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Why Invent Mohammed?
PJ Media ^ | May 18, 2012 | David P. Goldman

Posted on 05/18/2012 7:00:15 AM PDT by C19fan

Why invent a new religion? Robert Spencer’s excellent new book Did Mohammed Exist? collates recent historical research questioning the existence of the historical Mohammed, much of it previously not accessible to a lay American audience. This is a dangerous thing to do, and a courageous one.

Some years ago I chided Spencer for giving the Koran too much credibility; more important than the nasty things one finds in the Koran, I argued, are two questions: “1) Mohammed may never have existed, and 2) If he existed, he may have had nothing to do with the Koran, which well might be an 8th- or 9th-century compilation.” Spencer’s present book will be translated into major Muslim languages and published on the Internet, according to Daniel Pipes. That is an important and welcome development.

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Religion
KEYWORDS: islam; mohammed
As a point of comparison Paul's Epistles were written only 20 years after Jesus's Crucifixion. The Canonicial Gospels are believed to have been written 30 to 50 years post-Crucifixion.
1 posted on 05/18/2012 7:00:19 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan
This is old hat. I was writing about these same things eleven years ago.
2 posted on 05/18/2012 7:05:44 AM PDT by Yashcheritsiy (A conservative voting for Romney is like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders)
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To: C19fan
excellent new book Did Mohammed Exist?

Muslim Rageboy's not gonna like this...

3 posted on 05/18/2012 7:12:59 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: C19fan

Yeah, quite a contrast. The New Testament is mostly comprised of Apostolic books—written by eye-witnesses to Christ’s life. Looks like Islam was created centuries after the alleged birth of Mohammed as a political tool.


4 posted on 05/18/2012 7:20:37 AM PDT by Sudetenland (Anybody but Obama!!!!)
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To: Nervous Tick

5 posted on 05/18/2012 7:24:35 AM PDT by BubbaBasher ("Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals" - Sam Adams)
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To: C19fan

I’m not sure how long Mr. Spencer is going to live after this book is translated into Arabic. I hope he’s armed and has armed friends around him.


6 posted on 05/18/2012 7:25:45 AM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: C19fan
"Kalisch also argues that the Islamic conquest as reported in much later Islamic sources never happened—instead, there was a gradual migration into depopulated Byzantine lands by the Arab auxiliaries of the Eastern Empire."

That's exactly what Dr. Jawadeh was teaching at Indiana University half a century ago ~ that the "conquest" didn't happen as imagined, but instead involved an Arab takeover of existing military establishments previously adhering to the Byzantine Empire.

The lands weren't exactly "depopulated" but the taxes were going to the more recent Persian conquerors and not to Byzantium.

There are sufficient bits of evidence hither and yon to demonstrate that one of the ways the Arabs (headquartered in Petra) enticed Byzantine military units to their flag was TO PAY THEM. This was at the end of the beginning of the period known as the Dark Ages in the West, but it also affected Byzantium and Arabia economically. Arabia recovered first and took over what it could! Byzantium also recovered, but later. Without an economically viable West they stuttered along economically for another 700 years.

Jawadeh also explained how the Koran was assembled by reviewing the way the Hadiths were assembled. He argued this was done at the same time with the more serious materials going to the Koran, and the less serious stuff getting dropped into the Hadiths ~

Current thought among some (Not all) Pakistani scholars is that Islam, per se, simply didn't exist for about 300 years after Mohammad's time ~ instead, the way they read it Moslems simply attended Christian services with Christians and gradually the separate Islamic identity created itself. Whether that's valid or not, it is a view that conforms to the time frame set out in this article.

This process would be somewhat like the rise of Protestantism from within the ranks of the Catholic priesthood.

7 posted on 05/18/2012 7:26:12 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: C19fan
The only thing that is relevant is whether the Koran is God inspired, or Satan inspired.

Reading the koran, it is obviously NOT God inspired. The evil & violence it contains is the antithesis of Christianity & Judaism. Islam is a religion of force, not free will. Mohammed advocated, murder, rape, robbery, pedophilia & lying for advantage. If that is not Satan inspired, I do not know what is.

8 posted on 05/18/2012 7:31:54 AM PDT by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: C19fan

I don’t know if he had nothing to do with the Koran, but he was illiterate, so he did not write it down. I think it was written after his death by people working from oral traditions, and then later, the differing versions were compiled with some of it left out and destroyed. To top that off, you have the Hadiths, or “sayings” of Mohammed, which is more oral tradition, written by a whole bunch of people who said they heard Mohammed say this, that, or the other.


9 posted on 05/18/2012 7:34:00 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Little Ray

Mr. Spencer has been under death fatwahs for many years. He’s used to it.


10 posted on 05/18/2012 7:42:04 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: C19fan

bfl


11 posted on 05/18/2012 7:43:07 AM PDT by TEXOKIE
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To: C19fan

Why invent a religion?

Ask L. Ron Hubbard, who did it on a bet and then as a moneyspinner.


12 posted on 05/18/2012 8:08:57 AM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (nobody gives me warheads anyway))
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To: C19fan

> Why Invent Mohammed?
Why invent little gray aliens? Same thing.
The superstitions of ignorant people.


13 posted on 05/18/2012 8:37:33 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (End Obama's War On Freedom.)
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To: Boogieman

“but he (Mohammad) was illiterate,”

If he existed at all, he was probably literate because he was a trader with several countries and tribes. I’m sure he knew well how to read and write.


14 posted on 05/18/2012 9:00:06 AM PDT by vanilla swirl (searching for something meaningfull to say)
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