Thread by @Aabhas24

1/n Words of hero of liberals, Voltaire on #Muhammad:

“ If the archangel Gabriel had brought the leaves of the Koran to Mahomet from some planet, all Arabia would have seen Gabriel come down: nobody saw him; therefore Mahomet was a brazen impostor who deceived imbeciles.”

https://twitter.com/mhajebharine/status/1477779978133639169

2/n source: Reason by Voltaire

Then he wrote a play titled “Mahomet”. He presented this to Pope Benedict XIV & wrote as below:

“(...) this performance ("Fanaticism, or Mahomet"), written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect.”

3/n Voltaire further writes:

“To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy? (...)”

Source: Voltaire:François-Marie Arouet, Letter to Benedict XIV, 17/8/1745

4/n 12/1740, Voltaire wrote a letter to Frederick II of Prussia, talking about Muhammad. He writes:

“But that a camel-merchant (Md) should stir up insurrection in his village; that in league with some miserable followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel;

5/n that he boasts of having been carried to heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder; that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and flame;

6/n that he cuts the throats of fathers and kidnaps daughters; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death: this is assuredly nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all natural light in him.”

7/n Well, Martin Luther, whose idea of separation of state & church is deemed as foundation of Secularism said even more nasty things for Muhammad.

8/n Luther quoted by Philip Schaff

“My whole heart and soul are stirred and incensed against the Turks and Mohammed, when I see this intolerable raging of the Devil.”

Source: ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hc…

9/n Not only this,Martin Luther writes,

“His Mohammed,as has been said, commands that ruling is to be done by the sword,& in his Koran the sword is the commonest & noblest work.Thus the Turk is,in truth, nothing but a murderer or highwayman,as his deeds show before men's eyes.”

10/n The above excerpt has been taken from book “On war against the Turk” by Martin Luther.

You can read book from here: lutherdansk.dk/On%20war%20aga…

11/n Quoting another great Lutheran Theologist, Johann Albrecht Bengel.

He says, “Not a few of the false prophets—for instance, Mahomet—without premeditated foresight, have by slow & imperceptible degrees gained over parties of retainers,

12/n and afterwards deceived both themselves and others: accordingly, the circumstances of their birth and their condition, in their early years, are in the case of such impostors unknown, unworthy of trust, and fictitious.”

13/n Source for above two tweets:

Vol. 2: Gnomon of the New Testament by M. E. Bengel & J. C. F. Steudel

Link for book archive.org/details/cu3192…

14/n Then I came across The Epistle to Yemen. It was an important communication written by Maimonides for the Yemenite Jews in 1173-4.

This was written in reaction of messiah syndrome of someone who was hell bent to show syncretism between Islam & Judaism with persecutions.

15/n Below is interesting passage referring to Muhammad (snippets).

He refers to Muhammad as madman. Read part IV & V from this link en.wikisource.org/wiki/Epistle_t…