The Medieval Church · c. 9th century
The Legend of Bahira
Anonymous
What it is
The monk who recognised the boy Muhammad, retold from the Christian side: here he is a Christian ascetic who taught the Arab prophet what he knew, saw his teaching corrupted after his death, and foretold the whole history of Islamic rule before dying.
Why it lasted
The most widely told Christian counter-narrative about the origins of Islam, taken from Ibn Ishaq's own story and inverted. It reached Latin Europe by the twelfth century and shaped Western polemic straight through to the Reformation.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next