The fairy tales of the Qur'an. "The Books" Sermon Series

Seven Lesson Sunday Morning Sermon Series on Islam

Sermon #3

"The Books" Sermon Series

The fairy tales of the Qur'an.

Introduction

The moment the Muslim accepts that Christ died on the cross, he is no longer a Muslim and he must reject the Koran. The moment the Christian accepts the Koran as the word of God, he must give up Christ Jesus as his savior and down grade him to a mere prophet whose true record of teachings can only be found in the Koran. There is no condition under which the Christian could ever accept the Koran as anything other than a book of human origin. The conviction of the Christian, forces him to reject the Koran as the word of God in the same way that the conviction of the Muslim, forces him to reject the crucifixion of Christ. Now it seems to me, that Muslims are under the impression that Christianity and Islam are compatible religions so I ask all Muslims, can you as a Muslim, accept as a principal of faith, that Christ died on the Cross for your sins? Will you preach such in your Mosque at Friday prayers?

There is nothing in the Koran that says that parts of the Bible have been lost altered and corrupted. In fact the Koran admonishes the Christians to follow the New Testament!

I. Miracle of the Koran:

Islam his had a difficult time explaining how both Moses and Christ performed miracles, but Muhammad never performed any miracles. Instead, what Muslims came up with is what they call, "the miracle of the Koran".

Muslim's believe that before the creation of the world, God had the exact words of the Arabic Koran inscribed in what is called the "mother of the book" or the "master tablet".

In Koran 13:34 it says, "With Allah is the Mother of the Book."

In 43:2 "And the enlightening scripture. We have rendered it an Arabic Quran, that you may understand. It is preserved with us in the original master (or mother book, as Yusuf Ali translates) honorable and full of wisdom." 43:2-4

Again in 85:22, "Indeed, it is a glorious Quran. In a preserved master tablet."

Muslim's also believe that the Arabic text of the Koran, that we hold in our hands today is absolutely identical with this mother preserved master tablet right down to the very syllables and individual letters of the text.

Maududi said, "The Qur'an - the book he gave to mankind - exists in its original text, without a word, syllable nor even letter having been changed." (Towards Understanding Islam, Maududi, p.58);

Abu Dhabi said, "No other book in the world can match the Qur'an ... The astonishing fact about this book of ALLAH is that it has remained unchanged, even to a dot, over the last fourteen hundred years. ... No variation of text can be found in it. You can check this for yourself by listening to the recitation of Muslims from different parts of the world. (Basic Principles of Islam, Abu Dhabi, UAE: The Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan Charitable & Humanitarian Foundation, 1996, p 4, Muslim)

The Qur'an, on the other hand, exists exactly as it was revealed to the Prophet; not a word - nay, not a syllable of it - has been changed. It is available in its original text and the Word of God has been preserved for all time." (Towards ... Islam, Maududi, p.74f, Muslim)

"The Qur'an contains the word of God. In it is preserved the divine revelation, unalloyed by human interpolation of any kind, unaffected by any change or loss to the original." (Towards Understanding Islam, Maulana Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi, p.11, 1993 Markazi Maktaba Islami, Muslim);

"Not one letter has changed ... the protection of the Qur'an as a book" is an accurate prophecy that has been fulfilled. (Dr. Jamal Badawi, Cambridge University Debate, 1994, Muslim)

"Two copies of the original Qur'an from the time of Uthman (pbuh) still exist today, one is in Istanbul and the other in Tashkant. Whosoever is interested, may compare the text of the Qur'an today from any part of the world with these two original copies, he will not find any discrepancy. For a more detailed information please refer to the book called Ulum Al-Qur'an, by Ahmed Von Denffer." (Saudi Embassy Web Site http://www.iad.org/)

"In other words: two of the copies of the Qur'an which were originally prepared in the time of Caliph `Uthman, are still available to us today and their texts and arrangement can be compared, by anyone who cares to, with any other copy of the Qur'an, be it in print or handwriting, from any place or period of time. They will be found to be identical." (Von Denffer, Ulum al-Qur'an, p 64)

But Compare this with what scholars say about the Koran:

Muslim Shabir Ally said in a televised debate in Atlanta GA, Oct. 19, 2000, "It doesn't matter if the Qur'anic manuscripts are corrupted, or have evolved, as long as we have a picture of the true Jesus..." (Televised Debate in Atlanta, Oct. 19, 2000)

In the introduction to Dawood's translation of the Koran he said, "owing to the fact that the kufic script in which the Koran was originally written contained no indication of vowels or diacritical points, variant readings are recognized by Muslims as of equal authority." (N.J. Dawood, The Koran, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1983, p 10, introduction to Dawood's translation of the Koran)

The International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies, in an article called, "A Study of Seven Quranic Variants, said in 1989, "It is interesting to note that in scholarly Muslim journals, there is beginning to be a grudging acknowledgment of the fact that there are variant and conflicting readings on the text of the Quran" [One example would be Saleh al-Wahaihu] (A Study of Seven Quranic Variants, International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Vol. V (1989), #2, pp. 1-57).

Non-Muslims, McClintock and Strong say, "All Western and Muslim scholars admit the presence of variant readings in the text of the Quran" and "The Shiite Muslims claim that Uthman left out 25 percent of the original verses in the Quran for political reasons" (Dashti, 23 Years, p. 28; Mandudi, Meaning of the Quran, pp. 17-18; McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, V:152).

Russell F. Moore said, "Muslims attack the Bible on the grounds that it sometimes has conflicting wording from different manuscripts. Yet this is exactly the case with the text of the Qur'an. There are many conflicting readings on the text of the Qur'an as Arthur Jeffery has demonstrated in his book," (Russell F. Moore, Material for the History of the Text of the Qur'an, 1952)

Burton said, in his book, The Collection of the Quran, "The Muslin accounts of the history of the Quran texts are a mass of confusion, contradiction and inconsistencies" (Burton, The Collection of the Quran, p. 231).

Since most Muslims believe that the Qur'an was revealed in 7 forms, their mind thinks, "I wonder where the differences come, from if caliph 'Uthman eliminated 6 of those forms?"

The scholars who are attributed with founding the madhabs could not agree on how to assess the Qur'an and Sunnah. Shafi'i said that the Qur'an alone can abrogate (cancel) the Qur'an and that the Sunnah alone can abrogate the Sunnah. However the other 3 madhabs (Maliki, Habali and Hanafi) all said the Qur'an CAN cancel the Sunnah and the Sunnah CAN cancel the Qur'an. This means that some of the Qur'an that the followers Shafi'i adhere to are considered as cancelled by the other madhabs! The supposed final revelation is unknowable, and so is the supposed eternal shariah. If the greatest Islamic scholars couldn't figure out the true sources, then what chance has the poor ordinary fellow can! Doesn't God love the ordinary fellow? Then why would He give a confusing book that they cannot follow? In fact it also makes the 'preservation' of the texts to be a side issue in reality - but they want to keep it up front. ("Brother Mark, author of "The perfect Koran")

The Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam says, "One thing only is certain and is openly recognized by tradition, namely, that there was not in existence any collection of revelations in the final form, because, as long as he was alive, new revelations were being added to the earlier ones." (Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, p 271)

Guillaume points out that the Quran at first "had a large number of variants, not always trifling in significance" (Islam, p. 189).

According to Professor Guillaume in his book, Islam, (pp. 191ff.), "some of the original verses of the Quran were lost."

"That there are verses which got left out of Uthman's version of the Quran is universally recognized" (Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, pp. 278-282; Guillaume, Islam, p. 191; Wherry, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Quran, pp. 110-111).

There is a story of a follower of Muhammad named, Abdollah Sarh who would offer suggestions to Muhammad on how to rephrase the profits various revelations. Muhammad occasionally excepted the new version. Ali Dashti explains what happened: "Abdollah renounced Islam on the ground that the revelations, if from God, could not be changed at the prompting of a scribe such as he. After his apostasy he went to Mecca and joined the Qorayshites" (Ali Dashti, 23 Years, p. 98). Upon conquering Mecca Sarh, was one of the first people Muhammad killed.

"There being some passages in the Quran which are contradictory, the Muhammadan doctors obviate any objection from thence by the doctrine of abrogation; for they say that God in the Quran commanded several things which were for good reasons afterwards revoked and abrogated" (A Comprehensive Commentary on the Qurun, p. 110).

II. The earliest complete Koran manuscript in existence:

The Muslim claim:

Although Muslims proclaim they have a Koran that dates to the time of Muhammad, the Reality is different.

Two ancient copies of Koran that are in existence are the Samarqand MSS is in Tashkent, and the MSS housed in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. What many Muslim's do not know, is that because these two manuscripts were written in a script style called "Kufic", practicing Muslim scholars generally date these manuscripts no earlier than 200 years after Muhammad died. Had these two manuscripts been compiled any earlier, they would have been written in either the Ma'il or Mashq script style. John Gilchrist, in his book, "Jam' Al-Qur'an" came to this same conclusion. (John Gilchrist, Jam' Al-Qur'an, Jesus to the Muslims, 1989)

Now we do have one ancient copy of the Koran written in the Ma'il style of script, that is housed in the British Museum in London (Lings & Safadi 1976:17,20; Gilchrist 1989:16,144). But scholar Martin Lings, who was not only a practicing Muslim, but also a former curator for the manuscripts of the British Museum, dates this manuscript at 790 AD, making it the earliest. On the other hand Yasir Qadhi notes one Islamic Masters/PhD scholar who believes the Samarqand MSS is the 'most likely candidate for the original'.

It is unknown, even by Muslims that authorities will not release photographs of the ancient Topkapi manuscript in Istanbul and so there are no known studies on it. This is why the Muslim apologist, M. Saifullah had to state "Concerning the Topkapi manuscript we are not aware of studies done it." (Who's Afraid Of Textual Criticism?, M. S. M. Saifullah, 'Abd ar-Rahman Squires & Muhammad Ghoniem) What is in this manuscript that Muslims are afraid to let the world see? After all in Qur'an 2:111 it says "Produce your proof if you are truthful."

Even the earliest fragmentary manuscripts of the Koran are all dated no earlier than 100 years after Muhammad died.

Add to this the fact that there is no archeological evidence dated at the time when Muhammad was alive, by way of artifact, manuscript or inscription has ever been found were Muhammad is actually referred to as "a prophet".

If you don't believe me, listen to faithful Muslim, Ahmad Von Denffer, in his book, Ulum al Quran, in a chapter called, Old Manuscripts Of The Qur'an, "Most of the early original Qur'an manuscripts, complete or in sizeable fragments, that are still available to us now, are not earlier than the second century after the Hijra. [or 800 AD] The earliest copy, which was exhibited in the British Museum during the 1976 World of Islam Festival, dated from the late second century.' However, there are also a number of odd fragments of Qur'anic papyri available, which date from the first century." (Grohmann, A.: Die Entstehung des Koran und die altesten Koran- Handschriften', in: Bustan, 1961, pp. 33-8)

III. Textual variations in the different versions of the Koran:

In Qur'an 2:284 we find the word 'Allah' in the modern Egyptian Qur'an, but in the Tashkent MSS, we fing the word 'huwa' (the pronoun 'he'). Which word are we to believe was in the "preserved master tablet" and "mother of all books" in heaven? In fact there are four more places this same thing happens in Q2:283 Q3:37, Q3:109 and Q5:119. (Modern Islamic scholars Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah who has mode copies of the Tashkent/Samarqand Mss for distribution world-wide, also notes this type of problem in the Qur'anic text. He says that the problem occurs four or five times. Muslims are generally informed that the Qur'an is of such a high quality of Arabic that no one but Allah could have written it. Yet this is not what some great Islamic scholars have admitted. For example, the great ibn Khaldun wrote in his Muqaddimah that the men around Muhammad were unable to write well and thus made many errors in the Qur'an. He further goes on to note that some scholars - whom he calls incompetent - contend that there are no problems in the Qur'an's text and that Allah intended it to be as it is. The problem is that the 'incompetent' scholars state that the meaning of the particular verse cited should say 'no' (because of the extra letter), while ibn Khaldun's group (and the modern Qur'an translations) want the text to say 'yes'. He gives further examples which he say the scholars note. ("Brother Mark, author of "The perfect Koran"))

The text of Q37:103 in the modern Qur'an translates "they had both submitted their wills (became Muslims)" while the text of the Tashkent MSS gives the exact opposite meaning, "they did not submitted their wills" (they did NOT become Muslims.)

The rhetoric of "a perfect Koran", is false.

When one examines the various Arabic texts of the Qur'an in print world-wide, one finds that the numbers of these extra letters in fact vary widely. It appears that some Muslims do not like to have these letters in the Qur'anic texts. And one can understand why for in W.W. Wright's 'A Grammar of the Arabic Language', we find in Vol. 2, Sec. 20, p. 41 a clear grammatical rule in which he uses the Qur'anic text of Q3:158 (where an ecxtra alif appears in many texts). The rule forces those texts with the extra alif to give the meaning 'no' instead of 'yes'. ("Brother Mark, author of "The perfect Koran")

IV. The Compilation Of The Qur'an As Recorded In the Bukhari Hadith:

Ney Reiber made this summary of the compilation of the Qur'an based upon the Bukhari Hadith, which is considered one of the most accurate in existence by Muslims.

Caliph Uthman ordered the Qur'an collected into one volume: 709 & 507

Claims that the Qur'an was collected during Muhammad's life are contradicted by one who is alleged to have collected it. 155

Zaid bin Thabit's Account of the Collection of the Qur'an: Hadith 201, 509-511

There were differing versions of the Qur'an in the early years of Islam.

Muhammad had not commanded the Qur'an to be compiled into one volume.

Abu Bakr had to be persuaded to compile the Qur'an into one volume.

It was feared that portions of the Qur'an would be lost. This indicates that there was not yet a complete recognized cannon.

Abu Bakr was not familiar with a collected Qur'an and said that Muhammad had never decreed it be collected.

When ordered to compile the Qur'an, Zaid at first refused on the grounds that Muhammad had not done so.

Zaid declared it would be a "mountain moving" task.

Some of the manuscripts were not in Muhammad's original tongue and needed to be translated.

The best that was available was "fragmentary scripts."

There were three methods of recording Zaid searched out - palm leaf stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart.

Two verses were found only with one man.

Uthman ordered competing versions to be burned, indicating that there were other versions in existence at the time!

Pre-Islamic Poetry was invented to explain Grammatical errors in the Koran: .75m

The Koran contains many grammatical errors. Most Muslim's today will defend the Koran's grammatical errors, by finding similar grammatical errors in Pre-Islamic poetry. What most Muslim's do not know is that much of this Pre-Islamic poetry is a forgery that was actually fabricated for the specific purpose of defending the alleged miracle of the Koran. For those Muslim's who are who are clucking in angry disbelief at me, listen to what Egyptian Muslim scholar Taha Hussein, said, "The vast quantity of what is called pre-Islamic poetry has nothing to do with the pre-Islamic literature, but it is fabricated after Islam. ... Thus our research will lead us to a very strange conclusion; that this poetry can not be used in interpreting the Qur'an." (Fil-Adab al-Jaheli, Taha Hussein, Dar al-Ma'aref, 16th edition, p. 65, 67)

In addition to this it is well documented that Muslims have actually invented new grammar rules and foreign words in order to maintain the myth of the perfect Koran.

V. Many Hadith are forgeries.

The Koran is to the Bible, what the Hadith is to the uninspired writings of the early church fathers. Most Muslims are completely unaware that Muslim scholars admit that large portions of the Hadith were fabricated by godly pious Muslim leaders in the past. These Hadith, were manufactured to spread the teaching of Islam.

Many Hadith are forgeries, but don't take my word for it, Muslim scholar, Mahmood Abu Rayyah Adwa' 'Ala As-Sunnah Al-Muhammadeya, said, in a chapter in his book called, The Godly Fabricators, "good pious Muslims fabricated hadiths thinking that they were doing a good deed and when they were asked, "How do you lie to the Prophet of Allah", they replied, "We do not lie against him but for him."" ... "Alhafez Ibn Hagar said "Some ignorant people, being puffed up have fabricated threatening and wooing Hadith". To defend themselves they said, "We did not lie against the Prophet we did what we did to support his tradition."" (Mahmood Abu Rayyah, Adwa' 'Ala As-Sunnah Al-Muhammadeya, Dar al-Ma'aref, Cairo, 1980, pp. 111-112)

There is no set Hadith, but Shiites and Sunnis have different sets of Hadiths. The result is a difference in religious power and control, practice of Islamic civil laws, and ritual. (the passion play during the month of Muharram, part of the festival of Ashura - a commemoration of the martyrdom of Husayn)

Moral content of the Hadith:

Allah creates the soul pure "then breathes into it its sin and its piety". (Sahih Muslim Vol. 4, p1394, hadith no. 6406)
"Allah has apportioned for each man the very portion of adultery which he will commit an which he of necessity MUST commit." (Sahih Muslim, Vol. 4, no. 6421)

What about the content of the Koran?

Now let's assume for a moment that I'm a prophet and I want to tell you about a revelation I got from God last night. It's about a beautiful young Christian girl whose mother made her do all the housework while her other two sisters did nothing. One night her local church was having an all night prayer meeting, but she was not allowed to go. But after her sisters had left, an angel came and changed her dirty work clothes into a dazzling white dress. The angel also changed her bus pass into a beautiful red sports car. But the angel warned her make sure she was home by her midnight curfew or the sports car would be turned back into a bus pass. When she arrived at the prayer meeting, she met a handsome preacher's son. But then the angel called her on her cell phone and told her it was 5 minutes to midnight. As she ran down the outside stairs the church building, one of her shoes fell off, which the handsome preacher's son picked up and kissed. As she drove her sports car home midnight struck, and she found herself sitting in the middle-of-the-road in her dirty work clothes with a bus pass in her hand. That's my revelation from God.

Now raise your hand if you recognized the Cinderella story. That's like the content of the Qur'an. Fairy tales and myths retold as if they are real history. But don't take my word for it, here are 10 examples noted by Yusuf Ali, who translated the most recommended English version of the Koran.

Examples of where the Koran makes fairy tales real!

In Qur'an 3:37, Mary, mother of Jesus was divinely provided food, Yusuf Ali says in footnote #379, "Some apocryphal Christian writings say that she was brought up in the Temple to the age of twelve like a dove, and that she was fed by angels." This story came from a Christian myth.

In Qur'an 2:60, Moses strikes the rock with his staff in the wilderness and produces not one, as the Bible says, but twelve springs water. Ali says in footnote #73, "The gushing of twelve springs from a rock evidently refers to a local tradition well known to Jews and Arabs in Mustafa's time." The same story is repeated in Qur'an 7:162, where Ali says in footnote #1136, "The story is here told by way of parable for the times of Islam. Hence we have a few verbal changes." Just like my Cinderella story had a few changes.

In Qur'an 2:55, Moses is raised from the dead, Ali says in footnote #70, "Now we have some instances from Jewish traditions in the Talmud." This fairy tale came from Jewish Myth.

In Qur'an 2:102, reference is made to two angels called Harut and Marut, Ali says in footnote #104, "This verse has been interpreted variously. Who are Harut and Marut? ... Among the Jewish traditions in the Midrash (Jewish Tafsirs) was a story of two angels who asked God's permission to come down to earth but succumbed to temptation, and were hung up by their feet at Babylon for punishment." Another Jewish Myth

In Qur'an 2:259, is the well-known Jewish fable of a man who died and came to life 100 years later and not even his food spoiled. Ali says in footnote #304, "This incident is referred variously ... to ... many Jewish legends."

In Qur'an 3:49, is the well-known fable of where Jesus created birds from clay. Ali says in footnote #390, "This miracle of the clay birds is found in some of the apocryphal Gospels" A Christian Myth,

In Qur'an 7:65, is a story of she-camel who jumped out of a rock and became a prophet of Allah. Ali says in footnote #1040 and #1043, "Their story belongs to Arabian tradition." Then in Qur'an 7:73, Ali says in footnote #1044, "The story of this wonderful she-camel, that was a Sign to the Thamud, is variously told in tradition. We need not follow the various versions in the traditional story." Ali admits this Cinderella myth had many Arab versions!

In Qur'an 18:9, is a second century story of 7 Christian youths who were persecuted for their faith went to sleep in a cave for 300 years and then woke up with no ill effects. Ali says in footnote #2335, "was about the floating Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The Prophet not only told them the main story but pointed out the variations that were current, and rebuked men for disputing about such details (xviii. 22). Most important of all, he treated the story (under inspiration) as a parable, pointing to spiritual lessons of the highest value. This is Revelation in the highest sense of the term." What is amazing about this myth is that the Qur'an takes this famous Christian fairytale and makes a Muslim the hero. Isn't that copyright infringement? See for more: https://www.bible.ca/islam/library/Goldsack/Sources/chap3.htm

In Qur'an 87:19, reference is made to a book called the "testament of Abraham", Ali says in footnote #6094, "There is a book in Greek ... called the Testament of Abraham. ... written in the second Christian century, in Egypt." Again, Ali admits the source was a book written by a Jewish Christian in about 150 AD.

In Qur'an 54:1, the moon is literally split into two halves. Yet this myth is a well known Arab fairytale even before Muhammad was born. Ali admits this in footnote #5128, when he says, "that the moon once appeared cleft asunder ... within sight of ... unbelievers, is clear from verse 2." The Hadith relate that the moon actually went behind a mountain, so which was it, split or merely setting behind a mountain? Was there anything supernatural at all about it?

17 up to this point.

VI. Historical errors

1. Mary, Mother of Jesus

Koran 5:116, represents Christians as worshipping Mary as the third member of the Trinity, when in fact the only ones worshiping Mary, based upon the record of history, were the pagan Arabs who worship her idol in the Kaba.

"The passage of the Qur'an which suggests that the Trinity consists of Father, Son, and Virgin Mary is doubtless a criticism of some nominally Christian Arabs who held this view." (Muhammad at Mecca, W. Montgomery Watt, 1953, p 23-29)

When Mohammed first cleansed the Kaba of the 360 pagan idols, both Jesus and the mother of Mary were worshiped as deities. The Koran strongly denies that Jesus or the mother of Mary are to be worshiped. What is interesting is that the Koran actually appears to represent Christians as worshipping Mary as the third member of the Trinity in Koran 5:116, "Allah will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to the people, `Make me and my mother idols beside Allah?' Yusuf Ali, in footnote 829 commenting on this verse says, "The worship of Mary, though repudiated by the Protestants, was widely spread in the earlier Churches, both in the East and the West." (The holy Qur'an, text, translation and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. 1872-1952, First published in 1938, 1973 ed., p. 280, footnote 829, commenting on 5:116)

Ali is historically inaccurate. The record of history is clear. Although some Christians at the time of Mohammed began to exalt and adore Mary, in the same way Muslim's venerate and adore the Black stone, they did not worship her any more than Muslims worship the black stone. Although they called her mother of God, for being the human mother of the divine Jesus, Mary was not worshiped. It was not until the seventeenth century that Alphonsus Liguori, (1696-1787) wrote his book "The Glories of Mary" which promoted Mary to her present-day status of being worshipped in the Catholic Church. Mohammed mistakenly thought Christians were worshiping Mary because the pagan Arabs considered her a pagan deity in the Kaba, and for proof Mohammed noted that some Christians called Mary mother of God. It seems more likely that the picture of Mary in the Kaba, worshipped by the pagan Arabs, is the likely source of Mohammed's confusion. The pagan Arabs began to worship Mary because some Christians were calling her mother of God, thinking her to be another pagan deity. In fact Christians were not worshiping Mary and claims to the contrary are historically unfounded.

2. Immaculate conception.

Muslim's reject the doctrine of inherited sin of Adam but teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It hasn't dawned upon them, that if you reject inherited sin, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is not needed because all men are born without sin.

Muslim's are correct in rejecting a false doctrine of inherited sin of Adam, But, Mohammed was evidently unaware of the inter relationship between the doctrines out the deity of Christ, the inherited sin of Adam and the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Neither inherited sin nor the Immaculate Conception of Mary is taught in Scripture. The doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary was invented to explain how the divine and sinless Jesus could escape the inherited sin of Adam with Mary as his human mother.

What makes this story so strange is that Muslim's reject inherited sin and the deity of Christ but teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the sinless nature of Jesus in Hadith Bukhari 4.641. Muslims quote the Koran in 35:18, just as Christians quote Ezek 18:20 to prove inherited sin is a false teaching. Mohammed and his and his followers today have not yet comprehended that if you reject the doctrine of inherited sin the you don't need the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, because all men are born without sin, including Mary. Muslim's today also confuse the fact that the Immaculate Conception has reference to the conception of Mary and not the virgin birth of Christ. The inter relationship between these four doctrines was simply beyond Mohammed's ability to comprehend and if ever there is a proof that the Koran is fabrication this one is virtually irrefutable. To summarize, if you reject inherited sin, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is unnecessary because all men experience the Immaculate Conception, being born without the sin of Adam. Muslim's also wrongly confused the Immaculate Conception with the virgin birth thinking they're the same thing.

3. Samaritans 800 years before they existed.

The Qur'an makes a huge historical error in saying the Samaritans were the ones who enticed Israel to make the golden calf when Moses was receiving the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. The Samaritans didn't come into existence as a nation until 800 years later.

The Koran in 20:85,87,95, is clearly in error when it accuses the Samaritans of enticing Israel to make the golden calf when Moses was receiving the ten commandments on Mt. Sinai. The city of Samaria in was founded by King Omri in about 875 BC and the Samaritans did not become a nation of people until after the 10 tribes of Israel were forever dispersed at the Assyrian captivity in 722 BC., in 1 Kings 16:29.

Yusuf Ali, in his footnotes, "jumps hoops" to show that the word Samaria, sounds similar to the Arabic word "Samara", which means "a stranger". So he translates the passage "Samiri". Yet several other versions of the Koran actually use the word Samaritan, implying once again that history is wrong because "history was written by the victors".

But here we can be fairly certain where the Koran's confusion with Samaria and the golden calf idol at the foot of Sinai. Hosea 8:5-6 addressing a problem in 750 B.C., said some 800 years after Sinai, "He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying,"My anger burns against them!"... "A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces." (Hosea 8:5-6) Mohammed mistakenly thought Hosea 8:5-6, was a reference to the golden calf about Sinai.

4. Crucifixion 1400 years too soon!

Encyclopedia Britannica reports that crucifixion did not exist any earlier that about 500 BC, yet the Koran has passages that speak of crucifixion as early as 1900 BC. Muslim scholar Malik Farid, in his translation of the Koran, says in footnote 1033, "Incidentally, the verse shows that even as early as in the time of Moses the punishment of death by crucifixion was in vogue" (The Holy Qur'an, Arabic Text And English Translation With Commentary, Edited by Malik Ghulam Farid, Comment on 7:125, footnote 1033) Rather than admit that the perfect Koran makes a huge historical blunder, Muslim's merely re-write history and in spite of the universal record of history and archeology, say the Egyptians practiced crucifixion.

Although crucifixion did not exist any earlier that about 500 BC, the Koran has passages that speak of crucifixion as early as 1900 BC. First, in 1500 B.C. when Moses turned Aaron's rod into a snake before Pharaoh of Egypt in Ex 7, the Koran says in 7:124; 26:49, that Pharaoh's magicians believed in the God of Moses. Pharaoh angrily responds by threatening to crucify these magicians. The Koran 12:41, in a different story 400 years earlier, that echoes Gen 40, Joseph interpreted the baker's dream to mean that Pharaoh would crucify him, whereas scripture say he was hung.

Britannica reports that the first historical record of Crucifixion was about 519 BC when "Darius I, king of Persia, crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylon" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, crucifixion)

Muslim scholar Malik Farid, in his translation of the Koran, says in footnote 1033, "Incidentally, the verse shows that even as early as in the time of Moses the punishment of death by crucifixion was in vogue" (The Holy Qur'an, Arabic Text And English Translation With Commentary, Edited by Malik Ghulam Farid, Comment on 7:125, footnote 1033)

Rather than admit that the perfect Koran makes a huge historical blunder Muslim's merely re-write history and say in spite of the universal record of history and archeology the Egyptians practiced crucifixion. Crucifixion in Egypt is one of the paramount examples of a historical error in the Koran. Although Muslim apologists attempted to talk their way out of Mary being called a brother of Aaron, or Samaritans at the time of Moses, here they just throw with towel without a fight and in proclaim world history wrong. Therefore crucifixion in Egypt represents a spectacular challenge for any honest Muslim to research for himself.

5. Was Mary, the Sister of Aaron, Daughter of Amram?

Another interesting point where the Koran makes an error is in calling Mary the sister of Aaron in Koran 19:28, and the daughter of Amram, Koran 66:12 (Exodus 6:20) evidently the confusion set in over the fact that Miriam and Mary are the same name although they live 1500 years apart. To hear Muslims explain away the spectacular coincidence that both Mary and Miriam had a brother named Aaron and a father named Amram, sounds identical to the way Catholics perform etymological gymnastics, to explain away the 14 Bible passages that clearly state Mary had other children proving Jesus had brothers and sisters through Mary.

I remind you that there are no known historical inaccuracies in the Bible if there were Muslim's would be quick to point them out.

VII. Scientific errors and the claim of embryology in the Koran:

In an effort to show the scientific accuracy of the Koran, Muslim's are quick to bring up the claim of embryology revealed in stunning accuracy, before man discovered for himself. Muslims love to tell the story of how professor Keith L. Moore, the former anatomist at the University of Toronto, was impressed with the Koran's embryological information.

However many Muslim are completely unaware that all of the information in the Qur'an about embryology had already been revealed many different times, centuries before hand. Furthermore, some of the information is scientifically inaccurate.

But don't take my word for it, early Muslim doctors, like Ibn-Qayyim, were first to blow the whistle when they saw the Koranic material, mirrored a Greek doctor named Galen, who lived of 150 AD. In 1983 Basim Musallam, Director of the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge concluded, "The stages of development which the Qur'an and Hadith established for believers agreed perfectly with Galen's scientific account....There is no doubt that medieval thought appreciated this agreement between the Qur'an and Galen, for Arabic science employed the same Qur'anic terms to describe the Galenic stages" (B. Musallam (Cambridge, 1983) Sex and Society in Islam. p. 54) In other words when it comes to embryology the Qur'an merely echoes the scientific knowledge man had already discovered 450 years earlier.

Samuel ha-Yehudi was a 2nd century Jewish physician, and one of many with an interest in embryology . The embryo was called peri habbetten (fruit of the body) and develops as golem (formless, rolled-up thing); shefir meruqqam (embroidered foetus - shefir means amniotic sac); 'ubbar (something carried); v'alad (child); v'alad shel qayama (noble or viable child) and ben she-kallu chadashav (child whose months have been completed). (J. Needham (Cambridge, 2nd edition 1959) A History of Embryology, p. 77)

J. Needham spent almost 60 pages in his book "A history of embryology", discussing ancient Greek, Indian and Egyptian embryology, than in less than 1 page he dismisses the entire Arabic tradition by concluding that "Arabic science ... was not of great help to embryology". After listing some of the verses in the Qur'an about embryology he dismisses them as "a seventh-century echo of Aristotle and the Ayer-veda" . (J. Needham (Cambridge, 2nd edition 1959) A History of Embryology, p. 82), in other words a mixture of Greek and ancient Indian teachings.

And what about professor Keith L. Moore, once at the University of Toronto, who Muslims love to quote as a scientist who saw the light of the Koran? If you buy Moore's latest sixth edition University textbook called "The developing human", he actually directs his readers to read an essay by Basim Musallam, who we just quoted. who shows that the Koran merely echoes what Greek doctor "Galen" wrote 450 years earlier. It seems Dr. Moore is not as impressed today. (B. Musallam, The human embryo in Arabic scientific and religious thought, in, G. R. Dunstan (ed.) (University of Exeter Press, 1990) The human embryo: Aristotle and the Arabic and European traditions, pp. 32-46)

An extraordinary passage from the writings of the medieval philosopher Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya shows how heavily the later Arabic writers depended upon the Greek doctors; in one continuous discourse (Ibn Qayyin (Damascus, 1971) Tuhfat: Tuhfat al mawdud bi ahkam al-mawlud, pp. 254-291) the words of Hippocrates explain the Qur'an and Hadith, and the latter are used to explain Hippocrates:

"Here is someone writing a medical account who includes Hippocrates (bold type), the Qur'an and Hadith (bold italics), commentaries on them (italics) and his own thoughts (normal type) in one and the same paragraph. Of course the intelligentsia of Muhammed's time would have been familiar with both Greek and Indian medicine: "Hippocrates said ... 'some membranes are formed at the beginning, others after the second month, and others in the third month ...' That is why God says, 'He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, by one formation after another in three darknesses'. Since each of these membranes has its own darkness, when God mentioned the stages of creation and transformation from one state to another, He also mentioned the darknesses of the membranes. Most commentators explain: 'it is the darkness of the belly, and the darkness of the womb, and the darkness of the placenta' ... Hippocrates said, 'The ears are opened, and the eyes, which are filled with a clear liquid.' The Prophet used to say, 'I worship Him Who made my face and formed it, and opened my hearing and eyesight' etc. etc"" (B. Musallam (Cambridge, 1983) Sex and Society in Islam. p. 56).

The Koran says in16:4 "He has created man from a sperm-drop", but this was understood about 2000 years before the Koran, for the Bible says, "Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother." (Genesis 38:9) That man was created from dust is recorded in Gen 2.

Scientific errors related to embryology are contained in the Koran. In 86:6-7 the Koran says, "He is created from a drop emitted- Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs". This echoes the scientific error of Hippocrates who believe semen originates from all the fluid in the body, starting from the brain down the spinal chord, before passing through the kidneys and finally the testicles into the penis. (Hippocratic Writings, Penguin Classics, 1983, p. 317)

VIII. Scientific errors in the Hadith:

The baby is almost fully formed at 40 days, not mere blood:

The hadith (which contain many biological errors), state that: "The constituents of one of you is collected for forty nights in the mothers? womb in the form of blood, after which it becomes a clot of blood in a period of another forty days. Then it becomes a lump of flesh and forty days later Allah sends His angel with instructions concerning four things, so the angel writes down his livelihood, his death, his deeds, his fortune an misfortune." (Sahih Muslim, Vol. 4, no. 6390)

Appearance of child based upon performance in bed?

The appearance of a conceived child is determined by who climaxes first during the sex act. In other words, if the woman climaxes first, the child looks like her. If the man climaxes first, the child will look like the father. This "scientific" revelation from Jibreel to Muhammad as presented in the Noble Qur'an (a translation widely in use), footnote 1 to Q5:66 (the Hadith is from Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 5,, book 58, hadith no. 275) "Narrated Anas: When the news of the migration of the Prophet at al-Madinah reached 'Abdullah bin Salam, he wnet to him (i.e. the Prophet) and said 'I am going to ask you about 3 things which only a Prophet can answer: 'Why does a child attract the similarity to his father or his mother'' the Prophet replied, 'Jibreel has just now informed me of that.' 'The Prophet said 'As for the child, if the man's discharge preceeds (sic) the woman's discharge, the child attracts the similarity to the man, and if the woman's discharge preceeds (Sic) the man's discharge, the child attracts the similarity to the woman.' On this 'Abdullah bin Salaam said, 'I testify that you are the Prophet of Allah.'" This comment is based upon this Hadith: "Narrated Anas: When the news of the arrival of the Prophet at Medina reached 'Abdullah bin Salam, he went to him to ask him about certain things, He said, "I am going to ask you about three things which only a Prophet can answer: What is the first sign of The Hour? What is the first food which the people of Paradise will eat? Why does a child attract the similarity to his father or to his mother?" The Prophet replied, "Gabriel has just now informed me of that." Ibn Salam said, "He (i.e. Gabriel) is the enemy of the Jews amongst the angels. The Prophet said, "As for the first sign of The Hour, it will be a fire that will collect the people from the East to the West. As for the first meal which the people of Paradise will eat, it will be the caudate (extra) lobe of the fish-liver. As for the child, if the man's discharge proceeds the woman's discharge, the child attracts the similarity to the man, and if the woman's discharge proceeds the man's, then the child attracts the similarity to the woman." (Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 275)

Sex of the child not determined at conception but 40 days later according to Muhammad.

"Hudhaifa b. Usaid reported directly from Allah's messenger that he said: When the drop of (semen) remains in the womb for forty or fifty (days) or forty nights, the angel comes and says: My Lord, would he be male or female? And both these things are written and his deeds and actions, his death, his livelihood; these are also recorded . Then his document of destiny is rolled and there is no addition to or subtraction from it." (Sahih Muslim, Vol. 4, no. 6392)

Thank you for your patience.

Written by Brother Andrew

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