Question regarding Islam/Quran...False Religion?

Question

I've been reading a lot about the faith of Islam since it has been in the news a lot lately here in the US. I'm going to go ahead and say it...I am not a Muslim. However, I want to know and understand the faith, so that is why I am proposing these questions.

There are so many questions I have about the Quran, but I'll start with this: the Quran teaches that the Bible/Torah is correct and not to dispute it. (Quran 5:68, 29:46). However, this cannot be, since the Quran contradicts the Jewish/Christian sources. Muslims get around this by saying that the Christians and Jews corrupted thier books. This is impossible, as you'll see below.


Quote:
"God said: 'O Jesus son of Mary, recall My blessings upon you and your mother that I supported you with the Holy Spirit ... and I taught you the Scripture and the wisdom, and the Torah, and the Injeel'" (Quran 5:110)

Ok, this presents so many questions...Since Jesus taught the Injeel (Gospels) and the Torah, and Allah supported Jesus in his teachings, then Jesus and the scriptures must have been correct at the time (roughly 30 AD). Therefore, it must follow that up to that point, the Jewish and Christian Scriptures were 100% without flaw/corruption. Thus, the Tahrif, or fabrication by the Jews/Christians, occured between the death of Christ (33ish AD) and the birth of the Quran (7th century).

No such evidence exists. There were tons of copies of the Jewish Scriptures scattered in tons of countries at the time of Jesus. For the Jews to have changed all of them, for no apparent reason, makes little sense and cannot be supported at all by any historical evidence. In fact, the dead sea scrolls that were recently discovered were written before Jesus was even on earth...they confirm the validity of the Jewish scriptures. Also, note that most of the changes are not even important theological issues...which further begs the question: why would Jews corrupt their books to change little, insignificant details that have no bearing on the faith?

Later on in that passage, it becomes clear that Muhammed had a false view of what Christianity was. In 5:116, God says "O Jesus son of Mary, did you tell the people to take you and your mother as gods instead of God?" Clearly, Muhammed here is referring to the Christian view of the trinity. Except instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Muhammed thought it was Jesus, Mary, and the Father. There is no historical evidence of there ever being a cult of any sorts that worshiped Mary as a God. (This is why to this day, Muslims have a misunderstanding of the Trinity in Christianity...many believe that Mary is worshiped as a God)

There is so much evidence scattered throughout the Quran that strongly suggests that the Quran copied the Bible inaccurately, as if done orally years after hearing about the Bible (Muhammed didn't read/write). For instance, the Quran confused the sister of Moses (Miriam) with Mary, the mother of Jesus (In Hebrew, Miriam and Mary are the same names.). These two people lived 1,500 years apart.

Sorry for the long post, and if it came off sounding harsh, I apologize...I don't want this to turn into a bashing of religions. I just want to know what your view on this is.

In response to Roshni: With all due respect, I have heard from countless Muslims that Paul lived 300 years after Christ. This allegation alone is enough to make me stop reading the rest of your post. Paul lived within the time of Christ, and he met with Peter and other disciples. Hope you don't take it personally, just check the facts before arguing.

Another question that arises: the above quote says that Jesus taught the Gospel (or Injeel, in arabic). How can Jesus teach the Gospel, which was written 50 years or so after His death? Could it be that Muhammed forgot this little detail 600 years later when the Qur'an was written?

About the Bible's many translation: this is another baseless argument. They are all translated from Hebrew/Greek...if there's ever an issue, we go back to the original

Finally, I see a lot of responses here that point to alleged flaws in Christianity. This is not the issue. The issue is Islam. Let's not get into how Jesus could have become man.

Answer 1

Amen! They wont accept this obvious flaw with their religion. Believe me I have tried they will go to great lengths not to accept this truth. Even saying they were corrupted changed back and corrupted again...The Qu'ran clearly teaches these are the true words of Allah that can not be changed..6:115..this does not help even Allah himself saying his word can not be changed..They twist this to mean the Qu'ran can not be changed....even then you say if for four thousand years Allah could not keep is word how can he now keep his word? The answer... he promises to keep his word in the Qu'ran....If his written word is not good ...how can a promise within his written word be good? They refuse the truth.
Good Luck and God Bless!
ps I fthe word of God was corrupt at the time of Muhamamd according to scripture he could not be a prophet of God how could he know God? Through Gabriel? How could he confirm what Gabriel said was true? No word fo God to depend on?
Moses said a prophet of God must agree with the other prophets of God and with the word of God... Muhammad did not follow this rule and could not have folllowed this rule according to Muslims.


Edit to Sala
If Moses Spoke directly to God even according to the Qu'ran and Muhammad spoke to Gabriel how is the Bible man's interpretation of the word of God and the Qu'ran the word of God?

Edit to Roshni...simply because Muhammad refered to a man as a prophet did not make this man a prophet.
A couple of rules for those who prophess to be prophets of God, they have to agree with the other prophets of God and the word of God....How can you say Muhamamd was a prophet of God if the word of God and the words of the prophets are coruupt?

Roshni...Where are you getting your Ideas about the Bible? the word of God is exatly the same as it was prior to the Qu'ran. We have an intact copy of Isaiah from 250 BC..this is 250 years before Chrsit and 850 years before Muhamamd. Jesus agreed with Isaiah 53.. All of of the Questions regarding Jesus being God and the Son of God which is the Son of Father Son and Holy Spirit..Is answered in the Bible by all of the prophets who foretold of his coming..We hardly have space for me to write the entire Bible for you but it is the same scriptures that were avaialbale to Jesus that he did agree with and the same ones avaialable to Muhamamd that he claimed ot agree with then denied the trinity and deity of Chrsit as if he didnt know what was in the Bible. Isaiah 53 explains that the Messiah the one who was born of a virgin the one clled God with...would be a savior for his people and atone for sin...Jesus agreed with this scripture. If Jesus quotes Isaiah 53 and says he must fufill it then why is Muhamamd teraching Chrsit did nto aotne for sin? Isaiah said he would 800 years before Chrsit then Chrsit agreed... Why then 600 years after chrsit was crucified Muhamamd comes saying he is a prophet of God and that Chrsit did nto atoine for sin? Were all of God's prophets including Jesus liars and only Muhammad true...Or are all the prophets before Muhamamd correct and Muhamamd was not a prophet of God? If all of the prophets were wrong and corrupt whay didnt Muhammad say so? whay doid he teach that he was veriffying the word that was before him and then teach different? Could it be he did not understand the word fo God? This is obvious.
Roshni you asked why God came as a man? We can see from the true word of God and the fiorst scriptures God gave to man Moses. Adam was warned by God not to eat of a tree known as the knowledge of good and evil...this tree represents God's rihgteous law,,,God told Adam in the day he ate of it he would surely die? It represents mans fall from the glory of God....the true God not the Allah of Islam but the real God si total righteousness absolutely perfect...when man failed to be perfect it meant death to man...Sin equals death and eternal seperation from a rihgteous God...God does not overlook sin he never did and he never will...God could not simply ignore man's sin...God knew man could not be perfect before he created him...It was not God's plan ot join man in his sin but to bring man to God's righteouness...This paln was to come to the world as amn because it was man who sinned...to overcome temptation and to remain perfect...Your Qu'ran agrees that Chrsit alone was wihtout sin...It is as the true word of God says because only a perfect man could pay the penalty of sin for man....Jesus overcame mans temtations and remained perfect for a good reason He is God who came to the world to overcome sin and death for all of those who accept his atonement..through this atonement man is brought to God's righteouness,....Now by faith we say we are made new...we have not literally died and been born again but that we have we have by faith.
Roshni dont you understand that if Jesus was not God there is not salvation because God si rightoeus and perfect eh does not pretend we are perfect or that sin is good no sinnners inherit God's heave none...If we are not made new we perish in our sin and are eternally seperated form a rihgteous God....he made a way for you and this way is Jesus he is the only way without Jesus we are all sinners and we are not going to be joined to aperfect God but we will die in our sins ...Sin equals death but eternal life is throrugh Jesus Chrsit our lord.

Answer 2

Most people are convinced that the are right, whether they are atheists, agnostics or from the many different religions or faiths that there are. Of course, there are many people who have researched and understand other religions or beliefs. There are also many who never bother and are not interested in learning about anything which doesn't match their own belief. I completely understand why people reach the conclusions they have about their belief or non-belief. My beliefs are strong. I too am convinced that my faith is the truth, however I respect that other people have come to a very different conclusion. I also understand they feel the same way as I do. At the end of our lives, only one belief will be right, everyone else will have got it wrong. This is one thing that we can be sure about. Until we die, we cannot prove who is right. How can anyone ever convince everyone what the truth is, when there are so many options? It's an impossible question to resolve. How did I do it? I researched greatly. Asked loads of questioned and prayed. I seeked God with all of my heart and believe that I have found him. God bless.

Answer 3

I'll start by saying that there is no need to apologize. It didn't come out harshly, just a question for information.

First off, Muhammad (SAW) didn't know how to read or write, so he couldn't have gone to the Torah or Gospels and written them down to copy the stories from. Also, we believe that the Bible and Torah are the words of men writing through their interpretations what the Word of God is.

Also, he never say that Mary was part of the trinity of Christianity, but pointing more to the fact that some Christians actually DO worship Mary on the same level as Jesus and God. In addition, the Qur'an does not confuse Mary with Moses's sister. They are two separate people. Maryam is just the Arabic name for Mary, just like Maria in Spanish or Italian.

The Torah and Jewish scriptures were not changed, but they still are only men's interpretation of God's Word.

Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Thank you for asking this question. I must also add that when one reads questions like this, it comes as a surprise that there are still some people out there who are interested in knowing facts rather than going on a spree of bashing based on whatever little and distorted knowledge they get from a few media flashes.

Many of the people have answered your questions point by point already and I will not waste your time by repeating their already well researched replies. I would just like to point you towards some basics:

Lets disregard the fact that somebody deliberately meddled with Torah or Bible. Isn't the fact that they have been no more living languages for centuries perturb you a little as to the validity of Bible and Torah? Many at times there are cases in our general life when a mere difference of perception in communicating a message can result in quite a different meaning at the end. This is one of the basic things one learns during management courses on communication. X reports that Y says that Z said that. Bible or Torah have always been people's versions or accounts of what they heard Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them) say was revealed to them from God. There is also a possibility of the prophets'own sayings being included in them and always the danger of communication failure.

Quran, on the other hand, has been revealed in a living language. It is still spoken, read and understood by a vast majority of people. There has never been a time in human history when Arabic became a dead language. There are no two version of Quran. There have never been any throughout history. it is not somebody's account of what Mohammad said was revealed to him from God. it is the same revelation word to word. It has been the same from the day it was revealed to date without change of even a single word.

Take for example the statement when you say Jesus is son of God. Maybe initially someone meant it metaphorically as we are all created by God and we know that he loves His creation dearly, more than one's parents so maybe someone once said metaphorically. And this has now become the basis of Christianity today.

Also, does this not seem illogical to you that God created this world with all the struggle between good and bad with a judgement day at the end, while all the time He has come Himself in human form and then has been crucified and Himself atoned the sins of his own creation? This does not appeal to common sense. That is why you find so many of your educated, logical people renouncing Christianity, either completely, becoming agnostic and atheists or partly by not being practicing christians. If you question them, they always point towards these illogical beliefs as the reason of their turning away.

Answer 5

"There were tons of copies of the Jewish Scriptures scattered in tons of countries at the time of Jesus" Are you sure? When ppl used to write on Animals skin and books were handwritten; were there really tons of books???

Virgin Mary is worshiped till today brother. What do you call when you stand before a statute of Her saying: "Pure Mary, cure My Sister!" Isn't cure from God only? What Mary has to do with this? actually ppl raised Jesus and Mary to the level of God. What do ytou call praying and weeping and asking demands from Mary's statute that happens till now? It's a worship.

That's the meaning recited in The Quran.

Talking about Evidence? Let's see: "For instance, the Quran confused the sister of Moses (Miriam) with Mary, the mother of Jesus (In Hebrew, Miriam and Mary are the same names.)" Quran didn't mention the name of Mosses brother, and The only Woman mentioned in The Book is Virgin Mary. where is your evidence for this confusion?

I don't want to be offensive to Christians; but "Father, Son and Holy Spirit"? did it really require all this complication? God disguises in another form to remove the humans' sins, and then disguises in another form as a "holy spirit" while he's a Father! is that a religion for the normal uneducated people of the BC era?

God (father) took the humans sin. And now anyone who says: "I'm Christian, I'm saved", can Kill few millions by nukes with no punishment as "he's saved!" is this really the Justice of the Allah? If I were a pagan and you're trying to convince me that I'll be in Heaven with my killer and wife raper because "We're saved", I will declare loudly that this universe is without God!

Answer 6

It is really great to see that you want to know more about Islam

I M not sure how to respond you but I think this site might help you. www.islamalways.com


This site is founded by Yusuf Estes and he used to be a Christian... missionary I think. He accepted Islam. So I tink, since he knows the bible as well as the Quran, he might be able to help u better.

All the best and don't hesitate to ask. Good way of seeking knowledge :)

p.s. u might also find www.irf.net helpful

Answer 7

The Holy Bible warned about false teachings and false prophets, but some people just refuse to believe God's word. Instead they choose to believe the word of one man...Mohammad. That's it for islam, one man's word.

God Bless.

Answer 8

Holy Quran is a guidance unto humanity. It clears the false doctrines and doubts that remain regarding Jesus Christ.
In fact people gets confused with Christianity rather than Islam. Since the word 'trinity' is nowhere in the Holy bible. Jesus Christ never said he was God or asked to worship him. So truth before God Almighty is one. That is to worship none but Him. He alone is worthy of worship. Did ever Abraham (pbuh) called upon Jesus Christ. Or any Prophets before or after Jesus Christ (pbuh) clearly call upon him,. If he was part of God how come Jesus did himself not knew he was a God. Jesus ate food and drank like us and had the normal needs of a man. Imagine a God going to toilet or under a bush..see how false is Christian belief upon God.
See, the word trinity is n't in the Bible, but it is there in the Quran asking Christians not to say it. That is better for you. since worshiping Jesus will be of no help to you once we all return to God Almighty.
Holy Quran don't say Mary is part of trinity, but says many Christians did take Jesus and Mary as Davine beings. Took them for a worship beside God Almighty.

Islam (submission to God's will) is the only religion before God. Thank you.

Answer 9

i read half of it... it is too long.. but i think i get you... you see, Jesus did teach the injeel but the real one,, he did not pick a copy of it from the street and started at it.. no,, it is the idea behind it he taught... also for evidence that the bible and torah are corrupt ask the christains and jews themselves...

you can find more than a copy (different) in one church or temple.... the fact that you can find different copies all claiming to be the real one is in itself corrupt... as for the quran, pick a copy in China and a copy in Brazil... not even one letter is different ..exact copy... no one can deny that...

as for Mary,, read the explaination of that verse to understand... the trinity here is not mentioned...

i hope this answers a part of your questions..

Answer 10

I'm at work right now, but I've starred this question. Hopefully I can come back to it later, when I am at home. Meanwhile, maybe some of my contacts can address it. :o)

Answer 11

From what I have been forced to read of the many postings of parts of the quran....it rambles,on and on, with no clear point...

and why would any one worships mary??

I will stick with the Bible....God has preserved his word and God's word does not fail.