(original source : http://www.55a.net/firas/english/?page=show_det&id=323&select_page=108)

(Edited by Defending-Islam.com Staff)

It is known that Muhammad(P) was opposed, ridiculed and persecuted for nearly 13 years by his own contemporaries. With this magnitude of severe enemies, was it not possible for them to prove to the masses that Muhammad(P)'s claim of revelation was sheer fabrication? Was it not possible for them to reveal and name the person whom they alleged to be the human source or sources of his teachings? Even some of his adversaries who had made this assertion, changed their minds later on and accused him, instead, of magic or being possessed by evil... etc.

Muhammad(P) was raised among his people and every aspect of his life was exposed to them, especially by the openness that characterizes tribal life in the desert. How could the multitudes of his contemporaries, including many of his close relatives who knew him so well, how could they believe in his truthfulness if they had any doubt that he was claiming credit for ideas taught to him by some other teachers without bothering to give them credit ?

What kind of teacher might have taught Muhammad(P) a coherent and complete religion that changed the face of history? Why didn't he or they (if any) speak against the alleged student who continued learning from them, while ignoring them and claiming some other divine source for his teachings?
How could many Jews and Christians amongst his contemporaries become Muslims and believe in his truthfulness if they knew he was copying from their scriptures or learning from their priests or rabbis?
It is known that some of the Qur'anic revelations to Muhammad(P) were revealed in the presence of people. The Qur'ân was revealed over the span of 23 years, where then that was mysterious, perhaps invisible teacher of Muhammad(P)? How could he have hidden himself for so long? Or how could Muhammad(P) who was constantly surrounded by companions, how was he able to make frequent secret visits to that mysterious teacher or teachers for 23 years without even being caught once?
The answer to all these questions are never given. But the Christian missionaries' logic is that still Muhammad(P) borrowed from the Judeo-Christian sources even though there is no evidence to show. What you do not know, you do not have to show; just say it and it becomes so."

Karen Armstrong in her book A History Of God writes about the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad(P) by God:

In about the year 610 an Arab merchant of the thriving city of Mecca in Hijaz, who had never read the Bible and probably never heard of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, had an experience that was uncannily similar to theirs.

Roger DuPasquier, a Swiss journalist and author, asserts that:

To this day no-one has put forward a defensible explanation of how an unlettered caravan merchant of the early seventh century might have been able, by his own devices, to produce a text of such inimitable beauty, of such capacity to stir emotion, and which contained knowledge and wisdom which stood so far above the ideas current among makind at that time. The studies carried out in the West which try to determine the 'sources used by Muhammad', or to bring to light the psychological phenomenon which enabled him to draw the inspiration from his 'subconscious', have demonstrated only one thing: the anti-Muslim prejudice of their authors.

We still want to add some questions that need to be answered:

• If Mohammad borrowed from Judeo-Christian sources, why does the Holy Quran scold them for the interpolations they inserted in their books and then copy from them?
• If Mohammed had been copied from the Holy Book, he would not have scolded them at least to escape their objections and to win them for his side at least to avoid any confrontation with them.
• Those who claim that Mohammed copied from the scripture should tell us where was that translated copy that he copied from? According to the historical authority, there was not any translated copy in the time of the prophet Mohammed or even long after his death?
• If the Holy Quran copied from the Bible, why does the Holy Quran launch this fierce critique against the Bible concerning the story of Trinity in the Bible but even renounces this fact and most strikingly shows them the source from which they got the concept of Trinity.

The Holy Quran says :

…..The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old.

• Recent studies and exploration into the ancient religions prove that there were sixteen saviors in the human history, all of them were long anterior of Jesus, many of the sayings that they ascribe to Jesus were found in the ancient heathen religions?
• Did Mohammed explore and study the ancient religions and come to the conclusion that the concept of Trinity was inserted in Christianity?
• If he was an imposter why did he reject this concept and even corrected it giving good reasons?
• If Mohammed[p] had copied from the holy book, why did he not copy the story of creation in Genesis? The story of creation in the Holy Quran is mentioned in a way that is completely in agreement with the newly discovered facts. (Big Bang, expansion of the universe and the Big crunch is mentioned in the Holy Quran).
• Moreover the Holy Quran gives an account to the stories of the prophets and the perished nations in a way that fills you with ecstasy , sometimes you find the Holy Quran in agreement with some parts of the Holy Books and then in disagreement with other parts .The story of Joseph is the best example , if you compare these holy books (Pseudepigrapha , Talmud , Targum , Midrash) together concerning the story of Joseph you will find a lot of contradictions between them; and then if you include the Holy Quran you will find that the Holy Quran is in conformity with them in the most reasonable parts, i.e. it is in agreement with this part in this book while it is in disagreement with another part in the same book and then you find it in agreement with another book concerning the part it is already in disagreement with the previous one . Did Mohammed read all of these books together? What was that historical criterion on which he based his copy? What litmus paper did he have to check which is valid and which is not? Moreover, the Quranic story is always complete though condensed in a few lines that are replete with meanings that can be classified under many tenets.
• The Quranic story moves your heart , fills your eyes with tears , adds spiritual dimensions , set the best examples for the believers to follow when being confronted with hardships of life. The Quranic stories have their distinguishing character . The main purpose of the Quranic story is :
• Correcting the errors and adulteration in the Holy Book.
• Deeming the prophets high and exonerating them from what they were charged with .
• Giving the Moslems exemplars to follow.
• Teaching wisdom and moral lessons.
• Showing that it is only one God who revealed these holy Books.
• Setting the examples of the perished nations for the Moslem. So many could be said in this context, but for the sake of brevity .
• Enhancing and reinforcing the Moslems’ will in face of hardships.

Concerning the point of copying from the Holy Book , A Christian scholar , now a Moslem, says in his book "I recognized that there were two possibilities:

(1) The Prophet Muhammad did steal his material or

(2) The revelation he received was from the same god who sent Moses, Jesus and the earlier prophets, as the Prophet Muhammad himself claimed. If it were the latter, it would explain why there would be much overlap in the teachings and message. The same God sent the earlier prophets and is simply recounting their stories again in the new revelation.

However, I immediately started to notice some glaring differences between the Quran and the Bible, even with respect to the teachings about God. If the Prophet Muhammad was "editing" what he was hearing from the Bible-and by the way, at that time, there was no Bible available in Arabic-then he was doing an excellent job.

I found that the strange teachings about God that one finds throughout the Bible are completely and unequivocally missing from the Quran. For the sake of brevity, only a few examples illustrating this point shall be given.

• The New International Version of Genesis 3:8-11, reads, "8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (9) But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" (10) He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

Here, God is pictured as walking in the garden in the cool of the day. What is even more astonishing is that Adam and Eve were able to hide from God and he had to ask, "Where are you?" If a human is able to hide from Him in the garden, how is it that this Lord is going to have knowledge of the sins that people commit? It would be difficult for any human to gender in his heart the kind of love and fear of God that he should have when he believes that his God is so faulty and weak that an event like this could occur to him.

• In Genesis 32:24-28, there is the story and literal description of Jacob wrestling with and defeating God. In verse 28, it says, "You [Jacob] have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won." In other words, the creator of the universe whom mankind is expected to worship and submit to was defeated by a mere mortal in a wrestling match.