Remembering Muhammad

In Islamic tradition Muḥammad is remembered as the proper name of the Prophet, even if various ḥadīth include muḥammad ("the praised-one") in a list of his honorary epithets. These traditions, however, led Aloys Sprenger to speculate in the nineteenth century that Muḥammad was not the Prophet's birth name at all, but rather a messianic title that he took in Medina in the hopes of winning Jewish support. Over the next several decades a lively debate took place over this question in German scholarship. In the present article I revisit this debate and then turn to more recent publications, especially those from the newly formed scholarly group Inarah, which argue on historical and theological grounds that the name Muhammad is symbolic. Ultimately I contend that this matter is best addressed instead in the light of the Qurʾān's onomastica.