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Explores critical questions raised by the emergence of Islam, focusing especially on the puzzling relationship between early Muslim belief and the Jewish and Christian contexts of the Near East. The course introduces competing hypotheses about the emergence of Islam, critically evaluates the significance of these historical debates for understanding the relation of Christianity to Islam, evaluates hadith and prophetic biography in shaping of Muslim self-understanding, and surveys major theories of the Qur’an’s composition and context. Throughout the course we focus on how Christianity and Islam relate to one another, and how divergent perspectives on the emergence of Islam influence that relationship. The course is designed to be completed in four weeks.
Topics include:
- The Jewish and Christian context
- Earliest non-Muslim accounts of the rise of Islam
- The Qur’an: sources, context, textual history and canonization
- Sira and Hadith literature: origins and historicity
- How much can we know about Muhammad?
- Alternative theories of Islamic origins
- Implications for Muslims
- Implications for Christian-Muslim interaction
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