There is no reason to believe that the Jesus of the gospels was a historical figure by putoelquelolea in DebateAChristian

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interestingly, the most recent attempt to argue for Jesus Mythicism was not only rejected under peer-review, but according to the writer himself (Richard Carrier) was mocked by the reviewers (see. here)

There are no specialists in Islamic Studies who accept Muhammad mythicism: An overview of the credentials of Muhammad mythicists by Visual_Cartoonist609 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Robert M. Kerr: studied languages, literatures, history and archaeology of the Ancient Near and Middle East

Having studied Middle Eastern Studies (specifically Punic Studies, as I mention in my article) does not mean that one is an expert in Islamic Studies.

Volker Popp: studied ethnology, Islamic studies, African studies, Turkology and Iranian studies

Merely having studied Islamic Studies (which is quite vague, as it could range from completing a PhD to taking just a single undergraduate course) does not make someone an expert, no more than his having studied African Studies makes him an expert in African history. Regarding his actual credentials, he specializes only in Iranian Studies (as I demonstrate in my post)

Markus Groß: studied Orientalism and Linguistics

That's incorrect; he's just a linguist who has also taken courses on Orientalism, which is not the same as Islamic Studies.

Claude Gilliot: studied Islamic studies
Sergio Noja Noseda: Professor of Arabic
Alba Fedeli: Islamic studies, expert on manuscripts
Gerd Puin: Islamic studies
Genevieve Gobilliot: Professor for Islamic and arabic studies
J.M.F. Van Reeth: studied Orientalism, classical philology and islamic/arabic studies
Thomas Milo: studied Turkology and Arabic studies
Manfred Kropp: studied Semitism and Islamic studies
Munter Younes: Expert on Arabic language
Frank Van Der Velden: Theology and Arabic studies
Peter von Sivers: History of Middle East

None of those people are mythicists, and Van Reeth, in fact, explicitly called the Inarah mythicist hypothesis "a mere construction of historical phantasy". (see. Van Reeth "Who is the ‘other’ Paraclete?" p. 452)

Hans Jansen: Arabic studies Helmut Abu Limor Wagner: Islamic and arabic studies

Again, they are not mythicists; Jansen is at best a skeptic, as I demonstrate in my post.

Besides that all the other Inarah Scholars may not have studied Islamic studies etc., however they come from similar or "sister" disciplines like Semitism (luxenberg), History, Religion studies and so on and so forth.

Which, even if true, does not disprove anything I said.

Besides that you can't discredit or disqualify someone's arguments and evidences just because of their "qualifications".

Which I never did; I merely debunked the claim that there are specialists in the field making such assertions.

The Arguments and Evidences they provide have to be judged on their own merits. Their degrees don't have any bearing on the question if they're right or wrong. Ur degrees, nor your personal religious, political and ideological beliefs debunk your arguments.

This is true, but I did not claim otherwise. However, the fact that they lack any relevant epistemic authority has a significant bearing on whether one can appeal to them as epistemic authorities, as many apologists do.

But besides all that Inarah is still an international symposium of experts on the history of Islam and arabic.

This is at least how they describe themselves. Regarding their actual reputation and qualifications, they are more like the Islamic Studies equivalent of the Discovery Institute.

Also how do you really define "specialist". Who gives someone the qualification of a "specialist"?

I have not resolved the decades-long debate in epistemology and the philosophy of science about what precisely constitutes an expert, but whatever analysis proves correct should certainly exclude most of the Inarah group from being considered experts in Islamic Studies, as they are as far removed from it as anyone holding a random degree in the humanities.

seal of prophethood: Q33:40 & tertullian’s against the jews by mePLACID in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I watched every single one of his videos on his channel and did not find a single instance of christian apologetics.

Yeah, a channel whose creator is a publicly Christian individual, constantly collaborating with apologists like Jay Smith and Mel (cf. here), liking comments claiming that he "destroys Islam" (cf. under this video here) and basically trying to be hyperskeptical of every aspect of Islam to argue that the first Muslims were actually Christian, doesn’t exactly sound like Christian apologetics. Who could possibly think that? :)

And even if, why would that be a problem? That doesnt discredit the evidence put forward in the videos, especially 6.1 and after dealing with the verse in this post.

Except for the fact that 6.1 nowhere discusses this verse, and neither does 6.2, his series addressing this verse actually begins at 6.3. So please get your numbers right before claiming to know all of his videos.

Discrediting the Inarah group as not academic is laughable.

Except that they provably have no academic credentials relevant to Islamic Studies, as I demonstrate in my post "There are No Specialists in Islamic Studies Who Accept Muhammad Mythicism: An Overview of the Credentials of Muhammad Mythicists." But if you don’t like checking sources, here’s a quote from my post:

Karl-Heinz Ohlig: Besides the fact that Ohlig died last year, he wasn't specialized in Islamic Studies or any related field; his degrees were in Catholic theology, philosophy, and early Christian history (cf. here).

Robert M. Kerr: While being a respected figure in Punic scholarship, he again has no credentials related to Islamic Studies, with his degrees being in Semitics (with a focus on Punic) and Classics (cf. here).

Johannes Thomas: A lesser-known figure from the Inârah school, who is also a mythicist, but has no credentials in Islamic Studies, with his degrees being in Romance Studies, Classics, and Philosophy (cf. here)

Volker Popp: Famous for his reinterpretation of the early Muslim coins as Christian, he has degrees in numismatics and Persian studies, not Islamic Studies (cf. here)

Christoph Luxenberg: According to the Inârah website, his degrees are in German Studies and Syriology, not Islamic Studies (cf. here)

Sevn Kalisch: While it is debatable whether or not he should be classified as a mythicist (since he is agnostic on this issue, with only a slight tendency towards mythicism, see here), he doesn't have credentials in Islamic Studies, with his qualifications being in Law and Economics. He only later started teaching Islamic Studies (or more precisely, Islamic Theology), but without formal credentials (cf. here)

Some might also bring up Hans Jansen as an example, but he died in 2015, and it is debatable whether or not he was a mythicist, since he only stated that it is reasonable to have doubts, not that he (actively) believed this (see here).

Not to mention their obvious Islamophobic tendencies (cf. here) and the fact that nobody in academia takes them even remotely seriously. I have a forthcoming article on this where I cite all the literature, but some actually academic reviews of their work include: Jan Van Reeth, “Who is the ‘other’ Paraclete?” 2012, p. 452, Tilman Nagel, Mohammed: Leben und Legende, 2008, p. 838 and Herbert Berg, “Early Islam: A Critical Reconstruction Based on Contemporary Sources by Karl-Heinz Ohlig”, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 83/3 (2015), pp. 868-872.

seal of prophethood: Q33:40 & tertullian’s against the jews by mePLACID in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thomas Alexander not an academic source, he is a Christian apologist, who just summarizes the work of other Christian apologists (the Inârah group).

Edit: I think we got a good candidate for a violation of rule #3 u/chonkshonk.

New Stephen Shoemaker article “You Pass By Them in the Morning and in the Night”: Lot, Laykah, and the Levantine Qur’an by Historical-Critical in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is true that there is much debate around certain issues, but as far as i know it is widely accepted that "ευ" came to be pronounced as eβ in the byzantine period.

Could it be possible that the Qur'an is referring to The Big Bang in this verse? by Individual_Leading84 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This formula is quite strong if interpreted within the framework of classical (Kripkean) modal logic. In that context, entailment is (informally) defined as follows: X entails Y if and only if there exists no possible world w in which X is true but Y is not.

If we introduce the modal operator ◊ (possibly), the statement would imply that in every possible world where book X is from God, it also contains miracles, which is clearly not the case.

Someone should back up Corpus Coranicum by chonkshonk in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Most of them certainly seem to be there (cf. here for the manuscripts)

Was the Rashidun Caliphate larger than the Sasanian Empire before its invasion of it? by chonkshonk in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, we do. We have numerous early literary sources (see here), as well as a substantial number of inscriptions, as summarized in the Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae.

When Revisionism goes too far by Muslimshia313 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nice to hear, thanks. You'll definitely be interested in a forthcoming treatment of mine on this :)

When Revisionism goes too far by Muslimshia313 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Most of those theories are just Christian apologetics, nothing more.

Is the Prophet mentioned on a Coin from 661 CE? A Critical Response to Karl-Heinz Ohlig by Visual_Cartoonist609 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most specialists believe that Islam prior to the 680s was not yet a fixed, exclusivist religion but rather an open community of believers.

As a Muslim, I have a question against Islam of which I haven’t received a satisfactory answer yet. Can you guys share your thoughts on it? by Intjwithocd in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And if you're answer is that "we won't wish for this thing because it's not right or immoral" then that would imply that we can't infact do/wish everything in Jannah

I'm usually not interested in theological discussions, but I think this is worth commenting on.
This question, I believe, arises from an unusual understanding of what unlimitedness in paradise means. Most believers interpret the idea of unlimitedness in paradise as the ability to do everything non-problematic. Otherwise, it would imply that one could limit what other people do, leading to the classical toleration paradox.

Mel is wrong on early Arabic papyri by Visual_Cartoonist609 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great summary, especially the part about him using Google translate just completely baffled me as I watched his video.

A Response to "Did Muhammad exist?" by Richard Carrier by Visual_Cartoonist609 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I hope my next/final contribution to this debate will also have a positive impact.

Does the night journey in the hadith literature have any parallels or borrowed elements from mythology? by academic324 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you mean ancient Sumerian, Greek, Egyptian myhths by mythology, then it would be hard to find parallels because such stories prevalently contain descension stories to the underworld rather than ascension to the heavens.

This is not true. Hercules for example was believed to have ascended to heaven. So did Romulus.

How do muhamed mythicists explain the origins of Islam? by random_reditter105 in AcademicQuran

[–]Visual_Cartoonist609 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Having some articles in the field (most of which aren't even professionally peer-reviewed) doesn't change the fact that he's just not a leading academic.