And so the Debate Begins -- Did Muhammed Actually Exist

I gotta tell you, at this point, I'd just as soon go ahead and concede he existed. Because if he didn't there's going to be a whole lot of pissed off ex-Muslims who will be very susceptible to a certain someone's message of hope and change.

Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.