The Hidden Origins of Islam: New Research into Its Early History

by Karl-Heinz Ohlig (Editor), Gerd- R. Puin (Editor)

Overview

Despite Muhammad's exalted place in Islam, even today there is still surpisingly little actually known about this shadowy figure and the origins of the Qur'an because of an astounding lack of verifiable biographical material. Furthermore, most of the existing biographical traditions that can be used to substantiate the life of Muhammad date to nearly two centuries after his death, a time when a powerful, expansive, and idealized empire had become synonymous with his name and vision - thus resulting in an exaggerated and often artificial characterization of the prophetic figure coupled with many questionable interpretations of the holy book of Islam. On the basis of datable and localizable artifacts from the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era, many of the historical developments, misconceptions, and fallacies of Islam can now be seen in a different light. Excavated coins that predate Islam and the old inscription in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem utilize symbols used in a documented Syrian Arabic theology - a theology with Christian roots. Interpreting traditional contexts of historical evidence and rereading passages of the Qur'an, the researchers in this thought-provoking volume unveil a surprising - and highly unconventional - picture of the very foundations of Islamic religious history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591026341
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	07/30/2009
Pages:	405
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Karl-Heinz Ohlig is professor emeritus of Religious Studies and the History of Christianity at the University of the Saarland, chairman of the Inarah Institute for Research into the Early History of Islam and the Qur'an, and the author of many books including Weltreligion Islam: Eine Einführung (Islam as World Religion: An Introduction).

Gerd-R. Puin, a retired research associate at the University of the Saarland, is an expert on the historical orthography of the Qur'an.

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Islam's "Hidden" Origins Karl-Heinz Ohlig

Part I The Early History of Islam

1 The Early History of Islam, Following Inscriptional and Numismatic Testimony Volker Popp 17

2 A New Interpretation of the Arabic Inscription in Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock Christoph Luxenberg 125

3 On the Origin of the Informants of the Prophet Claude Gilliot 153

4 'Abd al-Malik b. Marw?n and the Process of the Qur'?n's Composition Alfred-Louis de Pr?mare 189

Part II New Aspects for the Emergence and Characteristic of Islam

5 A Personal Look at Some Aspects of the History of Koranic Criticism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Ibn Warraq 225

6 Pre-Islamic Arabic-Koranic Arabic-Classical Arabic: A Continuum? Pierre Larcher 263

7 From Syriac to Pahlavi: The Contribution of the Sassanian Iraq to the Beginning of the Arabic Writing Sergio Noja Noseda 283

8 Early Evidences of Variant Readings in Qur'?nic Manuscripts Alba Fedeli 311

9 Leuke Kome = Laykah, the Arsians = 'A&sbdot;&hbdot;?b 'al-Rass, and Other Pre-Islamic Names in the Qur'?n: A Way Out of the "Tanglewood"? Gerd-R. Puin 335

10 Syrian and Arabian Christianity and the Qur'?n Karl-Heinz Ohlig 361

Contributors 403