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Abstract: Abstract: One the earliest non-Islamic testimonies to the existence of the Prophet Muḥammad can be found within the Byzantine apologetic tract known as the Doctrina Iacobi nuper baptizati. Frequently dated by modern historians to as early as July 634 CE, the tract curiously asserts that the prophet who had appeared “among the Saracens” claimed to possess “the keys to paradise.” This essay investigates this claim and the prevalence of the “keys to paradise” motif in late-antique Christian literature and the early Islamic tradition to provide a new evaluation of the text’s place in and importance to the historiography of Islamic origins.
: Muḥammad; keys to paradise; Byzantium; Carthage; Palestine; Jews; Saracens; baptism; interreligious polemic
Published Online: 2014-11-1
Published in Print: 2014-11-1
© De Gruyter 2014
