Sunday Sermons
Understanding Islam
Understanding Islam
The Qur’an
Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbally inspired Word of God, and to be the full and final revelation of God through Muhammad, the supposed last and greatest of the prophets who supersedes Moses, Jesus and all other prophets before him.
The Ultimate Divine Miracle?
The Qur’an is not only believed to be the ultimate divine revelation, but for Muslims it is also the ultimate divine miracle. In fact, Muhammad claimed that the Qur’an was the only miracle he offered his hearers. What is intriguing about this line of argumentation is that while Muhammad claimed that the Qur’an was the only miracle he offered, the Qur’an itself claims that Jesus worked many miracles. The Qur’an affirms the virgin birth of Jesus (19:16-21; 3:37-45) and Jesus’ many miraculous acts recorded in the New Testament, such as healing and raising people from the dead. Before moving on we need to make the point that the Qur’an is simply one more extra-biblical source that affirms the fact that Jesus lived, and that He worked many miracles. The Bible notes that even the enemies of Jesus could not deny His miraculous acts (John 11:47; Acts 2:22). Believers in Muhammad as the final prophet need to ask the question, “Why did the final prophet work far fewer miracles than Jesus?” Or, as the people in Jesus’ day said, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?” (John 7:31).
Eloquence Equals Inspiration?
For most Muslims, what is considered the most impressive evidence for the supernatural nature of the Qur’an has been that is “is wonderfully arranged, and marvelously composed, and so exalted in its literary elegance as to be beyond what any mere creature could attain” (Islam: Muhammad and His Religion, Arthur Jeffery, p. 57). It is further argued that the Qur’an is second to none in the world according to the unanimous decision of the learned men in points of diction, style, rhetoric, thoughts and soundness of laws and regulations. The Qur’an itself states a challenge to all unbelievers in 2:23 “And if ye are in doubt as to what we have revealed from time to time to our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto”. The challenge that Muhammad made was for non-Muslims to produce a chapter like anything in the Qur’an.
Yet, eloquence alone is hardly a test for divine inspiration. “After all Mozart wrote his first symphony at the age of six, and his entire music corpus was produced before age thirty-five; Muhammad did not begin to produce the suras of the Qur’an until age forty. But what Muslim would say that Mozart’s works are miraculous like the Qur’an?” (Answering Islam, Geisler and Saleeb, p. 187). In addition, Islamic scholar, C.G. Pfander, points out that “It is by no means the universal opinion of unprejudiced Arabic scholars that the literary style of the Qur’an is superior to that of all other books in the Arabic language”. For example, “some doubt whether in eloquence and poetry it surpasses the Mu’allaqat, or the Magamat or Hariri, though in Muslim lands few people are courageous enough to express such an opinion” (The Mizanu’l Haqq (Balance of Truth), C.G. Pfander, p. 264). Added to this, it is hardly the opinion of all learned men that the Qur’an is eloquent, often it tends to be wearisome. For example, Sura 109: “Say: O ye that reject faith! I worship not that which ye worship, nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your way, and to me mine”. Added to this, it is not true that simply because something is eloquent, God must have said it. In fact, Paul argues the opposite in 1 Corinthians 2:1 “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God”.
Perfect Preservation?
Muslim scholars argue that in contrast to other holy books, the Holy Qur’an is the only divinely revealed scripture in the history of mankind that has been preserved to the present time in its exact original form. By this is meant that the Qur’an has been preserved in the Arabic working in which it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad and in the exact order in which he himself placed it as commanded by Divine revelation.
· While it is true that the present Qur’an is generally a perfect copy of the seventh-century Uthmanic recension, it is not true that this is exactly the way it came from Muhammad. The Qur’an was originally memorized by devout followers, most of whom were killed shortly after Muhammad’s death. According to early tradition, Muhammad’s scribes wrote on pieces of paper, stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades, ribs, and bits of leather. Muslims believe that during the lifetime of Muhammad the Qur’an was written down. But, according to the testimony of Zayd, a contemporary and follower of Muhammad, he was requestred by Abu Bakr to “search out the (various chapters and verses of) the Qur’an and gather it together”. He responded, “Accordingly, I sought out the Qur’an: I gather it together from leafless palm-branches and thin white stones and men’s breasts” (Geisler and Saleeb pp. 191-192).
· It was some time later, during the reign of Uthman, the third Muslim Caliph, it was reported that several Muslim communities were using different versions of the Qur’an. Once again, Zayd was called into oversee the official revised version of the Qur’an. Prior to Uthman’s revision, there were several different texts. Thus Uthman created a standard text for the entire empire and all other texts were destroyed.
· Contrary to popular claims, not all Muslims today accept one and the same version of the Qur’an. The Sunnite Muslims accept the Sahih tradition of Masuad, one of the few people authorized by Muhammad to teach the Qur;an, as authoritative. Yet the version used by them has many variations from the Uthmanic recension. In the second Sura alone there are nearly 150 variations in the text.
· One big difference between the transmission of the Bible and the transmission of the Qur’an over the centuries is that biblical scholars, interested in truth, have carefully preserved the variant readings in the Bible (see Acts 8:37; John 8:1-11; 1 John 5:7; Mark 16:9ff) and have allowed the reader to judge. Whereas, the Muslims at the time of Uthman deemed it expedient to destroy as far as possible all the evidences of different readings of the Qur’an.
· Although Shi’ite Muslims are in the minority, they are the second largest Islamic sect in the world, with over one hundred million followers. They claim that Caliph Uthman intentionally eliminated many verses from the Qur’an.
· Both Muslims and Mormons equally argue that the Bible has been corrupted. It is interesting and Christians do not need to argue the reverse. Christians do not argue that the Old Testament has been corrupted in order to justify their faith, rather the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. We believe, as Jesus did that the Old Testament had been accurately translated right down to every jot and tittle (Matthew 5:18-19). Christians reject the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon, not because these books have been inaccurately translated, but primarily because they contradict the gospel that the apostles preached (Galatians 1:6-9). They are in violation of the “faith” once for all delivered (Jude 3).
· It is indeed a very awkward and dangerous argument that says, “All holy books prior to the Koran have been corrupted”, because this admits that God is was unable in the past to preserve His word, and what guarantee that the same God will be able to preserve a supposedly new revelation? One cannot logically argue that, “God failed to protect all His previous revelations, but He can protect this last one”. Christians believe that God has protected all His revelations, both in the Old and New Testament (1 Peter 1:23-25).
The So-called Satanic Verses
According to one version of the following verses Muhammad had an early revelation in Mecca, which allowed intercession to certain idols, “Did you consider al-hat and al-Uzza and al-Manat, the third, the other? Those are the swans exalted; their intercession is expected; their likes are not neglected” (Bell’s Introduction to the Qur’an, W. Montgomery Watt, p. 47). Some time after this Muhammad received another revelation canceling the last three lines (verses) and substituting what we now find in 53:21-23, which omits the part about interceding to these pagan gods. Both versions had been recited publicly and Muhammad’s explanation was that Satan had deceived him and inserted the false verses without his knowing it (Ibid., 60-61). The admittance that Satan deceived one and inserted false verses without his knowledge is a serious blow against any real confidence in Muhammad’s writings. By contrast, the apostles never claimed such deception, but rather that their writings were the commands of the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 3:16; Ephesians 3:4).
The Qur’an and Consistency
Far from being consistent, the Qur’an teaches the doctrine of abrogation, 2:106 reads, “Such of our revelations as we abrogate or cause to be forgotten, we bring (in the place) one better or the like thereof. Knowest thou not that Allah is able to do all things?” For example, what is called “the sword verse” (9:5) supposedly annuls 124 verses that originally encouraged tolerance (cf. 2:256). While the Qur’an says emphatically, “Let there be no compulsion in religions” (2:256), yet in other places it urges Muslims to “Fight those who believe not” (9:29), and “fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them” (9:5). Muslims simply claim that this is progressive revelation, where God’s message is adapted to different people living at different times. While the Bible teaches that the New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:6), such a change was clearly predicted(Jeremiah 31:31-34) long in advance, and one is simply the fulfillment of the other, and the first covenant lasted 1500 years. This is far different from the Qur’an, where a revelation is changed twenty years later without any forewarning.
Scientific Accuracy?
An argument gaining popularity among Muslims in recent times is that Christianity is attacked for holding back the progress of science, while the Qur’an is exalted as promoting science. Yet the very founders of almost every area of modern science were men working from a Christian worldview. This includes men like Copernicus, Kepler, Kelvin, Newton, Pascall, Boyle, Maxwell, Agassiz and others. In many, Muslim armies destroyed vast resources of knowledge in their conquests.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
