No Kidding!!

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Dec 20, 2010 at 20:05

To Ibrahim

My response to you is not "sound-bite" stuff, it is a lengthy response, documented from Islam's most authoritative documents, the translation of the Qur'an I use, being that of M.A.S. Abdel-Haleem and titled "The Qur'an, A New Translation" Abdel-Haleem is Egyptian, an al-Azhar educated hafiz Qur'an, who is Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre of Islamic Studies, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and who says of his translation, that he intends to "go further than previous works in accuracy, clarity, flow, and currency of language." Having mentioned the translation I use, here is my response to you, which self-evidently raises very serious questions about the source and authorship of the Qur'an, so to start,

The Qur'an claims that Muhammad is mentioned in the Bible, "in the Torah and in the Gospel."

"Jesus, son of Mary, said,' children of Israel, I am sent to you by Allah, confirming the Torah that came before me and bringing good news of a messenger to follow me whose name will be Ahmad.' Yet when he came to them with clear signs, they said, 'this is obviously sorcery.' " Surah 61:6

"Who follow the messenger – the unlettered prophet they find described in the Torah that is with them and in the Gospel – who commands them to do right and forbids them to do wrong, who makes good things lawful to them and bad things unlawful, and relieves them of their burdens, and the iron collars that were on them. So it is those who believe him, honour and help him, and who follow the light which has been sent down with him, who will succeed." Surah 7:157

As explained in what follows, I demonstrate that the Biblical testimony to whether Muhammad is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel is very clearly no and yes, but some Muslims such as you Ibrahim, also "see" Muhammad referred to in the Song of Solomon, despite it being neither part of the Torah nor the Gospel, and despite the fact that Muslims such as Osama Abdallah are "outraged" that something like the Song of Solomon could be part of the Word of God, the Bible, describing it as "X-rated Pornography in the Bible"

http://www.answering-christianity.com/x_rated.htm

but because other Muslims like you Ibrahim, are determined to find Muhammad referred to in the Bible, you "find" him in the middle of the very same love poem, expressing the woman's sexual desire for her lover. UR KIDDING aren't you??

Your claim that, "the coming Messiah whose mouth and words are pleasant and whom Allah loves the most which is exactly the description of Muhammad and the Qur'an!" contradicts both the Qur'an and Muhammad himself.

Here is who the Qur'an identifies the Messiah to be,

"The angels said, 'Allah gives you news of a word from him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, who will be held in honour in this world and in the next, who will be one of those brought near to Allah. He will speak to people in his infancy and in his adulthood. He will be one of the righteous."

Surah 3:45

The Qur'an teaches that Jesus is the Messiah, and it never teaches that Muhammad is the Messiah:

You are right in saying God loves the Messiah the most, here is what the Bible says,

"And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.' " Matthew 3:17

"…………..a voice from the cloud said, "This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy. Listen to Him.' " Matthew 17:5

If Allah loved Muhammad the most, why didn't he have any assurance of his salvation? What does the Qur'an say about Muhammad's lack of assurance of his standing with Allah?

"Say, 'I am nothing new among Allah's messengers. I do not know what will be done with me or you; I only follow what is revealed to me; I only warn plainly.' " Surah 46:9

In writing that most of the Arabs of Muhammad's time who mastered and loved the human poetry flourishing at that time, "admitted that the Qur'an can't be imitated," you again contradict the Qur'an itself, and I now explain why at one time whilst Muhammad was in Mecca, the Qur'an contained "revelations" not found in it today.

At Surah 2:23 the Qur'an says,

"If you have doubts about the revelation we have sent down to our servant, then produce a single surah like it – enlist whatever supporters you have other than Allah if you truly [think you can.]"

and Surah 17:88 specifically includes the jinn in the challenge:

"Say, 'even if all mankind and jinn came together to produce something like this Qur'an, they could not produce anything like it, however much they helped each other.' "

According to the Qur'an, Satan is one of the jinn.

"We said to the angels, 'Bow down before Adam,' and they all bowed down, but not Iblis; he was one of the jinn and he disobeyed his Lord's command. Are you [people] going to take him and his offspring as your masters instead of me, even though they are your enemies? What a bad bargain for the evildoers!" Surah 18:50

The challenge of Surah 2:23 to "produce a surah like it" has been met, and met by the devil in answer to Surah 17:88 and that Muhammad spoke Iblis' (satan the devil's) words, that neither he nor anyone else listening to them being recited, could distinguish from other words of Allah, is well documented in the earliest Islamic sources.

Whilst in Mecca, Muhammad's followers were few and his preaching attracted few new followers. According to early and authoritative historical accounts of Muhammad's career, authored by competent Muslim scholars such as at-Tabari and Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad longed for better relations and reconciliation with his community, from whom he was estranged by his preaching, and the accounts of these Muslim scholars describe how Allah revealed Surah 53 to Muhammad, up to and including ayat 19&20, these reading,

"[Disbelievers], consider al-Lat and al-Uzza, and the third one Mannat"

Then originally followed these ayat today known as the satanic verses,

"These are the exalted (cranes) Whose intercession is to be hoped for."

The Muslim scholars named, tell us that after this "revelation" was completed, Muhammad, his followers and the pagan Arabs all prostrated, leading to tensions easing, reconciliation being at hand and all being delighted.

But Muhammad soon retracted the "revelation," how soon is unclear, but what is clear from the accounts of the scholars, is that Jibril (the 'angel' of "revelation"), informed Muhammad that Iblis (Satan, the devil), had used Muhammad's desire for reconciliation with the pagan leaders, to insert into "Allah's revelations," the ayat about the interceding cranes, these being the so-called satanic verses.

The "satanic verses" were replaced at Surah 21-22 with these ayat,

"Are you to have the male and he the female? That would be a most unjust distribution."

and these words which appear in present-day copies of Muhammad's recitations, ie. the Qur'an, are apparently an attempt at "damage-limitation," by indicating that when the pagan Arabs had sons who they preferred to daughters, how unfair it was of them to say that Allah had daughters. The very idea of a plurality of gods or goddesses, or sons or daughters of Allah was ridiculous. Allah alone being the only god, the three goddesses being false.

Two other Qur'anic "revelations" evidently refer to the satanic verses and Muhammad's (eventual) rejection of them.

"[Prophet] the disbelievers tried to tempt you away from what we revealed to you, so that you would invent some other revelation and attribute it to us and then they would have taken you as a friend. If we had not made you stand firm, you would almost have inclined a little towards them. In that case, we would have made you taste a double punishment in this life, and a double punishment after death and then you would have found no one to help you against us." Surah 17:73-75

The following revelation evidently being intended to comfort Muhammad,

"We have never sent any messenger or prophet before you [Muhammad] into whose wishes satan did not insinuate something, but Allah removes what satan insinuates and then Allah affirms his message. Allah is all-knowing and wise. He makes satan's insinuations a temptation only for the sick at heart and those whose hearts are hardened – the evildoers are profoundly opposed [to the truth]. Surah 22:52-53

The "miraculous" claim for the Qur'an is a topic which is extremely important, the Qur'an being Muhammad's only claim to prophethood, and on which the foundation of Islam is built. It is said to be a miraculous gift of Allah to Muhammad, with Muhammad being Allah's sole spokesman;

The incident referred to as the Satanic verses is an incident most destructive to Muhammad's "miraculous" claim for the Qur'an, which is well-documented within Islam's most authoritative documents, all four of Muhammad's early biographers recording the details in their Sirat literature, there are references in the Sahi Hadith to it, and there are specific references to it in the Qur'an, with the earliest Islamic sources showing that Muhammad thought the spirit appearing to him in the cave on Mount Hira was demonic, Muhammad being so frantically afraid, he intended suicide several times, by throwing himself off the mountain, each time the spirit appearing to him, seeking to convince Muhammad he really was the angel Gabriel, and succeeding in persuading Muhammad not to commit suicide. These events are recorded in the Qur'an, the Sahi Hadith of Bukhari, and in Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasulallah," and documented by Silas in his publication titled "Muhammad's Suicide Attempts" at http://tinyurl.com/qjo6re and it is inescapable that these accounts have extremely disturbing implications for the true source of the Qur'an.

Of course, the implications are large and very troubling for Islam. How many of the other words still in the Qur'an were revealed to Muhammad by Iblis? (satan, the devil). Muhammad had strange spiritual encounters, unlike anything experienced by the Biblical prophets. Was it really the angel Gabriel choking Muhammad in the cave on Mount Hira? and subsequently appearing to him, seeking to persuade him not to commit suicide? The word of the living God recorded in the Bible saying,

"And no wonder! satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light."

2 Corinthians 11:14

Who was the spirit that appeared to Muhammad in the cave on Mount Hira? Was Muhammad right in his intitial belief that it was Iblis? (the devil or satan). The devil being good at lying, the Lord Jesus Christ saying of him,

"For you are children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44

and here is what the all-Holy living God of the Bible says about "angels" preaching "another gospel" than the New Testament gospel of grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:8-9

Is Islam's denial of the Lord Jesus Christ's identity, Iblis' (satan the devil's) stronghold on more than one billion people? Are Muslims following one of the false prophets that the Lord Jesus Christ said would appear and deceive many?

"Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles." Matthew 7:15-16

"Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are My followers. And many will turn away from Me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people." Matthew 24:9-11

"But I am not surprised! Even satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve." 2 Corinthians 11:14-15

"Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead." 1 Timothy 4:1-2

"For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." 2 Timothy 3-4

The Lord Jesus Christ said that false prophets would arise, and that they would deceive many. There are currently more than one billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is one of the world's fastest-growing religions, inescapably meaning that Muhammad is the most obvious fulfilment of the Lord Jesus Christ's prophecies about false prophets, and hence, the greatest false prophet of all time.

The Apostle Paul said that satan masquerades as an angel of light, and if Muhammad had been aware of this, he would have perhaps trusted his first instinct that he was experiencing demonic attack, and that the spirit who appeared to him in the cave on Mount Hira, claiming to be the angel Gabriel was in fact Iblis (satan the devil). This is a clear fulfilment of the Apostle Paul's words, Paul also saying that people would give heed to "seducing spirits" and "doctrines of devils," with Muhammad's satanic verses providing a striking example of this, and with Muhammad claiming that Iblis had put those words on his lips, the question must be asked, how many other words did Iblis (satan the devil) put on his lips, that neither Muhammad nor anyone else could distinguish from Allah's words, and which are still in the Qur'an?

Because I see things most clearly by comparing and contrasting them, I draw to a close by comparing and contrasting Muhammad's lack of assurance of his standing with Allah, and his unawareness of what Allah would do with him, with the absolute confident assurance of salvation and of right-standing with the God of the Bible, enjoyed by those who confidently trust their future into the absolutely dependable hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says,

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard." Romans 3:23

"But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Romans 5:8

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

"For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, 'Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.' For 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?" Romans 10:9-11&13-14

As a deeply committed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, my job is to tell others about Him and the sure and certain salvation available only in Him. I have told you, I do believe you're going to live forever, please choose your address Ibrahim.

With all good wishes

Lactantius Jr

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