Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
Nevertheless, in one of the traditions about the four non-polytheists, there is
a curious account of Zayd b. Amr scolding the younger Muhammad for eating the meat of sacrifices, which he (Muhammad) had offered to idols.^58 Other Islamic sources also relate versions of this narration, which at least^59 one Western scholar of Islam has described as "the only authentic story of Muhammad's early years." In addition to these, there is a tradi^60 tion quoting Muhammad as saying he once offered a white sheep to the goddess al- Uzza. The content of both of these narrations not only conc^61 urs with the
witness of Qur'an 93:7 ("did He [Allah] not find you [Muhamma^62 d] erring
and guide you?"), but also with Qur'an 74:5, in which even som^63 e Islamic
translations of this verse depict Muhammad as being commanded by God to
"flee the idols." The intense desire of Islamic scholars to la^64 ter absolve
Muhammad from any involvement with idolatry is apparent in the works of
the early historians, theologians and commentators.^656667
Notes:
[1] See Guillaume, Muhammad, p. 3; Ibn Sa`d Classes, vol. 1, 1, p. 50;
Tabari, History, vol. 6, pp. 38f.
[2] Ibn Sad quotes IbnAbbas as saying that the genealogy narrators were
liars, see Classes, vol. 1, 1, 50. Tabari (History, vol. 6, pp. 38f) gives seven
different versions of the genealogy. The development of Ishmael in the
Qur'anic accounts also reveals that Muhammad only came to know of
Ishmael through outside sources and that he did not claim to be his
descendant. See n. 56, below.
[3] The somewhat discrepant narrations, whose progressions can be traced
through Ibn Hisham (Guillaume, Muhammad, pp. 68f) to Tabari, History,
vol. 6, pp. 38 f. to Ibn Sad, Classes, vol. 1, 1, pp. 101 f. appear to have led early Christian polemicists to make unjust accusations; see Jahiz in ECMD, p. 705. The charge seems to have evoked as a response the Muslim traditions found in Ibn Sad, Classes, vol. 1, 1, pp. 55 f. For the accounts of