The Life of Muhammad is a set of key articles which deal with various aspects of the life of Muhammad: the Muslim authors of Muhammad’s biography, the major events in his life, the development of the idealised image of Muhammad, and the image of Muhammad in the eyes of early medieval non-Muslim writers. The articles are preceded by an introduction reviewing major trends in the scholarly research.

Contents: Introduction; Authors of Muhammad’s Biography: ’Maghazi’ and ’Sira’ in early Islamic scholarship, Martin Hinds; Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi: the dream of Atika and the raid to Nakhla in relation to the charge of plagiarism, J. M. B. Jones; Waqidi’s account on the status of the Jews of Medina: a study of a combined report, Michael Lecker; Events in the Life of Muhammad: Abraha and Muhammad: some observations apropos of chronology and literary topoi in the early Arabic historical tradition, Lawrence I. Conrad; The sons of Khadija, M. J. Kister; The first Muslims in Mecca: a social basis for a new religion?, Miklos Muranyi; The meetings at al-’Akaba, Gertrud Mélamède; The sunnah jami’ah, pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the tahrim of Yathrib: analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called ’Constitution of Medina’, R. B. Serjeant; The chronology of the Maghazi - a textual survey, J. M. B. Jones; Al-Hudaybiya: an alternative version, Furrukh B. Ali; Al-Hudaybiya and the conquest of Mecca: a reconsideration of the tradition about the Muslim takeover of the sanctuary, G. R. Hawting; The Idealised Muhammad: The growth of the Mohammad legend, Josef Horovitz; Jerusalem in the story of Muhammad’s night journey and the ascension, Heribert Busse; Muhammed and the prophets, A.J. Wensinck; Muhammad and Christian Apologies: The prophet Muhammad: his scripture and his message according to the Christian apologies in Arabic and Syriac from the first abbasid century, Sidney H. Griffith; Index.