Muhammad and the Supernatural

Using four key events in the life of Muhammad to exemplify themes that were important to medieval Islamic civilization, this book examines: the story of Muhammad’s conception; his first public preaching and his alleged choice of ’Alī as his successor; the account of a warning sent by one of Muhammad’s companions to the Meccans of his impending attack; and the failed assassination attempt of two Arab tribesmen who are later killed by God. These stories are used to illustrate the themes of sex, politics, betrayal, and wrath respectively. Examining these events through literary analysis of two genres, prophetic biography (sīra) and Qur’ān exegesis (tafsīr), and employing a comparison between the works of al-Tabarī and Ibn Kathīr, Rebecca Williams demonstrates that both al-Tabarī and Ibn Kathīr used the supernatural to propagate their own interpretation of certain events that were intimately connected to the controversies of their own cultural milieu.Approaching the element of the supernatural in the life of Muhammad from a fresh perspective by convincingly arguing that its presence was vital to the men who included it in their works, despite the Qur’ān’s insistence that Muhammad performed no miracles, this accessible book will be of interest not only to those in the field of Islamic Studies but will also be useful for students of folklore and classical literature.