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

Recommendations

Info

Contents Foreword by Johannes J. G. Jansen Chronology of Key Events Muhammad and His Family, according to Islamic Tradition Introduction The Full Light of History? Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 The Man Who Wasn't There Jesus, the Muhammad Inventing Muhammad Switching On the Full Light of History The Embarrassment of Muhammad The Unchanging Qur'an Changes The Non-Arabic Arabic Qur'an What the Qur'an May Have Been Who Collected the Qur'an? Making Sense of It All Notes Further Reading Acknowledgments Index
Foreword by Johannes J. G. Jansen Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is strongly present in the minds of millions of Muslims. This makes it difficult to imagine that he may not have been an actual person—as real as Richard Nixon. Muslims have a strong and vivid memory of the founder of the religious movement we now know as Islam. This memory appears to be so strong and so vivid that even academic professionals whose daily duties include weighing the evidence for and against Muhammad's historicity must have days in which they think that their intellectual pursuits make no sense. It is indeed tempting to believe that Muhammad existed in the same way our forefathers did, if only because he is fully alive in the mind of his followers. But a closer look at the historical evidence may soon make the skeptic envious of all those who believe Muhammad really existed. It must be a blessing indeed to be able to believe there are no problems with Muhammad's historicity. Logicians have repeatedly argued that nonexistence cannot be proved. When the British philosopher Bertrand Russell once suggested that there was no rhinoceros in the lecture room, his young Austrian pupil Ludwig Wittgenstein started to look under the desks, chairs, and tables. He was not convinced. The lesson of the story is a simple one: To offer proof of existence may sometimes be difficult, but to prove nonexistence is simply impossible. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to have doubts about Muhammad's historicity. To begin, there are no convincing archaeological traces that confirm the traditional story of Muhammad and early Islam. The scholars and scribes of Islam know an awful lot about the religion's early decades—but what they recount finds no confirmation in physical remains of any kind from the period and places concerned. What they know is limited to stories, and to the same stories retold. Like the stories themselves, the background against which the stories of Muhammad's career are set lack outside confirmation. We do not know much about the general circumstances in seventh-century Arabia, but the picture that the Islamic tradition offers is not confirmed by what we do know. In fact, archaeological findings occasionally contradict the traditional Islamic picture. Inscriptions, for example, suggest that the ancient Arabs were not pagans, as Islam teaches, but rather monotheists who believed in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Only more archaeological work in present-day Arabia and Greater Syria can possibly solve the dilemmas that have arisen concerning the historicity of Muhammad, but the rulers of these territories probably will not permit scholarly research that might eventually contradict what those in power see as religious truth. And if the outcome of the research is determined beforehand by religious necessities,
Page 2 and 3: DID MUHAMMAD EXIST? An Inquiry into
Page 4 and 5: Dedicated to all those who do not f
Page 8 and 9: scholars will not be interested in
Page 10 and 11: 650s-660s: Arabian conquest of Nort
Page 12 and 13: Muhammad and His Family, According
Page 14 and 15: Introduction
Page 16 and 17: historicity of Muhammad. Although t
Page 18 and 19: No one knows, for it has never rece
Page 20 and 21: Some of the bold scholars who have
Page 22 and 23: Influenced by this, the historians
Page 24 and 25: 1
Page 26 and 27: ut this could apply to any of the Q
Page 28 and 29: Was That Muhammad? In light of all
Page 30 and 31: leader as the “devil.” It is un
Page 32 and 33: them, reprimand them, warn them, an
Page 34 and 35: was not even able to save himself f
Page 36 and 37: of polemical hyperbole or using a t
Page 38 and 39: 2
Page 40 and 41: encountering some mention of Islam,
Page 42 and 43: The first biographer of Muhammad, I
Page 44 and 45: Allah [is] great in greatness and g
Page 46 and 47: This Qur'anic material is the earli
Page 48 and 49: that orthodox theologians produced
Page 50 and 51: Arabic language, he was eloquent an
Page 52 and 53: 3
Page 54 and 55: The same can be said of an explanat
Page 56 and 57:
“anyone who establishes in Islam
Page 58 and 59:
But with Muhammad held up as an exe
Page 60 and 61:
When Ibn Umar says that yes, he did
Page 62 and 63:
these are known as as-Sahih as-Sitt
Page 64 and 65:
was self-contradictory or absurd on
Page 66 and 67:
latter's “godlessness and opposit
Page 68 and 69:
Switching On the Full Light of Hist
Page 70 and 71:
Ibn Ishaq's Reliability So are thes
Page 72 and 73:
Muhammad's virtues, or a combinatio
Page 74 and 75:
Jansen administers the coup de grâ
Page 76 and 77:
Central to Islam, therefore, is the
Page 78 and 79:
(Nor, for that matter, do Muslim hi
Page 80 and 81:
5
Page 82 and 83:
The problem with the third option i
Page 84 and 85:
years of age. 6 The earliest Islami
Page 86 and 87:
elationship, the Qur'an also has Ma
Page 88 and 89:
einforced the point that Muhammad h
Page 90 and 91:
“worked on Allah's Apostle so tha
Page 92 and 93:
The Unchanging Qur'an Changes The Q
Page 94 and 95:
during the eighth and ninth centuri
Page 96 and 97:
did not worry over such matters, wh
Page 98 and 99:
Rajam be inflicted on him who commi
Page 100 and 101:
telling indications that it has bee
Page 102 and 103:
ut suddenly verses 238 and 239 inte
Page 104 and 105:
The Non-Arabic Arabic Qur'an A Book
Page 106 and 107:
“We know indeed that they say,
Page 108 and 109:
Puin explains: “The Koran claims
Page 110 and 111:
a person dies, his Book (of deeds)
Page 112 and 113:
The Syriac influence is not restric
Page 114 and 115:
To provide the new religion with it
Page 116 and 117:
What the Qur'an May Have Been A Clu
Page 118 and 119:
An Islamic scholar writing late in
Page 120 and 121:
Luxenberg states that if Qur'an “
Page 122 and 123:
symbolism of the wine of Paradise.
Page 124 and 125:
Syriac connection, has revealed—c
Page 126 and 127:
unbelievers, may say, “What did G
Page 128 and 129:
gods except the Creator of all, nor
Page 130 and 131:
in Paradise reserved exclusively fo
Page 132 and 133:
9
Page 134 and 135:
who have been true in their covenan
Page 136 and 137:
for them to brandish. Nor is it eve
Page 138 and 139:
The First Mention of the Qur'an If
Page 140 and 141:
Uthman approved did not survive, ev
Page 142 and 143:
10
Page 144 and 145:
years after its birth, Islam has re
Page 146 and 147:
The realm of political theology, th
Page 148 and 149:
The real proliferation of material
Page 150 and 151:
from long after the time he is supp
Page 152 and 153:
Notes Introduction: The Full Light
Page 154 and 155:
34 Ibid., 63-64 (= Patrologia Greca
Page 156 and 157:
6 Al-Qastellani, X, 342 (quoted in
Page 158 and 159:
7 Arthur Jeffery, “The Quest of t
Page 160 and 161:
Chapter 6: The Unchanging Qur'an Ch
Page 162 and 163:
29 Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, v
Page 164 and 165:
49 Nevo and Koren, Crossroads to Is
Page 167 and 168:
Further Reading There is a great de
Page 169 and 170:
Acknowledgments I could not have wr
Page 171 and 172:
Muhammad and, 2, 7, 24-28, 41, 48,
Page 173 and 174:
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Ephraem
Page 175 and 176:
Islamic calendar, 48-49, 204 Islami
Page 177 and 178:
Mufid, Sheikh al-, 81 Mughira, al-,
Page 179 and 180:
Rosenthal, Franz, 154 Ruqayya (daug
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?