Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry Into Islam's Obscure Origins Paperback – 2014

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Book Description

Everything you thought you knew about Islam is about to change
 
This stunning book uncovers provocative evidence that forces us to ask: Did Muhammad, Islam’s founding prophet, even exist?
 
It is a question that few have thought―or dared―to ask. But the widely accepted story of Islam’s origins begins to crumble on close examination.
 
InDid Muhammad Exist? bestselling author Robert Spencer brings to early Islam the same level of probing historical criticism scholars have long applied to Christianity and Judaism. Meticulously examining historical records, archaeological findings, and pioneering new scholarship, Spencer challenges the most fundamental assumptions about Islam’s origins―raising questions with profound implications for our world today.

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Review
“Concerted detective work of a scholarly nature. [Spencer’s] book is no polemic. It is a serious quest for facts.”―Washington Times


“Spencer’s careful, detailed, well-reasoned survey and analysis of the historical evidence offer strong evidence that Muhammad and Islam itself were post facto creations of Arab conquerors. . . . [A] brave book.” ―FrontPage Magazine


“For too long, the topic of Islamic historiography has been confined to highly specialized academia. . . . An accessible primer on the subject as we have here is most welcome.” ―American Spectator


 "Impeccably researched . . . Thanks to this book, skepticism regarding what we can know about Muhammad must now and forever be taken seriously.” ―Ibn Warraq, editor of What the Koran Really Says
 


“This will send shockwaves through Islamic communities.”  ―The Blaze


“A well-written, sober, and clear account.” ―National Review Online


“A super detective service for the West . . . Spencer leaves few rocks unturned in his search for the truth about Islam and Muhammad.” —Capitalism Magazine
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About the Author
Robert Spencer is the author of several critically acclaimed books about Islam, including the New York Times bestsellers The Truth about Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). He is a columnist for FrontPage Magazine and the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Spencer holds a master’s degree in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth for more than three decades.

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I am neither Muslim nor extremist

If you're like me, you like the idea of applying some scholarly rigor to the period of early Islam, and don't mind questioning the official story, but you also don't want to spend time or money on some bigoted, dishonest, anti-Islam rant. That's why it took me a long time to finally decide to buy this book. I don't agree with it entirely, but I do think it was worth reading. It presents a revisionist view and supports it honestly (as far as I can tell). Obviously the author is trying to persuade the reader that Islam did not begin the way we all thought it did, so obviously there's an agenda there. In the end, it does not result in either an air-tight case or (as far as I can tell) dishonesty or misrepresentation of the evidence. I'm glad to have read this view and to be made aware of the evidence presented, so that I can factor it into my own view, which is more nuanced than this book's. Read this AFTER you've become familiar with a more mainstream version of the history. Then decide for yourself. To the author's credit, this book gives you room to decide. He has a strong opinion, but he knows and acknowledges that it is an opinion. His "voice" is not that of an anti-Islam extremist. He's calm and measured. All in all a valuable book, though only as an addition to others.

Here's an honest question, just because I'm curious how a revisionist would answer it: If Muhammad did not exist, and the whole story was concocted c. 700 by the Sunni Umayyads, 20 years after the second Fitnah, how is it that the Sunni and Shia agree to such a great extent on who Muhammad's family were? They all agree that Ali was his son-in-law, and the father of his grandsons, right? Obviously they disagree on whether this blood relationship matters or not. But they agree on most of the basic facts, right? How could that be if Muhammad is a myth created years after the "schism"? Why would the Sunni acknowledge that Hussein was the grandson of their made-up prophet if he was, in fact, made up?

Any Inquiry into Muhammad Must Begin at the Basic Question

Thank God for Robert Spencer! I know him personally and know for a fact there is not a hateful bone in his body against anyone. If you read his books he makes a real effort to be as fair as he can possibly be while living in the very oppressive unfair pc world against the truth he must operate in. How he remains in a professional state of self-control as an author amazes me. I could not do it. This book examines facts of historical realities of pre and post Muhammad events that are pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle creating an understanding of a composite Muhammad consisting of various historical figures of Arab decent. He closely examines the facial impressions and inscriptions created on coins over a periods of time to give us a deeper appreciation of who or whom the "Praised One" is. This book is fascinating, very well written and his conclusion is very convincing and makes perfect sense. Anyone who is not afraid to learn the truth about Islam needs to read this book.

A Concise Summary of Scholarly Work

The title, of course, is meant to be provocative, but the sub-title is a more accurate description of what is in the book,"An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins." We are all taught that Islam emerged at the beginning of the Arab conquests in the 7th century, fully formed and driven by the revelations by Allah to Muhammad. Spencer points to all the valid historical evidence, largely produced by others, that indicates this is pure hokum. Islam's origins are obscure as are the origins of the Koran, and the idea of the prophet himself. All came well after Muhammad's supposed death date of 632 AD, and he is not the first to point this out.

Of course Islam's apologists will quickly introduce the red herring of the time that elapsed between the supposed date of Christ's Crucifixion and the first gospels (still shorter than that of Muhammad's death and the appearance of the Koran), but not only does that beg the question, it ignores the fact of the existence of contemporary accounts by the losers and winners in the early Arab conquests that make no mention of Islam or Muhammad. Even if the losers didn't understand the nature of the conquerors, the winners surely did. There were several names given to the conquerors, but "Muslim" is not one of them. Add to that the curious depictions of the cross on Arab coins minted after the conquests, and the mystery only deepens.

This work is not an attack on Islamic religious beliefs, although if Muhammad is proven to have never existed either in the form in which he is presented in the history books and Islamic tradition, or not at all, that would prove difficult for Islamic scholars. This book is just what the sub-title says it is: an inquiry. Well written, very well organized and (other authors of complex material take note) it offers a simple summary of his case at the end of the book.

Will it make an impact? Not by itself. It is too politically incorrect to take hold in the academe, where it will doubtless be banned. However should the madness of political correctness ever loosen its grip, this book will become invaluable for us non-scholars in helping us understand where Islam came from, if not why it still holds sway over so many.