Historical Attestation of Muhammad: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
===Historical Critical Method=== | ===Historical Critical Method=== | ||
Professor Nicolai Sinai (2017) writes the 'historical-critical method' (all of ancient sources) essentially involves firstly suspending pre-conceived notions about it/them, before carrying out an investigation of the text without these to arrive at a conclusion. And secondly, interpreting its meaning as something that could plausibly have been thought or said in its original historical context. While these assumptions can be debated, they are foundational to contemporary historical scholarship. Thus, historical-critical interpretation significantly differs from traditional religious exegesis by postponing judgments about the truth or relevance of scripture and avoiding supernatural explanations. | |||
{{Quote|Sinai, Nicolai. Qur'an: A Historical-Critical Introduction (The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys) (p. 14-16). Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.|At this point, the reader may legitimately demand to know what, exactly, I understand by approaching the Qur’an from a historical-critical perspective, and why this may at all be a worthwhile endeavour.<sup>3</sup> I shall take the two components of the hyphenated adjective ‘historical-critical’ in reverse order. To interpret a literary document critically means to suspend inherited presuppositions about its origin, transmission, and meaning, and to assess their adequacy in the light of a close reading of that text itself as well as other relevant sources...<br> ...Moving on to the second constituent of the adjective ‘historical-critical’, we may say that to read a text historically is to require the meanings ascribed to it to have been humanly ‘thinkable’ or ‘sayable’ within the text’s original historical environment, as far as the latter can be retrospectively reconstructed. At least for the mainstream of historical-critical scholarship, the notion of possibility underlying the words ‘thinkable’ and ‘sayable’ is informed by the principle of historical analogy – the assumption that past periods of history were constrained by the same natural laws as the present age, that the moral and intellectual abilities of human agents in the past were not radically different from ours, and that the behaviour of past agents, like that of contemporary ones, is at least partly explicable by recourse to certain social and economic factors.<sup>7</sup>... ...The foregoing entails that historical-critical interpretation departs in major respects from traditional Biblical or Qur’anic exegesis: it delays any assessment of scripture’s truth and relevance until after the act of interpretation has been carried out, and it sidesteps appeals to genuine foresight and miracles.<sup>8</sup>}} | |||
===Traditionalist Historians=== | ===Traditionalist Historians=== | ||
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==Sira Literature== | ==Sira Literature== | ||
{{Main|Sirat_Rasul_Allah}} | |||
===Ibn Ishaq=== | ===Ibn Ishaq=== | ||
Read [https://archive.org/details/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume/page/n1/mode/2up Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah] - The Life of Muhammad, Translated by A. Guillaume for free on internetarchive by clicking on the link | |||
===Ibn Hisham=== | ===Ibn Hisham=== | ||
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===Historical Methods=== | ===Historical Methods=== | ||
{{Main|Quranism#Criticism_of_hadiths}} | |||
Latest revision as of 18:24, 30 June 2025
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Introduction
Historical Critical Method
Professor Nicolai Sinai (2017) writes the 'historical-critical method' (all of ancient sources) essentially involves firstly suspending pre-conceived notions about it/them, before carrying out an investigation of the text without these to arrive at a conclusion. And secondly, interpreting its meaning as something that could plausibly have been thought or said in its original historical context. While these assumptions can be debated, they are foundational to contemporary historical scholarship. Thus, historical-critical interpretation significantly differs from traditional religious exegesis by postponing judgments about the truth or relevance of scripture and avoiding supernatural explanations.
...Moving on to the second constituent of the adjective ‘historical-critical’, we may say that to read a text historically is to require the meanings ascribed to it to have been humanly ‘thinkable’ or ‘sayable’ within the text’s original historical environment, as far as the latter can be retrospectively reconstructed. At least for the mainstream of historical-critical scholarship, the notion of possibility underlying the words ‘thinkable’ and ‘sayable’ is informed by the principle of historical analogy – the assumption that past periods of history were constrained by the same natural laws as the present age, that the moral and intellectual abilities of human agents in the past were not radically different from ours, and that the behaviour of past agents, like that of contemporary ones, is at least partly explicable by recourse to certain social and economic factors.7... ...The foregoing entails that historical-critical interpretation departs in major respects from traditional Biblical or Qur’anic exegesis: it delays any assessment of scripture’s truth and relevance until after the act of interpretation has been carried out, and it sidesteps appeals to genuine foresight and miracles.8
Traditionalist Historians
Revisionist Historians
Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, John Wansbrough, and Yahuda Nevo.[1]
Timeline
The following gives a brief summary of the key artifacts and early literary documents about the life of Muhammad. The items are listed chronologically based on when they were first created. Other key events from the first two centuries of Islamic history are also listed for reference. Many dates are approximate and noted with a ~.
- 622 Hijrah?
- 633 Death of Muhammad?
- ~634 Doctrina Jacobi : "Prophet who has appeared with the Saracens"
- ~636 Syriac Gospel Fragment : " killing of {the Arabs of} Muhammad (Muhmd)"
- 637 Arab conquest of Jerusalem
- ~639 Sophronius : "Saracen conquests"
- ~640 Thomas the Presbyter : "the Arabs of Muhammad (tayyaye d-Mhmt)"
- 656 First Islamic Civil War- First Fitna. End 661.
- ~660's Sebeos, Bishop Of The Bagratunis : Mentions "Mahmet", gives sparse details of his life
- ~690's John, Bishop of Nikiu : Uses the term "Moslem" and "Mohammed"
- 691 Arab-Sassanian coin : "Muhammad Rasul Allah"
- 692 Dome of the Rock Inscription : "Muhammad" & "Jesus son of Mary", Qur'anic verses
- 696 Reformed Coinage : "Muhammad"
- 747 Ababasid revolt against Umayyad Caliphate.
- 761 Ibn Ishaq : Siratu Rasul Allah - first biography. Not extant.
- 776 Graffiti from northern Arabia : Quran - first mention as generic "book"
- 810 Tombstone, Egypt : Quran - first explicit reference
- 826 Muhammad al-Bukhari : Begins Hadith collection. d 870.
- 840 Ibn Hisham - Quotes from Ibn Ishaq's work
- 843 The earliest dated literary papyrus
- 876 Earliest Qur'an Manuscript Fragment - (no later than this date)
Qur'an
The traditional narrative of Muhammad's life identifies him as the author, or original reciter, of the Qur'an. Critical historians suggest that if this is true then the Qur'an would be a document contemporary to his life and could serve as a valuable source of information about the prophet. However, the Qur'an offers very few details about the author nor much information about the lives of the people in early 7th century Arabia.
References to Muhammad
Collection of the Qur'an
One fundamental problem pointed out with accurately dating the contents of the Qur'an is that the verses, even by traditional Muslim accounts, were not collected and put together into a single book during the lifetime of Muhammad. They were put together at least a decade after his death through a process of gathering and recording verses that had been etched upon scraps of papyrus, bone, and wood along with interviewing members of the early community who had committed parts of the Qur'an to memory.
If this narrative of the Qur'an's formation is true then it raises several questions; how accurate was the collection of the book, and is the current version of the Qur'an reliably Muhammad's? It is possible that parts of the originally recited Qur'an were not included in the book or entire passages were included that came from an author other than Muhammad. There were countless legends and stories circulating at this time in the Middle East and any number of them could have been erroneously added to the Qur'an. Based on this information, there is the possibility that the handful of verses in the Qur'an about Muhammad's life may not actually be authentic. They may well have later found their way into the book as it is known today.
Earliest Manuscripts
Sira Literature
Ibn Ishaq
Read Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah - The Life of Muhammad, Translated by A. Guillaume for free on internetarchive by clicking on the link
Ibn Hisham
Hadith
Collection of the Hadith
Science of the Hadith
Historical Methods
Archaeological Evidence
Dome of the Rock Inscription
Arab-Sassanian coins
Reformed Coinage
Non-Muslim Writings
While no early Arab texts about the life of Islam's prophet exist, there are copies of non-Muslim writings that reference the Arab conquest of the Middle East. These include eye witness testimony to the events that take place in the second and third quarters of the 7th century. While the authors provide limited details on the Arabs that conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, they do provide some insight into how the conquered people of those areas viewed their new rulers. In particular, a few references to a "Muhammad" can be found which dates to the first few decades of the Arab conquests.
Doctrina Jacobi
One of the earliest references to the Arab conquests of the Middle East comes from a Christian named Jacob who wrote a polemical tract around 634. In his tract, Jacob includes a section from his cousin Justus who writes about how he heard of the killing of a member of the imperial guard, or candidatus, in a letter from his brother Abraham in Caesarea. He mentions that the Saracens (a name used for Arabs at this time) are attacking people in the land and they are lead by a prophet:
Syriac Gospel Fragment
Sophronius
Thomas the Presbyter
Sebeos, Bishop Of The Bagratunis
John, Bishop of Nikiu
See Also
References
- ↑ Brown, Jonathan A. C. "Muhammad. A Very Short Introduction", Oxford University Press. pgs 94-95.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Hoyland , Robert "Seeing Islam as Others Saw It", google books. Darwin Press, Incorporated, Jan 1, 1997. Excerpts from the book, christianorigins.com.