Introduction

The study of the origins of Islam is, from the perspective of the historian, fraught with difficulty. The life of the prophet Muḥammad, the actions of his first successors as rulers of the young community of Believers, the story of the new community's rapid expansion in southwest Asia and north Africa, the history of the community itself as it grew, evolved. and became embroiled in civil wars, are all historical phenomena for which truly contemporary historical documentation is almost completely lacking. For the first 60 years of the Islamic era, we have as documents only some coins and. few scattered papyri and inscriptions, and most of these documents, while helpful, hail from the latter portion of this 60-year period.

A limited number of contemporary texts written by people outside the early community of Believers make passing reference to the Believers, or more rarely offer. brief description of how they came to be; some were penned by Christian clerics in Palestine, Armenia, or elsewhere, others by Jews. These sources wa rrant the closest attention of scholars, to be sure, but are certainly not without drawbacks as evidence for Islamic origins. For one thing, as the writings of “outsiders” to the community of Believers, the original texts themselves may reflect religious or political agendas. of the nature of which we are only dimly aware. Moreover, although they date-or are said to dateto the period of Islamic origins themselves, what actually survive are later copies that have been transmitted by-and, therefore, perhaps “corrected”, redacted, or merely garbled by-later generations of scribes.

The third documentary, or quasi-documentary, source for Islamic origins is the text of the Qur'ān itself. Although it seems likely that the Qur'ān text is, in fact. a text of great antiquity that hails from the earliest days of the community of Believers, it must be frankly stated that, for. he historian, the Qur'ān is hardly an “open book”.