Current Events > Why did Muslims believe that Muhammad was a prophet?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think the Bahai Faith calls Muhammad a liar. They think their holy guy was a further prophet after Muhammad. For this reason, Muslims think Bahai is blasphemy

ElatedVenusaur posted...

In fact, the Jews opened the gates of Jerusalem to the Arabs, mostly because they hated the Romans, and the Muslims did typically treat Jews better than the Christians did.

WTF is this???

The Romans did not exist as an empire at the time of Mohammed.

There was the Byzantine Empire, it's successor.

s0nicfan posted...

How did a topic about Islam turn into a debate over how whitewashed Jesus is?

Oof

pinky0926 posted...

Seems like a bad faith argument when literally every depiction of Jesus has him looking like a member of lynyrd skynyrd

"Every" is a strong word choice here.

I'd argue, people of different cultures generally depict Jesus to appear similar to themselves.

This may seem off-topic, but all I can say is that I feel in my heart so deeply that Jesus Christ is the Lord himself, not just because he said that he was, but because of the inexplicable nature of how he came to be and the things that he did while he was on earth.

even Islam acknowledges that Jesus was born to a virgin mother, and also that he performed miracles. Say whatever you want about a Virgin giving birth, theres no way to explain the miracles that came after. Jesus was God. And he was capable of doing all things. He was the perfect human, free of all sin.

this is what made his sacrifice so significant; the only person in human history who never committed a single sin loved us so much that he would pay the price for our evil deeds. Not just the evil deeds of the past, but all of the ones of the future, essentially offering us infinite mercy

Tom_Joad posted...

WTF is this???

The Romans did not exist as an empire at the time of Mohammed.

There was the Byzantine Empire, it's successor.

Yes, the Eastern Roman Empire, which very much considered itself to be the Roman Empire. The book I read (War of the Three Gods, which covered both the final Romano-Sassanid War as well as the Arabic invasions of both empires) referred to them as Eastern Romans.

That final war was launched by Shahanshah Khosrau II, in response to a weak emperor and internal discord in the Eastern Roman Empire. In mere years, the Persians overran the Levant (the Jews opened the gates of Jerusalem to them too), Egypt, and Anatolia, but were prevented from crossing the Bosporus by the Roman navy. It was only after Emperor Heraclius led a daring campaign into the heart of the Persian Empire, overtaking its capital Ctesiphon, that the Persians were forced to accept the status quo ante. However, the war lasted 26 years, and Khosrau II was murdered for his failures, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire exhausted and the Sassanid Empire weak and unstable. The latter was quickly overrun, while Heraclius wisely abandoned the Levant and set up defenses along the passes through the Tarsos Mountains. His Governor of Egypt was a moron and blew a strong defensive position, however.

Tom_Joad posted...

The Romans did not exist as an empire at the time of Mohammed.

There was the Byzantine Empire, it's successor.

The word "Byzantine Empire" is very much a modern construction. To the inhabitants contemporaries of the time they were the Roman Empire.

Norman_Smiley posted...

Islam was predominantly spread by conquest. So why did Muslims believe? Fear of being killed if they didnt convert, super high taxes as well for non-converters.

I mean, yeah, that's how most big religions got big.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Yes, the Eastern Roman Empire, which very much considered itself to be the Roman Empire. The book I read (War of the Three Gods, which covered both the final Romano-Sassanid War as well as the Arabic invasions of both empires) referred to them as Eastern Romans.

That final war was launched by Shahanshah Khosrau II, in response to a weak emperor and internal discord in the Eastern Roman Empire. In mere years, the Persians overran the Levant (the Jews opened the gates of Jerusalem to them too), Egypt, and Anatolia, but were prevented from crossing the Bosporus by the Roman navy. It was only after Emperor Heraclius led a daring campaign into the heart of the Persian Empire, overtaking its capital Ctesiphon, that the Persians were forced to accept the status quo ante. However, the war lasted 26 years, and Khosrau II was murdered for his failures, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire exhausted and the Sassanid Empire weak and unstable. The latter was quickly overrun, while Heraclius wisely abandoned the Levant and set up defenses along the passes through the Tarsos Mountains. His Governor of Egypt was a moron and blew a strong defensive position, however.

What do you know, that's... right.

My apologies.

Evening_Dragon posted...

I mean, yeah, that's how most big religions got big.

No its not. Most religions spread peacefully then their get crazy people killing non-believers centuries later. Christianity spread in the old world peacefully (new world wasn't peaceful, but it was already a big religion before then). Buddhism never really had conquest as its spread technique. I can't find good info on Hinduism but it sounds like it was spread peacefully. Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism weren't spread by force.

Norman_Smiley posted...

No its not. Most religions spread peacefully then their get crazy people killing non-believers centuries later. Christianity spread in the old world peacefully (new world wasn't peaceful, but it was already a big religion before then). Buddhism never really had conquest as its spread technique. I can't find good info on Hinduism but it sounds like it was spread peacefully. Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism weren't spread by force.

You're right, I was vague and way off base anyway.

Norman_Smiley posted...

No its not. Most religions spread peacefully then their get crazy people killing non-believers centuries later. Christianity spread in the old world peacefully (new world wasn't peaceful, but it was already a big religion before then). Buddhism never really had conquest as its spread technique. I can't find good info on Hinduism but it sounds like it was spread peacefully. Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism weren't spread by force.

There was force involved in evicting Buddhism from India, and persecution of religious minorities was common in most places throughout history worldwide. Sassanid Persia, for example, considered Christians to be a kind of Roman fifth column and persecuted them mercilessly, for example, while playing to Judaic dreams of a return to the relatively light hand of Achaemenid rule after centuries of more direct and brutal rule by the Greeks and Romans. The latter, in turn, fueled Christian suspicions and persecution of Jews as definitionally Persophiles (this is all very funny from a modern view, what with Israel and Iran being bitter rivals.)