Muhammad: His CallWellhausen, Reste, p. 250 (additional n. to p. 239), Nöldeke is cited as
saying that the word "qass" is a technical expression for Christian clergy.
See n. 188, below.
[33] See p. 29, n. 11 and p. 32, n. 22, above, for the Muslim sources; see
ECMD, p. 732, for the Christian sources. Christians later distorted these
traditions to present Muhammad as killing the monk, who had helped him,
in a well; see Gerard Salinger, "A Christian Muhammad Legend, etc."
ZDMG, 117 (1967), pp. 328 f.
[34] Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 112 f; Tabari, History, vol. 6, p. 77. Cf.
the canonical traditions in Sahih Bukhari, vol. 1, p. 297; Sunan Abu
Dawud, vol. 1, pp. 102 f.
[35] Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 112 f. Tabari (History, vol. 6, pp. 78 f)
gives the hadith about the famous "night journey," in which five daily times
for prayer are said to have been made obligatory, immediately following
Muhammad's teaching Khadija the ritual prayers. Guillaume, New Light,
pp. 30 f, and Tabari, History, vol. 6, p. 81, show the Ka`ba as being the first
qibla.
[36] Qur'an 108:2; 107:5; and later 96:10; 74:44. Some canonical hadith
indicate that the regulation of ritual prayers was not very strict at first, as
one was permitted to talk to someone while he performed his prayers; see
Sahih Bukhari, vol. 5, p. 137; Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, p. 272; Sunan Abu
Dawud, vol. 1, p. 235. Muslims returning from Abyssinian asylum then
noticed that conversation was no longer allowed during prayers.
[37] The earliest Qur'anic evidence is probably 10:87, where the Jewish
anachronism of the institution of synagogues in the time of Moses is most
likely being referred to; see p. 154, below. The first mention of a qibla as
clearly being used by Muslims is in Qur'an 2:136f. Aside from the Ka`ba, it
has been speculated that the first qibla of the Muslims may have been
Jerusalem; based on Qur'an 2:136f or, following Eastern Christian practice,
the East; cf. SEI, p. 240.