Studies on the Life of Muhammad and the Dawn of Islam: Idol Worshippers, Christians and Jews in Pre- and Early Islam

This volume includes 20 articles published between 1994 and 2020 on the subject of Mu?ammad and the history of early Islam, covered in five sections: Arabia on the Eve of Islam, Mu?ammad at Medina, Mu?ammad and the Jews, Mu?ammad ibn Is?aq and the sira and studies on early Islamic literature. The book focuses on a variety of historical questions, from the presumed Ghassanid/Byzantine involvement in the hijra to Mu?ammad’s treaties with the main Jewish tribes of Yathrib/Medina. Predilection for detail, especially in the realms of genealogy and geography, is a salient characteristic of Lecker’s research, which in recent years has been increasingly based on digitized text repositories. Many of the articles deal with the social and economic environment of early Islam, which is vital for the study of Mu?ammad’s biography. They are conceived of as building blocks in a future critical biography of the Arabian prophet. Studies on the Life of Muhammad and the Dawn of Islam will appeal to those interested in the history of pre- and early Islam, with an emphasis on Mu?ammad’s life and his relations with the Jews of Arabia.