The Qur’an & the Bible

The foundation of the religion of Islam is the recitations of Mohammed Hashim, a Saudi born at Mecca about 570 A.D. The Qur’an, as these writings are called, is a collection of the revelations which Mohammed claimed to have received from the Archangel Gabriel beginning in about 610 B.C.

Unlike the prophets of the Old Testament, Mohammed neither worked a sign to verify his pronouncements (cf., Hebrews 2:1–4), nor left a prediction concerning future events by which to authenticate his claim to the prophetic office (Deuteronomy 13:1–4; 18:20 22). His early recitations were primarily concerned with morality, the unity of God, the final judgment and a sensual Paradise. As his recitations continued, he increasingly emphasized the oneness of God. His latter recitations are somewhat lengthy and devote themselves to a consideration of the tribulations of the prophets of God. In particular, Mohammed draws a parallel between their sufferings and his own as a prophet rejected by men. The absence of any miraculous character either in content or delivery has led to the general rejection of The Qur’an as spurious apocryphal literature unworthy of the characterization "scripture."

Even Mohammed recognized this inherent weakness and addressed it in his recitations. Rather than make a claim for the miraculous which would surely fail, he sought authority and credibility in the recitations themselves. In Surah 10:37 Mohammed wrote, "The Qur’an is not such as can be produced by other than Allah." In other words, if God were to write a book it would be The Qur’an. Well, that’s one man’s opinion anyway.

In Surah 2:23–24 Mohammed challenged men to produce anything close to its equivalent saying, "Produce a Surah like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah." It is interesting to note that Mohammed thought it was necessary to demonstrate that a thing is not what it claims to be, but not necessary to demonstrate that it is what it claims to be. The Truth is that there are many documents that men have written whose influences have produced and promoted ideals equal to if not superior to those embraced in Islam. For example, The Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution have served as models for nations and laws which have built a philosophy of life that is held by as many, if not more than those who believe The Qur’an. However, that does not prove that those documents are inspired.

Furthermore, Mohammed suggests no criteria by which to determine that The Qur’an or any other book is of divine origin. He eschews predictive prophecy, a clear and certain proof. Furthermore, he ignores the obvious flaws and foibles of his own production which we will demonstrate shortly. This approach is obviously subjective and severely flawed. It proves nothing about the supernatural character of The Qur’an and allows the author to assert his claim without the burden of proof by demonstration or direct testimony from Heaven. Jesus knew that such was not proof and made His case to His doubting public by undeniable signs (John 5:31 37; 10:25–38). The book simply lacks any of the marks that reasonable and spiritual men would expect of Holy Scripture, the Word of God (Surah 32:2).

One of the most glaring errors found in The Qur’an is Mohammed’s confusion concerning the birth of Jesus. His representation of the birth of the Son of God is farcical and certainly unworthy of One claiming to be the Son of God.

While The Qur’an assents to a miraculous virgin birth for Jesus (Surah 19:20), its presentation of that birth is wrong in the majority of its "facts." Mohammed identifies Jesus’ mother as Miriam, the sister of Aaron (19:28) and the daughter of Amram (Surah 66:12). There is no mention of Joseph at all. "Miriam" is represented as giving birth to the child Jesus in a wilderness place all alone gripping a palm tree (19:22, 23). Jesus upon being born speaks to her before He is even swaddled instructing her to shake the palm for its dates to give her strength (19:25).

"Miriam" later returns to her family still alone. Arriving with a newborn child her kin accuse her of being unchaste. Mohammed has "Miriam" indicating to her family that they should take the matter up with the infant Jesus whom she is carrying in her arms. They marvel at such a thing saying, "How shall we speak to one who was a child in a cradle?" (19:29). Jesus immediately answers them, "Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet" (v. 30).

Another illustration of The Qur’an’s error prone recounting of the Savior’s life is found in Surah 5:110. Mohammed attributes to Jesus a miracle nowhere recorded in the Scriptures, the making of mud–pie birds into which Jesus breathed life. He says of Jesus: "Thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird….then you breathed into it and it became a bird" (see also: Surah 3:49). There is credible evidence that Mohammed was influenced in his recitations by the Gnostic and Apocryphal books that were circulated in the Middle East during his lifetime. This bird "miracle" is not recorded in the New Testament, but it is found in the spurious Infancy Gospel of Thomas (1:1–5) which dates back to the sixth century. There Jesus is pictured making mud–pie sparrows which He commands to fly, walk and eat by clapping His hands. It seems Mohammed was getting his revelations from the Nag Hammadi Gnostics and not Jehovah.

Another example of Mohammed’s gift for fanciful storytelling is his account of the crucifixion. He asserts that Jesus was not crucified, but was just made to appear as if he were (Surah 4:157). Muslims today publish and circulate as factual the Gospel of Barnabas (215–217) which states that Jesus was carried to heaven by Gabriel and three other angels through a window as the arresting mob approached with Judas. When Judas went into the room where Jesus was supposed to be, he awakened the sleeping disciples who mistook him for Jesus. According to this account, God kidnapped Jesus while deceiving the Twelve and the mob into believing that Judas was Christ. The mob took Judas and crucified him as the Christ. Here Mohammed destroys the remedial system of the Gospel of grace and rejects the single miracle upon which Jesus predicated His divinity (Matthew 12:39).

These examples serve to demonstrate that The Qur’an is more the product of deviant theology, Gnosticism and fruitful imagination than Holy Spirit inspired revelation.

Remarkably, The Qur’an claims to be progressive revelation from the One True God following both the Law and the Prophets given to the Jews and the Gospel that came by Christ. However, to claim a place for The Qur’an along side the Old and New Testaments is to entangle it in a snare from which it cannot escape.

In Surah 3:3 Mohammed states, "He has revealed to you the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, a guide for mankind…" Also, in Surah 2:136, "Say: We believe in Allah and that which has been revealed to us, and in that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and in that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit." These texts and others establish that The Qur’an upholds the integrity of the Old and New Testaments and recommends them as a guide to mankind.

Mohammed does not condemn the Scriptures in The Qur’an, but those whom he regards as apostates from those Scriptures among Jews and Christians. In Surah 5:65, 66 Mohammed reproves Jews and Christians for not following their Scriptures which had they done would have led to bliss:

"If the followers of the Book had believed and guarded against evil We certainly would have covered their evil deeds and We would certainly have made them enter gardens of bliss, and if the had kept up the Torah and the Gospel and that which was revealed to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness on every side; there is a party of them keeping to the right course, but most of them evil is that which they do."

Mohammed attests to the validity of the Bible and says it will lead to bliss, and further states, that some Jews and Christians are doing right.

Muslims today want to argue that the texts of the Bible have been severely corrupted; therefore, we cannot rely upon what they reveal concerning God. However, the texts that were available to Mohammed in the seventh century are essentially the same as those we have today. If they are unreliable now, they were unreliable then. Whom will we believe, Mohammed or his modern–day apologists? This quibble with the reliability of the Bible is born of the obvious conflict it creates.

Muslims know that the Old Testament predicts the coming of Christ and the giving of His covenant (Jeremiah 31:31ff). They also know that the New Testament attributes the completion of the work of revealing that covenant to the Apostles of Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; et. al.). Furthermore, they know Jesus made it clear that the New Covenant would complete God’s revelation to man. Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide the Apostles into all truth (John 16:13). Either He did or He didn’t. And, herein is Mohammed’s dilemma.

If the Apostles were not guided into all truth, then Mohammed was wrong when he commended the Old and New Testaments as a guide to mankind––they are false on the face and make unfounded claims for authority. However, if the Bible is true and reliable as Mohammed asserts they are, then he is wrong to claim to have additional truth. Regardless of what one believes about the Bible, The Qur’an is exposed as either a hoax or the wild ranting of a madman.

It is evident that Mohammed was a man that knew little of what the Scriptures actually teach. He was ignorant of sacred history and confused about the identity of many of the patriarchs and prophets. We have shown that he was influenced in his opinions of Judaism and Christianity by the Apocryphal and Gnostic texts extant and popular in his day. Being ignorant of what truth was, in his recitations he unwittingly committed many errors which are readily exposed with a little research.

The reasons for the success of Islam have less to do with the character of The Qur’an than they do with the character of the state and culture that grew out of the enforced adherence to the traditions that arose through the influence of the successors of Mohammed. Islam is a complex religion which has emerged from the fires of many influences––The Qur’an being only one.

However, we need not address all of these influences and unravel the complexities associated with them knowing as the Lord instructed that a corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. Islam is rotten because it is born of the corrupted stock of Mohammed’s Qur’an.