Muhammad was NOT the founder of Islam. Islam is simply an Arabian extension of a heresy called Arianism, or the denial of Christ’s divinity, which was founded by Arius in the 4th century. Muhammad simply continued the heresy by converting to Arianism, adding to it some other beliefs, and calling it Islam. I did a whole video on this:
That Muhammad was an Arian heretic is supported by several ancient Christian documents. Constantine Porphyrogentinitus, the fourth emperor of the Byzantine Empire, wrote in the 10th century, in his Administrando Imperio, that
he [Muhammad] was believed because a certain Arain, who pretended to be a monk, testified falsely in his support for love of gain. (Constantine Porphyrogentinitus, De Administrando Imperio, 14, trans. R.J.H. Jenkins, brackets mine)
John the Deacon also recounts an Arian origin to Islam:
The Saracens [Muslims] are intent and zealous to deny the divinity of the Word of God. On all sides, they array themselves against him, eager to show that he is neither God nor the Son of God. Indeed, it was only because their false prophet [Muhammad] was the disciple of an Arian that he gave them this godless and impious teaching. (Refutations of the Saracens by Theodore Abu Qurrah, the Bishop of Haran, as Reported by John the Deacon, GK86-88, trans. John C. Lamoreaux)
Islam’s link with Arianism was affirmed by one of the oldest non-Muslims writers on Islam, St. John of Damascus, when he, in the 8th century, wrote:
This man [Muhammad], after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. (St. John of Damascus, On Heresies, 101, trans. Frederic H. Chase, Jr., brackets mine)
You do not begin the history of Islam with Muhammad, but with Arius. If you wish to learn more about Arianism, you can read my lengthy essay on the history of Arianism, by clicking here.
