Pre-Islamic Arabia[39] It is interesting to note that each of these four men came into contact
with Christianity: Waraqa b. Naufal supposedly researched the scriptures
and became a Christian; Ubaydullah b. Jahsh fled to Abyssinia with other early Muslims, but became a Christian and died there;Uthman b.
al-Huwayrith went to the Byzantine Emperor and became a Christian; Zayd
b.`Amr allegedly asked a monk about Hanifiyya (a term which came to
mean "Islam" in the late Meccan suras), but died neither a Jew nor a
Christian; Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 99 f.
[40] Umayya b. Abu al-Salt was a poet of Ta'if, who dressed as a monk
and sought prophethood for himself; Buhl, Muhammeds, p. 97; Andrae,
Ursprung, pp. 48 ff. Musaylima was a prophet of Yamama, who was
allegedly called "Rahman" and whose teachings appear to have been
heavily influenced by Christian doctrine; Buhl, Muhammeds, p. 99; SEI, p.
416 (cf. EI², s.v. "Musaylima").
[41] The Jewish expectations of the future Messianic advent may also
have played a limited role with respect to the idea of contemporary
prophethood. One serious problem with this view is that neither
Muhammad nor his rivals seem to have known or used the Hebrew
"Messiah" as applying to themselves. The Qur'anic "Masih" appears to have
come from Syriac and was only used of Muhammad for Jesus. According
to certain late Islamic traditions, Muhammad was claimed to be the future
prophet whom the Jews were awaiting; cf. Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 197
f, 240 f. The understanding of a national prophethood may well have come
from any of the Christians of the east; whose language divisions and
political bonds appear to have influenced the Arabs in this direction.
Another possible source for this idea may have been the followers of Elxai;
see Bell, Origins, pp. 59 f; Andrae, Mohammed, p. 101.
[42] Buhl, Muhammeds, pp. 6, 16, 28.
[43] Ibid., pp. 28 ff.
[44] Tabari, History, vol. 2, p. 324; Buhl, Muhammeds, p. 6; Guillaume,
Islam, pp. 15 f.