The evidence is in the Quranic verses.
37:133-138 And certainly, Lot was one of the messengers; when We saved him and all his people, except the incapable ones among those lagging (some of Lot’s people tarried); then, We “destroyed” the rest (who didn’t depart); and you (Oh! Prophet), pass by their ruins in the morning; and in the night. Do you not understand?”Patricia Crone was aware of this verse, but many “Muslims” are not.
The part where it states: “you pass by their ruins in the morning and in the night.” What about the one that states “not very far from you”? Distances in those days were a journey, but for God to say “not very far from you”(see below) implies a destination quite close, otherwise, how could the Prophet pass by morning and evening?11:89“And, O my people, let not your dispute with me drive you into what befell the people of Noah, or the people of Hud or the people of Saleh: and (note that) the people of Lot lived not very far from you!” a verse from the Quran which does give room for a lot of thought. The verse is depicted below: The picture that we get from these verses is that, as Crone has indicated, the Prophet of Arabia originated from a region in northwest Arabia. Exactly where we are not certain, but quite close to the region of the Dead Sea in what is Jordan today.
The region inhabited by Shoaib’s people extended from what is known today as the Gulf of Aqabah to the mountains of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, in the vicinity of where Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. The word biba’id, meaning “not very far” from you, is pretty relative when you think of distances in those days. The intent was that it wasn’t far. This might suggest that Prophet Muhammad (the praised one) lived in the vicinity of that region. Well, it seems to prove that Patricia Crone is on the right track.
What do we make of this verse? Are we just to ignore it and continue with our tunnel vision of what we have been “fed” with all these centuries without questioning? That would certainly not be what Allah wants us to do as rational, thinking human beings whom He created.