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Authors: Robert Spencer
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.
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.
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
Abdur Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham,
188
Abel,
148
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 Muslim,
85
Abu Nasr Yahya ibn Abi Kathir al-Yamami,
163
Abu Sufyan,
86
Abu Talib (uncle of Muhammad),
xvi
,
73
Abu Zura,
89
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
Anas bin Malik,
103
Andrae, Tor,
166
Antichrist,
21
Antioch,
29
apostasy,
113
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
Ar-Ridwan pledge of allegiance,
75
Asbab an-Nuzul
(al-Wahidi),
65
Ash'ath, Al-,
190
Asim an-Nabil,
78
Baha'is,
18
Bal'ami,
147
Bashear, Suliman,
9
Battle of the Camel,
65
Battle of Hunayn,
196
Battle of Karbala,
xvii
Battle of Tours,
xv
Battle of the Trench,
93
believers,
17
,
18
,
45
,
64
,
69
,
78
,
81
,
110
,
123
,
146
,
204
,
213
–
15
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
