The Word of God
authorship
structure
narrative elements
aesthetic effect of recitation
compilation
variant texts
Satanic verses
Atlantic Monthly
privileging fundamentalism: Newsweek
primacy of Arabic
interpretation
legal source
religious meaning

historiographic problems in reconstructing early Islamic history
dating texts; late sources reflect later interests
revisionism: Hagarism by Patricia Crone and Michael Cook, using non-Muslim sources

• distinctively Islamic tradition coalesced relatively late
• encounter with earlier traditions means Islam was "less a disruption than a continuation" of late antiquity

Islam continuous both with western Arabian context (Hejaz) and with its "ecumenic future" and absorption of Byzantine and Sasanian empires
"referential" character of Qur'an assumes knowledge of Biblical figures, invites comparative approach (example of charge that Mary is part of trinity)
relations with Judaism

• tensions with Jewish tribes in Medina
• change of qibla prayer direction
• "Constitution of Medina" recognizing right of Jewish religion
• complex relations with Jewish practice and tradition

Avoiding older Orientalist prejudices (i.e., Islam as "borrowing" from Judaism/Christianity, racial notion of Islam as nomadic)
persistence of Arab tribal custom, political alignments, social status, combined with universalist moral vision