Did Muhammad exist?

[Fake Messiah]

There doesn't seem to be other historical data about Muhammad except in Quran and a sira, that is, one of the various traditional biographies of Muhammad, which also relies upon the Quran and collections of hadith (traditional sayings attributed to the prophet) as resources.
Muslims believe that the hadith were compiled by Muhammad's followers shortly after the prophet's death in 632 CE and these eyewitnesses completed the task within two decades. In reality, the evidence demonstrates this process actually began roughly a century after that time - and continued for generations.
Each of these hadith must come with an isnad (a chain of named authorities who vouchsafe its testimony) to authenticate its claims about the prophet. But let's face it: it was all too easy to forge either one as needed. One could simply invent names freely to create an isnad out of whole cloth; or even better, just tack on an existing one that had already won the approval of the ulama.
Indeed a Muslim that lived in those times when hadith were compiled, Shu'bah ibn Al-Hajjaj, declared that roughly two-thirds of them were fabrications - and modern researchers are even more skeptical.

So it looks like Muhammad's biography (just like that of Jesus) first emerges decades or more after the fact, grows more elaborate with time, spawns a tremendous number of forged teachings in his name; and none of the supposedly impeccable eyewitness sources vouching for him can be verified, let alone taken at face value.

[Minimalist]

Certainly not as portrayed in that silly book.  He didn't fall asleep in a cave and have some fucking angel whisper in his ear.  When muslims are asked for evidence of their boy they fall back on the same type of shit that christards use for theirs.  Holy horseshit written written 70-100 years later by believers which, historically, is fucking worthless.

[Catholic_Lady]

Yes he did

[Minimalist]

Evidence for that?

[paulpablo]

In my opinion both Jesus and Muhammad existed. Besides the supernatural bits of their stories they sound like typical cult leaders with typical mythical bits added in.

[Fake Messiah]

Oh well, I guess it would be fair to mention Imam Muhammad Sven Kalisch who lost the chair for Islamic pedagogy at the University of Münster after doubting the historical existence of Muhammad (and also Jesus and Moses) in 2008. He later came to the conclusion that the prophet never existed and renounced Islam in 2010. Official Islamic groups in Germany have confirmed him as an apostate.

[Brian37]

There doesn't seem to be other historical data about Muhammad except in Quran and a sira, that is, one of the various traditional biographies of Muhammad, which also relies upon the Quran and collections of hadith (traditional sayings attributed to the prophet) as resources.
Muslims believe that the hadith were compiled by Muhammad's followers shortly after the prophet's death in 632 CE and these eyewitnesses completed the task within two decades. In reality, the evidence demonstrates this process actually began roughly a century after that time - and continued for generations.
Each of these hadith must come with an isnad (a chain of named authorities who vouchsafe its testimony) to authenticate its claims about the prophet. But let's face it: it was all too easy to forge either one as needed. One could simply invent names freely to create an isnad out of whole cloth; or even better, just tack on an existing one that had already won the approval of the ulama.
Indeed a Muslim that lived in those times when hadith were compiled, Shu'bah ibn Al-Hajjaj, declared that roughly two-thirds of them were fabrications - and modern researchers are even more skeptical.

So it looks like Muhammad's biography (just like that of Jesus) first emerges decades or more after the fact, grows more elaborate with time, spawns a tremendous number of forged teachings in his name; and none of the supposedly impeccable eyewitness sources vouching for him can be verified, let alone taken at face value.

The same can be said for Buddha. You ask different apologists from different parts of India and Asia and you'll get different stories as to what exact time period he lived in, where he lived and what he wrote.

---

Yes he did

No he did not.

Nobody has magic super powers and nobody comes back from having all the blood drained out of their body. 

As I said in my prior post, someone or more likely a group of people started Christianity as a splinter sect of Hebrews otherwise Christianity would not exist. But there never was such a thing as a baby with super powers.

The letters that spell "Jesus" are never mentioned in the O.T. The name itself however, was quite common back then in that region. The NT books were written way after the alleged time of  the character. That says to me, that the character was manufactured to act as marketing to draw more into the new splinter sect. 

Now, I don't think you understand how difficult it is to type upside down here in Australia, so when you respond do know it takes me longer to respond since walking on the ceiling is not something I am used to.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

There's no independent evidence that the alleged prophet Mohammed existed. And there was no one named "Jesus" until about 1630 A.D.

[drfuzzy]

Did Muhammad exist?  Maybe.  Did a traveling Jewish preacher exist 2000 years ago, and did he manage to piss off both the Jewish rulers and the Romans?  It's likely.
There are always con-artists claiming to get direct revelations from an imaginary sky-daddy.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Did Muhammad exist?  Maybe.  Did a traveling Jewish preacher exist 2000 years ago, and did he manage to piss off both the Jewish rulers and the Romans?  It's likely.
There are always con-artists claiming to get direct revelations from an imaginary sky-daddy.

The Yeshua ("Jesus") character was imaginary but he was based on a composite of the three main Jewish rebel leaders of the time. It was a political story written as a religious story.  

Uthman's committee wrote the Koran with the imaginary Mohammed cast as a religious leader in order to sell Uthman's political agenda.