Did You Know that the Mormon Religion Was Partly Inspired By Islam?

I recently acquired a paper back version of the late Christopher Hitchen's pro-atheist book "God is not Great", printed in 1998 by Hatchette Book Group USA. I do not agree with Hitchen's atheist views, but he has some useful information on the different religions of the world. On page 190-191, Hitchens mentions that the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, saw Prophet Muhammad of Islam as his hero and role model. Smith is quoted as saying: "I shall be to this generation a new Muhammad". He is also quoted as saying "Either the Al-Koran or the Sword".

Of course, the Mormons of today are significantly different from Muslims. Mormons permit us to make fun of their holy prophet, without threatening to cut our heads off. If I decided to burn the book of Mormon, no Mormon Bishop will issue a fatwa, and declare jihad on me.

Perhaps the problem with Islam is not with the religion, but the fact that Arabs were a backward barbarian culture before and after they became Muslims. Arabs were a violent and war-like people before they became Muslims, and they killed each other off in large numbers. That makes them similar to war-like tribes like the Apache Indians of America, and the Vikings of Northern Europe. Islam simply became an excuse for Arabs to wage war on non-Arabs. America should focus more on trying to civilize Arab culture, rather than get rid of Islam.

“I Will Be a Second Mohammed”

In the heat of the Missouri “Mormon War” of 1838, Joseph Smith made the following claim, “I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ”[1]

It is most interesting that a self-proclaimed Christian prophet would liken himself to Mohammed, the founder of Islam. His own comparison invites us to take a closer look as well. And when we do, we find some striking—and troubling—parallels. Consider the following.

Mohammed and Joseph Smith both had humble beginnings. Neither had formal religious connections or upbringing, and both were relatively uneducated. Both founded new religions by creating their own scriptures. In fact, followers of both prophets claim these scriptures are miracles since their authors were the most simple and uneducated of men.[2]

Both prophets claim of having angel visitations, and of receiving divine revelation to restore pure religion to the earth again. Mohammed was told that both Jews and Christians had long since corrupted their scriptures and religion. In like manner, Joseph Smith was told that all of Christianity had become corrupt, and that consequently the Bible itself was no longer reliable. In both cases, this corruption required a complete restoration of both scripture and religion. Nothing which preceded either prophet could be relied upon any longer. Both prophets claim they were used of God to restore eternal truths which once existed on earth, but had been lost due to human corruption.

Both prophets created new scripture which borrowed heavily from the Bible, but with a substantially new “spin.” In his Koran, Mohammed appropriates a number of Biblical themes and characters—but he changes the complete sense of many passages, claiming to “correct” the Bible. In so doing he changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place. In like manner, Joseph Smith created the Book of Mormon, much of which is plagiarized directly from the King James Bible. Interestingly, the Book of Mormon claims that this same Bible has been substantially corrupted and is therefore unreliable. In addition, Joseph Smith went so far as to actually create his own version of the Bible itself, the “Inspired Version,” in which he both adds and deletes significant portions of text, claiming he is “correcting” it. In so doing he also changes many doctrines, introducing his own in their place.

As a part of their new scriptural “spin,” both prophets saw themselves as prophesied in scripture, and both saw themselves as a continuation of a long line of Biblical prophets. Mohammed saw himself as a continuation of the ministry of Moses and Jesus. Joseph Smith saw himself as a successor to Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph and Moses. Joseph Smith actually wrote himself into his own version of the Bible—by name.

Both prophets held up their own scripture as superior to the Bible. Mohammed claimed that the Koran was a perfect copy of the original which was in heaven. The Koran is therefore held to be absolutely perfect, far superior to the Bible and superceding it. In like manner, Joseph Smith also made the following claim. “I told the Brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book.”[3]

Despite their claim that the Bible was corrupt, both prophets admonished their followers to adhere to its teachings. An obvious contradiction, this led to selective acceptance of some portions and wholesale rejection of others. As a result, the Bible is accepted by both groups of followers only to the extent that it agrees with their prophet’s own superior revelation.

Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith taught that true salvation was to be found only in their respective religions. Those who would not accept their message were considered “infidels,” pagans or Gentiles. In so doing, both prophets became the enemy of genuine Christianity, and have led many people away from the Christ of the Bible.

Both prophets encountered fierce opposition to their new religions and had to flee from town to town because of threats on their lives. Both retaliated to this opposition by forming their own militias. Both ultimately set up their own towns as model societies.

Both Mohammed and Joseph Smith left unclear instructions about their successors. The majority of Mohammed’s followers, Sunni Muslims, believe they were to elect their new leader, whereas the minority, Shiite Muslims, believe Mohammed’s son was to be their next leader. Similarly, the majority of Joseph Smith’s followers, Mormons, believed their next prophet should have been the existing leader of their quorum of twelve apostles, whereas the minority, RLDS, believed Joseph Smith’s own son should have been their next prophet. Differences on this issue, and many others, have created substantial tension between these rival groups of each prophet.

Mohammed taught that Jesus was just another of a long line of human prophets, of which he was the last. He taught that he was superior to Christ and superceded Him. In comparison, Joseph Smith also made the following claim.
“I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him, but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.”[4]

In light of these parallels, perhaps Joseph Smith’s claim to be a second Mohammed unwittingly became his most genuine prophecy of all.
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[1] Joseph Smith made this statement at the conclusion of a speech in the public square at Far West, Missouri on October 14, 1838. This particular quote is documented in Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History, second edition, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971), p. 230–231. Fawn Brodie’s footnote regarding this speech contains valuable information, and follows. “Except where noted, all the details of this chapter [16] are taken from the History of the [Mormon] Church. This speech, however, was not recorded there, and the report given here is based upon the accounts of seven men. See the affidavits of T.B. Marsh, Orson Hyde, George M. Hinkle, John Corrill, W.W. Phelps, Samson Avard, and Reed Peck in Correspondence, Orders, etc., pp. 57–9, 97–129. The Marsh and Hyde account, which was made on October 24, is particularly important. Part of it was reproduced in History of the [Mormon] Church, Vol. III, p. 167. See also the Peck manuscript, p. 80. Joseph himself barely mentioned the speech in his history; see Vol. III, p. 162.”

[2] John Ankerberg & John Weldon, The Facts on Islam, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1998), pp.8–9. Eric Johnson, Joseph Smith & Muhammed, (El Cajon, CA: Mormonism Research Ministry, 1998), pp. 6–7.

[3] Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.4, pp.461.

[4] Documentary History of the [Mormon] Church, vol.6, pp.408–409.

(Decker, Ed, My Kingdom Come: The Mormon Quest for Godhood, Xulon Press, 2007)

Joseph Smith, Jr.’s statement that he was ”the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam.” was made on Sunday, May 26, 1844. It’s found in the LDS History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 408-412.

By that date - May 26, 1844 - eight sects had already broken off from Joseph Smith’s church:
the Pure Church of Christ (1831),
the Independent Church (1832),
the Church of Christ (Boothite) (1836),
the Church of Christ (Parrishite) (1837),
the Alston Church (1839), the Church of Christ (Chubbyite) (late 1830s),
the Church of Jesus Christ, the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife (1840),
and the Church of Christ (Pageite) (1842).

As purely historical fact, that is not ‘keep[ing] a whole church together.”

Also, as purely historical fact, the May 26, 1844, is the speech Joseph Smith. Jr. gave after William Law testified before a grand jury that Smith was committing polygamy. Law also claimed that Smith had made several proposals to Law’s wife Jane, under the premise that Jane Law would enter a polyandrous marriage with Smith.

Law had been a member of the First Presidency, but after he objected to Joseph Smith repeatedly propositioning his wife, he was first removed from the First Presidency, and then excommunicated from the Church in April 1844.

As part of his May 25, 1844 speech, addressing the charges of polygamy, Smith said:
“What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one.”

At the time he claimed to have but one wife and said he was unjustly accused of polygamy, Smith had at least 34 wives.
Fourteen days later, William Law and six others published the first and only edition of the newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, which publicly accused Smith of three things:
(1) corrupting young women by coercing them into plural marriage;
(2) being a fallen prophet by engaging in polygamy and polyandry; and
(3) desiring to establish a theocracy (as one example, Law felt Smith was uniting church and state in Nauvoo, Illinois by evading extradition to be tried for crimes in Missouri).

Smith and the Nauvoo city council ordered that the Nauvoo printing press be destroyed and the type be pied, setting off the chain of events that led to Smith’s death on June 27, 1844, as a mob approached the Carthage jail and Smith shot and, according to LDS sources, killed two men with a smuggled pistol before rushing to the window and, according to LDS sources, trying to give the Masonic sign of distress.

Of course it’s more complicated than that; a charge of treason was made against Smith for declaring martial law and calling out the Nauvoo Legion, a personal army of up to 5,000 men over which he served as General.

But as with so many events in 19th Century LDS history - Smith’s claim to “have more to boast of than ever any man had,’ and that he had done some that Jesus never had, came as a result of polygamy and polyandry. And more particularly, the practice of polygamy and polyandry in secret, while lying about its practice both to the non-LDS public and to Saints who were not members of the inner circle.

As LDS Apostle Boyd K. Packer said in his famous speech to LDS historians, The Mantle is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect, in which LDS historians were directed not to publish truthful academic histories, but to publish only ‘faith-promoting” histories, “not all truths are useful.” History like this is not faith-promoting and is not repeated..

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