This is a set of key articles which deal with various aspects of the life of Muhammad: the Muslim authors of Muhammada s biography, the major events in his life, the development of the idealised image of Muhammad, and the image of Muhammad in the eyes of early medieval non-Muslim writers. The articles are preceded by an introduction reviewing major trends in the scholarly research."

This volume comprises articles dealing with qur'anic and post-qur'anic aspects of the Prophet Muhammad's image and religious environment. The pieces in the first section analyse Muhammad's prophecy as reflected in the Qur'an and the post-qur'anic sources of sira (Muhammad's biography), tafsir (Qur'an exegesis), ta'rikh (historiography) and hadith (Muslim tradition). They reveal aspects of the manner in which the post-qur'anic sources have elaborated on the relatively modest qur'anic image of Muhammad for polemical needs as well as due to natural admiration for the prophet of Islam. Articles...