August 15, 2002, Vol.2, No.16.
Two new articles every two weeks.
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THIS ISSUE: "The
Qur'an and the Bible" (see below)
and "What Is Christianity?"
To Our Muslim Friends:
The Qur'an and the Bible
Guest article by Jeff Asher
The foundation of the religion of Islam is the recitations
of Mohammed Hashim, a Saudi born at Mecca about 570 A.D. The
Qur'an, as these writings are called, is a collection of the
revelations which Mohammed claimed to have received from the
Archangel Gabriel beginning in about 610 B.C.
Unlike the prophets of the Old Testament, Mohammed neither
worked a sign to verify his pronouncements (cf., Hebrews 2:14),
nor left a prediction concerning future events by which to authenticate
his claim to the prophetic office (Deuteronomy 13:14; 18:20
22). His early recitations were primarily concerned with morality,
the unity of God, the final judgment and a sensual Paradise.
As his recitations continued, he increasingly emphasized the
oneness of God. His latter recitations are somewhat lengthy and
devote themselves to a consideration of the tribulations of the
prophets of God. In particular, Mohammed draws a parallel between
their sufferings and his own as a prophet rejected by men. The
absence of any miraculous character either in content or delivery
has led to the general rejection of The Qur'an as spurious apocryphal
literature unworthy of the characterization "scripture."
A Subjective Appraisal
Even Mohammed recognized this inherent weakness and addressed
it in his recitations. Rather than make a claim for the miraculous
which would surely fail, he sought authority and credibility
in the recitations themselves. In Surah 10:37 Mohammed wrote,
"The Qur'an is not such as can be produced by other than
Allah." In other words, if God were to write a book it would
be The Qur'an. Well, that's one man's opinion anyway.
In Surah 2:2324 Mohammed challenged men to produce anything
close to its equivalent saying, "Produce a Surah like thereunto;
and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides
Allah." It is interesting to note that Mohammed thought
it was necessary to demonstrate that a thing is not what it claims
to be, but not necessary to demonstrate that it is what it claims
to be. The Truth is that there are many documents that men have
written whose influences have produced and promoted ideals equal
to if not superior to those embraced in Islam. For example, The
Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution
have served as models for nations and laws which have built a
philosophy of life that is held by as many, if not more than
those who believe The Qur'an. However, that does not prove that
those documents are inspired.
Furthermore, Mohammed suggests no criteria by which to determine
that The Qur'an or any other book is of divine origin. He eschews
predictive prophecy, a clear and certain proof. Furthermore,
he ignores the obvious flaws and foibles of his own production
which we will demonstrate shortly. This approach is obviously
subjective and severely flawed. It proves nothing about the supernatural
character of The Qur'an and allows the author to assert his claim
without the burden of proof by demonstration or direct testimony
from Heaven. Jesus knew that such was not proof and made His
case to His doubting public by undeniable signs (John 5:31 37;
10:2538). The book simply lacks any of the marks that reasonable
and spiritual men would expect of Holy Scripture, the Word of
God (Surah 32:2).
The Qur'an Filled with Error
One of the most glaring errors found in The Qur'an is Mohammed's
confusion concerning the birth of Jesus. His representation of
the birth of the Son of God is farcical and certainly unworthy
of One claiming to be the Son of God.
While The Qur'an assents to a miraculous virgin birth for
Jesus (Surah 19:20), its presentation of that birth is wrong
in the majority of its "facts." Mohammed identifies
Jesus' mother as Miriam, the sister of Aaron (19:28) and the
daughter of Amram (Surah 66:12). There is no mention of Joseph
at all. "Miriam" is represented as giving birth to
the child Jesus in a wilderness place all alone gripping a palm
tree (19:22, 23). Jesus upon being born speaks to her before
He is even swaddled instructing her to shake the palm for its
dates to give her strength (19:25).
"Miriam" later returns to her family still alone.
Arriving with a newborn child her kin accuse her of being unchaste.
Mohammed has "Miriam" indicating to her family that
they should take the matter up with the infant Jesus whom she
is carrying in her arms. They marvel at such a thing saying,
"How shall we speak to one who was a child in a cradle?"
(19:29). Jesus immediately answers them, "Surely I am a
servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet"
(v. 30).
Another illustration of The Qur'an's error prone recounting
of the Savior's life is found in Surah 5:110. Mohammed attributes
to Jesus a miracle nowhere recorded in the Scriptures, the making
of mudpie birds into which Jesus breathed life. He says
of Jesus: "Thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure
of a bird.then you breathed into it and it became a bird"
(see also: Surah 3:49). There is credible evidence that Mohammed
was influenced in his recitations by the Gnostic and Apocryphal
books that were circulated in the Middle East during his lifetime.
This bird "miracle" is not recorded in the New Testament,
but it is found in the spurious Infancy Gospel of Thomas (1:15)
which dates back to the sixth century. There Jesus is pictured
making mudpie sparrows which He commands to fly, walk and
eat by clapping His hands. It seems Mohammed was getting his
revelations from the Nag Hammadi Gnostics and not Jehovah.
Another example of Mohammed's gift for fanciful storytelling
is his account of the crucifixion. He asserts that Jesus was
not crucified, but was just made to appear as if he were (Surah
4:157). Muslims today publish and circulate as factual the Gospel
of Barnabas (215217) which states that Jesus was carried
to heaven by Gabriel and three other angels through a window
as the arresting mob approached with Judas. When Judas went into
the room where Jesus was supposed to be, he awakened the sleeping
disciples who mistook him for Jesus. According to this account,
God kidnapped Jesus while deceiving the Twelve and the mob into
believing that Judas was Christ. The mob took Judas and crucified
him as the Christ. Here Mohammed destroys the remedial system
of the Gospel of grace and rejects the single miracle upon which
Jesus predicated His divinity (Matthew 12:39).
These examples serve to demonstrate that The Qur'an is more
the product of deviant theology, Gnosticism and fruitful imagination
than Holy Spirit inspired revelation.
The Qur'an a SelfAdmitted
Lie
Remarkably, The Qur'an claims to be progressive revelation
from the One True God following both the Law and the Prophets
given to the Jews and the Gospel that came by Christ. However,
to claim a place for The Qur'an along side the Old and New Testaments
is to entangle it in a snare from which it cannot escape.
In Surah 3:3 Mohammed states, "He has revealed to you
the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and revealed
the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, a guide for mankind"
Also, in Surah 2:136, "Say: We believe in Allah and that
which has been revealed to us, and in that which was revealed
to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and
in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and in that which
was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any
distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit."
These texts and others establish that The Qur'an upholds the
integrity of the Old and New Testaments and recommends them as
a guide to mankind.
Mohammed does not condemn the Scriptures in The Qur'an, but
those whom he regards as apostates from those Scriptures among
Jews and Christians. In Surah 5:65, 66 Mohammed reproves Jews
and Christians for not following their Scriptures which had they
done would have led to bliss:
"If the followers of the Book had believed and guarded
against evil We certainly would have covered their evil deeds
and We would certainly have made them enter gardens of bliss,
and if the had kept up the Torah and the Gospel and that which
was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed
happiness on every side; there is a party of them keeping to
the right course, but most of them evil is that which they do."
Mohammed attests to the validity of the Bible and says it
will lead to bliss, and further states, that some Jews and Christians
are doing right.
Muslims today want to argue that the texts of the Bible have
been severely corrupted; therefore, we cannot rely upon what
they reveal concerning God. However, the texts that were available
to Mohammed in the seventh century are essentially the same as
those we have today. If they are unreliable now, they were unreliable
then. Whom will we believe, Mohammed or his modernday apologists?
This quibble with the reliability of the Bible is born of the
obvious conflict it creates.
Muslims know that the Old Testament predicts the coming of
Christ and the giving of His covenant (Jeremiah 31:31ff). They
also know that the New Testament attributes the completion of
the work of revealing that covenant to the Apostles of Christ
through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; et. al.).
Furthermore, they know Jesus made it clear that the New Covenant
would complete God's revelation to man. Jesus promised that the
Spirit would guide the Apostles into all truth (John 16:13).
Either He did or He didn't. And, herein is Mohammed's dilemma.
If the Apostles were not guided into all truth, then Mohammed
was wrong when he commended the Old and New Testaments as a guide
to mankindthey are false on the face and make unfounded
claims for authority. However, if the Bible is true and reliable
as Mohammed asserts they are, then he is wrong to claim to have
additional truth. Regardless of what one believes about the Bible,
The Qur'an is exposed as either a hoax or the wild ranting of
a madman.
Conclusions
It is evident that Mohammed was a man that knew little of
what the Scriptures actually teach. He was ignorant of sacred
history and confused about the identity of many of the patriarchs
and prophets. We have shown that he was influenced in his opinions
of Judaism and Christianity by the Apocryphal and Gnostic texts
extant and popular in his day. Being ignorant of what truth was,
in his recitations he unwittingly committed many errors which
are readily exposed with a little research.
The reasons for the success of Islam have less to do with
the character of The Qur'an than they do with the character of
the state and culture that grew out of the enforced adherence
to the traditions that arose through the influence of the successors
of Mohammed. Islam is a complex religion which has emerged from
the fires of many influencesThe Qur'an being only one.
However, we need not address all of these influences and unravel
the complexities associated with them knowing as the Lord instructed
that a corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. Islam is rotten because
it is born of the corrupted stock of Mohammed's Qur'an.
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