This is something I try to find out since some time - what religion had the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)originally (like Jesus was a Jew)?

All I could find was something like "The Arabs were mostly polytheists at that time", but nothing about Muhammad (PBUH) himself.
Maybe I'm completely wrong here, but since especially Islamic sites never mention anything about that, is that some kind of taboo?
Western sources (including several books about the Islam I own) simply don't seem to know much about the topic.

AFAIK (I can't give you a source) the arabs were believing in a polytheistic world view with jinns (ghosts) who were bound to some special natural objects. You know, the same thing we had here (Middle Europe for example) and to some extent have still (All these Saint XY places, sources, forests, hill, caves, etc...)).
These jinns were born by Lilith, Adams first wive. Therefore, the early arabs has some connections to the other people of the region.

That's all I know - hope it's right. Mohammed was - of course - born into that religion.

mfG mitsho

Hm, but believing in those kind of ghosts would be called 'Animism', AFAIK; and while examples for this can be found in the Germanic/Celtic world as well, both still had an 'official' religion with some/many Gods as well.

They were perhaps a mix of cults, worshipping various gods in the form of idols. Beyond that, we don't have any idea of what "religion" Muhammad practiced, if he practiced any at all, before starting Islam.

The only significant fact about his religion I was taught was it involved the Kabal in Mecca.

We know from the Prophets' companions that since an early age, the Prophet (PBUH) always doubted the pagans' gods, and always wondered if they really existed. I'm pretty sure that the Prophet (PBUH) always believed in one God, but he just had to find the basis of that belief.

I'm pretty sure that the Prophet (PBUH) always believed in one God, but he just had to find the basis of that belief.
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Nothing to argue about, but nevertheless I'd guess he was 'initiated' to a religion when he was a child. And, which religion was that? I mean, what religion had his parents?

OOC, what means PBUH (sorry, no native speaker)?

PBUH = Peace Be Upon Him

You're supposed to either put (PBUH) or a star after you mention the prophets (PBUH) name

Ok, thanks.
I knew it is something like that, but I couldn't fiddle out the English abbreviation.

Btw, is it considered undue when I (as a Christ) do not use it?

I'm not sure about that, Doc.

But here, we usually use the Arab term (s.a.w) which I can pronounce but cannot spell.. Haha.

But AFAIK, a non-Muslim should also use the term out of respect. One's choice, I guess.

Ok, I'll keep that in mind (it is not commonly used in Germany, but I see no need to violate someone's religious feelings). Edited where possible.

But back to the original question: Is that something the Islamic World doesn't really want to talk about? Or is there simply no conclusive evidence?

More the latter than the former, since there was no ONE religion in the area. It was perhaps a mix of cults and animistic beliefs and Muhammad (PBUH), perhaps belonged to a family or tribe which was part of one such cult. The problem lies in the fact that the history of this area is dark before the introduction of Islam, and there are only sketchy mentions of the socio-cultural setting of this area in other writings.

I actually think I've read somewhere that he was either christian or jewish, but I'm not sure.

Yoda: He was never Christian or Jewish.

Thanks for adding the 'PBUH' after the Prophets name guys :) It is a term of respect for the prophets.

Muhammad's family, like most other Arabians, were pagans who believed in multiple statue gods. But he did not believe in the other Gods. I believe when I was reading a biography on the Prophet Muhammad (I read a little bit and never finished, and this was a long time ago) it said that the Prophet used to go to a cave every night and attempt to figure out what this life really means and his purpose. According to Islamic belief, he periodically withdrew to a cave outside Mecca to meditate and pray for guidance. During one of these retreats he experienced a vision of the archangel Gabriel, who proclaimed him a prophet of God. The rest is history.

I think I can say that the Prophet (PBUH), like all of us, went through a phase of questioning the things around him. He questioned his people's religion, their lifestyle, their Gods, etc. I think it is fair to say that we all go through a phase like that. I guess you could call it soul-searching.

From what I've gleaned talking to arabists (not arabs, the people who study the Arab language, culture etc.), Arabia was a religiously interesting place around Muhammed's time. There were the olf animistic practices around – and one problem with labelling these a "religion" is that belief systems like that have never worked like monotheistic religions like christianity, islam or judaism; no written doctrine, no official list of gods etc. much like the old Greek or Norse pagan religion.

However, Arabia was awash with influences from Christian, Jewish and even Persian religion. On top of that there would have been all kinds of "heretical" christian sub-sects around, pushed out of the orthodox eastern empire. There would have been missionaries around, and congregations of converts. This probably is what has started the rumor Muhammed might originally have been of the christian or jewish faith. There is nothing to substantiate it though.
What seems clear is that he had a fairly good grasp of but jewish and christian religion. (Fairly, there are some glaring errors about christian doctrine in the Quran, whatever the belivers may think. The holy trinity is completely missunderstood, but its the least consistent part of the doctrine and even christians have been known muck that one up on occasion.)

The reason no one can say for sure what religion he had originally is probably because the kind of society we are talking about didn't have religion in quite the way the the Jews of old that Jesus sprang from had.

well guys... sorry to break this up to u but like arabian history is the most detailed history and if it wasnt for the arabs the greek,persian,egyptian,berber,and so on histories would be vanished..... the prophet muhammad *pbuh* didnt have a religion because he kept contemplating that there was a grand creator of all and in the region there was various religions zoraonists or how ever u spell it :P... jews whom used to make many wars between arabs which led to their anhiliation into 2 ways death or converts, christians whom lived in levant modern days syria,lebanon,etc. and some few christians in the arabian peninsula namely now in *najran* saudi arabia i listen to a radio that talks about revolution and things about the kingdom i suggest to everyone who wants to learn secrets to like me learn arabic lol and go search on google for Saad al-faqih..? well and the arabs used to worship idols precisly they had many gods but the most worshiped was one named Baal he was worshiped by the ancient arabs such as the phenicians, the carthagians, kananitesthe babylonians, the hitties , some egyptians* the first egyptian ruler whom was a female!*, and so on.. then comes Al-lata ul uza i think its like that its a giant palm tree dunno if its still here lol since hte king of saudi arabia darkens the middle eastern history and destroys everything historical really as a canadian i suggest they kill that guy and make the country a better democratic state even if it will have bin laden as leader at least he will preserve the country and the people will be happy lol not like with this dictator lol the real population is over 80 million!!!! *sources canadian goverment lol cause my father used to work there and i visited many intel locations* and the king only reckognizes only 20 million!!!... whom 4 million arent from the country..

well those were the main idols worshiped but there was more! but who cares only main ones counted... hope this helps

Nice information.
However, *80 millions* Saudis? Sorry, that is simply impossible. Germany has 80 million inhabitants, and it's pretty crowded here...
That said, I can imagine the Saudi King gives incorrect numbers, but 80 millions are off ;).