Did the Prophet Muhammad Really Exist? This Is Robert Spencer’s Shocking Answer

The Blaze ^ | 05/05/2012 | Billy Hallowell

[SeekAndFind]

Did the Prophet Muhammad really exist? This question, which may seem bizarre on the surface, is at the root of a new book by Robert Spencer, a prominent author and the director of Jihad Watch. Spencer, a figure who is praised by his fans and loathed by his detractors, has written numerous books on Islam.

Earlier this week, The Blaze spoke with the expert about his controversial, new book, “Did Muhammad Exist?” As can be derived from the title, the text delves into some uncomfortable subject matter, as Spencer examines the historical documentation surrounding the Muslim prophet.

The book’s official description perfectly encapsulates its central tenets:

Did Muhammad exist?

It is a question that few have thought—or dared—to ask. Virtually everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, takes for granted that the prophet of Islam lived and led in seventh-century Arabia. But this widely accepted story begins to crumble on close examination, as Robert Spencer shows in his eye-opening new book.

In his blockbuster bestseller The Truth about Muhammad, Spencer revealed the shocking contents of the earliest Islamic biographical material about the prophet of Islam.

Now, in Did Muhammad Exist?, he uncovers that material’s surprisingly shaky historical foundations. Spencer meticulously examines historical records, archaeological findings, and pioneering new scholarship to reconstruct what we can know about Muhammad, the Qur’an, and the early days of Islam. The evidence he presents challenges the most fundamental assumptions about Islam’s origins.

The premise of the book is that Islam — like Judaism and Christianity –deserves to be scrutinized and appropriately examined. Spencer maintains that Islam, unlike the other massive faith systems, has never truly been given the academic attention and examination it deserves. Like Christianity, he maintains that the faith is one that “deserve[s] historical scrutiny.”

[gov_bean_ counter]

Bump.

[dragonblustar]

mooslims head pop in 3...2....1...

[dfwgator]

Hope this guy has his life insurance and Will updated.

[2banana]

Did the child rapist, mass murderer, slave trader, liar and thief actually exist?

[Michael.SF.]

Maybe Spencer and Salman Rushdie should become room mates. Think how much they can save on security costs

[PIF]

There are some coins which suggest what we call Islam is far older.

[GeronL]

I think he did exist. He was a warlord pedophile and he created a so-called “faith” to support it.

[MeshugeMikey]

[SeekAndFind]

Did the child rapist, mass murderer, slave trader, liar and thief actually exist?

These are just a few of the weaknesses in the traditional account of Muhammad's life and the early days of Islam:

• No record of Muhammad's reported death in 632 appears until more than a century after that date.
• The early accounts written by the people the Arabs conquered never mention Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an.  They call the conquerors "Ishmaelites," "Saracens," "Muhajirun," and "Hagarians," but never "Muslims."
• The Arab conquerors, in their coins and inscriptions, don't mention Islam or the Qur'an for the first six decades of their conquests.  Mentions of "Muhammad" are non-specific and on at least two occasions are accompanied by a cross.  The word can be used not only as a proper name, but also as an honorific.
• The Qur'an, even by the canonical Muslim account, was not distributed in its present form until the 650s.  Casting into serious doubt that standard account is the fact that neither the Arabians nor the Christians and Jews in the region mention its existence until the early eighth century.
• We don't begin to hear about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and about Islam itself until the 690s, during the reign of the caliph Abd al-Malik.  Coins and inscriptions reflecting Islamic beliefs begin to appear at this time also.
• In the middle of the eighth century, the Abbasid dynasty supplanted the Umayyad line of Abd al-Malik.  In the Abbasid period, biographical material about Muhammad began to proliferate.  The first complete biography of the prophet of Islam finally appeared during this era-at least 125 years after the traditional date of his death.

The lack of confirming detail in the historical record, the late development of biographical material about the Islamic prophet, the atmosphere of political and religious factionalism in which that material developed, and much more, suggest that the Muhammad of Islamic tradition did not exist, or if he did, he was substantially different from how that tradition portrays him.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Who? Him?

[right way right]

Satan does exist.
If Muhamhead is a lie that fits his M.O.perfect.

You have to admire and agree with this quote from the guy:

“I’ve gotten so many death threats over so many years…what’s a few more?,” he said. “If somebody wants to do violence to me because of this book, then in a certain sense it validates what I’ve been saying about Islamic texts for years.”

[E. Pluribus Unum]

http://prophetofdoom.net/

[WayneS]

Wow.

He’s going to have hundreds of them ‘fat wads’ issued against him...

[GeronL]

bump

[Vermont Lt]

Is this “way back machine” day? This is the second story in a row this afternoon that is a couple of years old.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk

[wtd]

re:

"... early accounts written by the people the Arabs conquered never mention Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an. They call the conquerors "Ishmaelites," "Saracens," "Muhajirun," and "Hagarians," but never "Muslims."- SeekandFind

What would historians say when examining current records expunged of any negative reference to Islam? Today, we are limited to identifying muhammedan terrorists as al qaeda, boko haram, hezbollah, hamas, etc.

As to whether muhammed ever really existed, does it really matter? The influence of record - contrived or not - has demonstrated generations of adherents to this blood thirsty cult will emulate the alleged prophet, the perfect example in word and deed - uswa hasana, al insan al kamil - for eternity.

The Easter Bunny doesn't exist, but every year children enjoy the contrived traditions of Easter.

[research99]

It’s been done with the Koran.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Syro-Aramaic_Reading_of_the_Koran

http://www.amazon.com/The-Syro-Aramaic-Reading-Koran-Contribution/dp/3899300882/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412972630&sr=8-1&keywords=syro-aramaic+koran

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Is this “way back machine” day? This is the second story in a row this afternoon that is a couple of years old.

History is history. What’s a two year old article in the scheme of 1500 years?