H Thomas Becket

Muhammad, Mecca and the Qur'an H Thomas Becket

In the two volumes of Muhammad, Mecca and the Qur'an: In Search of the Original Qur'anic Community, H. Thomas Becket delves into available historical, archaeological, linguistic, theological and other available evidence that offers insights into the origins of Islam. He presents important findings of respected scholars of Islamic history that challenge traditional stories of Islamic origins. Just as Christian scholars long ago began the search for the historical Jesus, modern Western scholars recently began the search for the historical Muhammad. Becket's new book expands on the efforts of the first volume in the search for the historical origins of the Qur'an and Islam by seeking the original Qur'anic community, rather than Muhammad, to understand those origins. The author relies on scholarly studies that describe the prerequisites needed for the original community to understand the Qur'an. The author then asks whether the Qur'anic community that is able to understand the Qur'an corresponds with that described in the traditional stories of the origin of Islam (the hadith)? Any failure of the Qur'anic community as described in the hadith to suggest a community that could realistically serve as the original audience for the recitation of the Qur'anic text would indicate at the most fundamental level the lack of historicity of the hadith. Muhammad, Mecca and the Qur'an: Search for the Original Qur'anic Community will ... -Explode the myths of the origin of Islam in Mecca among illiterate pagans living in ignorance of Judaism and Chritianity; -Question the possibility of Arabic as the original language of the Qur'anic text; -Demonstrate the relationship of doctrines advocated in the Qur'an to sectarian Christian debates and specific Christian theologians of the 4th-7th centuries; -Connect many passages and several large segments of the Qur'an to the Bible, non-canonical sources and specific Syriac authors; -Challenge the traditional tales of the Islamic conquests. In the two volumes of Muhammad, Mecca and the Qur'an: Search for the Original Qur'anic Community, H. Thomas Becket challenges all that you think you know about Muhammad and the origins of Islam. He offers exciting new conclusions as to Islamic origins based on the scholarly literature which he cites at great length. Becket argues that acceptance of the historical origin of the Qur'anic text within Christendom may lead to greater humility among both Christians and Muslims. Such recognition requires Christians to acknowledge that sectarian Christian conflicts underlie many of the alleged violent passages of the Qur'an. Muslims also must admit that their scripture, as all religious scripture, has its origin within human history and its origins story constitutes salvation history to the same degree as the stories of the origins of Christianity and Judaism. Ultimately, history shows that faith, rather than historical certainty, underlies all three great historical religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.