This book serves as the preface and introductory chapters to the book "Muhammad on Trial," which examines a structural crisis of authority within Islam. The author argues that a vast post-Qur’anic archive of reports and traditions has functionally displaced the Qur’an as the religion's supreme criterion. By comparing the Muhammad of revelation with the varying portraits found in Sunni and Shi‘i sources, the text suggests that later narration often overrides revealed law and theology. The book advocates for a "revelation-first" approach, asserting that any report attributed to the Prophet must be tested against the moral and intellectual standard of the Qur’an. Ultimately, the sources call for a purification of source order to ensure that human memory does not govern divine revelation. This investigation is presented not as an attack, but as a disciplined inquiry into how religious civilizations manage truth and tradition.