Part 1 Pace Cook and Crone, the implications of their theses are indeed “devastating“. Any research that casts doubt on the traditional Muslim account of the Koran, the Rise of Islam and the life of Muhammad is totally unacceptable to Muslims. The two final letters reveal the enormous gulf between the attitudes to research in […]
Historical Methodology and Dogmatic Islamophilia (Part 1)
(English Original of „Historische Methodologie und die Forderung nach Wohlwollen gegenüber dem Islam“) Historical Methodology and the Believer A few years ago I was invited to a conference at The Hague by Professor Hans Jansen, the great Arabist. After listening to series of grim papers all day long, Hans and I headed for the nearest […]
What the Qur’an tells us, and doesn’t tell us, about Muhammad
Here is the fourth part of my refutation of a 2008 article by Patricia Crone (who died in 2015), who was one of the pioneering scholars of historical revisionism regarding the standard account of Muhammad’s life, and yet in this article seemed to retreat from her previous views. The first part is here, the second […]
Did Muhammad utter all or most of what is in the Qur’an?
Here is the third part of my refutation of a 2008 article by Patricia Crone (who died in 2015), who was one of the pioneering scholars of historical revisionism regarding the standard account of Muhammad’s life, and yet in this article seemed to retreat from her previous views. The first part is here, and […]
Does the Qur’an establish that Muhammad existed?
As I noted yesterday, people who disagree with the historical investigations discussed in Did Muhammad Exist? have not infrequently sent me this 2008 article by Patricia Crone (who died in 2015), who was one of the pioneering scholars of historical revisionism regarding the standard account of Muhammad’s life, and yet in this article seems to […]
Patricia Crone: ‘There is no doubt that Mohammed existed.’ Here’s why she’s wrong.
People who disagree with the historical investigations discussed in Did Muhammad Exist? have not infrequently sent me this 2008 article by Patricia Crone (who died in 2015), who was one of the pioneering scholars of historical revisionism regarding the standard account of Muhammad’s life, and yet in this article seems to retreat from her previous […]