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Originally Posted by alpha phi
To my knowledge, at the time of Abraham is
where the Hebrew people split in religion
with one son founding islam
and the other founding judaism
as we know the religions today
which is at the root of the dispute over jerusalem
dlishsguy you seem to have a better understanding
on this than me...I would love to hear
your understanding on this
Is this correct?
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alphi phi..if your interested, here is a link with comparisons on the differences between the jewish/christian/islamic teachings about abraham.
http://i-cias.com/e.o/abraham.htm
but without getting into the long and colourful history of Abraham, his life, lineage etc, in short Abraham had two sons, one from Sarah who was his first wife, and the other from Hajar, and arab bondgirl whom he married.
it is from this split that we get the arabs and jews claiming decendancy from Abraham, (with muhammad claiming lineage to Abraham as well as Jesus according to st Matthew) and hence why they call each other 'cousins'.
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Originally Posted by highthief
With respect to the term "Muslim" - In contemporary views, we recognize Muslims as adherents to Islam, which did not come into existence until the latter part of Muhammed's life, regardless of the etymology of the word.
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you stated that there were no 'muslims' before muhammad. i was merely stating a fact that in contemporary muslim views..the views of 1.1 billion muslims, that they believe that all the prophets and their followers are muslim because they followed monotheism. This would encompass all the true followers of judaism and christianity.
with regards to his early life, there are some books on his biography, the best ive come across would be 'The Sealed Nectar'.
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Originally Posted by highthief
We don't know much of Muhammed's early life other than he was orphaned and raised by his uncle and aunt I believe, so it is tough to say exactly what his beliefs were unti a bit later in life. However, his society as a whole was largely polytheistic with Allah being worshipped in some tribes as an important or chief god among several..
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true that his early life is not clear and some sources are sketchy (the suckling one in alphi's link). but i am yet to read anywhere that he was a polytheist. True that his people were polytheists who believed in a higher god than the idols that they worshipped. the idols were intermediatries or a channel to god (similar to the use of idols and saints in todays churches.) and they had regular contact with christians and jews in the area. a verse in the Quran refers to the polytheists of the time..
“And if you (O Muhammad) ask them: ‘Who has created the heavens and the earth,’ they will certainly say: ‘Allah’” [Luqman 31:25]