Prophet Muhammad

I assume by "alright", the question is asking whether Jews would have accepted Mohammed if he were Jewish with all else being the same. This means that he would preach the same message, reveal the same Qur'an, etc. The answer is: No.

This is a common canard that Muslims bring up to justify the conflict between Mohammed and the Muslims on the one hand and the Jews of Medina (especially Banu Qurayza and Banu Qaynuqa) on the other. If the Jews would have been incapable of accepting a Messiah from outside of their group, then the conflict was inevitable.

In reality, Jews did not object to living in a Mohammed-ruled Medina (i.e. the political issue); only the requirement that they abandon their beliefs to accept him as a Divine Prophet (i.e. the religious issue).

Can Non-Jews Be Prophets?

According to Judaism, both Jews and non-Jews can be prophets. It happens that the majority of God-prophets were from the Israelite-Jewish Line because the Bible is mostly about them. One example of a Prophet in the Bible who clearly received Divine Messages but was not Jewish was Balaam (Numbers Ch. 22-24). Although he was opposed to the Jewish people, his prophecies are still considered valid. His blessing over the Jewish people is still recited in synagogues (called "Ma Tovu").

Issues with Mohammed's Prophecy

The issue with Mohammed's prophecy, from a Jewish perspective, comes from four major objections to what he claimed and preached:

Prophecy Post-Malachi: Judaism believes that each generation has a weaker connection to God than the previous generation, a concept called Yeridat ha-Dorot (ירידת הדורות). Judaism also holds that a person has to have a naturally strong connection to God to prophesy. Therefore, around the time of the Prophet Malachi, humanity was losing the strength to maintain prophesy. Jews therefore claim that since Malachi, no person is capable of prophesying successfully. As Mohammed lived over 900 years after Malachi died, Mohammed, therefore, could not be a Prophet.

Disagreements with the Torah: Mohammed claimed that he received Divine Revelations that explicitly contradicted the Torah such as the claim the Ishmael was taken to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. Mohammed claimed that any differences between what his revelations and the Torah was due to corruption from bad Jews. This infuriated Jews who maintained that their scripture was the same one that they had been using for centuries. He was disagreeing with the words of the Torah and according to Deuteronomy 13:1-4, anyone who openly disagrees with the words of the Torah is a false prophet at best.

Inclusion of Christian Tradition: Mohammed said that Jesus and John the Baptist were prophets when the Jews did not believe so. Jesus was seen in the Jewish community as not only a heretic, but the cause of much Jewish suffering in the Byzantine Empire because of its Christian orientation. They would not accept the religious leadership of someone that supported Jesus as a legitimate prophet. Of course, Jews also rejected Jesus for substantial religious reasons which Mohammed did not take the time to hear out. Muslims today often do not know what the Jewish perspective was on Jesus either that led to their rejection of him. (A related question below addresses that particular issue: Why Jews rejected Jesus?)

Different Rules: Islamic Law was not the same as Jewish Law. While there were certainly similarities, it was a different law and Jews were not going to give up their traditions and history to join a new religious group. To many Jews, it was a reflection of all of the previous religions that had tried to convert them away from their proper mission.

All Islamic schools or sects or factions or groups are belonging to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). They don't differ in the basic and main Islam beliefs and differ only in minor issues that are not critical. They are all Muslims who are:

• believing in one and same God
• believing and following same prophet, Muhammad (PBUH)
• reciting and memorizing the same holy book, Quran
• praying facing same direction (Kibla), Kaba
• Performing pilgrimage (Hajj) to same place and same ritual worship
• fasting same month, Ramadan
• believing in the Day of Judgment
• believing that they differ only on minor Islam issues but never on basic Islam principles and teachings.
• believing that they should cooperate for the benefit of their families, countries, religion, and humankind.

Muslims have faith in :

1. Allah (God in English and same God worshiped in Christianity and Judaism) as the one and only one God
2. All God prophets (from Adam, Noah, ..., Abraham, ..., Moses, ..., Jesus, and Muhammad); peace upon them
3. All God angels
4. All God holy books (The Torah, The Bible, The Quran, ...)
5. Day of resurrection and judgement and second eternal life
6. God control on destiny

Refer to question below for more information.

Answer B

Five Pillars of Islam according to shia Muslims are:

1. Monotheism: The Oneness of Allah (tawhid)

2. Divine Justice ('adl)

3. Prophethood (nubuwwa)

4. Succession to Muhammad (imamat)

5. The Day of Judgement and the Resurrection (Qiyama)

Practices of Islam according to shia Muslims:

1- Prayers (salaat) - 5 times a day

2- Fasting (sawm) during Ramadan

3-4. Alms giving (zakaat and khums)

5- Pilgrimage to the city of Makkah (hajj)

6- Holy Defense (Jihad)

7-8. Enjoining good (amr bil-ma'rouf) and forbidding evil (nahiy an al-munkar)

9- Supporting those who walk in the path of Allah (tawalli li awliyaa' Allah)

10- Turning away from the enemies of Allah (tabarri min a'daa Allah)

Five Pillars of Islam according to Sunni Muslims are:

1. professing (Shahadah)

2. Prayer (Salat)

3. Alms-giving (Zakāt)

4. Fasting (Sawm of Ramadan)

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

also different sects of sunni have differs in five pillars. for example Mu'tazilate Sunni Scholars like shia consider Adl as one pillar. but Ash'arites does not believe Adl is one of Pillars although believing in Adl as an attribute of God but with an interpret of Adl that in view of shia and Mu'tazilate is equal to not having Adl.

You should turn your question around, since the religions similar to Islam came before it.

Ask:

Muhammad's religion was similar to which others?

answer - Judaism, and its daughter-religion, Christianity.

There is no question that Islam, like Christianity, was heavily influenced by Judaism, directly and indirectly. Very many concepts and quotes in the Qur'an (the book of Islam) are taken verbatim from the Torah, the Hebrew prophets, and later Jewish teachings. The Talmud was already recorded in writing by no later than 500 CE*, before the time of Muhammad, making it a simple matter to quote from it too.*(Footnote: as stated in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, under "Talmud and Midrash.")

Examples:

1) Qur'an:

"...Whoever killed a human being, except as punishment for murder or other villainy, shall be deemed as though he had killed all mankind; and whoever saved a human life shall be deemed as though he had saved all mankind."

Judaism:

"Whoever kills a single individual it is considered that he has slain the entire world, but he who preserves the life of a single individual it is counted as if he has preserved the whole world." Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5.

2) Qur'an:

The famous narrative of how the young Abraham smashed his father's idols -

Judaism:

- is taken from the Jewish midrash (Genesis Rabbah 38:11-13).

3) The following Hebrew-Bible characters are found in parallel Qur'an-narratives:

Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Jethro, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zachariah, and Job.

4) Arthur Jeffery writes in "The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran", in page 1 of the introduction:

"One of the distinct impressions gleaned from a first perusal of the Quran, is that of the amount of material which is borrowed from the religions that were active in Arabia at the time when the Quran was in process of formation. It is plain that Muhammad drew his inspiration not from the religious life and experiences of his own land and his own people, but from the great monotheistic religions which were pressing down into Arabia in his day."

5) Charles Torrey in "The Jewish Foundation of Islam", writes on page 43:

"It was at home, not abroad, that the Muhammad received the Biblical and Haggadic narratives which occupy so large a part of the Koran."

The early sources disagree about the exact date of her death. One oft-cited date is 10 Ramadan, three years before the hijra. I make this 22 April 620.

All agree, however, that she died after the boycott-period and before the hijra.

Answer 1

From Ibn Sa'd pages 251, 252: [different narrator]

....When the apostle of Allah conquered Khaibar and he had peace of mind, Zaynab Bint al-Harith the brother of Marhab, who was the spouse of Sallam Ibn Mishkam, inquired, "Which part of the goat is liked by Muhammad?" They said, "The foreleg." Then she slaughtered one from her goats and roasted it (the meat). Then she wanted a poison which could not fail. .... The apostle of Allah took the foreleg, a piece of which he put into his mouth. Bishr took another bone and put it into his mouth. When the apostle of Allah ate one morsel of it Bishr ate his and other people also ate from it. Then the apostle of Allah said, "Hold back your hands! because this foreleg; ...informed me that it is poisoned. Thereupon Bishr said, "By Him who has made you great! I discovered it from the morsel I took. Nothing prevented me from emitting it out, but the idea that I did not like to make your food unrelishing. When you had eaten what was in your mouth I did not like to save my life after yours, and I also thought you would not have eaten it if there was something wrong.

Bishr did not rise form his seat but his color changed to that of "taylsan" (a green cloth)..........The apostle of Allah sent for Zaynab and said to her, "What induced you to do what you have done?" She replied, "You have done to my people what you have done. You have killed my father, my uncle and my husband, so I said to myself, "If you are a prophet, the foreleg will inform you; and others have said, "If you are a king we will get rid of you.""......

The apostle of Allah lived after this three years till in consequence of his pain he passed away. During his illness he used to say, "I did not cease to find the effect of the (poisoned) morsel, I took at Khaibar and I suffered several times (from its effect) but now I feel the hour has come of the cutting of my jugular vein." So Allah swt took his soul, and not the poison killed him. and he died because of the high fever, not because of the poison.

Answer 2

A Jew Killing Muhammad Probably not, but the same could be said for anybody the victim of murder. To use another religious example, Jesus was crucified. Many believe he was the Son of God and he was killed horribly by asphyxiation and acidosis, or the spear, whatever you want to believe. Martyrs for all religions often die very bad deaths (being stoned, burned alive, purification by pain, etc.). Does it matter if it was a Jew that poisoned Muhammad (if such a thing really happened)? Wouldn't it have been equally tragic if a Muslim or a Christian or a Buddhist or a Hindi poisoned him instead? Does who killed him affect whether he was a beloved prophet or not? Much more likely that a Muslim killed him. Jews were discriminated against all over the known world thousands of years before Muhammad was even born and were conspicuous everywhere they went. But so you don't misinterpret the assumption, it would be more general to just assume that it was someone of Arabian descent that poisoned him.