Many Muslim men throughout history have aspired to martyrdom because of the qur’anic promise of ḥūrīs in heaven. Traditionally this word has been understood as “beautiful virgin women” who will await them upon their martyr’s death. But what if the term does not mean “virgins” at all? Recent scholarship has demonstrated that the word may actually be a Syriac word, rather than Arabic, meaning “white raisins.”¹

This possibility illustrates a broader truth: The story of Islam’s origins is far less straightforward than most people assume. In this article, I will draw on insights from Ayman S. Ibrahim’s A Concise Guide to the Qur’an, A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad, and Muhammad’s Military Expeditions to explore fascinating and sometimes troubling questions surrounding Muhammad, the Qur’an, and early Islamic history.²

Gaps and Lost Documentation

Although Mecca is central in Islamic memory, its historical prominence is questionable. Maps from the sixth and seventh centuries omit it entirely, and it appears on maps only in the late ninth century. Scholars like Patricia Crone argue that Mecca’s early significance was a later fabrication contrived for political reasons.³

Even the earliest mosques tell a surprising story. Archeological evidence shows that their qibla (directions of prayer) did not point to Mecca but to Petra in Jordan. Similarly, the qur’anic descriptions of the holy city as being a place of cultivating olives, grapes, and wheat fit closer with a Mediterranean climate.⁴

The Qur’an itself contains linguistic puzzles. Some scholars also argue that the Qur’an is illuminated by Syriac readings. For instance, even the word Qur’an seems to make more sense not with the Arabic gloss “recite” but with the Syriac qeryana, a term for Christian liturgical readings.⁵

The Qur’an: Transmission, Collection, and Variants

Muslims often view the Qur’an as miraculous, citing Muhammad’s illiteracy and the text’s supposed inimitability. Yet, as Ibrahim notes, Muslims often claim the beauty and the inimitability of the Qur’an based on a comparison with pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, of which no reliable evidence survives.⁶

Muhammad also never commanded that the Qur’an be written down. After his death in 632, many tribes abandoned Islam, prompting his successor, Abu Bakr, to launch the Apostasy Wars (AD 632–634). In the process, many who had memorized parts of the Qur’an were killed. Worried that the Qur’an would be lost as those who had memorized it died, Abu Bakr and the second Muslim caliph Umar commissioned Muhammad’s personal scribe Zayd to compile the Qur’an.

This raises an uncomfortable question: If Muhammad never instructed this, did Abu Bakr and Zayd overstep?⁷

In 650, the third Muslim caliph, Uthman, standardized his version of the Qur’an, ordering other copies burned.⁸ Yet Muhammad himself had recommended recitation from some of his trusted early followers and disciples—Ibn Masud, Salim, Ubayy, and Muadh—two of whom preserved different Qur’ans that Uthman ignored. Even during the project, companions disagreed.⁹

Over time, many variants circulated. As Ibrahim bluntly observes, “Simply stated, what many call the unchanged, inerrant copy of the Quran is actually a twentieth-century project.”¹⁰ In 1924 Egyptian scholars standardized the text for schools, acknowledging “errors” in earlier copies. Even today there are two canonical versions of the Qur’an: Hafs (6,236 verses) and Warsh (6,214 verses). ¹¹ Other accounts, such as Abu Dawud’s The Book of the Masahif, recount that the governor Hajjaj altered qur’anic copies.

Abrogation and Interpretation

Another tension within Islamic theology is the doctrine of abrogation, the idea that later qur’anic revelations annul earlier ones. But without precise dating of the surahs (chapters of the Qur’an) the principle of abrogation collapses.

The Sudanese thinker Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (1909–85) proposed privileging the surahs revealed in Mecca, which are more peaceful and universal in tone, over the harsher Medinan revelations. He was executed in 1985 for such views.

The Qur’an and the Bible

Unlike the Christian view of inspiration, where God speaks through human authors, Muslims hold that God dictated the Qur’an word for word. They also claim that earlier revelations—the Torah (to Moses), Zabur or Psalms (to David), and Injil or gospel (to Jesus)—were likewise dictated word for word by God.

This can create confusion in Christian-Muslim dialogues. The Qur’an refers to the Bible as al-Dhikr, “the Reminder,” insisting that God protects it from corruption. Ironically, although many Muslims today allege that Jews and Christians altered their scriptures, the Qur’an itself insists that Allah preserves the Dhikr and no one can change his words (6:115).¹² Surah 29:46 even instructs Muslims to trust Christians.¹³

Yet contradictions abound. The Qur’an makes it clear that Jesus is human because he prays to Allah and glorifies him (5:117), then states that Allah himself also prays (33:43).¹⁴ It alternately denies and affirms Jesus’s death.¹⁵ While Jesus performs miracles in the Qur’an, Muhammad’s only miracle is the Qur’an itself (6:37). Many Muslims believe in miracles worked by Muhammad that are part of oral tradition, which arose after Muslims encountered more Christians centuries after the death of Muhammad. This era produced volumes of forged literature about miracles performed by Muhammad.

Muhammad’s Life: Raids, Expeditions, and Storytelling

From the earliest days of Islam, Muhammad’s life was remembered as one of maghazi —raids and expeditions.^[16] The idea of Muhammad’s maghazi was from the earliest days of Islam viewed as central, so much that an entire genre of writing was titled after it.¹⁷ Ayman S. Ibrahim defines this genre as “the memory, created by later Muslim narrators, to highlight the deeds of the earliest Muslim warriors under Muhammad’s leadership as they engaged in warring and plundering.”¹⁸ Over time, maghazi developed into a broader category of sira, the earliest of which was written over a century after Muhammad’s death.

Modern Muslim interpreters often depict Muhammad as a prophet of peace. By contrast, classical accounts emphasize his military leadership. Ibrahim explains that these narratives were “meaningful tales designed by religious scholars to provide Muslims—who lived many generations after the presumed time of the battles—with religious lessons and sociopolitical orientations.”¹⁹

Some modern scholars insist these battles were “to spread peace, defend the poor, or secure freedom of worship for Muslims,”²⁰ while others, such as Tunisian scholar Hichem Djait (1935–2021), condemn them outright. Still others read them as tribal conflicts later recast in religious terms. Others offer more traditional views, such as that Muhammad’s maghazi were religious duty.²¹

Several themes emerge in these accounts. The first is political revisionism. For example, followers connected to the Abbasids were portrayed more positively to bolster dynastic legitimacy. A second is exaggeration. The number of unbelievers opposing Muhammad in Mecca in earlier accounts is listed as 130 but later becomes 300.²² History becomes storytelling, and historical figures become literary figures who can be melded to tell a better story. According to Ibrahim, “The historiographical accounts are representations, not records, of the past.”²³

Ibrahim summarizes: “Muslim writers were not merely narrating past events, but authoring and embellishing the narratives themselves.”²⁴ The third theme is theological framing. Tribal raids were reinterpreted as jihad fi sabil Allah (fighting in Allah’s path).²⁵ Tribal warfare that was common among the Arabs is replaced by unity and turning to fight for Islam together.

The Historical Muhammad

The Islamic communities’ depictions of Muhammad often conflict with early historical accounts.²⁶ Few details of his life come from reliable contemporary accounts; most appear constructed to legitimate caliphate claims.²⁷ Thomas the Presbyter recounts a battle led by “the Arabs of Muhammad” in 634, which is the first reference to Muhammad. A Syriac text from 637 also mentions Muhammad by name as a leader of Arabs who destroyed villages.²⁸

Later Muslim accounts, however, often conflict with these early glimpses. They reflect the concerns of later caliphs who needed to sacralize their military conquests. As Ibrahim remarks, “The Muslim historical accounts fit and reflect a later period in Islam in which the caliphs were seeking a religious legitimization for their military expansion. They needed to create a religious memory, advancing fighting as jihad for Allah’s cause and highlighting both its earthly and heavenly rewards.”²⁹

Muhammad’s Character and Infallibility

Another debated issue in Islam is Muhammad’s sinlessness. While the Qur’an contains verses suggesting his fallibility, classical doctrine developed the idea of isma (prophetic infallibility).

Yet early sources tell another story. The infamous Satanic Verses, preserved for centuries in hadith, sira, and maghazi literature and tarikh accounts, depict Muhammad briefly acknowledging pagan deities, then retracting the verses after being reprimanded by Allah. Only later did Muslim scholars dismiss the story.³⁰

Conclusion: A Religion of Questions

When we read the early historical sources, Islam’s origins appear riddled with gaps, contradictions, and retrospective storytelling. Mecca’s historical insignificance, the Syriac echoes in the Qur’an, the late standardization of the text, and the embellished accounts of Muhammad’s raids all suggest a religion that developed gradually, shaped as much by politics and legend as by revelation.

 Notes

1. For more on this subject, see Christoph Luxenberg, The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran (Prometheus Books, 2007); and Ayman S. Ibrahim, A Concise Guide to the Quran: Answering Thirty Critical Questions (Baker Academic, 2020), 140, Kindle.
2. A Concise Guide to the Life of Muhammad: Answering Thirty Key Questions (Baker Academic, 2022), Kindle; and Muhammad’s Military Expeditions: A Critical Reading in Original Muslim Sources (Oxford University Press, 2024).
3. Ibrahim, Life of Muhammad, 45.
4. Ibrahim, Life of Muhammad, 47.
5. The Arabic, meaning “recite,” is understood from later hadith as having been a command given to Muhammad when the Qur’an was revealed to him. He was commanded to recite. As Ibrahim points out, however, the qur’anic passage is extremely vague and cannot be understood apart from its traditional interpretation given in the hadith. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 6.
6. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 26.
7. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 33.
8. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 37.
9. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 37.
10. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 48.
11. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 56.
12. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 102.
13. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 104.
14. Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 113.
15. Qur’an 19:33; and Ibrahim, Concise Guide to the Quran, 114.
16. Ibrahim, Life of Muhammad, 31.
17. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 11.
18. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 57.
19. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 104.
20. Summarizing this approach, Ibrahim notes, “Rather than adopting and advocating for religious literal interpretations, these thinkers view the expeditions through social, tribal, political, and economic lenses. By so doing, these scholars both reject literal classical interpretations and attempt to dissociate the spread of the religion from the launching of military campaigns.” Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 12–14.
21. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 14.
22. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 66.
23. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 69.
24. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 68–69.
25. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 119.
26. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 30.
27. The earliest external references come from non-Muslim sources in Syria, Armenia, Egypt, and Persia. There is also early written evidence of an Arab prophet and of the Arabs plundering and fighting. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 39.
28. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 39–40.
29. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 120.
30. Ibrahim, Muhammad’s Military Expeditions, 63.

©Farah Abd Al-Masih. All Rights Reserved.

---

RESOURCES

• Subscribe To The Heidelblog!
• Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
• Browse the Heidelshop!
• The Heidelblog Resource Page
• Heidelmedia Resources
• The Ecumenical Creeds
• The Reformed Confessions
• The Heidelberg Catechism
• The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, & Pastoral Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2025)
• Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
• Why I Am A Christian
• What Must A Christian Believe?
• Heidelblog Contributors
• Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to

Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

---

Post authored by:

• Farah Abd Al-Masih

  

  Farah Abd Al-Masih is a student of Historical Theology and has a particular interest in Christian-Muslim relations. She has studied Arabic and spent time in the Middle East and North Africa, along with many years living in East Africa. She hopes to serve the Middle Eastern church, as well as help the Western church to understand Islam and how to help and serve persecuted Christians around the globe.

  More by Farah Abd Al-Masih ›