Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophet Muhammad Never Existed
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Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophet Mu... - 11/17/2008 1:31:03 PM
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TheosCentric
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Having a M.A. in Islamics myself, I would say this is really shaking up the Islamic world.
Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophet Muhammad Never Existed
MÜNSTER, Germany -- Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.
So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.
Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.
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"Missions exists because worship doesn't." -- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad
God at the Center
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/17/2008 8:28:30 PM
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Milliecat
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It seems he doesn't want to believe in anything. It says he read books that questioned the existence of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. I wonder how many he read supporting the existence of those same persons. He then questioned the existence of Muhammad.
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/17/2008 9:40:16 PM
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scutus
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Those scholars who don't think Jesus existed are in the extreme minority. There is probably better evidence for Muhammad's existance than Jesus because there are near contemperary accounts that point to his existance. Here's an article summing up the evidence by a noted Islamic scholar (Patricia Crone).
Now the usual Muslim biographies are probably heavily embellished, so we can't really be sure what Muhammad was like or did. But he most likely did exist.
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Suo enim quisque studio maxime ducitur.
—Cicero, De Finibus, 5.5
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/18/2008 10:20:59 AM
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huangshan
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Why I Am Not a Muslim, by Ibn Warraq had a chapter devoted to the same (as well as, if I recall, Jesus) in an "it's not crazy to believe it" kind of way.
As far as I'm concerned, there not being a Muhammad (or Jesus) is a bit like there not being a William Shakespeare. Obviously, there was someone, and we're gonna call that person Muhammad/Jesus/Bill 'cause it's not like we have any other options.
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/18/2008 5:35:49 PM
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PaleHawkWoman
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Dubya
quote:
ORIGINAL: huangshan
Obviously, there was someone, and we're gonna call that person Muhammad/Jesus/Bill 'cause it's not like we have any other options.
Can we call him Bubba? That sounds so much more friendly and down-home. 
And would the greatest commandment then be "Hey Y'all, watch this!"?
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/18/2008 8:34:01 PM
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HisFish
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Prof. Kalisch's life expectancy is now numbered in months instead of years i would suspect.
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The theology of the present aims at the deification of man, but the truth of all time
magnifies God . C. H. Spurgeon
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/19/2008 7:23:01 AM
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jazzact13
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So, does this mean he's starting The Muhammed Seminar? He and a bunch of like-minded buddies get together and try to determine through their own opinions what parts of the Koran the ficititious Muhammed really wrote?
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there is no justice in the rhetoric of class hatred
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/19/2008 8:20:37 AM
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TheosCentric
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jazzact13
So, does this mean he's starting The Muhammed Seminar? He and a bunch of like-minded buddies get together and try to determine through their own opinions what parts of the Koran the ficititious Muhammed really wrote?
Now, that's funny.
_____________________________
"Missions exists because worship doesn't." -- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad
God at the Center
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/19/2008 8:46:33 PM
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jerowhy
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My theory is that a Judean Catholic or Byzantine cleric penned the Q'uran in a Oneness Godhead fomat. For Mohammed was illiterate and married a rich Christian Woman (probably judean).
There is one prophecy that comes to pass in the Scripture of the Muslim Faith of Islam. That the Ottoman Empire comes, then the Romanesque up to this present day.
quote:
ORIGINAL: jazzact13
So, does this mean he's starting The Muhammed Seminar? He and a bunch of like-minded buddies get together and try to determine through their own opinions what parts of the Koran the ficititious Muhammed really wrote?
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/20/2008 5:56:02 AM
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TheosCentric
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jerowhy
My theory is that a Judean Catholic or Byzantine cleric penned the Q'uran in a Oneness Godhead fomat. For Mohammed was illiterate and married a rich Christian Woman (probably judean).
There is one prophecy that comes to pass in the Scripture of the Muslim Faith of Islam. That the Ottoman Empire comes, then the Romanesque up to this present day.
quote:
ORIGINAL: jazzact13
So, does this mean he's starting The Muhammed Seminar? He and a bunch of like-minded buddies get together and try to determine through their own opinions what parts of the Koran the ficititious Muhammed really wrote?
Riiiiiiiiiiiight...
Mohammad married an Egyptian Coptic Christian as his first wife. She told him that his visions were valid.
I also don't think he was truly illiterate as the claim has been made.
_____________________________
"Missions exists because worship doesn't." -- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad
God at the Center
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RE: Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophe... - 11/21/2008 4:27:58 PM
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tony.nz
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Actually, I have never thought of this, but it would be easier to claim Muhammed never existed, than it would be to claim that Jesus never existed. Jesus was at least referred to in some contemporary non - Christian sources. Having said this, it is difficult to believe that Muhammed never existed, and was "invented" 100 plus years after the event, to explain the origin of the cult of Islam. Because then, you would have to ask the question, what was the origin of Islam? A conspiracy to "invent" Muhammed would seem unlikely, difficult, and probably pointless.
I think scholars sometimes invent and defend silly hypothesis, simply to make a name for themselves. It is an ego-boosting thing. Probably a bit dangerous in this case. But sometimes they are just out of touch with the real world. So, I agree that while some fiction may have infiltrated the story, such as the claim that Muhammed was illiterate, clearly the basis of the story is real. The Quran was written by somebody, and it is way short of being divinely inspired.
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