Is the Qur>an Infallible? (Abdallah (Abd al-Fadi
LIGHT OF LlFE.VILLACH.AUSTRIA
Table of Contents Preface
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Part One: Geographical Questions................. 15 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
The Sun Sets in a Spring The Earth Is Stationary Stars Are for Stoning the Satans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Seven Heavens and Seven Earths The Postponed Month Is Unbelief. Egypt Is Irrigated by Rain Thunder Is an Angel The Valley of Towa Olives on Mount Sinai. The Sun Runs to a Resting Place The Moon Is Like a Palm Frond Mount Qaf Encompasses All the Earth
Part Two: Historical Questions
All Rights Reserved All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version, Holy Bible, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All Qu(an quotations are taken from The Koran Interpreted, by Arthur J. Arberry Order Number. VPB 4009 ENG English tiUe: Is the Our'an Infallible? First English edition: 1995
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1. Haman Is Pharaoh's Minister 2. Qarun and Haman are Egyptians 3. The Golden Calf Was Made by a Samaritan. . . .. 4. Azar Is Abraham's Father 5. Aaron's Sister and Amram's Daughter? 6. Joseph's Intended Adultery 7. Noah Led the People into Error .. : '" 8. Pharaoh Was Delivered from Drowning 9. Zechariah Took Charge of the Virgin Mary 10. Mary's Withdrawal 11. A Wilderness Delivery and a Talking Baby 12. Every Nation Has Its Native Messenger
17 18 20 22 25 25 26 27 28 28 29 31
33 35 36 37 38 38 39 40 40 41 42 43 44
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13. Adam and the Idols 14. Noah's Son Drowns 15. Job is Isaac's Grandson 16. Moses and al-Khidr 17. Confusion of Names 18. Enoch, not Idris , 19. Noah Was Not Followed by the Vilest 20. Exaggerations Regarding the Tower of Babel 21. The Ka(ba Is the House of Satum 22. What Has Abraham to Do with Nimrod? , 23. Is Ishmael Also among the Prophets? : . . . .. 24. Jacob's Sons Asked Permission? 25. The Invention of a Witness-Bearing Baby 26. An Imaginary Ladies' Meeting , 27. Is Seeking Help from Man a Denial of God? 28. Benjamin Was Not Imprisoned 29. A Magical Shirt , 30. Pharaoh's Daughter or Pharaoh's Wife? 31. Before Moses' Birth, Not After! 32. Moses' Dowry to His Wife 33. Israel Did not Inherit Egypt!. , 34. The Plagues of Egypt Were Ten, Not Nine! 35. A Rock Is Not a Well 36. The Two Tablets of the Law , 37. Did They Ask to See God? 38. Korah, Not Clarun! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 39. Solomon or Absalom? 40. Hagar or the Virgin Mary? 41. No Table Came Down from Heaven 42. The Inhabitants ofthe City . . .. .. .. • . . .. . .. . 43. Hud and (Ad?
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45 47 48 48 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 56 57 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 67 69 70 71 72 73 74 76 78
44. The Story of Dhu ai-Kif( 45. The Men of AI-Rass 46. Even Luqman Is a Prophet. 47. Alexander the Great - a Prophet! 48. The Ka cba - the Station of Abraham? . . . . . . . . . .. 49. Job's Wife 50. Pharaoh Built the Tower of Babel in Egypt? " 51. A Flood upon the Egyptians? 52. King Saul or Gideon the Judge? .. . .. . .. .. . . . 53. Jesus Speaks from the Cradle 54. Jesus Makes Birds of Clay.. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 55. A Denial of the Crucifixionl "
81 82 83 84 86 87 88 88 89 91 92 92
Part Three: Ethical Questions •••••.•.•.•.•.•.•...• 95 1. Legalising the Denial of God.. .. .. . . . .. .. . . .. . .. 97 2. Legalising Pe~ury. . . .. . .. .. .. . . . . .. .. . .. .. .. ... 98 3. Legalising Enticement with Money ., . . . . . . . . . . .. 99 4. Legalising Murder 100 5. Legalising Ransacking 104 6. Legalising Swearing 105 7. Legalising Deceit 107 8. The Legalisation of Revenge 108 9. Legalising Sensual Indulgence... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 109
Part Four: Theological Questions 1. A Misconception of the Holy Trinity. . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. The Denial of Atonement. '" 3. The Human Origin of the "Revelation" From the Sabaeans From the Pre-Islamic Arabs From the Jews "
113 115 118 120 121 122 123
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From the Christians 124 From His Own Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 124 4. The Pre-Islamic Friday 125 5. The Sacred Months 126 6. Magnifying God: a Pre-Islamic Practice 128 7. The Muslim Jinn 129 8. The Command to Commit Ungodliness. . . . . . . .. 130 9. The Doubtful Revelation 131 10. Mortal Speech 133 11. There Are Suras Like It 135 c Sura al-Khal (The Casting Off) 136 Sura al-Hafd (The Hastening) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 136 Sura al-Nurain (The Two Lights) 136 12. God Wills Unbelief. 140 141 13. God Tempts? 14. Christ Is Like Adam? 142 15. God Consults with Angels? 148 16. Bowing Down to Someone Other Than God 149 17. Gehenna - for Righteous and Unrighteous Alike 151 18. Paradise Is All Fruits, Meats, and Houris. . . . . .. 153 19. Barzakh 155 20. A Dog Stops the Revelation 156 21. Prayer Atones for Sins 158 22. Christ's Likeness Is Cast upon Another? 159 23. The Fast of Ramadan Pardons Sins 160 24. No Prophet from the Seed of Ishmael 162 25. The Arab Countries Are for Christ. 165 26. A Beast Devours the Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 166 27. Fire Devours the Revelation 166 28. God Misleads and Tortures Man 167 29. God Ordained Evil 169
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Part Five: Grammatical Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
A Nominative Noun That Should Be Accusative. The Subject Is Incorrectly Accusative A Feminine Subject with a Masculine Predicate. A Wrong Gender and Incorrect Use of Plural An Incorrect Plural Verb and Pronoun , A Relative Pronoun in a Wrong SingUlar Form . A Verb Is Apocopate Instead of Accusative ..... A Plural Pronoun Refers to a SingUlar Antecedent. , 9. Accusative Instead of Nominative! 10. A Governed Genetive Noun Is Accusative! 11. An Incorrect Plural of Multitude , 12. An Incorrect Plural of Paucity 13. A Wrong Plural Ending. .. .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. .. .. .. 14. A Noun in Place of an Adjective 15. Accusative instead of Nominative 16. An Incorrect Tense 17. A Conditional Clause with No Apodosis 18. The Meaning Is Obscured by Odd Structure 19. A Diptote Receives the Nunnation 20. A Predicate with an Incorrect Gender 21. Pointing Out the Obvious 22. A Sudden Transition in Person 23. A Singular Pronoun Instead of a Dual One 24. A Plural Noun Used in Place of a Dual One
Part Six: Legal Questions
171 174 174 175 175 175 176 176 177 177 178 179 179 180 180 181 181 181 182 183 183 184 184 184 185
187
1. Severing a Thiefs Hand 189 2. Until She Marries Another Husband. . . . . . . . . . .. 189 3. Women Are Beaten and Denied Their Rights ... 190
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4. Polygamy 191 5. Divorce 192 6. Scourging All Fornicators 192 7. Concubinage Is Sanctioned 193 8. The Curtain 194 9. Idolatrous Rites in the Pilgrimage 195 10. Trading During the Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 196 197 11. Disputes DUring the Pilgrimage. . .. .. .. .. .. 12. The Pressing On (/fada) 198 13. The Pilgrimage Is a Pre~lslamic Custom 199 200 14. Abuse of the Zakat 15. Men Are Preferred to Women 202 16. Islamic Prayer Is a Pagan Tradition. . . . . . . . . . .. 205 17. Using Dust for Washing Oneself 205 207 18. Changing the Direction of Prayer (Qlbla) 19. Vain Repetitions of Prayer 211 20. Reducing the Number of Prayers 212 21. Fasting 214 22. The Sacred Months 216 23. Spreading Religion by the Sword 220 24. Victim's Blood to Be Shed with Impunity 221 25. Kill the Apostate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 223 26. Marrying Christian Women 226
Part Seven: Social Questions 1. A Woman's Testimony Is Worth Half a Man's! .. 2. A Woman's Inheritance Is Worth Half a Man's .. 3. Polygamy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4. Beating Women 5. Women and Divorce 6. Women and the Veil
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227 229 229 230 231 232 233
7. Demanding the Zakat by Coercion 8. The Spoils 9. The Tribute , . , , . , .. , 10. Constraining Slave Girls to Prostitution 11. Frustrating and Scourging the Witnesses 12. Scourge the Fornicators Mercilessly 13. Life Imprisonment. 14. Retribution 15. Invasion ', .. , . , 16. Detestable Bigotry 17. Hatred to All People 18. Heathen Regulations 19. Ordinances that Society Renounces 20. Entering in Throngs 21. The Muslims' Interpersonal Conflicts
, 234 235 , 236 238 , 239 240 240 241 , 242 243 245 246 247 , 248 , 249
Part Eight: Scientific Questions •••.•...•••••••••. 253 1. A Statue that Lows 2. A Magical Ring 3. The Torment of the Grave 4. A Rock Gave Birth to a Camel. 5. A Firebrand in the Water 6. Human Souls in Animals' Bodies 7. The Jlnn and the (lfrit ,,,, ,,, 8. Honey Is a Remedy for All Diseases 9. The Night Journey (al-Isra) ."" .. " 10. The Philosopher Hoopoe 11, A Beast Among the Prophets 12. A Corpse Leans on a Staff for a year 13. A Hovering Mountain.,.,."., 14, Mountains Endowed with Reason
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255 255 257 258 262 264 265 269 270 272 274 276 278 279
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Table ·of Contents
15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
Iron Gets as Soft as Wax 280 A Nap Lasting Three Hundred and Nine Years .. 281 The Wind at Solomon's Command 283 The Birds of the Sky Rght with Stones 285 The Evil Eye 286 The Children of Israel and the Cow " 287 Is Thunder an Angel? 290 Vulnerability to Magic 291
Part Nine: Lexical Questions 1. Useless Words . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. Foreign Words 3. Contradictory Accounts ....•................... Do the Words of God Change? How Long Is One Day? Does God Permit Intercess.ors? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. How Many Muslims in Paradise? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Who WIll Be Saved? " Is Pardoning Sanctioned? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Is Indecency Permitted? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Is Hypocrisy Alright? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Is Caprice Permissible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Is WIne Allowed? What to Do with Unbelievers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. (1) Do not strtve against them " (2) Strtve against them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. What Happened to Pharaoh? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Was Earth or Heaven Created First? . . . . . . . . . . . . .. What Is the Language of the Qur)an Like? 4. Repetitive Words 5. Plagiarism " From the Poems of Imru' al-Qais From the Words of (Umar Ibn al-Khattab 10
295 297 297 301 301 301 302 302 303 303 303 304 305 306 307 307 308 309 309 310 311 312 313 314
From the Books of Unleamed Jews From the Books of Unlearned Christians , From the Books of Unlearned Persians · From the Books of the Hunafa' From the inspired Scriptures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6. The Disconnectedness of the Qur)an. . . . . . . . . ..
316 318 318 322 326 327
7. Unfamiliar Words ·.··············· 8. The Abrogating and Abrogated Verses Problems with the Abrogating and Abrogated Verses Questions about the Abrogating and Abrogated Verses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9. Ambiguous Speech 10. Words Resembling the Words of Others 11. Variant Readings
330 331 332 333 335 336 337
Part Ten: Questionable Aspects of Muhammad's Life •••. 339 1. His Wives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 342 2. His Raids 344 3. Forbidding What God Made Lawful. , 345 4. His Kinsmen, the Inhabitants of Hell. , 346 5. Revelation from Satan ···· .. ····· 347 6. They Were Near to Seducing Him 348 7. He Married His Daughter-in-Law , 349 ············· 351 8. A Bewitched Prophet. 9. He Honoured the Stone ·· .. 353 10. The Incident of Slander · 353 11. He Killed His Opponents 355 · 363 12. He Despised a Blind Man 13. He Drove Away the Poor · · 363 14. Satan's Relationship with the Revelation 365
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15. A BUrden That Weighs the Back 16. He Wrote Down the Words of His Scribe
366 367 17. He Was No Worker of Miracles 368 18. He Was Criticised by His Contemporaries 376 19. He Was Killed by Poison 379 20. His Strange Manner of Receiving Revelation '" 382 21. He Attempted Suicide 385 22. Khadija Confirmed the Revelation for Him . . . . .. 386 23. Why Should They Be Jealous of Him? ; 387 24. If She Gives Herself to the Prophet. . . . . . . . . . .. 388 389 25. He Treated His Wives Unfairly 26. He Quoted from Both Jews and Christians " 390 27. Retuming Insult for Insult. 393 28. He Incited His Followers to Fight. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 395 The Raid by Proxy on Ibn al-Khadhrami . . . . . . . . . .. 395 The Raid of Uhud . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 396 The Lesser Raid of Badr . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. 397 The Ra'd fH una,n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 398 I 0 The Raid of Badr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 398 The Raid of Nadir " 399 The Raid ofTabuk 400 29. The Kill"Ing 0 f the 0 ogs 402 30. The Torah Did Not Prophesy about Him 403 31 . The "llI"tI era t" P h t e rop e 405 32. Compulsion and Non-Compulsion. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 406 33. Nearer the Believers than They Themselves. . .. 407 Bibliography 410 Quiz 436
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Preface Since I was a child I have had a desire to perform fruitful and lasting service to humanity. Yet I am unable to discover a new land like Columbus, or to invent the wireless telegraph like Marconi, or to utilise electricity like Edison, or to analyse the atom like Einstein. For all these feats do not pertain to my field of specialisation. But as a minister of Christ, I decided to find out if the Qur1an, the Muslim holy book, is really infallible, as is daimed. It was because of my belief in only one God and one holy Scripture, which was confirmed by the coming of Christ, the Incamate Word of God, that I set out to write this book. For He said that whoever adds to the Scripture, God will add to him the plagues mentioned in it. And since the Qur1an claims for itself that it is the revelation of God, I deemed it my duty, by means of logic and reason, to fumish proofs for my belief that it is not infallible. This cannot be done except by examining and scrutinising the Qur1an to arrive at a condusion about its contents. Therefore, I took it upon myself to make a close study of the Qur1an, along with its commentaries, until I became acquainted with its many errors. These errors range from geographical, historical and scientific ones to ethical, social, theological, legal and linguistic ones - not to mention of course the moral defects in the life of its author. I listed th~se errors in the form of 242 questions, so that the truth may be known and the intelligent may
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Preface
be enlightened, and I took for my motto the words of the apostle
Paul: "I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise" (Romans 1:14). We Christians feel indebted to present to all mankind the gospel of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, so that they can share in the joy of salvation and receive etemal life. Thus the promise of God will be fulfilled: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6).
Part One Geographical Questions
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1. The Sun Sets in a Spring Question 1: We read in Sura al-Kahf 18:83-86: "They will
question thee conceming Dhu al-Qamain. Say: 'I will recite to you a mention of him.' We established him in the land, and We gave him a way to every thing; and he followed a way until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and he found nearby a people.'
A1-Baidawi in his commentary Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar alTawil says the following with regard to these verses: The Jews asked Muhammad about Dhu al-Qamain (Alexander the Great), and he said to them that God established him in the land so that he could reach the place where the sun sets. He found that it set in a muddy spring, and all around the spring were idolatrous people! He also walked to the place where the sun rises and discovered that people lived there who went about naked, with no homes to shelter them from the sun. After that he walked to a site that lies to the north, between the place where the sun rises and sets, which he found to be between two mountains. He poured on these two mountains a mixture ofiron and molten brass, thereby settine up an impassable
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Part One
Part One
barrier which only God can reach on the Day of . Resurrection. A1-Baidawi added that "Ibn
