JC wasn't crucified, says 1500-year-old bible

[Confused Ape]

Yeah - but then they also claim that Muhammad was dead by 650 so that would seem to be a contradiction.

You're right - it wouldn't have worked.

I was led to something interesting from reading this review of the book - Review of Did Muhammad Exist?

The earliest account that can reliably be taken to refer to Muhammad is a chronicle by the Armenian bishop Sebeos, dating either to the 660s or 670s but containing material that sharply diverges from the traditional Islamic accounts: thus he has Muhammad "insisting on the Jews' right to the Holy Land -- even if in the context of claiming that land for the Ishmaelites, acting in conjunction with the Jews" (p. 32).

I looked Sebeos up and found there was another reference to someone called Muhammad in the the wikipedia article.

Non Muslim Sources

There is a reference recording the Arab conquest of Syria, that mentions Muhammed. This much faded note is preserved on folio 1 of BL Add. 14,461, a codex containing the Gospel accord to Matthew and the Gospel according to Mark. This note appears to have been penned soon after the battle of Gabitha (636 CE) at which the Arabs inflicted crushing defeat of the Byzantines.

The references are to the Arabs of Muhammad having a battle in 634 CE. So, there could have been a war leader named Muhammad who would have been very surprised to learn he was a prophet who died in 632 CE.

Sebeos was writing the chronicle at a time when memories of sudden eruption of the Arabs was fresh. He knows Muhammad's name and that he was a merchant by profession. He hints that his life was suddenly changed by a divinely inspired revelation.[44]

Muhammad, the merchant, who claimed he'd had a divinely inspired revelation might have been very surprised to learn he had a military career.

I've just had a silly mental image of the afterlife. Two Muhammads amd a Galilean preacher are discussing the religions they were supposed to have founded and saying things like "What a load of rhubarb".