Muhammad, the Qur'an and Islam
early on no trustworthy traditions were available, (and) that what we have
[before us] are rather the productions of the exegetes."
[25] Blachère considered these two suras as having been early; see
Appendix B.
[26] See Watt and Bell, Introduction, pp. 77, 79; Andrae, Mohammed,
p. 30. Cf. Sahih Muslim, vol. 3, p. 905.
[27] See Qur'an 68:2, 69:40f, 81:22, etc.
[28] Wellhausen, Reste, p. 135; Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 1,
pp. 87 f; Welch, EI², s.v. "Muhammad," p. 363. Another more remote
possibility may have been that Muhammad clothed himself as a monk when
practising his devotions; see Bell, Origins, p. 88; Andrae, Mohammed,
p. 43.
[29] The word [z£[ (Qur'an 96:1) is based on the same Arabic root as
"Qur'an." See Bell, Origins, pp. 90 f; Watt, Muhammad, pp. 20 f; Welch,
EI², s.v. "Kur'an," p. 400.
[30] Muslims generally equate |j-y with |j/y = "abomination" (e.g.
Qur'an 2:56); (see Jeffery, Vocabulary, p. 139) and four canonical traditions
say that "rujz" meant "idols;" see the reference given in n. 10, above. Most
Western scholars follow Bell (Origins, pp. 88 f) in viewing this as a word
which Muhammad borrowed from Syrian Christians (cf. Matt. 3:7); without
perhaps knowing what it meant.
[31] "Purifying garments" (74:4 - cf. Rev. 7:14); "fleeing the wrath" (74:5
- cf. Mt. 3:7); "not giving in order to receive more" (74:6 cf. Lk. 6:30,35)
and "being patient for the Lord" (74:7 - cf. Ja. 5:7) all reveal that
Muhammad had been influenced by Christian sources. See Appendix F,
p. 409.
[32] Andrae, Ursprung, pp. 201 f, references the fourth century (AH) Abu-
Faraj al-'Ishbahani, Masudi and the theologian Abu Nuaim. The traditions
of the first two of these is traced through Muhammad b. Sa'ib al-Kalbi,
whose son many Muslim authorities regard as untrustworthy; cf. Haq and
Ghazanfar, in Ibn Sa`d, Classes, p. xxi; Andrae, Mohammed,
p. 92. Jeffery, in Vocabulary, p. 22, also makes mention of Quss. In