THE DEATH OF A PROPHET:
The End of Muhammad’s Life and the
Beginnings of Islam.
By Stephen J. Shoemaker
University of Pennsylvania Press.
408 pages. £51.44
ISBN 978 0 812 243 567
Why would Christians be concerned about the date (and to a lesser extent, place) of Muhammad’s death?
Even Muslims do not claim that his death was in any way redemptive, and beyond his last statement forbidding a Jewish and Christian presence in Arabia, it had little significance, although pilgrims visit his supposed grave in Medina while on Haj. The point is, what does the evidence on this issue tell us about the historical reliability of the Islamic sources?
