Was the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) An Imposter? - An Objective Probe
By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam
(Co-author (Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA, 2009)
June 02, 2013
There is a pressing need to clarify a doubt that is at the lips or heart of every non-Muslim and probably many secular and street smart Muslims: Was Muhammad truly a Prophet of God, or an imposter – an age old question that has of late come to the fore in thundering chorus? This essay attempts to clarify this, once and for all. To begin with, it looks back into history to trace the root of this doubt or question.
1. Historical Background: The Phenomenal Rise of Islam At The Expense Of Christianity.
The rise of Islam virtually from a no-man’s land of barren Arabian Desert into a superpower in a span of a few decades was immensely shocking and intriguing to the Christian world that virtually lost its eastern wing to Islam. Accordingly, since its early encounter with Islam, Christendom denounced it as a fake religion and declared Muhammad as a false Prophet. This led to the emergence of a vitriolic literature against Muhammad which has over time become a part of Western polemical legacy. In retrospect, it is conceivable that the early custodians of Christian faith wanted to accomplish by pen what they could not by sword. Accordingly, anti-Muhammad discourse rolls on down the centuries, waxing and waning in vitriol, and ingeniously proliferating in diatribes, tirades, calumnies and shamelessly undisguised abuses. With steadily deteriorating inter-faith relations for various reasons it has reached a feverish pitch today. Numerous apocryphal accounts that project the Prophet as a legendary character with super-sexual power and sadistic temperament of the mighty kings of the yore flood the anti-Islamic websites, and can be found even on liberalised Islamic websites. This is creating a totally false image of the Prophet of Islam that makes a mockery of history and conduces to a divide in civilization – one segment, the religious minded Muslims venerating their Prophet and the other, notably the Christian West and anti-religious and anarchist Muslims hating him. It is therefore necessary to objectively scrutinize Muhammad as a person as this exercise undertakes.
Since the Qur’an was revealed (first ever uttered by the Prophet), memorized, recorded and compiled at the same historical point, it “provides a firm basis of undoubted authenticity”1 as a historical document. This exercise therefore attempts to probe the captioned question in light of the Qur’anic glimpses Muhammad’s his life. It is laid out in the form of a close window into the psyche, attitude and aspirations of Muhammad, his responses to the agonizing and aggrandizing moments of his life, his personal ego, self projection, attachment or detachment from worldly life, sensitive additions and omissions in the Qur’an and the background to his military engagements. A logical conclusion is drawn based on these criteria though the reader is free to form his own judgment.
2. The Qur’an Isolates Muhammad from All His Blood Relations, Personal Connections and Circumstances.
The Qur’an does not name any of Muhammad’s next of kin or spouses, not even his first wife Khadija, whom he loved and respected until her death at the end of some twenty-five years of monogamous wedlock.
It does not name any of his companions either, though all his four consecutive successors – Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali had entered Islam within the first five years of the revelation. They had stood by him for almost two decades - sharing his sorrows and agonies and virtually leading his mission - though not officially as his second tier of command. As mark of their love and devotion to the Prophet, they also struck marital ties with him: Abu Bakr and Umar married off their daughters (Aisha, Hafsah) to him and Uthman and Ali married his daughters (Zainab, and after her death Umm Kulsum; and Fatima). If Muhammad were an imposter, their names must have appeared in the Qur’an.
There is an unnamed reference to Abu Bakr, taking shelter in a cave with the Prophet (9:40). There is divine appreciation of the Muhajireen (the Meccan immigrants to Medina, and the Ansárs - the Medinite supporters of the immigrants (8:74, 9:100, 59:8-9) and of the unarmed companions who took pledge of allegiance to defend the Prophet when his unarmed hajj caravan risked an imminent attack by a powerful Meccan army (48:18, Note 122/ Ch.3), but no single name is mentioned. Muhammad is totally isolated from his followers, and does not feel obliged to make any reference to a single one of them who stood by him at the most testing moment of his career.
All these omissions demonstrate that in the course of the twenty-three year span of his mission, the Prophet had not singled out any of his companion as confidant, advisor, collaborator, accomplice, personal secretary, informer, game planner or a favourite, for if it were so, his name would have inevitably appeared in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an does not even mention the saddest moments of the Prophet’s life, notably, the death of his first wife, Khadija, three out of his four grown up daughters, all his three sons (two of them died young, one died in infancy), his protective uncle (Abu Talib) who died barely a few days after Khadija, and loss of close relatives in battlefields. This indicates that the Prophet’s mental state had no influence whatsoever on the revelation. Had Muhammad fabricated the revelation, the most sorrowful moments of his life must have occupied some place in it or at least impacted its tone and flow.
There is not a word on his psychological response to the first revelation – a call coming from nowhere as he meditated all by himself in a cave on Mount Hira. The Qur’anic record betrays no trace of anxiety, agony, elation or depression that must have filled his mind except for giving him the title of Mudaththir (74:1) that connotes one who is lost in thoughts. Neither is there any taint of the feelings of despair, delight, suspense, anxiety, pride, arrogance and grandeur that he must have experienced at the failures and successes of his protracted mission.
3. The Qur’an Does Not Invest Muhammad With Temporal Power, Glory And Grandeur.
The Qur’an describes the Prophet as a man of humble descent (93:6-93:8), a human being like others (3:144, 18:110, 41:6) and not a prominent man in the two towns (Mecca and Medina) (43:31). It also tells us that he was unable to harm or benefit himself or harm and guide others (10:49, 72:21), and was not capable to show any miracles (6:37, 11:12, 13:7, 17:90-93, 21:5, 25:7/8, 29:50). At one occasion, the Qur’an reproves him for ignoring a blind man for his untimely intervention (80:1-10). On another, it harshly warns him, that “if he attributed any false speech to God, God would seize him by the right hand, and then would sever his aorta (69:44-46). Finally, we find him helpless in a cave with a companion whose name is not even mentioned (9:40).
At his unexpected success at Badr expedition, when a small band of his followers defeated a numerically superior and well organised Meccan army, the Qur’an only censors him for taking captives instead of executing them (8:67/68). It does not praise him for accomplishing a military feat that brought Islam in the limelight of history. The Qur’an does not accord him any distinction over the other prophets (21:36, 25:41, 83:29-31). It bars him from putting any pressure on his followers to accompanying him to the battlefield (at the planes of Uhud) (4:84). The Qur’an also clarifies that God’s promise of sending angles down to help his followers in the battlefield of Badr and Uhud were no more than soothing news for them (8:9/10, 3:125/126) rather than any divine favour on the Prophet as the head of the army.
The Qur’an does not give him a robe, a mount or a sword let alone a crown, a throne, a palace or a kingdom. All its references to him are merely as a mortal or a prophet with no glory or aura attached to his title.
4. Muhammad’s Spiritual Exclusiveness.
The foregoing must not be confused with his spiritual exclusiveness as the Prophet of God. Thus, God bestows his blessings on him (33:56), describes him as the mercy for all the worlds (21:107), a witness, a herald and a warner, (2:119, 5:19, 33:45, 34:28. 46:9), a preacher for all humanity (4:170, 25:1, 34:28), raises him in reputation (94:4) (despite the insults suffered at the hands of fellow Meccans), grants him the (mystic experience of the) Night journey (17:1) and heavenly ascent (53:10-18), installs him at the Station of Praise (al-Maqam al-Mahmuda, 17:79), gives him special titles (al Muzammil 73:1, al Mudaththir 74:1), honours him with two of His attributes (Rauf - Most Kind, and Rahim – Merciful, 9:128), describes him as an illuminating Lamp (Sirajam munira, 33:46), a recipient of divine Grace of the highest measure (4:113), to cite the major emblems of his distinction. But these distinctions pertain to the spiritual plain, and leave him at a par with common humanity in worldly affairs as reviewed under 3 above. Thus, he could not keep a faction of his followers from deserting him on way to the plain of Uhad (3:167) where a powerful Meccan army awaited them for an encounter; and later as the battle raged, some of his followers defied his orders and rushed for booty leaving him behind (3:152). His outreaching ambition (as a military analyst would assert) becomes apparent when he plans by far the most ambitious and most risky military mission of his career – the Tabuk expedition (631) – a march to the southern borders of the neighbouring Roman Empire, some 300 miles across barren desert terrain with no supply lines. Though militarily at the zenith of his power, having recently integrated Mecca (630) a year before, he was unable to offer mounts to passionate volunteers seeking to take part in it (9:91), while he had no intelligence set up to verifying the excuses of those who sought exemption (9:42-45). Thus his spiritual exclusiveness came of no avail in worldly matters. Any false Prophet would have covered up these shortcomings simply by altering or omitting records.
5. Presence of Highly Sensitive Themes in the Qur’an.
On personal level, the Qur’an touches on some highly sensitive and unpredictable themes that no false Prophet would have ever entertained.
The Qur’an forbids the Prophet from entering into any fresh marriage, no matter how a woman might appeal her (33:52) soon after according him permission to contracting any number of marriages (33:52). No imposer or even an ordinary mortal can volunteer such self denial – specially a man who had no surviving son that was so much coveted in pre-Islamic Arabia and so desired instinctively by a married man, especially one who has built an empire and empire and has no legal male heir as was the case with Muhammad.
The Qur’an mentions the killing of some of the banu Qurayzah and their expulsion from Medina (33:26/27). A fake Prophet would certainly have omitted this reference and saved his followers from the charge of genocide as recorded in the highly embellished biographic accounts of the Prophet.
It gives him no credit whatsoever for the integration of Mecca – the greatest ‘military’ achievement of his mission that was accomplished without striking a blow (48:24, 48:26, 110). No other leader of the World would let such a grand military success pass without glorifying himself.
It declares the completion of his mission (5:3) signalling his imminent demise. No false Prophet with a humble beginning will predict his imminent death soon after accomplishing his mission and establishing himself as the unchallenged head of a great empire.
It obliquely refers to the Prophet’s deep concern at the estranged relation of his cousin Zainab with her husband Zaid – his freed slave and by custom, adopted son. Any false Prophet or even an honest author would have skipped any reference to Zaid approaching him with complains about his wife (33:67) - an episode that spawned colourful speculations as such matters are wont to do.
At one stage of the revelation, the Qur’an dooms the Prophet’s paternal uncle Abu Lahab and his wife to hellfire (Sura 111) for their unrelenting hostility and opposition to him. Any false Prophet would hesitate from making such an assertion as his condemned opponent could turn his claim against him by entering his faith. Tradition tells us that the couple died as pagans some ten years after the above Sura was revealed.
As the revelation was in its early years and the followers of the Prophet were facing persecution at the hands of the Meccans (8:26, 85;10), the Persians (Fire worshippers) had defeated the Christian Byzantines (Romans), also believers in God, in a number of major battles (613-616). Soon a revelation comes down predicting an eventual victory of the believers in God coinciding with an occasion of joy for the oppressed Muslims – a double prediction:
“The Romans have been defeated (30:2), in the nearby land, and after their defeat they will be victorious (30:3) within a few years: God’s is the command in the past and in the future – and on that day the believers will rejoice” (30:4).
There can be no explanation to this firm prediction coming from the mouth of an imposter – if the Prophet were one, let alone the most learned and the scholarly of any era. The prediction came true as Romans conquered back their lost territories and the Muslims won at Badr over the span of the next ten years.
6. Inexplicable Omissions From The Qur’an Had Muhammad Written It.
As a faker and thus an extremely shrewd manipulator if Muhammad were, there was absolutely no chance of his omitting any of the following from the text of the revelation after predicting its imminent completion (5:3) signalling his immediate demise:
• Nomination of a close relative such as his cousin and son-in-law Ali as successor.
• Provision of an allowance or some form of benefits for his widows and daughters after his demise.
• Exhortation to some form of military training, martial arts, at the least, physical exercise to prepare his followers for armed campaigns that his newly founded umma (community) was poised to encounter as part of the militaristic economy of the era.
• An instruction or gesture to build a mosque, or a memorial in his honour.
• To crown himself with a grand temporal and awe inspiring title in addition to his spiritual and passive title of the Messenger and Prophet of God.
• To claim any distinction for his clan, tribe, tongue, country or civilization
• To acknowledge the contribution of or promise any reward to his generals and foremost companions who stood by him in war and peace and were later to become the flag bearers of his mission as a parting vote of thanks that all
Great leaders of the world are wont to do.
7. The Qur’an Distinguished The Prophets Jesus And Moses For The Miraculous Setting Of Their Birth.
As for the birth of Jesus, the Qur’an declares: “The Angels said, ‘O Mary, God gives you good news of a Word from Him. His name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honored in this world and the hereafter, and one among the nearest (to God). He will speak to the people in infancy and maturity, and will be one of the righteous.” (3:45-46).
As for Moses, the Qur’an declares: “And We inspired the mother of Moses (saying): "Nurse him but when you fear for him, then cast him into the river and do not fear or grieve. Surly, We shall restore him to you, and We shall make him one of (Our) messengers” (28:7).
In contrast to the above, the Qur’an completely skips the circumstances of Muhammad’s birth through the later years of his life and declares: “Did He not find you (O Muhammad) an orphan and give shelter (93:6)? And He found you wandering, and gave guidance (7). And He found you needy, and gave sufficiency” (93:8)
8. Why Will A True Prophet Incorporate Verses Promoting Violence?
The Qur’an repeatedly asserts, it was not in God’s scheme to invest Muhammad with miraculous powers. Muhammad thus had to progress his mission - the greatest social revolution of all time, through human agencies and efforts. Accordingly, he was opposed by the establishment and eventually drawn into armed struggles that included minor skirmishes, expeditions and full scale wars. Recorded in full light of history, Qur’anic verses on fighting attest to the defensive character of the Prophetic mission, the agony and trauma that he and his followers lived in on a day to day, and at times moment to moment basis fearing annihilation at hands of their attackers. Here is a summary record culled from the Qur’an of what went through his followers as they watched their enemies approaching them prior to the Trench battle (627):
“They came on them, waves upon waves. (As Muhammad’s followers watched them from distance,) their eyes dimmed and their hearts rose up to their throats and they imagined (weird) thoughts about God. This was a moment of trial for the believers as they were shaken by a most violent shock. (On the other hand) the hypocrites and those with sickness in their hearts said what God and the Prophet of God had promised was mere illusion. A party of them said to others to go back as it was no (safe) place for them, and a party of them sought the Prophet’s permission saying that their homes were exposed, though they were not exposed and they only wanted to flee. But had the enemy entered (the city) from the sides and asked them to dissent and join a civil war, they would have readily done so, despite their oaths of allegiance. (33:10-15)
Conclusion: The arguments tabled above at the back of historically authentic records culled out from the Qur’an dispel any notion of the Prophet forging or fabricating the text of the Qur’an or being an imposter.
Traditional biographic records are cherry picked by Islam critical scholarship to project the Prophet in negative light. However, as reviewed in a recently published duly approved exegetic work [2] ‘there are many speculative and legendary reports in the classical biography of the Prophet that are no more than embellishments, parables and conjectures.’ Hence, any seeker of truth must explore the Qur’an, which “provides a firm basis of undoubted authenticity”1 as attempted in this exercise.
As for those among the Muslims who have been repeatedly reminded of the truth of the revelation and still call their Prophet an imposter or privilege the highly embellished and legendary accounts of his classical biography or their own jaundiced opinions over the Qur’anic records, the Qur’an declares:
“And the example of those who deny the truth is that (of the cattle herd), when one (the shepherd) calls, they hear nothing but shouts and cries. (They are) deaf, dumb and blind and do not possess intellect (la ‘yaqalun)” (2:171).
Notes
1. Maxime Rodinson, Muhammad, English translation, 2nd edition, London 1996, p.x [Foreword].
2. Muhammad Yunus and Ashfaque Syed, Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA 2009, p. 321.
Muhammad Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009.
URL: https://newageislam.com/ijtihad-rethinking-islam/prophet-muhammad-(pbuh)-imposter-objective/d/11851