Abstract
In his latest book Jacob Lassner pointed out that Geiger's book Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen? ("What did Muhammad borrow from Judaism?"), "marked a break with how Jews were prepared to discuss the life and times of Muhammad, the subsequent history of Islam, and the formation and shaping of Islamic civilisation". The article demonstrates that we perhaps should not speak about a "break", but rather, a transformation of the traditional Jewish view of Islam.
Although Geiger's book is rightly applauded as the first book about the Qur'ān written without the declared intention of disputing Muslim religious claims, he might have, as I suggest, drawn inspiration from the Jewish polemical tradition.