If Muhammad claimed to stand in the line of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, there is a straightforward test worth making: compare the conduct attributed to Muhammad in Islam's own sources with the earlier biblical standards he claimed to confirm. . Marriage and sexual ethics Muhammad's marital life differed substantially from the Christian model around Jesus' teaching. Sahih al-Bukhari records Muhammad having nine wives simultaneously . The New Testament, by contrast, requires an overseer to be the “husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2). Bukhari also records Aisha reporting that Muhammad married her at six and consummated the marriage when she was nine . Whatever arguments are made about seventh-century marriage customs, that is what the canonical Sunni hadith collection reports. Then there is Zaynab bint Jahsh . She was not Muhammad's biological son's wife, as is sometimes claimed. She was married to Zayd ibn Haritha, Muhammad's adopted son . After their divo...
Historic Perspective of Islam & Christianity Islam presents itself as the restoration of the religion of Abraham. But when we compare the biblical historical tradition with the religious world of pre-Islamic Mecca , an important question emerges: where is the historical bridge connecting the two? Two Different Starting Points The Bible presents a continuous sacred history: Abraham → Isaac → Jacob/Israel → Moses → David → Prophets → Jesus → Apostles These people belong to an identifiable Israelite/Jewish religious tradition centred geographically on Canaan/Israel and, eventually, Jerusalem. Islam introduces another line: Abraham → Ishmael → Arabia → Mecca → Kaaba → Quraysh → Muhammad But Genesis never says that Abraham or Ishmael built the Kaaba, instituted the Hajj, circumambulated it, used the Black Stone, ran between Ṣafā and Marwa or established the stoning ritual at Mina. Nor do we possess an independently documented genealogy covering the enormous historic...