Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Professor Hired for Outreach to Muslims Delivers a Jolt (claims Muhammad never existed)
Wall Street Journal ^ | November 15, 2008 | Andrew Higgins

Posted on 11/15/2008 6:15:53 AM PST by reaganaut1

MÜNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.

"We had no idea he would have ideas like this," says Thomas Bauer, a fellow academic at Münster University who sat on a committee that appointed Prof. Kalisch. "I'm a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and I'm not a Muslim."

...

Prof. Kalisch, who insists he's still a Muslim, says he knew he would get in trouble but wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism. German scholars of the 19th century, he notes, were among the first to raise questions about the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Many scholars of Islam question the accuracy of ancient sources on Muhammad's life. The earliest biography, of which no copies survive, dated from roughly a century after the generally accepted year of his death, 632, and is known only by references to it in much later texts. But only a few scholars have doubted Muhammad's existence. Most say his life is better documented than that of Jesus.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Germany; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; islam; muhammad
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last
I don't know if Muhammad existed. I just wish he had never existed.
1 posted on 11/15/2008 6:15:53 AM PST by reaganaut1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

I’ll put the over under on this profs remaining lifespan at one week.


2 posted on 11/15/2008 6:18:55 AM PST by DemonDeac
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Heh. :)


3 posted on 11/15/2008 6:19:38 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
It would be a far far better world if he had died at birth,
or if the woman that spawned him had drowned him like the rat he was to become.
4 posted on 11/15/2008 6:20:02 AM PST by trickyricky
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism... Well, he may have just succeeded in subjecting his neck to the same knife as others before him.
5 posted on 11/15/2008 6:21:51 AM PST by C210N (The television has mounted the most serious assault on Republicanism since Das Kapital.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

“There must be a free discussion of Islam,” [Kalisch] says.

Ain’t gonna happen, Kalisch. And you’ll probably be killed for daring to say that aloud.


6 posted on 11/15/2008 6:31:26 AM PST by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

This guy may want to update his life insurance policy.


7 posted on 11/15/2008 6:33:24 AM PST by nvcdl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
Just the good professor's way of asking the USA for asylum ???

Germany is such a boring country.

8 posted on 11/15/2008 6:38:51 AM PST by xtinct (Any man may easily do harm, but not every man can do good to another. Plato)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: trisham

If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s probably the Prophet Muhammad.


9 posted on 11/15/2008 6:42:05 AM PST by Zman (Liberals: denying reality since Day One.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Zman

:)


10 posted on 11/15/2008 6:43:27 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
"Prof. Kalisch,... wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism."

This is what Islam needs. That there never has been any serious questioning about what it fundamentally means to be Muslim allows radicals to make interpretations which support terrorism. The Renaissance in Islam was cut short and there never was anything like a Reformation or an Enlightenment that shaped Christianity

11 posted on 11/15/2008 6:48:23 AM PST by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1
Muhammad didnt exist and Buttocks Obama is not an American citizen..
WHoo Wee... next they'll be telling me.. Jimmy Carter is not a retarded cretin..
-OR- that George Bush made it possible for the Obamanation to moon the United States..
-OR- that Obama's cabinet would become a rogues gallery..
12 posted on 11/15/2008 6:50:01 AM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Great RJ
"Prof. Kalisch,... wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism."

But I have a feeling that Islam will subject Prof. Kalish to the same "scrutiny" as Christians and Jews.

13 posted on 11/15/2008 6:52:06 AM PST by ovrtaxt (It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it. ~Henry Allen)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

If Mad Mo never lived then who cobbled together their phony “holy” book?


14 posted on 11/15/2008 6:56:01 AM PST by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

THE BIBLE AND THE QUR’AN
AN HISTORICAL COMPARISON

Introduction
Manuscript Evidence
The Qur’an
The Bible
Documentary Evidence
The Qur’an
The Bible
Archeological Evidence
The Qur’an
The Bible
Conclusion
References Cited
Overview
http://debate.org.uk/topics/history/bib-qur/contents.htm


15 posted on 11/15/2008 7:00:20 AM PST by anglian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

He’s in over his head, and will be cut down to size.


16 posted on 11/15/2008 7:02:16 AM PST by Leisler ("Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever. " Lenin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Nov 5, 2008
MI GOP Chairman Comments on Election Day Results

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis today commented on the results of the 2008 General Election, offering thanks to the thousands of GOP volunteers who worked tirelessly to support candidates and turnout voters to the polls.
Michigan GOP Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis:

“Michigan Republicans made a valiant effort to fend off a national ‘anti-Republican’ tsunami. I can’t say strongly enough how proud I am of the individual efforts by so many of our Republican grass-root supporters. As I traveled the state this last week on our ‘Fight to the Finish Tour,’ there was story after story of creative door-to-door blitzes, localized calling rallies, and candidates fighting hard against long odds. Michigan Republicans rallied as a team to fight to the finish, regardless of what pundits and others said or did.

“While others gave up on us, Michigan Republicans never gave up. Thousands of volunteers came out in the final weeks to fight for our values and our beliefs. It is my fervent belief that we are the right party with the right ideas. I do not believe these results indicate a repudiation of those ideas. Unfortunately, America lost faith in our ability to deliver on those ideas. In this environment, there was very little to be done on a state or local level to ride out the storm.

“Our challenge going forward is to renew the faith of the American people in our party. We are the party that represents the best hopes of America. Unfortunately, some of our elected leaders broke faith with the American people, on so many of our Republican core issues, that Republicans lost the ability to appeal to middle class families. On issues of national security, spending, taxes, and values, too many Republicans have not kept their promise to America. But by returning to those fundamentals, we can once again be a majority party. It is more then just tactics and mechanics. It is about believing in and living your principles.

“I believe that when our party once again adheres to our core values and beliefs, and can again demonstrate to America that we can be trusted on those issues, we will make a comeback – stronger than ever.”


17 posted on 11/15/2008 7:06:29 AM PST by stocksthatgoup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

Well shoot Calypso Lewie saw him in the mother ship.


18 posted on 11/15/2008 7:17:32 AM PST by boomop1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reaganaut1

evil exists. He may not have been any more then a child molester while meeting then marrying a nine year old girl that later killed him for his evil. But, history has him going from town to town and being thrown out of each town by it people because of his evil.


19 posted on 11/15/2008 7:18:46 AM PST by edcoil (Looking for a new tagline - do you have one I can use?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stocksthatgoup

A little off topic, don’t you agree?


20 posted on 11/15/2008 7:23:05 AM PST by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson