> So punitive, indeed, that some Muslim scholars - who are generally most reluctant to countenance the possibility that the earliest biography of their prophet might be unreliable - have gone so far as to question its veracity.<p>This is dishonest. If the author knew anything about how Islamic texts are analyzed, he would not have made this statement.<p>The fact is, there is a general consensus that this story is fabricated. When analyzing any Islamic text, the first thing to look at is the chain of narrators who relayed the incident. This is the first step when classifying a text as (Sahih -- sound, Hasan -- good , Da'eef -- weak, Mawdoo' -- fabricated, and more). Further steps follow.<p>In this particular case, the chain of narrators contains known fabricators and liars. As such, this narration is classified as fabricated, and carries absolutely no weight.