RE: possible origins of islam (higher criticism scholars/ history nuts welcome)
June 25, 2015 at 12:37 pm
(This post was last modified: June 25, 2015 at 12:38 pm by Metis.)
I personally suspect Islam draws considerably from the Nestorianism that was known to Muhammad, as the contents of the Qu'ran bare a similar resemblance to some of the proto-gospels and epistles that were known in Arabia at the time.
If Muhammad wasn't inspired by them then whoever put pen to paper and jotted down the Qu'ran probably was. I see it as a heretical offshoot of Christianity, on the same level as the Mormons and the Moonies.
Joseph Smith is the prime example of how a village idiot come con man can twist the words in a book or even concoct his own to lead people in a religious frenzy. Sun Myung Moon did it a century later as well. I'm not sure why it should be any great surprise to discover that Beduin could manage it in the eighth century either.
If Muhammad wasn't inspired by them then whoever put pen to paper and jotted down the Qu'ran probably was. I see it as a heretical offshoot of Christianity, on the same level as the Mormons and the Moonies.
Joseph Smith is the prime example of how a village idiot come con man can twist the words in a book or even concoct his own to lead people in a religious frenzy. Sun Myung Moon did it a century later as well. I'm not sure why it should be any great surprise to discover that Beduin could manage it in the eighth century either.
