Muhammad: Meccan OppositionMeccans of passing off as "revelations" the stories he had heard, and the
Qur'anic rebuttals of this repeated charge seem to have done little to
alleviate this problem. Indeed, almost in answer to these ac^115 cusations, the
Sira and canonical traditions attempt to provide the names for Muhammad's
informants, all of whom appear to have been Christians.^116
Of the Biblical prophets, Muhammad seems to have identified himself best
with Noah at first, and the warning of a specific and impendi^117 ng judgment
on the Meccans may have played a role in this choice. Many, but certainly
not all of the Qur'anic punishments in these narratives are depicted as being
natural catastrophes, and the most feared (and recurring) natural disaster of
Mecca was flooding. Later, Muhammad begins to appear more an^118 d more
in the person of Moses, and it may have been that the punish^119 ment of the
drowning of Pharaoh and his people also played a role in this decision.
Despite the fact that Muhammad develops the stories of Arab prophets
somewhat in this section of suras, it is the Old Testament fig^120 ures of
Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses to which he commits the most text and
detail. Oddly, although the Biblical narratives in these suras must have been
ultimately Jewish, their Qur'anic versions generally have a Christian
coloring. On the one hand, if Muhammad's informants were Jewi^121 sh, one
would expect to find more familiarity with conventional Judaism in these
suras; and on the other hand, if Muhammad's instructors were Christians or
from heretical sects, an acquaintance with the doctrines regarding the
person of Christ would have been evident. As opposed to the first Meccan
period, however, Muhammad seems to have been far less interested in the
doctrines of Judaism and Christianity; and yet captivated by the utilitarian
aspects of certain Biblical histories. Muhammad appears to have been very
selective in his choice of narratives, and those which spoke of judgment and
Monotheism seem to have gotten the most attention at first. Essentially,
Muhammad's ministry had little in common with that of Jesus, and the New
Testament narratives on judgment and Monotheism are not as abundant as
those of the Old Testament. Whatever contact Muhammad may ha^122 ve had
with Jews, Christians or other groups, it may have simply been used to
obtain histories about these two themes.