Witnessing to Muslims
Understanding who they are and what they believe
Understanding Their Origins
Muhammed born in 570 A.D. His father died before he was born. Mother died shortly thereafter. His caretaker grandfather) died, while he was young. He became a merchant, known for his integrity, wisdom and skill.
At age 40 (610 A. D.) he received his call to become the prophet of Islam while meditating in a cave near Mecca. It came by an Angel, Gabriel, and the revelations eventually were called the Quran. His first 13 years (610- 623 A.D.) were spent preaching these Quranic revelations to he polytheists of Meca, mostly telling them to believe in one God. Mecca was home to 360 idols. Also preached on welfare for orphans and widows. Initial persecution began and a few martyred before Muhammed escaped Mecca on the night of an assassination attempt
The next 10 years (623-633 A.D.) He lived in Medina (where he fled) and at the end of his first year there, he started launching raids. The first 6 were failures. The first successful raid was Nakhla raid. On Muhammed’s orders, raiders were sent to intercept a meccan caravan a ways away from their base of operations. Happened during a a holy month, a time of truce between all Arabs. Muslims shaved their heads to make it appear that they were on a pilgrimage. Meccans et down their guard and Muslims attacked, killed and captured undefended Meccans during a sacred time of truce. (Surah 8:42-75)
Muslims got upset about the attack during a holy month, but Muhammed got bailed out by a convenient revelation from the Quran, “They ask you about fighting in the holy months. Tell them, ‘Fighting in the holy months is a great sin, but a greater sin is to prevent mankind from following in the way of Allah, to disbelieve in him. Oppression is worse than slaughter.” (2:217)
The tendency towards violence in the early Muslim community continued to increase from the moment they could fight, through Mohammed’s death and beyond. It was peaceful for the first 13 years, then raids with tens of fighters, then significant battles with finally hundreds of fighters, and finally he conquered Mecca with 10,000 soldiers and secured the lands of the Hijaz with 30,000 soldiers. By the time of his death, he had conquered the Arabian Peninsula and most likely succeeded in his goal of cleansing it of all non-Muslims. Often many of the conquered people converted to Islam for financial reasons or a better life as conquered Christians or polytheists had their taxes tripled and endured other life-changing issues.
Understanding Their variety
1.9 billion Muslims (24.7% of world population – 1 in every 4 people)
1.7 billion are Sunni—Sunnis are further subdivided by which Imams they follow (Hanafi, Shaf’i, Malik or Hanbali). There is a small section of Sunni who follow no Imam (Salafi).
180-230 million are Shia (predominant religion in Iran, also prevalent in Lebanon and Iraq)
Also, Wahhabi and Shufi
Plus 150 different other varieties of Muslim
Indonesia (204 million), Pakistan (178 million), India (172 million)
Understanding their current, modern position
Islam has always been founded on a obedience to Muhammad; that is the crux of their religion. (p.79)
Previously it was impossible for a Muslim to look up a hadith reference unless they travelled to a Islamic library. Then it would still be in Arabic which most Muslims can’t read. SO, if they wanted to know about the traditions of Muhammad, they had to ask imams or elders of Islam. No longer is that the case. Today, the internet has made the traditions of Muhammad readily available for whoever wishes to look them up and has them even in English. Many of the publications also grade the hadith so that you know how authentic and authoritative they are. Thus, the modern Muslim can now be brought closer to the canonical texts of Islam than ever before, allowing them to bypass their elders and the centuries of interpretive tradition. This has contributed to increased radicalization of Muslim youth because the Quran is more radical than the imams.
A 2013 Pew Forum survey of thousands of Muslims in 39 countries found that 237 million Muslims are in favor of capital punishment for apostasy, 345 million are in favor of honor killings as a punishment for illicit sexual relations, and 469 million want to be governed by sharia law.
If we consider only the Muslim fighters (mujahideen) to be radical Muslims, the number of them is .01 percent of the Muslim world. But if we say that those who desire sharia governance to be radical than at least 29.3% of the Muslim world is radical.
Understanding their book
Just because the Quran teaches something, does not mean that a Muslim believes it or even thinks he has to believe it.
Surah 4:34 –says for Muslims to beat disobedient wives
Most of the time, their understanding of the Quran is limited to what they had been taught by the elders in their community (p. 40) (coming from a guy who had recited the entire Quran in Arabic and memorized the last 15 chapters. —Nabeel Qureshi. The Hadith he knew was those passages that had been selected by his elders. Often the hadith were recounted without any reference whatsoever. He does not doubt that even based on the good intentions of their teachers, that some of it was fabricated
Muslims do not usually engage in systematically studying their teachings. This is true even of those Muslims who have memorized the entire Quran (p. 40).
We Bible Believers put the emphasis on personal understanding and accountability over rote memorization. That is not their approach
No one natively speaks the Arabic of the Quran, as classical Arabic has given way to colloquial forms of Arabic. Only people who get close are those who study it in schools.
Only a small percentage of people in any religious community endeavor to critically engage their canonical texts—Nabeel Qureshi p. 41)—not true of how Bible believers are expected to operate.
Thus, the vast majority of Muslims inherit their understanding of Islam and have not investigated the foundation of Islam for themselves. Although the average Muslim agrees that the Quran and hadith are the ultimate basis of their faith, many have not critically read the traditions.
Their book is faulty, uncertain and lacking any sure foundation on which to build anything concrete. It is all up to someone’s interpretation.
There are verses commanding great peace and there are verses commanding great violence
There are verses that prohibit Muslims from fighting and verses that allow Muslims to fight defensively, and verses that command Muslims to fight even when they don’t want to.
There are verses that tell designate Jews and Christians as friends of Muslims and verses that call them the worst of creatures.
There are verses that tell Muslims to desist from fighting those who are peaceful and verses that command Muslims to fight those with whom they have treaties
There are verses that say all who believe in God and do good works will receive his mercy and verses that say anyone who follows a religion other than Islam will not be saved.
There are verses that say Allah will certainly grant victory to Muslims if they fight, and verses that say Allah was testing Muslims by allowing them to be defeated
Muslims will say that their Quran does not contradict. This is simply blatantly false. Whoever has said that, has not critically reviewed their own book. Let me show you.
Who was the first Muslim believer? Clearly in 7:59, it says that Musa (Moses) was the first believer. However, someone must have forgotten what they wrote before (or after) because Abraham is a Muslim in 2:130-131. But Abraham couldn’t have been the first because Nuh (Noah) tells people to worship Allah (7:143).
Where does the sun rise from? In 2:258 it says that Allah makes the sun to rise from the east and then rise from the west. I’ve had Muslims tell me that scientists actually proved this happens….
Here’s the famous one and any Muslim knows the Quran teaches both of these: Should you fight in the name of Allah? If you look it up some groups of Muslims believe you should and some aren’t really for it. They both have quotes from the Quran because the Quran teaches both ways. In 2:256, it says that there is no compulsion in religion. However, 2:190-193 says that you should fight in the way of Allah. It tells you not only to fight in that passage, but to kill them wherever you find them and to fight with them until religion is only for Allah. In 2:216, it says you should fight the enemy even if you don’t like to. It says you may not like fighting but some things you don’t like are good for you. In 4:74-77, it says if you die fighting in the way of Allah that you will be granted a mighty reward. In the same passage it asks you what reason do you have not to fight in the way of Allah. I guess they forgot 2:256 about the whole “no compulsion in religion.” In 3:195, it says if you die fighting for Allah, that he will cover your wicked deeds and let them enter gardens under which waters flow and even give them a better reward. In 9:12, you should fight those revile your religion. You don’t have to wait for them to attack you or try to kill you. The only permission you need to fight them and have your sins forgiven is that they said something against your religion. In verse 13, the author gets upset that you won’t fight those people. in 8;39 you should fight until their is no more persecution and until the only religion is Islam. In 9:29, you are told to fight those who don’t believe in Allah, nor the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah prohibits until they pay a tax and are in subjection to you. So one of the things Allah prohibits is eating pork. So if you eat pork or advocate for those who do, you should be killed according to 9:29.
The Quran says that it is a sin to associate anyone with God (24:55), to believe in any sort of a Trinity. It further states that Allah does not have a partner in his dominion (25:2). However, throughout the entire Quran, you’ll find “We” doing stuff. Someone is there with Allah and they sent down the surahs (24:1, 4:154), prepared a blazing fire for those who deny the judgment (25:11), sent messengers (25:19), revealed the truth to Mohammed (25:33), sent Moses the book and appointed Aaron (25:35), sent Noah’s flood (25:37), created you (7:11) and a host of other things. When they sent Moses, he was one of “Our” messengers (28:7). “We” made day and night in 27:86, but Allah made it in 25:62. In 25:50, you are told that you are to praise “We”. And in 25:48 and 26:4,5, both “He” and “We” are used interchangeably. A royal “we” doesn’t fix all those verses. Someone either doesn’t know the difference between first-person singular and first-person plural (entirely possible since Mohammed was illiterate) or Allah had some help.
Now for the kicker. If you take your Quran and turn to 4:82, you read that if the Quran were from any but Allah, it would have many discrepancies in it. So Allah must not have given Mohammed the Quran according to that verse. I mean if you’re logical and honest. Dear reader…what will you do with that?
Another thought, is that you go to hell for turning away from Allah’s communications (7:30). According to 6:154, Allah gave the Torah to Moses. In 4:163, he gave the Psalms to David. In 3:3, he gave the gospel. Now if Allah gave all of those….and they aren’t in the Quran….then did Allah’s perfect copy get corrupted and lost? If you’re a muslim you have to believe that. If the Torah, the Psalms and the gospel got corrupted and lost, how do you know that Allah kept the Quran perfect? What motivation (or even sense) does it make to inspire 4 holy, perfect books, but only keep one perfect…yet as we saw, the Quran has multiple discrepancies in it. So I guess Allah doesn’t have any perfect Book. I have one. I’d love to discuss it with you if you want to find out more. If you think it has problems or discrepancies or contradictions in it, let’s talk. I dealt with those nearly 30 years ago. After talking to atheists and skeptics and bible correctors and Christians and Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses and Seventh day Adventists and Muslims, I’ve never found one that could show just what I did up there about the Quran and take that same idea and show it in the King James Bible. So I’d be happy to discuss your issues with it.
Not just anyone can engage in Islamic interpretation or jurisprudence. Only trained (!) Muslim jurists can engage in determining what sharia teaches.
They must give 1) primacy to the Quran, then 2) consider the actions (sunnah) and sayings (hadith) of Muhammed, followed by 3) reviewing the consensus of Islamic scholars (ijma) and then 4) their own reasoning (qiyas) (p. 56)
There are more than 500,000 traditions of Muhammad’s life in written and oral circulation, and this is called the Hadith. Muslim scholars still are sifting through them and trying to distill the most authentic accounts.
Sunni Muslims (80% of all Muslims) have 6 collections they are considered the most reliable (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, Ibn Maja, al-Nasai, al-Tirmidhi with the first two together called the Sahih as the most authentic.
Thus, Islamic interpretation says you must consider the historical context before you single out verses of the Quran and draw conclusions from those verses. You must also use the complex reality of Islamic traditions.
The later chapters or surah’s in the Quran overrule the earlier chapters. This is called abrogation, but no one knows for sure which ones are early and which ones are late. The surahs are arranged according to length. According to Islamic tradition, as the Quran was being revealed during Muhammad’s life, certain teachings and passages canceled previous revelations (p. 57)
How can you cancel out the Quran if it takes primacy?
There are texts in the Quran that have been abrogated but some of the teaching has been maintained and expanded by the hadith. For instance, Surah 24:2 says that lashing is the appropriate punishment for adultery, but hadith Sahih al-Bukhari 8.82.816 says that the text of the Quran has been abrogated and the punishment is stoning.
Muslims began to record in writing, the life and sayings (Hadith) of Muhammad about 150 years after the advent of Islam. (p. 55) (began around 770 A.D.)
At no point was the average Muslim expected to read the Quran to decide upon correct Islamic practices by himself or herself. Islam is not a faith that upholds the sufficiency of scripture alone. They really must rely on their jurists and scholars for proper practice. Muslims have received their religion from their leaders and scholars. To assume that Muslims must live a certain way because the Quran or hadith command it, misses a crucial step in the Islamic world, the distillation of sharia through Muslim Authorities. If jurists and imams say that surah 9 does not apply to a Muslim’s life today and that they should live peacefully with their Jewish, Christian and polytheist neighbors, then it is entirely appropriate for a Muslim to follow his imam and live peacefully. Whether the imam is making the decision honestly or consistently is another matter. (p. 59) Muslims do not determine what they believe themselves but receive it from their imams or teachers.
Surah 5:101, 102—Don’t mess with questions if the answer will trouble you. People before you asked questions and now, they are unbelievers.
How to interact with them
In countries like Malaysia it is a criminal act to entice Muslims to convert. Without truth we will not be able to identify the real problem and without love we will not be able to formulate an enduring answer.
Relate to them
Quran asserts that the Torah and the Gospels are inspired scripture (even though they think they are now corrupted) –Surah 3:3 (Torah and gospels), Surah 5:44 (Torah), 4:163 (Psalms), 6:91 (Moses books)—Where are they? Where is the perfect copy of it?
Surah 29:46 – “And do not dispute with the followers of the Book, except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him do we submit.”
Surah 2:23—Quran challenges anyone to make a chapter like it—ask them if they accept this challenge or deny the challenge of the Quran.
Surah 3:45—Jesus is worthy of regard, one of the good ones. Explain that He can’t be a good man unless what he says is true. Then ask them if you can show them what he said. If no, ask them why they don’t want to hear a good man. If they say the Bible is corrupted, ask them what in there is wrong and how do they know. Have they checked it?
Surah 4:159 – Jesus will be a witness against them at their death. What words will Jesus say? The Bible records it. (John 3:3,7, 18, 36)
2. Show them they are a sinner
Surah 4:31—Allah overlooks small sins if you shun large sins. What are large sins and where does it define it in the Quran? If it is not in there, how do you know that person’s interpretation is right?
Surah 3:119—Muslims are to love unbelievers. Do they know what love means?
Surah 4:107—Allah doesn’t love anyone who is sinful, treacherous. So, if I witness to a Muslim and he is treacherous in his answers by saying “I do believe in Jesus” or “Jehovah and Allah are the same God” or “we don’t associate any with Allah” or “I believe the Quran, but you never studied it out” then Allah doesn’t love you
Muhammad said that no man will get to Paradise if he has “the weight of a mustard seed of pride” (or a grain of pride or an atom of pride) –(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Nos. 164-166)
3. Show them they have no hope for their sin
Surah 4:17—Repentance only works if you sinned ignorantly. My God though can forgive any sin. Did any Muslim ever sin willfully?
4. Show them the price for their sin
Surah 4:56—hell is a place of continual torment
5. Get them to think
Surah 6:104—There are clear proofs from Allah that have come to you—So proofs should be expected and encouraged
6. Show them their belief has significant holes in it
Surah 6:155—The Muslims are to guard the Quran against evil. Have they done that perfectly? In the Bible that is God’s job.
7. Get them to look at the Bible
Surah 5:69—you should believe the Quran, the Jewish scriptures and the gospel. How are you believing the Jewish scriptures and the gospel if you don’t have them and haven’t seen them?
8. If the Lord leads you, show the holes in their system as seen below
Correcting their myths
Claim: There is only one Interpretation of the Koran
There are four main schools of thought (Shafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi. The fifth school of thought became its own branch of Islam (Shii [Shiiite
Claim: Memorizing the Koran is a sign of God blessing it and that they have the one true faith
Ancient Greek pagan storytellers (polytheists) memorized the Iliad and Odysseys (1100 pages~ 27,000 verses)
Hindus memorize Vedas
The Quran is the size of the NT
Jack Van Impe—the Walking Bible—memorized the whole bible
A middle-aged man from Georgia memorized “Almost all the NT w/ the book of Job (The Great Revival in the Southern Armies, p.80)
Andy Davis=Pastor of First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. memorized 42 books of the Bible
Noah Webster memorized the entire bible
Nadine Hammands (Blind) memorized the NT
Charles Matlock—walking bible of West TN—memorized most of the Bible
Dr. Williams Evans—memorized the whole bible
John Goetch, memorized 14,000 verses. NT has only 8,000 verses
Darlene Roseman—memorized almost all NT and most of Psalms in solitary confinement
Sammy Allan memorized whole NT
Claim: A prophet does not have to prophesy
A prophet who does not prophesy is like a judge who never judges or a lawyer who never practices law or a preacher who never preaches
Claim: Islam is not violent
Surah 8:65
The oft-cited peaceful passages of the Quran (2:256 and 2:109) are among the earliest in the Quran. Surah 9 is the last major chapter of the Quran to be revealed, according to Islamic tradition, and it is by far the most violent chapter (p. 47)
Claim: Jihad is purely a spiritual struggle
Sometimes it is in the Quran (22:78)
Many times it is a violent physical struggle (2:216-218)
The most frequent references to Jihad in the hadith are a violent physical struggle. The idea that spiritual jihad is greater than physical jihad has no place in the foundations of Islam – (p.38)
Non-combatants were frequently slaughtered in 8th and 9th century Islamic conquest (p. 36)
Even had Muslim-on-Muslim jihad
Quran does command people to use terror and spread fear “Prepare against them all the strength and war horses that you can to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies.” (p. 37)
Claim: Islam means peace
No, it means “surrender” in Arabic—they teach that it is surrender of one’s will and life to Allah (p. 30).
From the time Mohammed first obtained a following that could successfully fight (13 years after the start of Islam), he launched raids and battles every year until he died (p. 30)
86 battles which is more than 9 a year—David Cook—Understanding Jihad
Muslim’s first major battle was the battle of Badr, directed by Allah (Surah 8)
In the Sahih Bukhari, the collection of hadith that the Sunni Muslims consider most trustworthy, Muhammed says, “I have been ordered to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammed is Allah’s Messenger…only then will they save their lives and property from me. (Sahih Bukhari 1.2..25).
In Sahih al-Bukhari 4.52.44 it says “A man came to Allah’s Messenger and said, Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad [in reward]. He replied, I do not find such a deed. Then he added, Can you, while the Muslim fighter is in the battlefield, enter your mosque to perform prayers without cease and fast and never break your fast? The man said, but who can do that? Abu-Huaira added, The Mujahid [Muslim fighter] is rewarded even for the footsteps of his horse while it wanders about tied in a long rope.”
Claim: Muslims only fought defensive warfare
Not in the first successful raid that Muhammed ordered (Nakhla Raid p. 43)
Most battles they fought were offensive campaigns. These ones, when victorious, made their enemies have to pay a ransom tax before being expelled from the land regardless.
Some battles were defensive, but even those they retaliated for, like the battle of Khandaq. Muhammed responded by decimating a tribe of Jews. He executed all their teen boys and men and took their women and children for slaves. He divided their possessions among the Muslims including Jewish land that the Muslims had never been on before (p. 45)
Lost multiple battles and one he even was feared dead after being struck down (Battle of Uhud)
A battle in Northern Egypt in 640 A.D. led by Amr ibn al-As, one of Muhammed’s companions.
Amr and the Muslim arm….made their entry into Nakius (nikiu) and took possession. Finding no soldiers, they proceeded to put to the sword all whom they found int eh streets and int eh churches, men, women, and infants. They showed mercy to none. After they had captured this city, they marched against other localities and sacked them and put all they found to the sword…Let us now cease, for it impossible to recount the iniquities perpetrated by the Muslims after their capture of the island of Nakius.”—The Chronicles of John, Bishop of Nikiu. (. P. 51)
Muslims must fight according to Surah 9 and if they do not, then their faith is called into question, and they are counted among the hypocrites.
Claim: Radical Islam is not true Islam
Just as the Protestant reformation was an attempt to raze centuries of Catholic tradition and return to the canonical texts, so radical Islam (as they call it) is an attempt to raze centuries of traditions of various schools of Islamic thought and return to the canonical texts of the Quran and Muhammad’s life. (p.75)
Sayyid Qutub who started the modern movement focused almost entirely on references to the Quran. So did the Muslim Brotherhood and so does ISIS today.
Islam can be formulated either peacefully or violently, but violent expressions of Islam adhere more consistently and more literally to the foundational texts of the Islamic faith, the Quran and the Hadith. Peaceful versions of Islam must reinvent traditions from Muhammad’s life in order to be internally consistent, or they must ignore them outright. (p. 92-93)
Claim: Allah is not a generic term for God
Allah can be used as the proper name for the god of Islam, but it also functions in most majority Muslim languages as the generic term for God.
It functions as a contraction of al-ilah – “the god”.
Claim: Allah is the same god as Jehovah
You can be talking about one role but not the same person. We are talking about the same role (supreme GOD), but the people (Allah and Jehovah) are vastly different. We are talking about the great Creator, but Allah is not Jehovah
Problems:
Jesus is God in the Bible. The Quran says Jesus is not God. This is a fundamental difference in the person of God. In fact, the Quran condemns you to hell if you worship Jesus (5:72). The Bible condemns you to hell if you reject Jesus Christ (John 3:36) In the Quran, Jesus didn’t die. He was taken up to heaven and is supposed to die later. Then he will come up in the final resurrection with everyone else.
Quran condemns the idea that God is a Father (Surah 112:1-4, 5:18). But the Bible calls God the Father of Jesus, the father of Christians, and the Father of Adam.
The Bible says that God is only one God but he is made up of 3 persons, the Trinity (Col 2:9, I John 5:7). The Quran says that God cannot be a trinity (Surah 5:73) In the Bible, God is not a Person—he is 3 Persons.
Muslims say that Christians claim to worship the same God as the Jews although the Jews do not worship the Trinity. However, the Trinity is an elaboration of the Jewish belief, not a rejection of it. Islam however is a rejection of the Christian belief, not merely an expansion of the same idea.
Correct their Leader
“A number of fighters came to the Messenger of Allah, and he said: ‘You have done well in coming from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.” They said: ‘What is the greater jihad?’ He said, ‘For the servant [of God] to fight his passions’” (Al-Bayhaqi, Al-Zuhd al-Kabir) (p. 37)—I guess Mohammed never did that with 14 wives and military conquest for personal gain.
Surah 4:23—Can’t marry your daughter -in-law—Muhammad did
If no man will get to Paradise if he has “the weight of a mustard seed of pride” (or a grain of pride or an atom of pride) –(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Nos. 164-166), then Muhammad went to hell. He said that to obey him ws to obey God (Sura 4:80), and that the earth was made for him and God (Bukhari, Vol IV, No 392). Also Muhammad said that Allah created the human race and divided it into two groups. He placed Me (Muhammad), in the better of the two groups. Then he made them tribes, and he placed me among the best—the Quraysh tribe. Then Allah made them houses, and he placed me in the noblest house and made me the best person (Dr Said Al Buti, Fiqh Al-Sira, 7th ed. p50.; Dr. Bint Al-Shati; Daughters of the Prophet, p14.) If that’s not pride, what is that?
Correct their book
In Surah 9, it begins with a disavowal. Now that Muslims had conquered Mecca, all treaties they had made with polytheists were to be nullified (p. 47)
Surah 5:73—Says the Trinity is wrong because there is only one God---they don’t recognize the doctrine of the Trinity is that there is only one God, but He is in three parts or Persons, much like the body, soul and spirit
Contradictions: Surah 4:82 –if Quran was from any other than Allah, then you would find a discrepancy in it.
Surah 27:86/ 25:62 – we vs Allah made day and night
Surah 27:61/27:88 – Mountains unmovable vs mountains pass away
Surah 24:12/ 24:6—don’t need 4 witnesses to accuse your wife, just promise 4 times that it’s true vs if you don’t have 4 witnesses you are a liar.
Surah 4:36—don’t associate any with Allah BUT, Surah 4:80 if you obey the Apostle, you obey Muhammad
We—
Sent down surah (24:1), created hell (25:11), sent Noah’s flood (25:37), Made Moses one of OUR messengers (28:7), created you (7:11—I though there was only one Creator)
Surah 25:2 (Read)—Allah spoken of in third person
Surah 7:59/ 7:143vMusa (Moses) was the first believer vs Nuh (Noah) telling people to worship Allah (26:109 says that Noah was a messenger)
Surah 27:10 / 28:21 – Any messenger of Allah has no fear vs Moses ran for fear of his life.
Science fallacy:
Surah 2:258—Allah makes sun rise from east and them he makes it to rise from the west
Misc:
Allah not caring about all people---Surah 25:51—We didn’t want to warn every city, but we could of. Surah 9:85 – Allah hopes people go to hell and die as unbelievers. Then Surah 10:100 –you can only believe if Allah lets you.
Surah 24:33 – Don’t force the chaste servants to be prostitutes, but if you do, Allah is forgiving, merciful
Surah 8:2 -- Only a believer if
Heart becomes full of fear when Allah is mentioned
Increase in faith when Allah’s words recited to them
Trust in the Lord
Keep up prayer
Spend benevolent
Surah 7:47 – You can lose your salvation in heaven
Double standards – Surah 9:12 vs 9:1 ‘’ If they break their oaths and revile your religion, then fight them. But it’s ok to break your oath and revile them.
Uniqueness of Quran-- Surah 10:37--Quran could not be forged (what a word) by any except Allah. Surah 10:38 challenges you to bring a chapter like it. –The bible is truly unique. What makes the Quran unique?
Surah 11:6 – All things are in a manifest book—The 10 commandments are mentioned in the Quran but not given. Where is the one manifest book?
Surah 11:114 – Good deeds take away evil deeds—which good deeds, all evil deeds? Do small good deeds take away big evil deeds?
Answering Muslim charges against Christians:
Saying that we are hypocritical to condemn their violence with our violence in the OT
Quran is almost entirely the direct addresses of Allah’s words, whereas the Bible is a history book that records events that God ordered as well as ones that God did not. (For example, Simeon and Levi’s massacre of the Canaanites in Genesis 34)
Before the God-ordained destruction of 7 nations in Canaan, God gave them 400 years to get right. He wouldn’t let Abram wipe them out in Genesis 15:13-16 but told him to wait 400 years to give them enough time to change their ways.
Muslims believe that they get to kill their enemies because they are best of all people (Surah 3:110, 98:6). IN the Bible though, the Jews didn’t get chosen to wipe out the Canaanites because the Jews were so good. The Jews were wicked too. The Bible gave an honest overview of them in Deuteronomy 9:4-6. It was for the wickedness of those tribes.
In the Bible, the physical domination of the enemies of God is an OT mandate but not a NT practice. No Jew or Christian is told to memorialize these battles as patterns for current behavior. Instead, we fight spiritual battles (II Corinthians 10:3,4). But in the Quran, the peaceful passages are early and abrogated by the more violent passages in the last chapters.
Jesus, unlike Muhammad, never led an army, never wielded a sword and likely never struck a man.
While Muslims started to fight only 13 years after Islam started and increased in intensity, Christians never fought until 300 years after Christ and then it was only Catholics who did that.
Jihad was commanded by the Quran and Muhammed While Jesus never commanded the Crusades. The Crusades arose a thousand years after Jesus from a corruption of Christianity mixed with Romanism. The Roman Catholic Augustine started saying that Christians could fight a just war, but they would need to repent after they fought (!). While it took nearly 500 years for that to happen, Muslims believed that from their beginning. Shaiih al-Bukhari “The first army amongst my followers who will invade Caesar’s city will be forgiven their sins (4.56.2924). Death in battle would secure a Muslim fighter’s station in heaven (Surah 9:111). From Augustine, another 500 years later, the Roman Catholic Church finally began to practice the concept of holy war. While it took Muslims 1300 years to get away from the violence of their origin and insist that Islam is a religion of peace, Christianity started that way and only became violent after a mixing with Romanism. When the world got out from under the power of the Roman Catholic Church, Christianity went away from violence and back to spiritual struggle.
Claim: There are many bibles but only one Quran
There is one TRUE Bible, The King James Bible. There are many other books that claim to be the “holy” bible, but they are corruptions. The Muslims claim that they have one true Quran. But there are many other books that say the “holy” Quran on them. I have three different copies myself.