Is There Anything Original about Islam?

Is there such thing as a true paradigm shift in history? Can events take a new course radically independent of the past? Or is such a view a naive, idealised narrative that should be constrained to the great works of fiction? This is the polarising debate among Western academics with the romantic outlook supported by Hegel and popularised by Carlyle's 1841 lecture series On Heroes and Hero Worship losing ground in the second half of the last century to the deterministic view of the social sciences, a tradition beginning with writers such as Marx. The rise of Islam is a particularly fascinating case study for both camps. A new religious tradition is formed, a civilisation born, and within one hundred years of the founder's death an empire stretching from Western Europe to the Indic plains created. This essay will examine the literature placing these events within the cultural context of the Arabian Peninsula. I will begin by outlining the challenge that faces us in such an investigation, consider the social changes of the period, examine the religious background and conclude that Islam saw itself not as a radically different religion, but the continuation of the tradition of Abraham and Moses, the most original aspect of which is the claim that the Koran is the recited word of God.…