Muhammad: The Hijraverses in a Meccan setting may well have been a reaction of Islamic
traditionists to the Christian accusation that, in contrast to the Old
Testament prophets, Muhammad had received no divine authority for
opening the armed conflict against the Meccans; cf. ECMD, pp. 358, 447 f.
[26] Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, p. 13; vol. 9, pp. 338 f.
[27] Sahih Bukhari, vol. 5, p. 193; vol. 7, p. 525; Sahih Muslim, vol. 4,
p. 1248.
[28] The claims that the pagan Arabs fasted on the 10th of Muharram
(Sahih Bukhari, vol. 3, p. 65; vol. 6, p. 24; Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, pp. 548 f)
are not very reliable, since the Arabic Ashura comes from the Hebrew through the Aramaic (asor = "the tenth day"), which corresponds to the
10th of Tishrey, or the Jewish Day of Atonement; Lev. 23:27f; Nöldeke and
Schwally, GQ, vol. 1, p. 179, n. 1; Buhl, Muhammeds, p. 216. The idea that
this fast was held by the Jews to commemorate their deliverance from
Pharaoh (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 165, 233; Sahih Muslim, vol. 2, pp. 548
f) also appears to have been an Islamic corruption. Some hadith show how
this fast was held by the Muslims in Medina; Sahih Muslim, vol. 2,
pp. 552 f.
[29] Ever since the days of Solomon, Jews faced the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem when praying; I Kgs. 8:29f; Dan. 6:10; Talmud Berakhot 31a.
The first Islamic qibla was also Jerusalem (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 16 f;
Sahih Muslim, vol. 1, pp. 267 f), after this was learned from the Jews;
Tabari, History, vol. 7, p. 25; cf. also Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 1, p.
179, n. 1; Buhl, Muhammeds, p. 216. The Medinan Qur'anic passage 2:136f
also indicates that the Muslims prayed in the same direction as the Jews,
before the qibla was changed in 2 AH. Welch, in EI², s.v.