A Westerner reading the Qur’an may find many familiar names and events. Most of the prophets from the Bible are mentioned. There is clearly a strong relationship between the two books.
By the sixth century, Jews, Christians, the Bible and its related literature were well-established in the Middle East. Yemen had in recent years been a Jewish kingdom and Medina was home to several Jewish tribes. Christian tribes also lived in the region. Muhammad had diplomatic relations with Abyssinia (Ethiopia), a Christian country, and as a trader had travelled regularly to Syria and Christian countries. It is said that Muhammad’s uncle, “Waraqa attached himself to Christianity and studied its scriptures until he had thoroughly mastered them”,1 and conversions from the native Arab religion to Christianity were known.2 Among Muhammad’s wives and concubines were Christians and Jews, and the Arabian Jews had a tradition of teaching the Torah to the Arabs: “The people of the Scripture (Jews) used to recite the Torah in Hebrew and they used to explain it in Arabic to the Muslims”.3
The Qur’an also records that the local Christians and Jews were active in promoting their faith.4 The result of this was, despite popular Islamic protestations to the contrary, that many aspects of Judaism and Christianity were well-known by Muhammad and influenced him:
Ibn Abbas reported that the People of the Book5 used to let their hair fall (on their foreheads) and the polytheists used to part them on their heads, and Allah’s Messenger liked to conform his behaviour to the People of the Book in matters in which he received no command (from God).6
Originally Muhammad even prayed facing Jerusalem, just as the Jews around him did.7
The many references to biblical prophets and their deeds show that the Qur’an attempts to continue the prophetic tradition recorded in the Bible:
We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them.8
Muhammad claimed to be a prophet like those of the Bible, the last prophet that God had sent. The Qur’an urges Christians and Jews to accept Muhammad’s prophethood.
Christians and Jews, however, generally do not accept this claim. There are basic historical reasons for this, concerned with the internal consistency of the Qur’an and its tenets. Christians and Jews have traditionally rejected Muhammad as a prophet because, even though the Qur’an encourages acceptance of the Bible, Muhammad appears to fail the Bible’s own test of prophets—essentially, that they speak the truth.9
This is, of course, a highly controversial point with adherents of Islam. The basic issue comes down to the objective evaluation of testable claims made in the Qur’an, as presented by Muhammad. The Qur’an makes several claims which can be tested and two of these will be examined here. These are that the Qur’an confirms the previous scripture (the Bible), and that Muhammad is foretold in the Bible.
Does the Qur’an confirm the Bible?
O ye People of the Book! Believe in what We have (now) revealed (the Qur’an), confirming what was (already) with you.10
The Qur’an does contain many words and ideas that are similar to the Bible. For instance, the names of many Biblical prophets and events, the belief in one God who speaks by his prophets, the ideas of resurrection, judgement day, forgiveness and repentance are all present. However these words and events are set in a completely different history of the world. Whereas in the Bible Israel is a unique nation that God created to bring salvation to the world, with Jesus being the fulfilment,11 in the Qur’an Israel is just one of many nations to whom God sent His prophets.12Therefore the history of Israel is not the history of the redemption of the world, but rather the history of one nation among many nations to whom prophets of God have been sent. The salvation history of the Bible is completely lost in the Qur’an.
The result of this different history is a different salvation. Guidance is the way of salvation in the Qur’an; guidance to know what God wants and how you should live to avoid his judgement. And for the devout who do not follow his guidance well enough there will be a time spent in an Islamic version of purgatory13 to pay for their offences. God’s work of saving the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus is completely lost in the Qur’an; instead Jesus is one who brings guidance.
Though the Qur’an uses many biblical terms, Muhammad’s new history of the world changes what these words mean. Consider the person of Jesus. In the Qur’an Jesus is just a prophet. The teaching of the Bible which is consistent with Jesus only being a prophet is retained in the Qur’an—for example, the virgin birth, miracles, disciples, his return. However any attribute of Jesus that is related to his work of salvation is denied and spoken against. One crucial point for the historical evaluation of the two religions is Jesus’ death on the cross, which in the Qur’an is said to be no death at all:
“We (the Jews) slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God”—yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them.14
The incarnation, and the biblical theme that Jesus is the Son of God, are also vehemently spoken against.15 Muhammad instead claims that, since Jesus did not bring a unique salvation, Jesus is not the only way to be saved;16 instead following any of the prophets of God will give correct guidance.
Whether or not you agree with either religion’s interpretation of Jesus is not the point; the point is that the Qur’an claims to endorse the Bible while contradicting it on its most crucial doctrines. Muhammad’s evident failure to understand salvation history and the person of Jesus leads him to dismiss the changes that Jesus brought to religion. The religion of the Qur’an is a variant of Old Testament religion, without the new understanding which Jesus’s teaching brought to Christians. It has rules about ritual cleanliness, clean and unclean food, pilgrimages, fasting, direction of prayer and sacrifices, most of which were adopted straight from the Jews.
Jesus, on the contrary, claimed to fulfil all of these by his death and resurrection. The New Testament gives strict warnings about going back to such observances.17 Muhammad has led the Islamic world back to what the Bible condemns as “weak and miserable principles”.18 Thus the Qur’an fails the first test; it does not confirm the Bible but is in fact a denial of the previous scriptures.19
Is Muhammad foretold in the Bible?
Those who follow the Apostle, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own Scriptures, in the Law and the Gospel.20
There are many verses21 that Muslims claim show that Muhammad is foretold in the Bible. The main Old Testament verse is:
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth.22
Muslims claim that Muhammad was a descendant of Ishmael who was the brother to Isaac. Therefore the promise of a prophet, “from among their brothers”, refers to a prophet coming from Ishmael’s descendants.
However there are a few problems with this reading. For a start, the word “brother” is the normal way to refer to a fellow Israelite23 in the Old Testament. When the word is used to described one of Israel’s related nations (Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moabites), the name of the nation or the context qualifies which brother is meant.24 There is nothing in the context of Deuteronomy 18:18 that suggests that another nation is being referred to. Secondly, the New Testament claims25 that Jesus is the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18 and in fact the fulfilment of all of God’s promises.26
To strengthen their Old Testament claim, the main New Testament verse used by Muslims is:
(Jesus said) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever.27
The Muslim interpretation of this verse is that the word “counsellor” is referring to Muhammad. This is, however, a rather forced reading as in the same chapter Jesus identifies the counsellor as the Holy Spirit.28
The other approach that Muslims take to this lack of biblical evidence to support Muhammad is to attack the Bible and say that it is corrupted and the prophesies referring to Muhammad have been removed. Muslim apologists can be very skilled in attacking the Bible and make regular use of the conclusions of biblical criticism. For the novice, this can be convincing especially since there is little critical material available on the Qur’an (though this is rapidly changing).29 The problem is that the Qur’an upholds the Bible as equal to itself,30 even though the textual evidence for the Bible eliminates such a claim.
The Qur’an does not confirm the Bible as it claims and Muhammad is not foretold in the Bible. Therefore, by its own endorsed logic, the Qur’an is false prophecy and Muhammad is not a prophet of God. Understandably, this conclusion is not popular with Muslims. However, it is not the only problem found in establishing the validity of the Qu’ran as true scripture.
Endnotes
1 Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, (tr. A. Guillaume), Oxford University Press, Karachi, 1998, p. 99.
2 Ibid, pp. 98-99.
3 Bukhari: vol 6, hadith 12, p.13; book LX.
4 Qur’an 2:120.
5 Christians and Jews.
6 Muslim: vol 4, hadith 5768, p.1248; book XXVIII.
7 Bukhari: vol. 6, hadith 19, p. 18; book LX.
8 Qur’an 3:84.
9 Deut. 13:1ff, 18:21ff; Is. 8:20; 1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess. 5:19-21; 1 Jn 4:6.
10 Qur’an 4:47.
11 Ex 19:5-6, John 4:19-22.
12 Qur’an 4:41, 16:36, 40:78.
13 Qu’ran 19: 66-72; Muslim: book 1, hadiths 355-361.
14 Qur’an 4:157.
15 Qur’an 4:171, 5:72ff, 19:29ff.
16 Qur’an 5:69.
17 Gal 4, Col 2:16ff, Heb 13:9.
18 Gal 4:9.
19 The most frequently expressed response by Muslims to criticisms such as these is that Christians (and earlier, Jews) have corrupted the original Law and Gospel. Fortunately, this claim is easily tested. One of the benefits of living in the sceptical West has been the intense scrutiny of biblical documents over the last two centuries, which has (contrary to the intentions of sceptical scholars) actually demonstrated the accuracy of the modern Bible as transmitted from ancient times. For an introduction to this literature, see Paul Barnett, Is the New Testament History?, Paternoster Press, Carlisle, 1986.
20 Qur’an 7:157.
21 http://answering-islam.org.uk/Green/mhd_bible.htm
22 Deut. 18:18.
23 Deut 3:18, 20, 10:9, 15:7, 12, 17:15, 18:15.
24 Deut 2:4, 8.
25 Acts 3:22.
26 2 Cor 1:20.
27 John 14:16.
28 John 14:26.
29 http://answering-islam.org.uk http://debate.org.uk
30 Qur’an 3:84.
