What did Muhammad borrow from Judaism and Christianity?

Answer 1

Theanswer to this question depends on belief as well as the research of historians. Muslims believe that Islam existed from the beginning of creation and that the Koran was written in heaven and dictated to Muhammad. There is little that Muhammad and the Islamic religion would have borrowed from Christianity.

However, Philip Jenkins (The Lost History of Christianity) says that the Christian impact on Islam was profound, and can be traced at the deepest roots of that faith.

Mosques look as they do because their appearance derives from that of Eastern Christian churches in the early days of Islam. Jenkins says that most of the religious practices of the believers within those mosques stem from the example of Eastern Christians, including the prostrations that appear so alien to modern Westerners.

The severe self-denial of Ramadan was originally based on the Eastern practice of Lent.

The Quran itself often shows startling parallels to Eastern Christian scriptures, devotional texts, and hymns. Some scholars have even argued that much of the text originated in Syriac lectionaries, collections of readings for church use.

Much of Islamic theology parallels that of Christianity or Judaism, but of course this does not prove that Muhammad adapted Christian and Judaic beliefs, rather than simply receiving them from heaven.