By the way I could not comment on Google Chrome. I had to change to Firefox

That’s downright weird. I’m using open-source Chromium and I have no problem commenting. Try clearing cookies out for this site and see if that helps – could be that the cookies are pointing to the old setup that required a login.

Do you think (if Muhammad did existed) he was talking to a demon instead of Gabriel?

Assuming he existed, and given the sheer amount of lies and nonsense and balls-out CRAZY to be found in Islamic traditions, yes, I do think so.

And if God wanted to talk to Muhammad he could do it. Very similar to how he did with Moses

Quite. Which is just one of about a hundred reasons that anyone can think of – and there are surely thousands more – as to why the canonical origins of Islam make absolutely no sense.

By the way I could not comment on Google Chrome. I had to change to Firefox

Just a thought.
Even if Muhammad did exist, the story of him going into the cave and meeting an angel does not hold up. And you are right on this

Do you think (if Muhammad did existed) he was talking to a demon instead of Gabriel? The 1st meeting and I am using Wikipedia:

(the angel Gabriel appeared before him in the year AD 610 and said, “Read”, upon which he replied, “I am unable to read”. Thereupon the angel caught hold of him and embraced him heavily. This happened two more times after which the angel commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses)

Muhammad went to his wife to be consoled. It was Waraqah who convinced him that he was a prophet.

I think it would be cruel to do that to someone who can not read. It would be like someone taking me and trying to force me to read a paper written in Japanese, I can not do and would have to be taught Japanese. And then the embraced is weird. Angels in the Bible act very different. And if God wanted to talk to Muhammad he could do it. Very similar to how he did with Moses

Are you sure the Persian Empire used Arabs as troops against the Byzantines? I could be mistaken, but I thought one of the reasons the Arabs were so successful against the Byzantines was their war manual, the Strategikon, did not have any info on Arab armies.

Interesting question. I think it deserves a longer answer. I’ll get back to this one later.

It’s known that both the byzantines and the persians sponsored rival Bedouin confederations to attack each other. One of them was completely wiped out during the long Byzantine/Sassanid war, I forget which one.

I read a book, years ago, called “Did Muhammad Exist?” by Robert Spencer.

Yep. I’ve read that one too. Dr. Spencer comes to the conclusion that Muhammad, as described in the various Islamic traditions, almost certainly did not exist, and that whoever is described in those texts, is almost surely a composite of other figures.

The latest research shows that even Dr. Spencer’s findings, which were in turn a distillation of other works, are outdated – but that his basic thesis is entirely correct.

One thing I’d ask a Muslim is why Gabriel would’ve quoted the Koran to Muhammad.

Well, more fundamentally than that – why would Gabriel have quoted Scripture to an illiterate bumpkin, and in Arabic at that, when God knew perfectly well that there were other, far more suitable and straightforward, languages in which to transmit His chosen word?

Literally nothing that Islamic apologists claim, holds water. Not logically, not empirically, not scripturally, not historically – NONE of it makes any sense. They’ve got the wrong man, in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, at the wrong time – to paraphrase Dr. Jay Smith, if only slightly.

Either way, great post.

A lot of his research follows what you’ve listed. The part I found interesting was the absolute lack of archaeological evidence, both physical and through writings. Funny that Israelis seem to find biblical sites or sites where a battle occurred, and there’s tons of evidence – from buildings to bones to arrowheads. There’s none for any of the great battles Muhammad supposedly won. Muhammad was a trader, yet Mecca and Medina are far from any known trade route.

Much of Christianity lines up with history. There are many writings of non Jews or Christians from the period that line up.

One of the more interesting chapters goes into how much of the Koran makes no sense. But when they use syriac christian translations, it makes more sense.

One thing I’d ask a Muslim is why Gabriel would’ve quoted the Koran to Muhammad. Millennia of history and scripture, When God wanted to tell someone something, he did so. He sends angels as messengers, or harbingers, but rarely do they speak in God’s place.

Personally, I think it was Satan who whispered in his ear, if he existed.