Literature

Dear All,

I am not Muslim and do not know much about Islam, so please excuse me if the questions below are naiive, stupid or offensive. I certainly do not mean them to be.

As with the Bible, I'm sure there are many translations of the Koran that differ between them substantially. This problem together with the likelihood of certain statements being ambigious to some readers begs the question of what precisely is the Koran?

Supposing this is settled, I am under the impression that there is also a body of literature outside of the Koran that is very important to Islam. I do not know the title but I believe it is speeches by or life-stories of Muhammed. Is there agreement on this body of writing? Is is available (can someone send a web link to the document for example)? To what extent does it relativize the Koran or vice-versa?

Like Christianity, Islam is split into various groups. Do they disagree on scripture (like Apocrypha in Christianity) or are the differences based only on ritual, behaviour and such matters? Do, for example, the Sufis have additional religious works?

I would be very interested if someone could point me to a few scholarly books or websites where I could read the contents of the holy books of Islam as well as see them put into historical, sociological and religious perspective.

Thank you very much. Best,
Patrick Tweet