Website owner: James Miller
The Koran
The Koran. What is its source? Who wrote it? It is supposedly the teachings of Mohammed but it is not as though Mohammed wrote it. Mohammed was illiterate. He didn’t know how to read or write. Moslems believe it is the exact words of God himself, without error, spoken to Mohammed incrementally through the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years, starting when he was 40 years old until his death. However, nothing was written down during Mohammed’s lifetime. How did the book come about? His teachings were supposed to be the exact words of God but in the years after his death different contradicting versions of what he had said started appearing. People were repeating what he had said quite differently. The more different reports of his teachings multiplied, the more confused his followers became. People in leadership positions were concerned about the religion splitting up into quarreling groups so a later head of the movement decided they needed a text of what he taught as a basis for the religion and ordered Mohammed’s old secretary Zayd to prepare one. How did he do that? He did it basically from recollections on what he and others had heard Mohammed say. It came down to people’s memories.
How was it that this new religion was able to conquer so much of the known world? After it had won some important battles in the Arabian peninsula delegates of Arabian tribes started coming from the farthest corners of the peninsula to offer their allegiance. Thus it gained power in the peninsula. After Mohammed’s death some of these tribes stopped paying tribute and attempted to leave but the new leader, Abu Bakr, ordered his troops to reconquer these tribes and then conquer all of the rest of the tribes in the peninsula. Thus they conquered the entire Arabian peninsula. From there they went on to conquer Syria, Iraq, Persia and then north Africa and much of the known world. How were these Bedouin tribes of Arabia able to conquer so much of the known world? Well, the Bedouins were a very warlike people accustomed to war and fighting. They did a lot of fighting among themselves over precious springs and pasturelands in the Arabian desert, one tribe against another, and many lived as bands of robbers, raiding caravans passing through the desert. (The Moslems under Mohammed raided caravans. It was a part of the culture.) Their rugged life in the extremely harsh desert conditions made them tough and hard. It hardened their bodies, taught them how to endure thirst, hunger, heat, and other hardships. They were bold fighters and superb riders able to cover mile after mile on their camels at a gallop. In addition they were extremely poor and because they had so little they would battle extremely hard to get booty. Another reason for their great fearlessness is the teachings of their new religion: It taught that if they died in battle they would go straight to paradise where they would be surrounded with beautiful women and treated with all of the pleasures that went with that. And one must remember that with each new country that one conquers one has more revenue coming in and more armed forces at his disposal. Thus their power increased with each new conquest. This same kind of thing has happened at other times in history. People from very austere, harsh environments turn to pillaging, plundering, marauding, ransacking for a living. Examples: the Huns, the Vikings, and the Mongols. Much of ancient history is about some poor, rough, warlike people attacking some affluent, advanced, civilized people with great slaughter and cruelty, conquering them, and then taking their homes and possessions, and making slaves of them.
By conquering so much of the known world the Moslems made Islam an important world religion. Had this religion been started in most other parts of the world I am guessing it would have just fizzled out.
See
On the Koran and Islamic Belief and Outlook
Stance of the Koran on Jesus and Christianity
Christianity v.s. Islam, a Comparison
25 Dec 2020
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