I think he was one of the cleverest designers of a religion in history. Ahead of L. Ron Hubbard and way ahead of Joseph Smith.

Islam was one of the most tightly constructed applications of religion ever established; it gave its founder power within his lifetime, and a fairly free hand to use and modify it, and he managed to solidify the interpretation of the religion for generations with the instructions regarding the copying, non-translation, and finality of the Quran (though the invention of "oral traditions" eventually did that in).

I've started having an appreciation for religions as tools of power (usable for good or evil, naturally). Most can be much more effectively deployed by the second generation than the first, and Mormonism and Scientology are no exceptions; Islam was most effectively deployed *by* its founder, which is quite impressive. He must have understood the nature of the psychology of religion better than almost anyone.

This comment anonymous because oh boy it's gonna offend believers.

You guys need to first define abrogation.

You can abrogate a news (e. g. you say something has happened and later on you say no, it did not happen) which makes you an ignorant or a liar. This is does not happen in Quran/Islam because Allah is all-knowledgeable, he always tells the truth and he does things after being pre-planned.

And you can abrogate a law to a less strict or stricter law and this is acceptable in Quran/Islam because Allah knows that the first law is suitable for this circumstance (people/location/time) but the second law is more suitable to a new circumstance (people/location/time). He does all this according to his pre-planning. He is not ignorant. He is not a liar. He did not change his mind. He is wise, knowledgeable, makes & knows the future and therefore legalizes what is suitable for his servants in specific location/time.

All prophets before Muhammed were local (sent for their own people only) while Muhammed was universal. And since Mohammed was the seal (last) of prophets, Allah promised to protect his book from being changed.

Prophet came with the same basic theology but with different laws which are suitable for their people.

As far as Deuteronomy 13:1-3 is concerned (where God said on the tongue of the false prophet 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them'), Muhammed/Islam call people to go after the very same Torah God so you do not violate the verse if you follow Islam.

But this is not the case if you follow Pauline Christianity as they call people to go after both Jesus and the holy spirit as gods beside the Torah God which proves that Pauline Christianity is not from God and Paul is an imposter. Jesus himself was not in violation to Deuteronomy 13:1-3 as he clearly called people to go after the Torah God.

I love Christian Cross Talk! Especially the diagrammatic representations of how atheism will destroy the world. Someone there could make a fortune designing business presentations.

Be warned, the guy is a kook of the first degree. He has talked about mourning the fact that he can't shoot up an abortion clinic, carrying a gun to defend himself from "evil doing skeptics" etc before. He's bipolar and unstable and a self-proclaimed fundamentalist. I only keep up on his stuff because its like watching a train wreck. He does have his lucid moments from time to time though.