Thomas: (Pt 2) How Islam began politically 674 - 850 AD (PanderFilms w/Dr. Jay Smith)

So, according to Thomas, the political environment in the 7th century was changing dramatically.

674 AD: Thomas notes that Muawiya was well into his reign at this time and attacks Constantinople by sea, but is defeated by "Greek Fire" (an incendiary weapon, consisting of a combustible compound emitted by a flame-throwing weapon, and used by the Byzantine Empire beginning in 672 AD, which set fire to enemy ships).

681 AD: Muawiya is deposed and Abd al-Malik (notice not Marwan, his father) comes to power, which contradicts the Standard Islamic Narrative, as it suggests Marwan first comes to power.

A coin minted in 681 shows Malik in power, though Muslims say the coin simply shows Persian dating, which makes no sense, since none of the Umayyads used Persian dating before or since.

690 AD: A Christian Inscription made in Fustat, Egypt, by Aziz, the brother of Abd al-Malik, ends with the word "Amen", which only Christians would use.

At around the same time Abd al-Malik erects the 'Dome of the Rock' in Jerusalem with the reference to 'Muhammad' ('the praised one') which was clearly referring to Jesus, not to a prophet named Muhammad.

On the inner ambulatory there are pictures of grapes, which are known as "Houris", a common reference to the grapes in heaven, as they are the fruit of Paradise in Christianity.

Jay referred to a 5th century fresco (sent to him by Mel), which depicts Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in heaven feeding grapes to the newly arrived believers in paradise, proving that the term 'houris' in Aramaic always meant grapes and not women. This again goes against the later Qur'anic interpretation of this word, as well as the Standard Islamic Narrative, for what awaits men in paradise.

750 AD: The Abbasids now take over and begin to introduce their 'Standard Islamic Narrative' (SIN). To do this they destroy the earlier Umayyad history and introduce their own narrative, based on a prophet named Muhammad, and a Qur'an which is still being written; in fact, as late as the 9th century.

756 AD: Now Muhammad's tomb is built, but this term is still used to suggest 'the praised one', and not a prophet, though this is the last time it is used as such.

825 AD: The Caliph Ma'mun, also from Merv (Turkmenistan today) is definitely a Muslim, and he lives in Baghdad. Yet, it's ironic that he did not believe at this late time (early 9th century) that the Qur'an was eternal, and even assumed that parts of the Qur'an were wrong.

It is from this time onward that Islamic Fundamentalism begins to show itself with the introduction of the Hanbal school of Islamic jurisprudence, which preferred a literalist approach to the Qur'an.

This was also the Persian golden age, as those in Baghdad began to be more powerful, introducing new science and philosophy, much of it borrowed from the lands they conquered.

It was also at this time that the 'Chronicle of Seert' was written, a Nestorian document about the Nestorian church, yet there is nothing written in it about Islam, or of a new religion favorable to Arabs.

Aramaic is now dying out, replaced by Arabic, and those who are writing the Qira'at Qur'ans in the 8th and 9th centuries do not understand the Aramaic from where the Arabic Qur'an was derived, and so write many variations to the text, which is a problem we are only now, since 2016, finding out about.

Notice that much of what Thomas is introducing here confronts and contradicts what we find in the later Standard Islamic Narrative, passed down for the past 1300 years.

Yet, Thomas' material is all based on evidence which can be found in that time period, and in that place, 1400 years ago, which makes it much more formidable, and thus extremely dangerous for those who still want to hang on to the Standard Islamic Narrative concerning how Islam began.

Next Thomas will be looking at the theological mileau which existed at that time, and thus had an impact on the origins of Islam as well.

© Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2021
(60,150) Music: "Travels" by Aleksound, from filmmusic-io