– THE SHADOW OF THE SCROLL –

from Arabia to near Jerusalem. We return once more to John Wansbrough, who in The Sectarian Milieu argued that a monotheistic religion such as Islam must have arisen from the debates between Jews and Christians in Palestine – not pagan Mecca. Reading the Qu’ran, it is certainly remarkable how often Biblical Prophets are invoked – Moses, Abraham, Solomon, Noah, Lot, Jesus. The stories have small variations from the Bible: Jesus, for example, is plucked from his crucifix and taken straight to Heaven. Could this be a remnant of the Christian Arian heresy supposedly snuffed out at the Council of Nicaea? And where might Muhammad have heard what the Meccans in the Qu’ran regarded as ‘old fables’? By placing Muhammad near Jerusalem, Crone and Holland provide an answer that does not involve divine revelation.

Yet there are some hints in the tradition of Christian links to the Prophet. Ibn Ishaq tells us about Muhammad’s trading journeys to Byzantine Syria where he met a monk called Bahira. There is also mention of Khadija’s cousin, a Christian who knew scripture, and even a Gospel quotation on a Meccan stone. Might Muhammad have begun his mission somewhere more religiously diverse than is usually assumed? His target audience are described as mushrikeen, a word usually translated as ‘idolaters’ but which literally means ‘sharers’ – those who associate gods with God. These might be pagans or Christians who associate one of God’s prophets with His son. Crone argues that the

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