John Wansbrough

John Edward Wansbrough (February 19, 1928 – June 10, 2002) was an American historian who taught at the University of London 's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Wansbrough's emphasis was on the critique of traditional accounts of the origins of Islam. Born in Peoria, Illinois , Wansbrough completed his studies at Harvard University , and spent the rest of his academic career at SOAS. He caused a furor in the 1970s when his research on early Islamic manuscripts, including the analysis of the repeated use of monotheistic Judeo-Christian imagery found in the Qur'an led him to posit that the rise of Islam was a mutation of what was originally a Judeo-Christian sect trying to spread in Arab lands, rather than by simple cultural diffusion . As time evolved the Judeo-Christian scriptures were adapted to an Arab perspective and mutated into what became the Qur'an which was developed over centuries with contributions from various Arab tribal sources. Wansbrough's research suggests that a great deal of the traditional history of Islam appeared to be a fabrication of later generations seeking to forge and justify a unique religious identity. Within this context, the character of Muhammad could be seen as a manufactured myth created to provide the Arab tribes with their own Arab version of the Judeo-Christian prophets.

John Edward Wansbrough (February 19, 1928 – June 10, 2002) was an American historian who taught at the University of London 's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he was vice chancellor from 1985 to 1992. Wansbrough is credited with founded the so-called "revisionist" school of Islamic Studies through his fundamental criticism of the historical credibility of the classical Islamic narratives concerning Islam's beginnings and his attempt to develop an alternative, historically more credible version of Islam's beginnings. He argued the Quran was written and collected in a over a 200 year period, and should be dated not from the 1st-century Hijaz , Western Arabia, but from the 2nd/3rd century AH in Abbasid Iraq.

American historian and professor (1928–2002) John Edward Wansbrough (February 19, 1928 – June 10, 2002) was an American historian and professor who taught at the University of London 's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he was vice chancellor from 1985 to 1992. Wansbrough is credited with founding the so-called Revisionist school of Islamic studies through his fundamental criticism of the historical credibility of the Quran and other early Islamic texts , especially regarding the classical Islamic narratives concerning the early history of Islam and his attempt to develop an alternative, historically more credible version of Islam's beginnings. He argued in general for a methodological skepticism of the authorship of early Islamic sources, and most famously that the Quran was written and collected over a 200-year period, and should be dated not from the 1st-century Hijaz , Western Arabia, but from the 2nd/3rd century AH in Abbasid Iraq.

American historian and professor (1928–2002) John Edward Wansbrough (February 19, 1928 – June 10, 2002) was an American historian of Islamic origins and Quranic studies and professor who taught at the University of London 's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he was vice chancellor from 1985 to 1992. Wansbrough is credited with founding the revisionist school of Islamic studies through his fundamental criticism of the historical credibility of the Quran and other early Islamic texts , especially regarding the classical Islamic narratives concerning the early history of Islam and his attempt to develop an alternative, historically more credible version of Islam's beginnings. He argued in general for a methodological skepticism of the authorship of early Islamic sources, and most famously that the Quran was written and collected over a 200-year period, and should be dated not from the 1st-century AH Hijaz of Western Arabia, but from the 2nd/3rd century AH in Abbasid Iraq.