For Mansoor Again

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), May 6, 2008 at 05:36

You Muslims don't have an original complete copy of the Qu'ran, either. The one we know was compiled under the Caliph 'Umar long after Muhammad died. Both of us must deal with the issue of textual transmission, a matter which I have never seen Muslims address.

Add to this, you did not answer how, if the Jews and Christians falsified the Scriptures, the Christians and Jews (who did not cooperate) end up reading and arguing over the same Old Testament; while dozens of Christian sects (also non-cooperating) end up wrangling over the same New Testament.

Further, one reason why I cannot accept Muhammad's religion and why I do not see it as submission to God is that the Qu'ran is manifestly false at points. The English and Chinese translations of the Qu'ran which I have read tell me that the Jews call Uzair (Ezra) the son of God the way the Christians call Jesus Christ. I have lived close to Jews my entire life and have read their books as well, but I have never heard of a Jewish writer ancient or modern who has called Ezra the Son of God.

The Qu'ran also seems to think that the Christian Trinity is the Father, Jesus, and Mary; when we have always prayed to the Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.

One point on which traditional Jews and Christians always agreed was that the texts in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 (in the Torah, which both of us read) where it says "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" were delivered by God to all Israel at Mount Sinai. They represent the eternal law of God. At the points above, the Qu'ran clearly contradicts this, and bears false witness against the Jews and Christians. Hence, I cannot see it as God-given.

Further, the Qu'ran seems confused. It calls Jesus Isa-al-Masih, clearly a derivative of the Hebrew Yehoshua ha-M'shiach, and thus admitting that Jesus is the Messiah promised by God. Yet if Jesus is the one supremely anointed to be God's prophet, priest, and king, how can he take second place to a man who admittedly is not "one of your brethren" as Moses spoke of a prophet to come (Deuteronomy 18)? After all, while Jesus descends from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob via King David (Matthew 1), Muhammad admittedly descends from Ishmael.

Also, around 700 BC plus or minus, Isaiah the prophet spoke of one who would be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities with the sins of us all laid on him (Isaiah 53). We Christians have found this a prophecy of Jesus' suffering and death. Islam does Jesus no honor by denying his curcifixion (also in the Qu'ran), but only shows that it has no atonement for sin--and, does not share Jesus' triumph over death (also on our behalf). Indeed, is it not the case that the bones of Muhammad lie in Medina, awaiting the resurrection and final judgment along with the rest of the dead? And I have too many texts from the New Testament about Jesus death and resurrection to do more than ask you to read it.

Further, if I tweak a Christian fundamentalist conscience, a homeless shelter, orphanage, or private school will get support. If I tweak a strongly Muslim conscience, people will get blown up.

Further, you cannot teach me that Islam is egalitarian. You call black people _abeed_, which means "slave" (clear cognate of '-'ebed- in Hebrew, which has not reference to color).

Nor can you deny that sects like the Bahai and Ahmadi are derivatives of Islam that attempt to answer the question of who is the Mahdi. By the same token, the Jews must admit that we Christians derive from them (after all, our Bible has the Old Testament as well as the New, and we do not excuse ourselves from reading it the way Muslims pretend they may ignore the Old and New Testaments
by their false statement that the Scriptures were falsified).

Hence, Islam is an incomplete, makeshift 7th century Unitarianism with spears and swords. That is all.

But, please, Mansoor, show me how the Jews and Christians, who fought each other, could somehow come up with the same falsifications of the Old Testament. Not even Ahmad Deedat succeeded with that one!

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