>>24534218The Qur'an is probably not refering to Alexander the Great. People think this because of Syriac romances featuring Alexander having parallels with the Qur'anic story. First of all, historical figures get conflated in romances with legendary or other historical figures all the time. Second, it is not known whether the romances came before or after the Qur'an. I believe the manuscripts exist in the medieval period, though I'm not sure
>>24534192>Focused entirely on the circumstances surrounding his life and desiresThere are many things that people who think Muhammad was a fraud can't explain, things that seem counter-productive for a fraud like the Prophet rejecting both the Jewish and Chrisian view of Jesus, rejecting the crucifixion when no one alive during that time believed it "merely appeared to happen" (something only dead sects at the time believed in), the Prophet advocating for free market economics, forbidding monopolies, forbidding price fixing, living an aesthetic lifestyle, praying nearly constantly in private, etc.
One could argue that Muhammad acted and decided things on a whim, but this is really just a suspicion and not a well thought out argument. What is well thought out though is the view that Islam *gradually* developed in a purposeful vision, one that had unyielding theological convictions and also convictions about how society should be organized.
The idea that Islam as a religion was just Muhammad's whims and desires doesn't really hold up to much scrutiny if you actually study the life of the Prophet, aside from all those "gotcha" stories zionists post