The hidden origins of Islam : new research into its early history
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Bibliographic Information
The hidden origins of Islam : new research into its early history
Prometheus Books, 2010
- : hardcover
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Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
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.
Table of Contents
- The Early History of Islam, Following Inscriptional & Numismatic Testimony
- A New Interpretation of the Arabic Inscription in Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock
- On the Origin of the Informants of the Prophet
- 'Abd al-Malik b Marwan & the Process of the Qur'an's Composition
- A Personal Look at Some Aspects of the History of Koranic Criticism in the Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries
- Pre-Islamic Arabic -- Koranic Arabic -- Classical Arabic: A Continuum?
- From Syriac to Pahlavi: The Contribution of the Sassanian Iraq to the Beginning of the Arabic Writing
- Early Evidences of Variant Readings in Qur'anic Manuscripts
- Leuke Kome = Laykah, the Arsians = 'Ashab 'al-Rass & Other Pre-Islamic Names in the Qur'an: A Way Out of the "Tanglewood"?
- Syrian & Arabian Christianity & the Qur'an.
by "Nielsen BookData"