Apologetics: Flippin’ Fatwa Friday – The Quran vs. The Bible: Surah al-Baqarah Verses 97-103

After a short hiatus, we’re back to dismantling the Quran section by section, and today, we’re going to be looking at an example of the Islamic Dilemma and some made-up history about Solomon and the Jewish people. For a book that claims to be the sequel to the Bible and the most amazing thing ever written, it has a staggering number of inaccuracies and contradictions. Let’s jump in with Surah 2:97-103:

⁹⁷ Say, “He who is an enemy to Gabriel because it is he who has brought down this (Quran) on your heart by the command of Allah, and which confirms (the Scriptures) which preceded it, and is a guidance and good tidings to the believers, ⁹⁸ (Let him bear in mind that ) whoever is an enemy to Allah and His angels and His Messengers and Gabriel and Michael, then, of course, Allah (Himself) is an enemy to such disbelievers.” ⁹⁹ And We indeed have sent down to you clear arguments which none but the disobedient reject. ¹⁰⁰ Is it not a fact that every time they made a covenant, some of them cast it away? Rather most of them have no (true) faith. ¹⁰¹ And (now) when a great Messenger (Muhammad) has come to them from Allah confirming that (Scripture) which is with them, a party of those who were given the Scripture cast away the Book of Allah behind their backs, as if they know (it) not.

I’m first going to focus on 97-101, since this is where the Islamic Dilemma comes up. Verse 97 clearly states that the Quran is essentially the sequel of the Bible, affirming the Scriptures that came before it. Verses 98 and 99 seem to be just thrown in there, but it is interesting to note how 98 is attached to 97, saying that whoever is an enemy to Allah, his messengers, and his angels is cursed by Allah. I’m no expert, but what I’m deducing from this is that it’s either implying that those who reject the message from Muhammad are Allah’s enemies, or it’s more broadly referring to those who reject anything coming from Allah, of which Muslims do consider the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel to be from Allah. If the latter option, since Muslims reject the Torah, Psalms, and Gospels, saying they’re corrupted since they contradict the Quran on fundamental teachings, then Muslims are Allah’s enemies.

Whoops.

Then there’s 100-101, which continues to double down on the Islamic Dilemma, as it faults the people who had the Scriptures with throwing out the Quran, because the Quran affirms the Scriptures. Notice how nowhere here does it imply that the Quran only supports parts of Scripture. It’s very clear that the Quran affirms all of Scripture in these verses. Thus, the Quran is false because the Scriptures directly contradict it.

Then, we get some false history that also shows how the Quran doesn’t match the Bible, even on some small historical facts:

¹⁰² Moreover, they (-the Jews of the Prophet’s time) pursue (the same tactics) which the rebels had followed against the empire of Solomon. And it was not Solomon that had committed breach of faith, but it was the rebels that had committed breach of faith. They (-the Jews of Madinah) teach the people the modes of intriguing; and also (pursue) that which had (once) been revealed to the two angels, Harut and Marut in Babylon. But these two would not teach (anything to) anyone without first declaring, “We are but a trial (for you here), do not, therefore, commit breach of faith.” So they (-the followers of Harut and Marut), learnt from them that (teaching) by which they mae a distinction between man and his wife, (- they taught men only and not women), yet they would not harm anyone thereby (by their practice), save by the command of Allah. But these people (-the Jews of the Prophet’s time, on the contrary) are learning things that would harm them and do them no good. (They do it) even though they know that he who adopts this course will have no share (of good) in the Hereafter. Indeed, evil is that thing which they have sold themselves for. Had they but known (this fact). ¹⁰³ And if these (Jews) had kept their faith and guarded against these evils, surely they would have received a better reward from Allah. Had they but known (it).

First of all, Solomon did commit a breach of faith when he committed idolatry thanks to his many wives. In fact, the idolatry was so bad that it led to a civil war in which Israel was split into two separate kingdoms.

Second, Harut and Marut never existed. There is no mention of them as angels in the Bible and as far as I can tell, there’s no historical basis for them ever being human kings. In fact, there’s actually more to point to these guys coming from the teachings of Zoroastrianism or even Hinduism’s Mahabharata due to its close parallels. Others have also suggested that Harut and Marut are characters adapted from apocryphal texts such as 3 Enoch, which is a bunch of crappy Judeo-Christian fanfiction.

Third, there does not appear to be any evidence that the Jews were practicing magic during the time of Muhammad. Instead, the evidence just points to the Jews not wanting to submit to Islam because it didn’t fit with the Scriptures and they were uneasy with the changing political climate in Medina. Had this been talking about earlier Jewish history, perhaps why they were exiled, then it would make more sense, but as is, it seems to be historically bunk.

Until next time,

M.J.