by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n
<\/em>FrontPage Magazine<\/em><\/p>\n A review of Robert Spencer\u2019s\u00a0Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam\u2019s Obscure Origins<\/em>\u00a0(Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012).<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the jihadists\u2019 most potent psychological weapons is the double standard Muslims have imposed on the West. Temples and churches are destroyed and vandalized, Christians murdered and driven from the lands of Christianity\u2019s birth, anti-Semitic lunacy propagated by high-ranking Muslim clerics, and Christian territory like northern Cyprus ethnically cleansed and occupied by Muslims. Yet the West ignores these depredations all the while it agonizes over trivial \u201cinsults\u201d to Islam and Mohammed, and decries the thought-crime of \u201cIslamophobia\u201d whenever even factual statements are made about Islamic history and theology. This groveling behavior confirms the traditional Islamic chauvinism that sees Muslims as the \u201cbest of nations\u201d destined by Allah to rule the world through violent jihad.<\/p>\n Even in the rarefied world of academic scholarship, this fear of offense has protected Islam from the sort of critical scrutiny every other world religion has undergone for centuries. Some modern scholars who do exercise their intellectual freedom and investigate these issues, like Christoph Luxenberg or Ibn Warraq, must work incognito to avoid the wrath of the adherents of the \u201cReligion of Peace.\u201d Now Robert Spencer, the fearless director of\u00a0Jihad Watch<\/em>and author of several books telling the truths about Islam obscured by a frightened academy and media, in his new book\u00a0Did Muhammad Exist?,<\/em>challenges this conspiracy of fear and silence by surveying the scholarship and historical evidence for the life and deeds of Islam\u2019s founder.<\/p>\n As Spencer traces the story of Muhammed through ancient sources and archaeology, the evidence for the Prophet\u2019s life becomes more and more evanescent. The name Muhammad, for example, appears only 4 times in the Qur\u2019an, as compared to the 136 mentions of Moses in the Qur\u2019an. And those references to Muhammad say nothing specific about his life. The first biography of Muhammad, written by Ibn Ishaq 125 years after the Prophet\u2019s death, is the primary source of biographical detail, yet it \u201ccomes down to us only in the quite lengthy fragments reproduced by an even later chronicler, Ibn Hisham, who wrote in the first quarter of the ninth century, and by other historians who reproduced and thereby preserved additional sections.\u201d<\/p>\n Nor are ancient sources outside Islam any more forthcoming. An early document from around 635, by a Jewish writer converting to Christianity, merely mentions a generic \u201cprophet\u201d who comes \u201carmed with a sword.\u201d But in this document the \u201cprophet\u201d is still alive 3 years after Muhammad\u2019s death. And this prophet was notable for proclaiming the imminent arrival of the Jewish messiah. \u201cAt the height of the Arabian conquests,\u201d Spencer writes, \u201cthe non-Muslim sources are as silent as the Muslim ones are about the prophet and holy book that were supposed to have inspired those conquests.\u201d This uncertainty in the ancient sources is a consistent feature of Spencer\u2019s succinct survey of them. Indeed, these sources call into question the notion that Islam itself was recognized as a new, coherent religion. In 651, when Muawiya called on the Byzantine emperor Constantine to reject Christianity, he evoked the \u201cGod of our father Abraham,\u201d not Islam\u00a0per se<\/em>. One hundred years after the death of Muhammad, \u201cthe image of the prophet of Islam remained fuzzy.\u201d<\/p>\n Non-literary sources from the late 7th century are equally vague. Dedicatory inscriptions on dams and bridges make no mention of Islam, the Qur\u2019an, or Mohammad. Coins bear the words \u201cin the name of Allah,\u201d the generic word for God used by Christians and Jews, but say nothing about Muhammad as Allah\u2019s prophet or anything about Islam. Particularly noteworthy is the absence of Islam\u2019s foundational statement \u201cMuhammad is the messenger of Allah.\u201d Later coins referring specifically to Muhammad depict him with a cross, contradicting the Qur\u2019anic rejection of Christ\u2019s crucifixion and later prohibitions against displaying crucifixes. Given that other evidence suggests that the word \u201cmuhammad\u201d is an honorific meaning \u201cpraised one,\u201d it is possible that these coins do not refer to the historical Muhammad at all.<\/p>\n Related to the issue of Muhammad\u2019s historical reality is the date of the Qur\u2019an, supposedly dictated to the Prophet by the Angel Gabriel. Yet Spencer\u2019s analysis of the inscriptions inside the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, with their mixture of Qur\u2019anic and non-Qur\u2019anic verses along with variants of canonical Qur\u2019anic scripture, suggests rather that the Qur\u2019an came into being later than 691 when the mosque was completed. Indeed, the inscriptions could be referring not to Muhammad but to a version of Jesus believed in by a heretical sect that denied his divinity. At any rate, the first historical inscription that offers evidence of Islamic theology dates to 696 when the caliph Abd al-Malik minted coins without a representation of the sovereign and with theshahada<\/em>, the Islamic profession of faith, inscribed on them. At this same time we begin to see references by non-Muslims to Muslims. Before then, the conquerors were called Ishmaelites, Saracens, or Hagarians. This evidence, Spencer suggests, raises the provocative possibility that al-Malik \u201cgreatly expanded on the nascent Muhammad myth for his own political purposes.\u201d Likewise the Hadith \u2014 the collections of Muhammad\u2019s sayings and deeds that form \u201cthe basis for Islamic law and practice regarding both individual religious observance and the governance of the Islamic state\u201d \u2014 also elucidate obscure Qur\u2019anic verses, providing \u201cthe prism through which the vast majority of Muslims understand the Qur\u2019an.\u201d Yet there is no evidence for the existence of these biographical details of the Hadith before their compilation. This suggests that those details were invented as political tools for use in the factional political conflicts of the Islamic world.<\/p>\n Spencer casts an equally keen critical eye over the early biographies of Mohammad to find the same problems with source authenticity and origins, and their conflicts with other Islamic traditions. These problems, along with the miraculous and folk elements of Ibn Ishaq\u2019s biography, suggest that the latter arose long after the collection of the Qur\u2019an. As Spencer concludes, \u201cIf Ibn Ishaq is not a historically trustworthy source, what is left of the life of Muhammad?\u201d The history of Islam and Mohammad recalls the statement of the reporter in John Ford\u2019s\u00a0The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em>: \u201cWhen the legend becomes fact, print the legend,\u201d particularly when the legend was so useful for conquest and the consolidation of power during factional rivalries among Muslim rulers and sects.<\/p>\n So too with the integrity of the Qur\u2019an, the supposedly unchanging and uncreated words of Allah dictated to Mohammad, the perfect copy of the eternal book transmitted in its purity without alteration or addition. Yet apart from fragments, modern Qur\u2019ans are based on manuscripts that date no farther back than the medieval period. The first mention of the Qur\u2019an appears in 710, decades after it allegedly inspired Muslim conquests from Persia to North Africa. Nor is it true that the book has not changed: \u201cEven Islamic tradition shows this contention to be highly questionable, with indications that some of the Qur\u2019an was lost and other parts were added to or otherwise changed.\u201d Such textual variants, revisions, lost passages, numerous influences from Jewish and Christian writings and doctrines, and the presence of words in the Syriac language (likely including the word \u201cQur\u2019an\u201d itself), along with the fact that about one-fifth of the book is simply incomprehensible \u2013\u2014 all call into question the idea of the Qur\u2019an\u2019s purity unchanged since it was divinely dictated to Mohammad.<\/p>\n Spencer\u2019s careful, detailed, well-reasoned survey and analysis of the historical evidence offer strong evidence that Muhammad and Islam itself were\u00a0post facto<\/em>creations of Arab conquerors who needed a \u201cpolitical theology\u201d delivered by a \u201cwarrior prophet\u201d in order to unify the vast territories and diverse religious and ethnic groups now subjected to Muslim power, and to provide a potent basis for loyalty to their new overlords. As Spencer explains, \u201cthe empire came first and the theology came later.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe full truth of whether a prophet named Muhammad lived in seventh-century Arabia,\u201d Spencer concludes, \u201cand if he did, what sort of a man he was, may never be known. But it would be intellectually irresponsible not to ask the question or consider the implications of the provocative evidence that pioneering scholars have assembled.\u201d The great service Spencer provides goes beyond popularizing the critical study of one of the world\u2019s largest religions in order to advance our knowledge and establish historical reality. At a time when the threat of jihadist violence has silenced many people and intimidated them into voluntarily surrendering their right to free speech and the pursuit of truth, Spencer\u2019s brave book also demonstrates the importance of those quintessential and powerful Western ideals.<\/p>\n \u00a92012 Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine A review of Robert Spencer\u2019s\u00a0Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam\u2019s Obscure Origins\u00a0(Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[87,22],"tags":[366,192,1028,1017,1061,30,1060,58],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-d7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5380,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-moderates\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":0},"title":"Muslim “Moderates”","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What's in a word? by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The war against Islamic jihad continues to be compromised in the West by the dominant narrative that supposedly makes sense of the conflict. In this scenario, the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful moderates, while the jihadists exploit a distortion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7787,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/nothing-to-do-with-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":1},"title":"Nothing to Do With Islam","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine The war against jihadism has been chronically misunderstood because of our failure to acknowledge the religious motives of Muslim jihadists. This failure began in 1979 with the Iranian revolution. Trapped in our Western secularist paradigms, we interpreted the uprising against the Shah as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Middle East"","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via FrontPage Magazine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/QuranRifle3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3407,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-secularist-delusion\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":2},"title":"The Secularist Delusion","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The dubious received wisdom rationalizing our current intervention in Libya was crystallized in Senator John Kerry\u2019s recent\u00a0essay\u00a0for\u00a0The Wall Street Journal. For Kerry, the rebels in Libya are the same as those in Egypt, \u201cpeacefully demanding freedom and dignity.\u201d Long oppressed by tyrants\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5458,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/by-the-sword-ibrahim-and-spencer-unveil-the-truth-of-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":3},"title":"By the Sword: Ibrahim and Spencer Unveil the Truth of Islam","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The\u00a0New York Times\u2019s Thomas Friedman is right on the mark most of the time in his analysis of the dysfunctions troubling the Muslim world and of our own failures in confronting them. Particularly important is his frequent criticism of our feckless disregard of our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5393,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/epistle-to-the-muslims\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":4},"title":"Epistle to the Muslims","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Christian leaders abase themselves before Islam by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal On November 18, the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0ran a full-page ad entitled \u201cA Christian Response to\u00a0A Common Word Between Us and You.\u201d\u00a0A Common Word\u00a0is an October letter from 138 Muslim scholars and clerics \u201cto leaders of Christian churches, everywhere.\u201d It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3298,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/islam-without-apologetics\/","url_meta":{"origin":813,"position":5},"title":"Islam Without Apologetics","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Andrew Bostom documents the long history of Muslim anti-Semitism. by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal A review of\u00a0The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History, by Andrew G. Bostom (Prometheus Books, 766 pp.) According to received wisdom, an Islamic faith that once tolerantly coexisted with Jews and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":814,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}