Time to anger people again!
In my conversation with a Muslim girl who goes by A Person (who was one of the most respectful people I have had the chance to debate with, so kudos to her), she raised the point that I needed to read the Quran if I hadn’t already. This was a point that I happily agreed with. Given what I do here on my blog, I need to know what I’m up against. And since I enjoy studying other religions, cultures, and belief systems, and seeing how they compare to my faith as a Christian, it was inevitable that I would read the Quran at some point. So, I bought a copy for myself and my best friend (who also wanted to study it) a few weeks ago and just finished reading the introduction to it. For reference, this version of the Quran was based off the translation provided by a dude named Allamah Nooruddin and I’m pretty sure that he wrote the intro, though I’m not entirely sure (just to keep things from being too confusing, I’ll assume he wrote the intro; feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on that). But nonetheless, time for me to give you guys my two cents as I crack this thing open and fall into a not-so-fun version Wonderland because everything is an illogical spiderweb of “huh?”
#1: The First Lie and Hedonism
Okay, this first bit is a bit nitpicky, but on the first page, we’re told by Mr. Nooruddin that the Quran is the most widely read book in the world. A quick Google search will tell you that the Bible still holds that trophy, but I guess that acknowledging the Quran holds second place wouldn’t sound as neat.
Anyways, onto the more important stuff…
In this introduction, we’re told that the Quran wishes us “Everything that is beautiful, everything that is meaningful, and everything that brings us happiness.” (page 1-A) While wishing to find beauty, meaning, and happiness is not inherently a bad thing, as a Christian, I find this as raising some red flags as it sounds quite like hedonism. If your entire religion which is based on this book is wishing you everything that brings you happiness, then that opens it up to all sorts of questionable things. What happens if what makes you happy isn’t good? For example, a sadist may find happiness in torturing and murdering people. Is that okay? Or does happiness only extend to the things that Islam says is halal (English translation: okay)? If so, does that not exclude other things, then infringing on people’s happiness?
Perhaps I’m reading too much into this line, but it sounds kinda fishy to me, especially since even Aisha once commented to Muhammad on Allah’s convenient fulfillment of his “wishes and desires,” saying: “I feel that your Lord hastens in fulfilling your wishes and desires.” (Sahih Bukhari, 6:60:311) But let’s keep reading….
#2: The Language of the Quran
I’m skipping over one of the biggest issues raised in this introduction on page 2-A and saving that for last, so let’s focus on this one for now. In this introduction, we see one of the first glaring contradictions and logical fallacies on page 4-A, where Nooruddin writes:
“The final revelation, the last and complete Book of God could not, possibly, have been expressed in a language of human creation. A finite mind could not make words sufficiently wide in their connotations to convey an Infinite mind. The language of the Holy Quran was the only proper vehicle to convey the message coming from God, for it is imbued with qualities which lie outside all our frames of reference and all our limiting definitions, as the Quran says:
Had We made it a Quran in indistinct and inexpressive language, these (faultfinders) would have surely said, ‘Why has not (the subject matter) of its verses been made clear in exposition?’ What! Can indistinct and inexpressive language and an eloquently clear language (be one and the same thing) (41:44).“
Did you catch that? A language of human creation isn’t sufficient to convey an infinite mind, but somehow Classical Arabic (which was what the Quran was originally written in) was “the only proper vehicle to convey the message coming from God,” even though it was created by humans.
Did you catch the inconsistency here? Let me spell it out even further. The words of Allah can’t be all contained in any human language, but somehow, Arabic – a language created by humans 1000-1600 years ago – can contain the words of Allah. Right….
This isn’t the only discrepancy in this statement, either. According to the research about Islam that I’ve been doing as I embark on this journey, the Quran says that Allah sent a bunch of different prophets to different peoples around the world to give them the words of Allah. These different prophets were specific to these different peoples. Surah Fatir (35:24) says:
“Indeed, We have sent you ˹O Prophet˺ with the truth, as a bearer of good news and a warner. And there has never been a nation without a warner having been sent among them.”
Surah Yunus 10:47 also says:
“For every nation there is a messenger; when their messenger comes, the matter is judged between them with justice, and they are not wronged.”
Basically, Allah sent these messengers so they could speak in the languages of their own people (Surah Ibrahim ayat 14:4) and tell them about what Allah wants them to do or something. But if Arabic is the only language with the breadth to (somehow) contain Allah’s message, then how were these people able to get the full picture? It’s a massive contradiction that also leads to an even bigger contradiction which I’ll get to in a second, but I need to also talk about how the Quran was written.
#3: The Diction of the Quran
In this introduction, we’re told that the diction of the Quran is the most amazing thing ever and it’s simply so concise, well-put together and written, and sounds so pretty when read aloud (in Arabic of course) that no one, not one person, can ever write anything like it.
Has Nooruddin never read the Quran? Upon receiving it from Amazon, I looked through it to make sure nothing was damaged, read a chapter and it was as though I was reading something written by someone who was drunk. Of course, this was only first impressions. Maybe my view of this will change as I read on, but I every other verse was so convoluted that I wondered how anyone could take it seriously. I’ve also heard that you have to read it Arabic to fully grasp its eloquence, but from my research, you can spend years learning how to read Classical Arabic and still walk away confused.
Furthermore, one of the claims Muslim scholars make to the veracity of the Quran is that no one can ever write anything like it, so it must be Allah’s revelation to humanity. In fact, even the Quran makes this claim in several verses, saying:
Surah Al-Isra (17:88): “Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like, even if they were to each other assistants.'”
Surah Hud (11:13): “Or do they say, ‘He invented it’? Say, ‘Then bring ten surahs like it that have been invented and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.'”
Surah Yunus (10:38): “Or do they say, ‘He forged it’? Say, ‘Then bring a surah like it and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.'”
Surah Al-Tur (52:33-34): “Or do they say, ‘He has made it up’? Rather, they do not believe. Then let them produce a statement like it, if they should be truthful.”
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:23-24): “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. But if you do not – and you will never be able to – then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.”
Unfortunately for them, this is a massive logical fallacy. Many people have tried to recreate stories such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, etc. and have never come close to it. Does that mean that those things are the Word of God (or Allah, in this case)?
The answer is no. Not unless you’re delusional.
Furthermore, this standard of judgement is unfair as the judges are the Muslims. There is a bias, and they can move the goalposts however they like to claim that any attempt at recreating the Quran is simply a cheap knock off, isn’t as eloquent, whatever. It’s like trying to impress that one annoying teacher who always gives you a poor grade even though you did everything right. Even worse for this argument is that many verses of the Quran are quotes from other people or creatures, like jinn.
#4: The Islamic Dilemma
Now it’s time to talk about the biggest problem of this entire introduction, as well as the entire Quran. On page 2-A, we first encounter this problem when Nooruddin writes that the Quran is “A book which comprehends all the truths, and in which are gathered together the Divine Messages of all other books.”
Okay, interesting. Let’s see what else Nooruddin writes about the Quran, truth, and other religions. Surely, he’ll make sure that everything is consistent, right?
“All the Books for God that came from time to time to every nation and to every country for human guidance have lost their purity, and man-made creeds have obscured the Words of the Lord. No religion should claim our allegiance unless its record is absolutely authentic, and its Scripture undistorted. Whatever is the worth of the teachings of a religion one cannot consider or accept its claims when its very source is of a dubious character. […] The Quran is admitted by friends and foes alike to be the very Book presented by Muhammad (peace be upon him) and it has maintained its purity all along. Amongst all the Divine Scriptures it is the only one which enjoys the distinction of having its original text intact. Contrary to the Holy Bible and the Vedas, this Holy Writ, through all the centuries since it was revealed and all over the world and among the numerous contending sects, has maintained only one text.” (page 9-A)
“Adequacy can be maintained through ‘Ijtihad’ (exercising judgement) and a continuously progressive interpretation of the Quran from time to time in accordance with the progress of human experience. All the teachings put together make the Divine guidance contained in the Holy Quran adequate for the future moral and spiritual progress of the human race for all times. […] No doubt that it is perfectly legitimate for Muslims to borrow from other circles what is in fact already theirs by right, their ‘straying camel.’ But nothing that has its roots in agnosticism, or contrary to the Quranic principles can be incorporated into its interpretation without poisoning the whole system.” (pages 19-A-20-A)
“It is not the Holy Quran’s chief purpose to teach people subjects of secular study and to instruct them in worldly instructions, these things are only the by-products of its teachings and no present or previous Book except the Holy Quran possesses this quality. Just as it is not possible that we should be able to see without eyes, in the same way it is not possible that we should be able to behold the countenance of God without the Quran.” (page 22-A)
“According to the Quran, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., are but different aspects of one and the same religion, which, in its original purity, was the religion of Islam (-submission to the will of God and to make peace with God and people). Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Krishna, Rama, Buddha or Confucius, all were the Prophets of God (may Allah be pleased with them all) and were sent for the guidance of their respective people. The Quran repeatedly claims to be in conformation with the truth of all faiths as the Quran defines the true believers:
And who (also) believe in that (Message) which has been revealed
you
and in that which had been revealed before you (2:4)
The Quran, therefore, not only recognizes the truth of all the previous Divine Books and Prophets but also makes it obligatory for Muslims to believe in the Divine origin of their teachings and thus it takes an effective step to promote peace and harmony with the followers of other religions.” (pages 24-A-25-A)
“Thus, the Quran requires not only a belief in Divine revelation to the Prophet of Islam, but belief in Divine revelation to all the Prophets sent to all nations of the world in all times. […] These fault finders are blind to the fact that the source of all Divine Scriptures is the same God.” (page 25-A)
“Say, ‘We believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to us and in that which was revealed to Abraham, and Ismail and Isaac and Jacob and his children and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus and to all other Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between anyone of them (in believing them) and to Him alone do we submit’ (3:84)”
(page 26-A)
“This is a (glorious) Book which We have revealed full of blessings, so follow it and guard against evil that you may be shown mercy. (We have revealed this blessed Book) lest you should say, ‘The Book has only been revealed to two communities (- the Jews and the Christians) before us, and (as for us) we remained unaware of what those (Books) read.’ Or lest you should say, ‘Had the Book been revealed to us we would surely have been better guided than they.’ Now there has certainly come to you from your Lord (in the form of the Quran) a clear evidence, and excellent guidance, and a great mercy (6: 155-157)” (page 27-A)
“All the previous Prophets brought certain laws of life from God, but most of these teachings had been lost owing to the vicissitudes of time. The Holy Quran came and found all their Scriptures either extinct or corrupted by human interpolation. It renewed the old teachings and restored them to their original forms.” (page 27-A)
I could spend all day pulling quotes from this guy as well as from the Quran, so perhaps I’ll dedicate a blog post to addressing the full scope of the Islamic Dilemma, but as we can see here, he contradicts himself constantly. He constantly fluctuates between implying that Islam is the only true religion, and all other religions are corrupt, then says that all Muslims need to accept the teachings of other religions because they came from other prophets of Allah. There is no consistency here. It just raises a whole bunch of questions. How are you supposed to follow the teachings of other religious leaders that came before Muhammed if their works have all supposedly been corrupted (which is a problem in of itself that sheds light on how Allah is actually a massive jerk)? How do we know that these other works (primarily the Bible) were at some point corrupted? Do we have evidence for this? Who corrupted them and when? How come all these religions teach fundamentally different things and contradict each other constantly? Why is Allah giving vastly different revelations and rules to people? Why is there so much proof that many of these ancient peoples who supposedly received these revelations weren’t Muslims by a long shot (for example: the Quran says that Jesus’ followers were Muslims, but all the evidence of early Christian activity shows that they were Christians, not Muslims)? Wasn’t Abraham in Mecca and if so, why didn’t he share Allah’s revelation with the Arabs? Wrong language or something?
I could go on with these questions, but like I said, the Islamic Dilemma is something to discuss fully in a separate blog post. Stay tuned for part 2 of me pointing out even more lies, inconsistencies, and disturbing elements of Islam mentioned in the Introduction. From there, we’ll just see what else happens.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 