It's amazing how wildly different and contradictory are the reconstructions of the historical Islam and various fragments of it arrived at through the historical critical method, while the Islamic sources themselves constitute a remarkably integral and coherent narrative (not to say that there aren't things difficult to explain there, but speaking overall) and so far the only one as well. It's like a fairly built house, with the materials of which the historical critical scholars try to rebuild another one, but end up building only ruins, of which one can hardly find two that resemble each other. And all that grotesque effort because they a priori won't accept the claimed authorship of the original house.

Thank you for these truly intriguing interviews

I'm surprised he was not asked about Ahmad Al Jallad's findings regarding lack of pagan inscriptions in the Hijaz since 2 centuries before Islam and Kabaa not being a major pagan house of worship. Also it is amazing how much trust he puts on the Sirah to argue for Mecca's significance. And was he bringing evidence from the Quran for Mecca being major commerce center?! How many times is Mecca mentioned in the Quran?

Great interview, guys. I'm not sure I share the same optimism that Mr. Howard-Johnston has regarding the reliability of the Sierra literature but I still enjoyed listening to the conversation and as somebody who believes that the Quran is a valuable historical resource for learning about the historical Muhammad I found a lot that I could agree with then I could disagree with. Plus I always kind of fangirl a bit when I hear a scholar defend the authenticity of the pre-islamic poetic corpus which I think unfairly approached by most in the quranic studies world from too critical of a perspective. Not saying there hasn't been any redaction at all in some areas perhaps, but I think most of the poems that we have are authentic reflections of the Arabian peninsula before the rise of Islam.

Very good interview!

‏‪1:49‬‏ With all due respect to you, sir... It was liberation, not conquest!!! Liberation stands and fights with you all to expel the occupiers and invaders.

I have a question for Mr. James acording to the sirah the Kaaba was important from day one and even in the Quran it's clearly mentioned in ch 9 in order of revelation surah al feel which indecate that the kaaba had senficance from day 1 if not why God will protect it.

I think one of the best ways to think of Mohammed is a diplomat? Another way is to think of him as a dealer. The histories suggest he was a very capable trader? He had very competent persuasion skills. I think he might have used his negotiation skills with the Quraysh. And this is where the 'Satanic Verses' comes in. It is an example of Mohammed doing a 'deal' in order to gain support with the Quraysh. Obviously, that was a complex deal. So this is why all the prior ritual tropes were accommodated by Islam. It is almost as if Mohammed is going, fine, so long as you believe in one God, we can have stone-worship and circumambulation ...... Again, in order to bring onboard the Arabian tribes .....

The idea of the Quran being authored by pagan arabs goes against the High christology of the Quran. The early Quranic community is a community with a High Christology. 1) Jesus is God’s Word to Mary fullfilled through the Virgin Birth (4:171) 2) Jesus is the Spirit from God which enables him to perform Miracles, revive the dead and speak to the people from the crib.(4:171,2:87 and 5:110) 3) Jesus is one of those closest to God because Jesus is the exalted servant who was raised to God in the highest heaven to Lead creation in the worship of God as God’s heavenly High Priest (17:1, 3:45) 4) Jesus has been given the authority to remove some of God’s previous prohibitions and restrictions to the Children of Israel while also being given the authority to forgive some of their sins. (3:50, 5:15)

The very idea of a messiah chosen by God as a messenger is absurd, when you think about it. Humans want to reify the transcendent and idolise those who present themselves as a channel to a deity. This goes for all religions centring on a single important human figure.

A couple of pages of the real story narrated by an authoritative source: The actions/policies/practices/maneuvres of a clever and imaginative man for amassing personal, political, and military power. He is a typical politician of the Middle Ages. Populist/opportunist, flexible, and when necessary brutal/violent. He employs every tool in the book, political/military/ psychological, with great success

When you réaliz the Real meaning of « masjid haram » .. You know definitly that it is a « construction » and Nothing is divine 🙌

Do you think that islam borrowed rituals from other religions at the time? Like the zoroastrian? The kabba and prayers seam to line up the same.

Quran is indeed a historical book but it's heavily edited to remove the elements of the failed apocalypse milestones during it's various compilations till 695ad mid Umayyad era al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf mashaf. But it's clearly a seventh century text and is synchronous with that milieu albeit with multiple authors and editors.

🌹🌿🌺☘🌻🍀🌷Respected Sir, he says perceptions about Islam that are not true. He relies on selecting specific events. Would you accept an explanation for what he said? I will write two comments, the first on the meaning of Islam, and the second comment on responses to what the honorable said. First, Islam is not a new religion specific to Muhammad. This is a narrow and wrong understanding. Islam is the religion of all the prophets from the first Adam, the father of mankind, to the second Adam, to thousands of prophets sent by God to preach Islam, guide the people, and lead them to the path of God. Islam = that Give yourself and your life to God, God will lead you. You will be in a state of peace with yourself first, with others, and with the universe around you, animals, plants, and air. Wow, the thousands of prophets. One of the sayings attributed to the Prophet mentioned that the number of prophets is 124,000 prophets whom God sent to all peoples. The verses of the Qur’an tell us (to every people there is a guide) (Messengers). Bringing good tidings and warnings) (Every nation has a messenger) (There is no nation that is devoid of a messenger = a prophet) The Qur’anic principle stems from the theory of the legal right to punish him except by text, information, and news to the people (We will not punish until we send a messenger so that the people will have no argument against God). Divine mercy has linked God’s accountability to us. That God sends us messengers who inform us and teach us: Abraham, Noah, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Moses, Joseph, Hood, Job, and Christ are all prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, because the peoples in the region know these prophets. They are like a tree with many branches, each branch being a prophet. Therefore, most of the peoples, when Muhammad came with his call, responded to him and believed in Islam, because these peoples She had previous knowledge of Islam, the religion of Abraham and all the prophets, and the Arabic writings mentioned them under the name Hanafi = followers of Abraham. These prophets lived and died in Yemen, none other than Yemen. History and Yemeni inscriptions tell us that. The Yemeni records tell us about Abraham, they tell us about Pharaoh Moses, they tell us about Job, they tell us about Ishmael, and the Assyrian inscriptions also record Ishmael. The region knew Islam from The evangelization of the previous prophets, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Wu, etc. Before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, we find the name of a Muslim male and female written in Yemeni inscriptions. This is strong evidence that confirms what I also wrote to you. The Qur’an does not care about the historical narrative. The Qur’an gives us questions for the mind to think and research and reach the truth to God. The Qur’an did not care about any human being. To give us the size of his wealth, his birth, his wife, his children, his profession, his system of life, his character, his feelings, his hobbies. The same matter, he did not care about any people or city to tell us its stories. The goal of the Qur’an is to give you knowledge of the Creator, and to turn to Him in thinking to reach the link between rational thinking and reaching God. It used a circular method, not a vertical one like the Holy Bible. It presents You have the biography of a prophet and move on to another prophet and another story. No, the Qur’an did not care about that and used a circular method that gives you thought about God. It presents you with a model of a person or a group that believed and another that refused. It takes you to behaviors that you must follow and others that you avoid and do not do. It presents you with questions that stimulate thought. Who created you? Who created the heavens? What is the fate after death? How does rain fall on the ground and various plants emerge from it, with fruits with different tastes? How does your body work? Wow, dozens of questions to push you to think. The Qur’an did not use the method of the Torah. The Qur’an is a fabric alone. It is a unique book. Unfortunately, your honorable guest views it as a history book, but it is not. The Qur’an is viewed as a fantasy book.🍁🪴🌱💐🌳

Its not divine.. That s all 🥂