Islam, like many religions, makes some extraordinary claims. To support such claims, it naturally follows there should be extraordinary evidence. Why should people believe that Muhammad was the prophet of some god when so many have said they were prophets? What separates the claims of Islam from the claims of all the other religions in human history?
Muhammad’s miracles
Unlike the other prophets of the Abrahamic religions, there is not only historical documentation that Muhammad existed, but many of his deeds are also known. However, there is nothing that even comes close to a documented miracle. In fact, when asked for miracles to prove his claims, Muhammad admitted he was an ordinary man, and people should not expect miracles of him.
Knowing his followers had been warned of false prophets and that many people are skeptical, why is it that the Abrahamic god did not give hard evidence in the form of miracles if Muhammad was his prophet? Not only would that have greatly increased the number of people following Islam, it also would have saved so much confusion and conflict in human history. From ancient times to modern, how many have died over the question of whether Muhammad, or anyone else, was the prophet of this god?
The Koran
While some Muslims have claimed to have found scientific miracles in the Koran, a closer look at these will show attempts to match the discoveries of science (after the fact) to Islamic teachings with very liberal interpretations and assumptions of what it is saying. There is simply nothing in the Koran that anyone in Muhammmad’s position could not have known and never has something said in the Koran lead to a useful benefit in the world. One has to wonder why the perfect word of a god would not contain clear, irrefutable miracles; particularly something like germ theory would have prevented so much human suffering and proved the divinity of Islam.
Furthermore, there are many parts of the Koran that give appear to resemble what a medieval man would say far more than divine prefect wisdom and guidance. For example, the Koran condones wife beating (4:34), says the stars drive away satans from the earth (67:5), mountains act as anchors (78:7), the embryo is a drop of blood (96:2), to kill and subjugate (9:29) and virgins no Jinn has touched (55:56-57) to name a few. While Muslims will find excuses for these parts of the Koran, it certainly does not impress the way a book created by a god should. There should be no need for excuses, particularly weak ones.
It has been claimed that one has to speak Arabic to truly appreciate what the Koran says. This only raises the question as to why a god would not give his word to all humanity in a way that everyone could certainly understand. Why not a version for every language? In nothing else, why not just make everyone understand Arabic? That should not be too difficult for a being with the power to create the universe to do, and a common language that all humanity could understand would sure help with communication and understanding in the world. Besides, there are native speakers of Arabic who are far than impressed with what the Koran says. They say that calls for violence (such as 9:29) have actually been toned down when translated from the original Arabic.
Muhammad
If a god was going to communicate something to all humanity through one man in a cave, would not it be prudent to at least make sure that man was an impeccable example to follow that nobody could deny? While Muslims often do claim Muhammad was one, a closer examination of his life uncovers very serious charges of various murders, assassinations and enslavements (including the entire Banu Qurayzah tribe) as well as marrying a six year old (these actions are confirmed in Islamic hadith). It would be possible to write a book on this topic, but it all boils down to this: The charges against Muhammad are quite serious and many are backed up very strong evidence including that from some of the earliest and most respected Islamic scholars. These charges cannot be easily dismissed and there is nothing to suggest Muhammad’s record was the very perfect one it should have been.
While Islam has a larger following than every other religion on earth after Christianity, it does not have any more evidence to support it than any of the very many religions people have followed throughout history. It is another example of an ideology that makes very serious claims for itself but does not offer hard evidence to support them.
