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

The multiplicity of explanations suggests the authenticity of none of them. If one of these four
explanations of the verse was the true one, and was therefore as old as the verse itself, it is hard to see
how the others would have arisen or, if they were formulated for political reasons, how they would have
gained widespread credence. It is evident that no one really knew the circumstances of the verse, and so
stories were constructed to explain it.
The accounts of the circumstances of the Qur'anic revelations generally emerged late, with the Hadith
dating from the ninth century. There is no evidence contemporary with the Qur'an explaining its origins. In
light of that, it could be that these accounts were invented in order to explain Qur'an verses, rather than
actually presenting the historical circumstances of revelations to Muhammad.
The Centrality of the Hadith
However questionable many hadiths may be, they form the basis for the standard Islamic understanding of
Qur'anic verses that are less than clear on their surface (and the number of those is considerable). The
Hadith are also pivotal because of the tremendous importance that Islamic theology and tradition attaches
to Muhammad, whom the Qur'an terms a “good example…for whosoever hopes for God and the Last
Day” (33:21).
It may seem curious that Muhammad is made so important when the Qur'an itself says so little specific
about him, but that is precisely why the biographical material elaborated in the Hadith was so urgently
needed. The Qur'an tells believers that Muhammad is “upon a mighty morality” (68:4), and “whosoever
obeys God, and the Messenger—they are with those whom God has blessed” (4:80). Exhortations to obey
Allah's messenger, who is assumed to be Muhammad, occur frequently in the Qur'an (3:32, 3:132, 4:13,
4:59, 4:69, 5:92, 8:1, 8:20, 8:46, 9:71, 24:47, 24:51, 24:52, 24:54, 24:56, 33:33, 47:33, 49:14, 58:13,
64:12). What does it mean to obey Muhammad? To answer that, one must know what he said and did.
Muhammad himself, according to one hadith, asserted the centrality of his words and deeds: “I have
given orders, exhortations and interdictions which count as much as the Koran if not more.” 4 They became
in Islamic tradition the guideposts for even the most minute aspects of individual behavior. The modernday
Islamic apologist Muqtedar Khan of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy explains that
“the words, deeds and silences (that which he saw and did not forbid) of Muhammad became an
independent source of Islamic law. Muslims, as a part of religious observance, not only obey, but also
seek to emulate and imitate their Prophet in every aspect of life. Thus Muhammad is the medium as well
as a source of the divine law.” 5 In Islam the centrality of Muhammad allows no room whatsoever for
innovation (bida): What the prophet approved is approved, and what he rejected is rejected, for all time.
Thus the fifteenth-century Islamic scholar al-Qastallani rejected “anything that is practiced without a
relevant example from olden times and, more especially in religion, anything that was not practiced in the
time of the Prophet.” 6
The prophet of Islam himself sums up these Islamic beliefs when he says in a hadith: “Verily, the most
truthful communication is the Book of Allah, the best guidance is that of Muhammad, and the worst of all
things is innovation; every innovation is heresy, every heresy is error, and every error leads to hell.” 7 In
another hadith, however, Muhammad seems to retreat from this hard-line stance. He promises a reward to