Dr. Farhang Mehr's research on Prophet Mohammad and Persian Gulf

Dr. Farhang Mehr, the author of many books on Iran has written that Prophet Mohammad had called the Persian Gulf the Bahre Farsi.
Below is the statement extracted from the book titled :A Colonial Legacy, by Farhang Mehr, Chapter 1 (Iran: A historical Overview), pages 19-22.

Claudius Ptolemaeus, the celebrated Greco-Egyptian mathematician/astronomer in the second century, called it "Persicus Sinus" or Persian Gulf. In the first century AD, Quintus Curticus Rufus, the Roman historian, designated it "Aquarius Persico" -- the Persian Sea. Another Greek historian Flavius Arrianus called it "Perscionkaitas" -- Persian Gulf. Strabo, the renown Greek geographer/historian in the fifth century AD used the same denomination.

During the Sassanian Dynasty, The Persian Gulf was invariably called the "Persian Sea". After the Arabian conquest of Iran, for eight centuries the Persian Gulf was called "Bahre Farsi", meaning Persian Sea. This was the term used during the time of the prophet Mohammad and the four Right Guided Caliphs, which constitutes a "Sunna". The designation of "Persian Gulf" was also used during the Umayyads and the Abbasids. The Ottomans regularly called it either "Persian Gulf" or "Persian Sea". (1)

The leading historians and geographers, both Arabs and Persians, who wrote mostly in Arabic from 9th to the 17th century AD have used the term "Bahre Farsi" or "Khalij Pars" for the Persian Gulf. (2)

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(1) Given the Sunna, one may question the permissibility of any change in the name of the "Persian Gulf" as it would constitute an innovation or Bed'a which is Hara'm.

(2) The most notable names are stated on Dr. Mehr's book on pages 20-21 with extensive references.