Transcript Understanding Islam PPT John

Apologetics and Islam
Sana’a Codex
John Oakes
UCSD
5/21/2016
Apologetics and Islam
Outline
Positive Apologetics of Islam and the Qur’an
Islamic Criticism of the Old and New Testaments
Apologetic Issues in Islam and the Qur’an
Positive Apologetics and the Qur’an
No internally fulfilled prophecies, no
miracles, no historical verification, so……
I. Positive Apologetics of Islam and the Qur’an
• In a recent debate, Shabir Ally made these points:
• 1. The word yom in the Arabic text of the Qur’an 365
times is evidence of inspiration.
– 360 days in the Arab year
• 2. The use of the number 19 is evidence of inspiration.
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–
–
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Sura 74:30 19 angels
Sura 1:1 19 letters
114 Suras 19 x 6
Sura 96 19th from the last has 19 verses and 209 letter (19 x 11)
Purported Prophecies (I)
Deut 18:15-18
15The
Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me
from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16For
this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the
day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the
voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or
we will die.“ 17The Lord said to me: "What they say is good.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among
their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will
tell them everything I command him.
Purported Prophecies (II)
Deut 18:15-18—“From among their brothers”
Deut 17:15 (brother  foreigner)
Deut 34:10—“Since then no prophet has risen in
Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to
face, who did all those miraculous signs and
wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt”
Like Moses = miraculous signs and wonders, which
Mohammed never did, but Jesus clearly did.
Purported Prophecies (III)
Deut 33:1-2This is the blessing that Moses the man of God
pronounced on the Israelites before his death. 2 He said:
“The LORD came from Sinai
and dawned over them from Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran.
He came with myriads of holy ones
from the south, from his mountain slopes.”
Muslims claim:
Sinai = Moses
Seir = Jesus
Paran = Mohammed
Paran is nowhere near Mecca (Hab 3:3)
Purported Prophecies?
Isa 21:7 ”when he sees…riders on donkeys or riders
on camels, let him be fully alert”
Muslim claim: riders on donkeys = Jesus, riders
on camels = Mohammed. Context: fall of Babylon!
Fulfilled Prophecies?
Jn 14:16 The Comforter parakletos = periclytos?
(praised one)
1. No manuscript support.
2. Jn 14:26 tells us Comforter = the Spirit
3. Comfort for the apostles 600 years later?
4. Jn 16 The Comforter will abide forever.
5. Jn 14:26 The Comforter sent in Jesus’ name.
(unacceptable to a Muslim!)
6. Acts 1:5 The Comforter will come in a few days.
More Positive Evidence
The Qur’an is perfect, beautiful and pure Arabic, despite
the fact that Muhammad was illiterate.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
We can concede that the poetry is pretty good.
Muhammad was illiterate?
Pure Arabic? Sura 12:1-2, Sura 13:37, Sura 16:103
Hundreds of non-Arabic words in the Qur’an.
Much of the writing is virtually impenetrable.
Other arguments
“Changed lives” Not completely without validity.
obviously, if someone believes fervently enough…
“Rapid spread!”—slow at first, picking up only when
Mohammed “picked up” the sword.
“So many converts!”—promise of paradise, alternative of
slavery, taxes, death
II. Islamic Criticisms of the Bible and Christianity
• The most common apologetic of Islam is not to support
Islam or the Qur’an, but to undermine Christianity
and the Bible.
• Islam has a huge problem. The Qur’an makes it clear
that the Old and New Testaments are from Allah, but if
the Bible is true then Muhammad is a liar.
• Note: the claim of corruption comes hundreds of years
after the time of Muhammad.
“Bible corrupt!”
“Qur’an only is pure.”
• Early Period in Mecca. Muhammad sees
himself as following tradition of Judaism.
Muslims pray toward Jerusalem.
• Early Medina period. Mohammad begins
to be politically powerful. The idea of Jihad
introduced.
• Later Medina and Meccan period.
Muhammad strongly opposed to Jews and
Christianity. Islam definitely a distinct
religion.
Quranic view of biblical inspiration
“The people of the Injil shall rule in accordance with
Allah’s revelations therein. Anyone who does not
rule in accordance with Allah’s revelations -- these
are the wicked!” sura 5:47
“We believe in the revelation which has come down to
us and that which came down to you” sura 29:46
Quranic view of biblical inspiration
Inconsistency: Use OT and NT to refute
Christians. Why, if the scriptures are
“corrupt”?
Does the Qur’an Teach the Bible was
Corrupted? No!
Sura 2:75 …some of them have already heard
the word of Allah and knowingly perverted it,
after they had understood its meaning.
Sura 5:13 “they change words from their
context.”
In other words, people mininterpreted
uncorrupted scripture.
Question: When was the Old Testament
Corrupted?
Dead Sea Scrolls 800 years before Muhammad says to
obey the Torah.
So, when was the OT corrupted?
Rylands Papyrus, Washington Manuscript, Codex
Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, etc. Hundreds of years before
Muhammad. When was the NT corrupted?
•
New Testament Corrupt?
John 1:1 If Jesus is not God, when was John 1:1-18 corrupted?
There is NO ANSWER to this question.
Sura 4:157 And for their saying: We have killed the Messiah,
Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, and they killed him
not, nor did they cause his death on the cross, but he was made to
appear to them as such.
Arch-skeptic and atheist Bart Ehrman: “One of the most certain
facts of history is that Jesus was crucified on orders of the
Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
Q: When was the crucifixion added to the Bible?
What about Tacitus, Josephus and the Talmud?
What About the Qur’an?
Uthman burned all competing manuscripts about AD 650
Ibn Masud Codex (Kufa) 150 variants in Sura 2 alone
Sana’a Manuscript about AD 650 missing suras and
hundreds of variants.
Topkapi Manuscript (Turkey) has 44 variants
Hadith mentions missing suras.
Muslims avoid all study of Qur’an manuscripts and
history. What are they afraid of?
The Sana’a
Manuscript:
a
palimpsest
Christians:
Original autographs are perfect and inspired.
Copiers and human and not inspired.
Muslims:
Original autographs are perfect and inspired.
Copiers are inspired and all copies are perfect.
Which view holds up to the evidence?
:
Are Muslim Apologists Equally Skeptical
of Their Own Scripture?
The irony is that Christians are open about minor
changes in their scriptures, which ultimately makes our
Greek NT and Hebrew OT more reliable.
But the Muslim’s lack of openness about the problems in
the Qur’an has made it less reliable.
Do they question the historical support for Jesus speaking
from the cradle?
More Muslim Criticisms of Christianity
Christianity is tritheism
Only Allah is eternal (but the Qur’an is eternal)
Unjust for Jesus to die for someone else’s sins
Qur’an includes the idea of substitutionary sacrifice
Both of these criticisms are based on human logic,
The Bible descriptions of Abraham, David, Samson is
disrespectful and inaccurate
Which is more likely to be accurate, an whitewashed account
2000 years after the event, or an embarrassing account 2000 years earlier?
III. Apologetic Issues in Islam and the Qur’an
A. World View Issues
B. Historical Errors
C. Scientific Errors
D. Satanic Verses and Abrogation
World View Issues: Is Islam a Better Religion?
Islam and women
Works salvation
Predestination
Fate: Problem of Pain and Suffering
Islam: God unapproachable.
Qur’an and women
“Men have authority over women because
Allah has made the one superior to the
other, and because they spend their wealth
to support them. Good women are
obedient… If they are rebellious, rebuke
them, beat them, and send them to bed.”
-- 4:34
Qur’an and wives
“Marry women of your choice, two,
three, or four.”
-- 4:3
Sexual relations with captive female
slaves is acceptable
23:5,6 70:30
Islam on Sin
“Surely good deeds take away evil deeds” (11:114).
Kabira (big sins)—murder, adultery, drunkenness, disobeying
parents, neglecting Ramadan or Friday prayers, gambling,
dancing, shaving the beard, forgetting the Koran after
reading it, usury… Forgiveness with repentance.
Saghira (little sins)—deceit, anger, lust. Forgiveness if greater
sins are avoided and good deeds are performed.
Shirk—association (of other gods with Allah). No forgiveness.
Qur’an and paradise
“The true servants of Allah will be well provided for,
feasting on fruit and honored in gardens of delight.
Reclining face to face upon soft couches, they shall be
served with a goblet filled at a gushing fountain…
delicious to those who drink it. They shall sit with
bashful, dark-eyed virgins, chaste as the sheltered eggs
of ostriches.”
-- 37:40-49. See also 78:32ff.
Salvation by own effort
(40:9, 39:61, 7:43)
Charity atones for sins
(2:271,277)
•
•
•
•
Earn grace.
Earn favor of Allah.
Earn salvation.
Earn paradise.
Islam: Salvation is earned through the
efforts of those who were pre-selected by
Allah to inhabit a very sensual paradise.
Christianity: Salvation is granted by
the grace of a loving God to those who,
through faith and repentance and
baptism accept that love.
Initiative
Human approach
(Islam)
God
Mankind
Christianity
God
Mankind
Predestination
In Islam, Allah determines everything, even who will
choose to follow him.
Sura 6:39 “Who Allah wills he leaves to wander, who
Allah wills, he places on the way that is strait.”
God created Paradise for those who are fit for it
while they were yet in their father’s loins, and
created for Hell those who are to go to Hell while
they were yet in their father’s loins” (Salih Muslim
33:63-93)
Historical errors in the Qur’an
Crucifixion in Egypt at time of Moses 7:124, 12:41
Zechariah silent for 3 days (rather than 9 months) 3:41
Abraham and Ishmael make pilgrimage to Mecca and the
Kabah but Mecca did not exist before Christ.
Jesus’ childhood miracles 3:46, 3:49, 5:110
Jesus speaks from the cradle 19:30-33
Muhammad believed trinity was Father, Mother, Son 5:116
Do not say “Three gods: Allah, Isa and his Mother” (Tafsir alJalalayn)
Islamic Cosmology
• The cosmology of Islam is
not unlike that of the
Bible, except that it takes
incorrect popular ideas
more literally.
• The main difference is
that the Qur’an is not
inspired, so the
statements contained in
the Muslim scripture has
rather obvious scientific
problems.
Scientific errors in Qur’an (I)
23:14—Creation from the clot of blood
“Then we made the sperm into a clot of
congealed blood; then from that clot we
made a lump; and we made out of that lump
bones and clothed the bones with flesh.”
36:4 Man deposits child into the mother
18:86—Traveling west…
“… till, when he reached the setting-place of
the sun, he found it setting in a muddy
spring.”
Scientific errors in Qur’an (II)
21:32-33—Sun and stars orbit the earth
34:9, 52:44—Piece of sky falls and kills
someone
Theory of Abrogation
Sura 6:34 “no one can alter Allah’s promises”
Sura 6:115 “No one can change His words”
Sura 10:64 “There is no changing the promises of Allah”
vs.
Sura 2:106 None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause
to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar:
Knowest thou not that Allah hath power over all things?
Whatever Mohammad said later “abrogates” his previous
sayings.
Abrogation (cont.)
Sura 53:19 In “a moment of weakness” Muhammad
said: “Have you thought of Al-lat, al Uzza and AManat?
These are exalted intermediaries whose intercession is to
be hoped for.” Later abrogated, of course.
Examples: Only four wives (4:3) Later: Muhammad
can have more 33:50 and 33:52
Praying toward Jerusalem abrogated by praying toward
Mecca. (sura 2:142-145)
Sura 9 “Ultimatum” 9:5 “Verse of the sword” abrogates
milder statements about unbelievers.
Summary
Positive Apologetics of Islam and the Qur’an
Islamic Criticism of the Old and New Testaments
Apologetic Issues in Islam and the Qur’an
Reaching out to Muslims: Focus on Jesus.
Remember that Muslims respect Jesus and deal
with reliability of the Old and New Testaments.
Part II. Modern Islam and Jihad
Muslim sects today:
Sunni >80%
Shia 15%
Sufi
Salafi (lit. ancestors)
Wahabi
Nearly all Salafis and all Wahabis are Sunni
Is Islam a Religion of Peace?
Most Muslims are peace-loving.
But… the trends are in the wrong direction
A recent Pew Poll:
237 million favor capital punishment for apostasy
345 million favor honor killings
469 million favor application of sharia to all
Jihad: The Sixth Pillar of Islam?
Jihad = strife or struggle. Most Muslims interpret this as
spiritual struggle.
Sura 22:78 Sura 109 spiritual jihad. All from Meccan
period.
But….. Almost all uses of Jihad in the Qur’an and Hadith
are about warfare.
Sura 2:216-218 “Warfare is prescribed for you, though
you dislike it… Behold, those who believe, emigrate and
undertake jihad, these have hope of the mercy of Allah.
\The Encyclopedia of Islam:
Djihad consists of military action with the
object of the expansion of Islam and, if need
be, of its defense.
Before the 20th century: jihad = warfare
with a spiritual significance.
“Islam is a religion of peace” first stated in
India in 1930s in context of India and
Mahatma Ghandi.
Things to bear in mind
1. Muhammad fought in or oversaw many battles including
offensive warfare.
2. Muhammad ordered the execution and maiming of many
people, including the massacres of innocents.
3. The Qur’an teaches jihad as a means of spreading Islam.
4. The Hadith agrees with this and expands on it.
5. Muhammad’s vision was put into practice in a massive
empire by AD 700.
Things to bear in mind
6. The Qur’an promises immediate and unconditional
access to Paradise to those who die in authorized
jihad. Sura 9:111
7. Based on the doctrine of Abrogation, the violent
aspect of jihad is the correct one (sura 9)
Sura 9 “The Disavowal”
Considered by Islamic scholars to be the final sura.
Concering polytheists: “Kill the polytheists wherever you
find them, lay siege to them, take them captive and sit in
ambush for them everywhere. If they confert, leave their
way. (sura 9:5)
Concerning people of the Book: “Fight those who do not
believe [in Islam] from among the people of the Book until
they pay their jizra (ransom tax) and feel their subjugation.
(9:29) “May Allah destroy them.” (9:30)
If you do not march forth, He will punish you with great
punishment. (9:39-41)
Conclusion
Most Muslims want to get along with non-Muslims and the
majority of their history agrees with this view.
My concern:
Muslims have rejected Muhammad’s and the Qur’an’s
view of jihad principally because of tradition and because
they generally have almost no access to the Qur’an and
Hadith.
In Islam, Reformation/Restoration and a return to the text
bodes very badly for peaceful Islam.
Warfare and Peace: Christianity vs Islam
In Christianity, a return to its roots is a return to pacifism
and non-violence. The first offensive warfare committed
in the name of Christ was 1100 years after Christ.
In Islam, a return to its roots is a return to an aggressive
militant Islam. Reformed Islam is violent Islam. The
internet is exacerbating this problem to a great degree.
Nabeel Qureshi: “As long as Islam is practiced in a way
that calls Muslims to return to its foundations, violence will
follow.”
What is the solution to violent Islam?
Jesus
The Prince of Peace
Reaching Out to Muslims
Moufid Thome, evangelist in Beirut:
The forefront for the conversion of Muslims to Christ is in the
United States, not in Muslim countries.
1. Know the history and religious culture that is Islam.
2. Read the Qur’an and be aware of the importance of Hadith.
3. Prepare to answer Apologetic questions regarding Islam.
4. Show honor and respect. Find common ground (Acts 17).
5. Introduce your Muslim friends to Jesus as described by
those who actually knew him—the gospels.