ABSTRACT
I SHOULD like to present some ideas on what, I think, is a necessary revaluation of Islamic traditions in the light of our
present knowledge ; hut am at a loss whether to call my conclusions something new and unprecedented, or something old and wellknown. No one could have been more surprised than I was by the results which the evidence of the texts has forced upon me during the last ten years or so ; hut Jooking back I cannot see what other result could possi_bly be consistent with the very foundations of our historical and critical study of the first two or three centuries of Islam. One of these foundations, I may take it for granted, is Goldziher's discovery that the traditions from the Prophet and from his Companions do not contain more or less authentic information on the earliest period of Islam to which they claim to belong, hut reflect opinions held during the first two and a half centuries after the hijra.
