Islamic History, Part 7: Alternative theories of the early Islamic community

Islamic History Series When you combine a major world-changing historical event with a near-total dearth of reliable primary sources, you inevitably get a lot of revisionist attempts to reconstruct the "real" history. For the origins of Islam and the nature of its earliest community, we have arguably the most world-changing event of the past 1500 … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 7: Alternative theories of the early Islamic community

Islamic History, Part 6: The problem with early sources

Islamic History Series We've reached a point in our overview of Islamic history where we need to stop talking about history and talk historiography, or the study of how history gets studied. Because the material regarding the life of Muhammad is so slim and presents so many challenges to the historian, I feel like I … Continue reading Islamic History, Part 6: The problem with early sources