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The Hidden Origins of Islam: New Research into Its Early History Hardcover – July 30, 2009

by Karl-Heinz Ohlig (Editor), Gerd-R Puin (Editor)
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Despite Muhammad's exalted place in Islam, even today there is still surpisingly little actually known about this shadowy figure and the origins of the Qur'an because of an astounding lack of verifiable biographical material. Furthermore, most of the existing biographical traditions that can be used to substantiate the life of Muhammad date to nearly two centuries after his death, a time when a powerful, expansive, and idealized empire had become synonymous with his name and vision - thus resulting in an exaggerated and often artificial characterization of the prophetic figure coupled with many questionable interpretations of the holy book of Islam.On the basis of datable and localizable artifacts from the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era, many of the historical developments, misconceptions, and fallacies of Islam can now be seen in a different light. Excavated coins that predate Islam and the old inscription in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem utilize symbols used in a documented Syrian Arabic theology - a theology with Christian roots.Interpreting traditional contexts of historical evidence and rereading passages of the Qur'an, the researchers in this thought-provoking volume unveil a surprising - and highly unconventional - picture of the very foundations of Islamic religious history.
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  1. Print length
    406 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Prometheus
  4. Publication date
    July 30, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.2 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1591026342
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1591026341
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karl-Heinz Ohlig is professor emeritus of Religious Studies and the History of Christianity at the University of the Saarland, chairman of the Inarah Institute for Research into the Early History of Islam and the Qur'an, and the author of many books including Weltreligion Islam: Eine Einführung (Islam as World Religion: An Introduction).

Gerd-R. Puin, a retired research associate at the University of the Saarland, is an expert on the historical orthography of the Qur'an.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus; First Edition (July 30, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 406 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1591026342
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1591026341
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.48 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
71 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book astounding and interesting, featuring a history of Islam. They also say it's a very interesting read about the origins of Islam and provides a lot of information about the religion.

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Reading experienceHistory
8 customers mention "Reading experience"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book astounding and potentially explosive.

"...I enjoyed reading it. Volker Popp's essay is very interesting , providing the theory of Jesus `' The Muhammad...." Read more

"...Disclosure: I read this as part of a History MA, but this book is astounding...." Read more

"Great scholastic reading . A must read for anyone who is very into scholastic Islamic investigation . Very top . Oleg Karl ohlig ...." Read more

"No further comment at the moment. But this is a helpful book which anyone in the field pr with a need can appreciate." Read more

4 customers mention "History"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the history of Islam very interesting and say it's an extremely interesting account of a subject they've long been involved in.

"As a layman, I found the information contained in this book very interesting, particularly in regard to the fact that no historical record exists of..." Read more

"This is an extremely interesting account of a subject that we have long been involved in and interested in, and especially as part of it is written..." Read more

"...Very top . Oleg Karl ohlig . Great masterpiece for any investigator of Islam and early Islam and uts roots ." Read more

"It is a very interesting history of Islam and I learned a lot about the origins of the religion!" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Geoff Puterbaugh
5.0 out of 5 stars A potentially explosive book!
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2012
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The final result of all this must be left to professional historians, yet some of the facts will simply not go away. Following the historic method of Mommsen, the scholars gathered here present some facts that will make your head hurt.

Let me first establish the contrast between "traditional Islamic history" and the facts as they appear on the ground.

In "traditional Islamic history," the Khalif Mu'awiyya fought big battles for Islam, and so did his three followers: Abd-el Malik and the rest.

Unfortunately, "traditional Islamic history" appears to be a special kind of fiction, because the coins and inscriptions found on the ground make it quite obvious that Mu'awiyya and his three successors had never heard of Muhammad, the Koran, Islam, or the word "Khalif" = "ruler."

What is even worse, they were all Christians!

Of course, the history of Arab Christianity -- although quite long and interesting -- is not something that modern Muslims like to deal with. On the contrary, as in Egypt, they have implemented stringent controls over education, which forbid the teaching of pre-Islamic Egyptian history, which to my mind was much more interesting than the "post-Islamic" history.

As a result of this explosive book, we have to face the possibility that Muhammad never existed, that the Koran was pasted together from Syric-Aramaic Christian sources, and that the whole thing was a bundle of bushwah created to defend the now "Islamic" empire.

I don't think you need me to tell you that Muslims will not be "happy" about this book. And I am not qualified to see where all this will go (not being an expert in the partitive gerundial in Syriac.)

I would also warn you that this book is Hard. Probably not for beginners.

One interesting fact: the collapse of the Sassanian dynasty led to the collapse of Zoroastrianism in Iran. The living religions were Nestorian Christianity and a lot of Buddhism in Eastern Iran.
61 people found this helpful
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Kilfincelt
5.0 out of 5 stars The Hidden Origins of Islam - A Brief Review
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2011
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As a layman, I found the information contained in this book very interesting, particularly in regard to the fact that no historical record exists of any prophet named Muhammad during the period that he supposedly lived. Obviously, any Islamic scholar who has previously just accepted his existence may want to reexamine his or her thoughts on this matter in lieu of this material.

As far as the general reader goes, information in many of the chapters is presented in a manner that makes it relatively easy for the layman to understand. However, a few chapters are more difficult as they deal with Arabic and linguistics. Overall, though, this book begins to explain the real origins of Islamic writings while eliciting new questions that require additional scholarly research.
21 people found this helpful
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Caliph al Ma'mun
5.0 out of 5 stars I was Satisfied with it
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2012
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I found this book very valuable one . I enjoyed reading it. Volker Popp's essay is very interesting , providing the theory of Jesus `' The Muhammad. `' connecting it with the last essay on Syriac Christianity by Ohlig and Luxenberg's essay on the Dome of the Rock inscription would make it more interesting. However my Criticism to Popp's essay is, it didn't deal with the materials that talks about Muhammad from non -Muslim sources. Yet The Theory provides important points that needs extra work and clarification in order for it to be more establish in the Scholarly world .

The book, in conclusion, is extremely good , and it took the prospective that Muhammad didn't exist. but as I said , it need to answer some question before going further with the theory
19 people found this helpful
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Louis T. Klauder
5.0 out of 5 stars How Islam came into being
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2010
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Throughout history autocrats have recognized the value of religious ideas and feelings for promoting social cohesion and support for government. Accordingly, autocratically governed empires have promoted official religions and have styled themselves as protectors of their religions and as agents their gods.

In many cultures the origins of religious concepts are obscure.

During the first two and a half centuries of Christianity the religion was independent of and often persecuted by the (Roman) government. Only under Constantine in 312 and following did the government identify with and exploit Christianity. (There is a nice essay on this theme by Shaye I.D. Cohen at [...].)

The book "The Hidden Origins of Islam" deals among other things with the relationship between the Arian form of Christianity in vogue among the Arab aristocracies of southern Iran and eastern Iraq in the 7th century, the formation of the Arab empire in the power vacuum left in those regions following the Byzantine defeat of the Persians in 622 CE, the tangible evidence concerning religious ideas in the Arab empire in the 7th century, and the appearance of Islamic literary documents (other than the Qur'an) in Arabic in the 9th century. I found the first chapter by Popp and the 2nd chapter by Luxenberg particularly compelling.

It will be interesting to see if any of the scholars who work within the framework of the traditional Islamic stories of Islamic origins can find any basic flaws in the marshalling and interpretation of objective evidence presented in this book and in related studies by scholars such as Kalisch.
94 people found this helpful
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Ferren
5.0 out of 5 stars Corrective to Islamic da'wah
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2017
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You have to be able to wade through German scholarship to read these books from Saarland, and be prepared to read or skip over passages written in strange alphabets, but they are much friendlier in English than in the original German! And essential until we get a variorum translation of the Quran that incorporates their research and faces up to its sources on its own. This is a necessary phase to counter Ernst Renan's famous misconception, that Islam was born in the clear light of history. It wasn't. Good guess is that Islam developed from a unitarian heresy after Nicaea made trinitarianism mandatory, and that it created its prophet as part of the necessary backstory. Fascinadting detective work by people with a dozen Middle Eastern languages and familiarity with 1000 years of Byzantine (in all senses) history.
21 people found this helpful
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Brad M
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2017
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Worth every penny
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Retired Engineer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2014
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Excellent
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Robert Beylot
5.0 out of 5 stars Sur le recueil d'études publié sous la direction de K.H. Ohlig
Reviewed in France on January 28, 2016
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L'ouvrage marque une avancée importante dans la connaissance des origines de l'Islam. En particulier, l'article sur les inscription de la coupole de la mosquée du Rocher, à Jérusalem est très intéressant et important pour l'histoire des conceptions musulmanes de la christologie et de la Trinité chrétiennes.
2 people found this helpful
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chazdbo
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2014
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It's good to know a lot about Islam and it's origins this book is very good for that...
3 people found this helpful
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robert james
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2015
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Ver good condition
One person found this helpful
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freyadog
3.0 out of 5 stars very scholarly
Reviewed in Canada on April 3, 2013
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This collection of essays is very erudite and abstruse. The review that I read in a newspaper led me to think it would be more for a layperson. The first and last essay are more informative, but the middle essays left me way behind.
One person found this helpful
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