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

Recommendations

Info

of polemical hyperbole or using a thousand to indicate a virtually unlimited number of concubines. John also refers to “the text of the Camel of God, about which he [that is, Muhammad] says that there was a camel from God”—a story that appears twice in the Qur'an, albeit told elliptically both times (7:77, 91:11–14). Moreover, John notes that “Muhammad mentions the text of the Table,” a vestigial account of the Christian Eucharist found in Qur'an 5:112–115, and “the text of the Cow,” which is the title of the Qur'an's second sura, “and several other foolish and ludicrous things which, because of their number, I think I should pass over.” 35 John demonstrates a detailed knowledge of the Qur'an's teaching about Jesus Christ, ascribing them to Muhammad. Note that the material in brackets below has been added by the translator, generally referring to Qur'an verses; it does not appear in John's original. John writes: He [that is, Muhammad] says that Christ is the Word of God and His Spirit [cf. Qur'an 9:171], created [3:59] and a servant [4:172, 9:30, 43:59], and that he was born from Mary [3:45 and cf. Isa ibn Maryam], the sister of Moses and Aaron [19:28], without seed [3:47, 19:20, 21:91, 66:12]. For, he says, the Word of God and His Spirit entered Mary [19:17, 21:91, 66:12], and she gave birth to Jesus, a prophet [9:30, 33:7] and a servant of God. And [he says] that the Jews, acting unlawfully, wanted to crucify him, but, on seizing [him], they crucified [only] his shadow; Christ himself was not crucified, he says, nor did he die [4:157]. For God took him up to heaven to Himself…. And God questioned him saying: “Jesus, did you say that ‘I am son of God and God’?” And, he says, Jesus answered, “Mercy me, Lord, you know that I did not say so” [5:116]. 36 This is an impressive summary of the Qur'an's teaching on Jesus, but note again that the verse citations have been added by the translator into English; John does not cite sura and verse, and his summary contains small but significant departures from the actual Qur'anic text. In Qur'an 5:116, for example, Allah does not ask Jesus whether he called himself the Son of God and God, but rather: “Didst thou say unto men, ‘Take me and my mother as gods, apart from God?’” And Jesus does not respond, “Mercy me, Lord, you know that I did not say so,” but instead: “To Thee be glory! It is not mine to say what I have no right to. If I indeed said it, Thou knowest it, knowing what is within my soul, and I know not what is within Thy soul; Thou knowest the things unseen.” These discrepancies, as well as the fact that John leaves out of his summary significant things the Qur'an says about Jesus that would have been of interest to him as a Christian theologian (particularly Jesus' apparent prophecy of the coming of Muhammad in 61:6), give rise to the possibility that John was working not from an actual copy of the Qur'an but from oral tradition or some text that was later adapted as part of the Qur'an. Another reason to suggest that John was not summarizing from a Qur'an that he had open in front of him is the fact that he never refers to the book by name. Instead he gives the impression that the “text of the Woman” and the “text of the Camel of God” and the “text of the Cow” are all separate documents rather than parts of a single collection. “Women” (not the singular “Woman,” as John has it) and “The Cow” are titles of two Qur'anic suras (4 and 2, respectively); “Camel of God” is not. It seems more likely that John is working from what the Hagarians or those who had contact with them may have told him, and not from a written text, or at least not a written text exactly like the Qur'an as we know it. It is also possible that this manner of citation is simply an idiosyncrasy of John's, with no larger significance. In any case, John betrays considerably more knowledge, and more accurate knowledge, of
actual Islamic teaching than did earlier non-Muslim writers who took up the subject of the beliefs of their Arabian conquerors. But note that he is writing a century after the purported revelation of the Qur'an and establishment of Islam. And even at this point, nearly a hundred years after the reported death of Muhammad, the image of the prophet of Islam remained fuzzy. Indeed, a full-blown picture of Muhammad, recipient through the angel Gabriel of Allah's revelations of the Qur'an, living and working in the “full light of history,” would not appear for several more decades.
Page 2 and 3: DID MUHAMMAD EXIST? An Inquiry into
Page 4 and 5: Dedicated to all those who do not f
Page 6 and 7: Contents Foreword by Johannes J. G.
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 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)

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?