The doubtful origins of Islam

To what extent can we trust Muslim sources in their depictions of Islam’s origins and its prophet? For generations, Muslims have wholeheartedly embraced an account derived from their sacred texts, including the Quran and the Hadith. Are these texts reliable? Do they provide authentic information dating to seventh-century Arabia, where Muhammad is said to have received divine revelations through the angel Gabriel? These questions sparked my curiosity and guided my research across two Ph.D.s focused on Islam, its history, and its texts.

Rather than taking its stories at face value, we should scrutinize the relia­bility and authenticity of this religion followed by over 1.8 billion people. Three books—one by a medieval Muslim authority and two by modern secular scholars—shaped my perspective, leading me to question the traditional narrative of Islam and the major claims advanced by Muslims.

Muslim testimony

Abu Bakr ibn Abi Dawud al-Sijistani (d. 928), a prominent Sunni scholar, was renowned for his expertise in Islamic traditions. His The Book of Codices, parts of which have been translated into English, examines competing Quranic texts, challenging the Muslim claim that the Quran is preserved without any alteration. His book shows that originally Muslims acknowledged multiple Quranic versions, with Muhammad’s companions disputing the authenticity of various copies, each differing significantly. Abu Bakr cites a tradition claiming Muhammad dictated Quranic verses to a scribe who took liberties in writing, resulting in textual variations. He also reports that Hajjaj, a ruthless Muslim governor (d. 714), altered the Quranic text to his preference and enforced its circulation across Muslim territories. This testimony from a Muslim authority raises doubts about the Quran’s so-called perfect preservation. While today’s Muslims view it as a divine text untouched by human influence, Muslim sources and traditions reveal evidence of textual variations, disputed versions, and documented alterations. These are not charges made up by non-Muslims, but testimonies attributed to Muslim authorities, indicating the Quranic text evolved over time, with reports of lost verses and sections.

Fictitious histories

Ali and Mu’awiya in Early Arabic Tradition Erling Ladewig Petersen

Erling Ladewig Petersen’s 1964 study, Ali and Mu’awiya in Early Arabic Tradition, demonstrates that supposed authentic historical narratives of Islam’s origins are largely ideological forgeries crafted to advance sociopolitical and ­sectarian agendas favored by Muslim authors. These accounts, documented at least two centuries after the events, are religiopolitical rather than factual. Despite present Muslim claims that devout chroniclers accurately recorded history as it occurred, Petersen’s analysis reveals that these writers were less concerned with recounting actual events than addressing contemporary social and political issues. They crafted narratives to support the agendas of caliphs who commissioned these works to legitimize their rule.

Petersen illustrates how Sunni and Shiite writers portrayed the same historical events differently, shaped by their religious and political commitments. Due to their late composition and numerous contradictions driven by sectarian and political biases, these texts provide no reliable means to discern what truly happened in early Islam, leaving us with a fragmented remnant of an obliterated past. Petersen’s work broadened my horizons and prompted me to examine Islamic traditions more closely. The deeper I dug, the more convinced I became that much of Islam’s history is a fabrication. While the testimonies of Muslim sources about the Quran had already made me skeptical of its reliability, a deeper investigation into Islam’s traditions solidified my belief that much of the historical record preserved in Muslim writings is largely forged.

Christian sources and early Islam

Seeing Islam As Others Saw It Robert G. Hoyland

The internal and external limitations of Arabic Muslim sources make it hard to reconstruct a coherent account of Islam’s origin. Consequently, many modern scholars advocate consulting non-­Muslim sources from the seventh to 10th centuries to better understand its beginnings. Robert Hoyland’s Seeing Islam As Others Saw It (1997) is a pioneering work in this field that compiles and analyzes accounts from Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and other non-Muslim writers, all often neglected in discussions surrounding Islam’s emergence. These texts written in languages such as Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Latin form a marvelous corpus of external perspectives on early Islam’s rise and spread, offering valuable insights into how neighboring communities perceived the new religion, its political expansion, and its social impact.

Many non-Muslims portrayed Muhammad as a deceiving preacher, false prophet, and Arabian warlord leading nomadic invasions into Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian territories. Hoyland’s work remains a seminal contribution to Islamic studies, providing a balanced, source-driven perspective on Islam’s origins and its reception among neighboring cultures, enriched by a cross-cultural lens.

Collectively, these three books challenge the notion that the Quran is superior to other religious scriptures, revealing significant issues of corruption and distortion within it. They also highlight internal and external inconsistencies in Muslim historical accounts, suggesting that much of what is believed about Islam’s origins may be a constructed narrative, with the true historical reality largely obscured.

—A.S. Ibrahim is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of many books, including A Concise Guide to Islam (2023)