Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that Muhammad was an inspired teacher raised up by God to teach His word. The Book of Mormon teaches: 'For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore, we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true' (Alma 29:8). In a letter written on February 15, 1978, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints declared: “Based upon ancient and modern revelation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gladly teaches and declares the Christian doctrine that all men and women are brothers and sisters, not only by blood relationship from common mortal progenitors but also as literal spirit children of an Eternal Father. The great religious leaders of the world such as Muhammad, Confucius, and the Reformers...received a portion of God's light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.... Consistent with these truths, we believe that God has given and will give to all peoples sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation, either in this life or in the life to come... Our message therefore is one of special love and concern for the eternal welfare of all men and women, regardless of religious belief, race, or nationality, knowing that we are truly brothers and sisters because we are sons and daughters of the same Eternal Father.”[1]
LDS Apostle George Q. Cannon stated: “I believe myself that Mahomed, whom the Christians deride and call a false prophet and stigmatize with a great many epithets --I believe that he was a man raised up by the Almighty, and inspired to a certain extent by Him to effect the reforms which he did in his land, and in the nations surrounding. He attacked idolatry, and restored the great and crowning idea that there is but one God. He taught that idea to his people, and reclaimed them from polytheism and from the heathenish practices into which they had fallen. I believe many men were inspired who lived after him and before him, who, nevertheless, did not have the Holy Priesthood, but were led by the Spirit of God to strive for a better condition of affairs and to live a purer and higher life than those by whom they were surrounded were living. But while this was the case, it was the Spirit of God that did it.”[2] Latter-day Saints accept all truth, wherever it may be found, as part of our religion -- whether in the Quran or in other good books.
Very good. That was what I had in mind.
Every one of those quotes is long, long way off from endorsing Muhammad as a true servant of God like you try to portray it.
We believe that God has touched and influenced many people, including the founding fathers of the USA, the Christian reformers, and others. That doesn’t mean everything they did was right or that they had any kind of divine authority. It only means that God used them to lead others forward in some way great or small.
We believe that whatever is good comes from God, He is behind each step towards the truth. Many of those steps do not end at the truth, but rather lay a foundation for further steps so that line upon line he leads people and nations from darkness to light. If you want to fault us for taking such a charitable view, it is your right, but charity never faileth.
For all it’s flaws, isn’t Islam closer to the truth than the religions the Arabs were following before Muhammad? Isn’t there in Islam a common base that Christians missionaries can build on to bring them to greater truth?
On a side note, I’ve always wondered how much of Islam is actually based on what leaders after Muhammad established, and how much of what we know of Muhammad is accurate. Not that it matters much.
It looks like Mohamad needs to return and straighten out that HEAD CHOPPING thing amoung some of his followers!