Opinion of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)

[bedstuy]

Are most Muslims okay people, like the rest of us? Of course. But no one's disagreeing with that, so you look a little silly for trying to prove that agreed-upon point.

That was never my point.  I tried to avoid any discussion of Islam in general, and focus only on Mohammed.  If I look silly to you, imagine how very silly you now look to me, given that you apparently do not read well.

Don't you think that's kind of ridiculous?

This guy was a religious figure.  The only sources about his life are religious sources from people who followed his religion.  It's that famous saying, history is written by the winners.  When someone is revered to that degree, the official version of history gets edited in a favorable light.   

If the people on the other side got to tell their story, they might view Mohammed as a Hitler like figure.  We don't have that because they lost. 

Not to mention, what do you actually know about Mohammed that's decently verifiable?  Almost nothing, no?  None of the literate cultures of the age knew that Mohammed existed until after his death.  I would think as matter of facts, we know that he existed and lived somewhere in Middle East. 

[bedstuy]

Don't you think that's kind of ridiculous?

 

Referring to the OP, rather than to an imagined question?  Not at all. 

When it becomes ridiculous to answer the question asked, rather than some other question, then I guess I no longer understand the rules.

I do agree that the answers of many posters will be prejudiced by their view of the religion he created.  I may be among the posters.  I generally have a positive view of Islam, and of religion in general.  In any case I'm not trying to start an argument over religion.  I am merely expressing surprise over the results of the poll.  They don't have objective answers, though, and I've become a little desensitized to the apparent fact that my view is a minority one.  Not particularly important, but maybe something to keep in mind should I ever find myself involved in a public discussion of Mohammed.

Did you read my post?

My point is that you can't have really leave religion out of a view of Mohammed, yet base your opinion on unverified religious texts.  It's like, if a book says that I'm the son of God or the final prophet of a God, you wouldn't expect a dispassionate, objective view of my character.  The quran or the oral tradition associated with it are not good historical, trustworthy sources.

Take a more modern example: 

We actually have non-biased information on Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard.  If you only looked at their religious texts and ignored everything else, you might think they were great men.  Yet, non-biased objective sources of information shows that they both were terrible liars and crooks. 

If you purely at the historical Mohammed, it's:

A warlord who lived in the Middle East, maybe Arabia, and was one of the key figures in a religious movement that became Islam.

I don't believe in getting all angry or enamored with historical figures like that either way.  Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar and Mohammed became celebrated because they were "great men" of history.  But, we don't factor in the view of their victims or the negative impact they had.  It's all about the mark they left.  With time, that normative view goes away and you just tend to evaluate people from how much they impacted their world.

[bedstuy]

Hey Angus, did it not strike you as problematical that Mohammad's wife had six kids commencing at "nearly" 40?

haha.  The snark in this thread is strong, and mine is no exception, and I'd decided that we were all at the point of repeating ourselves, but you offer something amusing.  Something original.  Well, not really.  You're just repeating bedstuy's point, but at least you have a sense of humor about it.

yes, okay, it's all from biased sources.  Whatever.  I'm cool with mohammed.  And Mohammed's cool with me.  None of y'all know him any better or worse than I do.  

Anyway, many are deeply prejudiced against Islam in general, and has been pointed out, it's hard to separate any discussion of Mohammed from a discussion of Islam, and since Muslims are the targets of hatred, it should be no surprise that Mohammed is as well.  It's okay, because I kinda like being in the enlightened minority.  

Oh, OK.  "Whatever."  What a great point.