Do Muslims worship the same God as Christians - Part 4 The Bible vs the Quran and Hadith

SCRIPTURE &INSPIRATION

PART 4

DO MUSLIMS WORSHIP THE

SAME GOD AS CHRISTIANS?

Muhammad accepted both Old Testament (Torah) and New Testament (Gospel) writings as Scripture.

Sura 5:68 Say, “O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord.”…

The Quran is supposed to confirm the Old and New Testament.

Sura 3:3 He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel.

Yet in most places it contradicts it.

INTRODUCTION

THE BIBLE ,THE QURAN

& THE HADITH

While modern Muslims also claim to accept the Bible, it is with a disclaimer. If it disagrees with the Quran (which was written later), they then allege (without offering evidence) that it must have been modified by Jews and Christians. Yet the thousands of ancient manuscripts that have been found indicate that the Bible as it was in Muhammad’s day is the same as the Bible we have today. E.g the gospel of John shown here, which predates Muhammad by 4 centuries, clearly teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, while the Quran says that God has no son.

THE BIBLE

A copy of the gospel of John from 175–225 AD.

Paul’s name is mentioned in several Islamic hadiths as the deceiver of the Christians, and along with people like Cain, Nimrod, Fir’aun and Samiri, is punished in a stage of Hell called Saqar. Another hadith mentions demons that mislead people after prophets, and names Paul as the demon that misled people after Jesus. 1

Yet Paul wrote one third of the New Testament, which Muslims claim to accept. The apostle Peter writes, “… just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Pet 3:15-16)

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Paul_the_Apostle

THE APOSTLE PAUL

The Bible consists of 66 individual books, 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The books are each divided into chapters (1,189 chapters altogether). The Quran contains 114 Suras (chapters) each referred to by either its sequential number or by its unique name. The Quran (about 78,000 words) is about ten times shorter than the Bible (about 780,000 words).

The Bible with some 40 authors, mainly Jewish, was written over a period of the middle 2,000 years of human history. The compilation of the written Quran (as opposed to the recited Quran) spanned several decades. It was a record of the revelations Muhammad received over the course of 23 years in the 7th Century AD. After Muhammad’s death it was codified into a single written Arabic version.

BIBLE VS QURAN

The revelations (or Ayats, literally “Signs of God”), which Muhammad had continued receiving till his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the “word of God”, around which the religion is based. 1

Muslim and non-Muslim scholars alike disagree on whether Muhammad compiled the Quran during his lifetime or if this task began with the first caliph Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (632-634). 2

Besides the Quran, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (hadith) are also upheld by Muslims. 1

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ ?title=User:Harmil/ Muhammad 2 "http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ History_of_the_Quran

THE QURAN & HADITH

Dr. Mohammed Hamidullah says Muslims revere the Hadith as well as the Quran because: “The Hadith is as divinely inspired as the Quran itself. The teachings of Islam are based primarily on the Quran and the Hadith, and… both are based on divine inspiration.” 1

Sunni scholars recognize 6 canonical hadith collections:

Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Al-Sunan al-Sughra and Sunan ibn Majah. The Malikis reject Sunan ibn Majah and favour Muwatta Imam Malik. 2

Shiite scholars recognize:

The Four Books: Kitab al-Kafi, Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, and Al-Istibsar. 2

1 Introduction to Islam, pg 23 2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Hadith

THE HADITH

Sahih Muslim starts off most of the Hadiths with “_____ reported/ said” or similar. Many times very similar sayings are repeated one after another, with only slightly different wording, with different people reporting. The interesting thing is that Sahih Muslim Vol 4 Bk 28 No 5777 p.1250 says that the very last of the companions of Muhammad died 100 Hegira. That would be around 720 AD. Now Imam Muslim, the collector of the hadiths died 875 AD, or 150 years later. In some cases some of the people who related some of the sayings died only a few years after Muhammad. So in many cases you have sayings from an impeccable source, such as a wife of Muhammad, followed by 150 to almost 250 years of no train of transmission…Thus when we read that Abu Hureira or ‘Aisha said something that was quoted, do not be misled that Imam Muslim heard this directly. 1 1 muslimhope.com/ SahihMuslim.htm

RELIABILITY OF HADITHS

Conclusion: Since the compiler of Sahih Muslim, Imam Muslim died in 875 AD (and Bukhari in 870 AD), Muslims have around 125 to 250 “years of faith” that the Hadiths were collected accurately. 1

This contrasts with the manuscript reliability of the New Testament. Jesus died 33 AD, and the New Testament was written 50 to 90 AD, so there is 17 to 40 “years of faith” in the memories of the gospel writers. 1

While 17 to 40 years can easily be within the lifetime of one person, a gap of 125 to 250 years clearly has a period when these oral traditions have to be repeatedly transmitted from one generation to another, increasing the possibility of corruption.

1 Ibid

RELIABILITY OF HADITHS

Christians who have read both the Quran and the Bible tend to realize that the ‘take no prisoners’ god of the Quran is not the God of love of the Bible (1 John 4:8,16). In fact, none of the Bible characters mentioned in the Quran are a true representation of that person. 1

Yoel Natan writes, “The characters in the Quran seem to lack any personality of their own and indeed seem to speak in exactly the same way, with the same rhetoric of Muhammad. Their dialogue always appears to be words that have simply been put in their mouths to bolster his case for any particular argument he favours. In contrast the Bible while having a uniform message is full of diverse characters who convey that message in a way that is unique to their clear distinct human personalities.” 1

1 Moon-o-theism - Religion of a War & Moon God Prophet - Vol I of II - Yoel Natan

QURANIC CHARACTERS

Isa is supposedly Jesus, but can you imagine this alleged conversation between Jesus and the Father?

Allah will say: ‘O Isa [Jesus] son of Mary, did you say to men, ‘Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah’?’ He [Jesus] will say: ‘Glory be to You! It did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, You would have indeed known it; You know what is in my mind, but I do not know what is in Your mind…’ 1 (Sura 5:116).

Besides the fact that both Jesus and God seemingly misunderstand what Christians actually believe about the trinity, does that even remotely sound like the Jesus of the gospels who said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:9-10)?

CHRONOLOGICAL ERRORS

QURAN

For reasons that have never been apparent Muhammad chose to call Jesus “Isa”. The English “Jesus” comes the Greek “Iesous” which was derived from the Hebrew name “Yeshua”. Ahmed Deedat, a fiercely anti-Christian Muslim apologist, claimed that the original name of Jesus was “Eesa” and that it derives from the Hebrew “Esau”.

But Christian Arabs have always called Jesus “Yasu” after the Aramaic “Yashua”.

Deedat’s interpretation of this name as “Esau” tends to lend support to the suggestion made by some that the Jews in Arabia cunningly misled Muhammad by subtly perverting the true name of Jesus into the name of their forefather’s irreligious brother. 1

1 http:// path-of-peace.org/ Christ In Islam And Christianity.htm

CHRONOLOGICAL ERRORS

C.C. Torrey wrote of this blunder, “It is a patent fact that the prophet knew next to nothing about Jesus; also, that there are no distinctly and peculiarly Christian doctrines in the sacred book. All those who have studied the matter know and declare that the great bulk of the Quranic material is of Jewish origin; and we have certain knowledge that Muhammad resorted habitually to learned Jewish teachers…” 1

Muhammad’s reliance on heretics resulted in hardly anything he knew about Christianity being correct. He often confused Biblical characters with similar names who lived centuries apart.

1 Torrey. Foundations, pp. 72-73

CHRONOLOGICAL ERRORS

Mariam the mother of ‘Isa (Jesus) is called a sister of Aaron, and also the daughter of Aaron’s father ‘Imran (Hebrew Amram). Clearly Muhammad has confused Mary (Miriam in Hebrew) with Miriam of the Exodus. The two lived more than a thousand years apart! 1

In the Bible Haman is the minister of Ahasuerus in Media and Persia (Esther 3:1-2). Yet the Quran places him over a thousand years earlier, as a minister of Pharaoh in Egypt. 1

The Quran has a Samaritan making the golden calf, which was worshipped by the Israelites in the wilderness (Ta Ha 20:85) during the Exodus. In fact it was Aaron (Exodus 34:1-6). The Samaritans did not exist until several centuries later. They were descendants of the northern Israelites centuries after the Exodus. 1

1 answering-islam.org/ authors/ durie/ islamic_jesus.html

CHRONOLOGICAL ERRORS

SOURCES FOR THE

QURAN AND THE HADITH

According to the Quran, the unbelievers accused Muhammad of reproducing the fables of the ancients:

Sura 68:15 When Our verses are recited to him, he says, “Legends of the former peoples.”

But in fact the unbelievers were right about Muhammad presenting rehashed myths and ancient tales as God’s words. Some of the sources of the material in the Quran and Hadith was indeed borrowed from:

Arabian fables

Jewish apocrypha

Christian fables

Christian heretics

QURANIC SOURCES

The Quran 1 relates that Saleh was a prophet in Thamud. The people did not believe him, and asked for a sign of his prophethood. In response he produced a pregnant she-camel from a rock that split open. But the people of Thamud hamstrung the camel and killed it. Thamud was then destroyed by God in an earthquake.

1 Suras 7:73-77; 91:11-14; 54:23-29

1) ARABIAN FABLES

According a Wikipedia article on the topic:

The prophet Saleh is not mentioned in any other Abrahamic scripture or contemporary historical text, and his account is only found in the Quran. However, the account of Thamud’s destruction was well known in Pre-Islamic Arabia and among the Arabic tribes and their poets that they mentioned them (and the people of ʿĀd) in some of their poetry, as a moral lesson and a bad end. Arab Jews knew about the stories of Thamūd and ʿĀd from the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, but mostly as an Arabian tradition, and not as a matter of belief and faith, because they were not mentioned in the Jewish sources, nor in the contemporary Roman or Christian ones. 1

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Saleh

1) ARABIAN FABLES

The story of a village of Jews who were turned into apes because they broke the Sabbath by fishing (Suras 2:65; 7:163-166) was a popular legend in Muhammad’s day. 1

They had failed a test of devotion to God when he tempted them with fish which would appear openly in the sea only on the Sabbath; but not on the other days of the week.

1 bible.ca/ islam/ islam-Quran-fairy-tales-dr-morey.htm

1) ARABIAN FABLES

Many of the stories in the Quran originate from legends in the Jewish Talmud, the Midrash, and other Jewish apocryphal works. Muhammad confuses these fables with fact.

The story in Sura 7:171 of God suspending a mountain over the heads of the Jews as a threat to squash them if they rejected the law came from the Jewish Talmud.

… the Rabbis also said that Israel accepted the Torah only when God lifted and suspended Mount Sinai over their heads, saying, “If you accept the Torah it will be well with you, but if not, here you will find your grave.” [Babylonian Talmud, tractate Avodah Zarah 2b-3a] 1

1 http:// scheinerman.net/ judaism/ Ideas/ chosen.html

2) JEWISH FABLES

The story about God making a man and his donkey die for a hundred years and then raising them (Sura 2:259) is based on a Jewish fable “The Sleep of One Hundred Years”. 1

1 http:// sacred-texts.com/ jud/ jftl/ jftl19.htm

2) JEWISH FABLES

The tale of Abraham being delivered from Nimrod’s fire (Suras 21:51-71; 29:16, 17; 37:97,98) came from the Midrash Rabbah. 1

A story of Abraham smashing idols (Sura 21) is contained in Midrash Bereishit 38:13. 2

The story of the making of the golden calf in the wilderness, in which the image jumped out of the fire fully formed and actually mooed (Suras 7:148; 20:88), came from Pirke Rabbi Eleazer. 1

1 bible.ca/ islam/ islam-Quran-fairy-tales-dr-morey.htm 2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Legends_and_the_Quran

2) JEWISH FABLES

The fable of the pieces of four dead birds getting up and flying to Abraham (Sura 2:260) is taken from an old Jewish fable well known in Arabia at the time of Muhammad. 1

In Sura 15:28 when God creates Adam, he commands all the angels to bow to him. Iblis (Satan) refuses to bow to Adam and is reprimanded by God. This fabricated story is borrowed from the Jewish apocryphal book “The Life of Adam and Eve” (14:1-3) which tells how Michael summoned all the angels to bow to Adam who is “the likeness and the image of the divinity“. But Satan refused Michael’s request.

1 http:// 1000mistakes.com/ 1000mistakes/ index.php? Page=007_003_001_001

2) JEWISH FABLES

Sura 5:27,31 relates “the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam” where “Allah sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother.”

The story comes from the Haggadah of Pesach folklore which relates that Adam and Eve at first didn’t know what to do with the body of their dead son Abel.

On a sudden, the mourning parents observed how a raven scratched the earth away in one spot, and then hid a dead bird of his own kind in the ground. Adam, following the example of the raven, buried the body of Abel, and the raven was rewarded by God. (Chapter 3: The Ten Generations The Punishment of Cain)

2) JEWISH FABLES

The Quran describes Korah as being very wealthy.

“Korah was one of Moses’ people, but he betrayed them and oppressed them. We gave him so many treasures that the keys would certainly weigh down a company of men possessed of great strength.” (Sura 28:76)

As it turns out, this ridiculous account about Korah’s very heavy keys is not found in the Bible, but it is mentioned in Talmud Bavli (in both Sanhedrin 110a and Pesachim 119a). 1

1 http:// wikiislam.net/ wiki/ Parallelism: _Wealth_of_Korah

2) JEWISH FABLES

The account of Pharaoh’s magicians converting appears not in the Bible, but in Jewish tradition.

Sura 7:120-121 And the magicians fell down in prostration [to Allah]. They said, “We have believed in the Lord of the worlds”

After that, they went up to Moses and wanted to be converted to Judaism. God told Moses not to accept them, etc. But Moses received them by himself, and the Egyptian magicians and their chiefs, Yonus and Yombrus, became “the mixed multitude” (Yalqut Re’uveni Wa’era 19a).

2) JEWISH FABLES

The fable about seven Christian men of Ephesus and their dog who slept for around 300 years in a cave and then woke up perfectly fine (Sura 18:9-26) “was understood

3) CHRISTIAN FABLES

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Legends_and_the_Quran

by the earliest Islamic scholars as a Christian legend.” 1

While Muhammad incorporated Jewish myths into his teaching, we are told to avoid Jewish myths:

Titus 1:13-14 …Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.

And unlike Muhammad who incorporated unchecked fables into his scripture, the New Testament authors avoided fables and stuck to their eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ actions and ministry.

2 Peter 1:16 (NKJV) For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

MYTHS

We are to avoid myths and legends:

1 Tim 4:7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

1 Tim 1:3-4 … so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith…

2 Tim 4:3-4 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

MYTHS

One of the most documented and damaging facts about some material in the Quran is that it is clearly based on Christian apocryphal 1 material or heretical Gnostic gospels composed more than a hundred years after Jesus’ death.

Encyclopedia Britannica says of Muhammad: “The gospel was known to him chiefly through apocryphal and heretical sources” (15:648).

The late apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (6th – 7th century) describes Mary sitting below a palm tree with Jesus, the baby Jesus talking and performing miracles to nourish Mary with dates from a palm tree and a stream of water. Yet this fabricated story is related in Sura 19:22.

1 Apocryphal books are ‘Christian’ texts that are not canonical and are not considered to be Holy Spirit inspired.

4) HERETICAL SOURCES

The baby Jesus speaks from the cradle in Sura 19:29.

The 2nd century’s Injilu ‘t Tufuliyyah or the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, contains an Arabic translation of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and additional narratives. This contains a narrative of Jesus speaking while an infant. 1

The 1st century eye-witness account in John’s gospel (2:11) says that the first miracle Jesus performed was as an adult at the wedding at Cana.

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Legends_and_the_Quran

4) HERETICAL SOURCES

In Sura 3:49 Jesus makes clay birds come alive.This is found in the Pseudepigraphal 1 “Infancy Gospel of Thomas”. Pseudepigrapha are works whose real author falsely attributed it to a figure of the past.

In Sura 3:37 Mary the mother of Jesus at a young age was fed by supernatural means. This comes the Protoevangelium of James (v. 8) an apocryphal book probably written about AD 145. The purported author is James, the brother of Jesus, but it is generally accepted that the work was not written by him.

Sura 3:44 has men casting lots to be the husband of Mary. This is again is a fabricated story borrowed from the Protoevangelium of James (v. 9).

4) HERETICAL SOURCES

Muhammad again ignores the 1st century eye-witness accounts of the gospels (which he purports to accept) and instead borrows from a later 2nd century heretical source, when he incorporates a Gnostic heresy into the Quran which asserts that Jesus’ crucifixion was an illusion.

“And because of their saying, ‘We killed Messiah 'Îsa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah,’ – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared so to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts.” (Sura 4:157)

The Gnostic “Apocalypse of Peter” states, “He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness…”

4) HERETICAL SOURCES

STRANGE TEACHINGSOF MUHAMMAD

Treachery is okay and it’s alright to lie sometimes?

Muhammad’s harsh treatment of the Bani Qaynuqa must have alarmed the other Jewish tribes. Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, a leader and poet of the Bani Nadir, composed verses lamenting the Meccan defeat at Badr and satirizing Muhammad. This enraged Muhammad, so he had Ka’b assassinated, telling the killers it would be okay to lie in order to gain the confidence of their victim. (The story is recounted in Ibn Ishaq 550-51 and also in the Hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari 5:59:369.) 1

In the Bible when Joab used a similar approach (lying to gain confidence and treacherously murdering Abner), David said of Joab’s act “May the Lord repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds!” (2 Sam 3)

1 peacewithrealism.org/ jihad/ jihad06.htm

TREACHERY IS OKAY

You can bribe people to convert.

Muhammad gave polytheists gifts from the spoils of war to induce (i.e. bribe) them to become Muslims. 1 His face turned red when someone suggested that Allah would not approve of gifts given to polytheists. 2

You can put out someone’s eye if they look into your house without your permission.

Abu Huraira reported having heard Allah's Messenger … say: He who peeped into the house of people without their consent, it is permissible for them to put out his eyes. 3

1 SOURCE: Sahih Muslim Vol 2 Bk 5 Ch 396-397 #2300-2309 p.504-507; Vol 2 Bk 5 Ch 398 #2318 p.510 2 SOURCE: Sahih Muslim Vol 2 Bk 5 Ch 197 #2325 p.509 3 Sahih Muslim Bk 25 #5370

BRIBES TO CONVERT

1 Bukhari, Vol 4 ch 524, p. 333 The Prophet said, “A group of Israelites were lost. Nobody knows what they did. But I do not see them except that they were cursed and transformed into rats, for if you put the milk of a she- camel in front of a rat, it will not drink it, but if the milk of a sheep is put in front of it, it will drink it.” (1) It was illegal for the Israelites to eat the meat or drink the milk of camels while they were allowed to eat the meat and rink the milk of sheep. The prophet inferred from the rats’ habit that some of the Israelites had been transformed into rats.

For some unknown reason a tribe of Israelites who become lost were cursed and transformed into rats. 1

JEWS TURNED INTO RATS

“Later on the prophet was informed through inspiration about the fate of those Israelites: They were transformed into pigs and monkeys.” - Bukhari, Vol 4 ch 524, p. 333

JEWS TURNED INTO PIGS

A stone ran away with Moses’ clothes

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “(The Prophet) Moses was a shy person and used to cover his body completely because of his extensive shyness. One of the children of Israel hurt him by saying, ‘He covers his body in this way only because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has some other defect.’ Allah wished to clear Moses of what they said about him, so one day while Moses was in seclusion, he took off his clothes and put them on a stone and started taking a bath. When he had finished the bath, he moved towards his clothes so as to take them, but the stone took his clothes and fled; Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, ‘O stone! Give me my garment!’

RUNNING STONES

Till he reached a group of Bani Israel who saw him naked then, and found him the best of what Allah had created, and Allah cleared him of what they had accused him of. The stone stopped there and Moses took and put his garment on and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah, the stone still has some traces of the hitting, three, four or five marks. This is was what Allah refers to in his saying: - ‘O you who believe! Be you not like those Who annoyed Moses, But Allah proved his innocence of that which they alleged, And he was honourable In Allah’s Sight.’” (33.69)

RUNNING STONES

BOXING ANGELS

Moses also boxed the angel of death knocking out his eye:

Abu Huraira reported that the Angel of Death was sent to Moses … to inform of his Lord’s summons. When he came, he (Moses) boxed him and his eye was knocked out. He (the Angel of Death) came back to the Lord and said: You sent me to a servant who did not want to die. Allah restored his [the angel’s] eye… 1

1 Sahih Muslim Vol 4 Bk 29 Ch 990 #5851 p.1264. Also Sahih Muslim Vol 4 Bk 28 Ch 990 #5852 p.1265

Monkeys practice stoning of monkey adulterers.

According to the Hadith 1 traditions: Narrated Amr Bin Maimun: - During the Pre-Islamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 5 Bk 58 #188) 2

1 In Islam, the tradition or collection of traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that include his sayings, acts, and approval or disapproval of things. Hadith is revered by Muslims as a major source of religious law and moral guidance. It consists of two parts: the oral law itself and the isnad, or chain of authorities who passed it down to posterity. The various collections of Hadith provide the major source for studying the development of Islam in its first few centuries. 2 “MENJ and the Stoning of the She-Monkey: Responding to MENJ’s Attempt of Monkeying with the Hadith” by Sam Shamoun & Jochen Katz answering-islam.org/ Responses/ Menj/ she-monkey.htm

MONKEY ADULTERY

GABRIEL’S WINGS

The Quran claims that angels have up to 4 wings.

All praise belongs to Allah… Who employs the angels as Messengers, having wings, two, three, and four… 1

Yet the hadith has the angel Gabriel having 600 wings.

“Narrated Ibn Masûd: He (Ibn Masûd) said that the prophet had seen Jibrael (Gabriel) having 600 wings.” 2

1 Sura 35:1 Sher Ali 2 Vol 4 Bk 54 #455

GABRIEL’S WINGS

The Bible says that the cherubim have 2 wings:

2 Chron 3:12 Similarly one wing of the second cherub was five cubits long and touched the other temple wall, and its other wing, also five cubits long, touched the wing of the first cherub.

The seraphim have 6 wings.

Isaiah 6:2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings…

The non canonical Book of Enoch (20:7) speaks of Gabriel as being “over… the cherubim”, which would imply that he is a two-winged creature, certainly more practical than 600 wings.

Narrated Abu Talha: “I heard Allah’s Apostle saying; ‘Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal).’” 1

Abu Zubair said: I asked Jabir about the price of a dog and a cat: he said, “Allah’s Messenger disapproved of that.” 2

1 Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 4 #448, 490 2 Sahih Muslim Vol 3 #3808

NO DOGS ALLOWED

They said, “Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).” 1

Black dogs are devils and should be killed.

Abd Allah B. Mughaffal reported the apostle of Allah as saying: Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one. 2

Abu Dharr said… O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah … as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil. (Abd Allah ibn al-Samit) 3

1 Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 2 Abu Dawud #2839 3 Sahih Muslim Bk 4 #1032

NO DOGS ALLOWED

SLEEPING

Satan spends the night in your nose.

Abu Huraira reported: The Apostle of Allah… said. When any one of you awakes up from sleep and performs ablution, he must clean his nose three times, for the devil spends the night in the interior of his nose. (Sahih Muslim 2:462)

CROWING & BRAYING

Crowing and braying is caused by seeing demons.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “When you hear the crowing of cocks, ask for Allah's Blessings for (their crowing indicates that) they have seen an angel. And when you hear the braying of donkeys, seek Refuge with Allah from Satan for (their braying indicates) that they have seen a Satan.” - Sahih al-Bukhari 4:54:522

The evil eye is a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare, usually given to a person when they are unaware. 1 Receiving the evil eye allegedly causes misfortune or injury.

Muhammad accepted the superstition of the evil eye.

Muhammad stated “The influence of an evil eye is a fact...” (Sahih Muslim Bk 26 #5427)

You can counteract it by using incantation.

A’isha reported that Allah’s Messenger… commanded the use of incantation for curing the influence of an evil eye. (Sahih Muslim Bk 26 #5445)

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Evil_eye

THE EVIL EYE

Birth marks are caused by the evil eye.

Narrated Um Salama: that the Prophet saw in her house a girl whose face had a black spot. He said. “She is under the effect of an evil eye; so treat her with a Ruqya.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 7:71:635)

The prescribed cure by the prophet is ‘ruqya’ which is the Arabic for: “spell, charm, incantation” 1

Birthmarks are caused by overgrowth of blood vessels, melanocytes, smooth muscle, fat, fibroblasts, or keratinocytes. 2 And Muhammad supposedly liberated the Arabs from pagan superstition?

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Ruqayya 2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Birthmark

THE EVIL EYE

Suleiman (Solomon) had sex with 100 women in one night.

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “Once Solomon, son of David said, ‘(By Allah) Tonight I will have sexual intercourse with one hundred (or ninety-nine) women each of whom will give birth to a knight who will fight in Allah’s Cause.’ On that an Angel said to him, “Say, Allah willing” (i.e. if Allah wills) but he did not say, ‘Allah willing.’ Therefore only one of those women conceived and gave birth to a half-man. By Him in Whose Hands Muhammad’s life is, if he had said, ‘Allah willing’, (he would have begotten sons) all of whom would have been knights striving in Allah’s Cause.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4:52:74)

This is of course physiologically impossible.

SOLOMON

The Quran narrates many fantastic details regarding Solomon, such as his having control over the winds and demons (jinns), speaking the language of animals, insects and birds etc.” 1

Talking birds:

The Quran (Sura 27) has Suleiman (Solomon) getting reports from the Hoopoe bird about the kingdom of Saba (Sheba), ruled by a queen whose people worship the sun instead of God. 2

1 answering-islam.org/ Shamoun

2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Queen_of_Sheba

SOLOMON

Talking ants:

At length, when they came to a valley of ants, one of the ants said: “O ye ants, get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot) without knowing it.” So he smiled, amused at her speech; and he said: “O my Lord! so order me that I may be grateful for Thy favours, which Thou has bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may work the righteousness that will please Thee: And admit me, by They Grace to the ranks of Thy Righteous Servants.” – Sura An-Naml [The Ant] (27):18-19

TALKING ANTS?

Ants communicate using smells, not modulation of sounds. Solomon could not have heard any talk since ants do not produce any. 1

Two forms of sound production have been identified, body rapping against the substratum and stridulation, the latter employing files and scrapers … ants are nearly deaf to airborne vibrations but extremely sensitive to vibrations carried through the substratum… No evidence exists to rank the chirps of stridulation as anything more than simple unitary signals. In other words, ants do not ‘talk’ by modulating sound through time… sounds do not appear to vary within species or within the repertory of one worker ant through time… 2

1 answering-islam.org/ Quran/ Contra/ s001.html 2 Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson “The Ants” Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1990

TALKING ANTS?

Doesn’t the Biblical story about Balaam and his donkey pose the same problem to Christians as the talking ant?

Quran: In Sura 27, the miracle is Solomon’s ability to understand (and speak) the language of the animals. The miracle is performed on Solomon. Solomon’s abilities are transformed. That animals speak is presupposed. This presupposition is wrong, and therefore the Quran has a problem. Bible: In Numbers 22, the speaking of the donkey is the miracle. Numbers 22:28 states: Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said ... The miracle is performed on the animal. It is God who made this one particular donkey speak at this particular time. She does not speak ‘naturally’ but only miraculously. 1

1 answering-islam.org/ Responses/ Menj/ ants.htm

WHAT ABOUT BALAAM?

In the Quran, the conversation of animals among themselves and with Solomon is daily routine. On the other hand, Balaam’s donkey did not speak this way to other donkeys, nor did she communicate with any other animals (rabbits, snakes, ants etc.) that they may have met on their journey, nor would anyone expect that she spoke this way to Balaam ever again after this particular incident. It is a singular miraculous act of God for a very specific purpose. 1

1 Ibid

WHAT ABOUT BALAAM?

Narrated Abu Huraira: Once Allah’s Apostle; offered the morning prayer and then faced the people and said, “While a man was driving a cow, he suddenly rode over it and beat it. The cow said, ‘We have not been created for this, but we have been created for sloughing.’ On that the people said astonishingly, ‘Glorified be Allah! A cow speaks!’ The Prophet said, ‘I believe this, and Abu Bakr and 'Umar too, believe it, although neither of them was present there. While a person was amongst his sheep, a wolf attacked and took one of the sheep. The man chased the wolf till he saved it from the wolf, where upon the wolf said, ‘You have saved it from me; but who will guard it on the day of the wild beasts when there will be no shepherd to guard them except me…?’ ” 1

1 Sahih Bukhari 4:56:677

TALKING COWS & WOLVES

CRYING TREES

“Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah: The prophet used to stand by a stem of a date- palm tree (while delivering a Khutba). When the pulpit was placed for him we heard that stem crying like a pregnant she-camel till the prophet got down from the pulpit and place his hand over it.” 1

1 Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 2 #41

TREES, STONES & FOOD

A tree informant:

… he was asked, ‘As to who informed the prophet about the Jinns at night when they heard the Quran?’ He said that a tree informed the prophet about them. 1

Friendly stones:

Jabir b. Samura reported Allah’s Messenger… as saying: I recognise the stone in Mecca which used to pay me salutations before my advent as a Prophet and I recognise that even now. 2

Muhammad’s food shouting praises:

…no doubt we heard the meal glorifying Allah, when it was being eaten by Allah’s Apostle. 3

1 Bukhari Vol 5 Bk 58 #199 2 Sahih Muslim 30:5654 3 Bukhari Vol 4, No 779

PRAYING

If you look up toward heaven during prayers your eyes will be snatched out of your head.

Abu Haraira reported Allah’s Apostle saying, “People should avoid lifting their eyes towards the sky while supplicating in prayer, otherwise their eyes would be snatched away.” - Sahih Muslim Vol 1 #863 Ch 173

GAS ANNULS PRAYERS

Apparently your prayers are only heard if you don’t pass wind while praying. Muhammad claimed that when angels pray they say:

“O Allah! Forgive him, as long as he keeps on sitting at his praying place and does not pass wind.” - Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 Bk 8 #466.

But you don’t need to stop praying unless it’s loud or smelly:

“Narrated Abdullah bin Yazid Al-Ansari: He asked Allah’s messenger about a person who imagined to have passed wind during the Salat (prayer). Allah’s messenger replied: ‘He should not leave his Salat (prayer) unless he hears sound or smells something.’” - Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 Bk 4 #139.

GAS & SLEEPING

Ritualistic cleaning is necessary if you break wind while praying:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “The prayer of a person who does Hadath (passes, urine, stool or wind) is not accepted till he performs (repeats) the ablution.” A person from Hadaramout asked Abu Huraira, “What is ‘Hadath’?” Abu Huraira replied, “‘Hadath’ means the passing of wind from the anus.” 1

1 Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 Bk 4 #137

MISSING PRAYER

If you sleep instead of praying, Satan urinates in your ear.

Narrated Abdullah: A person was mentioned before the Prophet… and he was told that he had kept on sleeping till morning and had not got up for the prayer. The Prophet said, “Satan urinated in his ears.” 1

But besides that, there are other perils to not praying (like the destruction of your property):

Muhammad said the prayer leader should order the houses burned down of people who missed prayer [without cause]. 2

1 Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 2 #245 2 Sahih Muslim Vol 1 Bk 4 Ch 234 #1369 p.315

GARLIC & ONION

You cannot go to mosque after eating garlic or onions.

What has been said about uncooked garlic or onion. And the statement of the Prophet: “Whoever has eaten garlic or onion because of hunger or otherwise not come near our mosque.” - Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 #812

PRAYING

Spitting etiquette in the mosque:

If one amongst you stands for prayer, Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, is before him he should not spit in front of him, or on his right side, but should spit on his left side beneath his left foot… 1

The potential perils of raising your head before an Imam (Muslim preacher):

…The Prophet said, “Isn’t he who raises his head before the Imam afraid that Allah may transform his head into that of a donkey or his figure (face) into that of a donkey?” 2

1 Sahih Muslim #7149b 2 Sahih Bukhari 1:11:660

PRAYING

The hazards of not praying in straight rows.

Narrated An-Nu'man bin 'Bashir: The Prophet said, “Straighten your rows or Allah will alter your faces.” 1

When is it forbidden to pray?

It is forbidden to pray at sunset, and between the (pre-dawn) morning prayer and sunrise, according to Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 1 Bk 10 Ch 30 #558-563 p.323-325. Muslims are not supposed to offer prayers during the time of day when the sun has a yellow hue - Sahih Muslim Vol 1 Bk 4 Ch 227 #1301 Vol 1 footnote 841 p.304 2

1 Sahih Bukhari Vol 1, Bk 11, No 685 2 muslimhope.com/ SahihMuslim.htm

FORBIDDEN TO PRAY

Prayer is prohibited after the afternoon prayer except when the sun is high. Abu Dawud Vol 1 Bk 2 Ch 450 #1269 p.335. Prohibited times of prayer are mentioned in Abu Dawud Vol 1 Bk 2 Ch 450 #1272-1273 p.336 1

“The sun rises and with it is a horn of Shaytan [Satan] and when the sun gets higher the horn leaves it. Then when the sun reaches the meridian the horn joins it and when the sun declines the horn leaves it, and when the sun has nearly set joins it again.’ The Messenger of Allah… forbade prayer at these times.” Muwatta’ Malik 15.10.44 1

Women are to “abandon prayer” during their time of month. Sahih Muslim Vol 1 Bk 3 Ch 131 #652 p.188-189 1

1 muslimhope.com/ SahihMuslim.htm

After eating you should not wipe your hand until you have either licked your fingers or given them to someone else to lick. 1

This is to prevent the devil having your leftovers.

Jabir reported: I heard Allah’s Apostle… as saying: The Satan is present with any one of you in everything he does; he is present even when he eats food; so if any one of you drops a mouthful he should remove away anything filthy on it and eat it and not leave for the devil; and when he finishes (food) he should lick his fingers, for he does not know in what portion of his food the blessing lies. 2

But what then is the devil supposed to eat?

1 Sahih Muslim vol.3:5037-5042 no. p.1119-1120 2 Sahih Muslim 23:5046

STRANGE TEACHINGS

A JINNS DIET

Jinns (spirits) eat bones and animal dung – and that as a ‘favour’ granted by Muhammad’s request to Allah!

Narrated Abu Huraira:…The Prophet said, “Bring me stones in order to clean my private parts, and do not bring any bones or animal dung.”… When he finished, I walked with him and asked, “What about the bone and the animal dung?” He said, “They are of the food of Jinns. The delegate of Jinns of (the city of) Nasibin came to me--and how nice those Jinns were--and asked me for the remains of the human food. I invoked Allah for them that they would never pass by a bone or animal dung but find food on them.”! 1

1 Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 5 Bk 58 #200

DEMONIC BELLS

Bells are from Satan:

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: “The bell is the musical instrument of Satan.” - Sahih Muslim, #5279

Narrated Umar ibn al-Khattab: Ibn az-Zubayr told that a woman client of theirs took az-Zubayr’s daughter to Umar ibn al-Khattab wearing bells on her legs. Umar cut them off and said that he had heard the Apostle of Allah … say: There is a devil along with each bell. - Abu Dawud 34:4218

STOPPING SATAN

Satan is stopped by a locked door and mice are arsonists:

…the Messenger of Allah… said, “Lock the door, tie the waterskin, turn the vessel over or cover it, and put out the lamp. Shaytan does not open a locked door or untie a tied knot, or uncover a vessel. A mouse may set fire to people’s houses about them.” 1

How do you get protection from Satan after a bad dream?

… “A good dream that comes true is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan, so if anyone of you sees a bad dream, he should seek refuge with Allah from Satan and should spit on the left, for the bad dream will not harm him.” 2

1 Al-Muwatta 49 10.21 2 Sahih Bukhari 9:87:115

How does Satan block out the sound of the Adhan (call to prayer)?

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “When the Adhan is pronounced Satan takes to his heels and passes wind with noise during his flight in order not to hear the Adhan.” - Sahih Bukhari 1:11:582

How do you spot an infidel on judgement day?

It is narrated on the authority of Abu Sa'id that the Messenger of Allah… said: On the Day of Judgment there will be a flag fixed behind the buttocks of every person guilty of the breach of faith. - Sahih Muslim 19:4309

SPOTTING INFIDELS

After being laid in the grave, after a brief interrogation, infidels and hypocrites are hit between the ears with an iron hammer by the angels. 1

ANGELS AND HAMMERS

1 …“When a human being is laid in his grave… two angels come to him and make him sit and ask him: ‘What did you use to say about this man, Mohammed?... But a non-believer or a hypocrite will say to the angels, “I do not know, but I used to say what the people used to say! It will be said to him, Neither did you know nor did you take the guidance (by reciting the Quran).’ Then he will be hit with an iron hammer between his two ears, and he will cry and that cry will be heard by whatever approaches him except human beings and jinns.’” - Bukhari vol. II, No. 422

Wigs are cursed:

… Allah’s Apostle has cursed the lady who uses false hair. - Sahih Bukhari 6:60:409

Regulations about putting on and taking off sandals:

When one of you puts on sandals, he should first put in the right foot, and when he takes off he should take off the left one first, or he should put them on together or take them off together. - Sahih Muslim #5231.

Not so much strange, but more stating the obvious - Don’t marry someone you haven’t met:

“When the Prophet went to her he found her to be an old woman, so he divorced her.” - al-Tabari vol.9 p.139

STRANGE TEACHINGS

Green and white jars forbidden:

Narrated Ash-Shaibani: I heard ‘Abdullah bin Abi Aufa saying, “The Prophet forbade the use of green jars.” I said, “Shall we drink out of white jars?” He said, “No.” - Sahih Bukhari 7:69:501

Toss out the silverware as well:

Narrated Um Salama: (the wife of the Prophet) Allah’s Apostle said, “He who drinks in silver utensils is only filling his abdomen with Hell Fire.” - Sahih Bukhari 7:69:538

STRANGE TEACHINGS

When a woman (Sahla) was concerned about her teenage adopted boy (Salim) being around the house, because he had reached the age of puberty – she was advised to breastfeed him – supposedly in order to make him a legitimate child. According to Sahih Muslim Bk 8 #3428:

… ('A'isha) said… Sahla daughter of Suhail came to Allah’s Messenger … and said: Allah’s Messenger, I swear by Allah that I see in the face of Abu Hudhaifa (the signs of disgust) on account of entering of Salim (in the house), whereupon Allah’s Messenger … said: Suckle him. She (Sahla bint Suhail) said: He has a beard. But he (again) said: Suckle him, and it would remove what is there (expression of disgust) on the face of Abu Hudhaifa. She said: (I did that) and, by Allah, I did not see (any sign of disgust) on the face of Abu Hadhaifa.

ADULT BREASTFEEDING

Imam Malik’s Muwatta, Bk 30 #30.2.12:

Sahla bint Suhayl who was the wife of Abu Hudhayfa, and one of the tribe of Amr ibn Luayy, came to the Messenger of Allah… and said, ‘Messenger of Allah! We think of Salim as a son and he comes in to see me while I am uncovered. We only have one room, so what do you think about the situation?’ The Messenger of Allah… said, ‘Give him five drinks of your milk and he will be mahram by it.’ She then saw him as a foster son. A’isha umm al-muminin took that as a precedent for whatever men she wanted to be able to come to see her. She ordered her sister, Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr as-Siddiq and the daughters of her brother to give milk to whichever men she wanted to be able to come in to see her.

ADULT BREASTFEEDING

According to Aisha (a wife of Muhammad quoted extensively in the Hadith) a woman simply needs to breastfeed the man 10 times (later changed to 5), thereby making them legally related with the woman automatically becoming his foster mother. (So they wouldn’t be tempted to have sex, as marriage is unlawful with a foster child.)

Amra reported that she heard Aisha discussing fosterage which (makes marriage) unlawful; and she (Aisha) said: There was revealed in the Holy Quran ten clear sucklings, and then five clear (sucklings). 1

One or two times would be insufficient to close the deal:

Allah’s Apostle said: Being suckled once or twice, or one suckling or two, do not make marriage unlawful. 2

1 Sahih Muslim 3422 2 Sahih Muslim 3417

ADULT BREASTFEEDING

Aisha was adamant that these verses were part of the original Quran and not just the Hadith:

Aisha reported that it had been revealed in the Holy Quran that ten clear sucklings make the marriage unlawful, then it was abrogated by five sucklings and Allah’s Apostle died and it was before that time (found) in the Holy Quran (and recited by the Muslims). 1

So why aren’t they in the Quran today. Aisha explains:

It was narrated that Aisha said: “The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and ate it.” 2

1 Sahih Muslim 3421 2 Sunan ibn Majah 1944

ADULT BREASTFEEDING

Playing chess is disgusting:

Buraida reported on the authority of his father that Allah’s Apostle … said: He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine. (Sahih Muslim 28:5612)

CHESS

Poetry is from Satan:

Abu Sa`id Khudri reported: We were going with Allah’s Messenger… As we reached the place (known as) Arj there met (us) a poet who had been reciting poetry. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger … said: Catch the satan or detain the satan, for filling the belly of a man with pus is better than stuffing his brain with poetry. - Sahih Muslim 28:5611

POETRY

A convenient method for dry-cleaning clothes:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Muhammad ibn Umara from Muhammad ibn Ibrahim that the mother of the son of Ibrahim ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf questioned Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet… said, “I am a woman who wears a long skirt and (sometimes) I walk in dirty places." Umm Salama replied, “The Messenger of Allah… said, ‘What follows (i.e. clean places) purifies it.’ ” - Al-Muwatta 2 4.16

DRY CLEANING

SCIENTIFIC ERRORS

IN THE HADITH AND THE QURAN

GIANTS

The Bible has Goliath, a man considered to be a giant, as being 6 cubits and one span” which is around 9’8”.

A variant reading in the Septuagint and used by Josephus has Goliath around 6’8” (compared to a typical height of men then of around 5’6”).

Og of Bashan was around 12’ if he was about one cubit shorter than his bed.

Ancient Jewish man

Goliath (LXX, Josephus)

Goliath (Masoretic, Vulgate)

Og of Bashan

5’6” 3.7 cubits

6’8” 4.5 cubits

9’8” 6.5 cubits

12’ 8 cubits

In contrast Muhammad believed that Adam was 90 foot tall (27½ metres) and that in paradise people would again be this height!

“Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's apostle said, ‘The first group of people who will enter Paradise, will… not urinate, relieve nature, spit, or have any nasal secretions. Their combs will be of gold, and their sweat will smell like musk… All of them will look alike and will resemble their father Adam (in statute), sixty cubits tall.’” Vol 4 Bk 55 #544

90 FOOT TALL

Muslim Adam

Modern man

90’ 60 cubits

6’

According to J.B.S. Haldane, a British geneticist, the existence of a 90 feet tall human being is physiologically impossible. No animal body can function at this height. The highest that the heart could pump blood from the feet would be less than 32 feet (9.81 metres); any greater height than this would cause a vacuum lock to develop in

the circulation system. In fact the height at which the circulation system breaks down would be considerably less than this due to friction between the blood and the walls of the blood vessels. 1

1 Ibid

Dr. George Barnes, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Nevada writes:

There are quite a number of other physical characteristics that can be discussed using scaling. For example, the cross sectional area of the leg bones obviously scales as the square of the characteristic length while the mass of the body supported by the legs scales as the cube. Since the bone has some ultimate tensile strength in N/ m2, there would be some limit to the height of an animal, beyond which it would crumble under its own weight. 1

1 In his article “Physics and Size in Biological Systems”

90 FOOT TALL

If Adam were 90 feet high, he would be 15 times taller and would have 3375 times (15 x 15 x 15) the mass of a normal male. His weight would be an astonishing 246,375 kg or 270 tons! 1

But the human thigh-bone, for example, breaks under about 10 times the human weight, so Adam would have broken his thighs every time he took a step, not to mention all his other bones.

1 answering-islam.org/ Responses/ Osama/ 90feet-adam.htm

90 FOOT TALL

GENETICS

Muhammad declared that a child’s appearance was determined by who discharged first during sex. 1 But it is genetics not the order of “discharges” that determine a child’s physical characteristics. In addition, this revelation was supposedly given to Muhammad by Gabriel in order to assist him in proving to a Jew that he was indeed a true prophet. Clearly he failed the test!

1 “As for the resemblance of the child to its parents; if a man has sexual intercourse with his wife and gets a discharge first, the child will resemble the father, and if the woman gets her discharge first, the child will resemble her.” Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol 4 Bk 55 #546

EMBRYOLOGY

According to Muhammad, the embryo spends 40 days as a drop of sperm, 40 days as a clot, and then 40 days as a piece of flesh. In reality by day 56 the foetus is essentially a complete, though tiny, human being with all organ systems in place, and all tissues developed. 1

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Mus’ud: “Allah’s Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, “(The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4:54:430, also 4:55:549, 8:77:593, 9:93:546 and Sahih Muslim 33:6390)

1 http:// wikiislam.net/ wiki/ Scientific_Errors_in_the_Hadith

Gender assignment - He also claims the embryo is neither male nor female until after the clot phase is reached, some 80 days after conception, while modern genetics show that the gender of the baby is determined at the moment of conception.

Narrated Anas bin Malik: “The Prophet said, "Allah puts an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says, ‘O Lord, (it is) semen! O Lord, (it is now) a clot! O Lord, (it is now) a piece of flesh.’ And then, if Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel asks, 'O Lord, (will it be) a male or a female?” (Sahih al-Bukhari 8:77:594, also 4:55:550, and Sahih Muslim 33:6397)

http:// wikiislam.net/ wiki/ Scientific_Errors_in_the_Hadith

EMBRYOLOGY

CRYING BABIES

Babies cry at birth because Satan touches them.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “When any human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4:54:506 also Bk 55 #641)

Babies normally cry within a minute after birth. This is necessary because inside the mother’s uterus the babies do not use their lungs to breathe. Instead the umbilical cord provides them with fresh oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from their blood stream. Once, outside their mothers’ womb, the babies need to breathe on their own. 1

1 why.do/ why-do-babies-cry-after-birth/

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES

There are no contagious diseases.

There is no such thing as contagion, bad omens, superstition and bad luck in Safar. (Sahih al-Bukhari #5425)

One Islamic website comments on this passage as follows: “The pagan Arabs believed that certain sicknesses were contagious but Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam totally negated such practices. Many a times the doctors say that an epidemic has broken out, yet from a family of five people only two people contract the disease and the remaining three are perfectly healthy. This clearly indicates that sicknesses are not contagious. Allah Ta’ala inflicts a person with sicknesses.” 1

1 ka.org.za/ content/ superstitious-beliefs-month-safar

So apparently medical science has it wrong. They define contagious diseases as “ a subset category of transmissible diseases (can transmit from person to another) usually infections or some non-infection diseases, which are transmitted to other persons, either by physical contact (hence the name-origin) with the person suffering the disease, or by casual contact with their secretions or objects touched by them or airborne route among other routes.” 1

But the Fatwa Department from the Jamiatul Ulama (KZN) Council of Muslim Theologians states, “It should be noted that it is not permissible to hold the belief that a disease or sickness is contagious by itself.” 2

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Contagious_disease

2 http:// jamiat.org.za/ blog/ nikah-in-the-month-of-muharramsafar-2

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES

MIRACLE CURE

Black cumin can cure all diseases except death.

“…she (Aisha) heard the Prophet saying, ‘This black cumin is healing for all diseases except As-Sam.’ Aisha said, ‘what is As-Sam?’ He said ‘death.’” (Bukhari, Vol 7 Bk 71 #591)

But while black cumin seeds are reputed to provide many health benefits, this is clearly a gross exaggeration of their benefits. What about AIDS, Ebola and cancer?

FLIES

… The prophet said, “If a housefly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease.” - Bukhari Vol 4 Bk 54 #53

Houseflies carry diseases on their legs and their body hairs. Female flies collect pathogens when laying eggs on decomposing organic matter such as faeces, garbage and animal corpses. Diseases transmitted by flies include typhoid, anthrax, cholera, dysentery and viral hepatitis.

FEVER

Fever comes from the heat of hell.

Narrated Nazi’: Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “The Prophet said, ‘Fever is from the heat of Hell, so put it out (cool it) with water.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari 7:71:619)

A fever can be caused by many medical conditions including viral, bacterial and parasitic infections such as the common cold, urinary tract infections, meningitis, malaria and appendicitis among others. Non- infectious causes include vasculitis, deep vein thrombosis, side effects of medication, and cancer among others. 1

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Fever

It is healthier and more wholesome to breathe exactly three times (or three gulps) in the course of a drink. (Sahih Muslim Vol 3 Bk 21 Ch 844 #5029-5031) 1

Do not drink while standing, unless it is Zamzam 2 water. (Sahih Muslim, Vol 3 Bk 21 Ch 841-844 #5014-5027) 1

And what if you forget?

Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger… as saying: None of you should drink while standing; and if anyone forgets, he must vomit. - Sahih Muslim 23:5022

1 muslimhope.com/ SahihMuslim.htm

2 The Well of Zamzam is a well located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. According to Islamic belief, it is a miraculously-generated source of water which God revealed to Hagar when Ishmael was thirsty.

HEALTH

Sahih Muslim Vol 3 #513 Ch 862 - A believer eats in one intestine whereas a non-believer eats in seven intestines.

Ibn Umar reported Allah’s Messenger as saying that a non-Muslim eats in seven intestines while a Muslim eats in one intestine. (see also nos. 5114 -5120)

HEALTH

HEALTH

Water is not polluted by dead dogs or menstrual clothes.

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The people asked the Messenger of Allah… Can we perform ablution out of the well of Buda’ah, which is a well into which menstrual clothes, dead dogs and stinking things were thrown? He replied: Water is pure and is not defiled by anything. (Sahih Muslim 1:66-67)

How do you know when water is safe to drink?

Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar: The Prophet … was asked about water (in desert country) and what is frequented by animals and wild beasts. He replied: When there is enough water to fill two pitchers, it bears no impurity. (Abu Dawud 1:63)

HEALTH

Narrated Anas: The climate of Medina did not suit some people, so the Prophet ordered them to follow his shepherd, i.e. his camels, and drink their milk and urine (as a medicine) - Sahih al-Bukhari 7:71:590

HEALTH

Camel urine is discharged waste and it contains toxins, yet Muhammad recommended it as medicine. And we have no way of knowing whether the cure worked, because Muhammad tortured and killed the men afterwards.

The Prophet ordered that their hands and legs should be cut off and their eyes should be branded with heated pieces of iron, and that their cut hands and legs should not be cauterized, till they died. 1

… they were left in the Harra (i.e. rocky land in Medina). They asked for water, and nobody provided them with water till they died… 2

And with that, unfortunately the first clinical trial of camel urine ended.

1 Sahih al-Bukhari, Punishments, #6802 2 Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 4 Bk 52 #261

HEALTH

Eating 7 dates can make you immune to poison and counteract magic.

Narrated Sad: Allah’s Apostle said, “He who eats seven 'Ajwa dates every morning, will not be affected by poison or magic on the day he eats them.” - Sahih al-Bukhari 7:65:356, also 7:65:663

Though dates do possess certain medicinal properties, curing poison and dispelling magic are not among the known benefits.

HEALTH

Muhammad said there is medicinal value in ‘cupping’ (where a local suction is created on the skin; practitioners believe this mobilizes blood flow in order to promote healing 2)

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah: that he paid Al-Muqanna a visit during his illness and said, “I will not leave till he gets cupped, for I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, ‘There is healing in cupping.’” 1

The book “Trick or Treatment” states no evidence exists of any beneficial effects of cupping for any medical condition. According to the American Cancer Society, it can leave temporary bruised marks on the skin and there is a small risk of burns, and “available scientific evidence does not support claims that cupping has any health benefits”. 2

1 Sahih al-Bukhari 7:71:600, also 7:71:587, 7:71:598, 7:71:597, 7:71:595 2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Cupping_therapy

HEALTH

How do you respond to someone when your health advice about diarrhoea doesn’t work?

Narrated Abu Said: A man came to the prophet and said, “My brother has got loose motions.” The Prophet said, “Let him drink honey.” The man again (came) and said, “I made him drink (honey) but that made him worse.” The Prophet said, “Allah has said the Truth, and the abdomen of your brother has told a lie.” 1

1 Sahih Bukhari 7:71:614

Allah loves sneezing but yawning is from Satan:

… “Allah loves sneezing but dislikes yawning… as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so if one of you yawns, he should try his best to stop it, for when anyone of you yawns, Satan laughs at him."1

The devil enters your mouth when you yawn.

… When one of you yawns, he should keep his mouth shut with the help of his hand, for it is the devil that enters therein. 2

1 Sahih Bukhari 8:73:245 2 Sahih Muslim, Bk 42 #7130

HEALTH

… Allah’s Apostle said, “In Paradise there is a tree so big that in its shade a rider may travel for one hundred years without being able to cross it.” 1

Considering the average speed of a galloping horse can be around 48 km/ hour and the Islamic year has 355 days, this means the tree is 40 million km wide. This is 29 times the diameter of the sun (1.4 million km).

1 Sahih Bukhari 8:76:559

TREE 40 MILLION KM WIDE

The sun goes under Allah’s throne at night and a time is coming when it will rise in the west instead of the east.

Narrated Abu Dhar: The Prophet asked me at sunset, “Do you know where the sun goes (at the time of sunset)?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know better.” He said, “It goes (i.e. travels) till it prostrates Itself underneath the Throne and takes the permission to rise again, and it is permitted and then (a time will come when) it will be about to prostrate itself but its prostration will not be accepted, and it will ask permission to go on its course but it will not be permitted, but it will be ordered to return whence it has come and so it will rise in the west.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4:54:421)

ASTRONOMY

ASTRONOMY

There are giant mountain goats in space:

… Above the seventh heaven there is a sea, the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches is like the distance between one heaven and the next. Then Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, is above that (Abu Dawud 40:4705)

ASTRONOMY

The seven earths (???) rest on a whale, a rock and a bull:

Ibn Abu Nujaih stated that Ibrahim Ibn Abu Bakir was informed by Mujahid who said, "It was said that Nun is the great whale who is underneath the seven Earths." Furthermore, Al-Baghawy – may Allah rest his soul - and a group of commentators stated that on the back of this whale there is a great rock whose thickness is greater than the width of the heavens and the earth and above this rock is a bull that has forty thousand horns. On the body of this bull are placed the seven earths and all that they contain, and Allah knows best. (Tafsir Ibn-Kathir) 1

1 http:// wikiislam.net/ wiki/ Scientific_Errors_in_the_Hadith This citation is taken from the Arabic version of Ibn Kathir’s Tafsir, since the English translation omits these traditions. As you read it will become obvious why they were omitted.

Earth rests on a whale.

It was narrated by Ibn Jarir, narrated by Ibn Hamid, narrated by Ata’a, narrated by Abu Al-Dahee, narrated by Ibn Abbas who stated, “The first thing my Lord created, may He be Exalted and Glorified, was the pen and He said to it, ‘Write.’ So the pen wrote all that will be until judgment day. Then Allah created the Nun (the whale) above the waters and he pressed the Earth into its back. 1

1 Ibid

ASTRONOMY

QURANIC VS BIBLICALINSPIRATION

As a child Muhammad had been nursed by a Bedouin woman. His biographer, Ibn Ishaq, records that during this time he had an experience with “two men in white raiment”. The nurse was so disturbed by whatever it was she witnessed that she returned Muhammad to his mother. The story told by the nurse is related in Guillaume’s translation of Ibn Ishaq:

“His [Muhammad’s friend’s] father said to me, ‘I am afraid that this child has had a stroke, so take him back to his family before the result appears’… She [Muhammad’s mother] asked me what happened and gave me no peace until I told her. When she asked if I feared a demon had possessed him, I replied that I did.” 1

1 "The Life of Muhammad", by A. Guillaume, Oxford University Press.

SEIZURES

Muhammad had some type of fit or seizure at the moments of inspiration when receiving his messages from the angel Gabriel. (These messages were later recorded in the Quran and the hadiths.)

Dr. Robert Morey writes: “Both the Bukhari and Muslim Hadiths describe what happened to Muhammad when inspiration came upon him. He heard ringing in his ears, fell to the ground, turned red, sweated profusely, made moaning sounds, spit ran from his mouth, etc…” 1

Compare this to what a father told Jesus about his demon-possessed boy: “A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth…” (Luke 9:39)

1 answering-islam.org/ Resources/ Morey/ quran.html

SEIZURES

While ancient pagans placed a great deal of importance on such things, they were never a part of the biblical prophets. 1

Take for instance the pagan oracle at Delphi who would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her. While in a trance the priestess ‘raved’ - probably a form of ecstatic speech… 2

1 Ibid 2SOURCE: http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Delphi

SEIZURES

In South Africa “the sangoma will fall into trance where the ancestors will be channelled (which is signified in Zulu traditions by episodes of convulsive fits)”. 1 The supposed ancestral spirits are simply impersonating demons.

In the Bible, convulsions and screaming were not associated with the prophet of God, but with demon possession.

Mark 1:26 The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

1 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Traditional_healers_of_South_Africa

SEIZURES

Luke 4:33-35 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, “Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us…”

SEIZURES

“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

Raving and shouting while prophesying is generally associated with people who are under demonic influence.

Acts 16:16-18 … we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future… This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” … Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

SEIZURES

In contrast the godly prophet Agabus, while quite theatrical, does not rant and rave, or convulse when delivering his message.

Acts 21:10-11 … a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

SEIZURES

Muhammad claimed that his revelations came from the angel Gabriel. In the Bible there was an OT prophet who also claimed to have a message from an angel.

1 Kings 13:18 The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.)

So it turned out that he was lying, and the man of God who followed his false advice ended up dying because of it.

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

AN ANGEL

Norman L. Geisler wrote about Muhammad’s initial call:

During his call he [Muhammad] was choked by an angel. Muhammad himself said of the angel, ‘He choked me with the cloth until I believed I should die. Then he released me and said ‘Recite!’ (Iqra).’ When he [Muhammad] hesitated, he received ‘twice again the repeated harsh treatment.’ 1

Compare this to the Biblical accounts of Gabriel appearing to Daniel. There is no physical abuse - he simply speaks.

“Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.” (Daniel 9:22)

1 Geisler & Saleeb. Answering, p. 154.

GABRIEL

When Gabriel appears to Zechariah who “was startled and was gripped with fear” (Luke 1:12), he speaks reassuringly.

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…

Even when seemingly angered that Zechariah won’t believe his message, Gabriel simply reprimands him and says he will be mute for a period of time (Luke 1:19-20). No throttling and choking of Zechariah for his disbelief.

I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God… And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words…

And when speaking to Mary, Gabriel appears to be quite gentle and reassuring with the young woman (Luke 1:30-31).

Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

While not explicitly named as Gabriel, the angel who appears to Joseph also speaks very reassuringly to the troubled man.

Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matt 1:20)

The real Gabriel is nothing like the Quranic Gabriel who gave Muhammad several of his revelations. Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad’s biographer, said that after Gabriel’s first visit, Muhammad himself thought that he might be possessed by a jinn (demon). 1

Welch, a scholar of Islamic studies, in Encyclopedia of Islam states that the graphic descriptions of Muhammad’s condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, since they are unlikely to have been invented by later Muslims. 2

1 Ishaq. Sirat, p. 106 2 http:// en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Criticism_of_Muhammad

SEIZURES

The Bible was written by men who were inspired by God.

2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (NASB)

There were no antics or frenzied fits associated with their revelations. Rather we are told:

2 Pet 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (NASB)

BIBLICAL INSPIRATION

Modern clairvoyants and mediums will often go into a trance-like state when they communicate with their “spirit guides”, which are in reality demons.

Muhammad’s enemies accused him of being possessed, a soothsayer, or a magician since these experiences made an impression similar to those soothsayer figures well known in ancient Arabia. 1

But there should be no trances with a prophet of God losing control while receiving their message.

1 Cor 14:32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

1 Encyclopaedia of Islam

BIBLICAL INSPIRATION

The Biblical prerequisite for testimony is:

Deut 19:15 … A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

We only have Muhammad’s word about his visions of Gabriel (on which Islam stands or falls). But the twelve apostles were all witnesses of Jesus’s ministry, death and resurrection (on which Christianity stands or falls).

Peter says of Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection:

Acts 10:39-40 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.” (also Acts 2:32 & 3:15)

BIBLICAL WITNESSES

While Peter’s eye-witness account is recorded in Mark’s gospel, John is also an eye-witnesses to the events he recorded in his gospel.

John 21:24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

Matthew too was a disciple who was an eye-witness to the account of Jesus presented in his gospel. And Luke wrote his gospel based on the record of many eye-witnesses:

Luke 1:1-2 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

BIBLICAL WITNESSES

The crux of Muhammad’s ministry and the inspiration for the Quran are his alleged revelations from Gabriel. But we have no witness to these events besides himself.

Jesus said that testimony about yourself is not valid.

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.” (John 5:31-34)

So Jesus’ ministry was introduced by the forerunner (John the Baptist) who was also prophesied of by another witness (Isaiah).

BIBLICAL WITNESSES

And how did John the Baptist introduce Jesus?

John 1:29-30 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said:

BIBLICAL WITNESSES

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’

John 1:32-34 Then John gave this testimony:

I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.

Jesus’ ministry, miracles, death and resurrection which were the inspiration for the New Testament are attested to by multiple witnesses. Here are 5 groups of witnesses -far more than the 2 or 3 required by the Law:

The witness of the OT prophets. Jesus fulfilled their many prophecies about the Son of David.

The witness of the predicted forerunner John, who called him the Son of God.

The eye-witness accounts of his apostles who recorded his ministry and the accompanying miracles.

The witness of God the Father who spoke on three occasions from heaven in the presence of witnesses.

BIBLICAL WITNESSES

Luke 3:21-22 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven:

WITNESS OF GOD (a)

You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

Luke 9:34-35 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying:

WITNESS OF GOD (b)

This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.

John 12:27-28 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven:

WITNESS OF GOD (c)

I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which was the stamp of God’s approval on his sacrificial death for the sin of all mankind. This was attested to by multiple eye-witnesses on different occasions: 1

Mary Magdalene on the Resurrection Sunday in Jerusalem (Mark 16:9, John 20:10-17)

Mary the mother of James, Salome and Joanna (Matt 28:1-7, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:10)

Simon Peter on the Resurrection Sunday (1 Cor 15:5)

Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus on the Resurrection Sunday. (Luke 24:19-21)

1 See “Resurrection of Jesus - Part 1” https://agfbrakpan.com/ ministry-archives.aspx?mId=1113

RESURRECTION WITNESSES

The disciples and those with them but excluding Thomas in on the evening of Sunday (Luke 24:36-43).

Eleven disciples, with the previously sceptical Thomas, the following Sunday in Jerusalem (John 20:24-29).

7 disciples fishing in Galilee (Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and 2 others) John 21:1-14.

11 disciples on the mountain in Galilee (Matt 28:16-17).

RESURRECTION WITNESSES

My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)

500 witnesses at the same time (1 Cor 15:6).

Jesus’ sceptical brother James (1 Cor 15:7).

All the apostles (1 Cor 15:7).

To the Eleven back in Jerusalem, while eating with them (Acts 1:4).

To the Eleven at his Ascension near Bethany on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:50-51).

To Stephen while he is being martyred (Acts 7:55-56).

To Paul on the road to Damascus, while he was still a sceptic and opponent of Christianity (1 Cor 15:8 and Acts 9:1-6).

To John on the island of Patmos (Rev 1:18).

1 See “Resurrection of Jesus - Part 1” https://agfbrakpan.com/ ministry-archives.aspx?mId=1113

RESURRECTION WITNESSES

So Muhammad acts as his own witness to his revelations from Gabriel, while Jesus’s authority as the Son of God and his resurrection (both of which are denied in Islam) are attested to by multiple independent witnesses.

And so one of the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ many miracles writes:

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

Have you put your trust in the Son of God and received the abundant life he offers?

CONCLUSION

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the NIV: THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB: New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. ( Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV: Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.