Sura 4:82: "Do they not ponder on the Qur'an? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely Have found therein Much discrepancy."

Non-Muslims claim there are many provable errors in the Qur'an. Muslims say there are no errors at all; however these alleged problems can still be a barrier to people becoming Muslims. Now even though he is already convinced, a Muslim still might want to know Christians' problems with the Qur'an, so that in dialogs with Christians he is not unprepared, but he can better answer these difficulties.

Many non-Muslims see no hope of there ever being a satisfactory answer for these problems. Perhaps there is an answer, and we just do not see it. So in the spirit of dialog, love, and truth, we wish to inform Muslims of the kind of problems we have, so that together, all who seek the truth and the God of truth will find Him.

Types of Alleged Errors

Brief examples of the kinds of errors some people see range from the Qur'an contradicts itself in how many days God created the world, Christians do not think the Trinity is the Father, Son, and Virgin Mary, Jews never thought Ezra was the Son of God, to the mother of Jesus could not have lived 1,500 years to be the sister of Moses. The rest of this tract mentions:

· Beating and Restraining Women

· Internal Contradictions

· The Setting Sun of Islam

· Mohammed & French-Canadian Problems

· marrying your own father-in-law, and

· differences in basic tone and message.

Beating and Restraining Women

Why does the Qur'an say in Sura 4:34 to "beat" or "scourge" your wife, if she is disobedient? The Arabic word "beat" or "scourge" does not mean tap lightly; it is the same word used to beat a violent criminal or a camel. Mohammed himself once deliberately struck 'Aisha "on the chest which caused me pain", according to Sahih Muslim vol.2:2127. If a husband is remiss, the Qur'an never says the wife is to have her husband beaten.

Does this command relate to the following words of the Prophet in the Bukhari vol.2:161; vol.1:301, and quoting from vol.1:28; "The Prophet said, 'I was shown the Hell-fire and that the majority of its dwellers were women.'" (Most were ungrateful to their husbands.)

Why do you think there are more women in Hell? Is it because there is not as much incentive for them to be in heaven? Bukhari vol.6:402 and prior p.374 says, "The statement of Allah, Beautiful fair females restrained [i.e. chained] in pavilions. (See also Sura 37:48). Narrated Qaisi, Allah's Apostle said, 'In Paradise there is a pavilion made of a single hollow pearl sixty miles wide, in each corner there are wives who will not see those in the other corners; and the believers will visit and enjoy them.'" What rewards are in Paradise for faithful women who do not wish to be restrained?

Internal Contradictions

Was Abraham commanded to be the first of those who bow to Allah in Sura 6:14, or did Moses say he was the first to believe in Sura 7:143? If they were Muslims before Mohammed, then either they were Muslims without the Qur'an, or Allah's Qur'an was lost or corrupted. Yusuf 'Ali footnote 1104 interprets "first to believe" in Sura 7:143 as "most zealous in faith", not "first in time".

The Setting Sun of Islam

Sura 18:85-86 states that a ruler called Zul-Qarnain, followed the setting sun and found that it went down into the waters of a muddy spring. Now we know the sun does not go down into a muddy spring.

Some Muslims say the man to which Mohammed referred was Alexander the Great; others guess the Persian Cyrus I; and still others say a Yemeni king. Regardless, the sun does not actually go down into water, and it does not even appear to go down into muddy water, as the deep sea is not muddy.

Mohammed & French-Canadians

What would you think of a book that claimed French-Canadians were with Mohammed? It would be pretty strange, since there were no French-Canadians until the 18th century and Mohammed lived in the 7th century. Well, no book has ever said this was so, but the Qur'an contains some equally interesting statements.

Suras 9:68, 21:51-71; 29:16,17; 37:97,98 say Abraham was delivered from Nimrod's fire. Nimrod lived soon after Noah and long before Abraham. The Fihrist p.27 also acknowledges that Abraham fled from Nimrod. This story seems to be copied from a similar Jewish fable in the Midrash Rabbah.

How could Haman, the Persian minister in Esther's time (500 B.C.) actually work in Egypt in Moses' time (1450 B.C.) building the Tower of Babel (before 2500 B.C.) as Suras 27:4-6, 28:38, 29:39, 40:23-24,36-37 indicate? This is another "Mohammed and French-Canadians" problem again.

The same Mary (Mariam in Hebrew and Arabic) was not the mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses (~1450 BC.) as Sura 19:28 says. In the context of the virgin birth of Christ, Sura 19:28 says "O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!" How could somebody mix these up?

A Muslim commentator remarks that this was because Mary and her cousin Elisabeth came from a priestly family and were thus sisters of their ancestor Aaron. However, Mary came from Judah, not Aaron, and it was Mary that was addressed here. So if the All-Knowing God did not err here, then who did?

Marry Your Own Father-in-Law?

Mohammed fell in love with Zaynab of Jashsh, the wife of Zaid his adopted son. So Mohammed asked him to divorce her so he could marry her. After Zaid refused, why did Allah command Zaid to divorce her? Here is the quote in the Sura 33:36-38.

"It is not for any believer, man or woman, when God and His Messenger have decreed a matter, to have the choice in the affair. Whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has gone astray into manifest error. When you said to him whom Allah had blessed and you had favoured, 'Keep your wife to yourself, and fear Allah,' and you were concealing within yourself what Allah should reveal, fearing other men; and Allah has better right for you to fear him. So when Zaid had accomplished what he would of her, then We gave her in marriage to you, so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them; and Allah's commandment must be performed. There is no fault in the prophet, touching what Allah had ordained for him."

Some skeptics might think this only was done to satisfy Mohammed's earthly lust, and with no other reasons, Mohammed must have made up this vision himself. A Muslim might say that it was Allah, not Mohammed who gave this command. For what possible reason would Allah command this divorce so that Mohammed could have yet another wife? Sura 4:3 says a man could have at most four wives, but Sura 33:50 says this rule for others did not apply to Mohammed.

Differences in Tone and Message

Imagine God sending a message to earth saying "Do not murder others or God will punish you." Imagine over time the message got corrupted to be "Do murder others or God will punish you." Can you imagine a loving and just God passively allowing all knowledge of the original message to be lost and corrupted even for a short time? -- I cannot. Yet Jesus' Gospel and Mohammed's message could not be more different.

Jesus is called the Prince of Peace; he preached that we should love everybody, even our enemies (Luke 6:27-36.) Do you practice Jesus' words? Jesus also showed that it was impossible to earn eternal life; we have unforgiven sin, which we could not wash away. Jesus said He came as a sacrifice, to pay the debt to the demands of God's justice for our sin. We have to accept this free gift. Then we are to live as we please except for just obeying certain rituals and rules. Rather God Himself dwells in our hearts, and with God's power, we are to live our entire lives to please and glorify God.

Now I think that for some people, they are more serious about their religion than they are about God. It should not be so. For true Christians the most serious thing in their life is God, not religious traditions. Whatever your religion, I hope you will be serious in seeking God, learning which message is really from the True God, and wanting to live a life to please the True God.

Summary

This tract mentioned some of the alleged errors in the Qur'an. Muslims and non-Muslims can agree that there are many errors somewhere. Perhaps these errors are indeed in the Qur'an. Or perhaps these errors are only in the minds of non-Muslims who do not see the answers, and there is a logical explanation for each of these. If so, it makes sense for Muslims to present these answers so that seekers of truth can not be hindered from becoming Muslims by errors that are apparent and not real.

If you as a Muslim have an answer to these, please contact us at www.MuslimHope.com. Someday we would like to replace this with tracts that present the best answers to these problems.

Christian Debater™ P.O. Box 144441 Austin, TX 78714