Tuesday, June 22, 2010

An intellectually honest critique of the Muslim faith

Many people have heard a variety of different stories concerning the Muslim faith. We have heard a lot of emotional arguments and reasons to not follow the Quran and have seen various actions of violence from members of Islam. However, today I want to take a strictly intellectually honest view at the Muslim faith. We will evaluate it and critique it honestly and see how much merit it holds. We will proceed by looking at the source of the Muslim faith, the Quran.
Let us start out with with looking at different Suras within the Muslim faith. The first Sura we shall look at is Sura 26:192-195 which states, "This is a revelation from the Lord of the universe. The Honest Spirit (Gabriel) came down with it, to reveal it into your heart that you may be one of the warners, in a perfect Arabic tongue" (Sura 26:192-195) Interesting here we see what is believed about the Quran and how it originated. However, the Honest Spirit may have been a demon as Muhammad believed he was being possessed during the time he was receiving the revelation he claimed. We shall proceed with what the Quran states about its authority. "Say, 'Anyone who opposes Gabriel should know that he has brought down this (the Qur'an) into your heart, in accordance with God's will, confirming previous scriptures, and providing guidance and good news for the believers'" (Sura 2:97). What this claims is that we have to confirm the previous scriptures in order to conform to God's will. These are also defined in the Suras. Sura 4:163; 5:44-48 define these previous scriptures as being the Torah, the Psalms of David and the Gospels of Yeshua. Sura 4:163-164 - Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And we revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the book [of Psalms].And [We sent] messengers about whom We have related [their stories] to you before and messengers about whom We have not related to you. And Allah spoke to Moses with [direct] speech. Sura 5:44-48 declares "Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah ] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah , and they were witnesses thereto. So do not fear the people but fear Me, and do not exchange My verses for a small price. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers. And We ordained for them therein a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds is legal retribution. But whoever gives [up his right as] charity, it is an expiation for him. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the wrongdoers.And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient. And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. So judge between them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their inclinations away from what has come to you of the truth. To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so race to [all that is] good. To Allah is your return all together, and He will [then] inform you concerning that over which you used to differ."

Where do we especially have a problem? Sura 10:94 is a foundational problem when honestly investigating the truth of the Muslim faith. ""If you have any doubt regarding what is revealed to you from your Lord, then ask those who read the previous scripture" (Sura 10:94). What this tells us is that we have to test the Quran against the previous scriptures as previously defined. Heres where we run into problems. According to Sura 4:171 and 9:30 the Quran does not identify Yeshua as the Son of God, and condemns the title from being used. We see in the actual Gospels of Yeshua that the Son of God title was used quite frequently, and was even affirmed by Yeshua himself in Matthew 16:16-17. Foundationally there is a problem here. Yeshua's deity is denied in Sura 5:17, 75. There are frequent passages in the Gospel accounts that refer to Yeshua deity, including his own admission in John 10:30. Further his pre existence is denied in Sura 3:59-60. Based off of both Tanakh writings and the Gospel writings, it is affirmed that the Messiah, Yeshua, was preexistent. Also further problematic, the Koran states that Ishmael is the child of promise in the Suras. If we go back to the Torah, it is stated that Isaac is the child of promise. This source comes from Sura 19:54 and we need compare Sura 37:83-109 with Genesis 22:1-19. God had promised the child of promise to come through Sarah, and not Haggar. So based off of this information, we have ample evidence to state that the Quran is self refuting and is not founded on truth. It does not confirm the scriptures as it proclaims to do within its own text.

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