Why Muhammad is God’s Messenger

Syllabus

1. DAVID KORESH, TRAGEDY AT WACO, AND THE DANGERS OF BLIND FAITH

Violent American cult leader David Koresh used the authority of God to commit adultery with other men’s wives and children, and then led dozens to suicidal deaths in Waco, Texas. Surrendering our minds to impostors always leads to tragedy. Learn how to critically evaluate anyone’s claim to speak on behalf of God, and why doing that is a religious obligation.

2. DON’T FALL FOR A MYTH

Priests have always made up fantastic myths to bring religious masses under their spell. But not classical Muslim scholars. Learn the evidence-based historical methods of classical Muslim scholarship, integrate them with the historical methods of modern historians, and set yourself up to critically evaluate the religious claims of the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace).

3. MUHAMMAD WAS REAL

There is no real historical evidence for the existence of the Buddha. Nor, for that matter, is there any non-scriptural historical evidence for the existence of Abraham, Moses, or Jesus. But the existence of the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) is indisputable historical fact, and you can prove it. Learn about the concept of “mass-transmission” to see how.

4. BIRDS DEFEATED AN ARMY LED BY ELEPHANTS (IT’S TRUE)

The miracle-claims of other religions are historically suspect, but the miracle-claims of the Muslims are true. Learn why the miraculous defeat of the Abyssinian army that marched on the Kaba is an incontrovertible historical fact.

5. THE ANCIENT ARABIANS KNEW HE WOULD BE A PROPHET

The Prophets Abraham and Ishmael (upon them be peace) had built the Ka‘ba, which was the center of ancient Arabian life, politics, commerce, and religion. And they had prayed for a prophet from their descendants. Learn about “preparatory miracles” and grasp how their appearance before and during the Prophet’s childhood (God bless him and give him peace) led the ancient Arabians to believe that he would be that prophet.

6. JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WERE EXPECTING HIM

Many previous prophets (maybe even all of them!) predicted the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace). Learn about the Bible, how we can prove the existence of these prophecies in it, and how exactly they prove that the Prophet is really God’s messenger.

7. KHADIJA WANTED TO MARRY THE FINAL PROPHET

The Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) grew into the most gracious, sincere, selfless, wisest, and trustworthy young man of Mecca. Learn why this is historical fact, how it is miraculous, how it is evidence that he was not an impostor, and how Khadija expected—based on evidence—that the man she was marrying would become the final prophet.

8. THE FIRST REVELATION WAS CLEARLY FROM GOD

The first revelation was a miraculous fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. Walk through some of the opening hadiths of Sahih al-Bukhari to learn about the event of divine revelation, the meaning of prophecy, and Christianity in ancient Arabia.

9. THE EARLY CONVERTS USED THEIR MINDS

The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) called people to accept him as God’s messenger based on evidence. Analyze the rationale and motivations of the earliest Muslim converts and grasp the significance of the fact that the members of his household all believed in him and maintained their belief all the way to their deaths.

10. THE PUBLIC MISSION (AND WHY PEOPLE DISBELIEVE)

Public evidence-based proclamation of the falsehood of Arabian paganism was met with power-plays and persecution. Hamza Karamali describes the key events of this period and helps you understand why people persist in disbelief despite clear evidence that they are wrong.

11. THE MIRACLE OF THE QURAN

The Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) would simply recite the Quran and people would accept his claim to be God’s messenger. Learn the different ways in which the Arabians responded to the Quran and grasp exactly why it was (and still is) his greatest miracle. 

12. EMIGRATION TO ABYSSINIA

Meccan persecution forced many early Muslims to emigrate to the just king of Christian Abyssinia. Learn how these Muslims’ sincerity, wisdom, and independence are evidence that the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace) was genuine, and be proud of your faith as you compare the propaganda and dogmatism of polytheism and Christianity to the rational freedom of Islam.

13. SALMAN RUSDHIE AND THE SATANIC VERSES

Salman Rushdie’s 1988 publication of “The Satanic Verses” raised a storm all over the world. You might be surprised to discover that the incident of the Satanic verses is, in fact, reported in early Muslim sources. Analyze and interpret these reports according to the critical methods of classical Muslim scholarship and learn why the Muslim worldwide response contravened the teachings of the Prophet and his Companions.

14. THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BOYCOTT

Pagan persecution flouted its own tradition of honorable chivalry. Learn how the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) won a miraculous moral victory and how disbelievers, too, often display exemplary moral behavior. 

15. THE YEAR OF GRIEF (AND THE GOODNESS OF NON-MUSLIMS)

Abu Talib was a honorable, chivalrous, and moral man—but (according to most scholars) he died without accepting Islam. Learn how the concept of evidence-based belief can help you realize the goodness in non-Muslims, and use that to grasp the humility, selflessness, sincerity, and unimaginable liberality and well-wishing of the Prophet (God bless him and give him peace).

16. REJECTION AT TAIF AND THE MIRACULOUS ASCENT TO HEAVEN

The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) sought support at Ta’if but children pelted him away with stones. Hamza Karamali explains how outward humiliation is a clear sign of his greatness (and genuineness) and how God then fulfilled Biblical prophecy by giving him the supreme spiritual experience of his miraculous ascent to heaven.

17. PLEDGES OF SUPPORT FROM YATHRIB

Jewish settlements in Yathrib were expecting the appearance of the final prophet but they thought he would be an Israelite. The war-torn Arabian tribes of Yathrib raced to embrace him just as the Jewish tribes turned away. Hamza Karamali describes clear signs of his truthfulness.

18. MUS‘AB IN MEDINA

Mus‘ab b. ‘Umayr took the clear evidence of the Prophet’s genuineness to Medina and, within a year, there were Muslims in every Medinan household. Learn how the evidence-based message of Islam leads to a confident proselytism that is humble, open-minded, tolerant, emotionally sensitive, and responds to insults with graciousness. 

19. THE SECOND PLEDGE OF AQABA

Both the Medinans and the Prophet’s non-Muslim clansmen loved him intensely. How could they not?—He was the best human being who ever graced this world. But the Medinans saw—based on evidence—that his grace would carry into the next world, and they pledged to defend the Prophet with their very lives. Learn why the greatest revolutions are the ones that take place in people’s hearts.

20. THE EMIGRATION

Unfazed by danger, the Prophet Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) was one of the last to leave Mecca, and even as the Meccans hatched a great plot to assasinate him, he showed them signs of his genuineness by escaping with whole-hearted grace, optimistic poise, and sheer miraculousnes into religious freedom—and eventual victory.

OPTION 1: SINGLE-PAY