be rightly guided: and naught is incumbent upon the Apostle except distinct delivery (of the Message)." In like manner in Surah lxxxviii. 21, 22 the following command is given to Muhammad: "Therefore warn thou: verily thou art a warner. Thou art not a governor over them." But elsewhere the very contrary to this is taught, for everyone knows that he who is called "The Prophet with the Sword" asserted that God had commanded him to spread Islam by force. This is taught in such passages, as Surahs ii. 86-89, 212; iv. 76, 91; viii. 40; xlviii. 16; lxvi. 9. Here we find contradiction after contradiction. It does not avail to say that later verses annul some of the earlier ones, as we read in Surah ii. 100.¹ This is only an admission that in the Qur'an as it now exists there is such self-contradiction that some such device must be found to account for its existence. A good instance is afforded by comparing Surah ii. 59 with Surah iii. 79. In the former passage we are told that Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Sabians are saved ("Verily those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians and the Sabians, whoso hath believed in God and the Last Day and done good, to them accordingly shall be their reward with their Lord: and upon them is no fear, nor shall they grieve"); in the latter, that only Muslims have the true religion ("And whoso desireth other than Islam as a religion, it shall never therefore be accepted from him, and in the next world he shall be among the lost"). It would be easy to adduce other contradictions in the Qur'an, especially as Muslim learned men admit that there are no fewer than 225 verses which have been abrogated. Many of these abrogated verses are those which inculcate justice and religious toleration. We are asked to believe that the Unchangeable God afterwards sanctioned oppression and persecution and imposed war on Muslims, even against their will, in order that their faith might

be forced upon other men (compare Surahs ii. 212, 213; ix. 5, 29).

There is another very important class of contradictions in the Qur'an which Muslims should carefully observe. It is that between the Qur'an and the Bible. We have already seen that the Qur'an professes to have been "sent down" in order to confirm and protect the Torah and the Injil. Yet in not a few matters it absolutely contradicts them both. Among the matters in which there is absolute contradiction between the Qur'an and the Bible are many leading doctrines of the Gospel: for example, the death of Christ upon the cross, in accordance with prophecy; His Atonement for the sins of the whole world; His Divine Nature; His Resurrection; that He alone can save men's souls. Now it is clear that no later Revelation from the Unchangeable One can change His Eternal Purpose, His appointed way of salvation, His promises, His Moral Law; His own Divine teaching. Moreover, the Qur'an's claim to be a Revelation, and that of Muhammad to be a Prophet with a new Message, are both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament, as is clear from the Lord Jesus Christ's saying: "Heaven ¹ and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," and from St. Paul's words: "Though ² we, or an angel from Heaven, should.preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema." These is no room, therefore, for a new revelation, whether brought down by Gabriel or by any other person, angel or man. In this matter the Qur'an contradicts itself, for it first asserts the truth and inspiration of the Bible, and then teaches what is contrary to its leading doctrines.

In many minor matters also the Qur'an contradicts itself, by differing from the Bible which it came to confirm. For instance, in Surah xix. 23 we are told that