I had discussions several times with Muslim scholars. Similarly, like Christians, Mohammed was also described by them as a saint who was flawless with a natural predestination to the good. O, my God! My dear learned sheikhs! Why do you hide one of the miracles of Islam? The life of Mohammed (peace be upon him) has a dynamic progress! And this progress is a pattern for everyone to follow. An innate predestination cannot be followed. And indeed, Mohammed was born in paganism. This is not to be ashamed of, but we should be all proud because he could break out from paganism and found his way to Allah!
Astaghfurallah, للاه استغفر) I seek the forgiveness ofAllah) I hear the cries of sheikhs, ayatollahs, when a sinful sentence reaches to their ears. How dare I call Mohammed a pagan? They were almost hit me in their rage. This has happened not once, not twice, but countless times. Then they quote from the books of Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hisham “Sira Al-Nabowiyah” (Life of the Prophet) which includes chapters on signs of prophecy that were discovered by priests, rabbis, holy people in Mohammed (peace be upon him) when he was child. I'm all aware of this. The works of Ibn Kathir and Ibn Hisham are fully available to me, not only on my shelf, but also in my brain. But these are not parts of the Scriptures, but works of historians! Quote from the Quran!No, I don't call Mohammed a pagan. You just want to understand from my words that I call him pagan because you consider me as a stranger who cannot know Islam because I was not born in it. But you, who born in Islam don't know it. The way of my and other convert’s lives shows more similarity to Mohammed’s life (peace be upon him) than yours. He was not born into Islam, too, and Allah led him to the right path. You cannot boast of the same. And you don't know the Quran either.
Or maybe you haven't read:

Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and care)? Quran 93:6)

Judge the future from the past. Allah has been good to you in your past experience: trust to His goodness in the future also. Three facts are taken from the holy Prophet's outer life by way of illustration.
There is the case of the orphan, literally and figuratively. Our holy Prophet was himself an orphan. His father Abdullah died young before the child was born, leaving a little property. The Prophet's mother Amina was in ailing health, and he was chiefly brought up by his nurse Halima, His mother herself died when he was only six years old. His aged grandfather Abd al Muttalib treated him as his own son, but died two years later. Therefore, his uncle Abu Talib treated him as his own son. He was thus an orphan in more senses than one, and yet the love he received from each one of these persons was greater than ordinary parental love. Each one of us is an orphan in some sense or another, and yet someone's love and shelter come to us by the grace of Allah. In the spiritual world there is no father or mother: our very first sustenance and shelter must come from the grace of Allah.

And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance. (Quran 93:7)

The holy Prophet was born in the midst of the idolatry and polytheism of Makkah, in a family which was the custodian of this false worship. He wandered in quest of Unity and found it by the guidance of Allah.

Here you are the clear evidences where Mohammed (peace be upon him) was born and in what environment he was brought up! The Arabic world “Dallan” means not only wandering but the one who lost the right way! My learned Sheikh friends calmed down when they heard these ayas. There is no answer to that. It can't be either. Or does the Quran, the word of Allah, not be regarded by our devotees as a sufficient reference for what Mohammed was born in and became later? Just the process of enlightenment is denied by them? For not only him, but all other prophets were born in similar unbelief and became followers of Allah by their Enlightenment. And this Enlightenment didn’t come with predestination, but was the result of their own free will!
So dear converters, reverts who were not born into Islam, but you started somewhere, then Islam has become your vital element because it has moved in you due to your own will: do not let those who are born Muslims erase in you the progress of your way while their path is no more than walking in one site and reaching nowhere!