This is an interesting discussion w.r.t. to hisotorical Muhammad/his life and his actions.. so let me put these three posts together..
I have no doubt about the existence of some warlord during that time, or at least a figure manufactured by warlords to secure the beginnings of an empire, or perhaps they were advised by some respected desert mystic. The first established caliphates, the fallout after this mans death, the conflict with his succession, must have had some basis in fact. Also, the history of the so called prophet, and all prophets as we know them now, would be saturated with myth and legend, mixed up with other heroes of the time, and copied or stolen from figures of long before.
And I also have no doubt that the Qur’an is compiled writings, originally written and re-written piecemeal, a constitution for micro-managing a growing empire and future conquest, with plenty in it to secure the loyalty of fighting men, divide spoils of war, promising a paradise men’s club, and of course the taking of whores with divine blessing.
But yeah, its all heavily embellished.
Perhaps I am missing the correlation between 'needed' and 'existence' - I simply don't see it. The question was "was muhammad needed?" my response was "his enormous popularity would suggest that he was [needed]." Meaning that whoever/whatever he was, he was able to fill a void in his initial (voluntary) followers enough to bring about a movement that spread like wildfire. Fantastical (fantasy), as in greatly embellished. I have no reason not to believe that there were individuals (Jesus, Muhammad, and even Hercules) that may have had humble beginnings and in successive years, their stories were greatly embellished.
Your link is appreciated.
I went through the forum, and have heard this theory before but there is much more subjective data available to deny the probability of a person with similar characteristics ever existed, I am more with Ishina on this topic
You know my negation of religion was on purely logical and scientific basis, with a little dislike to the tactics that were used to promote this particular religion, but I had this notion that the leader had in his heart an ulterior motive and believed in it thus led his people by hook or crook, and you are also familiar with the ummah's obsession with sira' nabi. But since joining this forum I am now questioning the basic motive and morality of declaring prophecy and have a crazy theory(may be it have been addressed before) thus looking for input.
Ishina does have a point in the sense that there must be an historical figure in Islam that is connected to Quran/ some hadith. The question How close was his life to what we know from Quran and Hadith? But I have hard time to believe anything in Quran as well as in hadith that is there about Muhammad. One of the theory people exploring is that there were Multiple characters of Muhammad that are put together in these books., I mean thing like these are horrible and bullshit
http://www.yanabi.com/forum/Topic315265-107-1.aspxya taiba (02.04.2009)
BISMILLAH AL RAHMAN AL RAHIM
YA RASOOL ALLAH
ALLHUMMAJ AL SALAWAATIKA WA BARAKAATIKA ALA MUHAMMADININ NABI YI WA AZWAAJIHI UMMAHAATIL MU'MINEENA WAZURRIYATIHI WA AHLI BAYTIHI KAMA SALLAYTA ALA IBRAHIMA INNAKA HAMEEDUM MAJEED.
2. Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti reports from Abu Ya’la, Hakim, Dar Qutni, Tabarani and Abu Nu’aym from Umm Ayman May Allah be pleased with her, who said, ‘the Prophet got up one night and urinated in a bowl. During that night,
I rose in the state of thirst so I drank whatever was in the bowl. In the morning I told Him what I had done to which He smiled and said, ‘surely you will never have pain in your stomach’’. Abu Ya’ala’s wordings are as follows, ‘you will never feel stomach pain as of today’.
http://www.sunniport.com/masabih/showthread.php?t=1530 These are written way after death of Muhammad, My Point is Muhammad may not be as bad character as his followers make him to be. , More over the guy did nothing as lon as his first wife Khadija was alive...
Clearly we need lot more information on this subject.. But let us discuss it and let me put some links on that
http://www.readislamicbooks.com/lecture-3-the-historic-aspect-of-prophet-muhammad%E2%80%99s-life.htmlhttp://www.kalamullah.com/muhammad-audio-book.htmlhttp://www.islamfortoday.com/companions.htm 
Topic: Was Muhammad Needed