MUHAMMAD a Very Short Introduction

OXFORD Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction V E R Y S H O R T IN T R O D U C T IO N S are for anyone wanting a stimulating and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide. The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. The VSI Library now contains over 200 volumes— a Very Short Introduction to everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and cosmology—and will continue to grow to a library of around 300 titles. Very Short Introductions available now: ADVERTISING Winston Fletcher BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee AFRICAN HISTO RY John Parker and TH E BLUES Elijah Wald Richard Rathbone THE BOOK OF MORMON AGNOSTICISM Robin Le Poidevin Terryl Givens AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES TH E BRAI N Michael O’Shea A N D ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY BU DDHA Michael Carrithers Charles O. Jones BUDDHISM Damien Keown AN A RCH ISM Colin Ward BU DDH IST ETHICS Damien Keown ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw ’ CAPITALISM James Fulcher A N CIEN T PHILO SO PH Y Julia Annas CATH O LICISM Gerald O’Collins ANCIENT WARFARE TH E CELTS Barry Cunliffe Harry Sidebottom CHAOS Leonard Smith AN GLICAN ISM Mark Chapman CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE CH RISTIA N A RT Beth Williamson John Blair CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long A N IM A L RIGHTS David DeGrazia CH R ISTIA N ITY Linda Woodhead ANTISEM ITISM Steven Beller CITIZEN SH IP Richard Bellamy THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY Paul Foster Helen Morales A RCHAEO LO GY Paul Bahn CLASSICS Mary Beard and ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne John Henderson ARISTO CRACY William Doyle CLAUSE WITZ Michael Howard ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes TH E COLD WAR Robert McMahon A RT HISTO RY Dana Arnold COM M UNISM Leslie Holmes ART TH EORY Cynthia Freeland CONSCIOUSNESS ATHEISM Julian Baggini Susan Blackmore AUGUSTIN E Henry Chadwick CONTEMPORARY ART AUTISM Uta Frith Julian Stallabrass BARTHES Jonathan Culler CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY BESTSELLERS John Sutherland Simon Critchley TH E BIBLE John Riches COSM OLOGY Peter Coles BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY THE CRUSADES Eric H. Cline Christopher Tyerman CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser and Sean Murphy FOSSILS Keith Thomson DADAAND SURREALISM FOUCAULT Gary Gutting David Hopkins FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton DARW IN Jonathan Howard FREEW ILL Thomas Pink THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons Timothy Lim THE FRENCH REVOLUTION DEM OCRACY Bernard Crick William Doyle DESCARTES Tom Sorell FREUD Anthony Storr DESERTS Nick Middleton FUNDAMENTALISM DESIGN John Heskett Malise Ruthven DINOSAURS David Norman GALAXIES John Gribbin DIPLOM ACY Joseph M. Siracusa GALILEO Stillman Drake DOCUMENTARY FILM GAME TH EO RY Ken Binmore Patricia Aufderheide G A N D H I Bhikhu Parekh DREAM ING J. Allan Hobson GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and DRUGS Leslie Iversen David Herbert DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds TH E EARTH Martin Redfern GERMAN LITERATURE ECONOM ICS Partha Dasgupta Nicholas Boyle EGYPTIAN M YTH Geraldine Pinch GERMAN PHILOSOPHY EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN Andrew Bowie Paul Langford GLOBAL CATASTROPHES TH E ELEMENTS Philip Ball Bill McGuire EM OTION Dylan Evans GLOBAL W ARM ING Mark Maslin EMPIRE Stephen Howe GLO BALIZATIO N Manfred Steger ENGELS Terrell Carver THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND ENGLISH LITERATURE TH E N EW D EAL Eric Rauchway Jonathan Bate HABERMAS E PID EM IO LOG Y Roldolfo Saracci James Gordon Finlayson ETHICS Simon Blackburn HEGEL Peter Singer THE EUROPEAN UNION H EID EGG E R Michael Inwood John Pinder and Simon Usherwood HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson EVOLUTION HIN D U ISM Kim Knott Brian and Deborah Charlesworth HISTO RY John H. Arnold EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY FASCISM Kevin Passmore Michael Hoskin FASHION Rebecca Arnold THE HISTORY OF LIFE FEMINISM Margaret Walters Michael Benton FILM M USIC Kathryn Kalinak THE HISTORYOFMEDICINE THE FIRST WORLD WAR William Bynum Michael Howard THE HI5TORYOFTIME FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin Leofranc Holford-Strevens FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside David Canter HOBBES Richard Tuck HUMAN EVOLUTION M ARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix Bernard Wood M ATH EM ATI CS Timothy Gowers HUM AN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham TH E M EAN ING OF LIFE HUME A. J. Ayer Terry Eagleton IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope INDIAN PHILOSOPHY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN Sue Hamilton John Gillingham and IN FORM ATIO N Luciano Floridi Ralph A. Griffiths IN N O V A TIO N M EM ORY Jonathan K. Foster Mark Dodgson and David Gann MICHAEL FARADAY INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary Frank A. J. L. James INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION M ODERN A RT David Cottington Khalid Koser M ODERN C H IN A Rana Mitter INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS M ODERN IRELAND Senia Paseta Paul Wilkinson MODERN JAPAN ISLAM Malise Ruthven Christopher Goto-Jones ISLAMIC HISTORY M ODERNISM Christopher Butler Adam Silverstein MOLECULES Philip Ball JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves M ORM ONISM JUDAISM Norman Solomon Richard Lyman Bushman JUNG Anthony Stevens M U HAM M AD Jonathan A. C. Brown KABBALAH Joseph Dan MUSIC Nicholas Cook KAFKA Ritchie Robertson M YTH Robert A. Segal KAN T Roger Scruton NATIO N ALISM Steven Grosby KEYNES Robert Skidelsky NELSON MANDELA KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner Elleke Boehmer TH E KORAN Michael Cook NEOLIBERALISM LANDSCAPES AND Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy GEOMORPHOLOGY TH E NEW TESTAM ENT Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles Luke Timothy Johnson LATE A N TIQ U ITY Gillian Clark TH E NEW TESTAM ENT AS LAW Raymond Wacks LITERATURE Kyle Keefer THE LAWS OF THERM ODYNAM ICS NEW TON Robert lliffe Peter Atkins NIETZSCH E Michael Tanner LEADERSHIP Keith Grint NIN ETE E NTH-C E NTU R Y B RI TA IN LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews THE NORMAN CONQUEST LITERARY TH EO RY Jonathan Culler George Garnett LOCKE John Dunn NORTH AMERICAN LOGIC Graham Priest IN DIANS Theda Perdue and M ACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner Michael D. Green TH E MARQUIS DE SADE NORTHERN IRELAND John Phillips Marc Mulholland M ARX Peter Singer N O TH IN G Frank Close NUCLEAR WEAPONS ROM AN BRITAIN Peter Salway Joseph M. Siracusa THE ROMAN EMPIRE THE OLD TESTAMENT Christopher Kelly Michael D. Coogan ROM ANTICISM Michael Ferber PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler PAUL E. P. Sanders RUSSELL A. C. Grayling PENTECOSTALISM William K. Kay RUSSIAN LITERATURE PHILO SO PHY Edward Craig Catriona Kelly PHILOSOPHY OF LAW THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Raymond Wacks S. A. Smith PHI LOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SCHIZOPHRENIA Samir Okasha Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone PHO TO GRAPHY Steve Edwards SCHOPENHAUER PLANETS David A. Rothery Christopher Janaway PLATO Julia Annas SCIENCE AND RELIGION Thomas Dixon POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY David Miller SCOTLAND Rab Houston POLITICS Kenneth Minogue SEXUALITY Veronique Mottier POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer POSTMODERNISM SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt Christopher Butler SOCIAL AND CULTURAL POSTSTRUCTURALISM ANTHROPOLOGY Catherine Belsey John Monaghan and Peter Just PREHISTORY Chris Gosden SOCIALISM Michael Newman PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce Catherine Osborne SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor PRIVACY Raymond Wacks TH E SOVIET UN ION Stephen Lovell PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns Helen Graham PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and SPANISH LITERATURE Jo Labanyi Freda McManus S PIN OZA Roger Scruton PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer STATISTICS David J. Hand TH E QUAKERS Pink Dandelion STUART BRITAIN John Morrill Q UANTUM TH EO RY SUPERCONDUCTIVITY John Polkinghorne Stephen Blundell RACISM Ali Rattansi TERRORISM Charles Townshend THE REAGAN REVOLUTION TH EO LO G Y David F. Ford Gil Troy TH OMAS AQUI NAS Fergus Kerr TH E REFORM ATION Peter Marshall TOCQUEVILLE Harvey C. Mansfield RELATIVITY Russell Stannard TRAGEDY Adrian Poole RELIGION IN AMERICA TH E TUDORS John Guy Timothy Beal TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN TH E RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton Kenneth 0. Morgan RENAISSANCE ART THE UNITED NATIONS Geraldine A. Johnson Jussi M. Hanhimaki TH E U.S CONGRESS W ITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling Donald A. Ritchie W ORLD M USIC Philip Bohlman UTOPIANISM THE WORLD TRADE Lyman Tower Sargent O RG AN IZATIO N AmritaNarlikar T H E VIKINGS Julian Richards WRITING AND SCRIPT W ITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill Andrew Robinson Available soon: O RG A N IZA TIO N S Mary Jo Hatch CANCER Nicholas James BEAUTY Roger Scruton PAGANISM SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Owen Davies Lawrence M. Principe For more information visit our web site www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/ Jonathan A. C Brown MUHAMMAD A Very Short Introduction OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6 dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York £) Jonathan A. C. Brown 2011 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization.

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