2

When Islam was first founded there were some Christians who considered it to be a heresy. 1

It wasn't until Mohammed was 40 years old that he claimed he was visited by the angel Gabriel and received his first revelation from God.

40 years is a long time, long enough to get around, maybe meet some Christians and learn about their doctrine, maybe even be baptized... Was Mohammed influenced by Christian ideology? Is it possible that he may have joined a Christian church before returning to Mecca and founding his own religion very similar to Christianity? Are there any theories about Mohammed once being a Christian?

1 St. John of Damascus’s Critique of Islam

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    He was living in Mecca already until the first revelation. What do you mean by "before returning to Mecca"? By the way, Islam didn't found by Muhammad(puh). He just restored the original belief coming through history by numerous prophets including Jesus(puh) and Moses(puh) from the first human and prophet Adam(puh).
    – kalahari
    Apr 25, 2015 at 3:43
  • The link you gave has a lot of errors about Islamic belief in the first sight. The writer says about a case in the eyes from Christianity and in the eyes of Islam (although some of this comments are wrong), then says Islam's view is ridiculous. There seems to be no reason for that conclusion, apart from the contradiction between two views. The source looks like a worthless thoughts of a person rather than an important interpretation of a scholar.
    – kalahari
    Apr 25, 2015 at 4:04

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
4

According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif and look at the information on Pre-Islamic Arabia

Ḥanīf (Arabic: حنيف‎, Ḥanīf; plural: حنفاء, ḥunafā') meaning "revert" refers to one who, according to Islamic belief, maintained the pure monotheism of the patriarch Abraham. More specifically, in Islamic thought, they are the people who, during the period known as the Pre-Islamic period or Age of Ignorance, were seen to have rejected idolatry and retained some or all of the tenets of the religion of Abraham (إبراهيم, Ibrāhīm) which was "submission to God" (Allah) in its purest form.

If you want historical answer you can check this question or this question on history stack exchange. I am not taking quote from these because they are not perspective of Islam. You can check for yourself.

Other then this information, your assumptions are just assumptions. Yes, in Islam history, Muhammad met other people who are Christian and Jews, but meeting someone doesn't mean you agree on their beliefs.

Improve this answer
2
  • Also make sure you paste some relevant parts from those links of H.SE.
    – servant-of-Wiser
    Jan 15, 2016 at 14:40
  • @azam i made some changes, i hope it looks better now
    – nim
    Jan 15, 2016 at 15:15
3

No, the entire idea you have is wrong. By the time Mohammed PBUH was born, Christianity mecca was filled with idol worshippers. That is why god sent him as a messenger to restore and reguide the people’s beliefs back to the truth-believing in one god. So if you like, you can pretty much say the Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, (peace and blessing be upon them all) and all of the rest had the same religion, as they all followed the same and right path. It’s just the people that change things to suit themselves. To answer your question, no Mohammed pbuh was not a Christian or an idol worshipper as he had considered the entire idea absurd and so never took practice in it, rather used to sit alone in a cave called 'hirra' to think about why these people we worshipping things that they built with their own hands

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Oops, it is completely a true issue as you mentioned "Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, (peace and blessing be upon them all) and all of the rest had the same religion, as they all followed the same and right path." / But unfortunately many people assume that the origin of their religion are different./ Nicely you mentioned it @Tashanna.
    – اللهم صل علی محمد و آل محمد
    Oct 12, 2015 at 7:08
2

Maybe yes, and maybe no.

If you define a Christian to be the one who "Worships 'the father' and affirms to the fact that Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings of the father be on him or in short 'pbuh') was a son of God as were other prophets of OT the sons (peace be on all of 'em) of God",............. then yes, you're right, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of the father be on him) was a true Christian and so are the ~2 billion Muslims on this planet.

And if you ought to define it in any other way than the above, then I can safely say that 'No', prophet Muhammad (pbuh) wasn't a Christian and so are not the Muslims.

The rest, I'm sorry I'm weak in history. But well, if you talk about criticism, then I can talk to counter it.

May the creator guide us all.

Improve this answer
5
  • I totally agree with that Notion. Anyone who believes in 1 God is a Muslim, regardless of the annotation give (Jewish, Christian, Jewish). This can be pointed from the Quran when Allah constantly associates all Prophets with the word Islam.
    – user12537
    Apr 27, 2015 at 15:00
  • 1
    You can't exactly round 1.6 billion up to ~2 billion, that a difference of 400,000,000 people, almost 80 million more people than the third most populous country in the world.
    – ShemSeger
    May 9, 2015 at 20:54
  • Maybe in a short time if God wills @ShemSeger :)
    – servant-of-Wiser
    May 9, 2015 at 20:58
  • Those numbers will likely change with civil rights movements. Currently, women don't exactly share the same freedoms as men in many dominantly Muslim societies.
    – ShemSeger
    May 9, 2015 at 21:06
  • He wasn't a Christian, he just believed in Allah like everyone else there but not the idols that they worshiped
    – userNameAsString
    Apr 1, 2022 at 16:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .