The Qu’ran Part V
From Part IV
Is the Qur’an A Miracle?
When a Christian asks a Muslim about the Qur’an, the Muslim's answer is that "the Qur’an is the miracle of miracles." Is the Qur’an really the miracle of miracles?
Definition of a Miracle
The definition of the word miracle according to the Reader's Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary (page 1083) is:
(1) An event that appears unexplainable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God.
(2) Broadly, any event that seems exceptionally fortunate: It was a miracle she escaped unhurt.
(3) A person, thing, or event that excites admiring awe.
Is the Qur’an a miracle by any of these definitions?
Testimony of Mohammad's Contemporaries
Muhammad's contemporaries did not believe that the Qur’an was a miracle, rather they called Muhammad a poet possessed (
What the Caliphs Said
Caliph Alwaleed Ibn Yazid, who ruled the Muslims in the year
It is said about Caliph Abd-Almalik Ibn Marawan who was a Muslim cleric and a scholar of the Qur’an that the Qur’an was on his lap when he was appointed Caliph. After he became a Caliph he folded the Qur’an and said "this is the last time I will ever use you (Islamic Caliphare, page 173).
The Teacher Who Corrected the Qur’an
Al-Hagaag Ibn Yousof Al-Thakafi, who lived in the years 660-
(1) In Surat Yunus 10:22, he changed the word yanshorakom, which means "spread you," to yousayerokom , which means "makes you to go on."
(2) In Surat Ash-Shuara 26:116, he changed the word A[Mukhrageen, which means "the cast out," to AI-Margoomeen which means "those who are to be stoned [to death]."
(3) In Surat Ash-Shuara 26:167, he changed the word Min AIMargoomeen,which means "those who are to be stoned to death," to Al-Mukhrageen ,which means "those who will assuredly be cast out."
(4) In
(5) In Surat Al-Hadid 57:7, he changed the word wataqu, which means "feared Allah," to Wa-anfaqu, which means "spend in charity."
With all the changes Al-Haggag made, there are still grammatical errors in the Qur’an. Here are a few examples:
In
Muhammad claimed that the Quran was given to him in pure Arabic (
If we think that any book could be a miracle then The Eliad, and The Odyssey written by the Creek poet Homer in the 8th century B.C., and the plays of William Shakespeare, the greatest English writer who lived in the 16th century A.D., are also miracles.
Can the Qur’an, which is full of scientific, historical, and grammatical errors, be considered a miracle? When the Qur’an is translated into any other language, it totally loses its poetic rhyme and becomes almost incomprehensible.
Qu'ran's Principles Not Consistent With The Bible
If the Qur’an is the true inspired book of the latest major religion revealed to mankind, then it must be completely consistent with the Bible and its principles, because God would not contradict Himself. In addition, shouldn’t its principles and morality be superior to Judaism and Christianity? But that is not the case. The fact is, the Qur’an is in total contradiction to the Bible. Let us consider a few examples:
Jesus Christ commanded Christians:
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:44, 45).
The Qur’an says:
There is the law of equality. If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, transgress ye likewise against him (
O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship] is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust (
Could any Muslim honestly and sincerely befriend any Jew or Christian if he or she obeys the Qur’an?
2. Peace or sword?
Jesus said to Peter, His disciple:
Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52).
The Qur’an says:
O Prophet! rouse the believers to fight (
It is recorded in Al-Tabari's history that Muhammad said:
I was sent by the sword, the good is with the sword, the good is in the sword, the good is by the sword. My followers will be always good as long as they carry the sword (Islamic Caliphate , page 144).
In the first part of this book we mentioned many verses in the Qur’an commanding Muslims to fight. Here, we have to realize that when Jesus said:
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword (Matthew
Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Luke 12:51-53 NKJ).
This often happens when one member of the family becomes a Christian, the rest of the family will be against him or her. The sword Christ mentioned is not the sword to kill, but a sword of division between those who believe in Him and those who do not.
The Qur’an, on the other hand, upholds the use of the sword for killing and for shedding the blood of anyone who does not believe in Muhammad and his Qur’an.
One example of brutality in Islam is seen in the beheading of Sadeq Abdul Kareem Malallah in
KUWAIT CITY, Sept. 30 Saudi Arabian authorities, in a case that has drawn protests from human rights groups and questions from other Muslims, have beheaded a 23-year-old Saudi man convicted of insulting the prophet Muhammad and Islam' s holy book, the Qur’an.
Sadeq Abdul Kareem Malallah was publicly executed in a marketplace in the town of
The statement said Malallah, a member of
Malallah called Muhammad "a liar and swindler" and accused him of using "witchcraft" and "help from devils," the government said. He allegedly termed the Qur’an, which Muslims believe is a revelation from God, "a product of the prophet," and said Islam is "a fabricated religion."
"This is not mere apostasy," the government said. "Indeed, it is a crime calling for death, but even death will not pardon Sadeq in front of Muhammad and the Qur’an."
A London-based human rights group supported by Saudi dissidents quoted a witness to the execution as saying that those gathered at the scene experienced a "massive shock" at the sentence, and that just before his death Malallah was shouting: "I am innocent. You are oppressive."
The case highlights the importance of religious orthodoxy in Saudi society, whose Sunni Muslim leaders base much of their political legitimacy on the claim to be custodians of the original intent of Muhammad's teachings as well as of Islam's holy places.
But the secretive proceedings against Malallah, allegations of mistreatment in prison and the fact that he belonged to the Shiite minority have raised questions about his execution.
"I've never heard of such a case in
'The question is not what the Qur’an says about apostasy and its punishment," he added. 'The point is, is it true that he said such a thing? And was he given a legal trial and given justice, and a lawyer to defend him? We cannot discuss the [matter] from an official Saudi statement only." Amnesty International has protested to the Saudi government over the execution of a "possible prisoner of conscience."
The organization said it has asked the
Aziz Abu Hamad, a human rights investigator with the
"This is the first time in Saudi history where a man was killed for such a crime," Hamad said in a telephone interview. "My reading is that the government wants to seize the moral high ground from the [Islamic] fundamentalists."
The London-based International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the Gulf and the
Based on interviews with his relatives and former inmates of Mababeth prison in
Later, a judge in Qatif "accused him of smuggling a Bible into the country" and asked him to convert to Wahhabi Islam, the puritanic sect prevailing in
To criticize Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, or to say that the Qur’an is "a product of the prophet," or that Islam is a "fabricated religion," or to smuggle a Bible into a country ruled by the Qur’an, is a crime punishable by beheading. It should be noted also that Islam is a prison with no exit. Once you enter that prison, you can not come out of it alive. Once a Muslim, always a Muslim.
According to Islamic law, the Muslim who converts to Christianity from Islam is an apostate and must be killed.
The International Christian Concern, in its press release of
News of another murder of an Iranian Christian pastor reached the West seven days after his body was found on September 25 hanging from a tree in a secluded forest. Rev. Mohammed Ravanbaksh was killed shortly after he had reportedly been detained and questioned by the Iranian police. He is the fourth Christian leader to have been murdered in less than three years.
Since the 35 year old pastor had converted from Islam to Christianity 11 years ago, he has been labeled by the Iranian authorities and Muslim leaders as an "apostate" who was deserving of death. He was ordained by the Assemblies of God Church under the leadership of the late Bishop Haik Hovespian-Mehr, who was brutally murdered after being abducted in January 1994. Rev. Ravanbaksh has been pastoring an underground church since 1988, after the Iranian authorities forcibly closed down the three churches he had been pastoring. Another martyred pastor and former Muslim, Mehdi Dibaj, served as mentor to Rev. Ravanbaksh. Mehdi Dibaj was murdered in 1994 shortly after serving more than nine years in prison on charges of apostasy. Rev. Mehr was outspoken on behalf of Mehdi Dibaj during his imprisonment, which led to an international campaign that resulted in Mehdi Dibaj's release in late 1993. Since the time of Pastor Dibaj's death, Rev. Ravanbaksh has been caring for Dibaj's young children. In addition to Dibaj's children, Rev. Ravanbaksh's wife, Akhtar, is left to care for two small children of their own who are now without a father.
Rev. Ravanbaksh is said to have been willing to follow in the footsteps of Mehdi Dibaj who wrote these words a short time before his death: "I have always envied those Christians who were martyred for Christ Jesus our Lord. What a privilege to live for our Lord and to die for Him as well... I am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus Christ."
A protest campaign has been launched by International Christian Concern (ICC) for the purpose of drawing international attention to the intense persecution against evangelical Christians in
In the West, as well as in Islamic States, Muslim clerics have the right to convert Christians to Islam without any threat or danger to them. But once a Muslim is converted to Christianity he is threatened, persecuted, tortured, and ultimately executed.
If Islam is Allah's religion, as the Qur’an claims, the Muslims should leave to Allah the protection of his religion, and if He is in need of human help, then this Allah is not the true and living God.
3. One wife or four?
The Bible (OT) commands one woman for one man with no permission for divorce except for fornication:
Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away?" He saith unto them, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commmitteth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Matthew 19:4-9).
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband (1 Corinthians 7:2).
The Qur’an says: to deal justly [with them] then only one, or that which your right hands possess… (
This verse in the Qur’an gives the right to the Muslim to marry two or three or four women, especial if the Muslim follow the example of Muhammad who married fourteen wives. Muhammad is the excellent example for every Muslim. No Muslim will fear that he will be unjust. Here we have to mention the double standard of Islam. The Quran permits the Muslim man to marry a Christian or a Jewish woman, but forbids the Muslim woman to marry a Christian or a Jew.
The above mentioned verse also permits the Muslim to have sex with his slave girls, which the Quran call "that which your right hand possess." Polygamy - one man marrying more than one woman - demonstrates inequality and female subservience. It invites exploitation of the wives and degrading competition among them.
Dr. Moody Adams recorded the following true story in his book, The Religion that is Raping America, (pages 77, 78 & 79):
A friend of mine was brought face to face with the Muslim sexual practices which are so attractive to men and so deplorable to women. She told me that thirty years ago in
Sylvia told them not to be afraid; her future husband was a very modern Muslim and did not think and behave like that. She also told them that he had said he would never take another wife, as with Sylvia he only needed the one. Sylvia was married in a small civil ceremony in London with her parents in attendance and then taken by her husband back to Lebanon, where she converted to Islam and was married in an Islamic ceremony.
She seemed to be happy for a few years and had two handsome sons. Then without any warning, her parents did not hear from her for quite a few months; they began to worry. Her parents tried to call her in
Three more months passed and they still had not heard from her. No-one would take their phone calls; then finally Sylvia’s husband called to say she had died suddenly. Her parents felt there was more to this story than an illness. They were poor and could not go to
After about a month they received the most heartbreaking news. Sylvia’s life in Lebanon in this strict Muslim home was bondage; she had been one of four wives and, indeed, her husband did have concubines. Her parents worst predictions had been correct.
Her parents learned Sylvia had tried to escape from her husband with her two sons. She was caught by her husband’s "guards" and returned to him. A few weeks later she had taken one of her husband’s cars and tried to escape again. Her husband had anticipated this and set a trap by tampering with the brakes. Sylvia lost control of the car and went over a cliff to her death. The crash decapitated her.
Sylvia’s sons remained in Lebanon; her parents never had a chance to see them and they were told that they would not be able to bring her husband to justice; he was only subject to Islamic law and under the law he had done nothing ‘wrong’" (Printed by permission).
We must not forget that a Muslim can divorce his four wives and marry another four and another four with no end. A Muslim can therefore marry a large number of women during his lifetime.
4. Love your wife or beat her?
The Bible commands the husbands to be kind to their wives, to honor them and to love them.
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them (Colossians
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered (I Peter 3:7).
Husbands, love, your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it…(Ephesians
The Qur’an says: As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds, and beat them (
Just a suspicion of disloyalty on the part of a wife is justification for the husband to beat her.
5. The Case Of The Divorced Wife
The Bible states that remarriage of the divorced wife to the same husband, after marrying another man, is an ABOMINATION in the sight of God. The Qur’an however, sanctions remarriage of the divorced wife to her husband upon the condition that the woman must first marry another man. Without actually marrying another man, she cannot marry the same husband.
What the God of the Bible calls ABOMINATION, the Qur’an calls the limits ordained by Allah. In the book of Deuteronomy we read:
When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance (Deuteronomy 24:1-4 NKJ).
This is a very clear commandment of God. Now, read what the Qur’an says:
If a husband divorces his wife [irrevocably], he cannot, after that, remarry her until after she has married another husband and he has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they re-unite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by Allah. Such are the limits ordained by Allah, which He makes plain to those who know (
There is a clear contrast here between the Bible and the Qur’an. These two conflicting commandments could not be from the same source.
6. The Islamic Veil
The Old Testament recorded many women’s names: Eve, Adah, Zillah, Sarai, Asenath, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Abigail, Esther, and many more. The New Testament also recorded many women’s names, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Martha,
The Bible says:
There is neither... male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians
In the Qur’an, the only woman mentioned by name is Maryam, the mother of Jesus. Even Muhammad’s wives were not mentioned in the Qur’an for women have no value in Islam. This is why men can marry four women at one time, and this is why the Qur’an commanded the Muslim women to wear a veil which they call the "Hejab." One Saudi princess wrote about her sister when she was ordered by her father to wear the veil:
Sara had been veiling since her menses The veil stamped her as a nonperson (Italics mine), and she soon ceased to speak of her childhood dreams of great accomplishment. She became distant from me, her younger sister, who was as yet unconcerned with the institution of veiling. The sharpening of Sara’s distance left me longing for the remembered happiness of our shared childhood. It suddenly became apparent to me that happiness is realized only in the face of unhappiness, for I never knew we were so happy until Sara’s unhappiness stared me in the face (Princess, page 27).
What we read in the Qur’an is retaliation, racism, life by the sword, polygamy, wife beating and veiling. This is clearly opposite to the glorious teachings and practices of Judaism and Christianity.
Source: http://www.thespiritofislam.com/books/imk/index.html
Continues on Part VI
IHS
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