Sean Anthony: The Historical Muhammad, Crucifixion, and the Arab Conquests

Need the story in the Quran explained of where Muhammed puts his private part between his 9 year old wife’s thighs and pleasures himself because she’s too young to have intercourse. Also, the story where Muhammed and Ali were sexually punishing a poor girl for pretty much nothing but if my memory is right, Ali had a change of heart about inflicting this punishment because she was bleeding pretty bad after The Prophets punishment. But, he was ordered to still carry it out after she stopped bleeding. The Bible is full of disgusting horrors too, just ask Saul, Elisha, Moses, or Samuel just to name a few. It’s also funny how these “holy” books are never viewed as idols themselves.

You have done nothing to make me want to buy the book. Id love to read some balanced historical analysis, but this is all waffle. Where are his arguments? Where is general case? This is just the methodology of the minutiae stripped out of the superstructure making it pointless and boring. The only good bit was description of his personal circumstance - hes at a Publicly funded uni (and I don’t understand tht as in Europe all of our unis outside of niche science projects w biz donations are too).
he seems to suggest a bit ruefully this means he can’t upset the Muslim students 🕌🕌. Whts the point of a degree where u dont rigorously look at both sides. C if u can get a swap out to Germany mate. U dont hv to come bk agreeing, just come bk w ur own perspective tht u can sell.

Are you Research that's Muhammad existing there time. The name of muhammad arabians theological and grammars is right!! Traditional islam idon't like because the historical, theological, archological, methodology and the other matters.

Islam is a cult

What’s going on?!?!
Kept waiting for some serious discussion and it just did not happen! Very misleading title. Why?!

biggest mistake every1 understanding according to false translation of quran dat made it a religion as oders ... actual thing is 2 understand quran by ur own transcription its not a religion but ppl made it by false translation

The Best Hadith Is The Revealed Book The Qur’an Only - The Any Other Hadiths Are Lies And Believing In Them Is Shirk/Association

Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso.

Impalement In Antiquity-Pharaonic Egypt
During Dynasty 19, Merneptah had Libu prisoners of war impaled ("caused to be set upon a stake") to the south of Memphis, following an attempted invasion of Egypt during his Regnal Year 5.[33] The relevant determinative for ḫt ("stake") depicts an individual transfixed through the abdomen.[34] Other Egyptian kings employing impalements include Sobekhotep II, Akhenaten, Seti, and Ramesses IX.[34]

Kindly invite Dr Ali Attie to your prodcast: He is a staunch scholar in the historical aspect of Judaism,Chrisainty and Islam: well versed in Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek. He will enrich your activity in the history of the Abrahamic faith.

I born Hebrew Like Moses Continent of Africa Muhammad zyrmen Tribe Ethiopian Mother Whites haved him hard time

well...thanks for this discussion but honestly i wanna ask him : where is the beef...where is the beeef?

بالنسبة للاية 33 في المائدة عن حد الصلب لا اعتقد ان علماء المسلمين قد وصلوا الى فهم لهذا الامر
ولكني وصلت الى فهم هذه النقطة منذ عقدين من الزمان وبالدليل القراني .
وصلت الى ان الصلب هو عقاب الاغتصاب ولى في ذلك شرح.

Call Dr Ali Ataie please

This channel is just such a rich treat. I've been teaching myself the history of Islam for years now and these conversations are incredibly value as I struggle to orient myself in the field. My graduate work was in early medieval history, in particular, Christianity (dissertation was on the role of ritual in conversion and christianization). And I'm currently teaching a religion in history course at a prep school and have been trying to develop a command of the material to do Islam justice. It's not easy to replicate the graduate school experience necessary to do that but this channel certainly helps in terms of basic orientation to the field.

And the conversations are just so cool! I'd love to just hang out with you guys!

All of which is to say thank you; I'm deeply grateful (and inspired!)!

هولاء المستشرقون لا يبحثون عن الحقيقة و لكن هم لهم اعتقادات مسبقة معادية للاسلام و يستخدمون لغة البحث العلمي و التزييف و التحريف لاثبات تلك المعتقدات, و هم لا يختلفون في شئ عن الاسلوب الذي اتبعته الفرق الباطنية عبر التاريخ الاسلامي بتفسيراتها المنحرفة للنصوص لتأكيد معتقداتهم, ولذا تجد هولاء المستشرقون يستشهدون باقوال الفرق المنحرفة الباطنية او غلاء الشيعة و لا يهتمون كثيراً من مصادر الاسلام الاصلية, فالمسلمون يتبعون الدليل و هولاء المستشرقون يتبعون الهوي, و لا يعملون بالقاعدة التي بني عليها علماء الاسلام العلم الاسلامي و هي "اذا كنت مدعياً فالدليل, و ان كنت ناقلاً فالصحة" اي اذا كنت تدعي شيئاً فعليك اثباته بالدليل المناسب له سواء كان دليل عقلي او تجريبي او احصائي مرصود, و ان كنت تنقل خبر عن النبي عليه الصلاة و السلام او شئ عن اخبار الغيب او الاسلام فعليك اثبات صحة النقل بتقديم سلسلة الاسانيد و عرض الكلام علي اصول المسلمين العقدية والفقهية و استخدم علوم الحديث في بحثها اما لقبولها او دحضها, هولاء المستشرقون يستخدمون الاساليب الادبية و تحليل النصوص غيرها التي استخدموها في دراسة الاناجيل ثم يجمعونها مع شذرات من مخطوطات مشكوك فيها و يفترضون قصة او رواية ثم ينسجون احداث خيالية و بناء حبكة قصصية و تغليفها بلغة البحث العلمي للتلبيس علي عقول الناس, و من اراد فهم نصوص الاسلام فعليه دراسة و استخدام علوم اصول الفقه و الدين و من اراد دراسة صحة مصادر الاسلام فعليه دراسة علوم الحديث, وغير ذلك من الاساليب فهي علوم زائفة لا طائل منها

Storytelling, narrative, hypothesis ... you guys need to study Islam as Muslims do, the golden rule in Islamic thinking is: "If you are claiming something you should provide a definite proof, and if your claiming is based on someone else, shows us the isnad (the chain of transmitters) upon which they will be vetted and theirs says subjected to verification and authentication. Your entire scholarships are based on confirmation bias fallacy and falsehoods. If you are really seeking the truth you will follow the evidence not assume a hypothesis and then looking for fake evidence to confirm it. Quran is not your tampered bible or your fake medieval history.

Allah says in the Quran: "6. O you who believe! If a troublemaker brings you any news, investigate, lest you harm people out of ignorance, and you become regretful for what you have done." [Quran 49-6]

The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said:
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever tells lies about me intentionally should take his seat in Hellfire."
Sahih/Authentic. - [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Great storytelling guys and then labelling it history 😅

Keep talking no matter what in the end it is a matter of belief. If there is no evidence of Muhammad there is even less of Jesus or the old testament prophets.

PLEASE NOTE,"THE PERSIAN EMPIRE WAS DESTROYED AFTER THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD DIED, SO IT WAS RIPPED TO THREADS.
PHARAOH'S BODY WAS FOUND IN 1881,12 CENTURIES AFTER THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD DIED.

Adel Imam is great! Morgan Ahmed Morgan is hilarious!

Don't be afraid just say the truth islam is invented by the hadits

I am a sckeptic of Islam Traditions. That is, complete codexes of Hadiths, Tafsir, Sirat are very late 11th to 12th century CE and attributed to scholar of the 9th and 10th century....Professor Anthony, seems to think and have references to sustain the tradition stories. Please explain.

Came here from MythVision...

Everything everything about Islam is a big fat lie!

I have been a great fan of Dr. Anthony ever since I read his work the Caliph and the heretic His dissection of the sources an early shiaism has them was great especially the section on the followers or alleged followers of Ibn Saba
But with extreme sadness I have to say that his views have seem to lot closer now To that of Jonathan Brown ( apologetic of early Arab sources and accepting them without question ) than healthy skepticism of Fred Donner
Maybe Dr Anthony now has changed his faith That is reflecting on his scholarship
Anyway fascinating to hear anybody talking about this time. And again deeply appreciate the host for giving us that opportunity

This is not about the historical Muhammad. False click bait title.

Arab empire invented Islam. Neither Mohamed of traditions, nor Mecca in Pre-Islamic times existed. Arabs created Quran from pre-Islamic Arabic translations of syro-Aramaic lectionaries, homilies, hymnals and folklores of Eastern Churches in 7th century middle-east.

How can someone on his right mind for certainty dismiss story of Abu Sufian meeting with Hercules, unless presentor himself were present at that meeting or you have a written letter from Hercules stating that meeting never happened. Abu Sufian was known merchant who regularly travelled to that region, so there's more plausible evidence that incident happened. Even if that evidence didn't happened I am not going to blow my head off because I don't have conclusive evidence to dismiss it, the honest one will stay silent

just orientalism "how can we trust the brown guys sources?" The Arab sources are more robust then many. They have biographies of the people who were actually there and wrote it down and what people thought about them and how fought who and who disliked who etc.

Nothing compares in western sources regarding historical figures in western society and it is just taken at face value.

Comparison of Caedmon and Muhammad:

1. Caedmon withdraws from society, in order to find solitude.
2. Caedmon falls asleep.
3. Caedmon receives a vision of an angel.
4. The angel commands Caedmon to recite.
5. Caedmon protests that he cannot.
6. The angel again commands Caedmon to recite.
7. Caedmon asks what he is to recite.
8. The angel tells him to sing of Creation.
9. Caedmon recites the hymn.
10. Learned Christian scholars validate the experience.

1. Muhammad withdraws from society, in order to find solitude.
2. Muhammad falls asleep.
3. Muhammad receives a vision of an angel.
4. The angel commands Muhammad to recite.
5. Muhammad protests that he cannot.
6. The angel again commands Muhammad to recite.
7. Muhammad asks what he is to recite.
8. The angel tells him to sing of the Creator.
9. Muhammad recites the Quran.
10. A learned Christian scholar validates the experience.

I wish he was asked about the Arab-Sasanian coins, and why the Muslims accepted Zoroastrian pagan symbols on their coins for 60-70 years, and why Muhammad’s name didn’t appear on coins for a long time? What coins did Muhammad himself use? According to the sirah he was using the Dirham ie sasanian coins in the Hejaz. Why he didn’t care about saying a word against the pagan symbols and Xosrow’s bust on the coins his hands everyday?! Coins have been more than medium of exchange for 1000s of years, they have been propaganda and prestige tools/symbols. The fact the Islamic tradition is so silent on them is very telling. The first thing a new government should do is to mint new coins even in limited circulation to proclaim its ideology.

I relate with what Gabriel Said Reynolds said about the Egyptian dialect. I studied classical Arabic in Egypt but still have less trouble with Levantine dialects.

I wonder what Dr. Anthony would think about Muhammad's 'Read!' revelation relating to St. Augustine's account of an apparently angelic voice telling him to 'take and read' the scriptures, having been inspired by the example of the desert hermit St. Anthony the Great:

"I flung myself down beneath a fig tree and gave way to tears... all at once I heard the singsong voice of a child, 'Take it and read it, take it and read it...' I opened the book of the Scriptures and read the first passage my eye fell on, for I had heard the story of Anthony, and I remembered how he happened to go into a church while the Gospel was being read and taken it as a counsel addressed to himself when he heard the words, 'Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and come and follow me.'" -- Ward, B., The Desert Fathers, Penguin, 2003, p. xix

Great video

Host is amazing very knowledgeable , fair and balanced.

مع كامل احترامي للاساتذة الا انني اجد انهما لا يتطرقان للقران كحقيقة مطلقة في رسالتها للنبي محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام . ولم بأتي حديثهما على القران في مختواه كأعجاز اللاهي قائم حتى يرث الله الارض وما عليها . ما يؤسفني انهما ينظران الى الرسالة السماوية المتمثلة في خاتمتها ( الاسلام ) وكأنها رسالة بشرية يمكن مطابقة تناولها من منظور بشري بنظريات وبتنظيرات مشابهة لها خارج نطاق الدين وهنا يقع الاساتذة الغربيين الدارسين للاسلام في نفس الجحر الذي سبقهم اليه المستشرقون الاوائل . فيما يتعلق بصلب الحجاج وهشام بن عبدالملك لابن الزبير فقد أوجزته أسماء بنت الصديق ذات النطاقين رضى الله عنها عندما دخل عليها الحجاج وقالت له : انه افسد على ابنها عبدالله بن الزبير دنياه وان ابنها افسد على الحجاج اخرته . وهنا عظمة الاسلام كرسالة سماوية الخطاب الاللهي للانسان فيه قائم على اعمل ماشئت يابن ادم فأنك ملاقيه يوم البعث ومحاسب عليه , عكس تعاليم المسيحية التي تدخل هتلر الجنة لانه مات مؤمنا بالمخلص الذي دفع الثمن مسبقا عنه . وعكس اليهودية التي ضمنت الجنة لبني اسرائيل دون غيرهم . : أفمن يمشي مكبا على وجهه اهدى أمن يمشي سويا على صراط مستقيم . صدق الله العظيم . اسجل هنا كامل احترامي لهما .

with a great respect to both of you gentlemen ., if you really want to explore the holly Quran and the Bible then you need to watch Shaikh Ahmed Deedat debating christian schoolars .

I am reading Muhammad and the Empires of Faith now. I am really enjoying it--very well-researched.

Thank you very much for the video, Dr. Reynolds. And thank you to Dr. Anthony. As a believer & an avid learner of Qur’anic studies & religion in general, its a fantastic blessing to be able to access these scholarly discussions and resources from the comfort of our own home, and be connected to such erudite thinkers like yourself for free. Definitely not to be taken for granted. It’s also a nice coincidence that I was just introduced to Dr. Sean Anthony & his work very recently, and then this video was released :)

I also just happened to be thinking about the idea of crucifixion as well, and specifically the claim made by some critics that the Qur’an is mistaken in referring to “crucifixion” at the time of Pharaoh, Joseph & the ancient Egyptian dynasties—but, as Dr. Anthony himself confirmed, the term “sallab/yusallab” in Arabic can simply refer to any impalement-like state of being (that is centered around the torso or abdomen); and hence the word itself derives from “sulb”—which literally means ‘abdomen’. And so despite frequent inaccurate translations of the Qur’an (due to an innocent lack of historical knowledge & awareness on the part of imperfect translators), the word is often flatly translated “crucifixion” when in fact it can also validly be rendered as “impaled”. And in fact, this actually fits in more nicely and makes more sense in the context of the Qur’anic image of the Pharoah, which explicitly declares him to be the “possessor of stakes” (أوتاد) which we now know was among the primary tools of choice for many for traitors & other criminals in those ancient Egyptian dynasties. Moreover the Qur’an quotes the Mosaic Pharaoh as saying things like ”I shall cut off your hands and feet from opposite ends, and THEN I shall impale you” (la’usallibannakum) which only makes sense if we think of traditional ‘impalement’ on a stake, as opposed to Roman-like crucifixion, where the hands & feet were necessary to lock in with nails or ropes.

But, I digress. Dr. Sean Anthony seems to have a lot of other great works and ideas, and I’ll definitely be checking out his others works soon. Thanks again for the upload, and I hope to see the next one soon!

P.S. Could I humbly recommend that you consider inviting Dr. A’isha Y. Musa of the United States to your show? She wrote a fascinating book some years ago titled ”Hadith As Scripture: Discussions on the Authority of Prophetic Traditions in Islam” which I think is a fascinating topic, especially in light of the large wave of Qur’an-only (Hadith-rejecting/skeptical) movements currently sweeping the Islamic world. I know it’s not directly tied to the Qur’an, per say, but the implications it has to the Qur’an and its history & exegesis (and the history of Islamic thought as a whole) is nonetheless momentous and profound.

Peace/Salam.

The Historical Muhammad, ?????? So much babble, pointless circumlocution , tiresome yarns. Over an hour of video.

Where is the proof of the Mecca of the 6-7th Centuries without which the Mohamed of these yarns cannot have existed?

Where are the archeological remains and concrete evidence of the mother of all cities? The infrastructure and evidence of anything constructed and buried of this Mecca of the super heroes of Islam? The contemporary accounts of neighbouring soveriegn states ; the current proud museums showcasing the precise coins, potteries, ossaries, hyrdraulic schemes in this desperately dry and pastureless place: just a sliver of a fragment of a piece of a tax receipt, a custom house rediscovered, a worn milestone revealed under a dune, a tantalisingly indicative stone inscription of the place: any, but any, excavated tomb from amongst the legions of ceremoniously buried 'muslims' , slaves, merchants warriors, statesman....????? Literally any garbage will do (Spoils, cesspits, dried wells, tannery remains, etc) .

We are all still waiting. Whilst you announce the historical Mohamed with 3/4 of an hour of mental masturbation and teenage hair do complex. There is more empirical evidence for the existance of Thomas the tank engine in this part of the world.

Aren't you in any way embarrassed, Master Anthony ?

I often hear phrases such as “the extremes of revisionism or a naive approach to the sources…” I’d be very interested in a topic that defines some of these approaches. Who are some academics whom are labeled as such but still garner some respect for their vigor in research? Perhaps a panel conversation would help define the spectrum of academic study in your field?

It was nice hearing about the state of the academia as well

Great discussion. Thank you.

Great guest and excellent topic!

Thank you for sharing .