Above Image: Muhammad leads Abraham, Moses and Jesus in prayer. from medieval Persian manuscript
Source: The Middle Ages. An Illustrated History by Barbara Hanawalt (Oxford University Press, 1998) ISBN 0195103599 p. 36
UPDATE: 2:20 & 4:25 PM Dec. 16The Toronto 18-Terrorists
The life of Muhammad
Bat Ye'or 's criticism of Muhammad and Islam
Connections between Islam, Judaism & Christianity
(Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto Us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the Prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 136)
(The messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him from his Lord and (so do) the believers. Each one believeth in Allah and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers We make no distinction between any of His messengers and they say: We hear, and we obey. (Grant us) Thy forgiveness, our Lord. Unto Thee is the journeying.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 285)
"So in the light of this, we want you to know that we accept Jesus as a prophet of Allah."
From Islam ONLINE Ask the Scholar
First some Canadian Content as demanded by the CRTC:
Unfair Dealing: The Toronto Homegrown Terror Threat 1/6
Moderates Against Jihadists - Canada's 9/11 Thwarted
Alleged Terrorists tried by the Media & Government before they ever went to court.
Summer 2006 - Canadian law enforcement round up 18 young Muslims, and arrest them on terrorism charges...
Were they a legitimate threat? Or were the Canadian people fooled?
Questions and comments can be directed to the team that created Unfair Dealing, at Unfair.Dealing@Gmail.com
Canada's Agent provocateur
Unfair Dealing: The Toronto Homegrown Terror Threat 2/6
Even if these so-called terrorists were innocent once the story was given to the media it didn't matter they would be charged and found guilty of something even though they had been egged on by "an agent provocateur" working for the Canadian government who was paid over $300,000 for a years work. There have been since 9/11 a number of suspicious cases such as these in Canada, Britain, Australia and the United States. These governments spend billions on defense and security and intelligence so they need to provide evidence no matter how bogus or tainted for their efforts. We know that hundreds of POWs or "detainees " (the designation detainee in typical Orwellian fashion is used instead of POWs as code for treating without any regard to international laws such as the Geneva Conventions-since these days even for Obama such conventions are considered to be not applicable to the United States or its allies such as the puppet regimes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan , Usbeckistan, Indonesia, Burma, Israel , Saudi Arabia, Britain etc. code for treat prisoners you please-indefinite detention, bogus evidence , kangaroo courts ,abuse,torture etc.)were released from Gitmo without being charged on the condition they sign a waiver and not talk about the conditions under which they were kept.
Abu Ghraib and other American run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the home for hundreds of thousands of POWs and yet a large number of these were kept without any evidence against them except for confessions by other prisoners obtained through torture whether the prisoners tortured were held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Uzbeckistan where they boil Muslims alive to please the Americans and their allies. The West since 9/11 has lost any moral high ground it ever had.
When we in the West act no better than the worst terrorists why should the rest of the world believe we have good intentions when in fact we seem to be just keeping the rest of the world fearful so we can dictate to them whatever it is we need -that is we steal their resources , use their people as cheap labor in our International unregulated Corporations which operate quite profitably in many of these countries . Maybe if Canadian, British, American corporations were made to pay decent wages and benefits and stop using, prison labor, slave labor and child labor maybe then we could say we were treating all of these people fairly.
Islamophobe Propagandists in promoting bigotry and fear of Islam such as Pam Geller, Robert Spencer, Brigitte Gabriel. Bernard Lewis , Daniel Pipes slander Muhammad and Islam or at least perpetuates lies about Muhammad as a fraud and a fake or a madman and a butcher and a pediophile who lived according to them an hedonistic self-serving life-style. They claim he duped others by claiming to have been given the Quran through the Archangel Gabriel.
They place a great deal of emphasis on the fact that he had a number of wives but don't place in the context of his life or the culture in which he was living. Muhammad became a prosperous business man and as such at that time in Arab society it was acceptable and even expected that such a man should have more than one wife.
They don't bother to mention that he was involved in a monogamous relationship for 26 years. This is much longer than what most marriages last these days.
. Muhammad married the businesswoman Khadija who was a widow . Muhammad at first worked for Khadija overseeing her caravans . Later as their relationship grew based upon trust and friendship and mutual respect they fell in love and got married.For Muhammad this was the ideal marriage. After 26 years Khadija died. A few years Later he took on a number of wives which was more usual at the time.
As for Muslims today only a small percentage (approx. 4.0%) of men take on more than one wife. Muhammad & tradition warns men they can only take multiple wives if they can provide for them and treat each of them fairly. But one can't allow facts to get in the way of those who choose to slander Muhammad.
As we discover in the old testament the Israelite males also practiced polygamy and /or the use of concubines . While most of the prophets and kings of the Israelites were sexually active and also had little regard for women The Nazarene known as Jesus seemed to be a Eunuch or was sexually inhibited since he did not take a wife like a normal man. Some would suggest it was because he was either a God or partially divine and either had no sexual desires or felt it would sully his divine nature to have intercourse being a typical misogynist like many of the Christian Fathers.
So let's take a quick look at a few of the high points of Muhammad's Life
Note: Quoted Passages from
Will Durrant's "MOHAMMED IN MECCA: 569—622" at Sullivan Country.com
Of his youth we know almost nothing, though fables about it have filled ten thousand volumes. At the age of twelve, says a tradition, he was taken by Abu Talib on a caravan to Bostra in Syria; perhaps on that journey he picked up some Jewish and Christian lore. Another tradition pictures him, a few years later, as going to Bostra on mercantile business for the rich widow Khadija. Then suddenly we find him, aged twenty-five, marrying her, aged forty and the mother of several children.
Until her death twenty-six years later Mohammed lived with Khadija in a monogamous condition highly unusual for a Moslem of means, but perhaps natural in their recipient. She bore him some daughters, of whom the most famous was Fatima, and two sons who died in infancy. He consoled his grief by adopting Ali, the orphan son of Abu Talib. Khadija was a good woman, a good wife, a good merchant; she remained loyal to Mohammed through all his spiritual vicissitudes; and amid all his wives he remembered her as the best.
Muhammad Awakens and told to "Recite"
and that which he recites becomes The Holy Quran that is the word of God/Allah as told to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel.
As he approached forty he became more and more absorbed in religion. During the holy month of Ramadan he would withdraw, sometimes with his family, to a cave at the foot of Mt. Hira, three miles from Mecca, and spend many days and nights in fasting, meditation, and prayer. One night in the year 6io, as he was alone in the cave, the pivotal experience of all Mohammedan history came to him. According to a tradition reported by his chief biographer, Muhammad ibn Ishaq, Mohammed related the event as follows:'Whilst I was asleep, with a coverlet of silk brocade whereon was some writing, the angel Gabriel appeared to me and said, “Read!” I said, “I do not read.” He pressed me with the coverlets so tightly that I thought 'twas death. Then he let me go, and said, “Read!”... So I read aloud, and he departed from me at last. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart. I went forth until, when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, “0 Mohammed! Thou art the messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.” I raised my head toward heaven to see, and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man, with feet set evenly on the rim of the sky, saying, “0 Mohammed! Thou art the messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel.”
Muhammad like Jesus accuses the people of idolatry and promoting Idolatry and ignorance to protect their own livelihood by preying on pilgrims to the Kaaba.
Mohammed went often to the Kaaba, accosted pilgrims, and preached the one god. The Quraish heard him at first with smiling patience, called him a half-wit, and proposed to send him, at their own expense, to a physician who might cure him of his madness.26 But when he attacked the Kaaba worship as idolatry they rose to the protection of their income, and would have done him injury had not his uncle Abu Talib shielded him. Abu Talib would have none of the new faith, but his very fidelity to old ways required him to defend any member of his clan.
Muhammad 's Night Flight-He rides the magical horse Buraq to Jerusalem to the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount
One night, it seemed to him, he was miraculously transported in his sleep to Jerusalem; there a winged horse, Buraq, awaited him at the Wailing Wall of the Jewish Temple ruins, flew him to heaven, and back again; and by another miracle the Prophet found himself, the next morning, safe in his Mecca bed. The legend of this flight made Jerusalem a third holy city for Islam.
Bat Ye'or on Buraq Obama's Muslim Speech at Atlas Shrugs June 06,2009
(Intro by Pam Geller)
How privileged we are to hear what Bat Ye'or, whom I consider to be the world's leading scholar on Islam, has to say about Obama's speech in Cairo. Bat Ye’or, the Egyptian-born British historian who specializes in the history of Christian and Jewish dhimmis, is the author of Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis; Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide; and The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude.
BAT YE’OR (in NRO, Criticism and Conciliation)
Pres. Barack Obama was elected, by an overwhelming majority, on a program in which America’s rapprochement with Islam stands pre-eminent. This is a legitimate political aim in the quest for world peace. The questions are: how to achieve it, and why there is no reciprocal effort from the Muslim world represented by the Organization of the Islamic World (OIC). This body could express its regrets for over a millennium of jihad wars, land expropriations, enslavements, and humiliations of the conquered non-Muslim populations on three continents.
Obama’s Cairo discourse fits perfectly into his agenda. It flatters Muslim sensibilities and expresses the Muslim view of historical tolerance and cultural superiority over infidel civilizations. When Obama mentioned the “Isra” event, he referred to Muhammad’s ascension to heaven and his return in one night on a winged mule named Buraq. There he greets two Muslim prophets, Moses and Jesus/Isa, who are not the biblical figures. The image used here by the American president as a symbolic interfaith reconciliation between the three faiths is a meeting between three Muslim prophets and not the figureheads of the three monotheistic religions. Besides, the Isra event is not recognised by non-Muslims, and it didn’t happen in Jerusalem, as this name does not appear once in the Koran.
The president’s speech is similar to many such declarations by European leaders. The question it raises is how much the West is ready to forgo truth and its basic principles in its supplication for obtaining peace with Islam. Clearly, the full Islamization of the West is the quickest way to obtain it. Obama’s political program in connection with the Alliance of Civilizations conforms to an OIC strategy that has already been accepted by the EU. In history, this policy has a name: the dhimmitude syndrome.
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It is very telling that Bat Yeor first denies Islam has anything originally or authentically to do with Jerusalem - why is this -one can only surmise that she wants to deny that Islam has any basis to its claim that it too along with Judaism and Christianity has some ancient religious ties to Jerusalem. By claiming this Bat Yeor and others who are hostile to Islam can thereby deny any religious right on the part of Muslims to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem or any other part of Jerusalem . Therefore only Judaism has the pre-emminent religious and theological and political claim to Jerusalem while Islam has none and Christianity has a claim though it is a lesser one to Judaism.
Bat Yeor also glosses over the fact that at first Muhammad insisted that his followers pray in the direction of Jerusalem (-he changed this later to Mecca). In this he believed he was justified because Islam was a continuation of Judaism and Christianity.
Therefore Bat Yeor and her "fellow Travelers" can mock Muslims for making any claims over the city of Jerusalem . In this way they can argue that denying Muslims access to Jerusalem would be a small matter one of little concern. In this way she and the more radical Israelis can justify expelling all Muslims from Jerusalem and possibly all Christians as well.
But the fact is that Islam from its formative years claimed Jerusalem as its third most holy site based upon the event or story or myth of Muhammad's Night Flight on the back of the winged horse Buraq which took him to Jerusalem. At the place which he touched down as it were was in proximity to the Temple Mount upon which Muslims later built the Golden Dome Mosque.
Instead Bat Yeor has Muhammad making up the entire incident since to her he is a fraud , a fakir and claims Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran and that at the same time she says not that he rode a fabulous magical horse but rather rode a lowly mule. She also appears to claim that Muhammad only met Isa/Jesus and Moses and she neglects to include Abraham for one can imagine in order to take away some of Muhammad's claim that he and the scriptures given to him were or are a continuation of the Abrahamic religion and traditions. She then explains that this Isa whom many believe to be Jesus has nothing to do with the Jesus of Nazareth. By doing so she can now cut any supposed ties between Christianity and Muhammad and Islam. Though Muhammad's knowledge of Isa/Jesus is either limited or is the version of Isa's life which God wanted to pass on to those who submit to Allah. So one way of looking at this is that the Christians may have missed understood Jesus's message and that his final days as told in the Gospels were a fiction or somehow were changed by the oral tradition. As Christians and Jews deny the accuracy or veracity of the account of Muhammad's life so others may question the veracity of the stories about Jesus or Abraham or Moses or the other Biblical Prophets.
For those of us outside these traditions it appears a bit disingenuous for Bat Yeor or others to claim all that is said in the Old Testament, The Torah and the Talmud are to be believed but not the Holy Book and traditions of the Hadith of Islam or the Holy scriptures and traditions of Christianity. But nor are these absolutists and literalist able to imagine that there might be truths to be found in other religions besides their own such as Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism etc.
The Buddha was preaching love ,compassion and understanding some 500 years before Christianity . He believed that all human beings suffered and so we should have compassion for them . It is also frightening to think if the Buddha or Buddhists had live within the Roman Empire once it became Christian they would have tossed the Buddha himself and his followers to the lions and had all their writings burned since Christianized Rome could not tolerate any other religions. Yet Christian have over the centuries been intolerant and murderous in their dealings with those of different faiths or even with those who interpreted the scriptures and the Life of Jesus in a different way that is Heretics who did not agree with orthodox Church doctrine and dogma and its political and economic and material concerns. So when certain Islamic groups act in similar dogmatic, intolerant and a barbaric manner towards any who do not accept the orthodoxy of a particular sect why are Christians act so indignant.These modern day Christians suffer either from amnesia or selective memory loss and involved in historical revisionism for PR purposes . For after all each is involved in selling their own particular brand product ie theological views and so depict their brand as the best and all the others as deficient.
But for instance one wonders why is Monotheism considered superior to polytheism . Is it Occam's razor they rely on. Jehovah , Jaweh , "I am That I am" doesn't in the earlier parts of the Bible claim to be the only God but rather "The God of The Israelites" and "The Creator God" to whom the Israelites should submit and that they should destroy the idols and temples of all other Gods. It is much later that he claims to be the only God.
But then the old Gods get transformed in the Judaic & Christian mythology into Archangels, and "the Angel of Light" God's companion gets transformed into "Satan" a "Fallen Angel" who leads a host of "Fallen Angels" so they recreate a whole newer version of the Old Pantheon of Gods- now one can pray to God or to various angels or saints in the Christian tradition besides Mary the Mother of God/Isa/Jesus. So the spiritual world begins to get as crowded as it was in the various Pagan traditions. And to this one could add of course the Trinity itself along with some 1800 or more Saints and Holy Relics and statues and paintings and the Pope as chosen by God along with the Church and its priests and ministers and Rabis and Imams & Mullahs and the Royal families who came by their titles because they too were representatives of God on Earth. How were these Royal Families of ancient Israel or Persia or Babylon or France or Great Britain suddenly God's chosen. There are those who believe that their nation as opposed to all others is the chosen of God. How in Heaven's name is this so different from the Ancient Egyptians or the Aztecs and their "God Kings".
But Bat Yeor and others whether Jews, Christians or secularists seem all too willing to mock Muhammad and the Holy Quran while giveng a great deal of credence to the Bible and to the traditions of both Judaism and Christianity. But to the most skeptical they would characterize all three religions as being based upon fabricated stories or myths and that so-called miracles never occured or can be explained away by modern science-ie the Nile turning red some sort of anomaly which caused the river to turn red, the various plagues merely highly misunderstood natural phenomenon .
As for myself I do not go that far since each of these faiths and others at some level resonate something which speaks not so much to the rational mind but to one's soul or heart (Heart Sutra, Lotus Sutra) however that might be defined. For instance if what Muhammad experienced was not a literal journey to Solomon's Temple and his ascension into Heaven and speaking to Abraham ,Moses and Jesus then it could be seen as a spiritually or other worldly vision as in a vision from God by way of the archangel Gabriel. Why can't some people believe in this event as real while others believe their Prophet or Messiah walked on water or was divine in nature or possibly a divinely inspired Prophet or teacher.
One of the issues here is for some of us outside these traditions is that of a strident absolutist literal reading of all these events as found in the Bible , the Torah, the New Testament or the Quran by the various adherents to these or other religions. For instance there are Christian fundamentalist that insist the world is only 6004 years old because they calculated this from what they find in the Bible. But the problem with this is that these believers are imposing their own sense of time and space upon the Mind of God as if they completely understood their deity's perception of the world.
Or for instance should we take the story of Noah's Ark as being literally true and that if we investigate the Biblical details we can then rebuild such an Ark. God commands Noah to build the Ark but to what extent or degree is God or his Angels lending an unseen invisible hand in the construction. If we take the story literally than we can assume God helps in some manner to round up all of the pairs of animals to be put on the Ark in the same way that the Flood the Deluge is not natural but is willed by God.
And if a Christian can believe that a man named Jesus existed historically and he performed miracles etc. yet then turn around and call some other religious sage, teacher, prophet a fake and a fraud a charlatan this seems a bit disingenuous. Maybe as some suggest there was no actual one man named Jesus but rather a series of teachers who were given the task to pass on the Christ Teachings. On the other hand since so many claim Muhammad was a charlatan or deluded and insane we could make these claims about Jesus or his followers or about Abraham, or Moses etc. But in one sense what matters are the teachings that have been passed on and whether some wish to take them seriously and live by them-that is to have made a leap of faith to believe in Jesus or in Abraham, Moses, or the Buddha or Lao Tzu or the Reb or Joseph Smith etc.
Interesting People
Muhammad by Harley Hahn.com
...Notice the difference between what Moslems believe about Muhammad and what Christians believe about Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus was divine, the actual son of God. Moslems believe that Muhammad was a mortal man, not at all divine. Rather, they see Muhammad as a prophet, in fact, the last and most important of the great prophets (such as Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus). Thus, it came to be that, in 610, at the age of 40, Muhammad began to preach monotheism.
One of the most important verses of the Qur'an (Surah 17:1) leads to an interesting story about Muhammad. The actual verse (loosely translated) is: "Praise be to Him who took His servant by night from the sacred mosque in Mecca to the most distant mosque, whose environs we did bless, so that we might show him some of our signs, for He is the All-Hearing and All-Seeing One." Islamic tradition embellishes this verse into the miraculous "Night Journey":
One night, Muhammad, accompanied by the angel Gabriel, flew on the back of a winged, horse-like creature to Jerusalem to visit the temple that was built by King Solomon (who, by the way, is also considered to be one of the prophets). At the Temple, Muhammad prayed with Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muhammad was then carried up to heaven by Gabriel, where Muhammad met God. Because of this trip, Moslems consider Jerusalem to be the third most holy city, after Mecca and Medina (see below). Within Jerusalem lies one of Islam's most holy sites, the Dome of the Rock, which covers the place where Muhammad is said to have stepped as he began his ascent to heaven. During the Night Journey, Muhammad was told several tenets that he incorporated into the basis of Islam, for example, that all Moslems should pray five times a day.
and:
Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem at Israir airlines
In Islam, Jerusalem`s historical importance is due to a tradition saying that Muhammad went on a celestial journey from the spot where the ruins of the Jewish temples was and where the Dome of the Rock later was erected.
On Mt. Moriah at the hallowed site, known in Arabic as Haram al Sharif, the 9th Caliph, Abd al-Malik, built the great Dome of the Rock between 687 and 691. Adjacent to the Dome is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Designed by Byzantine architects engaged by the Caliph, the Dome of the Rock was the greatest monumental building in early Islamic history and remains today one of the most sublime examples of monumental mosques.
The sacred foundation stone is encircled by sixteen arches that formerly came from different churches in Jerusalem, which were destroyed during the Persian occupation of the city in 614 AD.
ENDNOTES:
also see: Inviting Bat Ye'or To Consider Fairness by Mustafa Akyol at The White Path Oct. 26,2004
and on connections between Judaism and Christianity & Islam for example see:
" Mary, Jesus, Abraham, and Muhammad: A Shared Legacy" By Sheikh Sadullah Khan at Islamonline "Ibrahim's Call Hajj 1429",Nov. 16, 2008
Legacy of Prophet Abraham
Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) is considered the first international personality. He was born in Ur or Urfa (in modern-day Iraq or Turkey). He traveled throughout the Middle East, lived in Jerusalem, and ventured to Makkah. He was then buried in Hebron in modern-day Palestine.
Today, each of these places is still of historic, religious, and spiritual significance. In the Glorious Qur'an, Abraham is referred to as the inspired, most truthful, Prophet, mild, imploring, penitent, upright, soft-hearted, and long-suffering. The believers are called the people or community of Abraham many times in the Qur'an. Almighty Allah says,
(And they say, "Be Jews or Christians — you will be rightly guided." Say (unto them, O Muhammad), "Nay, but (we follow) the religion of Abraham, the upright, and he was not of the polytheists.") (Al-Baqarah 2:135)
(And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely to Allah while doing good (to others) and follows the faith of Abraham, the upright? And Allah took Abraham as a friend.) (An-Nisaa' 4:125)
(Indeed, I (Joseph) have forsaken the religion of a people who do not believe in Allah, and they are deniers of the hereafter. And I have followed the religion of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It never was for us to attribute aught as partner to Allah. This is of the bounty of Allah unto us (the seed of Abraham) and unto humankind, but most people do not give thanks.) (Yusuf 12:37–38)
(And We bestowed on him Isaac and — as an additional gift (a grandson) — Jacob, and We made righteous men of every one of them. And We made them leaders who guided (people) by Our command, and We inspired in them the doing of good deeds and the keeping up of Prayer and the giving of the alms, and they were worshippers of Us (alone).) (Al-Anbiyaa' 21:72–73)
Another verse in the Qur'an describes Abraham as the father of all believers. Almighty Allah says,
(And strive hard in (the way of) Allah, (such) a striving as is due to Him; He has chosen you and has not laid upon you any hardship in religion: The faith of your father Abraham; He named you Muslims before and in this (Revelation) that the Messenger may be a bearer of witness to you and you may be bearers of witness to the people…) (Al-Hajj 22:78)
As one reflects upon the unique legacy of Abraham, Ishmael, and Hagar (who are all models of excellence), one ponders over Abraham's logical attitude in his search for truth, his respectful debate with his unbelieving father, and his loving relationship with his son. All these serve as timeless examples of excellence for humanity.
True Believers are those who follow the way of Abraham. Perchance, in all walks of life, we too can imbibe the spirit of Abraham if we truly understand the purpose of our existence. Almighty Allah says,
(Say, "Surely my Prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, Lord of the Worlds.) (Al-An`am 6:162)
The God of Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammad /The author of God: A Biography says that, yes, of course Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God. BY: Jack Miles at beliefnet.com
As for the name, ‘allah in Arabic is a contraction for ‘al-‘ilah, “the-God,” and as such is cognate with Hebrew ‘eloh, “god,” (plural of abstraction, ‘elohim, “deity”). In both languages, the common noun meaning “deity” or “god” can function in monotheistic context as a proper name for the only actual instance of such a being. (Note that neither Hebrew nor Arabic employs capital letters to make a God/god distinction.)
Linguistic technicalities aside, what matters is that back in the seventh century, the first Muslims were using the same kind of word in Arabic that the Jews were using theologically in Hebrew and using it in the same way. Much the same could be said of seventh-century Christians speaking of God in Syriac or Coptic, Semitic languages then still widely used.
That Jews, Christians, and Muslims have always assumed their differences to be about the character rather than the identity of God is abundantly witnessed centuries later in late medieval Spain where the three religions mingled freely and the best scholars were bi- or even trilingual in Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. During that era, a number of famous theological debates took place in which all participants transparently assumed that all other participants were speaking of-—and, of course, disagreeing about—-the same divine subject.
Perhaps the most strenuous of all such medieval wrestling matches was the silent, private bout between Thomas Aquinas and Ibn Rushd, the earlier Muslim philosopher whom the West knows as Averroes. Aquinas wrote his immense Benares or Kyoto to realize this. All three believe that God is the Creator and that God will someday end the world that he created. All three believe that God is a judge as well, that he will show himself as such on the last day, and that the criterion for his judgment will be not worldly greatness but moral integrity. And this list can be extended just as easily as the list of differences.
MUHAMMAD IN THE BIBLE By Dr. Jamal Badawi
Muhammad By Mitchell Bard at Jewish Virtual library
and so it goes,
Gord
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