Historicity of Muhammad

The historicity of Muhammad refers to the study of Muhammad as a historical figure and critical examination of sources upon which traditional accounts (the Quran, sīrah, hadith especially) are based.

The majority of classical scholars believe Muhammad existed as a historical figure.^[1] The earliest Muslim source of information for the life of Muhammad, the Quran, gives very little personal information and its historicity is debated.^[2][3] Prophetic biography, known as sīra, along with attributed records of the words, actions, and the silent approval of Muhammad, known as hadith, survive in the historical works of writers from the second and third centuries of the Muslim era (c. 700−1000 CE),^[4][5] and give a great deal of information on Muhammad, but the reliability of this information is very much debated in some academic circles. In addition there are a relatively small number of contemporaneous or near-contemporaneous non-Muslim sources which attest to the existence of Muhammad and are valuable both in themselves and for comparison with Muslim sources.^[3]

Despite any difficulties with the biographical sources, scholars generally see valuable historical information about Muhammad therein and suggest that what is needed are methods to be able to sort out the likely from the unlikely.^[6] However, in practice determining what elements of early narratives about Muhammad's life are likely to be true and which are not is extremely difficult.^[7]