Richard Martin’s helpful list reminds me to mention that a chapter on the Hadith by Robert Price is also in Sources of the Jesus Tradition (pp. 109ff.; endnotes pp. 277ff.), although he is mainly using it as a comparand for Jesus tradition, he also cites Islamic scholarship in his endnotes that can be useful.

I’ve noted the same thing in my primary field, ancient science and technology: several books are practically required reading that are only available in German. For example, Peter Rosumek’s Technischer Fortschritt und Rationalisierung im antiken Bergbau (1982) and Astrid Schürmann’s Griechische Mechanik und antike Gesellschaft: Studien zur staatlichen Förderung einer technischen Wissenschaft (1991). Translation, especially of technical works, is very expensive and not at all profitable, so that’s probably why. There would have to be an educational charity that just does that, with no expectation of return. Otherwise, great work is going to be lost to the English speaking world.

I, for one, rather like (and find compelling) the Christ Myth idea and can’t wait to read your contribution to the subject.

Check out “Did Muhammad Exist?” by Robert Spencer: http://www.amazon.com/Did-Muhammad-Exist-Inquiry-Obscure/dp/161017061X/ref=la_B001JPACI0_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1357343716&sr=1-2

I think he’s a Christian with an ax to grind against Islam, but he basically questions the existence of Muhammad. I read it last summer and it seems to be based on academic scholarship. In particular, it is interesting to see how the hadiths, the traditional commentaries and attributions to Muhammad are basically all made up by interested parties. This is the basis for most of the standard ‘history’ of Muhammad. The bibliography and references in that book also would be a good place to start one’s own research. There is also a German scholar of Syro-Aramaic who writes under the pseudonym of Christoph Luxenberg.

You could also check out “In the Shadow of the Sword” by Tom Holland: http://www.amazon.com/In-Shadow-Sword-Global-Empire/dp/0385531354/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

He’s a historian of antiquity and he goes into a considerable amount of detail about the fall of the Roman Empire and the transition to the Islamic Empire. He takes the existence of Muhammad seriously but not much else that is traditionally attributed to him, so it’s fairly skeptical in that regard.

I also recommend “The Faith Instinct” by Nicholas Wade: http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Instinct-Religion-Evolved-Endures/dp/B003B3NVZY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357344269&sr=1-1&keywords=the+faith+instinct

He has some discussion on the birth of Islam based on Luxenberg and others.

Hope that helps.

Richard Martin

Thank you for the quick answer, I will look into all of it once I find the time. In german, I found the books by Hamed Abd-el Samad to be most interesting. I can’t find any infos on english translations though. It’s too bad really, I honestly think there are alot of german language books that would deserve a proper outing in the english speaking world, like books by Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Karl-Heinz Deschner, Hans Albert and the like.

I’m not the one to ask. But Heina Dadabhoy is writing an “Islam 101” book for skeptics that might provide guidance. I’ll blog it when it’s out.

Meanwhile, the Secular Web has a booklist and additional articles. Ibn Warraq is the best known skeptical author on Islamic history. But I don’t know the quality of his work.

Yay!

Will a book by him on this be any good? No idea. But his recently bizarre behavior is not encouraging on that point.

As to the points in that blog, there is no argument there. He just says what he thinks is true about Jesus. He doesn’t say why or by what method he could confirm any of it or how his theory explains the evidence in the Epistles or why his view is any better than any of the dozens of other contradictory conclusions historians have come to. In short, it simply ignores the whole point I make in chapter 1 of Proving History. Presumably in a book he would fill in those blanks. But I can’t evaluate a book that doesn’t yet exist.

And welcome all to the new year! We all survived the collision with Nibiru, I think partly due to the galactic realignment canceling it out. Or it hit Jesus on his way to kill us. Two birds, you know. Anyway, whew. That was a close one.

Actually the Doctor dit it. He saved us.

http://stupidevilbastard.com/2012/12/a-plan-for-december-22nd/