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

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No one knows, for it has never received this treatment on nearly the same scale.<br />

Why should Islam <strong>an</strong>d its leading figure be exempt from the scrutiny that has been applied to other<br />

religions?<br />

The Power of Legend<br />

As a personality, Muhammad fairly leaps from the pages of the earliest available Islamic texts. What<br />

mortal h<strong>an</strong>d or eye could frame this fearsome m<strong>an</strong>? Who would dare to create such <strong>an</strong> outsize character,<br />

so immense in his claims, his loves, his hates?<br />

In addition, there is little doubt that the political unification of Arabia took place around the time<br />

Muhammad is assumed to have lived. Scholars generally agree that the Arabi<strong>an</strong> warriors swept out of<br />

Arabia beginning in the second quarter of the seventh century <strong>an</strong>d within a hundred years had subdued<br />

much of the Middle East, North Africa, <strong>an</strong>d Persia <strong>an</strong>d had entered India <strong>an</strong>d Spain.<br />

Finally, of course, Muhammad has undeniably made a lasting impact as teacher <strong>an</strong>d example to the<br />

Islamic world.<br />

Given these three points—the richly detailed portrait of Muhammad found in the Islamic literature, the<br />

way he seemingly inspired his successors to found a vast empire, <strong>an</strong>d his enduring legacy as founder of a<br />

religion that today claims more th<strong>an</strong> a billion adherents—few have thought to question Muhammad's<br />

<strong>exist</strong>ence. Muslims <strong>an</strong>d non-Muslims alike take it for gr<strong>an</strong>ted that he <strong>did</strong> live <strong>an</strong>d that he originated the<br />

faith we know as Islam. I underst<strong>an</strong>d the influence the traditional account has, for I spent more th<strong>an</strong> two<br />

decades studying Islamic theology, law, <strong>an</strong>d history in depth before seriously considering the historical<br />

reliability of what the early Islamic sources say the prophet of Islam said <strong>an</strong>d <strong>did</strong>.<br />

But the more I examined the evidence gathered by scholars who had bothered to apply the historicalcritical<br />

method to Islam's <strong>origins</strong>, the more I recognized how little there was to confirm the c<strong>an</strong>onical<br />

story. In my 2006 book, The Truth about Muhammad, a biography based on the earliest available Muslim<br />

sources, I pointed out “the paucity of early, reliable sources” <strong>an</strong>d observed that “from a strictly historical<br />

st<strong>an</strong>dpoint, it is impossible to state with certainty even that a m<strong>an</strong> named Muhammad actually <strong>exist</strong>ed, or<br />

if he <strong>did</strong>, that he <strong>did</strong> much or <strong>an</strong>y of what is ascribed to him.” Even, then, however, I said for a variety of<br />

reasons that “in all likelihood he <strong>did</strong> <strong>exist</strong>.” 4<br />

That may have been <strong>an</strong> overly optimistic assessment. Even the pillars used to support the traditional<br />

account begin to crumble upon close scrutiny. True enough, beginning in the seventh century, Arabi<strong>an</strong><br />

conquerors went out <strong>an</strong>d created <strong>an</strong> immense empire. But as this book will show, historical <strong>an</strong>d<br />

archaeological records cast serious doubt on the claim that they <strong>did</strong> so under the sway of what was<br />

already a fully formed religion with a revealed book as its centerpiece <strong>an</strong>d a revered prophet as its model<br />

for conduct.<br />

Likewise, Muhammad's tremendous impact on history does not in itself provide irrefutable evidence of

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