Note 309 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
It is related by Ibn Isḥáq (Ṭabarí, i, 1192, 4 sqq.). In his learned work, Annali dell' Islam, of which the first volume appeared in 1905, Prince Caetani impugns the authenticity of the tradition and criticises the narrative in detail (p. 279 sqq.), but his arguments do not touch the main question. As Muir says, "it is hardly possible to conceive how the tale, if not founded in truth, could ever have been invented."