08-07-2006, 02:01 AM
Quote:Muhammad pbuh have never seen the Gospel that you are talking about. His language was Arabic and there was no Arabic Bible in the time of Muhammad pbuh, plus he was illiterate. How did you make such claim that he came across the Bible that you are reading now??
There is ample evidence that Christians were preaching the gospel to the Arabs in Mecca in Mohammed's time. The Quran even addresses Christians. Of course Mohammed encountered Christians and the gospel. A book called "Mohammed's Mecca" describes the fact that Meccans had much contact with Christians.
The influence of Christianity was brought to bear upon Arabia both from Syria in the northwest and from Mesopotamia in the northeast. In the sixth century A.D. the Arabic kingdoms of the Ghassanids in Syria and the Lakhmids in Mesopotamia were allied respectively with the Byzantine and the Persian empires and were strong centers of Christianity. From these regions and in this time if not also earlier, Christian ideas spread on into the farther reaches of Arabia. A careful study of the relevant data particularly in the Quran shows that Muhammad had a very considerable store of knowledge of Judaism and Christianity, and that it was of the sort which he would have been most likely to obtain through oral channels and personal observation over a long period of time.
You are shocked that I would say that Mohammed was influenced by Jews and Christians. Sorry. He was...that is a fact. He didn't get all of it right though. For example, his idea that he Trinity was Father, Son and <b>Mary</b>...maybe because he was illiterate.
I don't accept the notion that Mohammed was illiterate either.
Quote:O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of God aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in God and His apostles. Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs." (Koran 4:171)