© 1996 Research and Education Foundation
Is The Qur'an The Word of God?
When you pick up a copy of the Qur'an, several questions should
immediately come to your mind:
WHO? AUTHORSHIP
WHAT? LITERARY NATURE
WHERE? PLACE OF ORIGIN
WHEN? TIME OF WRITING
HOW? MEDIUM OF TRANSMISSION
WHY? JUSTIFICATION OF NEED
These questions are good and necessary. But how can we find answers
to them? There are two different approaches to answering these questions:
1. The Muslim approach depends upon secondary sources which were put
together generations after Muhammad died. The Sira and the Hadith supply
the Muslim with the official answers to these questions. Thus while the
Qur'an an does not answer the questions above, the Hadith does.
Note: Muslims are guilty of circular reasoning at this point: They prove
the Qur'an an by the Hadith and then prove the Hadith by the Qur'an!
2. The secular approach focuses on the issue of primary sources. It
questions the veracity of the Traditions as well as the veracity of
the Qur'an. It does not want material written in the ninth or tenth
century telling them what was written in the seventh century. They want
actual material from the seventh and eight century. The failure of the
Muslims to come up with anything has great implications.
Part I The Muslim Approach
The Hadith is sometimes called the second inspiration with the Qur'an
being the first inspiration. The Hadith claims to be the record of the
Muhammad's exposition and application of the Qur'an, biographical
material on Muhammad, and the history of the writing, collection, and
composition of the text of the Qur'an. (Bukhari vol. VI, no. 564).
The authority and authenticity of the Qur'an depends entirely upon the
integrity and teachings of the Hadith. In other words, the Qur'an is
valid only if the Hadith is true. If it is false, then the Qur'an is
automatically false.
A. The Integrity of Muhammad
The integrity of Muhammad is all important. He was either whom he
claimed to be, a liar or a nut case (mentally insane or demon
possessed).This is why the Traditions went to such great lengths to
create a model of Muhammad that depicts him as a "super man" as well as
a prophet. What do we find in the Hadith?
1. Muhammad's credentials for prophethood are unacceptable.
The two prominent Hadithic "proofs" of his prophethood came from pagan
ideas of what a shaman would look like and the manner in which he would
be inspired.
A. The Hadith explains that when the Qur'an an refers to the seal of
prophethood being upon Muhammad (Surah 33:40), the seal was a large
hairy mole on his back. This is found in both Bukhari (vol. I, no. 189;
vol. IV, no. 741) and Muslim (vol. IV, no. 5790,5793). This mole was the
physical proof that Muhammad was a prophet according to Tabari and other
later Muslim authorities. They even claimed that the mole was a fulfillment
of such Scriptures as Isa. 9:6. We cannot accept this proof. While such
ideas can be found in pagan traditions from many primitive cultures, it
is not a part of the religion of Abraham, the prophets, the apostles or
Jesus.
B. Both the Bukhari and Muslim Hadiths describe what happened to Muhammad
when inspiration came upon him. He heard ringing in his ears, fell to the
ground, turned red, sweated profusely, made moaning sounds, spit ran
from his mouth, etc.. While ancient pagans placed a great deal of
importance on such things, they were never a part of the biblical
prophets.
2. He failed a direct test of his claim to prophethood. He was asked to
explain why a child will look like one parent as opposed to looking like
the other. He claimed that Gabriel came and gave the inspired answer.
See Bukhari vol. IV: no. 546. So, we are dealing with revelation and not
just his personal opinion. He said that the child will look like which
parent reaches his or her sexual climax first. The study of genetics
and DNA forever disproves this idea.
3. He believed in magic, the evil eye, amulets, omens, spells, etc. He
was superstitious about many things and made up weird rules about
bathroom duties (Bukhari vol. I, no. 144; vol. IV, nos. 110, 111;
vol. VII, nos. 636, 648, 649, 650; Muslim vol. I, no. 458; vol. III,
nos. 5424, 5427 ). He was afraid whenever a strong wind blew (Bukhari
vol. II, no. 144) and of eclipses (Bukhari vol. II, no. 167).
While this is bad enough, the Hadith tells us that Muhammad was at times
under magical spells, i.e., bewitched, and told lies and did things while
under those spells. (Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 400, 490; VII, no. 660;
Muslim vol. III, no. 5428) Once it is admitted that he told lies and did
things while under satanic influence, then the entire Qur'an could be
satanic in origin.
Later Muslim authorities even went so far as to say that he was at one
time inspired by Satan to put some verses into the Qur'an. They were
later removed because they were Satanic verses. (Surah 53:19,20)
4. The Hadith tells us that "Allah made the prophet wealthy through
conquests." (Bukhari III: no. 495). Was he was in it for the money?
Some Muslims are ignorant of this Hadith and claim that Muhammad was
poor like Jesus.
5. He did not keep the rules he imposed upon others. He had more wives
that four (Bukhari vol. I, no. 268) and did not write a will (Bukhari
vol. IV, nos. 3,4).
6. He commanded that anyone who fell away from Islam should be murdered.
(Bukhari vol IV, no. 260; vol. V, no. 630) Volume IX is filled with
death threats against apostasy (pgs. 10,11, 26, 34, 45,50, 57, 341,342).
These Hadiths contradict other Hadiths which say that no one ever leaves
Islam (Bukhari vol. I, nos. 6, 48).
The punishment of apostates reveals that he did not believe in the
freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly
and the freedom of the press. The fact that he commanded that no
churches or synagogues be allowed in Arabia is a telling argument that
he was not a man of peace.
7. The Hadith reveals that Muhammad had to ask forgiveness for sin more
than seventy times a day. (Bukhari vol. I, nos. 711; 78; vol. V, no. 724)
Since Muslims believe that prophets must be sinless, this means that
Muhammad was not a prophet.
8. He was guilty of false prophecies.
1. The 100 yr. Prophecy. (Bukhari vol. I, no. 539)
2. The end of the world predictions. (Bukhari vol. IV, no.401)
9. He kissed and caressed the idol of black stone set into the wall
of the Kabah. (Muslim vol. II, no. 2912,2916) We cannot imagine
Abraham or Jesus kissing a pagan idol and then commanding their
followers to do so.
10. While Muslims claim that Muhammad was illiterate order to make the
Qur'an a miracle, the Hadith records that he could in fact read and write.
(Bukhari vol. IV, no. 393)
II. The Teachings of Muhammad
Just as the Hadith gives us good reasons to question the integrity of
Muhammad, his teachings recorded in the Hadith give us even more reason
to doubt he was a prophet. The following is a brief list of some of the
strange and absurd teachings of Muhammad.
1. Adam was 60 cubits tall! (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 543) Then how tall
was Eve? If they were that tall, how did we get here? Is it medically
possible for him to be that tall?
2. Muhammad was a dog hater. He thought that angels could not enter
a house if a dog was there and that black dogs were devils. Thus he
ordered dogs to be killed and forbid the selling of dogs. (Bukhari
vol. IV, nos. 539, 540; Muslim vol. I, nos. 551,552; vol. II, nos.
3803, 3829)
3. Satan lives in the nose over night. He can be flushed out if you
snort water up and then out the nose. (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 516;
Muslim vol. I, no. 462) How big is Satan? Is he in everyone's nose?
Is he omnipresent?
4. Muhammad forbade the game of chess! (Muslim vol. IV, no. 5612)
This makes no sense to me.
5. People turn into rats, pigs and monkeys. (Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 524,
627; Muslim vol. IV, no. 7135). Abraham's father was turned into an
animal (Bukhari vol. IV, no.569)
6. Muslims have one intestine while non-Muslims have seven! (Muslim
vol. III, no. 5113-5115)
7. If you lift up your eyes towards heaven while praying, your eyes
will be snatched out! (Muslim vol. III, nos. 862-863)
8. One wing of a fly has poison but the other wing has the antidote to
it. (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 537)
9. We should drink camel urine as a medicine. (Bukhari vol. 1, no. 234)
10. Fevers are from the fire of hell and can be cooled by water.
(Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 483,486)
III. The Text of the Qur'an
Who wrote out the Qur'an? On what materials? Who put the Qur'an
together? Where did he find the materials to do this? Why did he do
this? Were others putting together their own Qur'ans? Did these
Qur'ans contradict each other? How did one text gain dominance over
all the others? What happened to the other Qur'ans? Only the Hadith
gives us answers to these questions.
1. From Bukhari vol. VI, no. 509 we learn the following things:
a. Muhammad did not collect the fragments of the Qur'an and make them
into a manuscript.
b. Some of the Companions of Muhammad were killed in battle and whatever
surahs they had memorized died with them.
c. Abu Bakr asked Zaid to collect the fragments of the Qur'an and
arrange them into a manuscript.
d. Zaid hesitated because the task was harder than sifting through an
entire mountain.
e. The task was difficult because of:
1. the fragile nature of the fragments: palm leaves, stones, bones, etc.
2. the faulty memories of men (vol. VI, no. 527)
3. the false claims of men (vol. VI, no. 523)
4. conflicting versions of the Qur'an ( vol VI, no. 510, 514, 523)
5. contradictory orders of the surahs (vol VI, no. 515, 518)
6. God caused verses to be abrogated or forgotten. (vol. IV, nos.57,
62, 69, 299, 393; VI, nos. 510, 511, 527,
7. Muhammad himself forgot and missed various parts of the Qur'an
(vol. VI, no. 558, 562)
2. Even after the manuscript was put together, they found that they had
missed some verses (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 62; VI, no. 510).
3. They tried to burn all the other Qur'anic fragments and manuscripts.
(VI, no. 510)
4. Uthman is usually credited for making the present text. (vol. I, no. 63;
vol. IV, no. 709; vol. VI, nos. 507, 510)
It is clear that the text of the Qur'an was not perfect and that conflicts
arose which made it necessary to make one uniform text. That Uthman tried
to burn all the other Qur'ans is clear. Yet, there are thousand of variant
readings and there remains controversies about verses such as the one about
stoning which were omitted by mistake.
IV. The Contradictions and Variant Readings in the Hadith
One problem all Muslims face is that there are contradictions in the
Hadith, conflicting readings and abrogations of Hadiths (Bukhari vol. I,
nos. 42, 47, 74, 78, 80, 81, 86, 102, 107, 112, 159 vs 160, 161, 179, 180;
vol. III, nos. 159,161; Muslim vol. I, nos. 682,685, 689,699; vol. II,
nos. 2547,2548)). The footnote on Bukhari vol. III, no. 159 says,
"Hadith no. 159 contradicts the Hadith of Al-Hassan" Evidently Allah was
not capable of preserving a perfect text of the Hadith. On what grounds then
can we assume that the Qur'an was kept perfect?
V. The Inspiration of the Qur'an
The mistakes in the Qur'an are well known. I list over one hundred such
problems in Islamic Invasion. The following is a few of the more
glaring problems that the average person has no problem seeing. All we need
is ONE factual error to disprove the Qur'an. We are not talking about
conflicts with theories but with brute facts.
1. Theological errors: The Qur'an is mistaken about what Christians and Jews
believe. (Surah 5:73,75; 9:30).
2. Historical mistakes: the Samaritans (Surah 20:85,97), Alexander the Great,
etc.
3. Grammatical errors: Arabic scholars point out errors in Surahs 2:177, 192;
3:59; 4:162; 5:69; 7:160; 13:28; 20:66; 63:10, etc.
4. Linguistical errors: Even though the Qur'an claims to be in pure Arabic
(12:2; 13:37; 16:105; 41:44;42:7 ), it has foreign words.
5. Scientific errors: sun in muddy pond (Surah 18:86), mountains never shake
(Surah 16:15; 21:31; 31:10; 78:6,7; 88:19)
6. Moral errors: Muhammad justifying the taking of his daughter-in-law
Surah 33:36,38)
7. Mathematical errors: Did creation take six days (Surahs 7:51; 10:3) or
eight days (Surah 41:9, 10, 12)?
8. Chronological errors: Puts Muslim vocabulary put into mouth of Patriarch,
prophets, etc. (Surah 2:128133; 7:124,126, etc.). The words did not exist
in Hebrew or Arabic at that time.
9. Biblical errors: The convolution of names, places, events and times.
Couldn't even get the name of Jesus right. He was the Son of God who died
for our sins on the cross according to the Bible. The Qur'an contradicts this.
10. Political errors: Commands Jihad against apostates and non-Muslims
(Surahs 4:91; 5:33; 9:5)
Conclusion
The Hadith and the Qur'an stand or fall together. The facts are clear that
they are not from God and are false works.
Part II The Secular Approach
Modern scholars such as Crook, Crone, Wansbrough, Rippin, etc. are
giving us a totally different model of the origins of Islam and the
Qur'an. Once you put aside the Qur'an and the Hadith, you begin to
see that Islam created the Qur'an instead of the Qur'an creating
Islam. Islam created a mythological Muhammad who is nothing like
the historical Muhammad, if that was his true name. The Qur'an had
multiple authors from various locations who combined different
legends and materials to make the stories found in it. It took
150-200 years for the Qur'an to appear. Muhammad never saw the
present Qur'an and would disown it if show it. He is not the source
of it. This explains the contradictions and mistakes in it.
Time line
570 Muhammad's birth
7th Century
610 Muhammad's call to prophethood
632 Muhammad's death
650 Calif Uthman
691 Dome of the Rock
8th Century 700
legends
myths
9th Century 800 traditions
700,000 Hadiths
850 Bukhari's Hadith
10th Century
923 Tabari's Commentary
1. No references to Muhammad as a prophet have been found in
contemporary literature, rock inscriptions or coins.
2. No manuscripts of the Qur'an exist before 150-200 years after
Muhammad. This allows opportunity for myths and legends to arise.
3. The claim that Uthman complied the Qur'an has no evidence to
support it.
4. The claim that two "original" Uthman Qur'ans can be seen at
Topkapi, Turkey and in Tashkent, Russia is false. The manuscripts are
in the Kufic script which did not exist in the 7th Century. They are
clearly fron the 9th Century and are in "landscape" format which was
not used in the 7th century.
5. The present text of Qur'an came from multiple authors using
erroneous legends, myths, and stories. It has many additions, deletions,
variant readings, and no primary source materials to support it. It is
thus a corrupt text and cannot be trusted to tell us what Muhammad
really taught or did.
6. The text and stories of the Hadith are as corrupt as the
Qur'an. Where is the evidence to support its claims?
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