SOURCE: Richard Bell, "The Beginnings of Muhammad's Religious Activity," in The Origin of Islam In Its Christian Environment, Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1926, pp. 64-99.

In the following lecture, given in 1925 and published in 1926, Richard Bell traces the development of Muhammad's religious messages. Bell maintains that while Jewish and Christian influences were a part of Arabian life and thought during Muhammad's life, there is little evidence to show that the Prophet borrowed from Biblical writings.

We turn now to Muhammad and the origin of Islam. It will not be necessary to go into any detail here with regard to the outward facts of the life of Muhammad. There are good biographies in English to which reference may be made.¹ It will be sufficient for our present purpose to recall that he was born about A.D. 570. About the year A.D. 612, when he was therefore a little over forty...