''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'' (2000), edited by

Ibn Warraq Ibn Warraq is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, focusing on Quranic criticis ...

, is an anthology of 15 studies examining the origins of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

. The contributors argue that traditional Islamic accounts of its history and the origins of the Quran are fictitious and based on historical revisionism aimed at forging a religious

Arab identity Arab identity ( ar, الهوية العربية ) is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as an Arab and as relating to being Arab. Like other cultural identities, it relies on a common culture, a traditional lineage, the com ...

Reception

Well-known American scholars such as

Fred Donner Fred McGraw Donner (born 1945) is a scholar of Islam and Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.

has criticized the selection of essays, and described it as a "monument to duplicity". Donner writes that Warraq unduly favors revisionist theories in order to advance "anti-Islam polemic", forwarding that "this lopsided character makes ''The Quest for the Historical Muhammad'' a book that is likely to mislead many an unwary general reader." Alfons Teipen, a professor of religion at

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

, criticized the editing: "The two introductory articles ... are one-sided, rather polemical overview of ... scholarship on the life of Muhammad." Asma Afsaruddin described the book as a "partisan work" and added that Warraq "clearly has an ideological axe to grind". Asma states that "poor editing, sloppy transliteration, and

ad hominem ''Ad hominem'' (), short for ''argumentum ad hominem'' (), refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious. Typically, this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other ...

attacks on certain authors...especially

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

, add to the chagrin of the reader", and argued that "Ibn Warraq is not interested in debate; he wants nothing less than wholesale conversion to his point of view within the community of scholars of Islam" and added that his book "needlessly poisons the atmosphere and stymies efforts to engage in honest scholarly discussion". In his review of the book,

As'ad AbuKhalil As'ad AbuKhalil ( ar, أسعد أبو خليل) (born 16 March 1960) is a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. AbuKhalil is the author of ''Historical Dictionary of Lebanon'' (1998), ''Bin ...

states that Ibn Warraq collected old writings by Orientalists who have been long discredited and added that "the more rigid and biased the Orientalists, the better for Warraq".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quest For The Historical Muhammad 2000 non-fiction books Books critical of Islam Historicity of religious figures Biographies of Muhammad Prometheus Books books 2000 in Islam Origins of Islam

Reception

See also

References