Revisiting the Accounts of the Political Assassinations in the Prophet’s Lifetime

Abstract

Abstract The historicity of accounts concerning the political assassinations of several rivals of the Prophet Muḥammad has recently been called into doubt on the basis of a literary analysis of these accounts. This article offers an alternative view of the historical value of these assassination narratives by scrutinizing the accounts of the killings of three Jewish rivals of the Prophet. It argues that certain details of the political assassinations in Medina and Khaybar that are found in rare accounts merit strong trust, and it questions the methodology of applying a literary approach specifically to the accounts of the assassinations, as literary devices are found in reports of nearly every episode pertaining to the Prophet’s lifetime.