Discuss the emergence of Islam in its historical context. How might this be different to the traditional narrative? Custom Essay

Sources which should be used:
Traditional account:
Martin Lings, Muhammad
http://www.alfateh.gov.bh/pdffile/muhammad_martin_Lings.pdf
Historical account:
Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/crone.asp
Muslim source:
Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad (trans., A. Guillaume)
http://www.radicaltruth.net/uploads/pubs/Guillaume–Life%20of%20Muhammad.pdf

Additional Information
Instructions:
Students must use at least 3 relevant scholarly sources in response to the
question. Student essay must reflect a critical analysis and argumentative
discussion of the material.

Students are required to use the APA or Chicago (footnotes or endnotes) style referencing.

Marking Criteria:
? Clear writing and well-structured paragraphs;
? Clarity of ideas and expression;
? Sophisticated and detailed engagement with the primary and secondary texts selected;
? A well-developed and comprehensive argument supported by quotations
from the primary and secondary texts;
? Evidence of secondary reading and research supported by well-integrated
and relevant quotations from secondary resources;
? Breadth of knowledge across the unit, particularly of the unit?s key themes, topics, and cultural/social/historical contexts;
? Sophisticated and detailed close readings of the relevant sources;
? A solid command of the academic conventions of writing and
presentation, including full referencing and bibliography.

Recommended Consulting Texts:
Primary:Guillaume, A 1955, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq?s Sirat Rasul
Allah, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Secondary:
Guillaume, A 1954, Islam, Pelican Books. Silverstein, A.J 2010, Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cook, M.A 2004, Studies in the origins of early Islamic culture and tradition, Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum.

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN:
1. The way to answer this question, you must first outline the history of the origins of Islam using available & recommended scholarship on the subject.
a) Your task would be to examine these histories presented by the different scholars.
2. The second part of the question ask you to discuss your findings in relation to the traditional narrative.
a) the traditional narrative is typically a glorified account and not a strict historical account. The reason being is that the traditional narrative speaks from

within the tradition, as it depends on in-house memory (i.e., group or cultural memory), and its biased in representation of past events where the Islamic faith or key

figures and events are concerned.
b) This does no mean that traditional narrative is wrong or false. On the one hand, it can deliberately overlook and or leave out certain details, and on the other

hand, it can offer significant information about figures, events and elements of faith that may not be accessible to a strict historical investigation.

What you have emerging is a debate to which students are required to respond regarding how one might reconstruct and understand the past.