So, did the Muhammad of Islam ever exist?

So, are we suggesting that Muhammad never existed? This seems to be the opinion of one of our viewers, named ‘where T’, who wrote, "You can't deny the man's existence. I'm doing a degree in history and across all literature I've come across, Islamic and otherwise, he seems like a decent person. But whatever you think about him you cannot deny his existence". Yet, no one is denying Muhammad's existence, at least not any of us working with Pfanderfilms. He probably did exist. There are records of him from non-Muslim sources, primarily Christian, such as the 'Doctrina Iacobi' which is purported to have been written in 634 AD. The Chronicles of Sebeos, written about 30-40 years later also refers to him by name, saying that he was a warrior which the Christians should look out for and avoid. Yet, these are not Arab sources but Christian sources. What we're denying is that he was the prophet Muslims are claiming in their Traditions. When we look at those later Islamic Traditions, the Muhammad we find there is a conquering hero, who flies from Mecca to Medina on a winged horse called the 'Buraq', and then ascends to the 7 heavens and back again all in one night. He is the same man who conquered Medina and then Mecca, and then by the time he died brought the entire central part of Arabia under his control. He is the man who civilized the whole area, creating rules and regulations which evoke a very civilized and sophisticated environment, while simultaneously creating a model for all people everywhere and for every time. The Muhammad the traditions portray is an amazing man who did amazing things. So, why was nothing written down about this man and all these events in the 7th century when he lived? Why do we have wait to hear about him and his amazing story for 200-300 years? This man Muhammad, which we find in the much later Islamic Traditions is really just the "Muhammad of Faith", and not the "Muhammad of History", and our interest lies in the latter...and we're still looking for him. © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2020 (27,800) Music: "small adventure", by Rafael Krux (from filmmusic-io - License CC BY)