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.
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"... 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.