Muḥammad the Prophet and Arabia

Book excerpt: This volume comprises articles dealing with qur'anic and post-qur'anic aspects of the Prophet Muhammad's image and religious environment. The pieces in the first section analyse Muhammad's prophecy as reflected in the Qur'an and the post-qur'anic sources of sira (Muhammad's biography), tafsir (Qur'an exegesis), ta'rikh (historiography) and hadith (Muslim tradition). Articles in the second section study Muhammad's prophetic experience. The articles that comprise the third section look at Muhammad's Arabia, specifically the traditions about Mecca and the Ka`ba as well as at the pre-Islamic Arabian roots of some qur'anic and post-qur'anic ideas and rituals.