JESUS AND MUHAMMAD

List of contents:
I. Introduction
II. Alleged prophecies about Muhammad
A. The story of the Nestorian monk Bahira
III. Prophecies about Jesus
IV. The prophetic call
V. The seal of prophets?
VI. The extent of mission
VII. Their messages
VIII. Their titles
IX. Their deaths
X. Their moral examples
XI. Shedding innocent blood
XII. Compassion for the suffering humanity
XIII. Self-sacrifice and exploitation
XIV. Miracles
XV. Healing illness
XVI. State Power
XVII. Personal protection
XVIII. Demonic influence
XIX. The case for epilepsy
XX. The case for narcissism
XXI. Characteristics of a false prophet
XXII. Conclusion
Selected Bibliography

I. INTRODUCTION
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Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is viewed as the ideal of Islam, whose life is to be emulated. Is Muhammad’s pattern of conduct really beautiful, perfect and exemplary? Is it worth imitating (an-Nisa’4: 80; al-Ahzab 33: 21; al-Qalam 68: 4)? We shall examine main highlights of his conduct, teachings and life herein, comparing it with Jesus’.

The life and works of Jesus Christ are very different from Muhammad’s. They are summarized in this article.

We will examine herein some of the major fundamental differences between Jesus and Muhammad pertaining to the important topics of prophecies, call, the extent of mission, messages, deaths, moral life and example, compassion for suffering humanity, self-sacrifice and exploitation, miracles, illness, state power, protection, demonic influences, etc.

II. ALLEGED PROPHECIES ABOUT MUHAMMAD
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The Qur’an states that the Holy Bible prophesied the coming of Muhammad (ash-Shu’ara’ 26: 196; as-Saff 61: 6; al-A’raf 7: 157). Due to the fact that the Holy Bible does not contain any prophecies on Muhammad whatsoever, some Islamists claim that Jews and Christians changed the Bible. The authenticity of the biblical text is proven beyond doubt in this page.

Other Muslim scholars misinterpret the Bible, and claim erroneously that there are prophecies in the Holy Bible about Muhammad. Let us examine their most important claims:

1. God spoke to the prophet Moses about what he intended to do for the Jews saying: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (Deuteronomy 18: 18, 15). This prophecy was fulfilled in the history of the children of Israel. God gave them many prophets after Moses culminating in Christ. The prophet that Moses foretold was Jesus the Christ who stated that Moses wrote about him (John 5: 46). His apostles and disciples recognized him as the prophesized prophet (Acts 3: 22-23; 7: 37). Many Jews recognized that also (John 1: 45; 6: 14; 7: 40-41).

This prophecy does not point to Muhammad because of the following reasons:

a. The prophet was to be an Israelite from their brethren. Muhammad was not a Jew. He was not born in a Jewish tribe. Jesus was an Israelite. He was born in the Jewish tribe of Judah (Luke 3: 23-38).

the Satanic verses,

Muhammad did not.

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2: 5-6; Matthew 20: 28; Mark 10: 45).

e. Moses left a high position in ancient Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth in his day, as the adopted son of the pharaoh’s daughter, to suffer with his people and rescue them from the oppression of the pharaoh. Similarly, Jesus left the highest position in heaven to suffer and make ransom for fallen humanity (Philippians 2: 5-8). Muhammad did not do that.

f. After speaking with the Lord God on mount Sinai, Moses face shone (Exodus 34: 29-35). Similarly, Jesus face shone like the sun at his transfiguration on a mountain (Matthew 17: 1-9). This never happened to Muhammad.

g. In their infancy, both Moses and Jesus were nursed by their own mothers in Egypt, and came out of Egypt to serve God. Muhammad was not. The pharaoh of Egypt tried to kill the infant Moses (Exodus 1: 22). King Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2: 16). Both were rescued by divine intervention (Exodus 2: 2-10; Matthew 2: 13). Both fasted forty days in the wilderness (Exodus 34: 28; Matthew 4: 2). Muhammad did not experience these things.

2. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118: 22-23). This prophecy pointed to Jesus whom the majority of the Jews rejected (Matthew 21: 42-43).

3. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…” (Isaiah 61: 1-2). Jesus, who lived on earth about six hundred years before Muhammad, fulfilled this prophecy as he declared saying: “…Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4: 21).

4. “And I (Jesus) will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14: 16-17). This prophecy and others similar to it in the Holy Bible (John 15: 26; 16: 7-15; Acts 2: 16-21) are about imparting the Holy Spirit of the living God to Christians to guide, console and strengthen them: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14: 26; Acts 1: 4-5). That has been fulfilled in the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-4), ten days after the ascension of Jesus to heaven, when the disciples heard the sound of violent wind, saw tongues of fire descending on them, and were filled with the Holy Spirit. This helper is the Holy Spirit of the living God. These prophecies definitely do not point to Muhammad because of the following reasons:

a. This counselor and comforter will indwell only those who believe in, and love, Christ and obey his commandments. Neither Muhammad nor his followers did that.

b. This counselor is the spirit of truth who will be with the Christian believers forever. This helper is an invisible spirit. Muhammad was visible. He was not a spirit. Nor did he live forever. He died and was buried, never to rise again in this age.

he resides within them.

d. Christ taught that the spirit of truth will testify about him (John 15: 26). Muhammad did not. He recognized him as a mere prophet, but refused to acknowledge him as the incarnate Son of God, who has brought salvation to the humankind.

e. Christ taught that this counselor (the Holy Spirit of the living God) will guide Christians into all truth, and will glorify Christ (John 16: 12-15). Muhammad did not do that. He did not bring any glory to Christ.

5. Jacob, the son of Isaac, blessed his son Judah, saying: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. And to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49: 10). Definitely, this prophecy could never refer to Muhammad because he was not a descendent of Judah the son of Jacob the son of Isaac. The first part of this prophecy is fulfilled by the kings who ruled the united kingdom, and then the kingdom of Judah in southern Palestine, beginning with king David, a descendent of Judah, then his son king Solomon, etc. The scepter points to the scepter of kingship. Most of those kings followed the law of Moses, which God gave Moses on mount Sinai after the death of Jacob by more than four hundred years. They ruled and set up their laws based on the law of Moses. The reign of the kings of Judah ended before the coming of Christ (Shiloh) as Jacob prophesied. Christ was born in the tribe of Judah. He did not come to establish an earthly empire, but an eternal heavenly kingdom that has no end. Christ reigns over the Christian believers spiritually.

6. “God came from Teman. The Holy One from Mount Paran …” (Habakkuk 3: 3; Deuteronomy 33: 2). Mount Paran is not in Arabia. It is in the desert of Sinai (Numbers 10: 12; 12: 16; 13: 3, 26) about 1000 Km. away from Mecca. Teman was a town/district in the territory of Edom south of the Dead Sea. Muhammad was not born in the desert of Sinai or Edom, and never went there to receive revelations.

A. The story of the Nestorian monk Bahira
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Islamic history narrates that when Muhammad was twelve years of age, he and his uncle Abu-Talib traveled to Syria with one of Mecca’s merchant caravans. A Nestorian monk named Bahira met them and spoke with Muhammad. He then looked for a mark between his shoulders. When he found it, he declared that Muhammad was going to be a prophet.

There are major problems and difficulties with this story that renders it not credible:

1. No one of the Jewish prophets, and no one of the apostles of Christ, had a distinguishing birthmark between his shoulders.

2. There is nothing in the entire historic records of the Nestorians that tells they were expecting, and looking for, another prophet.

3. The Nestorian heresy was condemned by the universal Church in the third ecumenical council convened in Ephesus in 431 AD.

On his back, between his shoulder blades, Muhammad had a skin lesion with a rough elevated surface and extra hair. This is an ordinary type skin nevus that is found in many people who never claimed prophecy. It is not a sign of prophethood. None of the biblical prophets had it.

III. PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS
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The Old Testament contains approximately 330 prophecies on Christ. The prophecies that pertain to his first advent have been fulfilled. The prophecies that pertain to his second advent await his second coming in glory and power to judge the living and the dead.

The true living God established a covenant with Isaac the son of Abraham from his wife Sarah when he declared to Abraham that: “…Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year” (Genesis 17: 19-21).

Subsequently, Abraham sent away Hagar, the Egyptian maid of Sarah, and her son Ishmael: “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba” (Genesis 21: 9-14).

The promise of God to Abraham—“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…” (Genesis 22: 18)—was fulfilled by the coming of Christ from the descendents of Isaac, and by proclaiming the gospel of Christ to all the nations of the earth.

A sampling of the Old Testament prophecies about Christ is provided in this page.

IV. THE PROPHETIC CALL
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Muhammad doubted the validity of his first defining vision in the cave of Hira (Bukhari 1.1.3; 9.87.111). He was deathly afraid of the source of his call. He thought that he was possessed by demons. Muhammad’s doubts are problematic, because no prophet in the Holy Bible had ever doubted the source of his prophetic revelation, or attributed it to demons. Islamic teachings assert that women are intellectually inferior to men. However, it was his first wife Khadija who assured him about his call. He contemplated suicide by jumping off a mountain (Bukhari, 9.87.111). His confused disturbed mental state argues strongly against trusting his call. Muhammad oscillated between revelations from Satan and from his god. The most famous example for the satanic revelations are the Satanic verses. In fact, the first Qur’an Muhammad claimed to have received around the year 610 was sura al-‘Alaq 96 which contained scientific errors. It stated that man “was created from clots of blood” (al-‘Alaq 96: 2).

Muhammad alleged divine revelation both in his call to prophecy, and in receiving the Qur’an. According the Islamic tradition, Muhammad claimed to have encountered a spirit in the cave of Hira. He was forty years old, and was alone in the cave. The spirit squeezed him so tightly till he thought he was going to suffocate to death, and then gave him the first Qur’an. This was not the angel Gabriel as Waraqa bin Naufal , Khadija’s cousin, identified him mistakenly (Bukhari 1.1.3). The whole ordeal was not a godly experience. The angels of the true living God do not torment His prophets. They calm them, help them, and relieve their fears. The Holy Bible tells us that “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11: 14).

In fact, the true living God never called any Jewish prophet or Christian apostle in that frightening way. God does not terrorize His servants and prophets. For instance, the Lord called Moses to prophethood in this manner: “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So, he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob… Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt”” (Exodus 3: 1-6, 10). The Qur’an concurs that God spoke to Moses directly (an-Nisa’ 4: 164).

God called the prophet Samuel directly: “… while Samuel was lying down, that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” So he ran to Eli (the priest) and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down. Then the LORD called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.) And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant hears.”” (1 Samuel 3: 3-10).

Other examples are God’s calls to the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel speaking to them directly in godly visions: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I (Isaiah) saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me”” (Isaiah 6: 1-2, 8). “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I (Ezekiel) was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel 1: 1).

Jesus ministry began after he was baptized in the Jordan River. God the Father spoke to him directly, “… And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1: 9-11). There were no panic attacks, depression or doubts. Christ called His apostles by simply asking them to follow Him, not by terrorizing them: “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4: 18-22).

Unlike Muhammad, none of the true prophets of the living biblical God ever suspected demonic possession in their call, or attempted suicide after their call, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1: 7).

Throughout the centuries, the true living God spoke directly to the biblical prophets. His primary method of communication was through the direct inspiration of his Holy Spirit: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 10). The Islamic god never spoke directly to Muhammad (ash-Shura 42: 51). His alleged revelation came to him by angelic visitation, visions, foaming fits and convulsions—a condition Jesus attributed to demonic possessions (Mark 9: 14-29). The Holy Bible tells us that God used angels only to deliver specific messages about future events (Luke 1: 5-22, 26-38).

In receiving the Qur’an, the Islamic tradition tells us that Muhammad used to go into convulsions similar to epileptic seizures, break out in cold sweat, and his mouth used to foam. This indicates that Muhammad was either afflicted with epilepsy or another neurological illness, or he was demon possessed. In fact, Jesus exorcized demons that had tormented the possessed persons in this very same way: “Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the majesty of God …” (Luke 9: 38-43). There are striking similarities between the symptoms that boy suffered from and what used to happen to Muhammad when he claimed divine revelation. Instead, was it a satanic inspiration all along?

Both seizures leading to trances the way Muhammad experienced, and his horrifying experience in the cave of Hira are neither miracles of the living God nor signs of divine revelation. God is all-holy, loving and faithful. Neither He nor His angels betray, torment or do violence to His prophets that serve Him. In fact, the Holy Bible teaches us that whenever the angel Gabriel appeared to deliver a message to someone, he always gave that person assurances of peace and safety: “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias… I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings” (Luke 1: 13a, 19); “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Then the angel said to her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1: 26-27, 30).

V. THE SEAL OF PROPHETS?
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This important topic is discussed in that page.

VI. THE EXTENT OF MISSION

Islam claims that Jesus had only a limited mission to the Jews. That conflicts with the Christian teaching that Jesus’ mission is universal to all peoples in all places at all times. In fact, Christ commanded his disciples saying: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28: 19); “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1: 8).

History tells us that his apostles obeyed his command, traveled far, and proclaimed the gospel to pagans outside Palestine. For instance, the apostle Paul proclaimed Christianity in Asia Minor and in Europe. The apostle Matthew evangelized as far as India; the apostle John in Asia Minor; and Mark the evangelist in North Africa.

In his active earthly ministry, Jesus participated in, and transformed the world around him peacefully. He taught the people, healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, etc. He loved sinners. He wanted to bring them to repentance and a new life. He did not command their killing or mutilation.

VII. THEIR MESSAGES
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Muhammad’s teachings evolved, and were modified over the years of his ministry. The duties required of a Muslim were not the same at the beginning of his ministry as they were at its end, twenty-three years later. For instance, during the early years of his ministry in Mecca, Muslims were not required to pray a specific number of times every day. This requirement was imposed after ten years in ministry. Another example of the changing requirements is the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj), which was not required until Muhammad’s ninth year in Medina. In its final form, his message required Muslims to do five things:

1. Say the Islamic creed
2. Pray the five daily ritual prayers
3. Pay zakat
4. Fast the month of Ramadan (a pre-Islamic pagan practice in Arabia)
5. Make pilgrimage to Mecca (a pre-Islamic pagan practice in Arabia)
In addition to that, Muhammad in Medina urged Muslims to engage in armed holy war (jihad) against the infidels (non-believers).

By contrast, Jesus’ message was consistent and did not change throughout his ministry. He has proclaimed that he was the only way for a rightful relationship with God: “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6). He emphasized the two great commandments of loving God, and loving other people and forgiving them throughout his ministry.

Muhammad declared in the Qur’an (at-Tawbah 9: 80) that he could not forgive sins, and could not intercede in behalf of someone that his god might forgive him. Jesus declared that he had the authority to forgive sins on behalf of God (Matthew 9: 2-7; Luke 7: 36-50).

The teachings of Jesus challenge Muhammad’s claim of prophethood in several areas. Jesus taught saying: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7: 15-20). So, what are the fruits of Muhammad?

1. Mistreating and harming people. The army of Muhammad killed thousands of innocent people, looted their wealth, and sold their women and children into slavery. At the beginning, Muhammad fought for his survival and the survival of his Islam. However, after he gained power in Medina, he began to aggressively go after people who posed no threat to him at all in order to force Islam on all of Arabia (at-Tawbah 9: 5, 11-13; Bukhari 4.52.196). Muhammad was responsible for the first Islamic massacre in the long bloody history of Islam in 627 AD—the massacre of the tribe of Banu Qurayza, the last Jewish tribe in Medina, that posed no threat to him. All the men of the tribe (700-800 men) were beheaded in cold blood (al-Ahzab 33: 26). Muhammad urged his Muslim followers to kill his opponents for him and praised them for doing it afterwards. This led to the assassination of Asma’ bint Marawan while she was nursing her baby home, 120-year-old Abu Afak, Kaab ibn al-Ashraf, Abu Rafi Salaam, etc.

Jesus condemned that when he said: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10: 10). Jesus forbids retaliation on one’s enemies (Matthew 5: 38-42). Unlike Muhammad, he forbids using the sword to spread his message (Matthew 26: 52). People are free to follow him or reject him (Matthew 17: 24; 28: 18-20; John 6: 66-69).

2. Religious burdens. Muhammad emphasized external legal requirements (e.g. ritualistic prayers, ritualistic fast, payment of zakat tax, pilgrimage to Mecca, etc). This legalism does not effect internal spiritual transformation in the person. Jesus contrasted that when he rebuked the Jewish teachers of the Mosaic law and chief priests saying: “…Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11: 46). Religious legal requirements imposed a heavy burden on the Jews and focused on external behavior, “Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11: 39).

Jesus was not a legalist. He wanted to regenerate and build the human person spiritually. He wanted to renew and sanctify the fallen human nature. He rebuked the Jewish religious leaders for advancing the requirements of the Mosaic law to the mercy of God when they criticized him for breaking the Jewish law by working on the Sabbath to heal a crippled woman (Luke 13: 10-17).

3. Teachings on the nature of God. In the Qur’an, Muhammad described a changing god of punishment and vengeance, and a god who works with Satan and demonic powers to lead people astray (al-An’am 6: 39, 126; al-Zukhruf 43: 36-37).

Jesus described a God of exceeding love, compassion and holiness.

4. Other teachings. This page discusses other teachings of Islam, and compares them with Christian positions on the subject issues.

5. Morality. Section X below provides highlights of Muhammad’s conduct.

VIII. THEIR TITLES
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The following is a list of the important titles of Muhammad in the Qur’an, and the approximate number of times they appear in the Meccan and Medinan suras of the Qur’an:

Warner......: Mecca 58, Medina 7
Announcer.: Mecca 22, Medina 13
Prophet.....: Mecca 2, Medina 33
Messenger: Mecca 20, Medina 167

The title of prophet is used only two times in late Meccan verses of the Qur’an.

Jesus is mentioned 97 times in 93 verses of the Qur’an. He is called the “Spirit of God” seven times. However, Muhammad is mentioned only 25 times. This indicates that Jesus is more important and of a higher rank than Muhammad.

The following are the approximate number of times the major titles of Jesus appear in the four Gospels:

Rabbi..........: 17
Teacher.......: 40
Prophet.......: 20
Christ..........: 55
Son of David: 10
The Lord.....: 140
Son of God..: 60
The “I Am”...: 20

IX. THEIR DEATHS
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Muhammad did not die a martyr for his cause. He died of sickness aggravated by poison (Bukhari 5.59.713). He could not heal himself? His death had no spiritual significance or purpose. Dying on Aisha’s knees, he asked his god for forgiveness and mercy (Bukhari 5.59.724), cursed the Jews and Christians (Bukhari 7.72.706; 1.8.427), and asked his companions to get the non-Muslims out of Arabia (Bukhari 4.52.288; 5.59.716; 4.53.392, 380). Muhammad declared saying: “… I have been made victorious with terror …” (Bukhari 4.52.220). Muhammad was insecure about his eternal destiny (al-Ahqaf 46: 9). He expressed doubt whether his god would accept him (Bukhari 5.58.266; 2.23.334; 9.87.145). He asked Muslims to pray for his salvation (al-Ahzab 33: 43, 56). After his death, Muhammad’s corpse was buried in its grave in the sands of the desert of Hijaz. His body saw corruption like anyone else. His remains are still their till this day.

By contrast, God ordained that Jesus die on the cross to redeem those that believe in him, renew their human nature and free them from the bondage of sin and decay: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3: 16). Jesus stated clearly: “… I am the good shepherd … I lay down my life for the sheep … I lay down my life that I may take it again” (John 10: 14, 15, 17). The divine purpose of his death was to establish the New Covenant between God and humanity for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus said: “For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26: 28).

Dying on the cross, Jesus forgave his crucifiers saying: “…Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23: 34). He also forgave the penitent criminal who was crucified on his right side saying to him: “…Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23: 43). Jesus knew for certainty that he was going to paradise. The last words he uttered on the cross before he dismissed his spirit were: “…Father, ‘into Your hands I commit my spirit …” (Luke 23: 46). After his death, Jesus’ body was buried only to rise from the dead early in the third day (Mark 16: 1-8), thereby assuring our resurrection. His tomb is empty. His body never saw corruption. Death could not hold him in his grip. He triumphed over death. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared at least ten times to more than five hundred people over a period of forty days (1 Corinthians 15: 3-7; John 20: 10-18, 24-29; Matthew 28: 8-10; Luke 24: 13-32; Acts 1: 3). Forty days after his resurrection, he ascended to heaven. This was a public event witnessed by his disciples (Acts 1: 9-11).

Jesus Christ is alive. Muhammad is dead. He cannot hear or help anyone (an-Naml 27: 80; ar-Rum 30: 52; al-Fatir 35: 22).

Christ lives not only in the universe, but also in the hearts of Christians and with them: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3: 20); “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith …” (Ephesians 3: 17); “…I am with you always, even to the end of the age …” (Matthew 28: 20); “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4: 13). Muhammad, who is helplessly dead, cannot do any of these things.

X. THEIR MORAL EXAMPLES
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Some Muslims believe that prophets are guarded from sin. This is not true. In fact, according to the Qur’an, prophets and apostles commit sin (Taha 20: 120-121; Hud 11: 45-47; Ibrahim 14: 41; ash-Shu’ara’ 26: 77, 81-82; al-Qasas 28: 15-16; Sad 38: 21-25, 35).

Moreover, some Islamists claim that Muhammad was a moral person who did not commit any major sin, and is a perfect moral example for humanity. They also claim that his moral life is one of the chief proofs that he is a prophet from God. On the contrary, Muhammad committed many immoralities that flawed his character. In fact, the Qur’an and Hadith speak of his sinfulness and his need to ask his god for forgiveness (an-Nisa’ 4: 106; at-Tawbah 9: 43; al-Ahzab 33: 56; al-Mu’min 40: 55; Muhammad 47: 19; al-Fath 48: 2; al-Muddathir 74: 1-4; ad-Duha 93: 6-7; al-Inshirah 94: 1-3; an-Nasr 110: 3; al-An’am 6: 52; ‘Abasa 80: 1-10; Bukhari 1.12.711; 9.93.482; 8.75.335, 379, 407, 408; Muslim 4.1212).

On the other hand, Jesus of the Gospel was sinless. He challenged his foes with the question: “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8: 46a, 29; 7: 18; 1 Peter 1: 19; 3: 18). He withstood a Roman trial. The verdict of the Roman governor Pilate was that “…I find no fault in this man” (Luke 23: 4). The Roman centurion at the cross of Jesus “…glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man!”” (Luke 23: 47). The thief crucified next to Jesus testified saying: “…This man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23: 41). The apostle Peter who lived and walked with Jesus for more than three years testified about him saying: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2: 22). The apostles John and Paul stated the same: “… in him there is no sin” (1 John 3: 5; 2 Corinthians 5: 21; Hebrews 4: 15; 7: 26; 9: 14). Jesus was exemplary in his moral life on earth. This page provides main highlights of his conduct.

In contrast with that, Muhammad committed many immoralities and grave sins that flawed his character. He never repented.

1. The problem of polygamy. The true living God set the pattern of monogamous marriage form the beginning when he created one woman “Eve” for one man “Adam.” Most of the major prophets of God (Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc) were monogamous; and some were celibate (Elijah, Elisha, etc). Jesus never married. Christianity stresses monogamy (Matthew 19: 4-5; 1 Corinthians 7: 2). It is an established fact that the stability and happiness of the family unit, and the nurture of healthy emotionally balanced children require the stable environment of a monogamous marriage. Muhammad’s problems with his wives, who went so far as to plot against him, illustrate that.

The Qur’an (an-Nisa’ 4: 3) permits no more than four wives for a Muslim man at one time. Muhammad broke that law and had thirteen wives in addition to concubines, slaves, war captives, and devout Muslim women who gave themselves to him (al-Ahzab 33: 50). Muhammad claimed that he received revelation that his god had made an exception for him (al-Ahzab 33: 50). He could marry any number of women, in addition to taking slave girls and concubines. Furthermore, Muhammad claimed that his god had made another exception for him by permitting him not to give each wife her conjugal rights justly (al-Ahzab 33: 51), which means that he could have any wife he wanted whenever he desired her. Western scholars call these “revelations of convenience” to suit Muhammad’s whims, and justify his deviant immoral conduct in the eyes of his followers. Muhammad does not provide a good moral example in his polygamous marriages and his promiscuity.

Muhammad married to satisfy his uncontrolled lust. He did not marry out of charity as some Islamists claim. Most of Muhammad’s wives were widows. Only Sawda was in her thirties when he married her to take care of his children. He stopped the conjugal relationship with her when he got younger widows (Bukhari 3.47.766). Those widows were young and beautiful. They were childless and became widows because of his raids. With the exception of Khadija and Sawda, all his wives were in their teens or early twenties while he was in his fifties and sixties. For Muhammad, women were merely sex objects. His marriage with Khadija lasted twenty three years. He did not have to work, because she supported him from her wealth. Muhammad was not faithful to her memory. Only a month after her death, he asked his friend Abu Bakr to marry his daughter Aisha who was a six-year-old child. Abu Bakr asked him to wait three years before consummating the marriage. Muhammad agreed and married Sawda a few days later.

2. Incestuous marriage. Muhammad married his daughter-in-law Zaynab bint Jahsh, the beautiful wife of his adopted son Zaid (al-Ahzab 33: 37). He lusted after her. He committed incest by marrying her after his adopted son divorced her, claimed that his god approved his incest (al-Ahzab 33: 37). After people continued to criticize him for marrying her, he decided to do away with adoption altogether (al-Ahzab 33: 4-5). Muhammad coveted his neighbor’s wife in violation of the tenth commandment of the mosaic Decalogue (Exodus 20: 17). In addition, the Holy Bible forbids marrying a man’s daughter-in-law (Leviticus 18: 15), and institutes the death penalty for committing this grave sin (Leviticus 20: 12).

3. Sexual abuse of a child girl under the pretext of marriage. A child girl does not have the physiological, psychological, or biological maturity to willfully consent to a mutual act of love. Muhammad sexually abused a child girl under the pretext of marriage by marrying Aisha the daughter of Abu-Bakr when she was six years old, and then consummating the marriage with her when she was a nine-year-old pre-pubescent child (Muslim 8.3309-3311; 31.5981; Bukhari 5.58.234, 236; 7.62.64, 65, 88; 7.65.88). He was fifty-four years old then, old enough to be her grandfather. Child marriage (at-Talaq 65: 4) is immoral despite the fact that it was culturally acceptable in seventh century Arabia.

Muhammad gave his own 12-year-old child daughter, Fatima, in marriage to his cousin Ali bin abi-Talib.

4. Moral expediency and cruelty. Moral absolutes were swept aside in favor of the overriding principle of expediency. Whatever benefited Muhammad and his followers was called good. And whatever harmed them was called evil. He coveted his neighbor’s wealth in violation of the tenth commandment of the mosaic Decalogue (Exodus 20: 17). He instructed his followers to commit acts of piracy by raiding commercial Meccan caravans and looting them. He himself led three such raids. Muhammad encouraged and exhorted his Muslim followers to commit political assassinations and kill his opponents for speaking their minds freely. He praised them for doing it afterwards. This led to the assassination of Asma’ bint Marawan while she was nursing her baby home, 120-year-old Abu Afak, Abu Rafi Salaam, Uqbah ibn-abu-Muayt, etc. Muhammad sanctioned a Muslim follower to lie to an enemy called Sufyan ibn-Khalid in order to kill him. And this he did. He ordered the killing of a prominent Jew, Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf, for composing satirical poems against him using deception. Four Muslims killed him and returned to Muhammad with his decapitated head (Bukhari 5.59.369).

Muhammad was responsible for the first Islamic massacre in the long bloody history of Islam—the massacre of the tribe of Banu Qurayza, the last Jewish tribe in Medina, in 627 AD. All the men of the tribe (700-800 men) were beheaded in cold blood (al-Ahzab 33: 26). Muhammad broke his oaths (at-Tahrim 66: 2) and treaties (al-Anfal 8: 58) with Banu Qaynuqa, Quraysh (the treaty of Hudaybiyya), etc. (Bukhari 9.89.260). However barbarous and treacherous his means were, the end justified it in his eyes. The Holy Bible strictly forbids breaking one’s oath (Numbers 30: 1-2).

Muhammad ordered men to be tortured to death in two recorded incidents. He had eight Muslim men from the clan of Uraynah arrested for brutally murdering the shepherd of his camels, and stealing the camels. He then ordered their hands and feet cut off, and their eyes seared with hot irons and then gouged out. They were then thrown upon the hot rocks of the desert where they died slowly from thirst in the searing heat of the desert. This is brutal torture, and unusual and cruel punishment for their crime. We need to remember that Muhammad himself attacked and robbed Meccan caravans without direct provocation, which included killing people.

Muhammad ordered the torture of Kinana ibn-Rabi, the treasurer of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir, to get information on the location of the tribe’s treasure. Kinana was brutally tortured with fire until he was nearly dead. Then he was beheaded. He had a beautiful wife called Safiyya bint Huyai whose father Muhammad had killed. Muhammad took her for himself and married her completely disregarding her feelings about her murdered father and husband (Bukhari 1.8.367; 5.59.522; Muslim 8.3329).

Muhammad was very cruel on his wives. His wife Sawda bint Zam’ah cared for his children after Khadija’s death. He wanted to discard and divorce her because she grew fat and old. She begged him to keep her and offered the night he used to spend with her to Aisha (Bukhari 3.47.766). He agreed to keep her on this condition (an-Nisa’ 4: 128-130). This shows his ingratitude and cruelty. In addition, he had his god prohibit the marriage of his wives after his death (al-Ahzab 33: 53). All his very young wives, the youngest of whom was Aisha who was about eighteen years old at his death, lived widows without husbands or children after his death. Aisha was a childless widow till she died about forty-eight years after Muhammad’s death. The extreme cruelty of Muhammad contradicts the qur’anic claim to the contrary.

5. Ibn Ishaq’s biography. What survived from the earliest biography of Muhammad by Ibn-Ishaq (d. 768) contains much information of unfavorable character for Muhammad:

The character attributed to Muhammad in the biography of Ibn-Ishaq is exceedingly unfavorable. In order to gain his ends he recoils from no expedient, and he approves of similar unscrupulousness on the part of his adherents, when exercised in his interest. He profits to the utmost from the chivalry of the Meccans, but rarely requites it with the like. He organizes assassinations and wholesale massacres. His career as tyrant of Medina is that of a robber chief, whose political economy consists in securing and dividing plunder, the distribution of the latter being at times carried out on principles which fail to satisfy his followers’ ideas of justice. He is himself an unbridled libertine and encourages the same passion in his followers. For whatever he does he is prepared to plead the express authorization of the deity. It is, however, impossible to find any doctrine which he is not prepared to abandon in order to secure a political end. At different points in his career he abandons the unity of God and his claim to the title of Prophet. This is a disagreeable picture for the founder of a religion, and it cannot be pleaded that it is a picture drawn by an enemy: and though Ibn-Ishaq’s name was for some reason held in low esteem by the classical traditionalists of the third Islamic century, they make no attempt to discredit those portions of the biography which bear hardest on the character of their Prophet. (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. 8, p. 878)

XI. SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD
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Jesus Christ shed his own blood on the cross in order to redeem fallen humanity so that people could come to God and start a new life with a new regenerated conscience. By contrast, Muhammad shed innocent people’s blood so that he and his followers could acquire wealth, women and political power in this world. The only life Jesus voluntarily gave up was his own on the cross. Muhammad and his Muslim followers took out multitudes of innocent human lives—killing in wars and assassinations as explained above. Pascal, the French philosopher and mathematician, wrote: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction” (Sina, Ali, Understanding Muhammad, 2007-2008, p. 208).

Jesus never owned a weapon, and never engaged in violence. He always called for love and forgiveness. Muhammad washed the blood of battle from the swords of his Muslim followers. Jesus washed his followers’ feet in order to teach them a practical lesson in humility and loving service (John 13: 4-5, 12-17). Most of the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day rejected him, and plotted to kill him. Jesus responded by strong verbal rebuttals, but did not call for attacking them physically.

Muhammad was not a man of peace. He was a man of the sword, conflict and bloodshed. He urged his Muslim followers to kill his critics for speaking their minds freely, and praised them for doing it afterwards. He taught his followers to carry out holy war (jihad) against the infidels (al-Anfal 8: 39, 65; al-Ahzab 33: 60-61; etc.), and against Christians and Jews (at-Tawbah 9: 29) to force Islam on people by the sword. He said: “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah” (Bukhari 4.52.196). He was responsible for the massacre of the tribe of Banu Qurayza, the last Jewish tribe in Medina, in 627 AD. All the men of the tribe (700-800 men) were beheaded in cold blood (al-Ahzab 33: 26). While Muhammad lived in Medina, his Muslim followers conducted thirty-eight raids and military expeditions. He personally accompanied them in twenty-seven raids. Muhammad’s last words to his followers on his deathbed were: “Turn the pagans out of the Arabian Peninsula…” (Bukhari 4.52.288; 5.59.716). He wanted to annihilate all the non-Muslims in Arabia by any means. In fact, Muhammad allowed his followers to kill innocent children during night raids (Muslim 19.4321-4323).

Muhammad did not fight in battles. He always stayed behind his troops wearing two coats of mail and protected by his special entourage. He used to throw a handful of sand in the direction of his enemy and curse them, while encouraging his followers to fight courageously without fearing death.

By contrast, Jesus is called the prince of peace (Isaiah 9: 6). He taught saying: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5: 9; John 14: 27). Jesus did not coerce, pressure or threaten anyone to follow him (Luke 9: 54-55). He did not have a sword, did not kill or order the killing of anyone. He never threatened the life of anyone. The Holy Bible describes the loving nature of Jesus saying “A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench” (Matthew 12: 20; Isaiah 42: 3). In fact, when one of his disciples used his sword to prevent them from arresting him, Jesus rebuked him saying: “…Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26: 52-54). Jesus and his disciples preached peace and were the examples of peace (Philippians 4: 7; Ephesians 2: 17). Before his crucifixion, Jesus assured his disciples saying: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14: 27).

The lives of Jesus and Muhammad are diametrically opposed to each other.

XII. COMPASSION FOR THE SUFFERING HUMANITY
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Muhammad had a meeting with some of the important chiefs of Mecca. He was trying to persuade them to accept Islam. A blind man approached him asking him about a point concerning Islam. Muhammad ignored him completely (abu-Mawdudi, Introduction to the Surahs, Surah ‘Abasa 80: 1-4). This merciless act shows that Muhammad was not sent as a mercy contrary to the claim of al-Anbiya’ 21: 107.

By contrast, Jesus had compassion for a blind man and granted him his sight: “Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God” (Luke 18: 35-43).

Christ said through the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61: 1).

Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and raised him from the dead (John 11: 1-44). Jesus wept over the fate of the non-penitent Jerusalem as he prophesied its future destruction (Luke 19: 41-44), which occurred in 70 AD, about forty years after his ascension. He fed the hungry. And he healed the sick.

XIII. SELF-SACRIFICE AND EXPLOITATION
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Jesus did not come to please himself. He was totally selfless. He came to please God the Father. He said: “I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me” (John 5: 30). “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work”” (John 4: 34; 8: 29). He sacrificed himself on the cross in order to redeem fallen humanity: “He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53: 5). Jesus is the good shepherd. He said: “I am the good shepherd … I lay down my life for the sheep … I lay down my life only to take it again” (John 10: 14-15, 17). Some Muslims may object that God would not allow one of his chosen prophets to be killed. The Qur’an says that this objection is not valid, because many of the prophets and apostles were killed in the past (al-Baqarah 2: 87, 91; al-‘Imran 3: 21, 112, 181, 183; an-Nisa’ 4: 155; al-Ma’idah 5: 70).

Muhammad never sacrificed himself to save others. He did not suffer torture and pain for the sake of his followers’ inner peace and spiritual freedom. Instead, Muhammad strove after his selfish interests and ambitions. He accumulated power and wealth. He exploited women sexually, including the child-girl Aisha and war captives. He also looted peaceful merchant caravans and peaceful villages and shed innocent blood. He encouraged his followers to do the same. He asked his followers to sacrifice their lives for him and his religion in jihad promising them a fictitious sensual paradise.

XIV. MIRACLES
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Muhammad stated in the Qur’an that he cannot do miracles (ar-Ra’d 13: 7; al-‘Ankabut 29: 50; al-Isra’ 17: 93b, 59). Under pressure of the people, he stated subsequently that the Qur’an is his miracle contradicting his former statement (al-Isra’ 17: 88; al-Baqarah 2: 23; Yunus 10: 38). This page discusses why the Qur’an is not a miracle. Muhammad did not know the time of his death. He died on June 8, 632 without making any arrangements for his succession leaving the entire Muslim community in a crisis.

However, unauthenticated miracle stories abound in the Islamic tradition. Since Qur’anic information is more reliable than information in Hadith, Islamic scholars assert that the miracle stories of Hadith were invented by Muhammad’s followers after his death to convince people that he was a true prophet. They are legendary developments, not supplementary historical information. Muhammad did not have control over Hadith. His followers could tell any story they wanted, whether it were true or false. They had a vested interest in presenting an idealized fictional picture of Muhammad. We will evaluate herein the most important miracle claims.

1. Splitting the moon. Some Muslims understand al-Qamar 54: 1-2 to indicate that Muhammad commanded the moon to split before unbelievers, and it obeyed his command. These verses do not say that Muhammad did that. His name is not mentioned. In fact, if it were a true miracle, it would contradict other statements in the Qur’an that Muhammad did not work miracles (al-‘Ankabut 29: 50; al-Isra’ 17: 93b). An event of this nature would have been globally observed throughout the whole world. Yet, there is no evidence anywhere that it took place. The moon we see today is whole and intact, not fragmented. Some Muslim scholars understand this verse to speak about an event that will happen at the end time. Others understand it figuratively to indicate a split in the tribe of Quraish, whose emblem was the moon, into two groups: one group believed in Islam; the other group rejected it. In fact, when Muhammad was challenged to do a miracle, he did not refer to this alleged miracle because it never occurred.

2. The night journey. The Qur’an states: “Glory be to him who made his servant (Muhammad) go by night from the sacred mosque (of Mecca) to the farthest mosque whose surroundings we have blessed” (al-Isra’ 17: 1a). No one witnessed that night journey that Muhammad claimed to have gone through. Neither did Muhammad show any tangible evidence to prove that it actually took place. Therefore, this claim remains unsubstantiated. Although the Hadith identifies its destination as Jerusalem (Muslim 1.309), the farthest mosque (masjid al-Aqsa) of Jerusalem did not exist at the time of Muhammad. It was built in 691 AD by Abdul-Malik ibn Marawan, the Omayyad caliph, nearly sixty years after Muhammad’s death. How could he have prayed in it then? He could not have prayed in the Jewish temple of Jerusalem either because it had been destroyed by the Roman armies in 70 AD, five centuries before Muhammad’s time.

The story of Muhammad’s night journey bears a striking resemblance to a Persian Zoroastrian myth about a legendary man called Arta ascending to the heavens. This myth was written in the days of Ardashir about four hundred years before Muhammad in an ancient Persian book entitled “Arta-i Viraf Namak.” Similar stories are recorded in Indian Sanskrit poems about Arjuna, and in books of heretical Christian sects, such as “the Testament of Abraham” (written around 200 B.C. in Egypt and subsequently translated to Greek and Arabic) claiming that Abraham ascended to the heavens.

3. Victory at the battle of Badr. Only verse Al-‘Imran 3: 123 speaks about the battle of Badr. It says nothing about it being a miracle that confirms Muhammad’s prophetic claims. In fact, if Badr’s victory is a sign of divine confirmation, the subsequent clear defeat of the battle of Uhud is a sign of divine disapproval and condemnation, and that he is not a prophet. Muhammad was wounded in that humiliating defeat and lost two of his front teeth. This is despite the fact that after Badr’s victory the Qur’an (al-Anfal 8: 65) boasted that Muslims could overcome any army even when outnumbered ten to one. In the battle of Uhud, they were outnumbered only three to one as in Badr, and yet they suffered a major defeat. Muhammad was not the only outnumbered military leader in history to win a victory. The Frankish Christian army under the leadership of Charles Martel decisively defeated the invading Islamic army on Oct. 11th, 732 at the battle of Tours in southern France despite the fact that the invading Islamic army vastly outnumbered the defending Christian army. The Israelis won a decisive quick victory in the 1967 six-day war over Muslim armies that vastly outnumbered them.

4. The miracles of the Hadith. Al-Bukhari tells the stories of many miracles that it claims Muhammad had worked. The authenticity of these stories is highly questionable. They do not originate from contemporary eyewitnesses of the events narrated, and they contain many contradictions. None of them is recorded in the Qur’an that tells that Muhammad was constantly challenged to support his prophetic claims by doing miracles like other prophets. In fact, they contradict Qur’anic statements that Muhammad is not a miracle worker (al-‘Ankabut 29: 50; al-Isra’ 17: 93b). Those alleged miracles are rejected by most Muslim scholars as unauthentic. Most of those who collected miracle stories lived more than one hundred years after Muhammad’s death. And their stories contain many contradictions.

Historically, Muhammad’s alleged miracle stories began to appear only after two Christian bishops (abu-Qura from Edessa and Arethas from Ceasaria) had demonstrated the superiority of Jesus over Muhammad by the many miracles of Jesus. In response, Muslim apologists invented fictitious miracles for Muhammad. In fact, many of those alleged miracles bear a striking resemblance to Jesus’ miracles of the Gospel (e.g. changing water into milk resembles Jesus transforming water into wine (John 2), Muhammad’s alleged feeding a large group with little food resembles Jesus feeding five thousand men from five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6), etc.). In fact, Islamic history informs us that after the Meccans boycotted Muhammad and his followers refusing to sell them food, they left Mecca and lived in the desert valley near it. They starved to the point that they ate the dung of animals and leaves of trees. This became known as the Year of Hunger. Muhammad could not generate food miraculously to help alleviate their starvation.

It is obvious from the above that those alleged miracles of Muhammad have no value whatsoever in proving that he was a genuine prophet of the true living God. Muhammad did not teach his followers to do any miracles, and none of them did any miracles. They continued to spread Islam after Muhammad’s death by military force (jihad).

By contrast, Jesus worked many miracles much more than any prophet, which proved he is the incarnate Son of the living God. Many of his miracles showed compassion for the suffering of people. Many of his miracles were witnessed by crowds of people. And his disciples witnessed many more. He turned water to wine (John 2: 7ff), walked on the waters of the stormy sea of Galilee (Matthew 14: 25), multiplied bread (John 6: 11ff), opened the eyes of the blind (John 9: 7ff), made the lame walk (Mark 2: 3ff), cast out demons (Mark 3: 11ff), healed all kinds of illnesses (Matthew 9: 35; Mark 1: 40-42), and raised the dead to life (John 11: 43-44; Luke 7: 11-15; Mark 5: 35ff). The most powerful of his miracles was the miracle of his rising from the dead on the third day after his death by his own power in his physical body transformed to the glorified state.

Jesus sent his disciples to preach the Gospel and perform miracles (Matthew 10: 8; Mark 3: 15; Luke 10: 9), and they did (Mark 6: 12-13; Luke 10: 17). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, his followers continued to perform wonders and miracles in order to spread the Christian faith and support the message of the Gospel (Mark 16: 17-18; Acts 2: 43; 8: 7; etc.). Christians work miracles to this day in the name of Christ.

XV. HEALING ILLNESS
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Muhammad taught that the Islamic god causes illness (Yunis 10: 107). Muhammad did not heal anyone. He could not even heal his two sons, al-Qasim and Ibrahim. Both of them died in their childhood despite his prayers and tears (Bukhari 2.23.390).

Jesus performed many healing miracles (John 4: 48; Matthew 9: 1-8, 32-34; etc.) to help people believe that he has come from the true living God (Matthew 11: 2-5; John 10: 24-25). Jesus was also motivated by his compassion for the suffering of the sick (Matthew 14: 14; 15: 32; 20: 34; Mark 1: 41). The Gospel teaches that the cause of illness is either:
1. Sin (John 5: 14),
2. Illness without fault (John 9: 1-3), or
3. Demonic possession (Matthew 12: 22; 9: 32-34; Mark 7: 31-37).

XVI. STATE POWER
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Muhammad lusted after earthly power. He established the first Islamic state in Medina. It was a theocracy where he acquired both the religious as well as the political power. He sought to enrich himself, and indulge in excessive sexual gratification by acquiring many wives and concubines. He kept for himself a fifth of the spoils of war, and divided the rest among his combatants (al-Anfal 8: 41). Lord Acton, a famous nineteenth century historian, said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Jesus was the opposite. He stated : “…My kingdom is not of this world…” (John 18: 36). Jesus refused to establish a political kingdom on this earth. When they tried to make him a king, he refused and fled from them (John 6: 15; 18: 36). He did not incarnate to establish an earthly empire, but to inaugurate the spiritual kingdom of God—a heavenly kingdom that has no end—for those renewed spiritually by believing in him. Jesus blessed the merciful, the peacemaker, and the persecuted for righteousness sake (Matthew 5: 7, 9-10). Jesus prohibited taking revenge (Matthew 5: 38-42), and instructed to “…love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 44-48).

Muhammad came to build an earthly empire. Jesus came to renew the human nature, build up the human person spiritually, and establish an eternal heavenly kingdom that has no end.

XVII. PERSONAL PROTECTION
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Muhammad did not depend on his god for protection from physical harm. Instead, he demanded that his followers protect him (at-Tahrim 66: 4). Islamic history tells that his grandfather and his uncle protected him first. Afterwards, he signed an agreement with the two most powerful tribes of Medina to protect him.

By contrast, Jesus depended on God, and never asked his disciples to fight for him and protect him. The Gospel tells us that “while he (Jesus) was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, he is the One; seize him.” Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”” (Matthew 26: 47-54).

XVIII. DEMONIC INFLUENCE
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Muhammad’s relationship with demons was very different from Jesus’. Muhammad claimed that jinn (or demons) liked to listen to him reciting the Qur’an (al-Jinn 72: 1), and that some of them accepted Islam (al-Jinn 72: 14). They listened to Muhammad when he prayed (al-Jinn 72: 19). Muhammad did not cast out any demons. He believed at first that he was under demonic influence. In fact, he claimed that the demonic powers of Satan misguided him in his revelation, and had him recite the satanic verses, and worship the pagan gods of Quraish. It also made him forget qur’anic verses (al-An’am 6: 86). Demonic powers had authority over Muhammad (al-A’raf 7: 20). He was affected by witchcraft. A man allied with the Jews named Labid bin al-A’sam cast a spell on him. He began to imagine that he had done things which, in fact, he had not done (Bukhari 4.53.400; 4.54.490; 7.71.658, 660, 661; 8.73.89; 8.75.400). He thought he had sexual relations with his wives, though, in reality, he did not. He had the two fetishes (a comb and hair) of the spell removed. Though Muhammad prayed for relief from the spell, its effect on him lasted a year.

It is not possible to trust the alleged revelations of a man who was under the demonic powers of a spell, and who believed he was possessed by demons. In fact, a true prophet of the true living almighty God is not subject to the effects of magical spells. In tempting Jesus in the wilderness, Satan challenged his status as the incarnate Son of God (Matthew 4: 3, 6). In the Qur’an (al-Ma’idah 5: 75, 17, 72, 116; al-Tawbah 9: 30-31; etc.), Muhammad also challenges this status. Is this a mere coincidence? Or is it satanic inspiration to Muhammad?

Jesus confidently exercised his authority over Satan, demonic powers, and the kingdom of darkness. He was always victorious over them. He cast out many demons that possessed and tormented people by simply ordering them to leave the person (Matthew 4: 24; 8: 16, 28-34; 12: 22; 9: 32-34; 15: 21-28; 17: 14-21; Mark 1: 23-28, 34, 39; 5: 1-16; Luke 8: 2; 10: 17). When they accused him of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, he declared that he cast out demons by the power of the living God: “But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house” (Matthew 12: 25-29; Luke 11: 17-23). In fact, Jesus terrified demons. They feared that he might send them to eternal torment before the time (Matthew 8: 29). Jesus granted his disciples the authority to cast out demons, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name”” (Luke 10: 17-20).

XIX. THE CASE FOR EPILEPSY
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Muhammad’s mother, Aminah, had a peculiar nervous temperament. She used to think that she was being visited by spirits before awakening. This might have been hallucinations. Her condition strongly suggests that Muhammad suffered from hereditary epilepsy. Persons with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) have frequent nightmares and vivid dreams. The seizures of TLE are two types: simple partial seizures (often dreamlike) without loss of awareness, and complex partial seizures with loss of awareness. Muhammad experienced both types of seizures. TLE explains his imaginative ability, his depression, his suicidal thoughts, his irritability, his interest in religion, his vision of the last day and the afterlife, his olfactory, visual and auditory hallucinations, trance episodes, epileptic convulsions, and many of his physical and psychological characteristics. However, epilepsy does not explain his other features of ruthlessness, mass killings and determination. These are explainable by his pathological narcissistic disorder—an affliction western scholars believe he had.

All the phenomena recorded in Hadith associated with his alleged revelations are explainable by TLE hallucinations being falsely electrically generated by his defective epileptic brain. This includes hearing the sound of bell or rushing wings or clanking chains, and music, seeing a light or an angel, fainting, feeling of being rent into pieces, abdominal pain, perspiration, foaming at the mouth, lip smacking, experiencing heart palpitation, suicidal thoughts, snorting like a camel, etc.

A prominent personal characteristic in epileptic patients is a heightened sense of religiosity. The patient may mistakenly misperceive himself as the “the Messenger of God.” The patient may mix together logically incompatible ideas. He may experience mystical type trance states during periods of impaired consciousness. Persons afflicted with epilepsy prefer solitude to social life because they have difficulty interacting with people. Muhammad preferred solitude. Paranoia is another prominent feature of TLE patient’s personality. They tend to be suspicious of people and life events, which may result in hostile reaction to mild criticisms. Epileptic illness does not necessarily impair all aspects of intellectual functioning.

Muhammad suffered his first seizure at the age of five. He suddenly fell down in a field at Taif oasis shouting that two men in white were splitting open his belly and stirring it up. Sensory hallucinations and abdominal sensation of pain are associated with TLE seizure episodes. His nurse Halima and her husband Harith of the Sa’d tribe thought that he was possessed by an evil spirit. In the culture and superstitious beliefs of sixth century Arabia, epileptic seizures were interpreted as a religious sign of either demonic possession or divine visitation. His mother informed his nurse that she was expecting it.

Sometimes, Muhammad experienced violent trembling in his limbs and his face moved convulsively while breaking out in profuse perspiration even in cold weather. He used to lie with his eyes closed, foaming at his mouth and bellowing like a young camel. At times, he fell in a coma and deep sleep. He often asked his wife to cover him with warm blankets in order to reduce his fear. This state of delirium was characterized with hallucinations. Muhammad’s hallucinations were not limited to seeing an angel, but also jinn and Satan (Bukhari 2.22.301). This is not divine revelation. Orientalists such as Weil, Goldziher, Noldeke, Sprenger and Buhl have concluded that Muhammad’s so called revelations were really derived from his epileptic sickness. The true prophets of the Holy Bible never experienced these symptoms.

Aisha was Muhammad’s favorite wife. He was more sexually stimulated with her. Therefore, it is neurologically expected that he would be prone to more epileptic seizure phenomena when he was with her. This was indeed what used to happen. In fact, he said: “Trouble me not with regard to Aisha, for verily the revelation comes not unto me when I am on any of the beds except that of Aisha” (Bukhari 3.47.755). This never happened to any biblical prophets.

It is an established medical fact that alcohol causes epileptic seizures. That is probably why Muhammad prohibited it.

It is very difficult for persons with hysterical natures to distinguish the false from the true. The imaginary spiritual and supernatural experiences of Muhammad were the result of lack of proper communication and coordination between the left and right temporal lobes of his epileptic brain. The Russian existential writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who suffered from TLE and had his first seizure at the age of nine, alleged through one of the characters of his novels that when he had a seizure the gates of heaven opened and he saw rows of angels blowing golden trumpets. Then he saw great golden doors open to reveal a golden stairway leading to the throne of God (Ali Sina, p. 124).

Certain epileptic individuals sincerely believe that they are recipients of mental, visual and auditory messages from heavenly places. They could not differentiate the imaginary from the real. What Muhammad experienced was real to him. Modern medical research has shown that these messages are associations produced by the unconscious mind working on things heard and seen before but forgotten. The faulty epileptic brain can produce new material from these inputs. This is similar to strange dreams in which scattered components of past experiences are linked together in illogical formulations. It is highly likely that what Muhammad proclaimed as revelation may have been ideas from Christianity, Judaism and Sabaism, that he heard from Christians, Jews and Sabaeans in Mecca and Syria mixed together with his thoughts and culture and reemerged chopped and changed. He thought that these are messages from his god. Unfortunately, some of his sources were heretical Christians, such as the monk Buhira and Waraqa ibn-Nufal, the cousin of his first wife Khadiga.

Depending on its severity, epilepsy is not necessarily associated with failure in life. For instance, the famous Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, was epileptic, but he was successful in his life. A sampling of other famous people who had epilepsy is as follows: Leo Tolstoy, Agatha Christie, G. F. Handel, L. Beethoven, Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism), and Ellen White (the founder of Seventh Day Adventists).

In fact, a strong parallel exists between the epileptic trances of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), the founder of the vast Mongol empire, and Muhammad’s epileptic trances (or fits of demonic possessions) that he mistook as divine revelation of the Qur’an. Genghis Khan founded what became the largest empire in human history. His invasions resulted in large scale massacres of local populations. His military campaigns killed as many as forty million people. However, unlike Muhammad, he promoted religious tolerance. In fact, his grandson and successor Hulago Khan laid siege on Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate (751-1258) in 1258, leveled it with the ground, and killed al-Musta’sim, the last Abbasid Caliph, in the most brutal manner by having the horses of the Mongol army trample him after rolling him in a rug.

Like Muhammad, Genghis Khan committed his atrocities in clear conscience upon orders from his one god, the pagan god Tengri (sky) that he worshipped. Like Muhammad dealing with the Meccans, Genghis Khan told Muslim magnates of Bukhara: “I am the punishment of god. If you had not committed great sins, god would not have sent a punishment like me upon you” (Muhammad Habib and Khaliq Ahmad Nizamd ed., A Comprehensive history of India, New Delhi, 1970, Vol. V, The Sultanate, 1982, p. 74). Genghis Khan used to receive what he thought to be “revelations” from his god Tengri during his epileptic seizures. The historian M. Siraj described it in his Tabaqat al-Nasiri as follows: “After every few days he would have a fit (an epileptic seizure or a demonic possession episode) and during his unconsciousness he would say all sorts of things” (Muhammad Habib and Khaliq Ahmad Nizamd ed., A Comprehensive history of India, New Delhi, 1970, Vol. V, The Sultanate, 1982, p. 69). This is similar to what used to happen to Muhammad when he thought he was receiving revelations. Genghis Khan and his followers did not care to compile in a book all what he said in the name of Tengri. The Islamic logic declares Tengri to be a Satan and denounces Genghis Khan as an arch criminal, but in the meantime declares the god of Islam divine and hails Muhammad and the guided Caliphs as heroes. This double standard is flawed casuistry.

TLE often resolves on its own. This most likely happened to Muhammad as he experienced fewer seizures in the later years of his life. This resulted in a difference in tone, language and the structure of sentences between the early Meccan verses and the later Medinan ones of the Qur’an. The suras written in the early Meccan phase (e.g. sura ash-Shams 91, al-Falaq 113, etc) are poetic with rhyme and short. They exhort the pious to be charitable, patient and kind with warnings and promises. This contrasts with the style of the later Medinan suras, which is legalistic with long sentences in prose with rhyming words. Not all the Qur’an was the product of his epileptic seizures. He continued to generate Qur’an as the situation required in his later years after the end of the seizures.

The epileptic symptoms, depression and suicidal tendencies that Muhammad experienced are common in TLE patients. A true prophet of the living God does not experience these symptoms, and does not think that he is possessed by jinn the way Muhammad thought.

XX. THE CASE FOR NARCISSISM
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After studying and analyzing what is known about the character and behavior of Muhammad, psychologists have concluded that the available evidence suggests that he was afflicted with a personality disorder called pathological narcissism (malignant self-love). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical manuals of 1980 and 1994 and the European ICD-10, this personality disorder is characterized by some of the following symptoms:

1. A sense of self-importance and grandiosity (al-Ahzab 33: 36, 46; al-Fath 48: 9; al-Qalam 68: 4).

Muhammad claimed that he is the seal of the prophets (al-Ahzab 33: 40), excellent example (al-Ahzab 33: 21), the best of creation, and exalted above other prophets. He claimed to be the preferred and praised one (al-Isra’ 17: 55, 79). Furthermore, he claimed that the first things his god created were his soul and mind, and if not for him his god would not have created the universe (Tabaqat vol. 1, p. 364). Only a pathological narcissist can be so cut off from reality as to think that this vast universe was created because of him.

Compare that to the humility of Jesus when he responded to someone who called him “good master.” Jesus objected and said: “…Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (Mark 10: 18).

2. Obsession with fantasies of unlimited success, fame and power.

3. Firm conviction that he is unique, special and superior entitled to special rights and too big to abide by any moral code.

The narcissist is fully aware that he is lying, but believes in his own lies. In order of justify his actions and silence his critics, Muhammad claimed that the god of Islam permitted for him what was forbidden for others. Examples on that abound. The Qur’an limits Muslim men to four wives. However, Muhammad exempted himself from this restriction. He could have any number of women he pleases as wives, concubines, and slaves (al-Ahzab 33: 50). One wonders: how could he be the best of creation if he could not be faithful to one woman?

Muhammad lusted after Mary the Egyptian, the maid of his wife Hafsa bint Omar. He sent hafsa away, and took her maid to her bed in her absence. When Hafsa found out about his unfaithfulness, she became angry. In order to pacify her, he promised never to approach her maid again (Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, vol. 8, p. 195). However, he still desired the maid. In order to break his oath, he provided verses of the Qur’an urging him to do this immorality (al-Tahrim 66: 1-5).

Muhammad committed incest when he married his daughter-in-law Zeinab, after his adopted son Zeid divorced her when he learned that Muhammad wanted her. His followers criticized his incestuous marriage. In order to silence them, he provided Qur’an to justify his immorality (al-Ahzab 33: 37-40).

Muhammad reintroduced the Arabian pagan tradition of fasting during the month of Ramadan. However, he himself did not keep the fast and ate whenever he pleased (Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, vol. 1, p. 369).

His young wife Aisha remarked saying: “…I feel that your lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires” (Bukhari 6.60.311).

4. The narcissist requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and obedience from his followers (al-Hujurat 49: 1-5).

The narcissist bestows upon his followers a cause which revolves around him. Although Muhammad did not ask his followers to worship him, he demanded absolute obedience calling on them to obey “god and his messenger” (al-Anfal 8: 1). He strove to control their lives (al-Ahzab 33: 36). The Islamic god and the Qur’an were the convenient tools Muhammad used to dominate and manipulate his people (al-Nisa’ 4: 64-65). Muhammad made himself the only intermediary between the Islamic god and humankind. Islamist leaders do the same today to control their Muslim flock. Their flock becomes their hostages.

Muhammad encouraged his followers to glorify him by doing perverted acts such as drinking his urine, smearing their faces with his spittle, collecting his sweat, smearing their bodies with the water of his ablutions (Bukhari 1.4.187), collecting his falling hair, etc. (Sirat Ibn Ishaq, p. 823). The psychopathic narcissist does not tolerate criticism and disagreement. He is capable of killing multitudes of people with clear conscience (e.g. Saddam Husain, Hitler, Pol Pot, and Stalin). Muhammad insulted those who did not believe in him by calling them “blind, deaf and dump, with no understanding” (al-Baqarah 2: 18, 171; al-An’am 6: 39; al-Anfal 8: 22; al-Isra’ 17: 97). He urged his Muslim followers to kill his critics and opponents for him and praised them for doing it afterwards. This led to the assassination of Asma’ bint Marawan while she was nursing her baby home, 120-year-old Abu Afak, Kaab ibn al-Ashraf, Abu Rafi Salaam, etc. His contemporaries that called him “majnoon” (crazy, lunatic) were silenced by his brute force. Muhammad was responsible for the first Islamic massacre in the bloody history of Islam—the massacre of the tribe of Banu Qurayza, the last Jewish tribe in Medina, in 627 AD. All the men of the tribe (700-800 men) were beheaded in cold blood. His main objective was to conquer and dominate.

5. The narcissist exploits and uses others to achieve his goals.

6. The narcissist is ruthless, devoid of empathy, and arrogant.

Psychologists inform us that the first five years of a child’s life are the most crucial years in his emotional and mental development. Faulty parenting is the major contributing cause of developing the narcissistic personality disorder in a child. Muhammad did not receive the love and support he needed in his childhood. His unloving mother did not care for him. She gave him away in his crucial formative years to be raised by a stranger, Halima, who was reluctant to take him because his poor mother could not afford to pay much (al-Duha 93: 3-8). Muhammad bore the psychological scars of his early childhood for the rest of his life. Neglected children internalize a feeling of inadequacy. Muhammad created an imaginary world for himself to escape from reality. To him, it was all too real.

When the time came to learn discipline, his grandfather and uncle spoiled him. His aging grandfather Abdul Muttalib took care of him after the death of his mother when he was six years old. He was too permissive, and spoiled him out of pity. After the death of his grandfather, his uncle Abu Talib took care of him. He gave him a preferential treatment over his own children out of compassion. He failed to impose adequate discipline and limits on him. These extremes of neglect, abandonment and lack of unconditional love during the first six years of his life, and excessive permissiveness and lack of discipline afterwards greatly contributed to the development of his narcissistic personality and aggravated it.

Muhammad needed a mother to take care of his inner child. He found her in Khadija, his first wife, who was fifteen years older than him. From what is known about her, experts theorize that she was afflicted with inverted narcissism which is the opposite of narcissism. She rejected marriage proposals of many Quraish dignitaries and married a poor young man fifteen years her junior despite the strong objections of her father who was an alcoholic overly protective of his daughter. Inverted narcissists confuse love and pity. She found her fulfillment as the caregiver and provider for Muhammad. He did not work after marrying her. She attended to his needs and neglected her business which deteriorated while Muhammad was away most of the time, a recluse in his mental and physical caves. She sacrificed everything for him. She encouraged him to pursue his prophetic ambitions. She positively reinforced his delusional false self.

In addition, some authorities believe that there are enough indications to suspect that Muhammad also suffered from a variety of psychiatric illnesses, including obsessive compulsive disorder (compulsive rituals of ablution and prayers, etc.), schizophrenia (delusions, hallucinations, aggressive behavior, disorganized thoughts as in the Qur’an, etc.), and bipolar disorder (dramatic mood swings) (Ali Sina, Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography, 2007-2008, pp. 147-153).

XXI. CHARACTERISTICS OF A FALSE PROPHET
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“Thus says the Lord GOD: “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed. Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the Lord God. “My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of my people” (Ezekiel 13: 3, 6, 8-9a). The following are some of the most important characteristics of a false prophet:

1. Revelation contradictory to past revelations. A new authentic prophet of the almighty God of the Holy Bible provides new revelation consistent, and in harmony with the entire complex of the former existing well-established revelation. It expounds on it, supplements it, fulfills it, completes it and provides progressive development to it as the religious capacity of the humankind matures and becomes more receptive. The new authentic prophet could not provide new teachings and doctrine that oppose and contradict the known and accepted consistent previous revelation which has been preached for centuries before him (Deuteronomy 13: 1-4; Jeremiah 14: 14; 23: 16-32).

Muhammad’s alleged revelation is not consistent, and not in accord and harmony with, centuries of former godly revelations to multitudes of holy prophets, that have declared the biblical God’s eternal covenant with humanity, which is sealed by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 13: 20). In fact, Muhammad’s alleged revelation reverses God’s plan for redemption and salvation of the human race. God had set this plan in motion thousands of years ago ever since the fall of Adam and Eve in the ancient garden of Eden. It was fulfilled through his incarnate Son Jesus Christ. The last book of the Holy Bible, the book of Revelations, warns that no one should add to the revelation of the final book of the Holy Bible: “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22: 18-19).

Muhammad denied the divinity, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ (al-Ma’idah 5: 17; al-Nisa’ 4: 157-8; etc.). This amounts to denying God’s plan of salvation for the humankind. “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2: 22-23). “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1: 8). Because Muhammad denied that Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, he is an anti-Christ according to the apostle John.

The life and teachings of Christ are in direct contradiction to the life and teachings of Muhammad as discussed herein and in that page. They are profoundly different. God the Father sent Jesus to be the light of the world. The deeds and teachings of Muhammad show that he ushers a dominion of darkness, lust and bloodshed.

2. The seal of prophethood. In contrast with the claim of al-Ahzab 33: 40 that Muhammad is the seal of prophets, the Holy Bible declares that Christ is the seal of prophethood and the end of God’s revelation to humankind: “…God the Father has set His seal on Him” (John 6: 27; Mark 12: 1-11); “… Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19: 10). There can be no prophets from the true living God to succeed Christ, his incarnate Son, and proclaim a new religion. In fact, Christ declared: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6). However, Christ sends apostles and prophets by his own authority in his own name to pass on his divine revelation and proclaim his Gospel to the nations (Ephesians 4: 7, 11-16; Acts 11: 28; 15: 32; Revelation 1: 1-3; 11: 3-6). Muhammad proclaimed a different religion and contradicted key teachings of the Gospel of Christ.

3. The moral development of humanity. Humanity went through phases of moral development. The biblical God sends prophets to improve the morality of humanity and advance it to a higher level. For example, in ancient times, revenge would exact two deaths for one death, five teeth for one tooth, etc. The code of Hammurabi, the emperor of Babylon (ruled 1792-1750 B.C.), required killing the thief who could not repay ten times the value of the stolen goods. God gave the prophet Moses the law that improved upon these harsh punishments by limiting it to the same level of damage: “But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21: 23-25; Leviticus 24: 17-20; Deuteronomy 19: 21). The word of the true God in the Torah does not command cutting off the hands of a thief. Rather, it commands that he should make restitution. If he cannot, he should work off his debt (sold as a slave, and released after six years (Ex. 22: 3; 21: 2; Lev. 6: 4)). The freed man should be supplied with basic resources to help him start a new life (Deuteronomy 15: 12-14). The New Testament provides a path to reform the thief. His hands should be employed in productive work, not cutoff (Eph. 4: 28).

Christ called for a higher moral standard. He taught love, mercy and forgiveness which are at a much higher angelic moral level than taking revenge: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5: 44-45); “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12: 19-21). Christianity condemns revenge at the personal level, not the principles of civil law that applies to the society at large.

One of the most impressive things about the teachings of Jesus is that he lived them. He did not make exceptions for himself the way Muhammad did. It is impossible to read his teachings about selflessness without sensing how free of pride he was himself. He practiced what he taught to give the ultimate example of love and forgiveness. At his cross, in agony and bleeding, he prayed to the heavenly Father for the forgiveness of those who crucified him: “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do…” (Luke 23: 33-34).

In contrast with that, the teachings and example of Muhammad as outlined hereinabove are a step backward in human morality. It is a regression to a lower level of morality. The true living almighty God does not provide a new religion to degrade and corrupt human morality, and move it a gigantic step backward—from the Christian “love and bless your enemy” to the Islamic “hate, avenge, assassinate, kill, subjugate, rape, loot, etc.;” from the Christian monogamy to the Islamic polygamy and temporary pleasure marriages; from the Christian respect for women and children to the Islamic humiliation of women and sexual abuse of prepubescent girls; from the Christian forgiveness to the Islamic mutilation, flogging and stoning; from the Christian freedom of conscience to the Islamic oppression and forced religion; from the Christian spiritual paradise to the Islamic carnal paradise of gluttony and polygamy; from the Christian internal ethical principles instilled in the human heart to the Islamic external superficial legalism of Sharia; from the Christian honesty to the deception of Islamic taqiyya and reneging on oaths; etc.

Muhammad denied the grace and mercy that Christ has brought, and took humanity about 2000 years back to the age of law, vengeance and death. Muhammad instituted the harsh punishments of stoning, limb amputation, flogging, etc. Islam requires the amputation of the right hand and the left foot for highway theft. It decrees the amputation of the thief’s hand, even if he returns the stolen items (al-Ma’idah 5; 33, 38). The thief’s repentance is acceptable only after suffering the punishment of mutilation. Muhammad incorporated a seventh century barbaric pagan Arab custom into his Qur’an. He did not try to improve on it.

The almighty living God does not send true prophets to cause deterioration and degradation in human morality. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to save souls giving the ultimate example of self-giving pure love. Muhammad sacrificed the souls of others in order to build a worldly empire for himself, giving the ultimate example of selfish exploitation of the other.

4. “By their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7: 20). What makes a man of God but his own good conduct and teachings. The definite confirmation of the fact that Muhammad never received divine revelation from the God of the Holy Bible is that many of his works and teachings were reprehensible, immoral and wicked in grave conflict with the biblical ethical requirements, and with the holiness and divine love of the true living God. Christ warned us saying: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7: 15-20).

Muhammad was a lustful womanizer who practiced polygamy. He had thirteen wives, in addition to concubines, slaves, war captives, and devout Muslim women who gave themselves to him (al-Ahzab 33: 50). He committed incest by marrying his daughter-in-law Zaynab bint Jahsh after his adopted son Zaid divorced her (al-Ahzab 33: 37). He sexually abused a child girl under the pretext of marriage by marrying Aisha bint Abu-Bakr when she was six years old, and then consummating the marriage when she was a prepubescent nine-year-old child. He permitted his followers to rape women captured in battle, even if they were married (al-Nisa’ 4: 3, 24; al-Ahzab 33: 50). When he needed money to expand his movement, he raided peaceful commercial caravans in order to loot them. He advocated mass murder of non-Muslims to spread Islam by force (al-Tawbah 9: 5, 29-30; al-Anfal 8: 17; Muhammad 47: 4; etc.).

Muhammad was responsible for the first Islamic massacre in the long bloody history of Islam—the massacre of the tribe of Banu Qurayza, the last Jewish tribe in Medina, in 627 AD. All the men of the tribe (700-800 men) were beheaded in cold blood (Bukhari 4.52.280). Its wealth was looted. Its women and children were sold into slavery. Muhammad ordered the torture of Kinana al-Rabi, the treasurer of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir, with fire, and had him beheaded afterwards because he refused to guide Muhammad to the treasure of the tribe that Muhammad wanted to loot. Muhammad urged his Muslim followers to kill his opponents for him and praised them for doing it afterwards. This led to the assassination of Asma’ bint Marawan while she was nursing her baby home, 120-year-old Abu Afak, Kaab ibn al-Ashraf (Bukhari 5.59.369), Abu Rafi (Bukhari 5.59.371), etc. On his deathbed, Muhammad instructed his followers to cleanse the Arabian peninsula of all non-Muslims (Buchari 4.52.288; 5.59.716; 4.53.392, 380). Omar, the second guided caliph, carried out this instruction.

Muhammad taught that women are inferior to men (al-Nisa’ 4: 34). A woman inherits only half of her brother’s inheritance. The testimony of a woman in Sharia court is equivalent to the testimony of half a man (al-Baqarah 2: 282). He taught wife beating (al-Nisa’ 4: 34); breast feeding adults; temporary marriage; polygamy (al-Nisa’ 4: 3); sexual abuse of children, etc.

Muhammad also taught the gruesome punishments of stoning, limb amputation, and flogging for adultery and theft; killing and subjugation of non-Muslims (al-Tawbah 9: 5, 29; Muhammad 47: 4; etc.) in order to spread Islam by offensive war (Jihad); killing and enslaving of innocent non-Muslim children (Muslim 9.4321-4323); lying if a threat is perceived to a Muslim or to Islam to further the cause of Islam; fictitious carnal lustful Islamic paradise of sexual promiscuity and gluttony (al-Tur 52: 17-24); etc. In addition, Muhammad taught the killing of the apostates (Muslims who renounce Islam) in violation of the International Declaration of Human Rights which stipulates that each individual has the full right to change his faith or to relinquish it; etc. Islam is the only religion in the world that threatens its adherents with death if they try to leave it. Muhammad preached immoral values that brought out the most violent, greedy and evil aspects of the fallen human nature. He spread his religion by the sword and by lurid enticements to the basest desires and worst impulses of man for conquest, excessive promiscuity, plunder and pride.

Muhammad was not a righteous man. He was an unrepentant sinner. He denied and violated the moral code of conduct that the living God sent through the Jewish prophets and Jesus Christ. He fell very far short of the most elementary requirements of biblical morality. He even violated the ethical traditions of the pagan Arabs of his day when he married his daughter-in-law. He also violated the easy sexual morality he set up in the Qur’an when he exceeded the four wife limit. Contrary to the allegation of al-Ahzab 33: 21, Muhammad is a bad moral example to his followers. Nor was he a mercy for humankind as al-Anbiya’ 21: 107 alleges because of his violence and many cruelties.

The list of the immoralities and atrocities Muhammad committed and taught grows long. The true almighty God is so holy that “He charges His angels with error” (Job 4: 18b; Habakkuk 1: 13). He hates wickedness and condemns it: “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You” (Psalm 5: 4). He has much higher moral standards and requirements than Muhammad’s works and teachings. He judges immoralities very severely. He does not call for prophecy men who commit grave sins and never repent like Muhammad who was a man of insufficient moral standing to bear the mantle of prophethood. His prophets were exemplary men who strove after perfection and living holy blameless lives. Ascribing immoral teachings and false attributes to the true living God is blaspheming Him.

The life of Jesus Christ projects moral integrity, grace and wisdom. Jesus never carried a weapon and never killed or ordered the killing of anyone. He did not demean women. He did not sexually abuse young girls. He projected the divine love of the true living God. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15: 12); “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5: 8).

Muhammad came to shed blood and slaughter those who disagreed with him (al-Tawbah 9: 5). He is not a true prophet of the biblical God. He is a false prophet because it is obvious his ministry bore bad fruit. It has caused massive social injustices and subjugation for women and non-Muslims. And it led his followers to oppress and kill their neighbors, rape war captives even if they were married (al-Nisa’ 4: 24; al-Ahzab 33: 50), pillage and destroy whole communities wherever they went, etc. Christ Jesus came to seek and save those who are spiritually lost, and give them a new beginning and hope (Luke 19: 10). Christ has forgiven. Muhammad condemned. Christ has liberated. Muhammad oppressed. Christ has given new life. Muhammad assassinated and massacred.

5. False God. The god of Islam is represented as a vengeful, condemning god who demands that his followers conquer the world by force if necessary for Islam. The highest level of devotion to the god of Islam is waging jihad (holy war) and defeating those who do not embrace Islam, or die in jihad. This page discusses this important topic of the false god of Muhammad in greater detail.

6. Forced religion. Muhammad sought of force Islam on people by the power of the sword. He said: “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah” (Bukhari 4.52.196). False prophets proclaim peace as long as the people cooperated with them. They declare war if people do not give them what they want (Micah 3: 5-7). Muhammad did that. He sought to forcefully make people submit to him by making them submit to Islam. The true prophets of God never persecuted, oppressed or killed people that disagreed with their message. Christianity proclaims freedom of conscience: “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5: 13; 1 Peter 2: 16). The apostle Peter warned about false prophets saying: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Peter 2: 19).

7. Inability to work miracles. Muhammad could not work any miracles in order to confirm his prophetic claims as discussed above.

8. Failed prophecies. The Holy Bible provides an important test to determine a true prophet from a false one: “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18: 22; Jeremiah 28: 12-17).

Muhammad fails that test because the few prophecies he uttered in the Qur’an and Islamic traditions did not materialize. He uttered these few prophecies contradicting the qur’anic statement that he did not know anything about the future (al-An’am 6: 50; al-A’raf 7: 188). The prophesied victory of the Byzantine empire over the Persians did not occur within a few (3-9) years (ar-Rum 30: 2-4) after the defeat of the Byzantines. It occurred after nearly fourteen years. The Persians defeated the Byzantines in 614-615. The Byzantines defeated Persia in 628. In addition, the Qur’an was written in the Kufi script without vowel marks which were added much later. Hence, changing two vowel marks reverses the meaning from “they shall defeat” to “they shall be defeated.”

Muhammad’s prophecy of immediate entry into Mecca did not take place (al-Fath 48: 27). Sahil ibn-Amr forbade Muslims from entering Mecca that year. They entered it the following year after the treaty of Hudaibiyya. The only other alleged prophecy worth evaluating in the Qur’an is al-Fajr 89: 2 which reads: “and the ten nights.” Some Islamists attempt to read into it a prediction of the ten years of persecution in early Islamic history. This is a far-fetched interpretation that the context of the sura does not support. Islamic scholars understand it to point to the first ten nights of the month Dhul-Hajj, the sacred month of pilgrimage.

Muhammad’s prophecies about the appearance of the antichrist seven months after the conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul), which occurred in 1453, and the end of the world 500 years after his own birth or death did not materialize.

By contrast, Jesus’ prophecies were accurate. The following are a few examples. He prophesied the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and its Jewish temple (Luke 19: 41-44; 21: 20-24; Matthew 23: 38). The prophecy was literally fulfilled in the final total destruction of biblical Jerusalem and its Jewish temple in 70 AD, about forty years after Jesus ascension to heaven, by the Romans in an unprecedented inferno, which was almost unparalleled in mankind’s bloodiest historical upheavals. The whole city and temple were razed to the ground as Jesus prophesied. He also prophesied the betrayal of Judas Iscariot (John 13: 21-30; 18: 2-4), the denials of Peter (Matthew 26: 34, 69-75), his resurrection (John 2: 19-21; 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8, etc.). All these prophecies were fulfilled.

9. False teachings. The Holy Bible condemns any prophet who provides false teachings. The Lord has said: “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18: 20). When Muhammad uttered the satanic verses, he did the two things that this verse prohibits:

i. He ascribed to his god what he had not said (ibn-Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 1, p. 237; al-Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, vol. vi, p. 111).

ii. He spoke in the name of other gods—the pagan gods of Quraish.

Therefore, according to this biblical verse, Muhammad is a false prophet.

10. Failure in temptation. Muhammad was tempted to proclaim and honor the false pagan gods of Quraish to achieve his political desire of Quraish accepting him as a prophet. He committed a grave sin by acknowledging and worshipping their gods in his satanic verses.

Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness and urged him to acknowledge false gods saying: “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4: 8-9). Jesus rebuked Satan saying: “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4: 10).

Although Jesus was tempted by Satan in a more powerful way, unlike Muhammad, he did not succumb to the satanic temptation. He did not fall. He did not sin. It is obvious that Jesus towers at a much higher spiritual level and rank than Muhammad.

11. Suicidal tendencies. According to reliable Islamic sources (al-Tabari (d. 922); Bukhari 9.87.111; etc.), Muhammad attempted suicide several times. He intended to throw himself from the tops of high mountains. He attempted suicide because he thought he was possessed by demons. Another reason was the pause of the alleged revelation for a while (Bukhari, 9.87.111).

These suicidal tendencies indicate that Muhammad was a mentally disturbed, depressed, confused and unstable person. By contrast, all biblical prophets were stable persons. None of them attempted suicide, or suspected demonic possession. If Muhammad were alive today, he would be considered mentally ill and dangerous to himself. He would be institutionalized and given medications.

12. Demonic authority. Demonic powers had authority over Muhammad. Therefore, the source of his alleged revelations is questionable!

13. Insecurity about his eternal destiny. The false prophet is insecure and not sure about his salvation and eternal destiny. Muhammad depended on his own works, along with his god’s hoped-for mercy to earn paradise. However, the Islamic god is exalted and pleased to send people to hell arbitrarily (Ibrahim 14: 4), and is arbitrary in his forgiveness (al-Baqarah 2: 284). Therefore, Muhammad himself was insecure about his eternal fate “…nor do I know what will be done with me or with you…” (al-Ahqaf 46: 9; al-Jinn 72: 20; Bukhari 5.58.266; 2.23.334; 9.87.145). In fact, Muhammad asked Muslims to pray for his salvation (al-Ahzab 33: 43, 56). There is not a single Biblical or Qur’anic verse which exhorts believers to pray for the peace and salvation of any of the true prophets and apostles of the holy Bible after their respective deaths. All the true prophets and apostles of the living God never doubted their salvation. The only emphatic guarantee Muhammad had from his god was that he was going to die (az-Zumar 39: 30-31) and pass through hell (Maryam 19: 68-72).

Except for the Islamic martyrs who die fighting for Islam in jihad (at-Tawbah 9: 111; as-Saff 61: 4, 10-13), all Muslims will spend time in hell (Maryam 19: 71). There is no assurance of salvation in Islam for Muslims who do not participate and die in jihad. If the prophet of Islam and the greatest Muslims Abu Bakr and Omar were uncertain and insecure about their salvation, how much more the average Muslim would be?

In contrast with that, the Holy Bible gives assurance that all true believers, which include God’s true prophets and apostles, will enter into the heavenly presence of God in paradise right after their deaths (2 Corinthians 5: 1-10; Philippians 1: 21, 23; 2 Timothy 4: 6-8; Hebrews 12: 22-24; Revelation 6: 9-11; 7: 9-17). Jesus knew on the cross for certainty that he was going to paradise, and assures Christians of the same (Luke 23: 43, 46).

XXII. CONCLUSION
(return to list of contents)

Based on the discussion of the above section XXI, it is obvious that Muhammad is not a prophet of the almighty God of the Holy Bible. He is a false prophet. His teachings contradict the established teachings and doctrines of the Holy Bible and cause degradation and corruption of human morality. Many of his works and teachings are wicked in grave violation of the biblical ethical standards. He proclaimed a fictitious god who is very different from the true living almighty biblical God. He sought to force his religion on people against their God-given free will. He could not work any godly miracles. His prophecies failed and never materialized. He honored and worshipped pagan gods in his satanic verses. He was depressed and attempted suicide several times. Demonic powers had authority over him. He was very insecure about his eternal destiny.

The logical conclusion of the above analysis is that neither the call of Muhammad, nor his alleged revelation of the Qur’an, nor his evil works and teachings originated from the true living almighty God of the Holy Bible.

People feared the sword of Muhammad and his followers. By contrast, they loved Jesus in great numbers drawn to him for his charismatic powers, and for his compassion and love. He equally responded to them. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14). Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10: 1, 9-10); “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last” (Revelation 22: 13).

Christ Jesus came to seek and save the fallen lost humanity, and give it a new spiritual beginning and hope (Luke 19: 10). Christ has forgiven. Muhammad condemned. Christ has liberated. Muhammad oppressed. Christ has given a new beginning and life. Muhammad assassinated and massacred.

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, strove after his selfish mundane interests and ambitions accumulating power, wealth, and many women. He sacrificed the souls of others to build his worldly empire. What did he do for you? In contrast with that, Christ has sacrificed his life for you on the cross to save you from eternal damnation and to set you free from the bondage of sin and spiritual decay, because he has loved you. Would you receive him in your heart and life as your savior and Lord today?

Jesus loves you. He offered himself on a cross of shame and pain in order to save your soul from eternal torment. He searches for you saying: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3: 20). Would you open the door of your heart for him? If you accept him and ask him to come into your heart and life as your Lord and savior, he will transform your life from within forever. He will take you in an exciting journey to eternal life and light. On the other hand, if you reject him or treat him merely as a prophet, you separate yourself from the true living God eternally, and dwell in the eternal torment of the outer darkness. You can begin your new life with Christ right now by praying this simple prayer that expresses your new dedication and commitment to journey with him:

My beloved Lord Jesus Christ, I accept you as the Son of God, who incarnated, was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead by God. Please, forgive my sins. I invite you to come into my heart and lead my life as my personal Lord and savior.

It is up to you to choose the one you want to follow: the all-loving living Christ who dwells in the light in heaven, or the helplessly dead Muhammad whose bones are buried in Medina? Yes, you can do all things in Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4: 13). Follow the living, not the dead. It is up to you.

This page provides the basics of the Christian faith. Welcome home!

This page will help you take the next step.

Selected Bibliography
(return to list of contents)

The New Scofield Study Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1989.

Akhtar, Shabbir. A Faith for all Seasons. Ivan R. Dee. 1991

Azzi, Joseph. The Priest & the Prophet. Los Angeles, CA: The Pen Publishers, 2005.

Cragg, Kenneth. The Call of the Minaret. 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications, 2000

Dawood, N. The Koran. New York, N. Y.: Penguin Books, 1997.

Denny, Frederick M. An Introduction to Islam. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1994

Esposito, John L. Isalm: the Straight Path. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1988

Gabriel, Mark A. Jesus and Muhammad. Lake Mary, FL.: Charisma House, 2004

Gauss, James F. Islam and Christianity. Alachua, FL.: Bridge-Logos, 2009

Geisler, Norman L. and A. Saleeb. Answering Islam: the Crescent in Light of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Books, 2002

George, Timothy. Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 2002

Gilchrist, John. The Temple, The Ka’aba, and the Christ. Jesus to the Muslims,1989.

Habib, Muhammad and Khaliq Ahmad. Nizamd ed. A Comprehensive history of India, Vol. V, The Sultanate. New Delhi, India, 1970.

Hastings, James. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethic. 2000.

Ibn-Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad. Trans. A. Guilaune. NY, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Ibn-Sa’d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 2, Trans. S. Moinul

Ibn-Warraq, ed. The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000.

Jeffery, Arthur, ed. Islam: Muhammad and His Religion. Indianapolis, IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1958.

Korkut, Dede. The Medical Case of Muhammad. Enumclaw, WA: Winepress Publishing, 2001.

Lings, Marin. Muhammad. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Tradition International Ltd., 1983)

Martin, Richard C. Islamic Studies: A History of Religious Approach. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Prentice Hall, 1996

Morey, Robert. The Islamic Invasion. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1992

Sina, Ali. Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography. 2007-2008

Spencer, Robert. The Truth about Muhammad. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2006

Youssef, Michael. America, Oil, and the Islamic Mind. Zondervan, 1991.

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JESUS AND MUHAMMAD

I. INTRODUCTION (return to list of contents)

II. ALLEGED PROPHECIES ABOUT MUHAMMAD (return to list of contents)

A. The story of the Nestorian monk Bahira (return to list of contents)

III. PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS (return to list of contents)

IV. THE PROPHETIC CALL (return to list of contents)

V. THE SEAL OF PROPHETS? (return to list of contents)

VI. THE EXTENT OF MISSION

VII. THEIR MESSAGES (return to list of contents)

VIII. THEIR TITLES (return to list of contents)

IX. THEIR DEATHS (return to list of contents)

X. THEIR MORAL EXAMPLES (return to list of contents)

XI. SHEDDING INNOCENT BLOOD (return to list of contents)

XII. COMPASSION FOR THE SUFFERING HUMANITY (return to list of contents)

XIII. SELF-SACRIFICE AND EXPLOITATION (return to list of contents)

XIV. MIRACLES (return to list of contents)

XV. HEALING ILLNESS (return to list of contents)

XVI. STATE POWER (return to list of contents)

XVII. PERSONAL PROTECTION (return to list of contents)

XVIII. DEMONIC INFLUENCE (return to list of contents)

XIX. THE CASE FOR EPILEPSY (return to list of contents)

XX. THE CASE FOR NARCISSISM (return to list of contents)

XXI. CHARACTERISTICS OF A FALSE PROPHET (return to list of contents)

XXII. CONCLUSION (return to list of contents)

Selected Bibliography (return to list of contents)