Summarizing Muhammad (محمد) Islam's Prophet!

Source: Answering Muslims

Muhammad in Arabic (Source: Answering Muslim)

Muhammad was born around 570 AD in an Arabian city called Mecca. His father Abdullah died before he was born, and his mother Amina died when he was six years old. After the death of his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, Muhammad was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, leader of the Banu Hashim clan. We may divide Muhammad’s life into three main periods.

• Pre-Prophetic Period (570-610 AD). While still young, Muhammad began work in the Meccan caravan trade, which put him in contact with diverse religious traditions. At 25 years old, he married a wealthy widow, Khadijah, who was 15 years his senior. With more leisure time, Muhammad developed the habit of retreating to a cave on Mount Hira for prayer and reflection, as was common for the polytheists of the Meccan Quraysh tribe.

• Meccan Prophetic Period (610-622). During one of his yearly retreats, Muhammad became convinced that a demonic spirit had ordered him to recite verses (now found in Qur’an 96:1-5). However, his wife Khadijah and her cousin Waraqah persuaded him that he was a prophet of Allah. Muhammad soon began preaching Islam to friends and family members, and later to the public. Due to his increasingly inflammatory condemnation of the religious beliefs of the polytheists of Mecca, Muhammad and his followers were persecuted. After his wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died, Muhammad decided to flee Mecca.

• Medinan Prophetic Period (622-632). Having formed alliances with various non-Muslim groups, Muhammad began robbing the Meccan caravans. These attacks eventually led to a series of battles with Mecca. As war booty poured in, so did new converts. The growing Muslim army allowed Muhammad to subdue not only Mecca, but the rest of Arabia as well. Muhammad suffered an agonizing death in 632 after being poisoned by a Jewish woman whose family had been slaughtered by Muslims.

Muslims believe that Muhammad is their highest moral example (Qur’an 33:21) and the final authority (along with Allah) in all decisions (Qur’an 33:36). According to the Qur’an (4:65), a person can have no faith without unquestioningly accepting Muhammad’s judgments.

QUESTIONS ABOUT MUHAMMAD

• "Why Did Muhammad Wear Women's Clothing?"

• "Why Did Muhammad Attempt Suicide?"

• "Was Muhammad a Pedophile?"

• "Who Killed Muhammad?"

MORE ON MUHAMMAD

• "50 Reasons Muhammad Was Not a Prophet"

• "Don't Make Fun of Muhammad" (VIDEO)

• "Eastwooding Muhammad" (VIDEO)

• "Jesus Owns Muhammad" (VIDEO)

The Qur'an: A Book Full of Conjecture and Doubt

Source: Answering Muslims

Posted by Anthony Rogers

"Jesus ressurecting [sic] and dying on the cross is a mere legend. The people who 'saw' him THOUGHT they saw him, but it was someone who looked similar to him, . There;s [sic] no evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus (as), and the Quran refutes that, and the Quran has plenty of evidence on its side." - Muslim Kangaroo (See here [the link is dead])

No doubt Kangaroo has the following passage of the Qur’an in mind here:

And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the messenger of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. S. 4:157 Shakir

As will be shown, only in a kangaroo court would the verdict come down against the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus in favor of the Qur’anic account of what happened. (For a good example of just such a court, see here.)

What Muslims "see" in the Quran and THINK is a refutation is actually just a bad argument substituted for and made to appear like a good one. Actually, it doesn't really bear much of a resemblance to a good argument; at best all we can say about it is that it is an apparently good enough counterfeit for many people to be convinced (read: deceived) by it. In fact, this passage doesn’t even represent an argument at all; it is simply a claim that contradicts what the Bible and history say about these matters. So calling it a refutation isn’t even accurate.

It has been said on this blog before (see here), but it bears repeating, especially in the context of a discussion of Surah 4:157, every time that we think of the "refutation" supposedly given in the Qur'an the one thing we should be struck with above all else is how many errors the author(s) of the Qur'an were able to make in such a short space, and Muslims really should be encouraged to add this to the list of evidences of the supernatural authorship of the Qur’an, for surely no one person could make so many mistakes AND yet still manage to dupe so many people. A supernatural being is clearly involved with both the composition and reception of the Qur’an; unfortunately, that being is most certainly not God, but is merely a being that masquerades like Him or an angel that pretends to have been sent by Him. This being made it appear to the author(s) of the Qur’an (and those who follow him/her/them) that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ are mere legends, but they are really only following a satanically inspired conjecture. This point will be made in a myriad of ways over the course of several posts, beginning with the following:

1. This verse represents the Jews as boasting: "We killed the Messiah…."

Contrariwise, the speech attributed to the Jews here is a clear error. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus crucified precisely because they rejected His claim to be the Messiah, for no Jew would boast of killing the Messiah.

All the author(s) of the Qur'an would have had to do here to accurately reflect what the Jews would or could have said along these lines given their actual beliefs is either drop the word “Messiah”, as the following (mis)translations of the Qur’an, likely out of a recognition of the problem that exists in the Arabic text, do:

and their statement that they murdered Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God, when, in fact, they could not have murdered him or crucified him. They, in fact, murdered someone else by mistake. Even those who disputed (the question of whether or not Jesus was murdered) did not have a shred of evidence. All that they knew about it was mere conjecture. They certainly could not have murdered Jesus. S. 4:157 Muhammad Sarwar

They [proudly] spread a rumor that: “We killed Jesus, son of Mary.” For sure they did neither kill Jesus nor crucify him. Their wishful thinking has created so much confusion in account of the lack of [historical] proof for their saying. Know for sure that they did not kill him. S. 4:157 Bijan Moeinian

Or, add words to the effect that they killed Jesus for His CLAIM to be the Messiah. Indeed, this is exactly the sort of thing the Jews did do in opposition to the sign made by the Romans which called Jesus "the King of the Jews". In protest, the Jews clamored for the sign to be changed so it would read that He SAID He was/is the King of the Jews.

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!" So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." (John 19:13-22)