Saudi epigraphist Mohammed Almaghthawi (@mohammed93athar) has published some rock inscriptions from around Medina in western Arabia that are dated to 769, which speak of an epidemic outbreak in that year. This outbreak is otherwise unknown to historians. The inscriptions ask God to deliver them from this calamity, and clearly take pride in the city of […]
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Qur'an
The Prophet Muhammad’s Wives and Muslim Women in Early Arabian Rock Inscriptions
Ahmad Bin Ghanim al-Ida’ published a photograph of an inscription he found south of al-Ula (near ancient Hijr) in Saudi Arabia. It was picked up and transcribed by Saudi archeologist Mohammed al-Maghthawi. The inscription says, “God, forgive Muhammad the Prophet, and join with him his wives, and, God, forgive the male and female believers, and […]
Enthusiastic Review of Juan Cole, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires in Washington Report
Eleni Zaras, who has has a BA in the History of Art from the University of Michigan and a masters degree in History at the Universite Paris Diderot, just reviewed my recent book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid a Clash of Empires (New York: Bold Type Books, 2018) at the Washington Report on Middle East […]
On How Christians and Jews are “muslims”: The Real meaning of “Islam” in the Qur’an
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As used in the Qur’an, Islam (al-islam in Arabic) doesn’t mean what people think it means. It doesn’t mean “peace,” though it is from a common root. It doesn’t mean the religion of the Prophet Muhammad. It doesn’t mean submission to God. I’ve come to believe that the accretions of […]
As U.S. enters another Conflict with a Muslim Nation, Read about Islam’s Beginnings
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) As the US once again enters into a heightened conflict with a Muslim-majority nation, it would be advisable for all informed Americans to know more about Islam. I immodestly recommend my recent book on the Prophet Muhammad Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires, published October 9, 2018 Available […]
When Jews and Christians Believed in the Qur’an
By Emran El-Badawi | – ( Mizan) = When did Jews and Christians ever believe in the Qur’an? The first step towards answering this question is dispelling the myth that the Qur’an’s seventh century audience were “ignorant” pagans. On the contrary, the Qur’an’s audience had the same degree of literary, intellectual, and cultural sophistication that […]
Archeology and Early Islam: A Yemeni Inscription to “Wadd,” the love god Denounced in the Qur’an
In the Qur’an, the chapter of Noah (71) contains a denunciation of the worship of a set of gods, most of which are not attested in northern and western Arabian inscriptions and the worship of which probably lapsed long before the era of the Qur’an (610-632 A.D.). One of them is Wadd, the god of […]
The First Inscriptional Evidence for the Wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Aisha
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Saudi archeologist Muhammad al-Maghthawi has published a photograph of an inscription in the vicinity of Medina that seems to be the first to mention the Prophet’s third wife, `A`isha. It seems to date from the first century of the Muslim era (A. H.), and is probably from the late […]
The Qur’an, the Prophet, and a Forgotten History – Juan Cole in conversation with Hamza Yusuf
From the podcast of the journal Renovatio: Journal of Zaytuna College. Juan Cole’s Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires (2018) retells the history of the prophetic period in seventh-century Arabia through the context of a brutal war between the Iranian Sassanian Empire and the Roman Empire in the Near East. In this […]
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