Replies

Did Mohammad exist? As a prophet of the Arabs who taught a vaguely defined monotheism, he may have existed. But beyond that his story is lost in the midst of legend, like Robin Hood or MacBeth. As the prophet of Islam, who received the perfect eternal book from G-d, Mohammad almost certainly did not exist. There are too many gaps, too many silences, too many aspects of the historical record that do not and cannot be made to account of the Arabian prophet teaching his Qur’an...

A careful investigation makes at least one thing clear: The details of Mohammad’s life that have been handed down as canonical are a creation of political ferments dating from long after the time he is supposed to live. Similarly the Qur’an, per historical records, did not exist until long after it was supposed to have been delivered to the prophet of Islam.

...there is compelling reason to conclude that Mohammad the messenger of Allah came into existence only after the Arab empire was firmly entrenched and casting about for a political theology to anchor and unify it. Muhammad and the Qur’an cemented the power of the Umayyad caliphate and then that of the Abbasid caliphate....And once a legend begins it takes on a life of its own. One legend begets another, people hungered to know what their prophet said and did regarding issues that vexed them. Once Mohammad was summoned, he could not be sent away. One pious legend fabricated for political purposes would lead to another and then another...until the faithful Muslims were able to fill wheelbarrows with volumes of hadiths, as is the case today.

It is unfortunate that the lack of interest in examining Islam’s origins, among Muslim and non-Muslim scholar alike, robs everyone of access to the truth.

To be sure fervent believers in Islam resist such historical investigation. Even raising the question of whether Mohammad existed challenges the very existence of their belief system.

From: From Did Mohammad Exist? by Robert Spencer.