n'en existe pas au monde qui l'égale en grandeur, si l'on en excepte toutefois la grande mosquée de Cordoue en Andalousie; car, d'après ce qu'on rapporte, le toit de cette mosquée est plus grand que celui de la Mesdjid el-Acsa. Au surplus, l'aire de cette dernière forme un parallelogramme dont la hauteur est de deux cents brasses (ba'a), et le base de cents quatre-vingts. La moitié de cet espace, celle qui est voisin du Mihrab, est couverte d'un toit (ou plutôt d'un dôme) en pierres soutenu par plusieurs rangs de colonnes; l'autre est à ciel ouvert. Au centre de l'édifice est un grand dôme connu sous le nom de Dôme de la roche; il fut orné d'arabesques en or et d'autres beaux ouvrages, par les soins de divers califes musulmans. Le dôme est percé de quatre portes; en face de celle qui est à l'occident, on voit l'autel sur lequel les enfants d'Israël offraient leurs sacrifices; auprès de la porte orientale est l'église nommée le saint des saints, d'une construction élégante; au midi est une chapelle qui était à l'usage des Musulmans; mais les chrétiens s'en sont emparés de vive force et elle est restée en leur pouvoir jusqu'à l'époque de la composition du présent ouvrage. Ils ont converti cette chapelle en un couvent où résident des religieux de l'ordre des templiers, c'est-à-dire des serviteurs de la maison de Dieu. |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063143/https://books.google.com/books?id=BRA7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA343 |url-status=live }} Also at {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=G. |last2=Willis |first2=R. |title=The Holy City: Historical, Topographical, and Antiquarian Notices of Jerusalem |publisher=J.W. Parker |chapter=Account of Jerusalem during the Frank Occupation, extracted from the Universal Geography of Edrisi. Climate III. sect. 5. Translated by P. Amédée Jaubert. Tome 1. pp. 341—345. |issue=v. 1 |year=1849 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_sqAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA131 |ref=none |access-date=31 July 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063201/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Holy_City/T_sqAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA3-PA131&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live}}</ref> and 15th-century Islamic scholar [[Mujir al-Din]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Islamic Sources |journal=Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis |date=Fall 2000 |pages=60–68 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6338726 |author=Mustafa Abu Sway |quote=Quoting [[Mujir al-Din]]: "Verily, ‘Al-Aqsa’ is a name for the whole mosque which is surrounded by the wall, the length and width of which are mentioned here, for the building that exists in the southern part of the Mosque, and the other ones such as the Dome of the Rock and the corridors and other [buildings] are novel" |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529020617/https://www.academia.edu/6338726/The_Holy_Land_Jerusalem_and_Al_Aqsa_Mosque_in_the_Quran_Sunnah_and_other_Islamic_Literary_Sources_i |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as 19th-century North American and British [[Oriental studies|Orientalist scholars]] such as [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]], [[Guy Le Strange]], and [[Edward Henry Palmer]] explained that the term ''Masjid al-Aqsa'' refers to the entire esplanade plaza also known as the [[Temple Mount]] or ''Haram al-Sharif'' ('Noble Sanctuary')—i.e., the entire area including the [[Dome of the Rock]], the fountains, the [[Gates of the Temple Mount|gates]], and the [[Minarets of the Temple Mount|four minarets]]—because [[Historical reliability of the Quran|none of these buildings existed at the time when the Quran was written]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Le Strange |first=Guy |author-link=Guy Le Strange |title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Translated from the Works of the Medieval Arab Geographers |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |year=1890 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA89 |quote=THE AKSÀ MOSQUE. The great mosque of Jerusalem, Al Masjid al Aksà, the "Further Mosque," derives its name from the traditional Night Journey of Muhammad, to which allusion is made in the words of the Kuran (xvii. I)... the term "Mosque" being here taken to denote the whole area of the Noble Sanctuary, and not the Main-building of the Aksà only, which, in the Prophet's days, did not exist. |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719063144/https://books.google.com/books?id=BxUyssIX-H4C&pg=RA1-PA89 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Strange 1887 pp. 247–305">{{cite journal |last=Strange |first=Guy le |title=Description of the Noble Sanctuary at Jerusalem in 1470 A.D., by Kamâl (or Shams) ad Dîn as Suyûtî |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=19 |issue=2 |year=1887 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25208864 |pages=247–305 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00019420 |s2cid=163050043 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25208864 |quote=…the term Masjid (whence, through the Spanish Mezquita, our word Mosque) denotes the whole of the sacred edifice, comprising the main building and the court, with its lateral arcades and minor chapels. The earliest specimen of the Arab mosque consisted of an open courtyard, within which, round its four walls, run colonades or cloisters to give shelter to the worshippers. On the side of the court towards the Kiblah (in the direction of Mekka), and facing which the worshipper must stand, the colonade, instead of being single, is, for the convenience of the increased numbers of the congregation, widened out to form the Jami' or place of assembly… coming now to the Noble Sanctuary at Jerusalem, we must remember that the term 'Masjid’ belongs not only to the Aksa mosque (more properly the Jami’ or place of assembly for prayer), but to the whole enclosure with the Dome of the Rock in the middle, and all the other minor domes and chapels.|url-access=subscription}}</ref>}} These structures, -expected to be somewhere near Muhammad-{{efn|While "masjid" may simply be used as a place of worship, meaning a place of [[Sujud|prostration]] traditionally used for worship, it may also refer to the buildings where these acts took place. In this case, the relevant verses could be dated after the construction of these buildings. Another verse alluding to Muhammad's Miraj story can be used to conclude that these two mosques are not that far apart. In this regard, one can consider the conclusions of scholars who point to Al-Aqsa being near Mecca —in the [[Al-Ji'rana]] region—<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grabar |first=Oleg |date=1959 |title=The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629098 |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=3 |pages=33–62 |jstor=4629098 |issn=0571-1371}}</ref> or, conversely, the [[Revisionist school of Islamic studies]], which suggests that the birth of Islam occurred in northwestern Arabia.}} which were placed in cities like Mecca and Jerusalem, which are thousands of kilometers apart today, with interpretations [[Isra' and Mi'raj|based on narrations and miracles]], were only a night walk away according to the outward and literal meaning of the verse.{{qref|17|1|c=y}}
=====Muhammad in the Quran===== {{Main|Muhammad in the Quran}} The Quran primarily addresses a single "Messenger of God," Muhammad. Unlike the hundreds of references in the Quran to the stories of prophets such as Moses and Jesus, provides very little information about Muhammad himself,{{sfn|Bennett|1998|pp=18–19}}{{sfn|Peters|1994|p=261}} [[Companions of the Prophet|his companions]],<ref name="Watt2024" /> or his contemporaries. The individuals to whom the expressions used in Quranic polemics belong and the contexts in which they were used are merely notes made in [[tafsir|commentaries]] written in later centuries. An exception is his slave/adopted son [[Zayd ibn Haritha al-Kalbi|Zayd]], whose name is mentioned in the verses ([[Al-Aḥzāb]];37) in the context of his -divorced- wife being taken into [[Muhammad's marriages]].
Probably the clearest biographical account of Muhammad in the Quran is the brief mention of his followers' settlement in [[Yathrib]] after their expulsion by the [[Quraysh]], and of military encounters such as the [[Battle of Badr|Muslim victory at Badr]].<ref name="Watt2024">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2024 |title=Muhammad |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad |access-date=4 February 2023 |last1=Watt |first1=William Montgomery |author-link1=W. Montgomery Watt |last2=Sinai |first2=Nicolai |author-link2=Nicolai Sinai}}</ref>
Modern scholars differ in their assessment of the Quran as a historical source about Muhammad's life. According to the ''[[Encyclopedia of Islam]]'', the "Qur'an responds constantly and often candidly to Muhammad's changing historical circumstances and contains a wealth of hidden data that are relevant to the task of the quest for the historical Muhammad."<ref name="EoI-Muhammad" /> In contrast, Solomon A. Nigosian writes that the Quran tells us very little about the life of Muhammad.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}} Unlike the Bible's narratives of the life of [[Moses]] or [[Jesus]], Michael Cook notes that <blockquote>while the Koran tells many stories after its fashion, that of Muhammad is not among them. There are references to events in his life, but they are only references, not narratives. In addition, the book is not given to mentioning names in the context of its own time. Muhammad himself is named four times, and a couple of his contemporaries once each ... and for this reason it is almost impossible to relate the scripture to his life without going outside it.<ref name=MCKaVSI2000:136-7>[[#MCKaVSI2000|Cook, ''The Koran'', 2000]]: p.136-37</ref> </blockquote>
===Traditions=== [[File:Blue koran sanaa.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Sana'a manuscripts|Manuscripts found in Sana'a]]. The "subtexts" revealed using UV light are very different from today's Qur'an. [[Gerd R. Puin]] believed this to mean an evolving text.<ref>{{cite web|archive-date=25 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825233826/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/|date=1 January 1999|first1=Toby|last1=Lester|title=What Is the Koran?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/01/what-is-the-koran/304024/|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> A similar phrase is used by [[Lawrence Conrad]] for [[biography of Muhammad]]. Because, according to his studies, Islamic scientific view on the date of birth of the Prophet until the second century A.H. had exhibited a diversity of 85 years.<ref name="12_Conrad-1987-239"/>]] Unlike the [[Quran]], the [[hadith]] and ''[[sīra]]'' are devoted to Muhammad, his life, his words, deeds, approval, and example to Muslims in general.
====Prophetic biography (''sīra'')==== {{main|Prophetic biography#Authenticity and usefulness}} Much is believed to be known about Muhammad from ''Sira'' literature: <blockquote>The life of Muhammad is known as the ''Sira'' and was lived in the full light of history. Everything he did and said was recorded. Because he could not read and write himself, he was constantly served by a group of 45 scribes who wrote down his sayings, instructions, and his activities. Muhammad himself insisted on documenting his important decisions. Nearly three hundred of his documents have come down to us, including political treaties, military enlistments, assignments of officials, and state correspondence written on tanned leather. We thus know his life to the minutest details: how he spoke, sat, slept (sic), dressed, walked; his behavior as a husband, father, nephew; his attitudes toward women, children, animals; his business transactions and stance toward the poor and the oppressed ...<ref name="Sardar-94-30">{{cite book|last1=Sardar|first1=Z.|last2=Malik|first2=Z.A.|title=Muhammad for beginners|date=1994|location=London|page=30}}</ref><ref name="Sardar-intro-94">{{cite book|last1=Sardar|first1=Ziauddin|title=Introducing Islam: A Graphic Guide|date=1994|publisher=Icon Books Ltd.|isbn=9781848317741|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WPGmAwAAQBAJ&q=sardar+Everything+he+did+and+said+was+recorded.+Because+he+could+not+read+and+write+himself,&pg=PT48|access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref><ref name=IROoI2000:89-90>[[#IROoI2000|Ibn Rawandi, "Origins of Islam", 2000]]: p.89-90</ref> </blockquote>
In the [[Prophetic biography|sīra literature]], the most important extant biography are the two recensions of [[Ibn Ishaq]]'s (d. 768), now known as ''Sīrat Rasūl Allah'' ("Biography/Life of the Messenger/Apostle of Allah"), which survive in the works of his editors, most notably [[Ibn Hisham]] (d. 834) and Yunus b. Bukayr (d.814–815), although not in its original form.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/> According to Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq wrote his biography some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. Many, but not all, scholars accept the accuracy of these biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}}
After Ibn Ishaq, there are a number of shorter accounts (some of which are earlier than Ibn Ishaq) recorded in different forms (see [[Prophetic biography#Early compilations of s.C4.ABra|List of earliest writers of sīra]]). Other biographies of Muhammad include [[al-Waqidi|al-Waqidi's]] (d. 822) and then [[Ibn Sa'd]]'s (d.844–45). Al-Waqidi is often criticized by early [[Muslim historians]] who state that the author is unreliable.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/> These are not "biographies" in the modern sense of the word, but rather accounts of Muhammad's military expeditions, his sayings, the [[asbab al-nuzul|reasons for]] and interpretations of verses in the Quran.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/>
==== Criticism of ''sīra'' ==== Secular historians have been much more critical of ''Sīra''. [[Tom Holland (author)|Tom Holland]] notes that Ibn Hisham credits angels with helping Muslims to victory at the [[Battle of Badr]], and wonders why he should be considered a reliable historical source any more than [[Homer]] (who portrayed [[Twelve Olympians|gods]] as influencing battles in his epic poem the [[Iliad]]).<ref name="Holland">{{cite book|last1=Holland|first1=Tom|title=In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global ...|date=2012|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1f_BR2DulRIC&q=tom+holland+Ibn+Ishaq+angels+Badr+homer&pg=PT48|access-date=25 September 2019|chapter=1. Known Unknowns|isbn=9780385531368}}</ref>
[[Henri Lammens]] complains of contradictions in the Traditions about Muhammad's life, including on the number of his children and wives. Some accounts have him having one child, others two, and still another claimed he had twelve children, including eight boys.<ref name=HLtKaT2000:174-5>[[#HLtKaT2000|Lammen, "Koran and Tradition", 2000]]: p.174-5</ref>{{efn|At least many contemporary sources state that Muhammad had three sons,<ref name="MM-ara-2016">{{cite web|last1=ARA|first1=ANJUM|title=The Sons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)|url=https://muslimmemo.com/sons-of-prophet-muhammad/|website=MUSLIM MEMO|access-date=25 February 2020|date=7 March 2016}}</ref> or only two.<ref>{{cite web|title=Children Of Prophet Muhammad|url=http://www.islamicweb.com/history/children.htm|website=Islamicweb|access-date=25 February 2020}}</ref>}} While most accounts state he had nine wives, "some passages of the sira speak of twenty three wives."<ref name=HLtKaT2000:174-5/> Muhammad is thought to have lived between 60 and 65 years according to tradition.<ref name=HLtAoM2000:174-5>[[#HLtAoM2000|Lammen, "The Age of Muhammad and the Chronology of the Sira", 2000]]: p.188</ref>
According to Wim Raven, it is often noted that a coherent image of Muhammad cannot be formed from the literature of sīra, whose authenticity and factual value have been questioned on a number of different grounds.<ref name="EI2">{{cite encyclopedia|edition=2nd|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|volume=9|pages=660–663|last=Raven|first=W.|title=SĪRA |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|isbn=90-04-10422-4|year=1997}}</ref> He lists the following arguments against the authenticity of sīra, followed here by counter-arguments:
# Hardly any sīra work was compiled during the first century of Islam. Fred Donner points out that the earliest historical writings about the origins of Islam first emerged in 60-70 AH, well within the first century of Hijra (see also [[List of biographies of Muhammad]]). Furthermore, the sources now extant, dating from the second, third, and fourth centuries AH, are according to Donner mostly compilations of material derived from earlier sources.{{sfn|Donner|1998|p=125}} # The many discrepancies exhibited in different narrations found in sīra works. Yet, despite the lack of a single orthodoxy in Islam, there is still a marked agreement on the most general features of the traditional origins story.{{sfn|Donner|1998|pp=26–27}} # Later sources claiming to know more about the time of Muhammad than earlier ones (to add embellishments and exaggeration common to an oral storytelling tradition).<ref>{{cite book|last=Crone and Cook|first=Patricia and Michael|title=Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World|year=1980|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-29754-0|pages=277}}</ref> # Discrepancies compared to non-Muslim sources. But there are also similarities and agreements both in information specific to Muhammad,<ref name="Cook 73–74">{{cite book|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=0192876058|last=Cook|first=Michael|title=Muhammad|date=1983-01-26|pages=73–74}}</ref> and concerning Muslim tradition at large.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Darwin|isbn=0878501258|last=Hoyland |first=Robert G|title=Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam|title-link=Seeing Islam as Others Saw It|year=1998|author-link=Robert G. Hoyland|page=591}}</ref> # Some parts or genres of sīra, namely those dealing with miracles, are not fit as sources for scientific historiographical information about Muhammad, except for showing the beliefs and doctrines of his community.
Nevertheless, other content of sīra, like the [[Constitution of Medina]], is generally considered to be authentic by both Muslim and non-Muslim historians.<ref name="EI2" />
====Hadith==== {{main|Hadith|Criticism of hadith}} The [[hadith]] collections include traditional, [[hagiography|hagiographic]] accounts of [[sunnah|verbal and physical traditions]] attributed to Muhammad, and for many, often explain what a verse in the Quran is referring to in regards to Muhammad.<ref name="Kutty">{{cite web|last1=Kutty|first1=Ahmad|title=What Is the Significance of Hadith in Islam?|url=http://www.islamicity.com/forum/printer_friendly_posts.asp?TID=3547|website=Islamicity|access-date=22 January 2020|date=30 March 2005}}</ref> Unlike the Quran, hadiths are not universally accepted by Muslims.<ref name="Aisha Y. Musa 2013">Aisha Y. Musa, The Qur’anists, Florida International University, accessed May 22, 2013.</ref><ref name="Neal Robinson 2013 pp. 85-89">Neal Robinson (2013), Islam: A Concise Introduction, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0878402243}}, Chapter 7, pp. 85-89</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://submission.org/Corruption_of_Religion.html|title=Hadith and the Corruption of the great religion of Islam {{!}} Submission.org - Your best source for Submission (Islam)|website=submission.org|access-date=2020-01-23}}</ref>
Early [[List of Muslim scholars|Muslim scholars]] were concerned that some hadiths (and sīra reports) were fabricated, and thus they developed a science of hadith criticism (see [[Hadith studies]]) to distinguish between genuine sayings and those that were forged, recorded using different words, or were wrongly ascribed to Muhammad.
In general, the majority of western academics view the [[hadith]] collections with considerable caution.<ref name=":02">{{Citation |last=Brown |first=Daniel W. |title=Western Hadith Studies |date=2020-01-02 |work=The Wiley Blackwell Concise Companion to the Hadith |pages=39–56 |editor-last=Brown |editor-first=Daniel W. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118638477.ch2 |access-date=2024-06-26 |edition=1 |publisher=Wiley |doi=10.1002/9781118638477.ch2 |isbn=978-1-118-63851-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Bernard Lewis]] states that "The collection and recording of Hadith did not take place until several generations after the death of the Prophet. During that period the opportunities and motives for falsification were almost unlimited."{{sfn|Lewis|1967|p=37}} In addition to fabrication, the meaning of a hadith may have substantially drifted from its original telling by the time it was written down.<ref name=":1" />
The main feature of hadith is that of [[Isnad]] (chains of transmission), which are the basis of determining the authenticity of the reports in traditional Islamic scholarship. According to Stephen Humphreys, while a number of "very capable" modern scholars defended the general authenticity of ''isnads'', most modern scholars regard ''isnads'' with "deep suspicion",<ref name="Humphreys">{{cite book|edition=Revised|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-00856-6|last=Humphreys|first=R. Stephen|title=Islamic History: A framework for Inquiry|year=1991|page=82}}</ref> due to the potential for ''isnads,'' like hadith, to be fabricated.<ref name=":02" />
[[Jonathan A. C. Brown]], a [[Sunni]] Muslim American scholar of [[Islamic studies]] who follows the [[Hanbali]] school of jurisprudence,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Jonathan|title=The Shariah, Homosexuality & Safeguarding Each Other's Rights in a Pluralist Society {{!}} ImanWire|url=http://almadinainstitute.org/blog/the-shariah-homosexuality-safeguarding-each-others-rights-in-a-pluralist-so/|website=Al-Madina Institute|date=18 June 2016|access-date=10 March 2021|archive-date=22 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622140840/http://almadinainstitute.org/blog/the-shariah-homosexuality-safeguarding-each-others-rights-in-a-pluralist-so/|url-status=dead}}</ref> asserts that the hadith tradition is a "common sense science" or a "common sense tradition" and is "one of the biggest accomplishments in human intellectual history ... in its breadth, in its depth, in its complexity and in its internal consistency."<ref>{{citation|last=ilmisfree|title=Dr. Jonathan A.C. Brown - An Introduction to Hadith|date=2012-03-04|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlEtV0rDPA%20(see%20from%200:01:03) |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/kZlEtV0rDPA |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|access-date=2016-12-11}}{{cbignore}} (see from 0:01:13)</ref>
==Non-Muslim sources== [[File:Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Mohammed_(CLIv).jpg|thumb|Muhammad in the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'', late 15th century]]
Early Islamic history is also reflected in sources written in [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], and [[Hebrew]] by Jewish and Christian communities, all of which are dated after 633 CE.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}} These sources contain some essential differences with regard to Muslim sources, in particular regarding the chronology and Muhammad's attitude towards the Jews and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}} According to Nevo and Koren, no Byzantine or Syriac sources provide any detail on "Muhammad's early career{{nbsp}}[...] which predate the Muslim literature on the subject".<ref name=YDNJKMQtIS2000:433>[[#YDNJKMQtIS2000|Nevo & Koren, "Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies", 2000]]: p.433</ref>
According to Syriac and Byzantine sources studied by historian S.P. Brock,<ref name=50_Brock_1982_p20>{{cite book |last1=Brock |first1=S.P. |chapter=Syriac Views of Emergent Islam |title=Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society |editor=G.H.A. Juynboll |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |year=1982 |page=20 }}</ref> "The title 'prophet' [applied to Muhammad] is not very common, 'apostle' even less so. Normally he is simply described as the first of the Arab kings, and it would be generally true to say that the Syriac sources of this period see the conquests primarily as Arab, and not Muslim".<ref name=10_Brock_p.14>{{cite book |last1=Brock |first1=S.P. |chapter=Syriac Views of Emergent Islam |title=Studies on the First Century of Islamic Society |editor=G.H.A. Juynboll |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |year=1982 |page=14}}</ref><ref name=YDNJKMQtIS2000:432>[[#YDNJKMQtIS2000|Neva & Koren, "Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies", 2000]]: p.432</ref>
There is a reference recording the Arab conquest of Syria (known as [[Fragment on the Arab Conquests]]), that mentions Muhammad. This very faded note is preserved on [[Folio#Page numbering|folio]] 1 of [[British Library#Additional manuscripts|BL Add.]] 14,461, a codex containing the [[Gospel of Matthew]] and the [[Gospel of Mark]]. This note appears to have been penned soon after the [[Battle of Yarmouk|battle of Gabitha]] (636 CE) at which the Arabs effected a crushing defeat of the Byzantines. Wright was first to draw the attention to the fragment and suggested that "it seems to be a nearly contemporary notice",<ref>W. Wright, Catalogue Of Syriac Manuscripts In The British Museum Acquired Since The Year 1838, 1870, Part I, Printed by order of the Trustees: London, No. XCIV, pp. 65-66. This book was republished in 2002 by Gorgias Press.</ref> a view which was also endorsed by Nöldeke.<ref>Th. Nöldeke, "Zur Geschichte der Araber im 1. Jahrh. d.H. aus syrischen Quellen", [[Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft]], 1876, Volume 29, p. 76.</ref> The purpose of jotting this note in the book of Gospels appears to be commemorative as the author appears to have realized how momentous the events of his time were. The words "we saw" are positive evidence that the author was a contemporary. The author also talks about [[olive oil]], cattle, ruined villages, suggesting that he belonged to peasant stock, i.e., parish priest or a monk who could read and write. It is worthwhile cautioning that the condition of the text is fragmentary and many of the readings unclear or disputable. The [[Lacuna (manuscripts)|lacunae]] (gaps in the text) are supplied in square brackets:
{{blockquote|text=... and in January, they took the word for their lives (did) [the sons of] [[Emesa]] [i.e., ̣Hiṃs)], and many villages were ruined with killing by [the Arabs of] Muḥammad and a great number of people were killed and captives [were taken] from [[Galilee]] as far as Bēth{{nbsp}} [...] and those Arabs pitched camp beside [Damascus?]{{nbsp}}[...] and we saw everywhe[re...] and o[l]ive oil which they brought and them. And on the t[wenty six]th of May went S[ac[ella]rius]... cattle{{nbsp}}[...] [...] from the vicinity of Emesa and the Romans chased them{{nbsp}}[...] and on the tenth [of August] the Romans fled from the vicinity of Damascus{{nbsp}}[...] many [people] some 10,000. And at the turn [of the ye]ar the Romans came; and on the twentieth of August in the year n[ine hundred and forty-]seven there gathered in [[Jabiyah|Gabitha]]{{nbsp}}[...] the Romans and great many people were ki[lled of] [the R]omans, [s]ome fifty thousand{{nbsp}}[...]<ref>A. Palmer (1993), (with contributions from S. P. Brock and R. G. Hoyland), ''The Seventh Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles Including Two Seventh-Century Syriac Apocalyptic Texts'', Liverpool University Press: Liverpool (UK), pp. 2-3</ref><ref>R. G. Hoyland (1997), ''Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam'', op. cit., pp. 116-117.</ref>}}
The 7th-century ''[[Chronicle of 640]]'' was published by Wright who first brought to attention the mention of an early date of 947 [[Seleucid era|AG]] (635–36 CE).<ref>W. Wright (1872), ''Catalogue Of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired Since the Year 1838'', Part III, Printed by order of the Trustees: London, No. DCCCCXIII, pp. 1040–1041.</ref> The contents of this manuscript has puzzled many scholars for their apparent lack of coherence as it contains an assembly of texts with diverse nature.<ref>A. Palmer (1993), pp. 5–6</ref><ref>R. G. Hoyland (1997), pp. 118–119.</ref> In relation to Arabs of Mohammed, there are two important dates mentioned in this manuscript. [[File:BL ADD 14,461.jpg|thumb|Fragment on Arab Conquest]]
{{blockquote|AG 945, indiction VII: On Friday, 4 February, [i.e., 634 CE / Dhul Qa'dah 12 AH] at the ninth hour, there was a battle between the Romans and the Arabs of Maḥmet [Syriac ''tayyāyē d-MḤMT''] in Palestine twelve miles east of Gaza. The Romans fled, leaving behind the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] Jordan [Syriac ''BRYRDN''], whom the Arabs killed. Some 40,000 [according to the original edition, but the more recent English translation reads "4000" without comment] poor villagers of Palestine were killed there, Christians, Jews and [[Samaritans]]. The Arabs ravaged the whole region.<ref>{{cite book | last=Thomas | first=D.R. | title=The Bible in Arab Christianity | publisher=Brill | series=The History of Christian-Muslim Relations | year=2007 | isbn=978-90-04-15558-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NdM-kRoTzxEC&pg=PA66 | access-date=2024-08-23}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|AG 947, indiction IX: The Arabs invaded the whole of Syria and went down to Persia and conquered it; the Arabs climbed mountain of [[Mardin]] and killed many monks there in [the monasteries of] Qedar and Bnata (Benōthō).<ref>{{cite book |author=[[James Howard-Johnston|Howard-Johnston, James]] |title= Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year= 2010 |edition= illustrated, reprint |isbn= 978-0199208593 |quote= two of the hill monasteries behind Mardin |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6pkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |access-date= 5 December 2023}}</ref> There died the blessed man Simon, doorkeeper of Qedar, brother of Thomas the priest.<ref>A. Palmer (1993), pp. 18–19</ref><ref>R. G. Hoyland (1997), pp. 119, 120.</ref>}}
It is the first date above which is of great importance as it provides the first explicit reference to Muhammad in a non-Muslim source. The account is usually identified with the [[battle of Dathin]].<ref>A. Palmer (1993), p. 19, note 119</ref><ref>R. G. Hoyland (1997), p. 120, note 14.</ref> According to Hoyland, "its precise dating inspires confidence that it ultimately derives from first-hand knowledge".<ref>R. G. Hoyland (1997), p. 120.</ref>
Another account of the early seventh century comes from [[Sebeos]] who was an [[Armenians|Armenian]] bishop of the [[Bagratuni dynasty|House of Bagratuni]]. His account indicates he was writing at a time when memories of sudden eruption of the Arabs were fresh. He knows Muhammad's name, that he was a merchant by profession, and hints that his life was suddenly changed by a divinely inspired revelation.<ref>R. W. Thomson (with contributions from J. Howard-Johnson & T. Greenwood), The Armenian History Attributed To Sebeos Part - II: Historical Commentary, 1999, Translated Texts For Historians - Volume 31, Liverpool University Press, p. 238</ref> Sebeos is the first non-Muslim author to present a theory for the rise of Islam that pays attention to what the Muslims themselves thought they were doing.<ref>R. G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey And Evaluation Of Christian, Jewish And Zoroastrian Writings On Early Islam, 1997, op. cit., p. 128</ref>
{{blockquote|At that time a certain man from along those same sons of Ismael, whose name was Mahmet [i.e., Muḥammad], a merchant, as if by God's command appeared to them as a preacher [and] the path of truth. He taught them to recognize the God of Abraham, especially because he was learnt and informed in the history of Moses. Now because the command was from on high, at a single order they all came together in unity of religion. Abandoning their vain cults, they turned to the living God who had appeared to their father Abraham. So, Mahmet legislated for them: not to eat carrion, not to drink wine, not to speak falsely, and not to engage in fornication. He said: 'With an oath God promised this land to Abraham and his seed after him for ever. And he brought about as he promised during that time while he loved Israel. But now you are the sons of Abraham and God is accomplishing his promise to Abraham and his seed for you. Love sincerely only the God of Abraham, and go and seize the land which God gave to your father Abraham. No one will be able to resist you in battle, because God is with you.<ref>R. W. Thomson (with contributions from J. Howard-Johnson & T. Greenwood), The Armenian History Attributed To Sebeos Part - I: Translation and Notes, 1999, Translated Texts For Historians - Volume 31, Liverpool University Press, pp. 95-96. Other translations can also be seen in P. Crone & M. Cook, Hagarism: The Making Of The Islamic World, 1977, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 6-7; R. G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam As Others Saw It: A Survey And Evaluation Of Christian, Jewish And Zoroastrian Writings On Early Islam, 1997, op. cit., p. 129; idem., "Sebeos, The Jews And The Rise Of Islam" in R. L. Nettler (Ed.), Medieval And Modern Perspectives On Muslim-Jewish Relations, 1995, Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH in cooperation with the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, p. 89</ref>}}
From this chronicle, there are indications that he lived through many of the events he relates. He maintains that the account of Arab conquests derives from the fugitives who had been eyewitnesses thereof. He concludes with [[Mu'awiya]]'s ascendancy in the [[First Fitna|Arab civil war (656–661 CE)]], which suggests that he was writing soon after this date.
==General considerations for historicity == Though the Quran contains few and rudimentary details of the prophet's life, most of the biographical information about Muhammad comes from the sirah (biographical literature), especially the work of Ibn Ishaq (d. 768).<ref name="Encyc Brittan">{{cite web |title=Muhammad |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=10 September 2023 }}</ref> These sources normally provide a historical trail of names that lead, in some cases, to an eyewitness and sometimes converge with other earlier sources near the time of the prophet.<ref name="Encyc Brittan" /> Though "there is no compelling reason to suggest that the basic scaffolding of the traditional Islamic account of Muhammad's life is unhistorical", a much more detailed biography is difficult to be understood as historically certain knowledge.<ref name="Encyc Brittan" /> According to Wim Raven, attempts to distinguish between the historical elements and the unhistorical elements of many of the reports of Muhammad have been problematic.<ref>Wim Raven, Introduction on a translation of Islamic texts into Dutch by Ibn Ishaq, ''Het leven van Muhammad'' (The life of Muhammad), {{ISBN|90-5460-056-X}}.</ref> According to F. E. Peters, despite any difficulties with the biographical sources, scholars generally see valuable historical information about Muhammad therein and suggest that what is needed are methods to be able to sort out the likely from the unlikely.<ref name="The Quest of the Historical Muhammad"/> In the 1970s, the [[Revisionist School of Islamic Studies]] raised fundamental doubts about the reliability of traditional Islamic sources and applied the [[historical-critical method]]s to the early Islamic period, including the veracity of the conventional account of Muhammad. A major source of difficulty in the quest for the historical Muhammad is the modern lack of knowledge about pre-Islamic Arabia.<ref name="Peters"/> According to [[Harald Motzki]], "On the one hand, it is not possible to write a historical biography of the Prophet without being accused of using the sources uncritically, while on the other hand, when using the sources critically, it is simply not possible to write such a biography."{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=6}}
In 1952, French Arabist [[Régis Blachère]], author of a critical biography of Muhammad that took "fully into account the skeptical conclusions" of [[Ignác Goldziher]] and [[Henri Lammens]], i.e. that Islamic hadith had been corrupted and could not be considered reliable sources of information, wrote <blockquote>We no longer have any sources that would allow us to write a detailed history of Muhammad with a rigorous and continuous chronology. To resign oneself to a partial or total ignorance is necessary, above all for everything that concerns the period prior to Muhammad's divine call [ca. 610 CE]. All a truly scientific biography can achieve is to lay out the successive problems engendered by this preapostolate period, sketch out the general background atmosphere in which Muhammad received his divine call, give in broad brush strokes the development of his apostleship at Mecca, try with a greater chance of success to put in order the known facts, and finally put back into the penumbra all that remains uncertain. To want to go further is to fall into hagiography or romanticization.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blachere |first1=R |title=Le Probleme de Mahomet Essai de Biographie Critique du fondateur |date=1952 |location=Paris |pages=17–18}} found and translated in {{cite book |editor1-last=Ibn Warraq |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |url=https://archive.org/details/questforhistoric00ibnw |url-access=registration |date=2000 |publisher=Prometheus |page=[https://archive.org/details/questforhistoric00ibnw/page/51 51] |chapter=1. Studies on Muhammad and the Rise of Islam|isbn=9781573927871 }}</ref></blockquote>
[[Michael Cook (historian)|Michael Cook]] laments that comparing Ibn Ishaq with the later commentator [[Al-Waqidi#Comparison with earlier commentaries|Al-Waqid]]—who based his writing on Ibn Ishaq but added much colorful but made-up detail—reveals how oral history can be contaminated by the fiction of storytellers (''qussa'').<ref name="Cook-1983-62-3">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Michael |title=Muhammad |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0192876058 |pages=62–3}}</ref> "We have seen what half a century of story-telling could achieve between Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi, at a time when we know that much material had already been committed to writing. What the same processes may have brought about in the century before Ibn Ishaq is something we can only guess at."<ref name="Cook-1983-67">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Michael |title=Muhammad |date=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0192876058 |page=67}}</ref>
Overall, Cook takes the view that evidence independent of Islamic tradition "precludes any doubts as to whether Muhammad was a real person" and clearly shows that he became the central figure of a new religion in the decades following his death. He reports, though, that this evidence conflicts with the Islamic view in some aspects, associating Muhammad with Israel rather than Inner Arabia, complicating the question of his sole authorship or transmission of the Quran, and suggesting that there were Jews as well as Arabs among his followers.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 0192876058| last = Cook| first = Michael| title = Muhammad| date = 1996 | pages=73–76}}</ref>
Cook's fellow [[Revisionist school of Islamic studies|revisionist]] [[Patricia Crone]] complains that ''Sīrat'' is written "not by a grandchild, but a great grandchild of the Prophet's generation", that it is written from the point of view of the [[ulama]] and [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]], so that "we shall never know ... how the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad caliph]]s remembered their prophet".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crone |first1=Patricia |title=Slaves on Horses |url=https://delong.typepad.com/files/slaves_on_horses.pdf |page=4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1980 | access-date=23 November 2019}}</ref>
While Crone argues that Muhammad was a person whose existence is supported by various sources, she takes a view that Muhammad's traditional association with the Arabian Peninsula may be "doctrinally inspired", and is put in doubt by the Quran itself, which describes agricultural activity that could not have taken place there, as well as making a reference to the site of [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]] which appears to place Muhammad's community close to the [[Dead Sea]].<ref name=crone-what-do-2008>{{cite web |first1=Patricia |last1=Crone |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mohammed_3866jsp/ |title=What do we actually know about Mohammed? |date=10 June 2008|website=openDemocracy |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref>
Concerning the dates of Muhammad's life, Lawrence Conrad writes that "well into the second century A.H. [Islamic] scholarly opinion on the birth date of the Prophet displayed a range of variance of 85 years. On the assumption that chronology is crucial to the stabilization of any tradition of historical narrative, whether transmitted orally or in writing, one can see in this state of affairs a clear indication that ''[[sīra]]'' studies in the second century were still in a state of flux".<ref name="12_Conrad-1987-239">{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=Lawrence I. |title=Abraha and Muhammad: Some Observations Apropos of Chronology and Literary topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=June 1987 |volume=50 |issue=2 |page=239 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00049016 |s2cid=162350288 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abraha-and-muhammad-some-observations-apropos-of-chronology-and-literary-topoi-in-the-early-arabic-historical-tradition1/3C7779B2986050C4381A72D79D2B8F3F |access-date=29 January 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Since second century A.H. scholarly opinion is the earliest scholarly opinion, and assuming the closer scholars were to the actual event the more likely their sources are to be accurate, this suggests a surprising lack of information among Islamic scholars about basic information on Muhammad.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Ibn Warraq |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |date=2000 |publisher=Prometheus |pages=103 |chapter=2. Origins of Islam: A Critical Look at the Sources}}</ref>
Robert Hoyland suggests his historical importance may have been exaggerated by his followers, writing that "other" Arab leaders "in other locations" had preceded Muhammad in attacking the weakened Byzantine and Persian empires, but these had been "airbrushed out of history by later Muslim writers". Hoyland and other historians argue that the original Arab invaders were not all Muslims.<ref name=RGHIGP2015:56-7>[[#RGHIGP2015|Hoyland, ''In God's Path'', 2015]]: p.56-7</ref>
===Those who see Muhammad as a mythological figure===
Some historians have posited the belief that Muhammad may be mythical. In their 2003 book ''[[Crossroads to Islam]]'', [[Yehuda D. Nevo]] and Judith Koren advanced a thesis, based on an extensive examination of archaeological evidence from the [[Negev]] desert from the [[Timeline of Palestine region#Early Muslim period|Early Islamic period]], that Muhammad may never have existed, with monotheistic Islam only coming into existence some time after he is supposed to have lived. This has been described as "plausible or at least arguable" by David Cook of [[Rice University]], but also compared to [[Holocaust denial]] by historian [[Colin Wells (historian)|Colin Wells]], who suggests that the authors deal with some of the evidence illogically.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Wells |first= Colin |title= Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.02.33 |date= February 2004 |journal= Bryn Mawr Classical Review |url= http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-02-33.html |access-date= 22 March 2011}}</ref>
In 2007, [[Karl-Heinz Ohlig]] suggested that the person of Muhammed was not central to early Islam at all, and that at this very early stage Islam was in fact an Arabic Christian sect which had objections to the concept of the [[trinity]], and that the later hadith and biographies are in large part [[legend]]s, instrumental in severing Islam from its Christian roots and building a full-blown new religion.<ref>Karl-Heinz Ohlig, ''Der frühe Islam'', 2007, {{ISBN|3-89930-090-4}}</ref> In 2008, [[Sven Kalisch]], a former Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, also questioned whether the prophet Muhammad existed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122669909279629451|title=Islamic Theologian Says Prophet Muhammad Likely Never Existed - WSJ|author=Andrew Higgins|date=16 November 2008|work=WSJ}}</ref> In 2011, [[Hans Jansen]], a Dutch scholar, expressed similar views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trykkefrihed.dk/blog/335/The-historicity-of-Muhammad-Aisha-and-who-knows-who-else.htm|title=The historicity of Muhammad, Aisha and who knows who else|work=trykkefrihed.dk}}</ref>
Popular writer, blogger, and critic of Islam, [[Robert B. Spencer|Robert Spencer]], has argued that [[Muhammad]] did not exist and proposes that he was made up by Arab leaders. He defended his ideas in his book titled ''[[Did Muhammad Exist?|Did Muhammad Exist]]''.
==See also== * [[Ashtiname of Muhammad]] * [[Criticism of Islam#Criticism of the Quran|Reliability of the Quran]] * [[Historicity of Jesus]] * [[Historicity of the Bible]] * [[Historiography of early Islam]] * ''[[Islam: The Untold Story]]'' * [[Muhammad's letters to the heads of state]] * [[Phantom time hypothesis]] * [[Relics of Muhammad]] * [[Soviet Orientalist studies in Islam]] * ''[[Seeing Islam as Others Saw It]]''
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Clinton |author-link=Clinton Bennett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VTIkkcUFHQC&pg=PA182 |title=In search of Muhammad |publisher=Continuum |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-304-70401-9}} * {{cite journal |last=Berg |first=Herbert |author2=Sarah Rollens |author2-link=Sarah Rollens |author-link=Herbert Berg (religion) |title=The Historical Muhammad and the Historical Jesus: A Comparison of Scholarly Reinventions and Reinterpretations |journal=Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses |year=2008 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=271–292 |doi= 10.1177/000842980803700205 |s2cid=144445914}} * {{cite book|last1=Cook|first1=Michael|title=The Koran : A Very Short Introduction|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUEe1twiimUC&q=The+Koran+:+A+Very+Short+Introduction |isbn=0192853449 |ref=MCKaVSI2000}} *{{Cite book | last1 = Crone | first1 = Patricia | author-link = Patricia Crone | first2 = Michael | last2 = Cook | author-link2 = Michael Cook (historian) | title = Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World | title-link = Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World | year = 1977 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn= 0-521-29754-0}} * {{Cite book |author-link=Fred McGraw Donner |last=Donner |first=Fred McGraw |title= Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing |year= 1998 |publisher= Darwin Press |isbn= 0878501274}} * {{cite book | last=Fouracre | first= Paul | title=The New Cambridge Medieval History | publisher= Cambridge University Press | year=2006 | isbn=0-521-36291-1}} *{{Cite book | last = Hoyland | first = Robert G | author-link = Robert G. Hoyland | title = Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam | title-link = Seeing Islam as Others Saw It | year= 1998 | publisher= Darwin | isbn= 0-87850-125-8}} *{{cite book |last=Hoyland |first=Robert G. |title=In God's Path: the Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire |year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref=RGHIGP2015}} *{{cite book |editor-last=Ibn Warraq |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |date=2000 |publisher=Prometheus |pages=89–124 |chapter=2. Origins of Islam: A Critical Look at the Sources |ref=IROoI2000}} * {{Cite book |last=Jeffrey |first=Arthur |title=The Qur'an as Scripture |publisher=Russell F. Moore Company |year=1952 |location=New York}} *{{cite book |last=Lammens |first=Henri |editor-last=Ibn Warraq |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |year=2000 |publisher=Prometheus}} **{{cite book |last=Lammens |year=2000 |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |chapter=4. The Koran and Tradition |pages=169–187 |ref=HLtKaT2000}} **{{cite book |last=Lammens |year=2000 |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |chapter=5. The Age of Muhammad and the Chronology of the Sira |pages=188–217 |ref=HLtAoM2000}} * {{Cite book |last= Lewis |first= Bernard |title = The Arabs in history| year = 1967 |publisher= Harper & Row |isbn= 9780061310294| url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/arabsinhistory00lewi_0}} * {{cite book |last1=Nevo |first1=Yehuda D. |author-link= Yehuda D. Nevo |last2=Koren |first2=Judith |title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad |date=2000 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=New York |pages=420–443 |chapter=Methodological Approaches to Islamic Studies |ref=YDNJKMQtIS2000}} * {{cite book | last=Nigosian | first= Solomon Alexander | title=Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices | url= https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo | url-access=registration | publisher= Indiana University Press | year=2004 | isbn=0-253-21627-3}} * {{cite journal | last=Peters | first=F. E. | author-link=F. E. Peters | title=The Quest for Historical Muhammad | journal= International Journal of Middle East Studies | year=1991 | doi= 10.1017/S0020743800056312 | s2cid=162433825}} * {{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Neal |title=Discovering the Qur'an: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled Text |year=1996 |publisher=SCM Press}} * {{Cite book |last=Toral-Niehoff |first=Isabel |title=The Place to Go Contexts of Learning in Baghdād, 750-1000 C.E. |date=2021 |publisher=Darwin Press |editor-last=Scheiner |editor-first=J. |pages=43–69 |chapter=Talking about Arab Origins: The Transmission of the ayyām al-ʿarab in Kūfa, Baṣra and Baghdād |editor-last2=Janos |editor-first2=D. |chapter-url=https://almuslih.org/wp-content/uploads/Library/Toral-Niehoff,%20I%20-%20Talking%20about%20Arab%20origins.pdf}} * {{cite book | last=Waines | first= David | title=Introduction to Islam | url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois0000wain | url-access=registration | publisher= Cambridge University Press | year=1995 | isbn=0-521-42929-3}}
{{Islam topics}} {{Historicity}}
[[Category:Muhammad]] [[Category:Historicity of religious figures|Muhammad]] [[Category:Revisionist school of Islamic studies]]