I’d hypothesised something very similar myself, back around the same time. I noticed that a lot of “Islamic” civilisations were just precursor civilisations, often national/ethnic, that Islam had conquered. At which point said civilisation seemed to go into a long, slow decline. I tend to the view that Islam was nearly everywhere a regressive force in the societies it conquered.

Many “Islamic” achievements had very little to do with Islam, which just happened to be the state religion at the time. They might be better described as Greek, Lebanese, Syrian, Persian, etc. achievements, and sprang from cultural sources that had little to do with Islam per se. I mean, we wouldn’t go around describing the telescope, mechanical clocks, and calculus as a “Christian” invention, would we?

There was a period when Islamic civilization made significant contributions in mathematics and astronomy. It didn’t last very long, but it did happen.

I’m not defending any belief system. My only objection is singling out one for special scorn.

Probably both. Islam is a faith unique in its demands upon the “faithful”, requiring them to set themselves apart and superior to all others, lie in the furtherance of their religion and its interests, and suborn themselves to the supposed god they worship, up to and including the killing of family members who stray.

It is a rare Muslim indeed who can rationally discuss the tenets of their false faith, and square the circles of its creeds. When you get right down to it, it is nearly impossible to think rationally as a Muslim–The religion demands that you leave your rationality at the door. Satan is known as the “Father of lies” to the Islamic world, and yet they are entirely blind to the fact that their supposed prophet was directed to lie to the world in service of advancing the faith! What more do you want, as a clue to the identity of who Mohammed was talking to in that cave?

That’s the religious argument; the secular one gets even worse. If you ever manage to get a Muslim to even discuss the issue, expect them to attack you and deny everything about the foundational nature of lying in their religion. What real all-powerful god requires his adherents to lie, in the first place…?

The logic bomb that question creates is at the heart of why Islam is a false faith, and a religion of idolaters that still think a black rock that fell from the sky is worthy of pilgrimage and worship. It’s all lies, all the way down, from Mohammed’s supposed personal history, his perfidy treating with others, and the supposed “night journey” to Jerusalem.

Hell, on the rational side of it all? They can’t even find corroborating evidence that the man ever even existed. There’s ample evidence for the historicity of Jesus, but jack shit for Mohammed. The whole religion is a tissue of frauds, and when you read the Koran, it seems as if it were something actually articulated in a game of campfireside telephone, as illiterate Arabs told each other tales from more sophisticated religions, mixing everything up. The earliest Koran we have evidence for was written down some 300 years after the oral traditions surrounding Mohammed began, and it’s questionable how consistent all the early versions are.

There are reasons the Saudis are doing everything they can to erase historical sites around Mecca and Medina, and why there are only German scholars really looking into the depths of history surrounding this so-called religion. Islam is a blight upon the human race, destroying everything it touches. Every bit of supposed “Islamic refinement” was stolen from some other culture or civilization that they eventually suppressed or wiped out; where are all the post-Islamic scientific advancements? Why has there been no sustainable Islamic contribution to world civilization, aside from terrorism, the suicide vest, and the car bomb?

In other words, you really don’t know who you are talking to in anything, and even more so on the internet. Trusting people to be what they say they are has always been a risky business. Melzer may well not do it again so easily.

Why, golly gee, I wonder how the government found out about this plot.

It is truly a mystery how they keep catching these people.

No one can figure it out.

Shucks.

Alone among religions, Islam both countenances and encourages lying among its adherents. This fact alone should tell you everything you need to know about it.

Frankly, I suspect that it wasn’t the Angel Gabriel that was dictating to the Prophet Mohammed, but far more likely it was the Father of Lies, himself–Satan.

Of course, that’s if you’re of a religious bent; a secular take on it would be that there was no divine inspiration, just a loony desert bandit telling himself stories to justify doing what he wanted to do anyway.