cover image The Biography of Mu?ammad: The Issue of the Sources

The Biography of Mu?ammad: The Issue of the Sources

. Brill Academic Publishers, $200 (334pp) ISBN 978-90-04-11513-2

No manuscript sources exist at all for the first two centuries of Islam. The first Muslim historians, writing in the third century after the hijra (the emigration of the Muslims to Medina), derived their information from the hadith, oral reports and sayings about the activities of the Prophet and the early community transmitted through the generations. Even these first historians realized that the hadith existed in varying degrees of ""soundness""--that they could be and often were false--but they had nothing else to rely upon. Modern historians find themselves in an identical quandary. Some have argued not only that the sources are too faulty for a biography of Muhammed but that their very weaknesses may indicate that no such person ever existed. This collection of 10 essays seeks a way out of the impasse--and succeeds admirably in showing the possibilities of how to deal intelligently with the hadith without forfeiting all hope of finding historical reality. The authors, including editor Motzki of the University of Nijmegen, are well-known in the field of early Islamic history, and the book's format permits each contributor to utilize whatever historical method proved most promising. As a whole, the anthology displays the highest scholarly standards and should be included in any serious library of Islamic history. (Apr.)