Still in its infancy because of the overly conservative views and methods assumed by the
majority of scholars working in it since the mid-19th century the field of early Islamic and
quranic studies is one in which the very basic questions must nowadays be addressed with
decision. Accordingly this book tries to resituate the Qur'¿n at the crossroads of the
conversations of old to which its parabiblical narratives witness and explores how Muhammad¿s
image ¿ which was apparently modelled after that of the anonymous prophet repeatedly alluded to
in the Qur'¿n ¿ originally matched that of other prophets and or charismatic figures
distinctive in the late-antique sectarian milieu out of which Islam gradually emerged. Moreover
it contends that the Quranic Noah narratives provide a first-hand window into the making of
Muhammad as an eschatological prophet and further examines their form content purpose and
sources as a means of deciphering the scribal and intertextual nature of the Qur'¿n as well as
the Jewish-Christian background of the messianic controversy that gave birth to the new Arab
religion. The previously neglected view that Muhammad was once tentatively thought of as a new
Messiah challenges our common understanding of Islam¿s origins.
