ʿAlī beheading Nadr ibn al-Harith in the presence of the Prophet Muhammad, from the Siyar-i Nebi (Life of the Prophet), Ottoman miniature, Istanbul c. 1594. The David Collection, Copenhagen (acc. no. 5/1985), public domain.
Muhammad is regarded by Muslims as the last and greatest prophet. According to Islamic sources, he was born in Mecca around the year 570 and died in 632. He is considered a perfect, timeless model for Muslims throughout the world. According to Islamic belief, he received the Koran as God’s final revelation between 610 and 632 AD. The Koran is regarded as a perfect, word-for-word and comma-for-comma correct copy from heaven. It is considered a holy book that corrects all earlier scriptures and replaces them. In Islam, Muhammad, Mecca and the Koran are central. One may say that Islam is built upon a man (Muhammad), a central place (Mecca), and a holy book (the Koran). Although Islam is more than this, these elements are decisive for understanding the religion. The question nevertheless is whether there exist reliable historical sources that confirm that the Muhammad we encounter in the Islamic writings is historically accurate.
After Muhammad’s death in 632 the first caliphs followed. Abu Bakr (632–634) died peacefully. Umar (634–644) was killed. Uthman (644–656) ruled for twelve years before he was killed, and during his rule the Koran was completed and standardised around the year 652. Ali (656–661) was also killed. Islam was formed in the Hijaz around 661 AD. With regard to the sources concerning Muhammad’s life, several main types exist. The biographies, known as Sira, are central. Muhammad died in 632, but Ibn Ishaq wrote down a biography only around 765 AD. The original work does not exist today. Ibn Hisham (d. 833) edited and transmitted Ibn Ishaq’s material, retaining what he considered important and removing the rest. Later came al-Waqidi (d. 823).
The Hadith literature, which is intended to reproduce what Muhammad said, was collected by among others al-Bukhari (d. 870), Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 875), al-Tirmidhi (d. 892), Ibn Majah (d. 887), Abu Dawud (d. 889), and al-Nasa’i (d. 915). Tafsir, Koranic commentaries, were written among others by al-Tabari (d. 923). The central written sources about Muhammad were thus recorded around 200 years after his death. There exist no contemporary written eyewitness accounts from his lifetime. Even if oral tradition may have been strong, 200 years is a considerable temporal distance, and much can be lost or altered over the course of two centuries.
Another factor is the geographical distance. Muhammad’s life unfolded in Mecca and Medina, while the traditions were written down in areas far to the north in the Abbasid realm. Ibn Hisham was from Basra and grew up in Cairo. Al-Bukhari was from Bukhara, and al-Tabari from Tabaristan. None of these lived in Mecca or Medina. The sources thus came into being both several generations later and far from the place where the events are said to have taken place.
The modern redaction of the Sira moreover builds upon the work of Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (1808–1899), who in the nineteenth century collected manuscripts from several German libraries. Alfred Guillaume later translated the work into English (The Life of Muhammad), and Fuat Sezgin published in 1967 another version based on manuscripts found in Morocco. The text that today is used as the standard was therefore edited and systematised many hundreds of years after the events it describes.
Western historians such as Tom Holland, Patricia Crone, and Michael Cook have raised questions regarding how reliable the traditional Islamic narratives are, and how much historically can be reconstructed about Muhammad and the early development of Islam. Some have argued that the religion developed gradually over 200–300 years. It is possible that Muhammad existed and that parts of the presentation in the Islamic sources are correct. The problem is that if one applies the same historical standard as to other ancient sources, one cannot establish this with certainty.
For comparison, Christianity is often cited. Jesus died around the year AD 33. The letters of Paul were written between AD 48 and 65, that is, 15–34 years after the death of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles was written approximately AD 52–62, Mark around the year 70, Matthew and Luke around the year 80, and John around the year 90. The New Testament was therefore written between 15 and 60 years after the death of Jesus. Most critical historians acknowledge that Jesus lived, that he was crucified, and that many became convinced that he rose from the dead. The sources are connected to persons who lived close to the events both in time and place. In this comparison Christianity appears to be based on relatively early sources, whereas Islam rests upon written traditions recorded 200–300 years later and far from the geographical centre of the events. A parallel would be if the New Testament had first been written several hundred years after the death of Jesus, by persons without direct connection to eyewitnesses.
The conclusion drawn in this presentation is that Islam did not necessarily exist in fully developed form in the seventh century, but may have developed gradually over several hundred years. Questions are raised as to whether the Koran was revealed to one man over 22 years, or whether the text may have grown over a longer period of time. The history of Islam from the caliph Abd al-Malik (685–705) is also discussed in light of possible later editorial redaction.
It is possible that Muhammad lived, and that the Islamic sources provide an in the main correct picture of him. Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish this with historical certainty. Some researchers have also experienced strong reactions when they have raised such questions. The recognised English historian Tom Holland received death threats when he questioned whether Muhammad lived. Hopefully we will, like Tom Holland, live long enough to discover whether the Muhammad mentioned in the Koran is the same as the one described in the later sources and biographies.