Revisionist school of Islamic studies
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The Revisionist school of Islamic studies, (also Historical-Critical school of Islamic studies) is a movement within Islamic studies which started in the 1970s and initiated a paradigm shift in Islamic Studies.
Main thesis and the concept of Revisionism
The core concern of the Revisionist School is to finally show consequence concerning the knowledge, practically available since Ignác Goldziher's time, that the traditional Islamic accounts about Islam's early times - written 150 to 200 years after Muhammad - are highly questionable as historical sources. This relates to Muhammad's biography, the formation history of the Quran, and the historical developments under the first Islamic dynasty, the Umayyad Caliphate. The true historical events in the earliest times of Islam have to be newly researched and reconstructed by applying the historical-critical method.
The designation Revisionism was coined first by the opponents of the new academic movement and is used by them partially still today with a dismissive undertone. Then, the media took up this designation in order to call the new movement with a concise catchword. Today, also the adherents of the new movement use Revisionism to designate themselves, yet mostly written in quotation marks and with a slightly self-mocking undertone.
See also
