Islamic faith was founded by the prophet Muhammad, not the Catholic Church | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·4 min read
24

The claim: The Catholic Church created Islam

A Feb. 9 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a man delivering a lecture with foreboding music playing in the background.

“Very few people realize it was the Catholics that started Islam. They started the whole religion, purposely, to try to get the Holy Land back for the Catholics,” the man says. “They funded Muhammad, they trained him.”

The man further says that a Catholic nun was sent to marry Muhammad and train him to “raise up an army of Arabs to go take back the Holy Land.” He points to a quote from the Catholic Church and what he calls a comic book called “The Prophet” as evidence.

The video was liked over 4,000 times in a week.

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Our rating: False

The Catholic Church did not create Islam. According to experts and historical texts, the religion was founded by the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.

No record of Muhammad being tied to Catholic Church

Kecia Ali, professor of religion at Boston University, told USA TODAY that while historians may disagree about specific details of Muhammad’s life, there is no credible evidence that he was directed or influenced by the Catholic Church.

“Islam developed as a tradition centered on the teachings of the seventh-century Arabian prophet Muhammad,” Ali said. “Historians using centuries’ worth of textual and other evidence from early Muslims and their neighbors and opponents debate the precise contours of his life story and the exact nature of the religious milieu in which his community developed. Nothing, however, suggests a Catholic plot.”

The Catholic Church largely opposed Islam, which resulted in the Crusades, a series of religious wars, said Saeed A. Khan, associate professor of Near Eastern studies at Wayne State University.

“The Prophet Muhammad did indeed found Islam in the seventh century in the western Arabian peninsula,” Khan told USA TODAY. “The Catholic Church played no role in spreading Islam; rather, it played a prominent role of opposing and trying to quell the spread of Islam, whether in the eighth century onward in Spain or more fervently during the Crusades."

Yaqeen Institute, an Islamic research organization, writes that Muhammad began receiving visions and direction from God and used those to create The Quran. There is no mention of Catholic involvement.

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The Instagram video references two pieces of evidence in support of its claim, the first being an excerpt from the Lumen Gentium, or the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church delivered at the Second Vatican Council in 1964, which was a gathering of Catholic bishops.

The excerpt of the Lumen Gentium does not mention the Catholic Church creating Islam, and that is the only portion of the Lumen Gentium that mentions the Muslim faith. The section reads:

“But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the creator, in the first place among whom are the Muslims: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day."

Catholicism and Islam are both monotheistic beliefs, meaning that each religion follows one God. However, Catholics believe that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah, whereas Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet or messenger but not the son of God.

The “comic book” the man points to in the video is a graphic novel that purports to show "how the papacy helped start Islam," according to its Amazon description, and is not an authoritative source.

Muhammad also did not marry a Catholic nun, contrary to the post's claim. Gettysburg College states that he worked for and eventually married a woman named Kadijah, who was a wealthy merchant.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Muslims trace faith to prophet Muhammad, not Catholics | Fact check