Quote:For God's sake, I don't know. Build a freaking time machine and ask them. Do you think I have some telepathic back-channel through the space-time continuum into the minds of the Prophet's biographers? Get a grip.
You have some kind of faith that the available records of Muhammed's actions do not record any errors on Muhammed's part. You have this faith, despite believing that Muhammed made errors. Your faith seems to be based on bias, of all things. Something doesn't make sense. Bias leads to more errors. It would lead to the reinforcing of what lesser men than Muhammed that was right. If Muhammed himself made mistakes, this cannot possibly lead to a record containing only his good deeds.
Quote:I don't "think" they were successful. All I said was I'm not aware of any mistakes recorded about Muhammad - hastening to add I am far from an expert on ahadith literature.
I am not suggesting the errors are hidden in some obscure detail Gandalf. It is a question of principle. Do you think in the 1400 year history of Islam, no Muslim scholar ever stopped to ask himself, if Muhammed made errors, which of his actions were errors, and which of those errors ended up as part of the historical record? It seems to me that such a question would rise to prominence in any attempt to base a legal doctrine from Muhammed's teachings and efforts to interpret his actions. Have Muslims simply accepted that Muhammed made mistakes and never thought about the implications of this, in between breaks in chopping people's heads off?
Quote:Its not that deep or sinister FD
It is illogical. I am aware that Muslims have invented some kind of 'science' of scripture interpretation. I would expect this to be the very first question to be answered in developing any system of interpretation.
Quote:which is why from the very beginning I encouraged you to read up on the ahadith literature yourself. Have you done this?
I have no idea what I should read. Am I supposed to start with all of it?