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A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s The seeds of this study were sown many years ago largely through conversations that I had with John Lamoreaux concerning differences in the study of early Christianity and early Islam. It was in this context that John first introduced me to the astonishing conclusions of Hagarism, and from the very beginning John has been an important dialogue partner as the ideas for this study developed, answering numerous questions and providing helpful advice along the way. Although it was initially my intent to write just a brief article on the divergences regarding the end of Muhammad’s life in Islamic and non-Islamic sources, the original manuscript quickly grew well beyond any reasonable size for an article. At this stage John and a number of others, including Averil Cameron, Patricia Crone, Stephen Gerö, Michael Penn, and Larry Conrad, read through the manuscript and offered comments on what was good, what not so good, and how I might advance the work further. Although each of these early readers will no doubt find much in this book that they continue to disagree with, their advice was essential for developing the project. I also thank Elizabeth Clark, Robert Gregg, Lucas von Rompay, David Brakke, Gerald Hawting, Sidney Griffith, Annette Reed, Michael Pregill, Rina Avner, Benjamin Wold, Timothy Sailors, Ronald Heine, Scott Johnson, Andrew Jacobs, Stephen Davis, and Bert Harrill in particular for their help, advice, and criticism on specific points. I especially thank David Powers for generously sharing important chapters from his recent book, Muḥammad Is Not the Father of Any of Your Men, prior to its publication. Likewise, I would add thanks to my colleagues in Medieval Studies at the University of Oregon, many of whom offered helpful feedback and advice in response to a “work in progress” talk. I also thank my colleague Deborah Green, especially for her occasional assistance with Hebrew, as well as Daniel Falk, Judith Baskin, Rick Colby, and David Hollenberg for answering a variety of questions and offering helpful suggestions and encouragement. Portions of this study were 408 Acknow ledgments presented in lectures at the Society of Biblical Literature, the North American Patristics Society, Duke University, and the University of Minnesota, and I thank those in attendance for their helpful comments and questions. I would especially like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for supporting the initial work on this study through a Summer Research Award in 2004, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation , the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for their financial support of this project through research fellowships during the years 2006–8. In conjunction with the von Humboldt fellowship, I would additionally thank the Orientalisches Seminar at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and Stephen Gerö for serving as my hosts in 2006–7. I am most grateful to the editors of the Divinations series at the University of Pennsylvania Press, Daniel Boyarin, Virginia Burrus, and especially Derek Krueger, as well as to Jerry Singerman, both for their interest in this book and for their support and encouragement through the publishing process . Thanks as well to Caroline Winschel, Erica Ginsburg, and Sandra Haviland at Penn Press for their help in shepherding this manuscript through to publication. I also express my appreciation to those who served as anonymous readers for their often helpful comments on the manuscript. My greatest debt, however, is to Melissa, who continued to believe in this project even at times when I myself began to doubt. For her friendship and love, support and encouragement, kindness and humor, and patience and understanding I am profoundly grateful. I dedicate this book to her. ...

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