New Approaches to Islam's Formation: An Arabic Papyrus from the Early Islamic Period

Fred M. Donner

Fred M. Donner, professor of early Islamic history, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago. The birth of Islam is a popular and controversial subject. Donner reviews the leading arguments about Islam's origins and examines a newly identified early Arabic papyrus and its implications for our understanding of the world in which Islam began.