DATE: 07/11/2007 15:52:17 / MOOD: General
The
Basis of Muslim Belief
By Gary
Miller
About The author
Dilem ma of Applying
Reason
Se tting Standards
Si gn of God
The Big Bang
Theory
Taking a Stand
The Expanding
Heavens
The City of Iram
The Smallest
Matter
Forgiveness
Predictions
Evidence
of Divine Origin
The Two Phenomena
Use
and Mention of Words
Jesus
and Adam
Goo d and Evil
Occurr ence of Words
Perfect
Balance of Words
Best
Explanation
Origin
of the Qur'an
Ch allenge
Attributing
it to the Devil
A Different
Story
House
Cleaning
A
Prophet Like Moses
Pa raclete
Followers
of Jesus
.
About Gary
Miller, the author
Gary Miller
(Abdul-Ahad Omar) shows how we can establish true faithby setting standards
of truth. He illustrates a simple but effective method of finding out the
right direction in our search for truth.
G.R.. Miller
is a mathematician and a theologian. He was active inChristian missionary
work at a particular point of his life but he soonbegan to discover many
inconsistencies in the Bible. In 1978, hehappened to read the Qur'an expecting
that it, too, would contain amixture of truth and falsehood.
He discovered
to his amazement that the message of the Qur'an was precisely the same
as the essence of truth that he had distilled from the Bible. He became
a Muslim and since then has been active in giving public presentations
on Islam including radio and television appearances. He is also the author
of several articles and publications about Islam.
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Dilemma
of Applying Reason
Almost all of us have been faced
with the questioning of a child by repeating one word over and over. He
can be very frustrating to us as he asks, "WHY?" If you put a knife beyond
his reach, he wants to know "WHY?" When you explain it is sharp, he asks
"WHY?" And so you explain, "in order to cut fruit," and he asks, "WHY?"
And so it goes.
It illustrates the dilemma of applying
reason. What we have to do when we apply reason is first set standards
of proof. We decide for ourselves, "What will I be satisfied with if I
find such and such and so and so that constitutes for me a final proof?"
We have to decide on that first.
What happens though, is that on the
really important issues, the philosophical matters, thinkers set standards
of proof and they take a look at their subjects and eventually they may
arrive at their standards. They may arrive at the point which say would
constitute a proof. But then they ask for a proof of the proof.
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Setting
Standards
The key to avoiding this endless
dissatisfaction is to satisfy ourselves about the standards first; to satisfy
ourselves that such and such are a list of criteria that constitute proof,
satisfying proof, and then we test the subjects that we examine. In particular
I will apply this to the Qur'an.
Ask a thoughtful Christian why he
is a Christian, and he will usually reply, "The miracle of the Resurrection."
The basis for his belief being that about two thousand years ago a man
died and he was raised from the dead. That is his miracle, his 'touchstone',
because all else depends on that.
Ask a Muslim, "Well, what is your
miracle? Why are you a Muslim? What is your miracle? Why are you a Muslim?
Where is your miracle?" and the Muslim can go over and take his miracle
off the shelf and hand it to you because his miracle is still with us today.
It is the Qur'an; it is his 'touchstone'.
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Sign of
God
While all the Prophets have their
signs, Moses had the competition with the magicians and the Pharaoh, Jesus
healed the sick and raised the dead and so on, one Sign was given to the
last of the prophets. According to the Muslims, this is the Qur'an. And
this one Sign is still with us. Does not that after all seem fair, that
if prophethood is to end that the last prophet should bring something that
stays with us so that, in fact, a Muslim who takes his religion seriously
suffers no disadvantage to Muslims who lived fourteen centuries ago?
Those people who kept company with
the Prophet had access to no more of the necessary information than we
have today. They had the Qur'an. That was the sign for them. It is still
a sign to us today, the same miracle.
Well, let us test the Qur'an. Suppose
that if I say to a man, "I know your father." Probably he is going to examine
the situation and see if it seems likely that I have met his father. If
he is not convinced, he will start asking me questions like: "You know
my father, you say, is he a tall man? Does he have curly hair? Does he
wear glasses?," and so on. If I keep giving him the right answers to all
these questions, pretty soon he is going to be convinced. "Well, I guess
this man did meet my father like he said." You see the method.
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The Big
Bang Theory
Verses in the Qur'an claim that the
author of Qur'an was present when the universe first appeared, when life
first began billions of years ago.
We have a right to question this
claim. We ask the author, "Well tell us something to prove to us that YOU
were there when they world began, life began."
In reply to our challenge, the Qur'an
contains a dumbfounding statement. It reads, "Have
not the disbelievers seen that the Heavens and the Earth were one piece
and we parted them? And We made every living thing from water. Will they
not then believe?" (21:30)
(in the Qur'an, 'We' is used not
to show plurality, that several Gods exist but rather as a sign of respect)
There are 3 key points in (21:30).
First of all, it is the disbelievers who are mentioned as being those who
would discover that the heavens and the earth were one piece and then parted
and it is the DISBELIEVERS (non-Muslims) who will DISCOVER that all life
came to be made from water.
Coincidentally, the universally accepted
theory of 'the origin of the universe' is now the BIG BANG THEORY. It maintains
that at one time ALL OF HEAVENS AND THE EARTH were one piece, the 'monoblock'
as it is called. At a particular point in time, this 'monoblock' burst
and it continues to expand. This is the origin of the universe we have
today.
This is a recent confirmation.
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded
only a few years ago to those who confirmed the Big Bang Theory origin
of the universe. It was only 200 years ago that Leeuwenhoek and others
perfected the microscope and discovered for the first time that living
cells are composed of 80% water.
The above information which was scientifically
confirmed only in the last 2 centuries, can be found in the Qur'an which
originated 14 centuries ago! Could it then have been written by an ordinary
man or can it only be the work of God?
The verse above, (21:30) states that
disbelievers will scientifically prove the Big Bang Theory and that living
cells are made of water -- Those Nobel Prize winners and the Dutchman who
invented the microscope were not muslims. And yet they confirmed
the vital statement that at one time, the universe was one piece, that
life was made from water, just as verse says,
"Have not the
disbelievers seen that the Heavens and the Earth were one piece and we
parted them? And We made every living thing from water. Will they not then
believe?" (21:30)
Does this not prove that the author
of the Qur'an, has indeed met the challenge, "Was He there when the universe
began, when life began."
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Taking a
Stand
Everyone must be committed to something.
You have to put your foot down some place. It is impossible to be neutral
at all times. There has been a point of reference in the life of any thinking
individual. You have to take a stand somewhere. The question, of course,
is to put your foot down in the right place. Since there is no such thing
as a proof of a proof and so on, in order to find the right place to put
one's foot down, to take a stand, we have to search and find that place
and it is by a method that I hope to illustrate here.
It is a question of finding a point
of convergence. You see, we search for truth in many places and we begin
to know that we are succeeding in finding the truth if all our different
paths start to converge; they start to come together at the same point.
If we are examining a book, looking
for evidence of divine origin, and we are led to Islam, this is one path.
If at the same time, we examining the words of all those who were called
prophets and we find ourselves led to Islam, we have a firmly grounded
basis for belief. We started looking for truth in two different places
and found ourselves going down the path headed for the same destination.
No one ever proves all things. We
have to stop at some point being satisfied with our standards as I have
mentioned earlier. The point is, in order to take a stand and to be sure
it is in the right place, we want to examine all the evidence around us
and see where does it lead us and anticipate this point of convergence;
to say it looks like all things are pointing to this place. We go to that
place and then look at the data around us to see if it fits into place.
Does it now make sense? Are we standing in the right place?
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The Expanding
Heavens
Let me first show more of our examination
of the Qur'an, and then an examination of some words of prophets to find
this point of convergence. In Chapter 51, verse 47, it is mentioned that
the heavens are expanding. As I mentioned earlier, this is in connection
with the 'Big Bang' origin of the universe, as it is usually called, and
it was in 1973 that the Nobel prize was awarded to three men who were confirming
that, after all, the universe is expanding.
The comments of Muslims over the
centuries on this verse which speaks of the heavens doing exactly that
is very interesting. The wisest among them stated that the words are very
clear, that the heavens are expanding, but they could not imagine how that
could be so. But they were content to leave the words as they were, to
say: "Allah knows best."
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The City
of Iram
The Qur'an mentions a city by the
name of Iram (89:7). The city of Iram has been unknown to History, so unknown
that even Muslim commentators, out of embarrassment or feeling apologetic
for their religion, have commented on this mention of the city in the Qur'an
as being perhaps figurative, that Iram was possibly a man and not a city.
In 1973, the excavation in Syria
at the site of the ancient city of Eblus uncovered the largest collection
of cuneiform writings on clay tablets ever assembled. In fact, the library
discovered in Eblus contains more clay tablets that are more than four
thousand years old than all the other tablets combined from all other sites.
Interestingly enough, you will find
the details in the National Geographic of 1978 which confirms that in those
tablets the city of Iram is mentioned. The people of Eblus used to do business
with the people of Iram. So here in 1973, comes confirmation of the fact
that, after all, there really was an ancient city by that name, wherever
it was. How did it find its way into the Qur'an, we might ask?
Those Muslims who may have offered
their comments, trying to explain away this reference that they were uncomfortable
with, were outsmarted by the author of the Qur'an. They were those who
would attempt to outsmart the author of the Qur'an. Primarily, their activity
would involve trying to produce the evidence that the author of this book
had a primitive understanding of the world around us.
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The Smallest
Matter
For example, there is a word which
is translated today usually in Arabic as Zarrah. This is usually translated
as 'atom' and it is usually thought of in Arabic as being the smallest
item available at one time. Perhaps, the Arabs thought it was an ant or
a grain of dust. Today, the word is usually translated as 'atom'.
Those who would outsmart the author
of the Qur'an have insisted that, well, the atom is not after all the smallest
piece of matter because in this century it has been discovered that even
the atom is made of still smaller pieces of matter. Is it them possible
to outsmart the author who chose to use this word? Well, there is an interesting
verse, in chapter 10, verse 61, which speaks of items the size of a zarrah,
(atom) or smaller. There is no possibility that on this subject someone
is going to say a new discovery has outdated the words of the Qur'an on
the issue of the size of matter or the ultimate particles. The verse talks
about items the size of a zarrah (atom) or smaller. [hence, it IS written
in the Qur'an that an atom IS NOT the smallest particle!]
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Forgiveness
Speaking of outsmarting the author
of the Qur'an, the Islamic point of view is that when a man embraces Islam,
his past is forgiven from the very beginning. This has been the invitation
to Islam: come to Islam and all is forgiven from the past.
But consider this. There is only
one enemy of Muhammad, peace be upon him, who is mentioned by name in the
Qur'an: one Abu Lahab. In a short chapter of this book, he is condemned
to punishment for his sins.
As it happens, the man himself was
alive for many years after this revelation. He could therefore have finished
Islam very easily. He needed only to go to the Muslims to announce his
conversion. They had in their hands the revelation which said that this
man is doomed to punishment. He could have gone to Muslims and say: "I
accept Islam, am I forgiven or not?"
He could have confused them so much
as to finish this small movement because he would have been pointing out
to them that they were now in confusion. The policy was instant forgiveness
of the past, but their own revealed scripture announced that he was not
forgiven. As it was, Abu Lahab died without accepting Islam.
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Predictions
In fact, the Qur'an confidently predicted
a number of things only a few years before they came to pass. The fall
of the Persian Empire, for example, was predicted in spite of the fact
that it had just suffered a serious military reverse. The evidence was
all to the contrary. But in the chapter entitled Rom, the fall of the Persian
Empire who were recently victors over the Romans was predicted.
When all the Muslims in the world
could meet in one room, the revelations were already discussing their future
successes. In confidence, they were planning for the day when they would
be in charge of the city where they were forced at that time to hide for
their very lives.
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Evidence
of Divine Origin
Some people may like to find any
number of things in the Qur'an. But an honest method in examining this
book, looking for evidence of the Divine origin, is to take things at their
value, to look for things that are clear and to look in those places where
we are invited to look. Remember the passage that I quoted earlier: "Have
not the disbelievers seen..." This a common phrase of the Qur'an: "O Man,
Have you not seen." The invitation is to examine the evidence in these
places. We are doing the sensible thing if we examine the words used to
look for the doubted meaning and to find evidence of the Divine origin.
Each one of us is an expert on something.
One does not have to have a degree in a particular subject to decide that
now, "I can take my expertise to the Qur'an and see what I can find." We
all now something for some from our own experience and life.
I heard a story, several years ago
in Toronto, of man who was given the Qur'an to read. The man was a member
of the merchant marines who spent his life on the sea. When he read a verse
in the Qur'an describing the wave on the ocean, "waves within waves and
the darkness between," he was surprised because the description was just
what he knew the situation to be. When he returned the Qur'an to the man
who gave it to him to read, he asked him (because he was completely ignorant
of the origins of Islam): "This Muhammad, was he a sailor?" Well, of course,
he was quite surprised to know that the man spent his life in the desert.
So he had to ask himself: "From where did he get this knowledge of what
looks like on a stormy sea?"
We all know something that we can
be confident of and if we can turn to the Qur'an to read what it says about
that subject, we are asking for confirmation of our belief in the Divine
origin of the book.
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The Two
Phenomena
A friend of mine from the University
of Toronto, had the experience of dealing with a man who was doing his
doctorate in psychology. He chose as his subject: 'The Efficiency of Group
Discussion'.
He suggested a number od criteria
as to what constitutes an efficient discussion. He graphed the process;
that is, he achieved a measure of efficiency of all groups in their discussions
according to an index by his system. On his graph he indicated the progress
made by the discussion groups of various sizes.
The interesting thing that happened
which he did not expect to find when he began his project was that, while
there were some differences between the size of any given group and how
well they did in discussions, he was surprised to find that groups of two
were completely off his scale! In other words, when people sit down to
discuss something, they were so much more efficient than any other size
of group that it went completely off his scale of measurement.
When my friend heard about this,
something went on at the back of his mind. My friend, being a Muslim, thought
there was something familiar here about this idea. The psychology researcher
was not a Muslim. He was debating with himself on changing the topic of
his thesis. Should he call it 'The Phenomenon of Two' or 'The Two Phenomena?
He was SO surprised at his discovery.
Meanwhile, my friend found that there
is a verse in the Qur'an, and he found it for himself on the same night,
which speaks on discussions and the size of groups and how efficient they
are. And maybe we should not be surprised to find that it is the groups
that are two in numbers that do the best in achieving results. The main
verse in the Qur'an reads, concerning discussion groups, that when discussing
the Qur'an one should sit alone and reflect on its meaning or discuss it
in groups of two.
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Use and
Mention of Words
For myself, as I said everyone knows
something for sure or has an interest and experience in life; my interest
is in mathematics and logic. There is a verse in the Qur'an which says:
"This a scripture whose verses are
perfected and then expounded." (11:1)
Which tells me that there are no
wasted words in the Qur'an; that each verse is perfected and then it is
explained. It could not be in a better form. One could not use fewer words
to say the same thing or if one uses more words one would only be adding
superfluous information.
This directed my attention to a particular
mathematical subject, a logical subject, and I examined the Qur'an to see
if I could find something of what I knew to be the case.
A revolution in logic has occurred
in the last one hundred years, primarily over the difference between use
and mention of words. A structure of logic seemed to be in danger of collapsing
about a hundred years ago because it came to the attention of the people
who studied these matters that the structure was not quite sound. The issue
involved 'self-reference' and the use and the mention of words which I
will explain briefly.
Aristotle's law of the 'excluded
middle' was the statement that every statement is either true false. About
a hundred years ago, somebody pointed out that the law of the excluded
middle is a statement and is therefore not a law after all. It could just
as well be false as well as true.
This was a tangled knot for the logicians
to untie until they came to understand the difference between the use and
the mention of a word.
When we use a word, we consider its
meaning. When we mention a word we are discussing the word itself. If I
said Toronto is a large city, I mean Toronto, that place, is a large cit.
If I say Toronto has seven letters, I am talking about the word 'Toronto'.
In the first case I used the word and in the second I mentioned the word.
You see distinction.
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Jesus and
Adam
Connecting these ideas and the idea
that the Qur'an composed of verses that are perfected and then expounded
for us, consider the verse which says:
"The likeness of Jesus before Allah
is as the likeness of Adam." (3:59)
It is very clear that what we have
in the statement is an equation. This verse goes on to explain how that
is true because they both came under unusual circumstances rather than
having a mother and a father in the usual human reproductive way. But more
than that, I got to consider the use of the mention of words.
The words are used clearly enough.
Jesus is like Adam and by Jesus and Adam, we mean those two men. But what
about the mention of the words? Was the author aware of the fact that if
we were considering the words as words themselves, this sentence also read
that 'Jesus' is something like 'Adam'. Well, they are not spelt with the
same letters, how can they be alike in this revelation? The only answer
came to me fairly quickly and I took a look at the index of the Qur'an.
The index of the Qur'an has been
made available only since 1945. This book was the result of years of work
by a man and his students who assembled a book which lists every word in
the Qur'an and where it can be found.
So, when we look up the word Isa
(Jesus), we find it in the Qur'an twenty-five times. When we look up Adam,
we find it in the Qur'an twenty-five times. The point is that they are
very much alike in this book. They are equated. So, following up on this
idea, I continued to examine the index looking for every case where something
was set up as an equation, where the likeness of something was said to
be the likeness of some other thing. And in every case, it works. You have
to example a verse which reads:
"The likeness of this who reject
our signs is as the likeness of the dog." (7:176)
Well, the phrase is Arabic for 'the
people who reject our signs' could be found in the Qur'an exactly five
times. And so is the Arabic word for 'the dog' (al-kalb). And there are
several instances of exactly the same occurrence.
It was some months after I found
this for myself that a friend of mine, who is continuing this investigation
with me, made a suggestion that there are also some places in the Qur'an
where one thing is said to be not like another thing.
As soon as he mentioned this up to
me, we both went for the index and had a quick look at several places where
on thing is said to be not like another thing and counted their occurrence
in the Qur'an. We were surprise and maybe should not have been to find
that, after all, they do not match up. But an interesting thing does happen.
For example, the Qur'an makes it very clear in the verse that trade is
not like interest. The two words will be found six times for on and seven
for the other. And so it is in every other case.
When one thing is said to be not
like another, they over for a difference of one time. It would be five
of one and four of the other, or seven of one and eight of another.
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Good and
Evil
There is one interesting verse which,
I felt, spoke directly to me from right off the page. It mentions two words
in Arabic, al-khabeeth (the evil), and al-taib (the good). The verse reads:
"Say, the evil and the good are not
comparable, even though the abundance of evil will surprise you. So be
mindful of your duty to Allah, O Man of understanding, that you may succeed."
(5:100)
When I had a look at those two words
in Arabic, the evil and the good, and found it in the Qur'an that they
both
occur seven times. Yet the verse here is saying that they are not comparable.
I should NOT expect to find that they occur the same number of times. BUT
what does the rest of this verse say?
"The evil and the good are not comparable.
The abundance of the evil will surprise you" - and it did for there were
too many of them. But it continues...
"So be mindful of your duty to Allah,
O Man of understanding, that you may succeed." - So press on. Use your
understanding and you will succeed. This is what the verse said to me.
Well, I found the answer on one verse further on...
"Allah separates the evil from the
good. The evil He piles one on top of the other, heaping them all together."
(8:37)
Here is the solution to the difficulty.
While we have seven occurrences of al-khabeeth (the evil) which matches
up with the occurrences of al-taib (the good), according to the principle
of the verse, evil is separated from good and is piled one on top of the
other and heaped altogether as one. Hence, we do not count them as 7 separate
instances.
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Occurrence
of Words
A favourite difficulty, or supposed
difficulty, which critics like to cite concerning the Qur'an is that -
the author of this book was ignorant because he advised Muslims to follow
the lunar new year instead of the solar year.
The critics say the author was unaware
of the differences in the length of years, that if one follows the twelve
lunar months, one loses eleven days every year. However, the author was
well aware of the distinction between the length of the solar year and
lunar year.
In Chapter 18, Verse 9:
It mentions 300 years and gives their
equivalent as 309 years. As it happens, 300 SOLAR years is equal to 309
LUNAR years.
The arabic word for 'month', shahar
will
be found 12 times in the Qur'an. There are 12 months in a year. If we find
twelve months, how many days should we expect to find? The word in arabic
is yaum, and as it happens you will find that the word occurs 365 in the
Qur'an.
The original issue which had me interested
in looking up the occurrence of months and days was this distinction between
solar year and the lunar year. Well, for 25 centuries, it has been known
that the relative positions of the sun, moon and earth coincide every 19
years. This was discovered by a Greek by the name of Meton, and it is called
the 'Metonic' cycle.
Knowing this, I looked again in the
index of the word 'year', sanah and found, sure enough, that is occurs
in the Qur'an 19 times.
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Perfect
balance of Words
Now, what is the point of this perfect
balance of words? For myself, it shows the author was well aware of the
distinction between using words and mentioning words, a fine logical point.
But more than that, it indicates the preservation of this book.
After giving a lecture on the subject
of the Qur'an , I touched on some of these subjects and a questionnaire
from the audience afterwards said: "How do we know we still have the original
Qur'an. Maybe pieces of it have been lost or extra parts been added?" I
pointed out to him that we had pretty well covered that point because since
these items, the perfect balance of words in the Qur'an, have come to light
only in this generation, anybody who would have lost the portion of this
book, hidden some of it, or added some of their own would have been unaware
of this carefully hidden code in the book. They would have destroyed this
perfect balance.
It is interesting to note too that,
well, such a thing might be possible to organize today by the use of a
computer to coordinate all words so that whatever thought you might have
as to a meaning of a sentence or however you might construe an equation
out of a sentence, you could check for yourself and the book will always
have the balance of words.
If that were possible today, if it
were possible fourteen centuries ago, why would it be done and then left
hidden and never drawn to the attention of those who first saw this book?
Why it would be left with the hope of the author who contrived this, that
maybe in many centuries someone will discover it and have a nice surprise?
It is a scheme that does not make sense.
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Best Explanation
We are told in the Qur'an that no
questionnaire will come to the Muslims with the question for which a good
answer has not been provided, and the best explanation for whatever his
question. This verse says:
"For everything they say we are given
something to go back to them and reply." (25:33)
We looked again to the index of the
Qur'an and we found the word, qalu (they say), is found three hundred and
thirty-two times. Now, what would be the natural counterpart? The Arabic
word, qul, which is the command 'say' and you will find at the index it
also occurs three hundred and thirty-two times.
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Origin of
the Qur'an
An interesting feature of the Qur'an
is that it replies to critics as to its origin. That is, no one has yet
come up with suggestion as to where this book came from which is not commented
on within the book itself.
In fact, the new Catholic Encyclopedia,
under the heading Qur'an, mentions that over the centuries there has been
many theories as to where this book came from. There conclusion: today,
no sensible person believes any of these theories. This leaves the Christians
in some difficulty. You see, all the theories suggested so far , according
to this encyclopedia, are not really acceptable to anyone sensible today.
They are too fantastic.
Where did the book come from? Those
who have not really examined the Qur'an usually dismissed it as being,
they say, a collection of proverbs or aphorisms, saying that one man used
to announce from time to time. They imagined that there was a man who,
from time to time during the day, will think of some witty little saying
and spit it out and those around him will quickly write it down and eventually
these were all collected and became the Qur'an.
Those who read the Qur'an will find
that it is not anything like that at all. The collection of things said
by the Prophet is the subject and the content of the Hadith. But the subjects
and contents of the Qur'an are all in a form of a composition and explanation.
I site as an example the chapter, Yusuf, which is an entire story in great
detail about on e particular episode of one portion of the life of one
man. It is a composition.
It is for this reason that virtually
all those who have actually examined the Qur'an usually refer to it as
being the product of the authorship as attributed to Muhammad and his 'co-adjudicators'.
These were supposed to be people who would sit with him and composed the
Qur'an. You see they imagined that the Qur'an was composed by a committee.
They acknowledged that there was
too much information and it was too well composed for one man to have assembled.
So, they imagined that a committee of men used to meet regularly, brought
their various sources of information, composed something and then handed
to this man and told him, "Go to the people tomorrow, this is your revelation."
In other words, it was a fraud concocted by a group of people. But what
do we know about fraud? The Qur'an reminds us as it says:
"Saw, now the truth has come, and
falsehood neither invents anything nor restores anything." (34:49).
It is hard to translate it into English
precisely, but what this verse is telling us is that falsehood is not the
source of a new thing. A new and truthful thing cannot come from falsehood
and falsehood does not restore, to our minds, the facts. Truth is in agreement
with facts. Falsehood is something else. So falsehood is empty. If something
is born fraud, it will never bring us new information. It will never endure;
it will only collapse over a period of time.
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Challenge
Another interesting verse is a challenge
which is addressed to those non-believers. It reads:
"Have they not considered the Qur'an,
if it came, other than Allah, surely they will find in it many inconsistencies."
(4:82)
Here is a challenge to the reader.
If you think you have an explanation where this book came from, have another
look at the book. Surely you will be able to uncover some inconsistencies
to support your case.
Imagine a student submitting a term
paper or a final exam and then writing at the bottom of the page a not
to his teacher: "You will find no mistakes in this paper. There are no
mistakes on this exam." Can you imagine the teacher letting that rest?
The teacher would probably not sleep until uncovering some inconsistency
after a challenge like that. It is not the way human beings speak. They
do not offer challenges like that. But here we have it in the Qur'an, a
direct challenge saying: "If you have a better idea as to where this book
came from, here's all you need to do. Find some inconsistencies."
There are critics who make the attempt,
critics who try to say the Qur'an contains inconsistencies. A publication
that came to my attention recently suggested that the Qur'an was contradictory
on the subject of marriage, because in one place, it says: "don't marry
more than one wife unless you can provide for them all," and in another
place it says: "Don't marry more than four." They see this as a contradiction.
What they have is a counter-distinction. In one case, the qualification
for marrying more than one has been given. In the other case a limitation
on how many may be married is given. There is no contradiction.
Critics are too quick to grab hold
of something, give it an interpretation, and then offer it as an excuse
to escape the reality of this document.
For critics who would attack the
Qur'an and insist it contains mistakes, we can use the same method as in
our reply to Christians who claim that Jesus is on record as claiming to
be equal to God. Remember the three categories of evidence offered. The
evidence offered was insufficient, ambiguous or impossible.
You see, if someone cites a verse
from the Qur'an, trying to show that it is a mistake, we only need to show
that the verse cited is insufficient to establish that there is a mistake
or we need to show that the verse cited cannot possible have the interpretation
which the critic is giving it. It will always fall into one of these three
categories.
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Attributing
it to the Devil
I had experience, on one occasion,
describing some of the contents in the Qur'an to a man who did not know
the book I was talking about. He sat next to me with the cover turned over.
I just told him about the book, what it contained and told him it was not
the Bible. His conclusion was, the book was miraculous. This man was a
minister in a Christian Church. He said, "Yes, that book could not possible
have originated with the man and therefore it must come from the devil,
because it's not the Bible."
The Qur'an comments on this suggestion
in chapter twenty-six, verse two-hundred and eleven, as to those who would
suggest that the book came from the devil. It points out that it does not
quite suit him, does it? Is this how the devil misleads people? He tells
them, worship none but God, he insists that they fast, that they practice
charity. Is this how the devil misleads people?
Compare the attitude of someone like
this, to the attitude of the Jews who knew Jesus and opposed him until
the very end. There is an episode reported in the Bible where Jesus raised
a man from the dead, one Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. When
Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive again those Jews who were watching,
what did they do? Did they suddenly say that this man is a true prophet
and become believers? No, the Bible says they immediately discussed among
themselves that "since this man is working on his signs soon everyone will
believe in him. We've got to find a way to kill him," and they attributed
his miraculous powers to the devil. He raised that man by the power of
the devil.
Now, the Christians who read that
episode will feel very sorry for those Jews who had clear evidence right
before their very eyes and attribute the miracles to the devil. Does it
not appear that they may be doing the same thing when we illustrate what
we have in the Qur'an and their final excuse is only: "It originated with
the devil."
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.
A Different
Story
There are those who insist that the
Qur'an was copied, that it originated in Christian and Jewish sources.
As a matter of fact, a book published in recent years called Worshipping
the Wrong God has stated, as though it were a fact, that after the first
revelation of the Qur'an came to Muhammad, peace be upon him, that his
wife died and so he quickly married a Jew and a Christian, and this is
where he drew the rest of his sources for his book.
Well, they have the facts partly
right. It was ten years after the first revelation of the Qur'an that his
wife died, and it was another ten years after that when the Qur'an was
virtually completed that he married a Jew and a Christian.
Did he copy from Jewish and Christian
sources? In the Qur'an, the ruler of Egypt who opposed Moses is known as
Fir'aun, not Pharaoh. The Jews and Christians have always said 'Pharaoh'.
It is easy for an Arab to say 'Pharaoh'. But in the Qur'an, it is Fir'aun,
with an 'n'. Why? Surely the Jews must have teased them about that and
said: "You've got the word wrong. It's 'Pharaoh' and not Fir'aun." But
they insisted on it and it continues that way in the Qur'an, Fir'aun.
As it happens, this historical writings
of Herodotus, the Greek historian, exist to this day, and Herodotus comments
on the ruler of Egypt, being in his day and in the centuries before him,
one man who went by the title of Fir'aun.
Did the book copy from the Christians
sources? The Qur'an insists that Jesus was not crucified, that this was
only an illusion, but that the Jews who thought they crucified Jesus were
mistaken because it was not really so. Christians would have no part of
that. As it happens, the idea that Jesus was not really crucified is really
very ancient and can be traced back to the first century. But Christians
who believed that were eliminated as heretics within the first two-hundred
years after the time of Jesus and they were not teaching this doctrine
anywhere around the Arabian Peninsula fourteen centuries ago.
Could the author of the Qur'an have
been copying from Christian sources when he says that Jesus spoke to man
as a babe (3:46) and in later life? The Arabic word used indicates that
he was still speaking to man and teaching to them in the forties. The Christians
have always maintained that Jesus was gone by the time he was thirty-three.
It indicates that there could have been no copying. In fact, a man would
have to be stubborn and insists on the points as explained in the Qur'an
in the face of Christian opposition who would have said: "No! No! I wasn't
like that. We tell the story differently."
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.
House Cleaning
Now we go to the words of the prophets
themselves, which represent another path that leads to Islam. In the Persian
scriptures, which have been around for thousands of years, we read:
"When the Persians should sink so
low in mortality, a man will be born in Arabia whose followers will upset
their throne, religion and everything. The mighty stiff-necked ones will
be overpowered. The house which was built and in which many idols have
been placed will purged of idols and people will say their prayers facing
towards it. His followers will capture the towns of the Farsi, Entaus and
Balkh, and other big places round about. People will embroil with one another.
The wise men of Persia and others will join his followers." (Desature no.14)
The Muslims recognize this very quickly
because the Ka'bah, the building which all Muslims face in prayers everyday,
was at one time filled with idols and it was part of the mission of Muhammad
, peace be upon him, to purge the house of idols till today. It was in
the next generation, after the time of the Prophet that the wise men of
Persia and others did join his followers.
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A Prophet
Like Moses
In the Bible, in Deuteronomy chapter
eighteen, we have the words of Moses who reports that God told him that
H would raise up a prophet, from among the brothers of the Israelites,
like Moses.
Christians wish to apply this to
Jesus, to say he was the prophet like Moses. It is uncomfortable for them
to recognize, however that Jesus was not very much like Moses and Jesus
had no father, no wife, no children; he did not die of old age, and he
did not lead a nation; all these things Moses had or did. But they say,
well, Jesus will return; he will return as a victorious person, and so
he will be more like Moses. Do they really expect he will return to also
acquire a father and a wife and children and then die of old age? Not usually.
Moreover, Jesus was an Israelite. The passage of scripture says that this
prophet that was foretold would be raised up among the brothers of the
Israelites, not from the Israelites.
In the third chapter of Acts, the
disciple Peter speaks to a crowd of people and explains that Jesus has
been take up and he is in heaven. He will remain in Heaven and he cannot
return until all the things that were promised but God come to pass. So
what are we still waiting for, does he tell the crowd? He quotes this very
saying of Moses saying:
"For God will raise up a prophet
from among the brothers of the Israelites like Moses..."
The point is very clear. Christians
like to see this prophet as being Jesus. But read carefully Acts chapter
three, what it says is that Jesus awaits a return. He cannot return until
the fulfillment of this prophecy, that another prophet has to come. Jesus
spoke of it himself and the words survived, just barely, but they survived
in the bible. Jesus spoke of God sending another 'Paraclete'.
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View Entry
DATE: 07/10/2007 15:43:08 / MOOD: General
Taken from
Home Page of the Muslim student Association of oregon state university.
2.110
And be steadfast in prayer and regular in charity: And whatever
good ye send forth for your souls before you, ye shall find it with Allah.
for Allah sees Well all that ye do.
2.177
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards East or West; but
it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels,
and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love
for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for
those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer,
and give Zakat (regular charity); to fulfill the contracts which
ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity,
and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the
God fearing.
2.215
The y ask thee what they should spend (In charity). Say: Whatever
wealth ye spend that is good, is for parents and kindred and orphans and
those in want and for wayfarers. And whatever ye do that is good, -Allah
knoweth it well.
2.263
Kin d words and the covering of faults are better than charity followed
by injury. Allah is free of all wants, and He is Most-Forbearing.
2.264
O ye who believe! cancel not your charity by reminders of your generosity
or by injury,- like those who spend their wealth to be seen of men, but
believe neither in Allah nor in the Last Day. They are in parable like
a hard, barren rock, on which is a little soil: on it falls heavy rain,
which leaves it (just) a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with
aught they have earned. And Allah guideth not those who reject faith.
2.270
And whatever ye spend in charity or whatever vow ye make, be sure
Allah knows it all. But the wrong-doers have no helpers.
2.271
If ye disclose (acts of) charity, even so it is well, but if ye
conceal them, and make them reach those (really) in need, that is best
for you: It will remove from you some of your (stains of) evil. And Allah
is well acquainted with what ye do.
2.273
(Charity is) for those in need, who, in Allah's cause are restricted
(from travel), and cannot move about in the land, seeking (for trade or
work): the ignorant man thinks, because of their modesty, that they are
free from want. Thou shalt know them by their (unfailing) mark: They beg
not importunately from all the sundry. And whatever of good ye give, be
assured Allah knoweth it well.
2.274
Tho se who (in charity) spend of their goods by night and by day,
in secret and in public, have their reward with their Lord: on them shall
be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
2.276
All ah will deprive usury of all blessing, but will give increase for deeds
of charity: For He loveth not any ungrateful and wicked.
2.277
Tho se who believe, and do deeds of righteousness, and establish regular
prayers and regular charity, will have their reward with their Lord:
On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
2.280
If the debtor is in a difficulty, grant him time till it is easy for him
to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for
you if ye only knew.
4.77
Hast thou not turned thy though to those who were told to hold back their
hands (from fight) but establish regular prayers and spend in Zakat (regular
charity)?
When (at length) the order for fighting was issued to them, behold! a section
of them feared men as - or even more than - they should have feared Allah.
They said: "Our Lord! Why hast Thou ordered us to fight? Wouldst Thou not
grant us respite to our (natural) term, near (enough)?" Say: "Short is
the enjoyment of this world: the Hereafter is the best for those who do
right: Never will ye be dealt with unjustly in the very least!
4.114
In most of their secret talks there is no good: But if one exhorts to a
deed of charity or goodness or conciliation between people, (secrecy
is permissible): To him who does this, seeking the good pleasure of Allah,
We shall soon give a reward of the highest (value).
4.162
But those among them who are well-grounded in knowledge, and the believers,
believe in what hath been revealed to thee and what was revealed before
thee: And (especially) those who establish regular prayer and pay Zakat
(regular charity) and believe in Allah and in the Last Day: To them
shall We soon give a great reward.
5.12
Allah did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel, and We
appointed twelve chieftains among them. And Allah said: "I am with you:
if ye (but) establish regular prayers, give Zakat (regular charity),
believe in my messengers, honor and assist them, and loan to Allah a beautiful
loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to Gardens
with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith,
he hath truly wandered from the path or rectitude."
5.45
We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose,
ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one
remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement
for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath
revealed, they are wrong-doers.
5.55
Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, His Messenger, and the (fellowship
of) believers,- those who establish regular prayers and regular charity,
and they bow down humbly (in worship).
9.75
Among st them are men who made a covenant with Allah, that if He bestowed
on them of His bounty, they would give (largely) in charity, and
be truly amongst those who are righteous.
9.79
Those who slander such of the believers as give themselves freely to (deeds
of) charity, as well as such as can find nothing to give except
the fruits of their labor,- and throw ridicule on them,- Allah will throw
back their ridicule on them: and they shall have a grievous chastisement.
9.104
Kno w they not that Allah doth accept repentance from His votaries and receives
their gifts of charity, and that Allah is verily He, the Oft-Returning,
Most Merciful?
12.88
The n, when they came (back) into (Joseph's) presence they said: "O exalted
one! distress has seized us and our family: we have (now) brought but scanty
capital: so pay us full measure, (we pray thee), and treat it as charity
to us: for Allah doth reward the charitable."
14.31
Spe ak to my servants who have believed, that they may establish regular
prayers, and spend (in charity) out of the sustenance We have given
them, secretly and openly, before the coming of a Day in which there will
be neither mutual bargaining nor befriending.
19.31
"An d He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me
Prayer and Charity as long as I live;
19.55
He used to enjoin on his people prayer and charity, and he was most
acceptable in the sight of his Lord.
22.35
To those whose hearts when Allah is mentioned, are filled with fear, who
show patient perseverance over their afflictions, keep up regular prayer,
and spend (in charity) out of what We have bestowed upon them.
23.60
And those who dispense their charity with their hearts full of fear,
because they will return to their Lord."
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