Islam Inquisition

January 18, 2012

Do Muslims understand the story of the Bible?

In much of my dialogue with Muslims, many of which are my friends, I've noticed a common trend... they don't fully grasp the story of the Bible. Now to be fair, not many Christians understand it either and are happy to be cradle Christians the rest of their life. But when it comes to dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters its very important to own up to our beliefs beyond the pleasant childhood stories of Jesus and be prepared to defend them.

In a lot of cases when debating, I find that arguments scatter back and fourth between verses of scripture both in the Bible and the Quran. Statements like "well how can Jesus be God if he ate food and went the bathroom?" to "How come Prophet Muhammad married a 9-year old girl?". Honestly these types of debates can go off the charts and lead to a lot of mutual frustration! My friends, throwing verses out like this doesn't always prove anything, in fact many times words just fall on deaf ears.

Let the Bible speak for itself!

So before getting into the nitty gritty and overly detailed scripture verses; understand the story of salvation. Understand that it's through God's love that he wishes to redeem the word! God sent the many prophets to continuously reveal more about himself and correct a fallen people time after time... but God also promised that through the "seed" of the woman the enemy would be crushed and that seed is Jesus Christ. I can't tell you how often I hear from my Muslim friends that God sent the prophets and they all have the same message, to submit to one God. OK well we believe that too but there's more to it... you don't simply sum up thousands of years of revelation into one simple sentence!

Here's a question...

After understanding the narrative story of the Bible, how then does the Qur'an actually fit? How does the Biblical journey through the first covenant with Adam and Eve, through her seed in the bloodline of prophets; how does that story have anything to do with Prophet Muhammad... one who was not in the seed line of God's covenants with Israel?

January 13, 2012

Do you know how to read the Bible?

One of the biggest problem I've seen (and this goes for me too) is the difficulty in reading the Bible. This issue applies to Christians and non-Christians alike. The Bible is not an ordinary book. Its not just a book you pick up on a rainy day and decide to read from cover to cover. The Bible is God's story and promise of salvation to us, his creation. Its a story of not only history, but an account of the actions that God himself did for me and you all out of love throughout the centuries... how awesome!

Many of you may understand what I'm talking about. You start out with a goal, saying "I'm going to read the whole Bible in a year!" Heck, Muslims read the entire Quran and memorize every word of it, why can't I do the same, right? So you start with Genesis and the story of Adam and Eve. You get to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses... things are looking good. Then you stumble upon Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, yikes! You suddenly realize you "lost" the story. Everything was going great until now and you decide "well this doesn't apply to me anymore so I'll just skip ahead". You see, that's the difficulty in reading scripture without a guide... its like wandering in the wilderness without a map and that's sadly where many of us fall. Later on we give up and when we want to be inspired, we flip open the Bible and hope we stumble upon a feel-good message from Jesus. But still, what happened to the big picture?

Again, this issue applies to ALL people and when in dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters its very important to remember. We all know bits and pieces of the story, we all pick and choose scripture passages to throw at one another but that's not very helpful is it?

Ok so what's the point right? Fine... try explaining the trinity to a Muslim without a solid foundation and prepare to be destroyed. Try explaining God's plan of salvation without knowing the story of the fall and original sin, the sacraficial lamb, and how that relates to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There are hundreds upon hundreds of connections to Christ from within the Torah that we as Christians need to be aware of and if we could understand the frame of the story we'd be in a much better possition to dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters.

If you're wondering how you should start to read the Bible, here's a few tips:

Try reading these 12 Periods in 14 narrative books (threads) of the Bible:

Early World (Genesis 1-11)
Patriarchs (Genesis 12-50)
Egypt & Exodus (Exodus)
Desert Wanderings (Numbers)
Conquest and Judges (Joshua, Judges; supplemental -- Ruth)
Royal Kingdom (1st & 2nd Samuel, 1 Kings 1-11)
Divided Kingdom (1 Kings 12-22, 2 Kings; supplemental -- Jonah)
Exile (2 Kings 17, 23-25; supplemental -- Jonah)
Return (Ezra, Nehemiah; supplemental -- Esther)
Maccabean Revolt (1st & 2nd Maccabees)
Messianic Fulfillment (Luke)
The Church (Acts of the Apostles)

READ IN CONTEXT

You have to put on your historical glasses while reading the bible. You cannot apply today's science and knowledge to ancient texts. A lot of scripture is poetic, is political of its time, is based on the surrounding empires etc. Its ever important to read scripture in context! This is also one of the difficulties in dialog when people take passages out of context and many counter claims can be refuted if one simply understands this.
Try reading scripture in the light of Christ and see how the Old Testament passages relates to the New Testament.

Now the twist to all of this is (and I'll get into more details later) is the order of the Surah's in the Quran and when Prophet Muhammad had his revelations. Where's the narrative thread in the Quran? The Bible and Quran have a "message" but they are transmitted very differently and its important to study and understand that. But I hope you understand my message in this post; that it's so important to grasp the base foundation of the Bible story with the narrative thread in order to understand the "why", "how", "what", and "who" of Jesus Christ the Messiah. This is our story with God by the way, its important to understand what our Father said and did! ~ God bless

January 6, 2012

To Stone or not to Stone, That is the Question...

One of the most serious verses in the Quran is about the act of adultery (zina). Zina is one of the worst sins two people can commit besides shirk (believing in more than one God). The Quran is very clear about its ruling on those who are caught in the act of adultery but there are conditions as we shall explore.

First lets look at the verses themselves:

QURAN:

The first verse is in Surah 4:15 and is the specific punishment for a woman. It states:

[1] [Surah 4:15] "Those who commit immorality [i.e. unlawful sexual intercourse] of your women - bring against them four [witnesses] from among you. And if they testify(a) confine them [i.e. the guilty women] to houses until death takes them or Allah ordains for them [another] way.(b)

(a) The witnesses must swear to actually having seen the act taking place.

(b) The "other way" (i.e. penalty) was later revealed in Surah 24:2, canceling the ruling in this verse.

[2] [Surah 4:16] "And the two who commit it [i.e. ulawful sexual intercourse] among you - punish [i.e. dishonor] them both. But if they repent and correct themselves, leave them alone. Indeed Allah is ever Accepting of repentance and Merciful."

[3] [Surah 4:17] "The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance [or carelessness] and then repent soon after..."

[4] [Surah 24:2] "The [unmarried] women or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse(c) - lash each one of them with a hundred lashes(d), and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion [i.e. the law] of Allah(e), if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.

(c) Either by voluntary confession of the offender or the testimony of four male witnesses to having actually seen the act take place. Otherwise, there can be no conviction.

(d) The ruling in this verse is applicable to unmarried fornicators. Execution by stoning is confirmed in the Sunnah for convicted adulterers.

(e) Do not let sympathy for a guilty person move you to alter anything ordained by Allah, for in His law is protection of society as a whole.

Lets stop here for now, although there is more if you continue reading, and sum up the verses.

The original ruling [Surah 4:15] by God is for a "woman" who commits adultery.
If a woman is found guilty (by four witnesses confessing to the act) then she shall spend the rest of her life at home until she dies.
This verse was later abrogated by [Surah 24:2] .
In the new ruling, both the man and the woman found guilty of adultery (or confessing the act) are to be administered 100-lashes and humiliated in front of others in the community.
Its interesting to note the commentary of Surah 24:2 where it states that execution by stoning is confirmed in the Sunnah for convicted adulterers.

HADITH:

In order to grasp the integrity of the Surah's above we need to understand what was done in practice by Prophet Muhammad. We can turn to the Hadith for such examples as they relate to God's ruling on adulterers. Here are some of the stories (I list only three because they are quite long):

[5] [Muslim, Book 17, No. 4201] Ibn Abbas reported that Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said to Ma'iz b. Malik: Is it true what has reached me about you? He said: What has reached you about me? He said: It has reached me that you have committed (adultery) with the slave-girl of so and so? He said: Yes. He (the narrator) said: He testified four times. He (the Holy Prophet) then made pronouncement about him and he was stoned (to death).

Here, Mai'z b. Malik testifies to Prophet Muhammad four times that he was the one who committed adultery and thus he was stoned to death. I'm sure Mai'z was trying to be righteous in confessing his sin but regardless, why was he stoned when Allah prescribes 100-lashes? Read more on the story in the next narration, it gets worse.

[6] [Muslim Book 17, No. 4206] 'Abdullah b. Buraida reported on the authority of his father that Ma'iz b. Malik al-Aslami came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Allah's Messenger, I have wronged myself; I have committed adultery and I earnestly desire that you should purify me. He turned him away. On the following day, he (Ma'iz) again came to him and said: Allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) turned him away for the second time, and sent him to his people saying: Do you know if there is anything wrong with his mind. They denied of any such thing in him and said: We do not know him but as a wise good man among us, so far as we can judge. He (Ma'iz) came for the third time, and he (the Holy Prophet) sent him as he had done before. He asked about him and they informed him that there was nothing wrong with him or with his mind. When it was the fourth time, a ditch was dug for him and he (the Holy Prophet) pronounced judgment about him and he was stoned. He (the narrator) said: There came to him (the Holy Prophet) a woman from Ghamid and said: Allah's Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. On the following day she said: Allah's Messenger, Why do you turn me away? Perhaps, you turn me away as you turned away Ma'iz. By Allah, I have become pregnant. He said: Well, if you insist upon it, then go away until you give birth to (the child). When she was delivered she came with the child (wrapped) in a rag and said: Here is the child whom I have given birth to. He said: Go away and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she came to him (the Holy Prophet) with the child who was holding a piece of bread in his hand. She said: Allah's Apostle, here is he as I have weaned him and he eats food. He (the Holy Prophet) entrusted the child to one of the Muslims and then pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her. Khalid b Walid came forward with a stone which he flung at her head and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid and so he abused her. Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) heard his (Khalid's) curse that he had hurried upon her. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Khalid, be gentle. By Him in Whose Hand is my life, she has made such a repentance that even if a wrongful tax-collector were to repent, he would have been forgiven. Then giving command regarding her, he prayed over her and she was buried.

So again its the same story of Mai'z who testifies to Prophet Muhammad four times that he committed adultery but not only was he stoned to death, a ditch was dug for him to stand in and then he was stoned. Where in the name of Allah does such specific punishment come from?

It continues on to a heart breaking story about a woman from Ghamid who also confessed to adultery and has heard the story about Mai'z. The problem here is that she is already pregnant. However, Prophet Muhammad told her to return after she had given birth, and when he was of age to eat with his own two hands. When she returned, the Prophet pronounced her judgement (after at least a year has passed), had her placed in a ditch up to her chest and stoned to death. Again, where does it say that adulterers were to be stoned to death int he Qur'an?

What is absolutely vile is that Prophet Muhammad commanded others to stone her, in particular one by the name of Khalid b Walid who got angry when her blood splattered on his face from the stoning. Because of that, Khalid "abused" her (whatever that means) and Prophet Muhammad said "be gentle." Be gentle how? Disgusting...

[7] [Bukhari Vol 8, Book 82, No. 815] Narrated Abu Huraira and Zaid bin Khalid:

While we were with the Prophet , a man stood up and said (to the Prophet ), "I beseech you by Allah, that you should judge us according to Allah's Laws." Then the man's opponent who was wiser than him, got up saying (to Allah's Apostle) "Judge us according to Allah's Law and kindly allow me (to speak)." The Prophet said, "'Speak." He said, "My son was a laborer working for this man and he committed an illegal sexual intercourse with his wife, and I gave one-hundred sheep and a slave as a ransom for my son's sin. Then I asked a learned man about this case and he informed me that my son should receive one hundred lashes and be exiled for one year, and the man's wife should be stoned to death." The Prophet said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, I will judge you according to the Laws of Allah. Your one-hundred sheep and the slave are to be returned to you, and your son has to receive one-hundred lashes and be exiled for one year. O Unais! Go to the wife of this man, and if she confesses, then stone her to death." Unais went to her and she confessed. He then stoned her to death.

Now we see a change of punishment where Prophet Muhammad administers Allah's penalty of 100-lashes and tacks on one year of exile to the man who had adultery (I haven't found exile yet in the Qur'an but I'm still searching). Yet as for the woman, her punishment was stoning by the order of Prophet Muhammad, carried out by Unais! Why are there two different judgements?

TORAH:

You might be surprised to know that that the Torah prescribes stoning for a man and woman as punishment for adultery too. Its hard to reconcile the verses in Deuteronomy 22:13 and that is for another discussion. But open the chapter and read for yourself and you'll notice a parallel between the Law of Moses and the punishment by Prophet Muhammad.

GOSPEL:

The famous passage in John 7:53 regarding the adulteress woman is a direct interruption to the known prescribed punishment of the law of Jesus's time. Here we see that Jesus is upholding the law's teaching that adultery is sin while setting aside the specific regulations concerning the community's enforcement of the law.

SUMMARY:

I think the verses speak for themselves. The most shocking to me is this sequence:

- Torah (Stoning)
          - Gospel (No Stoning)
               - Qur'an (Confinement... No Confinement... Lashing... *Stoning... *Exile...)
                 *Stoning and exile are not found in the Qur'an but administered by Prophet Muhammad

QUESTIONS:

Does the Qur'an confirm the Torah in the Law of Moses?
Does the Qur'an confirm the Gospel in the teachings of Jesus?

Either Jesus is wrong by violating the Law of Moses
Or as many Muslims claim, the Gospels are corrupted and Jesus never said this.
Or Prophet Muhammad violated the Law of Moses, Jesus and Allah in the Quran

Why does Allah prescribe two different punishments for adultery?
- Confined to one's home until death
- 100-lashes
Why does Prophet Muhammad prescribe the death penalty of stoning if its not a commandment of Allah?
Why does Prophet Muhammad prescribe the death penalty of stoning for a woman and only 100-lashes for a man?
Why does Prophet Muhammad send the adulterer into exile if its not a commandment of Allah?
Why would Allah change his mind and change the law (abrogate) within a short period of time?

January 4, 2012

The Virgin Mary's Super Strength...

One of my favorite chapters in the Quran is Surah Maryam as it takes you back in time to the Christmas story that is celebrated all over the world by Christians, Muslims and many others of different faiths. It's one of my favorites because it's the story of the birth of Jesus and I found that it was a wonderful way to connect and exchange my faith with my many Muslim friends. Many of you might not know, but the Virgin Mary is the most revered woman in the Quran and is the most respected by most, if not by all Muslims. I have not met a Muslim whose heart didn't sing at the mere mention of her name!

Most of us look forward to the Christmas season as a time of family gatherings, stringing the Christmas tree, joy and anticipation of exchanging gifts and all those wonderful things! A lot of friends, family and acquaintances are perfectly happy and content with what they know about the birth of Jesus and that's just fine.

However, unbeknownst to me was the Quran's version of the story on the birth of Jesus. It was quite different than the one I knew by heart since childhood and the fist time I read through a few verses in the Surah I must admit I was numb by a puzzling flurry of confusion. I'm sure the same goes for any Muslim reading the the story in the Bible... the two stories just do not match.

Let me begin by explaining why I chose the title of this post "The Virgin Mary's Super Strength" by looking at the following Surah.

Surah 19:23-26

"And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said 'Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.' But he called her from below her, 'Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream.' And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.'"

THE CONTEXT:

The context of the story is that the Virgin Mary gives birth to Jesus alone outside without her husband and the Lord helps her replenish her strength.

THE QUESTIONS:

This story is very different than that in the Bible:

She is alone, where is her husband Joseph?
She gives birth outside, not in a manger?
Why is she left alone in the first place?
How can she give birth alone?
Why does the Lord tell her not to speak to any man that day?
How can she gather the strength to shake a palm tree after giving birth? (Super Strength)

Can you shake one of these?

The most difficult question is why are the two stories of the birth of Jesus so vastly different between the Bible and Quran? There cannot be two truths of the same story!

January 2, 2012

Apostasy... by Prophet Muhammad

"Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him"

One of the hot topics I've come across is that of apostasy in Islam. Its also a topic of discussion that seems to lead many of our Muslim brothers and sisters to either:

Avoid talking about the subject because obviously it's not a comfortable one.
State that these verses in the Hadith are "translated" from Arabic to English and do not have the same meaning and therefore we need to seek the guidance of a scholar for the true meaning.
Agree with Prophet Muhammad and enact the ruling on apostates based on the Prophet's example or their own interpretation or understanding.
Heard about others talking about apostasy but have never actually read it in the Hadith and it comes to them as an initial shock, but decide to turn a blind eye.

Rather than post all of the verses that relate to apostasy and reading into each example, the purpose here is to simply draw light on the subject and let the reader understand for themselves and thus I will comment on a couple examples. Below is a list of multiple references to assist in your own research.

QURAN:
Many non-Muslims may be surprised to hear that the Quran does not explicitly state that apostates from Islam should be killed. In my research I have not found any verses that prescribe such a penalty.

HADITH:

[1] Narrated 'Abdullah: Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."

[2] Narrated Ikrima, "Some zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's messenger forbade it, saying, "Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire)." I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Messenger, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him."

[3] Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: A bedouin gave the Pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle for Islam. Then the bedouin got fever at Medina, came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge," But Allah's Apostle refused. Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused Then he came to him (again) and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Cancel my Pledge." But the Prophet refused. The bedouin finally went out (of Medina) whereupon Allah's Apostle said, "Medina is like a pair of bellows (furnace): It expels its impurities and brightens and clears its good.

Three simple things stand out to me:

[1] 1st is that Prophet Muhammad actually set conditions for apostasy.
[2] 2nd is that Prophet Muhammad's companions in fact reference what he told them and they scold one another for going against their prophet's teachings because they burnt a few atheists.
[3] 3rd is that although Prophet Muhammad did not have the bedouin killed for his desire of apostasy, it's inconsistent with his other commands.

I personally find it appalling that a Prophet of Allah would state that reverts from Islam (under certain conditions) should be killed. Although I can see that Prophet Muhammad was being merciful to the bedouin who wanted to leave Islam, its unsettling to see a prophet pick and choose who lives and who dies. It may be that this bedouin was spared death because he "asked" Prophet Muhammad to cancel his pledge. Had the bedouin said that he "rejects" Islam, the consequences may have been different.

THE KEY:

Prophet Muhammad said what he said, his companions listened and history shows.