Religion without Religion: Integrating Islamic Origins into Religious Studies.

RELIGIOUS studies; ORIGIN of Islam; ISLAMIC studies; HISTORY of Islam; GROUP identity; MUSLIMS; ORIENTALISM

This article makes a case as to why the topic of Islamic origins, long ignored in religious studies on account of its Orientalist pedigree, ought to be revisited. Rather than reverting back to Orientalism, however, it argues that a more appropriate model for understanding Islamic origins is one that is aware of the fluidity of religious and social identity in late antiquity. Rather than simply reading later Islamic sources back onto the emergence of Islam, it is important to examine late antique sources responsible for the complexity of all identity formations (not only Muslim) in sixth-century Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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