CAN HISTORICAL CONTEXT BE USED TO EXCUSE THE VIOLENT TEACHINGS OF ISLAM? Whenever the violent nature of Islam’s key documents are questioned apologists invariably respond by quoting ‘historical’ context. The fact is, however, that the ‘history’ they quote was written down 200 years after the death of Muhammad (mostly in Iraq) after it supposedly circulated in oral form for 200 years. Islam’s ‘history’ is, therefore, the ultimate high stakes games of Chinese Whispers. We are asked to believe that a people with a book at the heart of their religion and that included many literate people neglected to write down their history for seven whole generations. We are also asked to believe that this later back-projected ‘history’ represents the true history of Islam. This is the height of absurdity and should be laughed out of court by any serious historian. Let us now look instead at the actual state of knowledge about pre-Islamic Arabia and the early years of the Arab conquest. This is based on archaeological, numismatic (coins) and documentary evidence. 1) Fact: There is not a single uncontested and verifiable primary source record of a city at the modern location of Mecca. Let alone that this was supposedly the most important city on the Arabian Peninsula and a centre for trade and pilgrimage. In short, Mecca is entirely absent from the documentary, archaeological and numismatic record until long after the advent of Islam. This despite the fact that many other cities and small towns on the Arabian Peninsula are amply attested to in the record. Even unimportant places like Najran and Ta’if are mentioned in a host of pre-570 CE documents. 2) Fact: There is not a single uncontested and verifiable primary source record of a tribe called the Quraysh (the tribe to which Muhammad supposedly belonged) existing on the Arabian Peninsula until long after the advent of Islam. This despite the fact that the Romans and Persians enlisted local tribes to fight in their wars and kept obsessively detailed records of the tribes inhabiting this part of the world. 3) Fact: Many of Muhammad’s enemies in Islam’s holy city are described as livestock and arable farmers in the Qur’an (cf. 4:119). Occupations impossible in the middle of the desert where the modern city of Mecca is located. 4) Fact: The Qur’an describes two high mountains (Al-Safa and Al-Marwah) at the location of Islam’s holy city (2:158). This is absent from modern Mecca where the ‘mountains’ given these names are so small that they are located inside a mosque! 5) Fact: The Qur’an states that the residents of Islam’s holy city passed by the location of Sodom and Gomorrah every day (37:137). This is hundreds of miles from modern Mecca. 6) Fact: Archaeological excavations show that all mosques built before 725 CE (almost a 100 years after Muhammad’s death) were oriented to a location in the Roman province in Syria hundreds of miles north of Mecca. 7) Fact: The earliest primary source reference to Mecca is the Apocalypse of pseudo-Methodius in the Continuatio Byzantia Arabica (741 CE) more than a hundred years after Muhammad’s death. The city first appeared on a map around 900 CE. 8) Fact: There is not a single reference in the historical record of a book called the ‘Qur’an’ before the beginning of the 8th century. We do not have a single full copy of a Qur’an supposedly created by Uthman according to Muslim history. The earliest Qur’anic Manuscripts do not appear before the 8th century. Some dates: The first reference of possible Qur’anic material is in 691 (on the ‘Dome of the Rock’) (de Premare-Ohlig & Puin 2010:190), the first reference to an Arab ‘Scripture’ is in 717 (Nevo & Koren 2003:240; Jeffery 1944:292), the first reference to the Qur’an in non-Muslim sources is not till 740 (Nevo & Koren 2003:241-242), the first reference to a pre-Canonical Qur’an is around 743 (Nevo & Koren 238), definitive references to the Qur’an on Muslim inscriptions did not appear until 750s or 120 years after the time of Muhammad (Volker Popp-Ohlig & Puin 2010:97). 9) Fact: The first Arab inscription referencing Muhammad is in 691 (Volker Popp-Ohlig & Puin 2010:53) 10) Fact: The first non-Muslim reference to Muslims only occurred in the 690s (‘Chronicle of John of Niku’) The conqured people referred to their conquerors as ‘Saracen’, ‘Hagarene’, ‘Ishmaelite’, ‘Maghraye’, ‘Muhajiroun’ they had no idea that there conquerors were ‘Muslims’, that they had a book called the Qur’an or that they were bringing a religion called ‘Islam’ 11) Fact: The first Arab reference to ‘Muslim’ is just prior to 749 AD (Nevo & Koren, 2003:234) 12) Fact: The first reference to Islam is not until 691 (Dome of the Rock) Those who seek proof in scholarly literature backing up these facts are welcome to consult the following detailed annotated bibliography: twitlonger/show/n_1sjk7fk The above are all facts. All that Muslim apologists can offer in reply is an ex-post facto oral tradition written down 200 years later. I challenge Muslim readers who quote ‘historical context’ to get the Qur’an off the hook to provide evidence to counter the facts posted above.If they cannot do this they will have come to terms with the fact that they are defending a book that most likely was not ‘revealed’ in Mecca and did not exist during the time of the ‘prophet’. So to all Muslim apologists, please do not debate me on this, simply bring primary source evidence to disprove the facts listed above. questioning-islam/2015/01/27/can-historical-context-be-used-to-excuse-the-violent-teachings-of-islam/
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 12:54:57 +0000
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