The Quran and the Holy Bible

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1 - Perceptions

The Quran

The Quran has been described as the closest thing to the incarnation of Allah, the very essence of God,proof of the truth of Islam, perfect,miraculous, literary excellence,preeminent in its beauty, andunmatchable.

The Quran

The Quran has 5 defenses:1)It defends itself;2)It has fulfilled prophecies;3)It contains mathematical

patterns;4)It reveals scientific truthes before

their discovery; and5)It has never changed.

The Quran

However, upon investigtion:1) Everyone proclaims their own innocence,

especially the guilty;2) It has no major prophecies, and at least one

of its prophecies - that the Quran itself willbe protected from change (15:9) - has failed;

3) Mathematical patterns can be found in the texts of many books, including fiction;

4) The scientific presentations are incorrect; and

5) Historical records show that the Quran has been changed, especially in the early years.

The Holy Bible

People with even the slightest learning about the Bible know that it is a collection of 66 books written in several different periods of ancient history: 39 from Judaism and 29 specific to the teachings of Jesus Christ. These books were written by a variety of authors in their languages - Hebrew, Arabic and Greek - as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Bible

Many of the books in the Bible contain anecdotes in chronological order of actual historical events. Several of the books contain prophecies, most of which have already been fulfilled but many yet to be fulfilled. Some of the books are more like collections of poetry, songs and proverbs. Some are lists of laws and instructions for godly living. All represent the mind of God.

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2 - Verification of Truth

The QuranThe whole Quran is said to be

revealed only to Muhammad by revelations given to him by the angel Gabriel. There are no other authors, witnesses or corroborators. The biggest challenge this method presents are Muhammad's claims about himself as written in the Quran.

The Holy Bible

It's common to have Bible books and passages which repeat the telling of an event. This adds to the Bible's credibility. Multiple witnesses confirm and validate the stories and facts presented in the Bible. The Bible records that Jesus made claims about His own deity, but He never personally wrote any of the passages of the Bible.

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3 - Alterations Over Time

The Quran

The Quran says of itself that it will be protected from change. (15:9) Islamic teachers says that, though the Bible has changed over the years, the Quran never has.

The Quran

According to hadith, the Quran came to Muhammad a few verses at a time in his personal times in the cave. Being illiterate, Muhammad spoke the verses to literate Muslim followers.

However, . . .

The Quran

However, over time, his own version of the verses changed enough to cause heated arguments between those who heard them from Muhammad's own mouth at different times. Upon hearing the arguments, Muhammad didn't set the record straight, he just told them to stop arguing. (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, book 61)

The Quran

The Quran had not been collected into a single book in Muhammad's lifetime. After he died, Muslim leaders realized that there were too many differing versions of the verses, so Zaid ibn Thabit set out to collect all of the verses and put them in one standard book. His task was difficult, but when he finished, he gave the book to Muhammad's widow to protect it. It was later found that Zaid had left a section out, accidentally. It was added.

The Quran

Later, khalifa Uthman ordered that the Quran be standardized, again, took the widow's book, edited it, made and distributed copies of the new version, and then ordered all previous versions to be burned. However, some people, like Ubay ibn Ka'b, a man that Muhammad had set aside as "the best reciter of the Quran", disputed Uthman's version, because they had heard left out verses directly from Muhammad, and continued to recited them.

The Quran

It is thought that, because the Quran is still written in only its original language, and never translated, it is perfectly unaltered. In fact, within a century of Muhammad's death, a council of Muslim leaders met purposely to "fix" the Quran in order to strengthen their political power.

The Quran

With regards to the hadith, though, even the earliest written biographies of Muhammad, which came hundreds of years after he died, admit to purposeful alterations. They were altered to remove shameful, distressing and unbelievable stories of Muhammad. In essence, he was Photoshopped to be more attractive each time his stories were retold.

The Quran

How do experts today explain the many variations of the Quran, especially in the early years? They say it was the will of Allah. But if that is so, then why do so many dismiss the facts and claim that the Quran has never changed?

The Holy BibleVery few scholars seriously question the accuracy of the common translations of the Holy Bible. And as time goes on, more and more archeological discoveries reveal documents closer to the original writings, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and significant discrepancies have never been found. In fact, today's translations are probably more accurate than they were in Muhammad's time.

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4 - Accessibility

The QuranThe Quran is available in several languages, but

is only considered inspired and authentic when in Arabic. The Quran has many references to the Book (the Holy Bible) which is presented as God's inspired word, both Old and New Testaments. The 66 books of the Bible had already been canonized for more than 200 years before Muhammad started the Quran. His wife's cousin was a Christian, as well as other influential people in his life. Muhammad was illiterate, though. He spoke the Quran in Arabic to scribes.

The Holy Bible

Has been translated to more than 2500 languages, and each is considered to authentic. God originated the multitude of languages at the Tower of Babel for the purpose of spreading people across the globe. All languages are His languages, and His Word is just as clear and true in all of them.

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5 - Prophecies of the Prophets

The Quran

The Quran mentions Muhammad by name only 4 times. But what the Quran says about him is self-proclaimed, since Muhammad wrote it. If it praises Humammad, he was praising himself. Here are 2 references: Muhammad is the ideal model of conduct for Muslims (33:21), and true believers are not allowed to question his decisions (33:36).

The Quran

Muslims teachers claim that the Holy Bible (the Book) prophecies the coming of Muhammad inDeuteronomy 18:18 and John 16:12. But, read in context, the man in Deuteronomy is Jewish and the Comforter in John is clearly the Holy Spirit.

The Holy BibleThe Gospels record the conversations of Jesus. He spoke of many things, teaching the ways of God, explaining how faith works, expressing His love for people, criticizing religious hypocrites and those who lacked faith, and prophesying the future. Before His crucifixion, Jesus often told His followers that He would die, be buried for 3 days and rise again. Those prophesies came true in His lifetime.

The Holy BibleJesus also prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem, which came true in 70AD. He prophesied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which happened about a month and a half after He ascended to Heaven. And He prophesied events of the end times and Judgment Day, including His return to gather the saints. We are stil waiting for those prophesies to be fulfilled. .

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6 - Quoting in Context

The Quran

In quoting from the Quran to defend the goodness of Islam, verses are quite often taken out of context. For example, 5:32, a verse quoted to say that murder is wrong in Islam, is actually immediately sandwiched between a reference to not murdering Jews specifically, and an order to murder and dismember those who fight against Islam.

The Holy BibleIn quoting the Bible to defend the goodness of Christians, verses are quite often taken out of context. For example, in John 3:16, Jesus tells someone that believing in God's Son will get a person eternal life, and is the most quoted verse in all of Christianity. However, it's recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke, when another man asks Jesus about acquiring eternal life, Jesus tells him to sell all that he has, give the money to the poor, then follow Jesus. These verses, though repeated in the Gospels, are almost never quoted by so-called Christians today.

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7 - Infallability

The Quran

The Quran has never undergone a systematic examination of the earliest manuscripts against the entire Quranic tradition. About a century after Muhammad's death the Quran was modified to command political and religious unity to support the growing political power of the time, rather than to be preserved perfectly from the time of Muhammad.

The Holy Bible

During the last 300 years, the New Testament has undergone rigorous textual research, studies of how well the text has been transmitted from the earliest available Greek manuscripts through today. Those studies have demonstrated that the transmission of the New Testament books from their original forms until now has happened faithfully without calling into question any cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith.

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8 - Pre-Muhammad History

The Quran

Since the Quran recognizes the Book, meaning the Holy Bible as we have it today, Creation, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the calling of Abraham, the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the kings of Judah and Israel, and the prophets of God are all considered actual historical events.

The Holy BibleThe Holy Bible as we have it today, records in a fair amount of detail the Creation of the world, the Flood of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the calling of Abraham, the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the kings of Judah and Israel, and prophets of God, and many other events, people and places. All of these are considered actual historical facts that have been or could be verified with evidence from archeaology.

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9 - Post-Muhammad History

The Quran

In the Hadith writings, the earliest of commentaries on the Quran and Muhammad, we learn about Muslim traditions that are based on how Muhammad lived his life.

The Holy Bible

After the ascension of Jesus into heaven, about 120 of His disciples received the Holy Spirit, as Jesus had promised. This was the birth of the Church. The book of Acts records many events related to the initial growth of the Church.

The Holy Bible

By the time Muhammad died, some 600 years later, the Church had undergone many changes. One of the largest of which was the establishment of government protected institutions, the largest of which was the Roman Catholic Church, led by a pope. There were several non-Roman Catholic church institutions, however, and it wasn't uncommon for churches to compete for political authority.

The Holy Bible

Very often church institutions which claim to represent the living Body of Christ in the world, behave in ways quite opposite to what Christ had taught and what His disciples reinforced.

The Holy Bible

Today, in very general terms, there are 2 types of Christians: those who believe in heirarchial structure of a human organization where only the top leaders are led of the Holy Spirit; and those who believe that the Holy Bible can be read and understood by all people and individuals can be filled with God's Holy Spirit and led by Him.

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10 - Supplemental Books

The Quran

Hadith are books about the traditions surrounding Muhammad that were assembled about 200-250 years after Muhammad died. Ibn Hisham and Sahih Bukhari are two highly respected authors. Ibn Ishaq’s "Sirat Rasul Allah" is also an important source, having been written less than 200 years after Muhammad's death. But some scholars disapprove of Ibn Ishaq's methods.

The Quran

There are no historical documents from the same time period as Muhammad to confirm the accuracy of the Hadith. These books were not written in at a time close to the event, nor were they written by eyewitnesses. The stories in the Hadith were passed orally by respected men, although tools for writing books were well developed by the seventh century.

The Quran

To many Muslims, respecting the honored leaders of old is more important than establishing the accuracy of what those men said. Is there factual historical data from independent sources revealing the greatness of the legendary leaders, the imams who passed on the traditions in the hadith?

The QuranConsider and example: Today, while former US

President Bill Clinton is still alive, there are people who revere the ex-president and love to share many stories of his accomplishments, and there are people who despise him and love to insist that he was so bad as president that he was impeached - and he was a terrible human for lying and cheating. After 200 years of only the people who respect Bill Clinton retelling the stories, but never writing anything down, will the final story be in any way accurate? Not likely.

The Holy BibleWhile Christians find great interest and inspiration in the writings of many authors and historians, the Holy Bible stands alone. It can be logically understood and appreciated by all who have the ability to read and think critically. No other books or articles are needed to understand it.

The Holy Bible

Unfortunately, many leaders of Christianity today, including leaders of denominations and Christian universities overly complicate the Holy Bible and some are foolish enough to add or take away portions of the Bible that they say are no longer relevant. Such people are called false teachers, and should be ignored.

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11 - As a Reference Book

The Quran

The Quran is rarely used at all as a reference book. And even more rarely as a standalone authority.

The Holy Bible

The Holy Bible is often used as the final authority in settling spiritual matters. It's interpretation is to be open, not to be restricted to anyone, regardless of social status.

Thank You!

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