Been following Jay Smith for some time.
It looks as though Islam emerged from the Arian heresy. This was a 3rd Century doctrine, associated at that time with Arab-Christians, that Jesus was (merely) the adopted son of God. The Arian heresy rejected the Trinity and, in particular, John 1:1. I invite you to reread that verse to remind yourself of just how beautiful is our religion. Constantine, then a secular ruler, called the Council of Nicea to resolve this controversy.
Anyway, by the 8th Century, rulers from Damascus transitioned from Christian unitarians to full-blown Muslims. This was during the reign of Al-Malik. You can see this transition in the coins issued by Al-Malik. Originally, with a Christian Cross (15:19 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fqn5C6knQ), later as Muslim coins.
Muslims, you may know, destroy archeological evidence whenever they can. This is because they know, deep down, that theirs is a fake, made-up religion, which is contradicted by archeological evidence. We saw this destruction of antiquities when ISIS came in control of Ninevah. (We do not destroy archeological evidence as we have a sense that everything that is true testifies to God. But, watch out, pantheism is another heresy. There’s a difference in seeing nature as an evidence of God, and seeing God as part of everything.)
The evidence of that Islam emerged under Al-Malik and then was redacted back to the 6th Century is repressed by Muslims as on the wikipedia article on Arab coins. That article is a total lie. As long as Muslims lie about the origins of their religion, they cannot be trusted in anything.
So, who is the founder of Islam? It is Al-Malik. Was there a person named Mohammed who led the Arab conquest of the Arabian peninsula, Palestine and other parts of the near east? Maybe or maybe not. All records to a person named “Mohammed” of about that time are to persons from Iraq and such, not to a person from the Arabian peninsular.
(There are references to Mahmod, meaning the annointed one, going far back in history. But these references are often to the Messiah, that is, to Jesus.)
Some theorize it emerged from Ebionites. An early Christian sect that viewed Christ strictly as a prophet in the Jewish sense in some ways how Muslims view Mohammed. A super prophet but not the Son of God, so strict monotheists.
We do not destroy archeological evidence as we have a sense that everything that is true testifies to God
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Early Christians destroyed plenty of archeological evidence they considered pagan. Statues with noses knocked off was done by early Christians in Egypt and later copied by musselmen. There are hosts of Greek temples and statues destroyed by Christians as late as the 18th century.