The Quest for the Historical Muhammad.

• Author: Afsaruddin, Asma
• Position: Reviews of Books

The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Edited, with translations, by IBN WARRAQ. Amherst, N.Y.: PROMETHEUS, 2000. Pp. 554.

This is a partisan work compiled by the editor hiding behind the nom de plume of Ibn Warraq (lit. "son of a copyist"). a name redolent of medieval theological controversies. The editor is clearly courting controversy by indulging in a self-serving, polarizing discourse in his lengthy introduction, which sets the tone for the rest of the book. The introductory radd consists of two essays composed by Ibn Warraq and fellow zindiq Ibn Rawandi (another cleverly crafted pseudonym). These two essays contain a recital of the masawi of authors from what I will call the non-rejectionist school, and the maf akhir of authors from what I will call the rejectionist school; Ibn Warraq and Ibn Rawandi zealously endorse the views of the latter school. As is well known to Islamicists, the adherents of the rejectionist school advocate the whole-scale jettisoning of the written classical Islamic sources, primarily dating from the third/ninth century, for reconstructing the history of early Islam. Juxtaposed to them are those sc holars from the non-rejectionist school who, in varying degrees, call rather for a critical re-reading of the traditional sources in order to present a credible account of the rise and development of the Muslim polity. The first group, the "bad guys" in our editor's constellation, selectively include Montgomery Watt, Fuat Sezgin, Nabia Abbott, Fred Donner, C. H. M. Veersteegh, and Estelle Whelan, while the second group, the "good guys," include Henri Lammens, Edward Muir, Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, and John Wansbrough, among others. Our copyist's son clearly has an ideological axe to grind: anyone who revises, refines, challenges, or nuances the arguments of the rejectionist school is depicted as doing so from sinister motives, while those who unequivocally champion its...