robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)

from long after the time he is supposed to have lived. Similarly, the records strongly indicate that the
Qur'an did not exist until long after it was supposed to have been delivered to the prophet of Islam.
In light of this evidence, there is compelling reason to conclude that Muhammad 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. That is the most persuasive explanation for why they were created
at all. And once legends about Muhammad began to be elaborated, his story took on a life of its own: One
legend begat another, as people hungered to know what their prophet said and did regarding issues that
vexed them. Once Muhammad was summoned, he could not be sent away. One pious legend fabricated for
political purposes would lead to another, and then another, to fill in holes and address anomalies in the
first; then those new stories would lead in turn to still newer ones, until finally the faithful Muslims were
able to fill wheelbarrows with volumes of hadiths, as is the case today.
As long as the oddities, inconsistencies, and lacunae exist in the traditional Islamic narratives and the
records of early Islam, there will arise people with the courage to seek answers to the questions we have
considered here. Up to now, however, those brave scholars have been relatively few in number. This is
both unusual and unfortunate. It is unusual in that the world's other major religions have undergone
thorough historical investigation; the “quest for the historical Jesus,” a parallel to inquiries into the
historical Muhammad, has been a prominent field of scholarship for two centuries. It is unfortunate in that
the lack of interest in examining Islam's origins, among Muslim and non-Muslim scholars alike, robs
everyone of access to the truth.
To be sure, many fervent believers in Islam resist such historical investigation. Even raising the
question of whether Muhammad existed challenges the very premise of their belief system. No Muslim
authorities have encouraged such scholarship, and those who have pursued this line of inquiry often labor
under threat of death. But scholarly examinations of the origins of Christianity and Judaism have gone
forward even as some Christians and Jews, including high religious authorities, condemned these
historical inquiries as attempts to undermine their faith. Of course, other authorities have actually
approved and even welcomed the inquiries. Islam, however, has remained largely exempt from such
scrutiny.
For some fourteen hundred years, Islam has profoundly shaped the history and culture not only of the
Near East but also of the entire world. At one point, the Islamic Empire stretched as far west as Spain and
as far east as India, as far south as Sudan and as far north as the Caucasus. Over the centuries Islamic
forces have repeatedly clashed with Western powers, whether it was in the initial wave of conquests that
created the Islamic Empire, the clashes with the Crusaders of the Byzantine Empire over Christian holy
lands, or the Ottoman Empire's fierce efforts to control the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century. More
recently, of course, the nature of the conflict has changed: No longer are traditional powers facing off on
the battlefield; instead, Islamic jihadists are terrorizing unbelievers and seeking in various ways,
including nonviolent subversion and the electoral process, to impose sharia law.
This long history of conflict demonstrates that there are pronounced differences between the Islamic
tradition and the Judeo-Christian tradition of the West. And yet despite those differences, few have
bothered to investigate how the Islamic tradition emerged and what those origins might tell us about the