“In place of the mystery under which the other religions have covered their origins, [Islam] was born in the full light of history; its roots are on the surface. The life of its founder is as well known to us as that of any sixteenth-century reformer. We can follow year by year the fluctuations of his thought, his contradictions, his weaknesses.” — Ernest Renan, “Muhammad and the Origins of Islam” (1851)
Find out why that claim doesn’t hold up to scrutiny in the new revised and expanded version of Did Muhammad Exist?.
CogitoErgoSum says
One reason I hope there is life after death is that I might be able to get the answers to all the questions I have about just what happened in this world before I got here.
Eli 7777 says
The Bible has detailed history from the beginning of time on earth, and was written before Muhammad existed. It shares the life of Christ, the Son of the Living God, and HIs Holy Spirit lives within true believers. The Bible shares the hope of Eternal Life, by believing and following His Word. That’s how we’ve lived our life, and faith in God’s Word enables one to go beyond what, you ever thought you could do. It’s by practicing His principles and Divine direction. The Bible is worth reading.
CogitoErgoSum says
Well, okay but it’s not detailed enough for me. I’d like to know the answers to mysteries like who built the pyramids and how did they do it. Who built Stonehenge and why? Who was Jack the Ripper? Lot’s of other mysteries too I would like to have answered but can’t find solved in the Bible. (The most recent being who actually won the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.)
Politicallyincorrectistruth says
The answers to your questions are available online, or going to museums, or subscribing to leading science publications. You will not find answers studying the bible. It will just confuse you even more because it’s myths do not stand up to any scrutiny at all. Nonsense like the ark encounter that tells you people walked around with dinosaurs is laughable nonsense, and the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, not 6,000. A “god” didn’t make at or us. The Earth formed over millions of years and humans evolved…they were not instantly made with magic.Reality not religion.
Walter Schumm says
You might start by looking at an article published in Insights of Anthropology, by Schumm et al. this month. And an article in Religions, March 2020 by same. Science can be used to solve some of the mysteries. And a paper due out soon in the Open Access Journal of Anthropology and Archaelogy or in Psychology Research and Applications, Nine ways to detect possible scientific misconduct…..
Rarely says
CES.
Biden won the election.
For answers to the other questions you have to wait.
CogitoErgoSum says
Thanks for the suggestions of where to find the answers to my questions. I’ve been looking for answers to them for quite a while and yes, I have looked on the internet to find what the scientists say but the scientists themselves will tell you they have some clues to help them make their best guess about the truth but they don’t know for sure and future discoveries may cause them to change their minds. I’m not wanting best guesses. I would like to know the TRUTH and I don’t think I will ever find that – in the time I have left on Earth, that is. (And yes, Biden won the election but I’d like to know whether or not the American people elected him.)
Robert says
The Bible might be fine for you, and that is good. But there is just so much in there that I simply can’t believe.
I discovered Theravada Buddhism, and converted. The basic teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, (not the animist and Chinese things added later) simply make so much more common sense.
Kepha says
You need to believe and trust the science–especially when it changes its mind.
As for life after death, too many will be wailing and gnashing teeth to find out about all the mysteries you mention.
gravenimage says
I think the search for truth goes on. If one eventually has the answer to some vexing questions–as has happened about, say, the nature of the moon and “missing links”–then there are always new questions, some of them in fact engendered by the answers to the previous questions.
gravenimage says
Why it’s false that Muhammad lived ‘in the full light of history’
……………
Of course, Ernest Renan does not mention that all of these sources are *Islamic*. There is no record of Muhammad’s existance from any external source.
And as this cartoon shows, so much as questioning this is met by violence from pious Muslims.
By the way, Ernest Renan came up with the false claim that Ashkenazi Jews are “Khazars”, and have nothing to do with Judaism. This tripe is beloved of Muslims and used as an excuse to slaughter Jews and destroy Israel (because Jews supposedly are not real Jews).
He himself was an apologist for pogroms against Jews.
Infidel says
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of muslims who claim that the bulk of Israel’s Jews are Khazars, which is a Turkic Jewish group in the Caucasus. Maybe Renan should compare notes w/ our Sabri, who claims that the bulk of them were from Poland and Russia. Well, the bulk of Russian Jews were/are not Khazars, which is just one of the groups of mountain Jews
gravenimage says
Sabri S. also claims that all real Jews are “black”–never mind that this is not true of any peoples of the Levant–and that any Jews who are not black can be slaughtered with impunity.
Eli 7777 says
Muslims want to kill Jews, and Christians to eradicate the belief of Jehovah God. Their goal is to dominate Israel, remove Biblical history and all that competes with Islam and their Allah. America was founded on Biblical principles, that most Presidents acknowledged in their speeches. They knew it was Jehovah God, that enables this nation to survive. Jehovah God had promised to restore Israel again, too. A story was written, how a strong wind blew across the ground in Israel, and exposed the land mines in one of their wars, which saved many. When Americans betray Jehovah God, it will fall, as we see things changing now. Marxist BLM, Communism, and Critical Race Theory in the education curriculum is divisive, and compares whites to the devil. This is evil corruption taking root within, that only prayer and faith can overcome.
Jim says
If the full light of history were shone on the founders of religions, we would not believe in them. The essence of religion is that it puts us in touch with the mystery of the unknown reality. What seems odd about Mohammed is that if the stories in the scriptures are true, he must have been a rather strange prophet of god. In fact, one might even imagine that Allah is Satan and not God. If the full light of history is revealed in the Koran and other Muslim scriptures, it would scare most normal people off and only attract psychopaths and monsters. Perhaps it is better to believe in the mysterious unwritten word and the shadows of history which are indecipherable by historians and philosophers.
Christopher Watson says
My earliest ancestor that I have found was named William. I know he was born in 1702 and where. I know he was a farmer and that he married a girl called Elizabeth in 1723. I know that he and Elizabeth had a daughter also called Elizabeth in 1725. And that is about all we know about William. Yet we know far far more about Mohamed who was born 1000 years before William did not speak to Angels or fly to Jerusalem on a winged-horse. There are hundreds of books telling us every single detail about his life. Funny that.
gravenimage says
Actually, there are only a few books, and they are all related–Islamic texts. I could write several tomes about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and it would be much the same.