Professor Hired for Outreach to Muslims Delivers a Jolt (claims Muhammad never existed)

Wall Street Journal ^ | November 15, 2008 | Andrew Higgins

[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.

[tbw2]

I wonder if his mother’s abandonment of him was related to that same desire.

[Pining_4_TX]

Ouch! :-)

So, this guy became a Muslim because he thought the Islamic religion is rational???? I think he’s about to change his mind... or lose his head, whichever comes first.

[Don Corleone]

The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

The hell he didn't! We just elected him POTUS!

[Enchante]

WTH???

[ridesthemiles]

Guess another country didn’t “Vet” someone before giving him a big post, did they?

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Muhammad Sven Kalisch

Welcome to Team Infidel, there's your locker, here's your uniform, suit up, you're playing left field today and batting 6th.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert.
professor of Islamic theology.
States Muhammad didn't exist.

So the guy has a history demonstrating he is nuts. That's all.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

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

These articles need to be verified, but often provide a good starting point for exploring a question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_and_development_of_the_Qur’an

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

This guy is the Muslim version of Bart Ehrman:

http://bartdehrman.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman

The Book of Bart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030401369.html

[Funee Kat]

Western civilization strikes back! Hey Muslims! That’s what you get for taking on a European theologian.

[Verginius Rufus]

There are people out there who claim that Jesus never existed--I've seen classified ads for a book which purports to prove that Josephus invented Jesus.

This has been going on for a while. The late writer John Crosby had this reaction: "If that's true, the Thirty Years' War wasn't necessary."

[SunkenCiv]

Excerpt: Muslim Academic Questions Muhammad’s Existence
Wall Street Journal | November 14, 2008 | Muhammad Kalisch
Posted on 11/15/2008 6:19:35 AM PST by reaganaut1
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2132601/posts

Germany’s First Professor of Islamic Theology - Muslim Convert:
“Prophet” Mohammed Never Existed....
weaselzippers.net | November 15, 2008 | Zip
Posted on 11/15/2008 5:26:58 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2132852/posts

-also-

Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate
Yorkshirepost | 11/12/08 | By Jeni Harvey
Posted on 11/12/2008 3:25:15 PM PST by Sammy67
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131042/posts

UK:Catholic Girl Killed by a Muslim for Dating a Muslim
Islam in Action | Nov 12Th 2008 | Christopher Logan
Posted on 11/12/2008 9:03:07 PM PST by Islaminaction
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2131273/posts

Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate (Sharia in Eurabia)
yorkshirepost | 12 November 2008
Posted on 11/13/2008 10:01:09 AM PST by Righting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131556/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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[COBOL2Java]

Salman Rushdie, meet your new roommate.

[BGHater]

A great write up by Spengler on this:
Scandal exposes Islam's weakness

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[wolfcreek]

People have said the same of Jesus. Although when speaking of prophets, I always thought of them as good people.

[AdmSmith]

This was as well discussed in September http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/2088564/posts

[DieHard the Hunter]

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

Jayson Blair, silly!