Historical Attestation of Muhammad: Difference between revisions

{{underconstruction}}

Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, John Wansbrough, and Yahuda Nevo. <ref name="Brown">Brown, Jonathan A. C. "Muhammad. A Very Short Introduction", Oxford University Press. pgs 94-95. </ref>

* 622 Hijrah?

* 633 Death of Muhammad?

* ~634 [[#Doctrina Jacobi|Doctrina Jacobi]] : "Prophet who has appeared with the Saracens"

* ~636 [[#Syriac Gospel Fragment|Syriac Gospel Fragment]] : " killing of {the Arabs of} Muhammad (Muhmd)"

* 637 Arab conquest of Jerusalem

* ~639 [[#Sophronius|Sophronius]] : "Saracen conquests"

* ~640 [[#Thomas the Presbyter|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|Sebeos, Bishop Of The Bagratunis]] : Mentions "Mahmet", gives sparse details of his life  

* ~690's [[#John, Bishop of Nikiu|John, Bishop of Nikiu]] : Uses the term "Moslem" and "Mohammed"

* 691 [[#Arab-Sassanian coins|Arab-Sassanian coin]] : "Muhammad Rasul Allah"

* 692 [[#Dome of the Rock Inscription|Dome of the Rock Inscription]] : "Muhammad" & "Jesus son of Mary", Qur'anic verses

* 696 [[#Reformed Coinage|Reformed Coinage]] : "Muhammad"

* 747 Ababasid revolt against Umayyad Caliphate.

* 761 [[#Ibn Ishaq|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 [[#Hadth|Muhammad al-Bukhari]] : Begins Hadith collection.  d 870.

* 840 [[#Ibn Hisham|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)

The traditional narrative of Muhammad's life identifies him as the author, or original reciter, of the Qur'an. 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. Unfortunately, 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.

 

 

One fundamental problem 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'anic collection is true then we are left wondering how accurate was the collection of the book and is the current version of the [[Corruption of the Qur'an|Qur'an corrupted]]? It is possible that parts of the originally recited Qur'an were not included in the book or, worse, entire passages were included that came from an author other than Muhammad. There were countless [[Legends|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, we have to question whether the handful of verses we find in the Qur'an about Muhammad's life are actually authentic. They may well have been fabrications that later found their way into the book we have today.

==Sura Literature==