Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins (40 page)

 

At-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir.
The History of al-Tabari.
Volume XVII, “The First Civil War.” Translated by G. R. Hawting. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

 

Wansbrough, John E.
Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation.
Foreword, translations, and expanded notes by Andrew Rippin. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2004.

 

———
The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History.
Foreword, translations, and expanded notes by Gerald Hawting. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2006.

 
Acknowledgments
 

I
could not have written this book at all without the extraordinarily generous and kind assistance of Ibn Warraq, an indefatigable and innovative scholar whose collections on the Qur'an and the historical Muhammad are essential reading for anyone who has more than a passing interest in the origins of Islam. His recommendations for reading and research have given this book any merit it may have—and in this case, the hoary cliché of author's acknowledgments that “what is good in the book is all his, and its errors and failures are all mine” couldn't be truer.

 

Indeed, were it not for a memorable conversation that Ibn Warraq and I once had in The Hague, during which he elucidated for me in a particularly compelling way the weakness of Islam's historical foundations, and a subsequent dinner conversation on the same subject with Hans Jansen (to whom also much thanks for his keen eye in spotting errors and other problems in this manuscript), I would never even have thought to write this book. Nor would this book have been possible without the assistance of Daniel Pipes and the Middle East Forum Educational Fund, to whom I remain grateful.

 

I am indebted to my colleague, partner, and friend Pamela Geller for her aid in sharpening the focus and structure of this book. Her eye for conceptual imprecision, stylistic infelicities, and logical consistency has immensely improved this presentation.

 

Thanks also to my friend Roland Shirk for his invaluable help in
finding a home for this manuscript, and for his many helpful suggestions on matters of content and presentation.

 

I am deeply grateful to Jed Donahue as well. He has been a superb editor, deeply attentive to large and small questions raised by the manuscript, and full of extraordinary guidance on how to smooth it out stylistically, tie up loose ends, answer questions left unanswered, and strengthen the book's argument in innumerable ways.

 

There are, as always, many others who have offered advice, support, and searching questions as I have wrestled with the facts and concepts I have tried to outline here. Most would, given the volatile nature of the subject matter, prefer not to be named, but my gratitude to them is not for that any dimmer.

 
Index
 

Aaron,
61
,
115

 

Abbas (uncle of Muhammad),
xvi
,
xvii
,
196

97

 

Abbasids,
60
,
64
,
78
,
85
,
86
,
198
,
206
,
211
,
212
,
215

 

Abbott, Nabia,
69

 

Abd al-Malik,
60
,
72
,
83
,
206
,
210

11
; caliphate of,
xiv
; coinage of,
58

59
; Dome of the Rock inscription and,
50
,
197
,
209
; Islam, introduction of and,
58

59
; Muhammad, example of and,
69
,
70
; Qur'an, collection of and,
197

99
,
206

 

Abd al-Muttalib (grandfather of Muhammad),
xvi
,
xvii
,
99

 

Abd ar-Rahman,
42

 

Abd ar-Razzaq,
83

 

Abdullah (father of Muhammad),
xvi
,
xvii

 

Abdullah bin Salam,
107

8
,
109

 

Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham,
188

 

Abel,
148

 

Abou El Fadl, Khaled,
14

15

 

Abraham,
xiv
,
12
,
21
,
30
,
31
,
32
,
34
,
134
,
165
,
194
,
207

 

Abu Bakr,
92
,
111
,
118
; caliphate of,
xiii
,
xvii
; death of,
73
; Khaybar, siege of and,
76
; Muhammad and,
74
; Qur'an, collection of and,
187
,
188

 

Abu Dawud as-Sijistani,
78

 

Abu Fukayha Yasar,
146
,
147

 

Abu Muslim,
85

 

Abu Nasr Yahya ibn Abi Kathir al-Yamami,
163

 

Abu Sufyan,
86

 

Abu Talib (uncle of Muhammad),
xvi
,
73

 

Abu Ubaida,
144
,
172

 

Abu Zura,
89

 

Adam,
54
,
136
,
148
,
168

 

adoption,
110
,
111
,
117

 

adultery,
65
,
74
,
135

 

Ahmad,
21

22

 

Aisha (wife of Muhammad),
65
,
73

74
,
82
,
91
,
94
,
135
; Muhammad bewitched and,
121

22
; Qur'an, collection of and,
137

38
; Zaynab, Muhammad's marriage to and,
110
,
111

12
,
117

 

Alexander the Great,
157

 

Ali, Abdullah Yusuf,
154
,
159
,
165
,
166

 

Ali ibn Abi Talib,
xvi
,
xvii
,
153
; Battle of Siffin and,
189

92
; caliphate of,
xiv
; chain of transmitters
(isnad)
and,
81
; death of,
85
; factionalism and Hadith and,
76
; Muhammad as Seal of the Prophets and,
116
; Qur'an and,
65
,
73

74
,
199

200
; Shiite Islam and,
117
,
211

 

Allah: Arabic and,
145
; Islam as political and,
213
; Jesus and,
38
; obedience to,
204
; Qur'an and,
xiii
,
17
,
18
,
125
,
150
.
See also
God

 

Amina (mother of Muhammad),
xvi
,
xvii

 

Amr bin Umm Maktum,
129
,
136

 

Amr ibn al-As,
30
,
190

 

Anas bin Malik,
103

 

Andrae, Tor,
166

 

Antichrist,
21

 

Antioch,
29

 

apostasy,
113

 

Apostles,
29
,
30

 

Arabian conquest,
207
; brutality of,
xv
,
25
,
26

27
,
35
; Christianity and,
25

28
; coins and inscriptions of,
42

43
,
205
; Islam and,
205
; Muhammad and,
2
,
7
,
24

28
,
41
,
48
,
191
,
205
; Muslims and,
205
; Qur'an and,
41
,
48
.
See also
Arabian Empire

 

Arabian Empire: Arabian conquerors and,
7
; cultural influence of,
2
; growth of,
2
,
71
; Islam and,
12
,
28
,
100

106
; paganism and,
28

30
,
158
,
182
; political theology of,
207

9
; polytheism and,
28
; unification of,
6
,
20
,
28
,
46
,
204
,
214
.
See also
Arabian conquest

 

Arabic,
36

37
,
171
,
206
; Allah and,
145
; alphabet of,
xi
,
162
,
185
; Islam and,
100

106
; Qur'an and,
143

60
,
162
,
185
,
210

 

Arabic calendar,
98

 

Arabs,
13
; as Hagarians,
30

31
; monotheism and,
ix
; monotheism in,
57
; as Muslims,
30

35
; paganism and,
ix
,
28

30

 

Aramaic,
14

 

Arberry, A. J.,
151

 

archaeology: Arabian conquest and,
7
; early Islam and,
ix
; Muhammad, historicity of and,
ix

 

Arius,
179

 

Armenia,
xiii
,
204

 

Ar-Ridwan pledge of allegiance,
75

 

Asbab an-Nuzul
(al-Wahidi),
65

 

Ash'ath, Al-,
190

 

Asim an-Nabil,
78

 

Athanasius II,
29
,
30

 

Azami, Muhammad Mustafa,
82

83

 

 

Baha'is,
18

 

Bahira,
95

96

 

Bal'ami,
147

 

baptism,
26
,
35
,
152

 

bar Penkaye, John,
xv
,
35

 

Bashear, Suliman,
9

 

Battle of Badr,
75
,
194

 

Battle of the Camel,
65

 

Battle of Hunayn,
196

 

Battle of Karbala,
xvii

 

Battle of Muta,
117
,
119

21

 

Battle of Siffin,
189

92

 

Battle of Tours,
xv

 

Battle of the Trench,
93

 

Battle of Yamama,
xiii
,
134
,
187

 

Baydawi, Abdullah al-,
130
,
159

 

believers,
17
,
18
,
45
,
64
,
69
,
78
,
81
,
110
,
123
,
146
,
204
,
213

15

 

Bell, Richard,
138

42
,
183

84

 

Bible,
31
,
148
,
182

 

bin Hudhafa bin Qais bin Adi, Abdullah,
64

 

bin Yahya as-Saji, Zakariya,
78

 

bin Yazid al-Asari, Tabit,
48
,
49

 

bin Zaid, Abdullah,
77

 

Book of History and Campaigns
(al-Waqidi),
92

 

Bukhari, Muhammad Ibn Ismail al-,
77
,
79

82
,
110

12

 

Bulliet, Richard,
105

 

Bultmann, Rudolf,
4

 

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