Islam: The Muslim Message, Menace, and Meltdown

(This is a copy of a talk I gave to a high school group. I was invited to speak on Islam. I only had 45 minutes to speak, so there are obviously holes and gaps in it. Nevertheless, since I printed up what I was going to say it makes for an easy post here.)

Islam: The Message, The Menace, The Meltdown

1. The Message: History, Qur’an, The 5 Pillars

1.1 A Brief History of Islam.
1.1.1 Muhammad’s early life.
1.1.2 Muhammad’s conversion.
1.1.3 Muhammad’s early ministry.
1.1.4 Muhammad’s later ministry.

1.2 The Qur’an (The Muslim Holy Book).
1.2.1 The history of the Qur’an.
1.2.1 The structure of the Qur’an..

1.3 The 5 Pillars of Islam
1.3.1 Shahadah (declaration of faith).
1.3.2 Salat (prayer).
1.3.3 Zakah (alms giving or tithe).
1.3.4 Ramadan (fasting).
1.3.5 Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).

2. The Menace

2.1 Islam is a major world religion.

2.2 Many Muslim’s desire the reinstatement of the Caliphate.

2.3 The Qur’an supports jihad.

2.4 The actions of Muslim’s since the beginning supports jihad.

2.5 Islam has never been a force for peace except when in the minority.

3. The Meltdown: Sweating, Liquefied, Vaporized

3.1 Sweating: A look at the hadiths.

3.2 Liquefied: A look at Muhammad’s life and the Qur’an.

3.3 Vaporized
3.3.1 If the Qur’an is true, then it is false.
3.3.2 No sin, no redemption, no just God, no just God no assurance.

Islam: The Message, The Menace, The Meltdown


Though Islam claims to be in the direct line of descent from Judaism and Christianity, we can, for our purposes, date the beginning of Islam with Muhammad, who was born, roughly, in 570 A.D.. As soon as Muhammad was born it is claimed that he fell to the ground and, taking a handful of dust, he proclaimed, “God is great!” It is also reported that he came out of his mother’s womb with his umbilical cord already cut. Despite the little oddities of having lights follow him and his presence causing floods, Muhammad had an otherwise normal childhood. At age 25 he married his first wife, Kahdija, who was 40 years old at the time.

During this time Mecca was dominated by Pagan thought and Muhammad had, like many other’s of his day, grown disinterested in the Paganism of his day. This was not so odd since many other prominent businessmen had denounced paganism and traded it in for either faith in Judaism or Christianity. Muhammad would retreat, it is reported, for one month a year to pray in seclusion. After many years of this, at the age of 40, Muhammed felt that he had received a call from God through the angel Gabriel. At first, though, he was afraid of this vision, thinking it may have been a jinn, or evil spirit. Thankfully Kahadija convinced Muhammad that this was no jinn but was the true God and that what had happened to Muhammad had happened to Moses, despite the unfortunate little details that in Muhammad’s case he was attacked by Gabriel, who bullied Muhammad into reading something and also told Muhammad that God made man from blood clots. After this first revelation Muhammad remained silent for about three years and then began his ministry by preaching to his friends and family first, and then publicly soon after.

Initially Muhammad gained a very small following, mostly made up of young people, but Meccans opposed his ministry. This opposition resulted in some persecution by the polytheist Meccans who did not like Muhammad’s teaching of God’s oneness. Muhammad had told the Meccans, after some public scoffing and physical abuse, that their polytheistic gods could be considered divine and had intercession effectual with his God’s. Later, Muhammad retracted this and believed that he was indwelt by evil spirits, many of Muhammad’s sayings were later denied by him or other Muslims and have come to be known as “the Satanic verses.” Muhammad did not gain the acceptance he desired in Mecca and that, coupled with the death of his wife in 619, caused Muhammad to flee Mecca and go to Medina. This is called “The Hijra” or, “the flight” and it marks the beginning of Muslim calendars.

Medina accepted Muhammad and his teachings, by and large. At first Muhammad taught the brotherhood he shared with both Jews and Christians, referring to them as fellow “people of the Book.” But Muhammad failed to receive support in Median from the other so-called people of the book. Both the Jews and Christians denied Muhammad and his teachings. This caused a change in Muhammad’s relationship towards the Jews and Christians: He altered the prayer direction from Jerusalem to Mecca, he changed the time of fasting from the feast of Ashura to the whole month of Ramadan, the latter Qur’anic claims about Jews and Christians became more severe in their criticism and at this time the focus shifted to Abraham as a central figure in history, thus further distinguishing himself from the Jews, who had Moses at the center, and the Christians who had Jesus at the center of history.

At this point in history Muhammad had to fund his ministry as well as the Meccans who fled Mecca without much of their belongings. So Muhammad and his followers started to raid caravans. These raids were largely unsuccessful for the first 18 months. But then some large battles occurred in which Muhammad and his followers eventually took control of the region. Muhammad won the battle of Badar while being outnumbered 3 to 1 by Meccan forces. Next, he lost the battle Uhud. The Meccans decided to crush Muhammad in what is knows as the siege of Medina. Muhammad stayed in the city and because of harsh weather and various tribes Muhammad had struck a deal with, the Meccans were unable to take over Medina. This silent victory led to the conquest of Mecca. Muhammad took Mecca and established it as the religious center of his ministry, 4 years later Muhammad died.

When Muhammad died, he left no document appointing a successor. Some people thought that one of the original converts who had taught with Muhammad should take over, some wanted a member of a powerful political family in the area, and others felt that 'Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, had been divinely designated as successor. An early believer, Abu Bakr was appointed, but died within two years.

Eventually, a power struggle developed as different groups of Muslims believed their method of establishing a successor were the best. These successors were called Caliphs. The largest argument was over whether the successor should be elected, or chosen through heredity. This controversy produced the main “denomination” of Islam known as the Sunnis (followers of the prophet's way) and other numerous sects including the Shi'a and the Sufis. The Sunnis are the majority in Islam today. Islam means to “submit” and a Muslim is “one who submits.”

The teachings Muhammad is said to have received from Allah through the angel Gabriel make up Islam’s holy book called The Qur’an. The Qur’an was compiled after Muhammad’s death. Muhammad did not write down his revelations but gave them orally to others. The Qur’an was said to be revealed by Gabriel over a period of 23 years. After each occasion Muhammad would recite what he had heard to some of his followers (Qur’an means “reciting”). They would in turn either memorize portions, or write it down on stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades, ribs, and bits of leather. In a large battle a year after Muhammad’s death, most of those who could recite the Qur’an from memory died. Thus the second Caliph, Umar, commanded that the recitings written down be collected so that the knowledge of what was inside it would not fade away. Later, under the third Caliph Uthman, it had been reported that there were different versions of the Qur’an floating around. Different sects used different readings. Ulthman had a revised version made and all other copies were ordered to be burned. The Ulthamic version is what we have today.

The Qur’an is shorter than the New Testament. It is divided in to 114 chapters, called suras. The suras are further divided into verses, called ayat. The shortest sura has 3 ayats while the longest sura has 286 ayats. Our Bible is subdivided into the Old and New Testaments, the Qur’an is subdivided into the “Meccan Period” and the “Medinan Period.” In the Meccan period Muhammad mostly calls men to moral reform, and he is primarily a “warner.” As people rejected the early teachings of the Qur’an, the suras get longer and more argumentative in nature. The Medinan period portrays Muhammad as the beautiful model. He turns from preacher to prince. He proclaims that he was sent by God to show mercy. We read of civic responsibilities and socially relevant questions are answered. Lastly, the Qur’an is said to have existed eternally has the Mother of Books in heaven. The Qur’an, then, is the eternal word of God which descended to Muhammad in order to be the final and most important light for mankind.

Islam has many teachings but the ones you should be most familiar with are the five most foundational teachings of Islam -The 5 Pillars. The first pillar is the Shahada. This is their statement of faith. When one recites it one says “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger. The second pillar is Sadat, or, prayer. Prayers are required at least five times a day - morning, afternoon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. Also, when you pray you must face Mecca. The third pillar is Zakah, or, tithes. Muslims are to recognize that Allah owns everything and so they must give 2.5% of their net balance after paying personal expenses, family expenses, due credits, taxes, etc. The fourth pillar is fasting during the 9th month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Ramadan. Eating, drinking, smoking, evil thoughts and sexual intercourse are not allowed between dawn and sunset. The fifth pillar of Islam is Hajj, or, pilgrimage. Every able-bodied Muslim is required to make one trip to Mecca. The sick and poor do not have to do this.

This concludes our brief look at Islamic history, it’s Holy book, and it’s basic teachings.


The second part of tonight’s talk is called the Muslim Menace. I should not have to convince you that Islam presents a danger not only to the Christian faith, but to all non-Muslims. Today there are roughly 1.4 billion Muslims. Over 1/6th of the Earth’s population is Muslim. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world and one of the largest distinct religious groups in America, second behind Christianity.

Islam sees all of life as something which should be brought under submission to Allah. This includes all land and people. Islam has not had a Caliph since 1924, it is the expressed goal of many Muslim’s to unite the Arab lands under one Caliph. Here is part of a transcript given by the state’s witness in the 2001 trial against Al-Qaeda:

Q. Were you present for any conversations where Usama Bin Laden stated what he was going to do after the Russians left Afghanistan?

A. Yes.

Q. Can you tell us what Usama Bin Laden said he was going to do after the Russians left Afghanistan?

A. He thinking about making group.

Q. Can you explain to us anything else you recall about what he wanted this group to do?

A. To be ready for another step because in Afghanistan everything is over.

Q. And did he explain at that time what that other step was?

A. They say we have to make Khalifa.

Q. Can you explain to the jury what a khalifa is?

A. Khalifa mean we need one Muslim leader for the whole Muslim in the war.

Q. Continue with what else you recall Usama Bin Laden stated he wished to do after the Russians left Afghanistan.

A. He say also we want to change the Arab government because there's no Muslim government in the war, so we have to make Muslim government .


Now, some may say this is an aberration of Qur’anic teaching. But this is clearly revisionist history. First, the Qur’an teaches us in Suras:

• 8.39 ...fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah...
• 9:123 "O ye who believe! Fight the unbelievers who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you, and know that God is with those who fear Him."
• 61:4,11-14 "Truly God loves those who fight in His cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure ... that ye believe in God and His Apostle, and that ye strive (your utmost) in the cause of God, with your property and your persons. That will be best for you, if ye but knew! He will forgive you your sins, and admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow, and to beautiful mansions in gardens of eternity. That is indeed the supreme achievement.
  

These ayats make up just a few of the 164 Jihad passages in the Qur’an. You’ll hear that the Muslim menace is just an aberration of Islam, but the problem is that when you have aberration after aberration, the term looses it’s meaning.

Moving on we can look at the history of Islam, here are a few hi-lights:

• In the 600’s Muslim’s attacked multiple innocent merchants on their way to trade.
• In the 700-900’s Muslim’s waged many bloody battles.
• In the 1,000’s Muslim’s attempted to take over Jerusalem, bringing about the crusades.
• Many wars were fought by the Muslim’s every century until the 1900’s.
• In 1960 the Prime Minister of Jordan, and 11 others were killed by Muslim bombers.
• In 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Organization was formed.
• In 1968 Robert Kennedy was murdered by Jordanian terrorist, Sirhan Sirhan.
• In 1969 TWA flight 840 to Rome was hi-jacked.
• In 1972 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were killed by Muslim terrorists.
• In 1979 The US Embassy in Iran was taken over and 53 hostages were held until 1981. They were released when Ronald Reagan took office.
• In 1981 Anwar Sadat was murdered by Islamic Jihadists.
• In 1983 the US Embassy in Beirut was bombed, 241 US Marines were killed.
• In 1988 Pan Am flight 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland; 270 killed.
• In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed, 6 killed.
• In 1998 Osama Bin Laden gave his jihad address against the United States.
• In 2000 the USS Cole was attacked by a suicide bomber.
• In 2001, September 11th, the Twin Towers were destroyed.
• On September 12th, 2006, gunmen stormed the Us Embassy in Syria, it failed.

And this is just a sampling! Every single century since Muhammad began his movement, Muslim’s have been a force of terror. You will of course hear people tell you that Islam is a force of peace. But, not one example can be given where Islam has been a force of peace when they were in the majority. Only when Muslims are the minority in a land do they talk peace. This started with Muhammad when he tried to make friends with the Jews and Christians at the beginning of his career, and then tried to demolish them towards the end of his career, after he rose to power. This trend has continued to this day.

So what should we make of Islam? I maintain that despite the strong arm tactics, Islam is really just a paper tiger. It is an intellectually impoverished worldview. There is not one reason why anyone here tonight needs to feel that Islam is a viable alternative in the war of ideas. The Christian can wage his own jihad, but the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty for casting down strongholds and everything which seeks to set itself up against the wisdom of God.

I’ll offer three levels of critique against Islam, ascending in the force of refutation. Since this part of tonight’s talk is titled, The Meltdown I’ll stick with that metaphor for my three levels of critique against Islam. As something melts it goes through three stages. It begins to sweat, then it liquefies, and finally it vaporizes. Let’s begin to make Islam sweat.

Earlier tonight I mentioned the Qur’an as Islam’s authoritative book. Though that is true, Islam has another holy book called the hadith, or, the sayings. The hadiths are said to be the sayings of Muhammad and are important to determining how the Muslim life should be led, practically. There are three classifications of the hadith: (1) what Muhammad said, (2) did, (3) and approved. The overwhelming majority of Muslim’s admit that the hadiths supplement the Qur’an and look to the hadiths for guidance. The hadiths also give insight into how the Qur’an should be interpreted. Hadith-trusting Muslims argue that many Qur'anic instructions are impossible to fulfill without guidance from the hadith. Thus Islamic scholar Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani tells us that,

“In summary, the hadiths of the Prophet (s) are necessary to understand the Qur’an. For every single event in his lifetime, Allah revealed to the Prophet’s heart what to say and what to do. The Qur’an and the hadiths both derive from revelation and are inseparable sources for understanding and implementing the divine message of Islam.”

With that foundation laid, let us embark on a serious look at the religion of Islam in order to ascertain what great truths the prophet Muhammad left for us. In the hadiths we read:

• God created Adam 90 feet tall.
• If a monkey, a black dog or a woman passes in front of a praying person, his prayer is nullified.
• If you fall asleep while praying, Satan will urinate in your ear.
• Yawning is from Satan. If you are about to yawn, you should try to stop it as much as possible. If you yawn, Satan will laugh.
• When someone wakes up from their sleep they should take water in through their mouth and shoot it out their nose (why?) because Satan stays in the upper part of the nose all night.
• When the call for prayer is made, Satan turns around and passes gas so he will not hear the call for prayer.
• Muhammad looked in hell and found the majority of its dwellers were women.
• Once the Prophet, while passing through one of the grave-yards of Medina or Mecca heard the voices of two persons who were being tortured in their graves. The Prophet said, "These two persons are being tortured not for a major sin." The Prophet then added, "Yes! (they are being tortured for a major sin). Indeed, one of them never saved himself from being soiled with his urine.”
• "The prayer of a person who does Hadath (passes, urine, stool or wind) is not accepted till he performs the ablution.
• Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?" The women said, "Yes." He said, "This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind.
• If you pass gas while you are praying, Allah will not hear your prayers.

In response to this the Muslim can regiment himself and claim that the hadiths, though making for an interesting read, are not inspired and Muhammad would have never have said such outlandish things. Indeed, there are Qur’anic only activists within the Muslim community, though they are considered deviant. Or, the Muslim could claim that though they seem ridiculous, if Muhammad taught these things, and prophets cannot lie, then they must be true. Or, there are others who say that some hadiths are more trustworthy than others. Muslim's have developed a method which they say allows them to determine which hadiths are more trustworthy than others, this is called the "science of hadith." We do not have time to analyze this method but it does appear arbitrary and ad hoc. And as Islamic scholar Patricia Crone has pointed out, the decifering method ends up not allowing hadiths which were trustworthy but allowing fabricated hadiths since Muslim's could forge the method. Lastly, even in the "trustworthy" hadiths we read of Muhammad telling people to drink camel urine to cure their sickness, continuing with his fascination with defication and bodily fluids. We can respond to any of these positions by saying that we have just attempted to make the Muslim uncomfortable but we will now turn up the heat.

The next series of critiques will be more powerful than simply scoffing at the hadiths.

One of the proofs offered for the truth of Islam is that of Muhammad’s exemplary life. It has been claimed by Muslim scholars that Muhammad “stands in history as the best model for man in piety and perfection. He is living proof of what man can be and of what he can accomplish in the realm of excellence and virtue.” This is not just a proof, Muslim scholars have claimed that Muhammad’s life is one of “the chief proofs” of Islam. And so it will do well to look at the life of Muhammad if we want to look at one of “the chief proofs” for Islam.

Time will only allow us to look at one aspect of Muhammad’s life tonight. Let’s look at “the best model for man” in marriage. The Qur’an allows and sanctions polygamy. The Qur’an permits up to four wives. Leaving the question of the moral status of polygamy aside, however, we should note that Muhammad saw fit to take over 15 wives, and one of them was a 9 year old girl! Apparently the great moral model had no problem violating Allah’s laws. Some Muslim’s claim that an interpretation of sura 33:50 allowed Muhammad and Muhammad alone to break the previous limit of the number of wives allowed. However, this verse is (1) hotly disputed as to its meaning, and (2) sura 33:52 says that Muhammad is not allowed to take more wives, thus us contradicting sura 33:50, and, lastly (4), the caveat in the Qur’an’s text (s. 4:3) allowing for more than one wife is that the husband is able to deal justly with his multiple wives. The problem this raises for Muhammad is that, as Islamic scholar Hussein Haykal notes, Muhammad “often ignored some of his wives, and avoided others on many occasions.” The reason for this “just act” was that Muhammad did this “in order to discourage their abuse of his compassions.” Haykal goes on to note that the controversy his favoritism caused between the wives made Muhammad think of divorcing some of them. Unfortunately, even if the Qur’an allowed for Muhammad to take more than four wives we do not read that it allowed Muhammad to deal unjustly with them. Therefore, since Muhammad couldn’t meet one of the obligations of having more than one wife then he should not have taken more than one, even if the Qur’an allowed him to. Put differently, even granting that Muhammad was allowed more than four wives and therefore he did not violate God’s commands, he still did not follow the other part of the command and thus he still violated one of God’s command.

The second critique we’ll offer in the liquification of Islam is against the Qur’an. Another proof for the truth of Islam is what’s called “the unity of the Qur’an.” It has been claimed by Muslim scholars that “the unity of the Qur’an is greater than that of any book.” And, if we look at “its total consistency from beginning to end … it becomes impossible to ascribe the Qur’an to human authorship.” Two problems with this claim are: (1) does this claim provide proof of the Qur’an’s divine authorship and (2) is it true. First, just because a book has no contradictions in it does not make it divine. For example, I note no contradictions in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, does that make Harry Potter divinely inspired? Secondly, do we not find contradictions in the Qur’an? There are many examples that could be given, but we’ll just look at a few. First, in sura 7:54 the Qur’an tells us that the heavens and earth were created in 6 days, but in sura 41:9-12 we are told that the heavens and earth were created in 8 days. This is such a blatant contradiction that Qur’anic scholar Yusuf Ali begins his commentary on this problem this way: “This is a difficult passage.”

Second, sura 26:196 says that the Qur’an was in the earlier writings of the prophets. But if the Qur’an was in, say, the Law of Moses then the Qur’an would have also to be in earlier writings before the Torah. If not, then how could the Qur’an have been in the Torah since sura 26:196 wasn’t in the Torah? If it was, then there would have to be earlier writings from the prophets in which the Qur’an was. This goes on ad infinitum.

Lastly, in sura 4:71 the Qur’an implies that Christians believed in three gods, not one God in three persons. Thus since we find many blatent contradictions in the Qur’an it appears that their argument from the unity of the Qur’an is without merit.

Finally, we will now present the strongest types of critiques which can be leveled against the Qur’an: internal critiques. This will make up the vaporization part of our critique of Islam. The Qur’an just so happens to tell us that the Bible (or, Judeo-Christian scriptures) were inspired by Allah. That is, they are revealed truth from Allah. We are told this in many places, for example:

• 2:136 Say ye: 'We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismail, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses, and Jesus, and that given to all prophets from their Lord: WE MAKE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE AND ANOTHER OF THEM.
• 3:3 He has revealed to you the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and He revealed the Tavrat and the Injeel aforetime, a guidance for the people, and He sent the Furqan.
• 3:50 And a verifier of that which is before me of the Taurat and that I may allow you part of that which has been forbidden t you, and I have come to you with a sign from your Lord therefore be careful of (your duty to) Allah and obey me.
• 3:65 O followers of the Book! why do you dispute about Ibrahim, when the Taurat and the Injeel were not revealed till after him; do you not then understand?
• 3:93 All food was lawful to the children of Israel except that which Israel had forbidden to himself, before the Taurat was revealed. Say: Bring then the Taurat and read it, if you are truthful.
• 4:163 We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.
• 5:44 Surely We revealed the Taurat in which was guidance and light; with it the prophets who submitted themselves (to Allah) judged (matters) for those who were Jews, and the masters of Divine knowledge and the doctors, because they were required to guard (part) of the Book of Allah, and they were witnesses thereof; therefore fear not the people and fear Me, and do not take a small price for My communications; and whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are they that are the unbelievers. 5:45 And We prescribed to them in it that life is for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and (that there is) reprisal in wounds; but he who foregoes it, it shall be an expiation for him; and whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are they that are the unjust.
• 5:46 And We sent after them in their footsteps Isa, son of Marium, verifying what was before him of the Taurat and We gave him the Injeel in which was guidance and light, and verifying what was before it of Taurat and a guidance and an admonition for those who guard (against evil). 5:47 And the followers of the Injeel should have judged by what Allah revealed in it; and whoever did not judge by what Allah revealed, those are they that are the transgressors. 5:48 And We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the Book and a guardian over it, therefore judge between them by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their low desires (to turn away) from the truth that has come to you; for every one of you did We appoint a law and a way, and if Allah had pleased He would have made you (all) a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you, therefore strive with one another to hasten to virtuous deeds; to Allah is your return, of all (of you), so He will let you know that in which you differed;
• 5:68 Say: O followers of the Book! you follow no good till you keep up the Taurat and the Injeel and that which is revealed to you from your Lord; and surely that which has been revealed to you from your Lord shall make many of them increase in inordinacy and unbelief; grieve not therefore for the unbelieving people.
• 10:94 But if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers.

Therefore we can see that without a doubt the Qur’an tells us that our Christian Scriptures have been revealed by Allah. Supposedly Allah cannot lie and the Qur’an cannot be in error, for if this could be so then we could stop our analysis right here since there would be no warrant to believe any of the suras reported truth. Having seen that the Qur’an claims that Allah has revealed himself in our Bible, let’s turn to our Bible and see what “Allah” says there.

In Deuteronomy 13:1-5 “Allah” tells us that if future revelation contradicts previous revelation, then it has not come from God. Now then, does the Qur’an contradict previous revelation? If it does, then according to the Qur’an’s own terms it cannot be what it claims to be. Let us now examine the Bible and the Qur'an.

The Qur’an contradicts the Bible in many places. For example, we read In sura 28:9 that Moses is adopted by Pharaoh's wife and not by his daughter as is reported in Exodus 2:10. In sura 4:157 we read that Jesus was not crucified, obviously contradicting all four Gospels. In sura 19:35 we read that God would not beget a son which contradict many passages in the Bible (e.g., John 3:16). Sura 11:42-46 tells us that Noah's son drowned in the flood but Genesis 6: 7, 18 tells us that Noah's wife and sons were saved. Abraham was the son of Azar according to the Qur’an in Sura 6:74 and the son of Terah in according to the Bible in Genesis 11:27. And in sura 19:28-35 we read that Marium, sister of Old Testament Aaron, is Jesus’ mother!

One contradiction would have sufficed but I gave a few out of many to make perfectly clear that the Qur’an contradicts previous revelation. Now, remember that Deuteronomy, which was previous revelation from Allah, told us that future revelation cannot contradict previous revelation. So then, according to the Qur’an’s own terms it refutes itself. You see, Muhammad, who started out as the minority, wanted to show commonality with the Jews and Christians. This flaw of his causes the demise of his invented religion.

Having shown these contradictions we can end our analysis and go home now. Our work is over and we’ve shown the Qur’an to be false. Unfortunately it’s not going to be that easy. The Muslim has an out. He can say that since the Qur’an is the ultimate authority then what it reports must be true and the previous revelation has been changed by the infidels (the Jews and Christians) who seek to undermine the final revelation from Allah. Put differently, the Muslim will claim that the Bible we have is not the Bible the Qur’an was talking about. We have a corrupted version of the Bible today. How should we respond to this out the Muslim surely will take?

First, we should note that while it is understandable that Christians would change (or add) passages reporting a crucifixion and Jesus being begotten by the Father, it is not clear why they would change some minor historical formalities such as who Abraham's father was? Or, why would the evil Christians and Jews change that Jacob pledged to serve Laben for 7 years in exchange for Rachel from what the Qur’an reports - that Moses served Jethro for Zipporah? These are most probably due to human error (remember Mohammad grew up in a largely verbal culture and probably only heard verbal accounts of the biblical stories. It is easy to see why he would mistake little details like these rather than it being intentional deceit on the part of Christian cover-up artists. On the other hand, though, our Muslim apologist friend can respond that if someone were smart enough then certainly they would even change minor details. Granted. So now we can only pile more evidences upon the Muslim.

The Bible is the most well attested book of antiquity. For example, Homer's Iliad has about 643 copies (which is the most documented secular work). This pales by comparison to the roughly 5,366 Greek manuscripts. Or, take Plato's works. Dr. Greg Bahnsen, who had to study Plato and textual criticism of his works while obtaining his Ph. D. writes, "Our earliest extant manuscript of a work by Plato dates from right before 900 A.D. ("Oxford B," found in a Patmos monastery by E. B. Clarke), and we must remember that Plato is thought to have written roughly 350 years before Christ -- thus leaving us with a gap of over twelve centuries. By contrast, the earliest fragments of the New Testament date less than fifty years after the original writing; the bulk of our most important extant manuscripts dates from 200-300 years after original composition." The Bible used to be ridiculed for mentioning a tribe of people called the "Hittites." Now, thanks to archeological findings, the Hittites are one of the most well known ancient civilizations. The Bible has, time and time again, been vindicated from the charge of "unreliability." Time Magazine even had to admit that, "After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the Bible has survived -- and is perhaps the better for the siege. Even on the critics' own terms -- historical fact -- the Scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalists began the attack."

Lastly, a serious case can be made for the dating of all New Testament documents before 70 A.D., which would make it written well within the lifetime of eyewitnesses. Not only is there serious internal evidence, such as no mention of the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that he would destroy the temple (which was destroyed in 70 A.D.), even liberal scholar A.T. Robinson points out that the New testament was probably completed before 70 A.D.. Indeed, no less a world renowned textual scholar than Kenyon had to say about the translation and the reliability of our documents:

“The Number of manuscripts of the new testament, or early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the Church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved is some one or the other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.”

Still, the Muslim can resist this as some vast global conspiracy on the part of deceitful infidels. So are we done? Should we hang up our hats and let the reader decide who has the best evidence? Well, we're not quite done with Islam; let's keep it on the mat for a bit longer. At this point we will now return to our internal critique showing that according to the Qur‘an, the Bible has not been corrupted.

An embarrassing sura for the Muslim is sura 10:94.. In this sura we read: "But if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers.” What we have here, then, is Muhammad telling people who doubted the veracity of his teachings to ask those who had the book before him (Jews and Christians) if what he was teaching was true. The problem here is that since the texts we have today are substantially the same as the manuscripts circulating in Muhammad's day, we would have Muhammad directing questioners to a corrupted text! If the Bible had been corrupted then why would Muhammad send his followers to verify his teachings from a corrupted text? This sura, then, testifies to an uncorrupted Bible. This is not some isolated text, either. The Qur'an claims "Before thee, also, the apostles We sent were but men, to whom We granted inspiration: If ye realize this not, ask of those who posses the message (sura 21:7)." But those who “possessed the message” back then just happened “to posses” the same “message” that we posses today. There is simply not one shred of evidence testifying that a Bible completely foreign to the Bible we posses today was the Bible used by Christians in Muhammad’s day.

It is also interesting to note that the Qur'an calls the Bible the "Word of God" (sura 2:75). Regarding the word of God being able to be changed, or texts altered, the Qur'an has this to say:

• "No change can there be in the words of Allah" (sura 10:64).
• "There is none that can alter the words of Allah" (sura 6:34).

So if we have changed the Bible, or altered it, then it is not true that "No one can change (or alter) the Word of God." Therefore, if we have changed the Bible then the Qur'an is false, and if we have not changed the Bible then the Qur'an is false!

We should also pause and ask why Allah would let mankind go without his other two revelations? If, as Muhammad says, they could be used to verify his message then why would God not allow them to be preserved? Indeed, the “inspired Apostles” (sura 21:7) tell us that all Scripture is profitable for the man of God that he may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Why would Allah let us go without 2/3 of his revelations which are profitable for the follower of God? This has a two-fold effect: (1) Christians who doubt Muhammad cannot verify his message anymore, and (2) followers of God are without 2/3 of God’s revelation to man. Indeed, it seems like a waste of time for God to have revealed the old and new testaments if no one has been able to make use of them for the last 1500 years!

Let us remember where we are. Above I argued that since the Qur’an claims that the Bible had been previously revealed by Allah then the Qur‘an, which is future revelation from Allah, cannot contradict previous revelation, per Allah's own teaching in Deuteronomy 13. I then showed that the Qur'an contradicted the Bible in major and minor ways. I then argued that the Muslim could respond by saying that we had corrupted or changed the texts. From there I argued that some of the changes seem to defy common sense. I argued further that the reliability of the Bible is virtually unquestionable. I then noted that the Muslim could dig his heels into the sand (no pun intended) and remain unconvinced by the historical evidence. From there I went back into an internal critique, pointing out that Muhammad himself referred people who doubted his message to check up on it, as it were, by reading the Bible. At this point I noted that: (1) Muhammad would not tell his followers to look into a corrupted text to verify his teachings, and (2) that the texts in Muhammad’s day are basically the same as ours today (i.e., none of the variants can be shown to change the meaning of the text or Christian dogma.). As I progressed in my internal critique I showed that the Qur’an claims that no one can alter or change the "Word of God" and since the Bible is called the "Word of God" it logically follows that no one can change or alter it. I then put the Muslim on a horns of a dilemma: (1) If no one changed the Bible, then the Qur'an is wrong. (2) If someone changed the Bible then the Qur'an is wrong.

The above conclusion can be achieved by another route as well. Jesus, according to Islam, was a mere prophet (not the Son of God). As a prophet His words are to be believed. A prophet, according to the Bible and the Qur‘an, cannot lie in his prophecies or what he states God has revealed. Now, as was pointed out above, Jesus claimed to be the Son of God but the Qur’an claims that God cannot have a son. So, either Jesus lied (or was wrong) about being God's son, in which case the Qur’an refutes itself, or He did not lie, in which case the Qur’an refutes itself! No matter which angle the Muslim takes, he will be impaled by one of the horns of the dilemma. Stated another way, if the Qur’an is right then it’s wrong and if it’s wrong then it’s wrong, either way it’s wrong.

I will offer one more piercing criticism against Islam. The Christian and Muslim have a different view of the fall. For the Muslim it is a single slip on Adam and Eve’s part, for Christians it destroys the relation between all men and God, since Adam federally represented all mankind. All men are now guilty, like Adam was. Thus Muslim scholar Isma’il R. Al Faruqui notes that “in the Islamic view, [man] is no more ’fallen’ then they are ’saved.’ Because they are not ‘fallen’ they are not ’saved’ either, they need to do good works - and do them ethically - which alone will earn them” entrance to heaven. Therefore we can understand why many Muslim scholars would use sura 30:30 to affirm that “the idea of original sin has no room in the teachings of Islam.” Sin is then do to man’s forgetfulness and weakness. Thus as Muslim scholars note, redemption has no place in Islamic theology. In Islamic theology, if you sin Allah will just forgive you because he is merciful. Thus a combination of Allah’s forgiveness and our works is what grants us admission to paradise. The problem here is that throughout the old testament we read, over an over again, that there can be no remission of sin without the shedding of blood (Lev. 17:11; Eze. 18:4; Rom. 6:23; Heb. 9:22). This is because God is not just merciful, but he is also holy and just. Leaving aside the problem that this is yet another area where the Qur’an contradicts previous revelation, what do Muslim’s take Allah’s words to mean here? Charles Spurgeon expresses in no uncertain terms what the phrase “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” means:

“And note how decisive this is in its character: "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." "But, sir, can't I get my sins forgiven by my repentance? if I weep, and plead, and pray, will not God forgive me for the sake of my tears?" "No remission," says the text, "without shedding of blood." "But, sir, if I never sin again, and if I serve God more zealously than other men, will he not forgive me for the sake of my obedience?" "No remission," says the text, "without shedding of blood." "But, sir, may I not trust that God is merciful, and will forgive me without the shedding of blood?" "No," says the text, "without shedding of blood there is no remission;" none whatever. It cuts off every other hope. Bring your hopes here, and if they are not based in blood. and stamped with blood, they are as useless as castles in the air, and dreams of the night. "There is no remission," says the text, in positive and plain words; and yet men will be trying to get remission in fifty other ways, until their special pleading becomes as irksome to us as it is useless for them.”

But in Islam there can be remission, not by blood shed but rather by simply asking Allah the merciful one for forgiveness Thus these sins are not punished. So how can Allah remain a just God? These sins are crimes committed in God’s universe. How can crimes go unpunished? Thus there is no ultimate cosmic balance in Islamic thought. If a man rapes and kills 100 women and then becomes a Muslim and asks for forgiveness, God will forgive him. If he is never caught on this earth he will not have any punishment whatsoever. Even if he is caught and punished by men his sin against God is never taken care of. It never receives its just reward. Since Allah is not just then, he can never be counted on to always act righteously. Moses declared that “all God’s ways are just,” but a just God who does not punish crimes is just not a just God. It is impossible to be just without giving justice to the offended party. There is no assurance of salvation (or, attaining heaven) in Islamic theology. If we cannot always count on God to justly punish bad deeds how can we always count on God to reward good deeds? The critique goes further than the almost universal agreement by Muslim’s that we can have no certainty of ‘salvation’ because we might not do enough good works. This critique argues that even if we do the right amount of good works we can still not be certain that we will enter heaven because Allah is not a just God on any standard understanding of justice.

Of course this isn’t a problem for the Christian. In Christian theology God can both be merciful and just. When God forgives us of our sins those sins do not go unpunished. Those sins were laid upon Christ. Furthermore, even though the debt has been paid we still have sinned against God and so were not perfect. This is overcome by the doctrine of the imputation of Christ’s active obedience. That is, God clothes us with the perfect life of Christ and clothes Him with out sin. Thus Christianity is consistent with God’s previous revelation: “Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission.”