The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam

"In this book G. R. Hawting supports the view that the emergence of Islam owed more to debates and disputes among monotheists than to arguments with idolaters and polytheists. Adopting a comparative religious perspective, the author considers why modern scholarship generally has been willing to accept the traditional image of the Koranic 'associators', he discusses the way in which the idea to idolatry has been used in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and he questions the historical value of the traditional accounts of pre-Islamic Arab religion. The implications of these arguments for the way we think about the origins and nature of Islam should make this work engaging and stimulating for both students and scholars."--BOOK JACKET.

First sentence: Along with the idea that Mecca was at the centre of a major international trade route, the religious situation of the Hijazi Arabs around the beginning of the seventh century AD has frequently been used to help account for the emergence of Islam (identified with the activity of Muhammad).

Year

1999

Language

English

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Editions

1

Pages

186

ISBN

9780521028462

Data source: Wikidata