'The Real Origin of Islam', by Jay Smith

The secrets of the Koran and early Islam

Imagine the Koran - the Islam's holiest book , which is considered a divine gift from heaven - was revealed by the angel Gabriel to a man named Muhammad, who could neither read nor write , over the course of 22 years . This alone makes the writing of the Koran extremely strange. But the book was not written down until 24 years after Muhammad's death. That was in the year 656 AD. It was the 4th Caliph, Uthman , who had this compilation commissioned and commissioned Zaid ibn-Talib and three other men with this monumental task. After completion , four copies were made and sent to various cities. To this day, it is claimed that two of these copies - called Musafas - have been preserved in Istanbul and Tashkent. However, investigations since 2002 have not been able to confirm their authenticity .

But that's just the beginning of the oddities. The first comprehensive biography of Muhammad , ' Sira ', was written by ibn-Ishak in 765 AD - a full 133 years after the Prophet's death. This biography was then improved by ibn-Hisham in 833 AD. And what about the ' Hadiths ', the sayings of the Prophet ? These were collected by al-Bukhari in 870 AD, 240 years after Muhammad's death. He discarded 90% of the original material in order to ensure authenticity. Also, the Quranic interpretations , called ' Tafsir ', were written by al-Tabari in 923 AD - 267 years after Muhammad's death.

But the mystery continues. 691 There is no mention of Islam in historical records until 741 AD. Mecca, now considered the heart of Islam, is first mentioned in 741 AD. The most frequently mentioned places in the Quran are 1,000 kilometers north of Mecca, near Petra.

The direction of prayer (' Kibla ') of the early mosques was initially directed towards Petra . Then for the next 100 years there was confusion before all mosques were finally uniformly directed towards Mecca - 200 years after the death of the Prophet. These fascinating details raise many questions and invite further discoveries about the origins of Islam. All these findings raise many questions about the real origins of Islam. It seems that the true birthplace and hour of the Islamic religion is not in Mecca, but in Petra, the Nabataean trading center of antiquity.