Historical Attestation of Muhammad

Introduction

Timeline

The following gives a brief summary of the key artifacts and early literary documents about the life of Muhammad. The items are listed chronologically based on when they were first created. Other key events from the first two centuries of Islamic history are also listed for reference. Many dates are approximate and noted with a ~.

622 Hijrah?
633 Death of Muhammad?
~634 Doctrina Jacobi : "Prophet who has appeared with the Saracens"
~636 Syriac Gospel Fragment : " killing of {the Arabs of} Muhammad (Muhmd)"
637 Arab conquest of Jerusalem
~639 Sophronius : "Saracen conquests"
~640 Thomas the Presbyter : "the Arabs of Muhammad (tayyaye d-Mhmt)"
656 First Islamic Civil War- First Fitna. End 661.
~660's Sebeos, Bishop Of The Bagratunis : Mentions "Mahmet", gives sparse details of his life
~690's John, Bishop of Nikiu : Uses the term "Moslem" and "Mohammed"
691 Arab-Sassanian coin : "Muhammad Rasul Allah"
692 Dome of the Rock Inscription : "Muhammad" & "Jesus son of Mary", Qur'anic verses
696 Reformed Coinage : "Muhammad"
747 Ababasid revolt against Umayyad Caliphate.
761 Ibn Ishaq : Siratu Rasul Allah - first biography. Not extant.
776 Graffiti from northern Arabia : Quran - first mention as generic "book"
810 Tombstone, Egypt : Quran - first explicit reference
826 Muhammad al-Bukhari : Begins Hadith collection. d 870.
840 Ibn Hisham - Quotes from Ibn Ishaq's work
843 The earliest dated literary papyrus
876 Earliest Qur'an Manuscript Fragment - (no later than this date)

Qur'an

Sura Literature

Ibn Ishaq

Ibn Hisham

Hadith

Collection of the Hadith

Science of the Hadith

Historical Methods

Archaeological Evidence

Dome of the Rock Inscription

Arab-Sassanian coins

"In July of the same year the emirs and many Arabs gathered and gave their allegiance to Mu'awiya. Then an order went out that he should be proclaimed king in all the villages and cities of his dominion and that they should make acclamation and invocations to him. He also minted gold and silver, but it was not accepted because it had no cross on it. Furthermore, Mu'awiya did not wear a crown like other kings in the world. He placed his throne in Damascus and refused to go to the seat of Muhammad [Medina or Mecca]."

Maronite Chronicler

Reformed Coinage

Non-Muslim Writings

While there are no early Arab texts about the life of the prophet of Islam, we do have copies of non-Muslim (mainly Christian) writings that reference the Arab conquest of the Middle East. These include eye witness testimony to the events that take place in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 7th century. While the authors provide limited details on the Arabs that conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, they do provide some interesting insights into how the conquered people of those areas viewed their new rulers. In particular, a few references to a "Muhammad" can be found which dates to the first few decades of the Arab conquests.

Doctrina Jacobi

[Jacob, himself a convert, wrote to encourage Christian faith in Jews of Carthage, forcibly converted in 632, in a tract that was completed before "the thirteenth of July in the seventh indiction," i.e. 634, when Jacob left Carthage. In it his cousin Justus appears telling how he heard of the killing of a member of the imperial guard, or candidatus, in a letter from his brother Abraham in Caesarea, in which the following appears.]

When the Candidatus was killed by the Saracens, I was at Caesarea and I set off by boat to Sykamina. People were saying "the candidatus has been killed," and we Jews were overjoyed. And they were saying that the prophet had appeared, coming with the Saracens, and that he was proclaiming the advent of the anointed one, the Christ who was to come. I, having arrived at Sykamina, stopped by a certain old man well-versed in scriptures, and I said to him: "What can you tell me about the prophet who has appeared with the Saracens?" He replied, groaning deeply: "He is false, for the prophets do not come armed with a sword. Truly they are works of anarchy being committed today and I fear that the first Christ to come, whom the Christians worship, was the one sent by God and we instead are preparing to receive the Antichrist. Indeed, Isaiah said that the Jews would retain a perverted and hardened heart until all the earth should be devastated. But you go, master Abraham, and find out about the prophet who has appeared." So I, Abraham, inquired and heard from those who had met him that there was no truth to be found in the so-called prophet, only the shedding of men's blood. He says also that he has the keys of paradise, which is incredible. ^[1]

Doctrina Jacobi V.16, 209. [p. 57]

Syriac Gospel Fragment

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In January {the people of} Hims took the word for their lives and many villages were ravaged by the killing of {the Arabs of} Muhammad (Muhmd) and many people were slain and {taken} prisoner from Galilee as far as Beth...<ref name="Hoyland">

Sophronius

Thomas the Presbyter

In the year 945, indiction 7, on Friday 7 February (634) at the ninth hour, there was a battle between the Romans and the Arabs of Muhammad (tayyaye d-Mhmt) in Palestine twelve miles east of Gaza. The Romans fled, leaving behind the patrician bryrdn, whom the Arabs killed. Some 4000 poor villagers of Palestine were killed there, Christians, Jews and Samaritans. The Arabs ravaged the whole region. ^[1]

Thomas the Presbyter, Chronicle, pp. 147-148

Sebeos, Bishop Of The Bagratunis

John, Bishop of Nikiu

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Hoyland , Robert "Seeing Islam as Others Saw It", google books. Darwin Press, Incorporated, Jan 1, 1997. Excerpts from the book, christianorigins.com.

[Hoyland-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Hoyland , Robert "Seeing Islam as Others Saw It", google books. Darwin Press, Incorporated, Jan 1, 1997. Excerpts from the book, christianorigins.com.

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