Is The Quran God’s Word? Pt. 1

I am writing this post and the subsequent parts to be read with a series of YouTube sessions I plan on doing, proving that the Quran is not the word of the true God. Rather, it is an incoherent, unintelligible book filled with gross errors and major contradictions. I will be posting links to the YouTube videos at the end of each section.

THE QURAN CLAIMS TO BE A FULLY DETAILED BOOK

Thus doth God MAKE CLEAR His Signs to you: In order that ye may understand. S. 2:242 Y. Ali 

And thus do We explain the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) IN DETAIL, that the way of the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners), may become manifest. S. 6:55 Hilali-Khan 

It is He Who has set the stars for you, so that you may guide your course with their help through the darkness of the land and the sea. We have (indeed) explained IN DETAIL Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, Revelations, etc.) for people who know. It is He Who has created you from a single person (Adam), and has given you a place of residing (on the earth or in your mother’s wombs) and a place of storage [in the earth (in your graves) or in your father’s loins]. Indeed, We have EXPLAINED IN DETAIL Our revelations (this Qur’an) for people who understand. S. 6:97-98

Thus We explain variously the Verses so that they (the disbelievers) may say: “You have studied (the Books of the people of the Scripture and brought this Qur’an from that)” and that We may make the matter clear for the people who have knowledge. S. 6:105 Hilali-Khan

[Say (O Muhammad)] “Shall I seek a judge other than Allah while it is He Who has sent down unto you the Book (The Qur’an), EXPLAINED IN DETAIL.” Those unto whom We gave the Scripture [the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] know that it is revealed from your Lord in truth. So be not you of those who doubt. S. 6:114 Hilali-Khan

And this is the Path of your Lord (the Qur’an and Islam) leading Straight. We have DETAILED Our Revelations for a people who take heed. S. 6:126

Say (O Muhammad): “Who has forbidden the adoration with clothes given by Allah, which He has produced for his slaves, and At-Taiyibat [all kinds of Halal (lawful) things] of food?” Say: “They are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, (and) exclusively for them (believers) on the Day of Resurrection (the disbelievers will not share them).” Thus We explain the Ayat (Islamic laws) IN DETAIL for people who have knowledge. S. 7:32 Hilali-Khan 

Certainly, We have brought to them a Book (the Qur’an) which We have explained IN DETAIL WITH KNOWLEDGE, – a guidance and a mercy to a people who believe. S. 7:52 Hilali-Khan

Thus do We explain the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) IN DETAIL, so that they may turn (unto the truth). S. 7:174 Hilali-Khan

But if they repent, perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) and give Zakat, then they are your brethren in religion. (In this way) We explain the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) IN DETAIL for a people who know. S. 9:11 

And this Qur’an is not such as could ever be produced by other than Allah (Lord of the heavens and the earth), but it is a confirmation of (the revelation) which was before it [i.e. the Taurat (Torah), and the Injeel (Gospel), etc.], and A FULL EXPLANATION of the Book (i.e. laws and orders, etc, decreed for mankind) – wherein there is no doubt from the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns, and all that exists). S. 10:37 Hilali-Khan 

Alif Lam Ra. This is a Book, whose verses have been made firm and free from imperfection and then they have been expounded in detail. It is from One Wise, and All-Aware. S. 11:1 Shakir 

Indeed in their stories, there is a lesson for men of understanding. It (the Qur’an) is not a forged statement but a confirmation of Allah’s existing Books [the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel) and other Scriptures of Allah] and A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF EVERYTHING and a guide and a Mercy for the people who believe. S. 12:111 

A. L. R. These are the Ayats of Revelation, – of a Qur’an that makes things clear. S. 15:1 Y. Ali 

One day We shall raise from all Peoples a witness against them, from amongst themselves: and We shall bring thee as a witness against these (thy people): and We have sent down to thee the Book EXPLAINING ALL THINGS, a Guide, a Mercy, and Glad Tidings to Muslims. S. 16:89 Y. Ali

And indeed We know that they (polytheists and pagans) say: “It is only a human being who teaches him (Muhammad).” The tongue of the man they refer to is foreign, while this (the Qur’an) is a clear Arabic tongue. S. 16:103 Hilali-Khan 

He sets forth for you a parable from your ownselves, – Do you have partners among those whom your right hands possess (i.e. your slaves) to share as equals in the wealth We have bestowed on you? Whom you fear as you fear each other? Thus do We explain the signs IN DETAIL to a people who have sense. S. 30:28 Hilali-Khan 

A Book whereof the Verses are explained IN DETAIL; A Qur’an in Arabic for people who know. S. 41:3 Hilali-Khan 

Here is another version of this last passage:

A scripture whose verses PROVIDE THE COMPLETE DETAILS, in an Arabic Quran, for people who know. Khalifa

And here are two more verses:

We verily, have made it a Qur’an in Arabic, that you may be able to understand (its meanings and its admonitions). S. 43:3 Hilali-Khan 

By the manifest Book (this Qur’an) THAT MAKES THINGS CLEAR, S. 44:2 Hilali-Khan – cf. Q. 2:187, 219, 266; 3:103, 118; 4:26, 176; 5:89; 24:18, 58-59, 61; 57:17

With the foregoing in view, I am now going to test the Quran’s claim to being a perspicuous scripture the provides a full exposition of all things.

WHO EXACTLY IS GABRIEL?

The Quran nowhere says that Gabriel is an angel, but rather distinguishes him from the angels:

Who is an enemy to Allah, AND His angels AND His messengers, AND Gabriel AND Michael! Then, lo! Allah (Himself) is an enemy to the disbelievers. S. 2:98

If ye twain turn unto Allah repentant, (ye have cause to do so) for your hearts desired (the ban); and if ye aid one another against him (Muhammad) then lo! Allah, even He, is his Protecting Friend, AND Gabriel AND the righteous among the believers; and furthermore the angels are his helpers.

Neither does the Muslim scripture identify Gabriel as the Spirit, since the Spirit is distinguished from all the angels:

He sendeth down the angels WITH the Spirit of His command unto whom He will of His bondmen, (saying): Warn mankind that there is no God save Me, so keep your duty unto Me. S. 16:2

(Whereby) the angels AND the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day whereof the span is fifty thousand years. S. 70:4

On the day when the angels AND the Spirit stand in ranks, they speak not, saving him whom the Beneficent alloweth and who speaketh right. S. 78:38

The angels AND the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees. S. 97:4

In case a Muslim wishes to argue that according to Q. 2:97, Gabriel came down (nazzala) with the revelation, s/he needs to be reminded that the verb doesn’t necessarily mean descending from the heavens above, just as the following verses affirm:

O children of Adam, we have sent down (anzalna) unto you apparel, to conceal your nakedness, and fair garments; but the cloathing of piety is better. This [is one] of the signs of God; that peradventure ye may consider. S. 7:26 Sale

And when thou and they who [shall be] with thee, shall go up into the ark, say, praise be unto God, who hath delivered us from the ungodly people! And say, o Lord, cause me to come down (anzilnee) [from this ark] with a blessed descent (munzalan); for thou art best able to bring me down (al-munzileena) [from the same with safety]. S. 23:28-29 Sale

And He brought down (Wa’anzala) those of the People of the Book who supported them from their fortresses and cast terror in their hearts; some you slew, some you made captive. S. 33:26 Arberry

He created you (all) from a single person: then created, of like nature, his mate; and he sent down (wa’anzala) for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness. such is God, your Lord and Cherisher: to Him belongs (all) dominion. There is no god but He: then how are ye turned away (from your true Centre)? S. 39:6 Y. Ali

Who exactly, then, is Gabriel?

ARE ISHMAEL, ISAAC AND JACOB BROTHERS OR SONS OF ONE ANOTHER?

The author(s) of the Quran didn’t have a clue about the exact relationship between Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, the producer(s) of the Islamic scripture wasn’t even aware of who Ishmael’s mother was since the Quran mentions only refers to one wife of Abraham, namely, the mother of Isaac:

And Our messengers came unto Abraham with good news. They said: Peace! He answered: Peace! and delayed not to bring a roasted calf. And when he saw their hands reached not to it, he mistrusted them and conceived a fear of them. They said: Fear not! Lo! we are sent unto the folk of Lot. And his wife, standing by laughed when We gave her good tidings (of the birth) of Isaac, and, after Isaac, of Jacob.S. 11:69-71

Praise be to Allah Who hath given (wahaba) me, in my old age, Ishmael and Isaac! Lo! my Lord is indeed the Hearer of Prayer. S. 14:39

That is Our argument, which We bestowed upon Abraham as against his people. We raise up in degrees whom We will; surely thy Lord is All-wise, All-knowing. And We gave (wa’ wahabna) to him Isaac and Jacob — each one We guided, And Noah We guided before; and of his seed David and Solomon, Job and Joseph, Moses and Aaron — even so We recompense the good-doers –S. 6:83-84

So, when he had withdrawn from them and that which they were worshipping beside Allah, We gave him (wahabna) Isaac and Jacob. Each of them We made a prophet. S. 19:49

Note that the language is identical in all of these verses. Allah gave Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob to Abraham. Now this either means that Isaac and Jacob were brothers, just like Ishmael and Isaac were, or Ishmael was the father of Isaac, just like the latter was the father of Jacob.

But the confusion gets much worse since in this next example the compiler(s) of the Quran claim that Isaac and Jacob were actually given to Lot!

But Lot believed him; and HE said, ‘I will flee to my Lord; He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.’ And We gave (wa’wahabna) HIM Isaac and Jacob, and We appointed the Prophecy and the Book to be among HIS seed; We gave HIM HIS wage in this world, and in the world to come HE shall be among the righteous. And Lot, when he said to his people ‘Surely you commit such indecency as never any being in all the world committed before you. S. 29:26-27

WHAT ABOUT ADAM?

As if it couldn’t get any worse, the Quran nowhere mentions the name of Adam’s wife and even fails to tell us the names of his first two sons:

Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to God): It was accepted from one, but not from the other (al-akhari). Said the latter: “Be sure I will slay thee.” “Surely,” said the former, “God doth accept of the sacrifice of those who are righteous. If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear God, the cherisher of the worlds. For me, I intend to let thee draw on thyself my sin as well as thine, for thou wilt be among the companions of the fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong.” The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones. Then God sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. “Woe is me!” said he; “Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?” then he became full of regrets – S. 5:27-32

Besides failing to give the names of Adam’s two sons, the narrative doesn’t even bother to specify whether the sacrifices of the two brothers were different, or whether they offered the same type of sacrifice. And not only does this passage fail to provide these details, but the Islamic scripture also doesn’t even know who killed who, i.e., was it the older sibling that murdered the younger or vice-versa? 

In fact, the narrative seems to be suggesting that it was the younger brother who killed the older one! The word al-akhari can denote that which is later, and hence the translator’s inserting the term “the latter” in his English version. Note how this word is used in the following passages:

And of mankind are some who say: We believe in Allah and the Last (al-akhiri) Day, when they believe not. S. 2:8 Pickthall

(Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number (Should be made up) from days later (okhara). For those who can do it (With hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent. But he that will give more, of his own free will, – it is better for him. And it is better for you that ye fast, if ye only knew. S. 2:184 Y. Ali

Jesus, son of Mary, said: O Allah, Lord of us! Send down for us a table spread with food from heaven, that it may be a feast for us, for the first of us and for the last of us (wa’akhirina), and a sign from Thee. Give us sustenance, for Thou art the Best of Sustainers. S. 5:114 Pickthall

He will say: “Enter ye in the company of the peoples who passed away before you – men and jinns, – into the Fire.” Every time a new people enters, it curses its sister-people (that went before), until they follow each other, all into the Fire. Saith the last (okhrahum) about the first: “Our Lord! it is these that misled us: so give them a double penalty in the Fire.” He will say: “Doubled for all” : but this ye do not understand.Then the first will say to the last (li-okhrahum): “See then! No advantage have ye over us; so taste ye of the penalty for all that ye did!” S. 7:38-39 Y. Ali

And We left (this blessing) for him among generations to come in later times ( al-akhireena): S. 37:78 Y. Ali

“We never heard (the like) of this among the people of these latter days (al-akhirati ): this is nothing but a made-up tale!” S. 38:7 Y. Ali

and a crowd of those of the latter day (al-akhireena)! S. 56:40 Palmer

Therefore, the plain reading implies that it was the son that came later that killed the other, which means that the Quran is erroneously suggesting that Abel actually killed Cain since the former was the latter child according to the Holy Bible.

As a side note, it is interesting to read how the murdered son’s sins were imputed to his brother that murdered him, thereby turning the latter into a sort of scapegoat who bears the transgressions of another. In fact, here’s how the late Jewish convert and Muslim scholar/translator Muhammad Asad rendered the verse in question:

I am willing, indeed, for thee to bear [the burden of] all the sins ever done by me as well as of the sin done by thee: ³⁶  [but] then thou wouldst be destined for the fire, since that is the requital of evildoers!” S. 5:29 (Asad, The Message of the Qur’an http://www.alim.org/library/quran/surah/english/5/ASD#29; bold and italicized emphasis mine)

And here’s his note:

Lit., “my sin as well as thy sin”. It is evident from several well-authenticated ahadith that if a person dies a violent death not caused, directly or indirectly, by his own sinful actions, his previous sins will be forgiven (the reason being, evidently, that he had no time to repent, as he might have done had he been allowed to live). In cases of unprovoked murder, the murderer is burdened – in addition to the sin of murder – with the sins which his innocent victim might have committed in the past and of which he (the victim) is now absolved: this CONVINCING INTERPRETATION of the above verse has been advanced by Mujahid (as quoted by Tabari). (Ibid. http://www.alim.org/library/quran/surah/english/5/ASD#ayanote-36; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Proceed to the second part of the series: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2020/01/04/is-the-quran-gods-word-pt-2/.

Further Information

Is The Quran God’s Word? Pt. 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naJ_fJSNAHY)

• Uncategorized