Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Enigmas, riddles, miracles and mysteries

Books, Inq. — The Epilogue: Enigmas, riddles, miracles and mysteries
Excerpt:
… contrary to Ernest Renan’s claim that “Islam was born … in the clear light of history,” Holland informs us that absolutely zero eyewitness accounts of the prophet’s life or of the early Islamic conquests survive. The oldest biography of Muhammad in our possession dates to nearly two centuries after his death. It is more or less as if historians were only today sitting down to write the first histories of the American Revolution....