A Biography on Muhammed

Paper Summary:

This paper shows that one of the biggest obstacles for an historian wishing to document the life of Muhammed in an objective manner, is the fact that the massive documentation about the prophet derives in every instance from Arabic written sources, the earliest written a century and a half after his death. The paper shows that not only does this long lapse of time cast doubt on their accuracy, but also, internal evidence strongly suggests that the Arabic sources were composed in the context of intense partisan quarrels over the prophet's life.

From the Paper:

"Another problem with objectivity surrounding an account of Mohammad's life lies in the editing of the Islamic Koran. Today, the work is made up of 114 chapters called Surahs and then sub-divided into verses. Additionally, in the days of Muhammad's wife A'isha, one chapter of the Koran (the Sura) had about 200 versus while shortly after her death, this Sura had only 73 versus. Even Muslims say that 127 versus of the original text were lost and never found."

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