Muhammad: His Callnarrators of this tradition confused "Namus" with the Greek <@μ@H =
"Law," which was indeed given to Moses.
[7] Tabari, History, vol. 6, p. 69.
[8] See Appendix B, below.
[9] Ibn Hisham (Muhammad, p. 155) and Tabari (History, vol. 6, p. 70 do
not specify the length of this period; Ibn Sa`d (Classes, vol. 1, 1, p. 227)
gives "a few days." Later Islamic scholars contend that this "fatra," or
period of cessation, lasted three years; see Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol.
1, p. 85; EI², s.v. "Muhammad."
[10] In Sahih Bukhari (vol. 1, p. 5; vol. 6, pp. 420 f) three hadith of Jabir
b. Abdullah show that Muhammad was commanded to "desert the idols" in Qur'an 74:5, after which revelations came uninhibited (cf. Sahih Muslim , vol. 1, pp. 98 f). These accounts also appear to give a different (and perhaps older) version of Muhammad's seeing "the angel" who called to him from the sky; cf. Ibn Sad, Classes, vol. 1, 1, p. 227.
[11] Tabari, History, vol. 6, p. 70. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 447 f, gives
"a lady" instead of Khadija, whom Khan indentifies as Abu Lahab's wife.
The Ibn Ishaq recension of Ibn Bukayr shows Muhammad thought that his
companion hated him and had forsaken him; Guillaume, New Light, p. 30.
[12] Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 1, p. 78. There were also other
original narrators of these traditions; cf. GQ, vol. 1, p. 79; Buhl,
Muhammeds, p. 134; Tabari, History, vol. 6, pp. 67 f.
[13] Qur'an 2:92. If Gabriel had really been the angel, one would expect
this to have been mentioned in the early Qur'anic passages regarding the
signs or visions which Muhammad reportedly saw: e.g. Qur'an 81:23f and
53:6f. Even the tradition about Waraqa appears to show that Muhammad
did not know who or what he had seen, since Waraqa had to tell him it was
"Namus." The attempt to connect Gabriel with the first Qur'anic revelations
is definitely an early interpolation (it may have originated with
Muhammad), which aims to make Muhammad a "Biblical" prophet.