According to the commentators of the Quran, the Quran was revealed in pieces in 23 years, while the Torah and the Bible was revealed completely at one time. (Fahraddin Razi, Mafatihu'l-ghayb (The Keys of the Unseen), 7/157; IbnKathir, Tafsiru’l-Qur'ân, (Exegesis of Koran) 1/501)As a matter of fact, that fact is pointed out by the statement in the Surah Furqan (25/32) : “Those who reject Faith say: "Why is not the Qur'an revealed to him all at once?" According to a hadith in the book Musnad (4/107) the pages of Abraham were brought down on the first night of Ramadan, the Torah, on the sixth night, the Bible, on the thirteenth night (another tradition says, on the eighteenth night). We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Torah that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah” (al-Maida 5/46)
We could not find sound data about where the Bible was revealed.
As it was the case about the previous prophets, the Bible was not written during the life of Jesus because the time for conveying his prophethood was short and the circumstances did not allow the Bible to be recorded. The earliest recordings of the Bible were made 70 years after Jesus. Therefore, the true sayings of Jesus were not immediately recorded and some human words were mixed with it and thus the real book was interpolated.
Most Read in the Category of Holy Books
It is not permissible to touch the verses of the Qur’an without ablution (wudu) however; you can touch the parts of the book where there are prayers. A person without ablution can read the Qur’an from his/her memory. Or He/she can read the verses of the Qur’an without touching them by only looking.
The main difference is that the Qur'an was sent to the last prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and it is the word of Allah (SWT). On the other hand Torah is sent to the prophet Moses but it was distorted later on. Since the Torah is a distorted book making a comparison will not be healthy.
First of all let us give information about distortion.
Distortion literally means changing the place of letters or changing a letter in a word, or changing the meaning of a statement. More specifically, to alter any word in Divine Scriptures intentionally.
According to the Religion of Islam, there are a few kinds of distortions: 1. To mispronounce certain letters of a word and thus to give a different meaning to it, 2. To misinterpret a hadith or Quranic verse, 3. To make changes in the texts of the Qur'an and the Hadiths knowingly and thus to make false additions to them.
Distortion, which means spoiling and altering the essence of a divine scripture, has been used in Islamic Literature to refer to the changes that The Torah and The Gospel underwent and to the impairment of their essence. The studies carried out have shown that there are few statements and passages in The Torah that can be accepted as the Word of Allah. And words, stories, sermons and advice were added by Rabbis, 'oracles', and Jewish Interpreters to those limited number of statements and passages which bear the quality of being Divine Text. In this respect, it is extremely difficult to dig out the original text by removing the additions.
Prophet Moses wanted sons of Israel to obey the commandments given by him, to teach the commands and prohibitions of Allah to next generations, to make mention of them whether at home, en route, at each sitting and standing and to protect the Torah well; he thus took oath from them. However, they neither took that sincere advice of Moses seriously, nor carried out the duty to protect the Torah and to pass it on to coming generations. From the very beginning, sons of Israel paid little attention to Allah's Word, the Torah. Seven hundred years after Prophet Moses, the Head Rabbi of the Solomon Temple in Jerusalem and the king of the time were almost oblivious of whether they were given a book named the Torah by Allah.
The greatest guilt of the Jewish religious functionaries about passing the Torah on to generations intact is that they took it in their monopoly to read that Divine Book. Therefore, the Torah could not gain the quality of being read and known by the Jewish Community and they lived detached from that Word of Allah. Afterwards, when practices based on false innovations and ignorance emerged among the Jews, the religious functionaries set out to fight innovations and ignorance on the one hand; and on the other hand, they tried to find proofs from the Torah against those false beliefs and practices. And, they themselves inserted the points about which they could not find proofs into the Torah.
Jewish scholars and rabbis not only interpreted the Torah parallel to their own understanding in the matters they could not find certain answers, but also added the texts they approved and removed certain parts. Consequently, those additions and deletions made the real Torah unidentifiable.
A similar kind of distortion is also seen in another Divine Scripture, the Gospel. Christian priests added their own understandings of religion, their own interpretations and fancy ideas into Allah's Word, the Gospel and thus made that divine book almost unrecognizable. The Qur'an explains those ugly distortions by the Jewish and the Christian religious functionaries of divine scriptures this way: “O you who believe! Many among the rabbis and monks do indeed consume the wealth of people in legally invalid, wrongful ways (such as changing the Book's commandments in return for worldly benefit, bribery, and using religion as a means of worldly gain) and bar them from God's way.” (At-Taubah, 9:34). As is understood from that verse, certain rabbis and priests changed the verses in divine scriptures in exchange for worldly gains or interpreted them according to their own fancy. They especially distorted the verses about the prophethood of Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, and tried to destroy the verses of the Scripture which give the good news of the coming of Prophet Muhammad after Prophet Jesus, peace and blessing upon them.
Those rabbis and priests did not suffice with it; they claimed that the additions they inserted into divine scriptures were the original text. Thus, those rabbis' and priests' philosophy of history, explanation, interpretation, and their views in other branches of knowledge entered the Collection of the Scripture and thus became almost a part of the Word of Allah.
Studies carried out have shown that the first five books of The Old Testament are not the original Torah. A copy or chapter of the original Torah is not present anywhere. The Torah itself proves that claim, too. The Torah we have today informs us that close to his death, Prophet Moses put the Torah in a trunk and entrusted it to Joshua and that when the emperor of Babel, Buhtu'n-Nasr, destroyed Jerusalem, the Torah in the trunk was also burnt up. We learn directly from the verses in the Gospel that, about 250 years after that conquest and destruction, Ezra collected the Torah again with the help of religious scholars and rabbis and with divine inspiration. Apart from those events, various others caused the Scripture to be extensively distorted and lost.
As a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Greek translated the Torah into Greek together with other cultural works. Eventually, the Jews, who were affected by the Greek culture, began to use the Greek translation of the Torah instead of its Hebrew text. In this respect, it is difficult to say that today's Torah, which is passed on to us from Greek translations, is the Torah revealed to Prophet Moses. Nevertheless, it should not be concluded that the Torah underwent complete distortion. It is possible to understand from its truthful passages which do not contradict the Qur'an that the Torah was not wholly distorted.
Indeed, Prof. M. Hamidullah, too, states that The Scripture is not wholly distorted, that because of certain Divine statements present in it, due respect should be paid to it as is shown toward the Qur'an (Conferences, Erzurum 1975, p.17). However, in today's Scripture, besides Allah's Word, explanations and interpretations of Jewish religious scholars, the history of the Jews, the interpreted decrees of Israelite scholars of jurisprudence are all together intertwined. They are so intermingled that it is a really tough job to differentiate between them saying this is Allah's Word, that is explanation or interpretation of it, etc. (Mawdudi, Tevhid Mücadelesi, (trans. into Turkish: A. Asrar) Istanbul, 1983, I, 530).
There were distortions on the religious decrees of the Torah, too. As is known, the Jews of Khyber came to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) so that he would judge a case of adultery between a married man and a married woman; the Prophet judged that the criminals be stoned and said that it is commanded in Torah (Deuteronomy, XXII, 23-24). Although the Jews knew about it, they applied that commandment to the poor and the desolate, but the wealthy and the high-ranking people were punished only with lashes or by mounting on donkeys backwards and walking them among the public this way. Thus, those Jews turned their backs against Allah's Book, and by taking from it whatever suited their desires, they distorted Allah's Law. Similarly, the Prophet explained in his hadiths that the Jews and the Christians “distorted their books by interpreting them” (Darim, Muqaddima, 56), “After Jesus, the kings changed the Torah.” (Nasai, Qudat, 12), “They both distorted their books and made additions to them.” (Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 34/3).
Another proof of the distortions in the Scripture is the contradictions seen in the Torah and the Gospel. In order to pinpoint some of the contradictions in the Torah, it is enough to compare these verses: Genesis I:27 and Genesis II:17; Genesis XXII:14 and Exodus VI:2-3; 1. Samuel XVI:10 and 1. Chronicles II:13-15. Similarly, to specify some of the contradictions in the Gospel, comparing these verses is enough to give an idea: John IV:3 and Matthew XIII:54-58; Matthew X:9-10 and Mark VI:8-10; Luke III:23 and Matthew I:16; Luke III:31 and Matthew I:6.
The Chapter 'Song of Songs' in the Torah attributed to Prophet Solomon is full of distortions from beginning to end. In this part, there are words which are impossible to be uttered by a prophet. Similarly, in the Kings I and Kings II, parts of the Torah which are attributed to Solomon again, it is stated that “he took all his power from spells” and thus the miracles Allah bestowed on prophets are tried to be overshadowed.
Some ill-intentioned people interpreted horrifically the Qur'anic verse: “Say: "(God gives you hope): ‘O My servants who have been wasteful (of their God-given opportunities and faculties) against (the good of) their own souls! Do not despair of God's Mercy. Surely God forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate.' " (the Qur'an, Az-Zumar, 39:53) and wanted to make distortions. According to them, Allah commanded the Prophet to call people “O my servants”. In other words, people are counted -God forbid- as the Prophet's servants/slaves. It is by no means any interpretation; it is a clear attempt to distort the Qur'an. Some ignorants may be attracted by such people. Accepting such an interpretation is accepting that the Qur'an is contradictory as a whole. This is because from the beginning till end, the Qur'an makes mention of being servant to Allah alone, and especially emphasizes that Muhammad (PBUH) is not the Lord but a servant himself. (Mawdudi, Tafhim, (Trans. into Turkish), V, 114)
Please click on the links given below;
The Proofs of the Prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) in the Distorted Torah.
Distortion literally means changing the place of letters or changing a letter in a word, or changing the meaning of a statement. More specifically, to alter any word in Divine Scriptures intentionally.
According to the Religion of Islam, there are a few kinds of distortions: 1. To mispronounce certain letters of a word and thus to give a different meaning to it, 2. To misinterpret a hadith or Quranic verse, 3. To make changes in the texts of the Qur'an and the Hadiths knowingly and thus to make false additions to them.
Distortion, which means spoiling and altering the essence of a divine scripture, has been used in Islamic Literature to refer to the changes that The Torah and The Gospel underwent and to the impairment of their essence. The studies carried out have shown that there are few statements and passages in The Torah that can be accepted as the Word of Allah. And words, stories, sermons and advice were added by Rabbis, 'oracles', and Jewish Interpreters to those limited number of statements and passages which bear the quality of being Divine Text. In this respect, it is extremely difficult to dig out the original text by removing the additions.
Prophet Moses wanted sons of Israel to obey the commandments given by him, to teach the commands and prohibitions of Allah to next generations, to make mention of them whether at home, en route, at each sitting and standing and to protect the Torah well; he thus took oath from them. However, they neither took that sincere advice of Moses seriously, nor carried out the duty to protect the Torah and to pass it on to coming generations. From the very beginning, sons of Israel paid little attention to Allah's Word, the Torah. Seven hundred years after Prophet Moses, the Head Rabbi of the Solomon Temple in Jerusalem and the king of the time were almost oblivious of whether they were given a book named the Torah by Allah.
The greatest guilt of the Jewish religious functionaries about passing the Torah on to generations intact is that they took it in their monopoly to read that Divine Book. Therefore, the Torah could not gain the quality of being read and known by the Jewish Community and they lived detached from that Word of Allah. Afterwards, when practices based on false innovations and ignorance emerged among the Jews, the religious functionaries set out to fight innovations and ignorance on the one hand; and on the other hand, they tried to find proofs from the Torah against those false beliefs and practices. And, they themselves inserted the points about which they could not find proofs into the Torah.
Jewish scholars and rabbis not only interpreted the Torah parallel to their own understanding in the matters they could not find certain answers, but also added the texts they approved and removed certain parts. Consequently, those additions and deletions made the real Torah unidentifiable.
A similar kind of distortion is also seen in another Divine Scripture, the Gospel. Christian priests added their own understandings of religion, their own interpretations and fancy ideas into Allah's Word, the Gospel and thus made that divine book almost unrecognizable. The Qur'an explains those ugly distortions by the Jewish and the Christian religious functionaries of divine scriptures this way: “O you who believe! Many among the rabbis and monks do indeed consume the wealth of people in legally invalid, wrongful ways (such as changing the Book's commandments in return for worldly benefit, bribery, and using religion as a means of worldly gain) and bar them from God's way.” (At-Taubah, 9:34). As is understood from that verse, certain rabbis and priests changed the verses in divine scriptures in exchange for worldly gains or interpreted them according to their own fancy. They especially distorted the verses about the prophethood of Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, and tried to destroy the verses of the Scripture which give the good news of the coming of Prophet Muhammad after Prophet Jesus, peace and blessing upon them.
Those rabbis and priests did not suffice with it; they claimed that the additions they inserted into divine scriptures were the original text. Thus, those rabbis' and priests' philosophy of history, explanation, interpretation, and their views in other branches of knowledge entered the Collection of the Scripture and thus became almost a part of the Word of Allah.
Studies carried out have shown that the first five books of The Old Testament are not the original Torah. A copy or chapter of the original Torah is not present anywhere. The Torah itself proves that claim, too. The Torah we have today informs us that close to his death, Prophet Moses put the Torah in a trunk and entrusted it to Joshua and that when the emperor of Babel, Buhtu'n-Nasr, destroyed Jerusalem, the Torah in the trunk was also burnt up. We learn directly from the verses in the Gospel that, about 250 years after that conquest and destruction, Ezra collected the Torah again with the help of religious scholars and rabbis and with divine inspiration. Apart from those events, various others caused the Scripture to be extensively distorted and lost.
As a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Greek translated the Torah into Greek together with other cultural works. Eventually, the Jews, who were affected by the Greek culture, began to use the Greek translation of the Torah instead of its Hebrew text. In this respect, it is difficult to say that today's Torah, which is passed on to us from Greek translations, is the Torah revealed to Prophet Moses. Nevertheless, it should not be concluded that the Torah underwent complete distortion. It is possible to understand from its truthful passages which do not contradict the Qur'an that the Torah was not wholly distorted.
Indeed, Prof. M. Hamidullah, too, states that The Scripture is not wholly distorted, that because of certain Divine statements present in it, due respect should be paid to it as is shown toward the Qur'an (Conferences, Erzurum 1975, p.17). However, in today's Scripture, besides Allah's Word, explanations and interpretations of Jewish religious scholars, the history of the Jews, the interpreted decrees of Israelite scholars of jurisprudence are all together intertwined. They are so intermingled that it is a really tough job to differentiate between them saying this is Allah's Word, that is explanation or interpretation of it, etc. (Mawdudi, Tevhid Mücadelesi, (trans. into Turkish: A. Asrar) Istanbul, 1983, I, 530).
There were distortions on the religious decrees of the Torah, too. As is known, the Jews of Khyber came to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) so that he would judge a case of adultery between a married man and a married woman; the Prophet judged that the criminals be stoned and said that it is commanded in Torah (Deuteronomy, XXII, 23-24). Although the Jews knew about it, they applied that commandment to the poor and the desolate, but the wealthy and the high-ranking people were punished only with lashes or by mounting on donkeys backwards and walking them among the public this way. Thus, those Jews turned their backs against Allah's Book, and by taking from it whatever suited their desires, they distorted Allah's Law. Similarly, the Prophet explained in his hadiths that the Jews and the Christians “distorted their books by interpreting them” (Darim, Muqaddima, 56), “After Jesus, the kings changed the Torah.” (Nasai, Qudat, 12), “They both distorted their books and made additions to them.” (Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 34/3).
Another proof of the distortions in the Scripture is the contradictions seen in the Torah and the Gospel. In order to pinpoint some of the contradictions in the Torah, it is enough to compare these verses: Genesis I:27 and Genesis II:17; Genesis XXII:14 and Exodus VI:2-3; 1. Samuel XVI:10 and 1. Chronicles II:13-15. Similarly, to specify some of the contradictions in the Gospel, comparing these verses is enough to give an idea: John IV:3 and Matthew XIII:54-58; Matthew X:9-10 and Mark VI:8-10; Luke III:23 and Matthew I:16; Luke III:31 and Matthew I:6.
The Chapter 'Song of Songs' in the Torah attributed to Prophet Solomon is full of distortions from beginning to end. In this part, there are words which are impossible to be uttered by a prophet. Similarly, in the Kings I and Kings II, parts of the Torah which are attributed to Solomon again, it is stated that “he took all his power from spells” and thus the miracles Allah bestowed on prophets are tried to be overshadowed.
Some ill-intentioned people interpreted horrifically the Qur'anic verse: “Say: "(God gives you hope): ‘O My servants who have been wasteful (of their God-given opportunities and faculties) against (the good of) their own souls! Do not despair of God's Mercy. Surely God forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate.' " (the Qur'an, Az-Zumar, 39:53) and wanted to make distortions. According to them, Allah commanded the Prophet to call people “O my servants”. In other words, people are counted -God forbid- as the Prophet's servants/slaves. It is by no means any interpretation; it is a clear attempt to distort the Qur'an. Some ignorants may be attracted by such people. Accepting such an interpretation is accepting that the Qur'an is contradictory as a whole. This is because from the beginning till end, the Qur'an makes mention of being servant to Allah alone, and especially emphasizes that Muhammad (PBUH) is not the Lord but a servant himself. (Mawdudi, Tafhim, (Trans. into Turkish), V, 114)
Osman CİLACI
Testing is done based on the criterion of justice. A teacher wants to apply the criterion of justice in tests through practice. Similarly, Allah needs to practice His students for the tests. The practice is a teacher and books / notes for the subject.The teachers of the humanity in the school of life are prophets and the notes for the subjects are heavenly books.
The following verse attracts attention to this fact:
“…Nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent an messenger (to give warning).” (al-Isra, 17/15 )
Besides, there are a lot of purposes why this huge universe was created. It is necessary to be insane to think that the universe equipped with wisdom all over is purposeless, absurd and unnecessary. The primary purpose of the creation of the universe is the fact that Allah wants to be known and wants His slaves to learn this.
“I have only created jinn and men, that they may serve Me.” (adh-Dhariyat, 51/56)
The verse above indicates this fact. Slaves of Allah cannot know Him and cannot learn how to worship without a teacher and a book...
What reflects Allah’s names and attributes, teaches them, reflects His endless knowledge and power is the book of the universe, which is an embodied Quran. In order to learn the deep meanings, fine embroidery and the instructive messages of the book of the universe, a teacher that teaches them is necessary. Otherwise, no matter how wonderful a book is, it is no different than a roll of paper if its meaning is not known and if there is no teacher to teach it.
Similarly, would it be possible to understand the fine mysteries of the book of the universe if there had not been a book like the Quran, a teacher like Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) teaching the book of the universe with its finest beauties, narrating its bonds with the Creator and explaining its purpose of creation? As a matter of fact, those who do not heed the Quran and Muhammad (pbuh) think that this universe is a meaningless, aimless and purposeless puppet with their materialistic ideas; they see man as a poor person that is impossible to know where he comes from, where he will go, why he has come to this world and that is known to disappear after a certain time. A book and its teacher are necessary to correct the misunderstandings above.
According to the Quran, the reason why the heavenly books were sent is to judge between people in matters in which they differed (al-Baqara, 2/213), to fulfill justice among men (al-Hadid, 57/25), to make clear to people those things in which they differ, to be a guide and a mercy to those who believe (an-Nahl, 16/64), to lead mankind out of the depths of darkness into light (Ibrahim, (14/1), and to admonish the unjust, and to give glad tidings to those who do right. (al-Ahqaf, 46/12).
The heavenly books that Allah sent through His prophets to guide humans and to convey Allah’s message to them are also called "divine books" or "books that were sent down". These books are the words of Allah in terms of form and meaning. The books that were sent down to prophets by Allah to be conveyed to people and to be explained were sent in the written form as pages or tablets, or in the form of all kinds of revelation with words and meanings as compiled or non-compiled books. The non-compiled books are collected together as the prophets dictate them.
The heavenly books, whether they are big or small in terms of size, whether they are sent in the compiled or non-compiled form, are sent in the language of the people that the prophet belongs to. For, Allah sent prophets to every nation in various centuries:
"Verily We have sent thee in truth, as a bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner: and there never was a people, without a warner having lived among them (in the past).” (Fatir, 35/24)
"To every people (was sent) an Messenger: when their Messenger comes (before them), the matter will be judged between them with justice and they will not be wronged." (Yunus, 10/47)
"We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) clear to them...." (Ibrahim, 14/4)
Some divine books have miraculous properties. The Quran has a lot of miraculous properties.
The heavenly book was sent in the written form to Hz. Ibrahim (pbuh) as pages and to Hz. Musa (pbuh) as tablets. The Quran was sent to Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) gradually in various forms of revelation orally. Hz. Prophet (pbuh) dictated them to revelation scribes in their proper order.
All of the heavenly books unanimously mention the following points:
1.They agree on declaring the principles of belief and oneness.
2.Allah is unique in his personality and attributes. He is the only Creator and Maker. Nobody but Allah is worshipped.
3.The essence of the types of worship like prayer, zakah (alms) and fasting. Their forms may be different in different religions. (al-Anbiya, 21/73; al-Baqara, 2/183)
4.Fornication, murder, theft and similar sins that violate people’s rights of honor, chastity, life and property are major sins.
5.They order all kinds of good deeds and the principles of high ethics.
6.They state that Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) will come as the Messenger of Allah and they mention his attributes.
7.They encourage people to work in the way of Allah with their lives and property.
Allah includes in the Quran most of the principles and information that He sent with the previous heavenly books. Verse 48 of the chapter of al-Maida indicates this issue:
"To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety; so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed…"
In that case, the Quran is a witness, controller and touchstone related to the unchanged parts of the previous heavenly books and the distorted and mixed parts of the parts and verses.
The Quran states that the facts declared by it were also sent down through the previous divine books:
"Verily this is a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds: With it came down the Spirit of Faith and Truth― To thy heart and mind, that thou mayest admonish, In the perspicuous Arabic tongue. Without doubt it is (announced) in the revealed Books of former peoples."(ash-Shuara, 26/192-196)
The phrase "the revealed Books of former peoples (zubur al-awwalin)"includes the pages of Ibrahim, the Torah the Psalms and the Gospel.
People are in need of prophets that convey them Allah's decrees; similarly, they are also in need of the heavenly books sent down to them due to the following reasons:
1.The heavenly books sent down to prophets are the books that ummahs refer to in order to know and describe the creed, principles, purposes and decrees of their religion no matter how much time passed. Ummahs refer to Allah's book in order to know the decrees of Allah's shari'ah, to explain the fards that Allah orders and the harams that He prohibits, to learn the virtues and high ethics, rules of good manners and etiquette, Allah's warnings, to declare Allah's promises and threats, to call people to the right path and to get and give advice. After the death of the prophet, the scholars of the ummah will refer to Allah's book in order to find the legal decrees regarding the problems of human life.
2.The divine book sent down to a prophet is a fair referee that people refer to after the death of the prophet regarding the issues that they disagree about. For, it is the word of Allah, who is the fairest judge. Allah states the issue as follows in the Quran:
"Mankind was one single nation, and Allah sent Messengers with glad tidings and warnings; and with them He sent the Book in truth, to judge between people in matters wherein they differed..." (al-Baqara, 2/213).
A book that is sent down to an ummah and that is written protects the principles of oneness, the creed, rules and decrees of the religion. If a heavenly book remains without undergoing any change in an ummah, it means the prophet lives among them. Prophets die like other human beings. If the heavenly book did not remain after the death of the prophet, the disagreements of the ummah would increase so much as to make them deviate from the origin of the religion. The existence of a written divine book is necessary in order to decrease the dragging of man by their souls and desires, which is due to their nature, and to stop the disagreements in religious understanding and ijtihads.
The divine book bears the influence and ability of the call of the prophet in spreading the religion and guiding the people no matter how much away it is from the place and time it was sent down. The influence and service of the Quran has been great in spreading and settling the universal religion of Islam conveyed by Hz. Muhammad (pbuh), the last Prophet.
Allah sent down books to His prophets due to the reasons mentioned above and some other reasons. The prophets conveyed those books and explained them. Hz. Prophet (pbuh) left the Quran, which is a light and guide for humanity, after him.
Prophets, who honored humanity with their existence, need to be instructed by Allah in order to fulfill their duties of messengership. This instruction is given to prophets through heavenly books. The heavenly books are the holy laws of Allah to be applied for humans. Allah informs humans about their rights and duties through these laws. The lives of the prophets in this world are ephemeral. The continuation of the divine decrees conveyed by the prophets to their ummahs could be possible only through these books. If it were not for these books, people would be unaware of the purpose of their creation, the duties burdened with them, and the bounties and disasters they would encounter in the hereafter. They would be deprived of the divine principles that would arrange their lives. They would be also be deprived of the honor and happiness of reading the holy verses, worshipping through them, getting advice from them and getting rid of dangerous opinions by understanding the truth thanks to them.
The orders and prohibitions that the Quran informs humans and the wisdom and truths that it explains are plentiful. They are basically about beliefs, worshipping, laws related to human relations, ethics, works of arts and masterpieces showing the power of Allah, exemplary events and other things. We can summarize them as follows:
1) The Quran informs humans about the existence, oneness, majesty, wisdom and holiness of Allah. The words of those who have philosophical opinions are dim compared to its illuminated words.
2) The Quran calls humans to obtain knowledge and to meditate on things by looking at them carefully. It advises humans to look at Allah's great works that show His wisdom and power.
3) The Quran gives information about some of the prophets sent to humans in the previous eras. It tells man how they managed their lofty duties and what difficulties they faced while fulfilling their duties. It orders all people to obey the last Prophet.
4) The Quran tells people about the most exemplary scenes and historical events related to the previous ummahs so that people will learn lessons from them. It also tells people about the terrible ends of the sinning nations that rebelled against their prophets.
5) The Quran orders humans to have an alert spirit all the time and not to forget God. It advises them not to be deprived of religion and virtues by obeying the desires of their souls. It tells them that to be deprived from spiritual pleasures and the bounties of the hereafter by plunging into the material benefits and pleasures of the world is a big disaster.
6) The Quran advises Muslims to adhere to their religion and to defend the truth all the time. It reminds them that they should always be strong and work hard in order to prepare the equipment to protect themselves. It orders them to fight when it is necessary, to protect their religion, honor, country and their material and spiritual belongings by their lives and property.
7) The Quran informs them about the principles and rules that are necessary for the civil and social life to go on in order and peace. It asks people to protect and maintain certain rights and duties.
8) The Quran advises both individuals and communities to adhere to justice, honesty, modesty, love, to have mercy, to do favors, to forgive, to have good manners, to support equality and to have similar lofty characteristics. It prohibits people from oppression, treason, conceitedness, stinginess, revenge, hard-heartedness, ugly deeds and words, harmful drinks and food. It tells people about the food and drinks that are halal (legitimate) and haram (forbidden).
9) The Quran tells people that nobody can change the natural laws that Allah imposed for this realm. It states that everybody has to act in accordance with those laws. It reminds people that they cannot obtain anything but the fruits (benefits) of their work. It encourages people to work.
10) The Quran gives the believers who accept and adopt Allah's orders and prohibitions and act accordingly the glad tidings of the bounties of the world and the hereafter and the achievements they will obtain. It warns unbelievers against the bad end prepared for them, and the forms of hellfire. Through these explanations, the Quran wants to inform people about the lofty purpose of their creation.
In conclusion, the message of the Quran is a miracle. It containsmany more wisdoms and facts. The humanity can never be excluded from the instructions of the Quran no matter how high it rises. The acts that are contrary to the instructions (principles) of the Quran are actually a fall rather than a rise.
There are numerous proofs that the Bible (New Testament) has been distorted. However, it is necessary to accept that there are some unchanged truth it in though very few.
The Distortion Process of the Bible
The Bible is essentially a divine book revealed to Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) by Allah. The Quran states many times that the Bible is a divine book revealed to Jesus. According to what internal and foreign sources inform us unanimously, Jesus did not write the Bible himself; he could not find time to have it written, either. The proclamation (conveying the message) period of Jesus lasted very short (three years), and the ordeal and pursuit was too much at that period. However, the number of the apostles that believed in Christ was twelve before he was raised to the sky; however, most of them were illiterate. Therefore, there was not an appropriate opportunity to write the Bible. Besides, since the first Christians thought Jesus was going to return, they did not feel the need of writing the Bible.
It is necessary to mention one more thing regarding the issue: the New Testament was not sent down as a written book. The Torah (Old Testament) was sent down to Hazrat Musa (Moses) in the form of tablets; the Old Testament, like the Quran, was not sent down in the form of written texts; it was revealed to Jesus orally.
After Jesus was raised to the sky, Christians constantly waited for him to come back; when his return was delayed, they tried to write down the verses of the New Testament as they remembered. However, the number of those that saw Jesus and heard his message had decreased. Consequently, the Bibles started to be written 30-40 years after Jesus was raised to the sky. The number of people that believed in Jesus had partly increased and Christianity had started to spread to the other nations thought not very much. Those that had listened to Jesus directly wanted to convey the message of Jesus in order to meet their own needs and to convey the message of Jesus to those who had not received his message. Therefore, they started to write the Bible as much as they remembered.
In the first periods, the number of the Bibles that were also called “Reminiscences” was too many. The limitation of the Bibles that were deemed as reliable by Christians (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Letters) and labeling the others as apocryphal took place as late as the fourth century (325 – Council of Nicaea). The first three of those Bibles were written in 60-80’s and the Bible of John was written in 90-100’s. As it is seen, none of them was written when Jesus was alive. A more interesting fact is that even the Bibles that were written in Greek did not reach today. It is known that the oldest Greek manuscripts that exist today date back to the 4th century. Another important point to be expressed regarding the issue is that when the writing of the Bibles delayed at least for 30 years after Jesus, the Christian creed had almost formed; they had started to discuss about the divinity of Jesus; the Torah had been accepted as a holy text and it had been claimed that salvation had depended on Jesus.
Another interesting point regarding the issue is that although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the Bible was written in Greek. Although the first Bible, Matthew, is said to have been written it in Aramaic, it has not reached today. What is more interesting is the claim and discussion in the Christian history that the writers of Matthew and John Bibles are not Matthew and John but some other people.
Unlike Muslims, the Christian world does not accept that Jesus was revealed a book called the Bible. According to them, Jesus, who is a god with flesh and bones, that is, in the form of man, is revelation himself. In other words, whatever Jesus said and did is revelation. Therefore, the following is deduced from their belief: Today’s Bibles are the words and actions of Jesus rather than verses revealed by Allah. However, even that idea has too much deficiency and additions. There are differences in expression and in meaning and even contradictions among those Bibles. What is more, there are contradictory expressions even in the same Bibles.
The books that are called the Bibles today are not books of revelation in the sense that Muslims understand. They are the words of the first period apostles and their students. They wrote them as they wanted to believe. Christians believe that the writers of the Bibles wrote them under the protection of God and Holy Spirit. If there had been such a protection, there would not be any contradiction and inconsistency in the Bibles.
In the West, studies and criticism about the Bible were started in order to eliminate the contradictions in the Bible especially in the New Testament. According to that new scientific method, what belonged to God and what did not was going to be determined in the Bible and the book was going to be cleaned of all of the inconsistency. For instance, according to a research, 518 words that had been claimed to belong to Jesus were determined; as a result of the study, 1544 different forms of those words were seen and it was stated that only 18 of those words could belong to Jesus.
In addition to what was stated above, we can list some signs of distortion and contradictions in the four Bibles as follows:
1. According to the Bibles of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the prophethood of Jesus lasted one year and according to the Bible of John it lasted more than two years.
2. The number of the generations from Hazrat Dawud (David) (pbuh) to Jesus is 26 according to Matthew and 49 according to Luke.
3. Although Jesus is attributed divinity, in some places in the Bible, he is called as a human being.
4. According to Christianity, while Jesus was about to be crucified, He begged Allah as follows: “O, Allah! O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” If that word belonged to Christ, the God, it shows that he cannot protect himself though he was God. If that word belonged to Jesus, it is understood that he does not know God truly because a prophet would never say, “O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” According to our belief, Jesus was neither crucified nor begged Allah like that.
5. While Matthew says that there are forty ancestors of Jesus up to Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham), Luke says there are 55 ancestors.
6. In the Bibles, the phrases “son of God”, “son of Joseph”, “son of David” and “son of Adam” are often used for Jesus. There is an obvious contradiction among them.
7. In the Bible of Mark, the Bible is attributed to God but in the book Letters to the Romans to Jesus.
8. In the Bible of Luke, while God is mentioned as the Savior in one place, Jesus is mentioned as the Savior in another place.
9. There is contradictory information in the Bible whether God can be seen or not.
10. Those Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah or to Jesus. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah from the facts that the origin of the Bible could not be saved, that it was not written down, that there is not a common text that can be agreed on, etc. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus from the facts that he did not make anybody write it, the inconsistency, mistakes and contradictions among the Bibles that were written by those that listened to him and those that listened to them. Another reason why those Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus is that the crucifixion is mentioned in the Bible texts. The mentioning of the crucifixion shows that those Bibles were written later.
Since the inconsistency and contradictions like that cannot exist in a book that is attributed to Allah and since a prophet cannot deify himself and cannot make God a human, it becomes clear that the holy book of Christianity was written by human beings later and it was distorted.
Consequently;
The different Bible texts that Christians have today are not the original revelation that was sent by God because Jesus neither wrote them nor made someone else write them. After he was raised to the sky, some of his students started to write what they heard from their teacher using their own methods. Thus, without exaggeration, hundreds of texts of Bible appeared. Four of those Bibles were accepted as sound (true) and the others were regarded as apocryphal by the council that was formed in order to solve the problem (325 – Council of Nicaea). However, the disputes did not end. For instance, the Bible of Barnabas and the Ebionites were regarded as apocryphal. As a matter of fact, it was stated in those Bibles that Jesus was not God, thst it was not Jesus that was crucified, that he was only a slave of Allah and His prophet, that another prophet would come after him and that Allah was one.
The Bibles that are present today are far from guiding the members of Christianity. It is remarkable that most of those that converted to Islam both today and in the past are Christians. Christians have difficulty in embracing the doctrine of trinity (that God consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). They cannot explain it logically because the creed of the oneness of Allah had never even been subject to discussion by any prophets since Hazrat Adam but the emergence of the concept of the trinity of god with a horrible deviation have not been able to convince people.
The only source that will satisfy all of the requirements of the people in the world regarding the religion and creed and their worldly, otherworldly and spiritual needs is the Quran because Allah, the Exalted, sent the religion of Islam to make it superior to all religions and to spread its light to the whole world. The road map of the religion of Islam is determined by the Quran.
Some examples from the verses of the Quran stating that the Bible embraced by Christians today have some aspects that do not comply with the revelation sent by Allah:
Allah, the Mighty and Glorious, states the following in the Quran: “Say: He is Allah the One and Only.” (al-Ikhlas: 1) As for Christians, they accept three gods by saying, “the father, the son, the holy spirit”. It is a great deviation. Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in the chapter al-Ikhlas: “He begetteth not, nor is He begotten.” (al-Ikhlas: 3) As for Christians, they say, “Jesus Messiah is the son of God”. As a matter of fact, Jesus said the following as it is stated in the Quran: “I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 30) Christians deified Jesus Christ.
Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in the 4-5th verse of the chapter al-Kahf: “Further that He may warn those (also) who say "Allah hath begotten a son":
“No knowledge have they of such a thing, nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying. What they say is nothing but falsehood!.” Christians attribute a son to Allah, the Exalted.
Allah, the Exalted states the following in a verse: “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets.” (al-Ahzab: 40) As for Christians, they say, “We do not accept anything after Jesus.”
To believe in prophets and Jesus Christ is one of the fundamentals of belief in Islam. We believe in all of the prophets and books sent down by Allah.
“Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His Messengers” "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers."...”” (the Quran, al-Baqara: 285)
Muslims believe in Jesus and the undistorted book that was sent down to him and all of the other prophets sent by Allah. According to Islamic belief, Jesus is one of the greatest prophets of Allah. Virgin Mary gave birth to him without a father. The prophet Adam was born without a father; similarly, Jesus was created without a father, too. As a matter of fact, the level that the science of medicine has reached today makes it easier to understand it. Allah is free from humanly attributes and having a child.
The Jews who did not want to understand or accept those truths said, “he is an illegitimate child” by using the fact that he was born without a father an excuse; they slandered him; some of the Christians said he was “God”, some said he was “the son of God” and the third group said, “ he was one of the three”. Actually, the reality is as it is expressed in the Quran:
“This similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be" and he was.” (Aal-e-Imran: 59)
The divine statement of Allah regarding Mary is as follows:
“And Mary the daughter of `Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into her (body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (Servants).” (at-Tahrim: 12)
Christians deviated into the belief of “three gods” by saying, “Allah is three; the father, the son and the holy spirit.
“Desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 171)
Allah informs people that Islam is the true religion, that the Quran is the last book sent down by Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) is the true and last prophet sent by Allah, commanding people to accept it and not conceal it:
“Ye People of the Book! Why do ye clothe truth with falsehood, and conceal the Truth while ye have knowledge?” (Aal-e-Imran: 71)
“So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity"!” (an-Nisa: 171)
“‘They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!" Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it, the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.” (Maryam: 88-92)
"For Allah; He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship ye Him: this is a Straight Way." (az-Zukhruf: 64)
“But said Christ: "O children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord, and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with Allah―Allah will forbid him the Garden and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.” (al-Maida: 72)
“He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 30)
“They do blaspheme who say: "Allah is Christ the son of Mary.. "” (al-Maida: 72)
“They disbelieve who say: ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’.” (al-Maida: 73)
“For there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (al-Maida: 73)
“Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Messenger.” (al-Maida: 75)
“Many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food.” (al-Maida: 75)
“O people of the Book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but truth.” (an-Nisa: 171)
“Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an Messenger of Allah.” (an-Nisa: 171)
“and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary.” (an-Nisa: 171)
“and a Spirit proceeding from Him.” (an-Nisa: 171)
Jesus is a spirit that emerged as a result of the creation of Allah. He was named “kalimatullah” (the word of Allah) to honor him because he was created as a miracle based on His command “be”. The reason why that spirit was attributed to Allah is to elevate his honor. Allah revived many dead hearts through him.
Then;
“So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 171)
Jesus (pbuh) needed to remind those who wanted to attribute him some other properties besides being a human being that he was a slave and said:
“I am indeed a servant of Allah.” (Maryam: 30)
He did not say, “deify me” to the people he talked to; on the contrary, he gave them the following advice:
“Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight.” (Maryam: 36)
Allah says the following to the Messenger of Allah in a verse by addressing him:
“Say: "If (Allah) Most Gracious had a son, I would be the first to worship." Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne (of Authority)! (He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him)! So leave them to babble and play (with vanities) until they meet that Day of theirs, which they have been promised.” (az-Zukhruf: 81-82-83)
Allah says the following about the people who attribute one of His servants to His holy being:
“Yet they attribute to some of His servants a share with Him (in His godhead)! truly is man a blasphemous ingrate avowed.” (az-Zukhruf: 15)
The statements about the fact that Allah is free from having child are frequently made in the Quran:
“They say: "Allah hath begotten a son"; Glory be to Him. ―Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth; everything renders worship to Him.” (al-Baqara: 116)
To say that Allah has a child means to liken Him to human beings. Then, it is impossible for the Lord of Majesty, to whom nobody is similar, to have a child. He is the unique Creator, who has no beginning or end.
“They say "Allah hath begotten a son!―" Glory be to Him! He is self-sufficient! His are all things in the heavens and on earth! No warrant have ye for this! Say ye about Allah what ye know not?” (Yunus: 68)
Say: "Those who invent a lie against Allah will never prosper."” (Yunus: 69)
“Behold! How they invent a lie against Allah! But that by itself is a manifest sin!” (an-Nisa: 50)
“He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He Who created all things and ordered them in due proportions.” (al-Furqan: 2)
“The Jews call Uzayr a son of Allah.” (at-Tawbah: 30)
“and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah.” (at-Tawbah: 30)
“That is a saying from their mouths; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say.” (at-Tawbah: 30)
“Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth” (at-Tawbah: 30)
The belief of trinity is not a belief that originates from the source of Christianity. It is a wrong belief originating from distortion.
The first Bible to be written after Jesus (pbuh) is the Bible of Mark. In the Bible of Mark, Jesus is addressed as, “You are the Messiah.” (8/29); in the Bible of Luke, the phrase is, “You are the Messiah sent from God.” (9/20); in the Bible of Matthew, the following phrase is written: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (16/16). As a matter of fact, Matthew and Luke quoted many things from Mark. The belief of trinity is present in the letters of John and Paul. It is Paul who introduced today’s belief of trinity into Christianity and the idea of attributing divinity to Jesus.
About half of the Bible that Christians accept as the divine book today consists of the letters of Paul, who was a converted Jew.
“Paul, a converted Jew, was a Roman rabbi and he oppressed many Christians before he embraced Christianity. The letters he wrote to the Church after he embraced Christianity formed about half of the 27 books of the Bible. “The son of God” and “cross” formed the basis of Paul’s teachings.” (US News and World Report, 20 April 1992, p. 70)
As a former pastor who converted from Christianity said, “Paul’s shrewd letters teaches slander, gossiping, jealousy, spying and espionage.” Those letters are especially full of many contradictions and hypocrisy.
“Saint Paul, who introduced trinity into Christianity is a Jew of Tarsus, whose real name is Saul. Saint Paul taught Kabbalah in Jerusalem before he emerged saying, ‘Jesus came down to me and taught me trinity’.” (The Concise Atlas of the Bible, p. 124)
“When the Church spread to Anatolia, Jesus Messiah started to be mentioned as “the Son of God”, which was the main them of Paul’s letters.” (ibid p 70)
Of course, there are miracles in them because they are also revelation. If there are not such miracles in the Torah and Bible that we have today, it does not mean that there had never been.
We, Muslims, believe that books called the Torah, Psalms and Gospel were sent to Prophet Moses, Prophet David and Prophet Jesus and that those books do not contain anything against the religion of reality and oneness.
However, the originals of those books could not be protected and they got lost. We cannot say that there is not anything from the revelations sent to the prophets in the books which Jews and Christians have got today. However, it is a reality that fake and false beliefs have been mixed into them.
For this reason, we are careful about those books. We admit that judgments which are appropriate to the Quran in them are products of revelation.
We presume that the judgments which oppose to the Quran’s judgments have been added to those books later. And we stay neutral to the judgments which are neither appropriate nor inappropriate for the Quran. We neither accept nor deny them; because it is possible that they maybe traces of revelation and it is also possible that they are made up by people.
On the issue, Abu Huraira said: “Followers of the holy book used to read the Torah in Hebrew language and interpret it in Arabic for Muslims. On the issue, the Messenger of Allah said to his companions:
“Neither confirm nor deny what the followers of the holy book say. Just say: We believe in Allah, and the Revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to all prophets from their Lords. We make no difference between one and another of them and we bow to Allah.” (al-Baqara, 136).
The Torah was sent down to Moses, Psalms to David, the Gospel to Jesus and the Quran to Muhammad (pbuh.)
There are numerous proofs that the Bible (New Testament) has been distorted. Denying this distorted Bible does not make a person an unbeliever. However, it is necessary to accept that there are some unchanged truth it in though very few.
THE DISTORTION PROCESS OF THE BIBLE (NEW TESTAMENT)
The Bible is essentially a divine book revealed to Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) by Allah. The Quran states many times that the Bible is a divine book revealed to Jesus. According to what native and foreign sources inform us unanimously, Jesus did not write the Bible himself; he could not find time to have it written, either. The proclamation (conveying the message) period of Jesus lasted very short (three years); and the ordeal and pursuit was too much at that period.
However, the number of the apostles that believed in Christ was twelve before he was raised to the sky but most of them were illiterate. Therefore, there was not an appropriate opportunity to write the Bible. Besides, since the first Christians thought Jesus was going to return, they did not feel the need to write the Bible.
It is necessary to mention one more thing regarding the issue: the New Testament was not sent down as a written book. The Torah (Old Testament) was sent down to Hazrat Musa (Moses) in the form of tablets; the Old Testament, like the Quran, was not sent down in the form of written texts; it was revealed to Jesus orally.
After Jesus was raised to the sky, Christians constantly waited for him to come back; when his return was delayed, they tried to write down the verses of the New Testament as they remembered. However, the number of those that saw Jesus and heard his message had decreased.
Consequently, the Bibles started to be written 30-40 years after Jesus was raised to the sky. During this period, the number of people that believed in Jesus had partly increased and Christianity had started to spread to the other nations though not very much. Those that had listened to Jesus directly wanted to convey the message of Jesus in order to meet their own needs and to convey the message of Jesus to those who had not received his message. Therefore, they started to write the Bible as much as they remembered.
In the first periods, the number of the Bibles that were also called “Reminiscences” was too many. The limitation of the Bibles that were deemed as reliable by Christians (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Letters) and labeling the others as apocryphal took place as late as the fourth century (325 – Council of Nicaea). The first three of those Bibles were written in 60-80’s and the Bible of John was written in 90-100’s. As it is seen, none of them was written when Jesus was alive.
A more interesting fact is that the Bibles that were written in Greek did not reach today. It is known that the oldest Greek manuscripts that exist today date back to the 4th century. Another important point to be expressed regarding the issue is that when the writing of the Bibles delayed at least for 30 years after Jesus, the Christian creed had almost formed; they had started to discuss about the divinity of Jesus; the Torah had been accepted as a holy text and it had been claimed that salvation had depended on Jesus.
Another interesting pointregarding the issue is that although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the four Bibles were written in Greek. Although the first Bible, Matthew, is said to have been written it in Aramaic, it has not reached today. What is more interesting is the claim and discussion in the Christian history that the writers of Matthew and John Bibles were not Matthew and John but some other people.
Unlike Muslims, the Christian world does not accept that a book called the Bible was revealed to Jesus. According to them, Jesus, who is a god with flesh and bones, that is, in the form of man, is revelation himself. In other words, whatever Jesus said and did is revelation. Therefore, the following is deduced from their belief: Today’s Bibles are the words and actions of Jesus rather than verses revealed by Allah. However, even that idea has too many deficiencies and additions. There are differences in expression and in meaning and even contradictions among those Bibles. What is more, there are contradictory expressions even in the same Bible.
The books that are called the Bibles today are not books of revelation in the sense that Muslims understand. They are the words of the first period apostles and their students. They wrote them as they wanted to believe. Christians believe that the writers of the Bibles wrote them under the protection of God and Holy Spirit. If there had been such a protection, there would not be any contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bibles.
In the West, studies and criticism about the Bible were started in order to eliminate the contradictions in the Bible especially in the New Testament. According to that new scientific method, what belonged to God and what did not was going to be determined in the Bible and the book was going to be cleaned of all of the inconsistencies. For instance, according to a research, 518 words that had been claimed to belong to Jesus were determined; as a result of the study, 1544 different forms of those words were seen and it was stated that only 18 of those words could belong to Jesus.
In addition to what was stated above, we can list some signs of distortion and contradictions in the four Bibles as follows:
1. According to the Bibles of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the prophethood of Jesus lasted one year and according to the Bible of John it lasted more than two years.
2. The number of the generations from Hazrat Dawud (David) (pbuh) to Jesus is 26 according to Matthew and 40 according to Luke.
3. Although Jesus is attributed divinity, in some places in the Bible, he is called as a human being.
4. According to Christianity, while Jesus was about to be crucified, He begged Allah as follows: “O, Allah! O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” If that word belonged to Christ, the God, it shows that he could not protect himself though he was God. If that word belonged to Jesus, it is understood that he did not know God truly because a prophet would never say, “O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” According to our belief, Jesus was not crucified; nor did he beg Allah like that.
5. While Matthew says that there are forty ancestors of Jesus up to Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham), Luke says there are 55 ancestors.
6. In the Bibles, the phrases “son of God”, “son of Joseph”, “son of David” and “son of Adam” are often used for Jesus. There is an obvious contradiction among them.
7. In the Bible of Mark, the Bible is attributed to God but in the book Letters to the Romans to Jesus.
8. In the Bible of Luke, while God is mentioned as the Savior in one place, Jesus is mentioned as the Savior in another place.
9. There is contradictory information in the Bible whether God can be seen or not.
10. Those Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah or to Jesus. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah from the facts that the origin of the Bible could not be saved, that it was not written down, that there is not a common text that can be agreed on, etc. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus from the facts that he did not make anybody write it, the inconsistencies, mistakes and contradictions among the Bibles that were written by those that listened to him and those that listened to them. Another reason why those Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus is that the crucifixion is mentioned in the Bible texts. The mentioning of the crucifixion shows that those Bibles were written later.
Since the inconsistencies and contradictions like that cannot exist in a book that is attributed to Allah and since a prophet cannot deify himself and cannot make God a human, it becomes clear that the holy book of Christianity was written by human beings later and it was distorted.
Consequently;
The different Bible texts that Christians have today are not the original revelation that was sent by God because Jesus neither wrote them nor made someone else write them. After he was raised to the sky, some of his students started to write what they heard from their teacher using their own methods. Thus, without exaggeration, hundreds of texts of Bible appeared. Four of those Bibles were accepted as sound (true) and the others were regarded as apocryphal by the council that was formed in order to solve the problem (325 – Council of Nicaea). However, the disputes did not end. For instance, the Bible of Barnabas and the Ebionites were regarded as apocryphal. As a matter of fact, it was stated in those Bibles that Jesus was not God, that it was not Jesus that was crucified, that he was only a slave of Allah and His prophet, that another prophet would come after him and that Allah was one.
The Bibles that are present today are far from guiding the members of Christianity. It is remarkable that most of those that converted to Islam both today and in the past are Christians. Christians have difficulty in embracing the doctrine of trinity (that God consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). They cannot explain it logically because the creed of the oneness of Allah had never been even subject to discussion by any prophets since Hazrat Adam but the emergence of the concept of the trinity of god with a horrible deviation have not been able to convince people.
The only source that will satisfy all of the requirements of the people in the world regarding the religion and creed and their worldly, otherworldly and spiritual needs is the Quran because Allah, the Exalted, sent the religion of Islam to make it superior to all religions and to spread its light to the whole world. The road map of the religion of Islam is determined by the Quran.
Some examples from the verses of the Quran stating that the Bible embraced by Christians today has some aspects that do not comply with the revelation sent by Allah:
Allah, the Mighty and Glorious, states the following in the Quran:
“Say: He is Allah the One and Only.” (al-Ikhlas: 112/1)
As for Christians, they accept three gods by saying, “the father, the son, the holy spirit”. It is a great deviation. Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in the chapter al-Ikhlas:
“He begetteth not, nor is He begotten.” (al-Ikhlas: 112/3)
As for Christians, they say, “Jesus Messiah is the son of God”. As a matter of fact, Jesus said the following as it is stated in the Quran:
“I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 19/30)
Christians deified Jesus Christ.
Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in verse 4 and 5 of the chapter al-Kahf:
“Further that He may warn those (also) who say "Allah hath begotten a son": No knowledge have they of such a thing, nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying. What they say is nothing but falsehood!.”
Christians attribute a son to Allah, the Exalted.
Allah, the Exalted states the following in a verse:
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets.” (al-Ahzab: 33/40)
As for Christians, they say, “We do not accept anything after Jesus.”
To believe in prophets and Jesus Christ is one of the fundamentals of belief in Islam.We believe in all of the prophets and books sent down by Allah.
“Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His Messengers” "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers."...”” (al-Baqara: 2/285)
Muslims believe in Jesus and the undistorted book that was sent down to him and all of the other prophets sent by Allah. According to the Islamic belief, Jesus is one of the greatest prophets of Allah. Virgin Mary gave birth to him without a father. The prophet Adam was born without a father; similarly, Jesus was created without a father, too. As a matter of fact, the level that the science of medicine has reached today makes it easier to understand it. Allah is free from humanly attributes and having a child.
The Jews who did not want to understand or accept those truths said, “he is an illegitimate child” by using the fact that he was born without a father as an excuse; they slandered him; some of the Christians said he was “God”, some said he was “the son of God” and the third group said, “he was one of the three”. Actually, the reality is as it is expressed in the Quran:
“This similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be" and he was.” (Aal-e-Imran: 3/59)
The divine statement of Allah regarding Mary is as follows:
“And Mary the daughter of `Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into her (body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (Servants).” (at-Tahrim: 66/12)
Christians deviated into the belief of “three gods” by saying, “God is three; the father, the son and the holy spirit.”
“Desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Allah informs people that Islam is the true religion, that the Quran is the last book sent down by Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) is the true and last prophet sent by Allah, commanding people to accept it and not to conceal it:
“Ye People of the Book! Why do ye clothe truth with falsehood, and conceal the Truth while ye have knowledge?” (Aal-e-Imran: 3/71)
“So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity"!” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
“‘They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it, the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.” (Maryam: 19/88-92)
"For Allah; He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship ye Him: this is a Straight Way." (az-Zukhruf: 64)
“They do blaspheme who say: "Allah is Christ the son of Mary." But said Christ: "O children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord, and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with Allah―Allah will forbid him the Garden and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.” (al-Maida: 72)
“He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 19/30)
“They disbelieve who say: ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’. For there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (al-Maida: 5/ 73)
“Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Messenger. Many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food.”(al-Maida: 5/75)
“O people of the Book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an Messenger of Allah and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him…” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Jesus is a spirit that emerged as a result of the creation of Allah. He was named “kalimatullah” (the word of Allah) to honor him because he was created as a miracle based on His command “be”. The reason why that spirit was attributed to Allah is to elevate his honor. Allah revived many dead hearts through him.
Then;
“… So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Jesus (pbuh) needed to remind those who wanted to attribute him some other properties besides being a human being that he was a slave and said:
“I am indeed a servant of Allah.” (Maryam: 19/30) He did not say, “deify me” to the people he talked to; on the contrary, he gave them the following advice: “Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight.” (Maryam: 19/36)
Allah says the following to the Messenger of Allah in a verse by addressing him:
“Say: "If (Allah) Most Gracious had a son, I would be the first to worship." Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne (of Authority)! (He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him)! So leave them to babble and play (with vanities) until they meet that Day of theirs, which they have been promised.” (az-Zukhruf: 43/81-83)
Allah says the following about the people who attribute one of His servants to His holy being:
“Yet they attribute to some of His servants a share with Him (in His godhead)! truly is man a blasphemous ingrate avowed.” (az-Zukhruf: 43/15)
The statements about the fact that Allah is free from having child are frequently made in the Quran:
“They say: "Allah hath begotten a son"; Glory be to Him. ―Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth; everything renders worship to Him.” (al-Baqara: 2/116)
To say that Allah has a child means to liken Him to human beings. Then, it is impossible for the Lord of Majesty, to whom nobody is similar, to have a child. He is the unique Creator, who has no beginning or end.
“They say "Allah hath begotten a son!―" Glory be to Him! He is self-sufficient! His are all things in the heavens and on earth! No warrant have ye for this! Say ye about Allah what ye know not?Say: "Those who invent a lie against Allah will never prosper."” (Yunus: 10/68-69)
“Behold! How they invent a lie against Allah! But that by itself is a manifest sin!” (an-Nisa: 4/50)
“No son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He Who created all things and ordered them in due proportions.” (al-Furqan: 25/2)
“The Jews call Uzayr a son of Allah and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouths; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth” (at-Tawbah: 9/30)
The belief of trinity is not a belief that originates from the source of Christianity. It is a wrong belief originating from distortion.
The first Bible to be written after Jesus (pbuh) is the Bible of Mark. In the Bible of Mark, Jesus is addressed as, “You are the Messiah.” (8/29); in the Bible of Luke, the phrase is, “You are the Messiah sent from God.” (9/20); in the Bible of Matthew, the following phrase is written: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (16/16). As a matter of fact, Matthew and Luke quoted many things from Mark. The belief of trinity is present in the letters of John and Paul. It is Paul who introduced today’s belief of trinity into Christianity and the idea of attributing divinity to Jesus.
About half of the Bible that Christians accept as the divine book today consists of the letters of Paul, who was a converted Jew.
“Paul, a converted Jew, was a Roman rabbi and he oppressed many Christians before he embraced Christianity. The letters he wrote to the Church after he embraced Christianity formed about half of the 27 books of the Bible. “The son of God” and “cross” formed the basis of Paul’s teachings.” (US News and World Report, 20 April 1992, p. 70)
As a former pastor who converted from Christianity said, “Paul’s shrewd letters teaches slander, gossiping, jealousy, spying and espionage.” Those letters are especially full of many contradictions and hypocrisy.
“Saint Paul, who introduced trinity into Christianity is a Jew of Tarsus, whose real name is Saul. Saint Paul taught Kabbalah in Jerusalem before he emerged saying, ‘Jesus came down to me and taught me trinity’.” (The Concise Atlas of the Bible, p. 124)
“When the Church spread to Anatolia, Jesus Messiah started to be mentioned as “the Son of God”, which was the main theme of Paul’s letters.” (ibid p 70)
The sending down of a divine book does not depend on the condition of the distortion of the previous book. As a matter of fact, the Gospel, which was sent to Hz. Isa (Jesus) did not include the legal decrees of the Torah, the previous book. Hz. Isa taught people love, compassion and ethical values through the Gospel but he referred to the Torah regarding legal arrangements. The Psalms were like that, too. Those two books contained almost no legal decrees. They referred to the Torah regarding them. This shows that the sending down of a divinebook does not depend on the condition of the distortion of the previous book. On the contrary, they were sent down to teach the new principles based on the state of the time and place.
It will not be appropriate to say that the Quran was sent down because the previous books were distorted. In that case, it would lead to this extremely wrong conclusion: if they had not been distorted, there would have been no need for the Quran. However, the principles of belief that are the fundamentals of all religions always keep being on the agenda. However, the state of the time and place has a great role in explaining, summarizing or detailing the issue in some degree. This is the reason behind the advent of new shari'as. The Quran includes the important topics mentioned in the previous books; they are common ground among the heavenly religions.
Nevertheless, almost all Islamic scholars agree that the Quran abrogated some of the decrees in the previous books. However, we need to state again that the advent of the Quran does not depend on their distortion because some of the decrees of the previous books had to be changed or abolished whether they were distorted or not.
As Muslims, we believe in Hz. Moses, Hz. Dawud and Hz. Isa (Jesus) and the divine books that were sent to them; the Torah, the Psalms and the Bible and we have no doubt that they have no ruling against the true religion of oneness. However, these books could not be protected and thus they were distorted.
Now, we cannot say that the books that the Jews and Christians have no parts related with the revelation that were sent to the prophets. However, there is also no doubt that these books contain superstitious and false beliefs. Thus, we always deal with these books cautiously. We accept that the rulings in them which are in compliance with the Qur’an are the products of revelation. We consider the rulings that are against the Qur’an as later additions. We remain silent when the information in them is neither in compliance with nor opposite the Qur’an. We will neither accept nor reject them in that case. For, there is a possibility that the information in these books can either be revelation or not.
Abu Hurayrah (RA) said the following on this issue: «The people of the book used to read the Torah in Hebrew language. And they used to translate it to Muslims in Arabic. On this issue, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said to his companions the following: Do not approve or reject the words of the People of the Book.
Say ye: "We believe, in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Abraham Isma`il Isaac Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord we make no difference between one and another of them and we bow to Allah (in Islam)."(al-Baqara, 2/136)
The previous prophets were sent for some nations for a certain period of time. Their books were valid for those nations for a limited time period too. For this reason, Allah didn't protect those books. Because, when the period of a prophet finishes or his book is distorted, Allah sends another prophet and an another book. But the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the last prophet who has been sent for all times and places. Since there will be no any other prophet after him and if Allah didn't protect the Qur'an, the people of the latter ages would not be able to find the true way.
The things Allah has created on the earth are not the same as each other. He ties some of them to causes and creates some of them without any causes or means. For example, although every person comes from a mother and a father, He created Adam (pbuh) without a mother and a father, Jesus (pbuh) without a father and Eve without a mother. It means he sometimes acts out of general laws.
Moreover, with regards to laws, fire burns, the Moon does not split into two, trees do not walk and sticks do not transform into snakes. However, with the order and desire of Allah, Abraham (pbuh) did not burn, the Moon was splitted into two, the tree walked by the Prophet’s (pbuh) order and the stick of Moses (pbuh) became a snake.
Moreover, while some prophets came and were killed by the communities they were sent to, Allah protected some of His prophets such as Moses, Abraham and Muhammad (pbuh).
The same situation can be valid for the books. Allah, who let the other books be changed, prevented the Noble Qur’an from being changed by His particular beneficence. For that reason, He indicated that the Qur’an is under His private protection. Allah, who prevented Abraham (pbuh) from burning in the fire, also protected the Qur’an to be changed.
Our souls and satans cannot ask why He did not prevent his other prophets from being killed but protected Abraham; they cannot express their opinion regarding the issue, either.
Will you please click on the links below;
Life in Paradise described in the Quran includes both material and spiritual blessings.
Ruyatullah (seeing Allah), the consent of Allah, being with the prophets, veracious people, etc. are among the spiritual blessings.
“Allah hath promised to Believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the good pleasure of Allah: that is the supreme felicity.” (at-Tawba, 9/72)
The verse above states that the spiritual blessings in Paradise are superior to the material blessings.
In addition, material blessings should not be underestimated because they are also blessings of Allah. Besides, negative aspects of the world life, wasting, etc. are not in question in Paradise.
The world is like a summary and index of the hereafter. The bodily flavors that people are given to taste in the world are also samples. They are meant to encourage people for their originals. The tasting here indicates that blessings worthy of the eternal realm are prepared in Paradise.
If we led a completely spiritual life free from material aspects in this worldly life, it could perhaps be meaningful not to understand the bodily resurrection, to regard it something improbable and to underestimate it.
Therefore, it is not an appropriate approach to lead a material life in this short worldly life by benefiting from innumerable bodily blessings and not to accept that they will exist in the eternal realm in the hereafter in a much better state.
Since the books of Judaism and Christianity were distorted, life in the hereafter in those books was also distorted. Undoubtedly, life in the hereafter described by the Quran is the true one: The material and spiritual blessings that we have in this world life will continue in a more perfect way and eternally there.
People are in the presence of Allah not only in the hereafter, but also in the world. The marriage of the prophets who are very close to Allah is something natural in this world; similarly, the marriage of the people in Paradise is natural.
To sum up, the real strange thing is to claim that the innumerable bodily blessings and pleasures that we are given in this short worldly life will not exist in the eternal realm in their perfect, pure and clean states.
There are numerous proofs that the Bible (New Testament) has been distorted. Denying this distorted Bible does not make a person an unbeliever. However, it is necessary to accept that there are some unchanged truth it in though very few.
The Distortion Process of the Bible
The Bible is essentially a divine book revealed to Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) by Allah. The Quran states many times that the Bible is a divine book revealed to Jesus. According to what native and foreign sources inform us unanimously, Jesus did not write the Bible himself; he could not find time to have it written, either. The proclamation (conveying the message) period of Jesus lasted very short (three years); and the ordeal and pursuit was too much at that period.
However, the number of the apostles that believed in Christ was twelve before he was raised to the sky but most of them were illiterate. Therefore, there was not an appropriate opportunity to write the Bible. Besides, since the first Christians thought Jesus was going to return, they did not feel the need to write the Bible.
It is necessary to mention one more thing regarding the issue: the New Testament was not sent down as a written book. The Torah (Old Testament) was sent down to Hazrat Musa (Moses) in the form of tablets; the Old Testament, like the Quran, was not sent down in the form of written texts; it was revealed to Jesus orally.
After Jesus was raised to the sky, Christians constantly waited for him to come back; when his return was delayed, they tried to write down the verses of the New Testament as they remembered. However, the number of those that saw Jesus and heard his message had decreased.
Consequently, the Bibles started to be written 30-40 years after Jesus was raised to the sky. During this period, the number of people that believed in Jesus had partly increased and Christianity had started to spread to the other nations though not very much. Those that had listened to Jesus directly wanted to convey the message of Jesus in order to meet their own needs and to convey the message of Jesus to those who had not received his message. Therefore, they started to write the Bible as much as they remembered.
In the first periods, the number of the Bibles that were also called “Reminiscences” was too many. The limitation of the Bibles that were deemed as reliable by Christians (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Letters) and labeling the others as apocryphal took place as late as the fourth century (325 – Council of Nicaea). The first three of those Bibles were written in 60-80’s and the Bible of John was written in 90-100’s. As it is seen, none of them was written when Jesus was alive.
A more interesting fact is that the Bibles that were written in Greek did not reach today. It is known that the oldest Greek manuscripts that exist today date back to the 4th century. Another important point to be expressed regarding the issue is that when the writing of the Bibles delayed at least for 30 years after Jesus, the Christian creed had almost formed; they had started to discuss about the divinity of Jesus; the Torah had been accepted as a holy text and it had been claimed that salvation had depended on Jesus.
Another interesting pointregarding the issue is that although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the four Bibles were written in Greek. Although the first Bible, Matthew, is said to have been written it in Aramaic, it has not reached today. What is more interesting is the claim and discussion in the Christian history that the writers of Matthew and John Bibles were not Matthew and John but some other people.
Unlike Muslims, the Christian world does not accept that a book called the Bible was revealed to Jesus. According to them, Jesus, who is a god with flesh and bones, that is, in the form of man, is revelation himself. In other words, whatever Jesus said and did is revelation. Therefore, the following is deduced from their belief: Today’s Bibles are the words and actions of Jesus rather than verses revealed by Allah. However, even that idea has too many deficiencies and additions. There are differences in expression and in meaning and even contradictions among those Bibles. What is more, there are contradictory expressions even in the same Bible.
The books that are called the Bibles today are not books of revelation in the sense that Muslims understand. They are the words of the first period apostles and their students. They wrote them as they wanted to believe. Christians believe that the writers of the Bibles wrote them under the protection of God and Holy Spirit. If there had been such a protection, there would not be any contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bibles.
In the West, studies and criticism about the Bible were started in order to eliminate the contradictions in the Bible especially in the New Testament. According to that new scientific method, what belonged to God and what did not was going to be determined in the Bible and the book was going to be cleaned of all of the inconsistencies. For instance, according to a research, 518 words that had been claimed to belong to Jesus were determined; as a result of the study, 1544 different forms of those words were seen and it was stated that only 18 of those words could belong to Jesus.
In addition to what was stated above, we can list some signs of distortion and contradictions in the four Bibles as follows:
1. According to the Bibles of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the prophethood of Jesus lasted one year and according to the Bible of John it lasted more than two years.
2. The number of the generations from Hazrat Dawud (David) (pbuh) to Jesus is 26 according to Matthew and 40 according to Luke.
3. Although Jesus is attributed divinity, in some places in the Bible, he is called as a human being.
4. According to Christianity, while Jesus was about to be crucified, He begged Allah as follows: “O, Allah! O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” If that word belonged to Christ, the God, it shows that he could not protect himself though he was God. If that word belonged to Jesus, it is understood that he did not know God truly because a prophet would never say, “O Allah! Why did you abandon me?” According to our belief, Jesus was not crucified; nor did he beg Allah like that.
5. While Matthew says that there are forty ancestors of Jesus up to Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham), Luke says there are 55 ancestors.
6.In the Bibles, the phrases “son of God”, “son of Joseph”, “son of David” and “son of Adam” are often used for Jesus. There is an obvious contradiction among them.
7. In the Bible of Mark, the Bible is attributed to God but in the book Letters to the Romans to Jesus.
8. In the Bible of Luke, while God is mentioned as the Savior in one place, Jesus is mentioned as the Savior in another place.
9. There is contradictory information in the Bible whether God can be seen or not.
10. Those Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah or to Jesus. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Allah from the facts that the origin of the Bible could not be saved, that it was not written down, that there is not a common text that can be agreed on, etc. We understand that the Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus from the facts that he did not make anybody write it, the inconsistencies, mistakes and contradictions among the Bibles that were written by those that listened to him and those that listened to them. Another reason why those Bibles cannot be attributed to Jesus is that the crucifixion is mentioned in the Bible texts. The mentioning of the crucifixion shows that those Bibles were written later.
Since the inconsistencies and contradictions like that cannot exist in a book that is attributed to Allah and since a prophet cannot deify himself and cannot make God a human, it becomes clear that the holy book of Christianity was written by human beings later and it was distorted.
Consequently;
The different Bible texts that Christians have today are not the original revelation that was sent by God because Jesus neither wrote them nor made someone else write them. After he was raised to the sky, some of his students started to write what they heard from their teacher using their own methods. Thus, without exaggeration, hundreds of texts of Bible appeared. Four of those Bibles were accepted as sound (true) and the others were regarded as apocryphal by the council that was formed in order to solve the problem (325 – Council of Nicaea). However, the disputes did not end. For instance, the Bible of Barnabas and the Ebionites were regarded as apocryphal. As a matter of fact, it was stated in those Bibles that Jesus was not God, that it was not Jesus that was crucified, that he was only a slave of Allah and His prophet, that another prophet would come after him and that Allah was one.
The Bibles that are present today are far from guiding the members of Christianity. It is remarkable that most of those that converted to Islam both today and in the past are Christians. Christians have difficulty in embracing the doctrine of trinity (that God consists of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). They cannot explain it logically because the creed of the oneness of Allah had never been even subject to discussion by any prophets since Hazrat Adam but the emergence of the concept of the trinity of god with a horrible deviation have not been able to convince people.
The only source that will satisfy all of the requirements of the people in the world regarding the religion and creed and their worldly, otherworldly and spiritual needs is the Quran because Allah, the Exalted, sent the religion of Islam to make it superior to all religions and to spread its light to the whole world. The road map of the religion of Islam is determined by the Quran.
Some examples from the verses of the Quran stating that the Bible embraced by Christians today has some aspects that do not comply with the revelation sent by Allah:
Allah, the Mighty and Glorious, states the following in the Quran:
“Say: He is Allah the One and Only.” (al-Ikhlas: 112/1)
As for Christians, they accept three gods by saying, “the father, the son, the holy spirit”. It is a great deviation. Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in the chapter al-Ikhlas:
“He begetteth not, nor is He begotten.” (al-Ikhlas: 112/3)
As for Christians, they say, “Jesus Messiah is the son of God”. As a matter of fact, Jesus said the following as it is stated in the Quran:
“I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 19/30)
Christians deified Jesus Christ.
Allah, the Exalted, definitely says the following in verse 4 and 5 of the chapter al-Kahf:
“Further that He may warn those (also) who say "Allah hath begotten a son": No knowledge have they of such a thing, nor had their fathers. It is a grievous thing that issues from their mouths as a saying. What they say is nothing but falsehood!.”
Christians attribute a son to Allah, the Exalted.
Allah, the Exalted states the following in a verse:
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets.”(al-Ahzab: 33/40)
As for Christians, they say, “We do not accept anything after Jesus.”
To believe in prophets and Jesus Christ is one of the fundamentals of belief in Islam.We believe in all of the prophets and books sent down by Allah.
“Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His Messengers” "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers."...”” (al-Baqara: 2/285)
Muslims believe in Jesus and the undistorted book that was sent down to him and all of the other prophets sent by Allah. According to the Islamic belief, Jesus is one of the greatest prophets of Allah. Virgin Mary gave birth to him without a father. The prophet Adam was born without a father; similarly, Jesus was created without a father, too. As a matter of fact, the level that the science of medicine has reached today makes it easier to understand it. Allah is free from humanly attributes and having a child.
The Jews who did not want to understand or accept those truths said, “he is an illegitimate child” by using the fact that he was born without a father as an excuse; they slandered him; some of the Christians said he was “God”, some said he was “the son of God” and the third group said, “he was one of the three”. Actually, the reality is as it is expressed in the Quran:
“This similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be" and he was.”(Aal-e-Imran: 3/59)
The divine statement of Allah regarding Mary is as follows:
“And Mary the daughter of `Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into her (body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (Servants).” (at-Tahrim: 66/12)
Christians deviated into the belief of “three gods” by saying, “God is three; the father, the son and the holy spirit.”
“Desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Allah informs people that Islam is the true religion, that the Quran is the last book sent down by Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) is the true and last prophet sent by Allah, commanding people to accept it and not to conceal it:
“Ye People of the Book! Why do ye clothe truth with falsehood, and conceal the Truth while ye have knowledge?” (Aal-e-Imran: 3/71)
“So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity"!” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
“‘They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous! At it, the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin. That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.” (Maryam: 19/88-92)
"For Allah; He is my Lord and your Lord: so worship ye Him: this is a Straight Way." (az-Zukhruf: 64)
“They do blaspheme who say:"Allah is Christ the son of Mary."But said Christ: "O children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord, and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with Allah―Allah will forbid him the Garden and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.” (al-Maida: 72)
“He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet.” (Maryam: 19/30)
“They disbelieve who say: ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity’. For there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (al-Maida: 5/ 73)
“Christ the son of Mary was no more than an Messenger. Many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food.” (al-Maida: 5/75)
“O people of the Book! commit no excesses in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an Messenger of Allah and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him…” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Jesus is a spirit that emerged as a result of the creation of Allah. He was named “kalimatullah” (the word of Allah) to honor him because he was created as a miracle based on His command “be”. The reason why that spirit was attributed to Allah is to elevate his honor. Allah revived many dead hearts through him.
Then;
“… So believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is One Allah: glory be to him: (for Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (an-Nisa: 4/171)
Jesus (pbuh) needed to remind those who wanted to attribute him some other properties besides being a human being that he was a slave and said:
“I am indeed a servant of Allah.” (Maryam: 19/30) He did not say, “deify me” to the people he talked to; on the contrary, he gave them the following advice: “Verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord: Him therefore serve ye: this is a Way that is straight.” (Maryam: 19/36)
Allah says the following to the Messenger of Allah in a verse by addressing him:
“Say: "If (Allah) Most Gracious had a son, I would be the first to worship." Glory to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne (of Authority)! (He is free) from the things they attribute (to Him)! So leave them to babble and play (with vanities) until they meet that Day of theirs, which they have been promised.” (az-Zukhruf: 43/81-83)
Allah says the following about the people who attribute one of His servants to His holy being:
“Yet they attribute to some of His servants a share with Him (in His godhead)! truly is man a blasphemous ingrate avowed.” (az-Zukhruf: 43/15)
The statements about the fact that Allah is free from having child are frequently made in the Quran:
“They say: "Allah hath begotten a son"; Glory be to Him. ―Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth; everything renders worship to Him.” (al-Baqara: 2/116)
To say that Allah has a child means to liken Him to human beings. Then, it is impossible for the Lord of Majesty, to whom nobody is similar, to have a child. He is the unique Creator, who has no beginning or end.
“They say "Allah hath begotten a son!―" Glory be to Him! He is self-sufficient! His are all things in the heavens and on earth! No warrant have ye for this! Say ye about Allah what ye know not?Say: "Those who invent a lie against Allah will never prosper."” (Yunus: 10/68-69)
“Behold! How they invent a lie against Allah! But that by itself is a manifest sin!” (an-Nisa: 4/50)
“No son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He Who created all things and ordered them in due proportions.” (al-Furqan: 25/2)
“The Jews call Uzayr a son of Allah and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouths; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth” (at-Tawbah: 9/30)
The belief of trinity is not a belief that originates from the source of Christianity. It is a wrong belief originating from distortion.
The first Bible to be written after Jesus (pbuh) is the Bible of Mark. In the Bible of Mark, Jesus is addressed as, “You are the Messiah.” (8/29); in the Bible of Luke, the phrase is, “You are the Messiah sent from God.” (9/20); in the Bible of Matthew, the following phrase is written: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (16/16). As a matter of fact, Matthew and Luke quoted many things from Mark. The belief of trinity is present in the letters of John and Paul. It is Paul who introduced today’s belief of trinity into Christianity and the idea of attributing divinity to Jesus.
About half of the Bible that Christians accept as the divine book today consists of the letters of Paul, who was a converted Jew.
“Paul, a converted Jew, was a Roman rabbi and he oppressed many Christians before he embraced Christianity. The letters he wrote to the Church after he embraced Christianity formed about half of the 27 books of the Bible. “The son of God” and “cross” formed the basis of Paul’s teachings.” (US News and World Report, 20 April 1992, p. 70)
As a former pastor who converted from Christianity said, “Paul’s shrewd letters teaches slander, gossiping, jealousy, spying and espionage.” Those letters are especially full of many contradictions and hypocrisy.
“Saint Paul, who introduced trinity into Christianity is a Jew of Tarsus, whose real name is Saul. Saint Paul taught Kabbalah in Jerusalem before he emerged saying, ‘Jesus came down to me and taught me trinity’.” (The Concise Atlas of the Bible, p. 124)
“When the Church spread to Anatolia, Jesus Messiah started to be mentioned as “the Son of God”, which was the main theme of Paul’s letters.” (ibid p 70)
The highest level of knowledge is given at university; can we say it should be given to elementary school children, too? Humanity is like an educational institution. Every era is like a department of this school. The teachers of those departments are prophets. Humanity has reached the level of university and has developed the ability to receive the perfect lessons of Islam by receiving lessons from the teachers of humanity since Adam. Therefore, the last and perfect religion came in the end. In elementary school, the essence of mathematics is present. However, it is taught according to the level of elementary school children and the teacher teaches them what they can understand not everything that he/she knows.
The other prophets taught humanity according to its level and educated it. When they attained the sufficient level, the religion of Islam and its lofty prophet was sent. There is no trial and error here. Books and shari'as were sent wisely based on the level of nations.
General Evaluation of the Books
None of the divine books that had been revealed before the Qur’an and that are present today are the original copies that Allah revealed to His prophets. The original copies of those books had been lost in the course of time and had been rewritten by people. For this reason, some superstitions and wrong beliefs had been added to them.
For example, it is among the historical facts that, the Torah, could not be protected by Jews, who had a captivity life along the centuries, and who also had fallen into idolatry by losing their faith after Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him); and the copy that is present today had been written by some clergymen long after Hazrat Moses; yet, it was accepted as a book of religion again as if it was the original copy of the Torah. It is apparent that a book which appeared after such a long and complex era cannot be the original copy that had been revealed to Hazrat Moses. Therefore, the present copy includes some accusations and slanders that do not befit prophets and judgments that are contrary to the spirit of the religion of oneness (tawhid).
The Psalms (Zabur),which had been revealed to Hazrath Davud (peace be upon him), underwent the same process as the Torah.
As for the Gospel,Hazrat Eesa (Jesus) (peace be upon him) had not dictated the verses that had been revealed to him because he became a prophet when he was 30 years old, and his task of prophethood ended when he was 33. During that short period of time, he tried to guide the people by wandering from one village to another and from one city to another. And during his last days, he was constantly being followed by Roman rulers because of the provocations of the Jews. Under those circumstances, he could find neither enough time to dictate the Gospel, nor a possibility for it. Thus, the Gospels which are present today are called by their writers’ names (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and they look like siyar (a book in which the lives of prophets are told) books which include sermons and talks that Hazrat Eesa had given his apostles. Besides, those who had written them were not the first believers who were the apostles of Hazrat Eesa, but they were those who had seen the apostles and listened from them to the divine words that had been revealed to Hazrat Eesa.
There are some differences in terms of content and narration in the present Gospels.As a matter of fact, those Gospels had been accepted by a clerical council, consisting of one thousand people, which had gathered in Iznik (Nicaea) in 325 B.C. That council had searched hundreds of Bibles, and with the agreement of 318 members, they accepted the 4 Gospels in which it is claimed that Hazrat Eesa has the aspect of godhead. And they annihilated others by burning them.
As it is seen, the principle that Hazrat Eesa was the son of God (God forbid) was accepted by a council decision years after Hazrat Eesa died. Some Christian churches did not even obey that decision. So, from this point of view, it is not possible to say that the present 4 Gospels are in accordance with the original Gospel which was revealed to Hazrat Eesa.
Since the divine books other than the Qur’an were distorted, why does the religion of Islam order us to have belief in for them?
As Muslims, we believe in Hz. Moses, Hz. Dawud and Hz. Isa (Jesus) and the divine books that were sent to them; the Torah, the Psalms and the Bible and we have no doubt that they have no ruling against the true religion of oneness. However, these books could not be protected and thus they were distorted.
Now, we cannot say that the books that the Jews and Christians have no parts related with the revelation that were sent to the prophets. However, there is also no doubt that these books contain superstitious and false beliefs. Thus, we always deal with these books cautiously. We accept that the rulings in them which are in compliance with the Qur’an are the products of revelation. We consider the rulings that are against the Qur’an as later additions. We remain silent when the information in them is neither in compliance with nor opposite the Qur’an. We will neither accept nor reject them in that case. For, there is a possibility that the information in these books can either be revelation or not.
Abu Hurayrah (RA) said the following on this issue:
«The people of the book used to read the Torah in Hebrew language. And they used to translate it to Muslims in Arabic. On this issue, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said to his companions the following:
Do not approve or reject the words of the People of the Book. Say ye:"We believe, in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Abraham Isma`il Isaac Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord we make no difference between one and another of them and we bow to Allah (in Islam)." (al-Baqara, 2/136)
How has the Qur’an remained free from distortion?
The Qur’an, the last holy scripture of Allah and His Divine address to all the humankind, was revealed verse by verse and chapter by chapter in 23 years. The Prophet would recite the verses and the chapters that were revealed to him to his companions, and they would memorize them and some would write them down. Apart from that, the Prophet had scribes of revelation. They were especially responsible for writing the revealed verses and the chapters.
The Prophet was informed via the Archangel Gabriel about where the revealed verse and the chapter are to be placed, how they are to be ordered in the Qur’an, and The Prophet would then describe it to the scribes of revelation and get what is necessary done. The entire Qur’an was written in the lifetime of the Prophet and it was established what would be placed where. Moreover, Gabriel would come every Ramadan and would recite to the Prophet the verses and the chapters revealed up to that time from the beginning. In the last Ramadan before the Prophet passed away, Gabriel came again, and this time they recited the Qur’an twice. The first time, Gabriel recited, and the Prophet listened; and the next time, the Prophet recited and Gabriel listened. Thus, the Qur’an took its final form.
However, during the lifetime of the Prophet the Qur’an had not been arranged as a single volume yet. It was scattered among the companions as pages and was memorized by many companions. However, it was clearly and absolutely known what would be placed where.
Finally, out of necessity, at the time of Caliph Abu Bakr, a commission was set from scribes of revelation and vigorous memorizers headed by Zayd bin Thabit. This commission was appointed for the job of gathering the Qur’an as a single volume. Everybody from the companions came and handed in the pages of the Qur’an they had. As a result of the shared work of the memorizers and the scribes of revelation, the pages, chapters and the verses were ordered as described by the Prophet. Thus, the Qur’an was arranged as a single book called Mushaf.
As a result, the Qur’an has been free from being forgotten, lost, distorted or altered, since it was written down exactly as it was revealed to the Prophet.
Upon necessity, at the time of Caliph Uthman ibn Affan more copies were made from this book and were sent to various places. The copies of the Qur’an at the present time come from this Qur’an.
As result of the soundness in its determination, unlike the other Holy Scriptures, the Qur’an was established in its revealed form without any distortion or alteration, and it has come to us by preserving its authenticity for 1400 years. It is obvious that the rhetoric and eloquent style of the Qur’an, its conciseness, the ease of memorizing it, its resemblance to no human discourse, people’s inability to imitate it and to attain its level of eloquence, and the maximum care taken in its preservation played a great role in its authenticity. However, the real reason is that Allah took the Qur’an in His protection and that He promised to maintain it as a miracle until the Doomsday in form and meaning. As a matter of fact the following is stated in the Qur’an:
“Indeed it is We, We Who send down the Reminder in parts, and it is indeed We Who are its Guardian.”(the Qur’an, Al-Hijr, 15:9)
Today, all of the copies of the Qur’an in the world are the same; there is no difference or alteration.Besides, it is in the memory of millions of memorizers and is recited at each instant by millions of people. This quality is not possessed by any other book than the Qur’an, nor even by any of the other Divine scriptures. It is absolutely necessary that the Qur’an, which is Allah’s final scripture, the validity of which extends to the end of time, should possess this unprecedented status.
(Mehmed Dikmen, Islam Ilmihali, Cihan Yayinlari, Istanbul, 1991, pp. 94-97.)
Hell has several levels. The torture of a munafiq, who is at the lowest level or an atheist, who does not believe in any religion, will not be the same as that of a sinful Muslim, who is at the highest level. Non-Muslims are one level below sinful Muslims. However, sinful Muslims will go to Paradise after their punishment ends. The others will not go to Paradise. However, Allah does not leave any good service or good deed without rewards. He can give this reward even in Hell or relieve the torture there. (Allah knows the best)
As it is known, religions are divided into three in terms of one classification: Heavenly religions; distorted religions and wrong religions.
"The Religion before Allah is Islam (submission to His will)." (Aal-i Imran, 3/19)
According to the clear decree of the verse, wrong religions that are the products of the human mind and the religions of Judaism and Christianity, which lost the characteristics of heavenliness due to distortion of the Torah and the Gospel (the Bible), are not valid in the eye of Allah:
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah) never will it be accepted of him." (Aal-i Imran, 3/85)
When religion is in question, first creed then worshipping comes to mind. Accordingly, it means that belief in Allah, the concepts of angels, books and prophets, the understanding of the hereafter and qadar (destiny) do not comply with the truth fully.
The rule "the existence of something requires the existence of all of its parts" is famous. There are certain indispensable requirements, characteristics, conditions for a thing. For instance, when spirit is mentioned, life is its indispensable requirement; you cannot separate life from spirit.
Another important rule of creed is as follows: "Belief cannot be divided." That is, the truths of belief are a whole; if a person does not believe in only one of the truths, he exits the religion. A person who does not believe in even only one of them is not called a believer. For instance, a person who believes in Allah but does not believe in the hereafter is not a believer. It is not possible to make a dual classification for this man like "he is a believer in terms of his belief in Allah" but "he is an unbeliever in terms of his belief in the hereafter". Similarly, belief in Allah cannot be divided. That is, a person who says,"I believe in the existence of Allah but I do not accept that He is pre-eternal” does not believe in Allah but believes in a deity that he forms in his mind.
A believer who believes in Allah needs to believe in His book, the Quran, so that he will know his Lord with a true creed. Human mind can know only himself and that there is a creator who created this realm but he cannot know the Creator's attributes, deeds, names, orders and prohibitions, eternal land and ways to Paradise unless Allah informs him about them. Then, it is not possible to think of belief in Allah and belief in the Quran as separate things. A person who believes in the Quran is to believe in the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad and the angel of revelation, Jibril. This is the first and biggest step of belief in the prophets and angels. A person who believes in the Quran and the Prophet believes in all of the realities informed by the Quran and taught by the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and fulfills worshipping.
The group of people that can attain salvation by only believing in Allah are the people that lived in the period of interregnum, that were not aware of any religions and prophets, and that were not informed about revelation and worshipping.
According to these two rules, it is necessary to believe in all of the six principles of belief as they are informed by the Quran for a sound belief in Allah. For, it is the last and perfect book that informs people and jinn about Allah; it is also the only heavenly book that did not undergo any distortion and change.
As it is known, the attributes of Allah Almighty are divided into two as Sifat as-Salbiyya (Negative Attributes) and Sifat as-Subutiyya (Positive Attributes).
Sifat as-Salbiyya are the attributes of “Wujud (Existence), Qidam (Pre-eternity), Baqa (Everlastingness), Mukhalafa lil-Hawadith (Non-resemblance to the creatures), Qiyam bi Nafsihi (Self-existence) and Wahdaniyyah (Oneness, having no partners). The deity that ‘is an obligatory being', ‘is pre-eternal and post-eternal’, ‘does not resemble any being, ‘is self-existent and does not need anybody else’ and 'that is one' is only Allah.
Sifat as-Subutiyyaare the attributes of “Hayah (life), Ilm (Knowledge), Irada (Will), Qudrah (Power), Sam' (Hearing), Basar (Seeing), (Speech) andTakwin (Creating) Thedeity that has the attributes of“Hayah (life), Ilm (Knowledge), Irada (Will), Qudrah (Power), Sam' (Hearing), Basar (Seeing), (Speech), Takwin (Creating)” personally is only Allah.
When we say, “La ilaha illallah (There is no god but Allah)”, we express all of those meanings. When we say belief in Allah, belief in all of those attributes is understood. If a person does not believe in only one of them, his belief is not regarded as belief in the sense that the Quran defines.
When we have a look at the verses that include the decree “There is no god but Him”, we see that different messages are given before or after this message.
Let us quote some of them:
“They disbelieve who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God.” (al-Maida, 5/73)
That is, those who believe in trinity deny the truth and move away from the truth.
“…to Him belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He that giveth both life and death.” (al-A’raf, 7/158)
Then, the belief of a person who accepts a being that is not the sovereign of the heavens and the earth, that is bound to die and that needs Allah in the hereafter so as to be resurrected as a deity or who accepts this being as a deity along with Allah is not real belief in Allah
“Allah! There is no god but He: of a surety He will gather you together on the Day of Judgment.” (an-Nisa, 4/87)
A being that cannot gather the people together on the Day of Judgment cannot be a deity.
“He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases. There is no god but He.” (Aal-i Imran, 3/6)
A being that is shaped by Allah in the womb as He pleases cannot be called a deity.
“There is no god but He. Everything (that exists) will perish except His own Face. To him belongs the Command, and to him will ye (all) be brought back.” (al-Qasas, 28/88)
No being that is bound to perish can be a deity.
“Is there a Creator, other than Allah, to give you Sustenance from heaven or earth? There is no god but He.” (Fatir, 35/3)
Allah, who operates the earth and the sky regularly like a factory and creates our sustenance is one. A being that does not have this power cannot be accepted as a deity.
“Say: "He is my Lord! There is no god but He! On Him is my trust and to Him do I turn!” (Ra’d, 13/30)
The belief of those who think that slaves (human beings) can forgive sins and repent in front of them is not regarded as belief in the sense that the Quran defines. Another verse about oneness is as follows:
“He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Hidden and He has full knowledge of all things.” (al-Hadid, 57/3)
A being that has a beginning and an end and that is under the control and management of Allah with his inside, outside and everything cannot be called a deity.
There are a lot of lessons for those who believe in trinity to be taken from those verses. First of all, Hz. Isa (Jesus) is a human being who was given the honor of prophethood. His mother was a righteous woman who was given the grace of being the mother of a prophet. It is clear that those who go to extremes to accept them as deities cannot have belief in the sense that the Quran defines.
Those claims and slanders are the gift of the gab. We will write each claim first and try to answer them one by one.
Claim:
The Quran states the following in the chapter of al-Ankabut (29/46):
“And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation), unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury): but say, ‘We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).’”
However, the majority of Muslims says something quite different to Christians: “We do not believe in your book because it has been distorted. And your deity is wrong.”
Why do Muslims say they do not believe in the only product of revelation that came down to us though they are ordered to believe what came down to us?
Why do Muslims say that our deity is wrong though they are ordered to say our God and their God is one?
Answer:
The verse in the chapter of al-Ankabut:
- The Quran accepts that the Torah and the Gospel are revelations sent down by Allah. There is no Muslim who says that the Torah and the Gospel are not products of revelations. A Muslim who says so exits the religion of Islam.
- Besides, there are very fine points and signs in the verse:
a. The phrase “unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong (and injury)” in the verse shows that there are some people who inflict wrong and injury among the People of the Book.
It is definite that this wrongdoing includes the deeds and acts that are contrary to the orders of the Torah and the Gospel. Since Allah’s orders and prohibitions are just, what is wrong is the ones contrary to them. Those contrary deeds include both injustice against people and distortions based on words and/or interpretations related to the books that were sent down.
In addition, the reason why some of the People of the Book were described as “wrongdoers” might be their associating a child to Allah and falling into shirk by defending the creed of trinity. For, the following is stated in the Quran: “…For false worship (shirk) is indeed the highest wrong-doing.” (Luqman, 31/13)
As the tafsir scholar Razi states, the people who stick to the creed trinity are described as polytheists (mushriks) and wrongdoers (zalims) in the verse.
Besides, it is emphasized in the verse that follows that there are some people among the People of the Book who believe in the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and some who do not believe in him and that the latter are unbelievers. (cf. Razi, the interpretation of the verse in question)
b. “Say, ‘We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you.” In the part of the verse above, the phrase “We believe in the Torah and the Gospel you have” is not used but “We believe in the revelation which has come down to you” is used. This indicates that what the believers should believe in are the original books sent down by Allah, not the books that people distorted by their hands afterwards.
c. “Our God and your God is one; and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).” The statement above in the verse has subtle meanings: The inclusion of “our God” in the verse aims to express that the god mentioned here is the God Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) introduced and to express “real oneness (tawhid), which emphasizes Allah’s oneness, His being free from all kinds of polytheism and trinity, and no rabbi, priest and scholar can share His lordship.”
d. “Our God and your God is one.” The word “one” included in this statement emphasizes the fact that “our deity, creator and god is the same” on the one hand and rejects the creed of trinity on the other hand, indicating that Allah is “one”
Claim:
According to the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20), God is Trinity. The first one is in nature or spirit but essentially three: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John, 1:1-14) Christ died on the cross for sins. (Mark 10:32-34,45) Then, he rose. (Luke 24)
The Quran denies all of them. Therefore, a Muslim cannot say that he believes in the Gospel and that Allah he believes in is the same God as the God mentioned in the Gospel.
Muslims have to reject the Gospel.
For, the Gospel contradicts the Quran.
Answer:
The Book of the Gospel
There is no view that the Gospel was revealed to Hz. Isa (Jesus) but this exists in Islam.
However, it is certain that we do not have a Gospel that existed when Hz. Isa was alive. The recognition of four famous Gospels among the gospels written by more than one hundred writers occurred about 300 hundred years after Hz. Isa.
According to what historians state, the belief of “Trinity” was introduced to Christianity by Paul, who was not among the writers of the Gospels.
- It should not be forgotten that hundreds of thousands of people from the People of the Book accepted the religion of Islam by searching in history. There are almost no Muslims who exited the religion of Islam and accepted Christianity or Judaism as a result of scientific research and reasoning.
Very few Muslims accepted Christianity or Judaism as a result of the misuse of their poverty and ignorance.
Besides, if a Muslim exits the religion of Islam, he will not believe in any religion. For, he has learned about all prophets including Hz. Isa in Islam.
Moreover, neither the Torah nor the Gospel is miraculous like the text of the Quran. Therefore, it is very difficult for a person who abandons the Quran, which has been proved to be a miracle in forty aspects, to believe in other books.
In addition, a person who believes in Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) has to believe in all prophets including Hz. Musa (Moses) and Hz. Isa. However, the People of the Book do not believe in Hz. Muhammad (pbuh).
Therefore, if a person does not believe in the religion of Islam, he will never believe in the other religions.
- The belief of trinity do not satisfy many Christian clergymen today. I have witnessed confessions about it. I personally heard it from a priest who gave doctorate decree courses at a university in the USA.
Not to accept the belief of trinity, which has no logical aspects, does not indicate any incompleteness about the Quran; on the contrary, it clearly indicates that is Allah’s word.
Claim:
However, there is a problem here for Muslims.
The Quran declares that the Torah and the Gospel were sent down by Allah.
The following is stated in the chapter of Aal-i Imran (3:3):
“It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).”
That is, Allah sent down the Torah and the Gospel as a guide.
However, Muslims say Allah could not protect the Torah and the Gospel and according to them, both books were distorted by people.
That is, the book that Allah sent as a guide later turned out to make people deviate and they try to persuade Christians by saying, God is trinity and Christ died on the cross for sins.
When Muslims says that the Torah and the Bible were distorted, we should definitely be surprised because the Quran states that none can change Allah’s words.
The following is stated in the chapter of al-Kahf (18:27)
And recite (and teach) what has been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord: none can change His Words, and none wilt thou find as a refuge other than Him.
Answer:
Aal-i Imran, 3:
There is no contradiction between the Quran’s confirming the previous books and abrogating some of their decrees, and stating that they had been distorted.
For,
a. When the Quran says the Torah and the Gospel are revelations sent down by Allah, it shows their real divine identities. This belief (belief in divine religions) is one of the basic principles of belief for Muslims.
b. When the Quran says they are guides, it does not say that they continue functioning as guides after the revelation of the Quran. On the contrary, it indicates that those two books were divine revelations that showed people the true path in the period when they were sent down as revelations.
c. Investigative Muslims never say there is no truth in the Torah and the Gospel when they deal with the issue of the distortion of the Torah and the Gospel. For, despite some extractions, addition and changes, there is a lot of true information based on revelation.
As a matter of fact, Abu Hurayra stated the following (see Bukhari, I’tisam, 25):
"The People of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) addressed his Companions as follows regarding the issue:
Do not approve or deny the words of the People of the Book but say,
"We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma´il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam)." (al-Baqara, 2/136)
Al-Kahf, 27:
“And recite (and teach) what has been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord: none can change His Words, and none wilt thou find as a refuge other than Him.”
There are different interpretations of the Islamic scholars related to this verse:
a. What is meant by “His words” in the verse is not the Quran or the words in the other books of revelation. What is meant by the words are the decrees Allah mentions in the Quran with His words. One of them is the threats against those who deny the Quran. Nobody can change them. (see Tabari, Maturidi, the interpretation of the verse in question)
b. What is meant by “Allah’s unchanging words” is Allah’s promise called Sunnatullah, declaring “salvation and the reward of Paradise for those who believe in Allah and destruction and burning in Hell for deniers”. (see Maturidi, the interpretation of the verse in question)
c. What is meant by it is the evidences in the Quran that prove the trueness of the religion of Islam. Nobody can change and refute those evidences. (Maturidi, ibid)
d. What is meant by those words is the Quran. The Quran does not accept any changes; it cannot be changed, increased or decreased. (Maturidi, the interpretation of the verse in question)
e. “But when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed unto them, those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us, Say: "Bring us a reading other than this, or change this," Say: "It is not for me, of my own accord, to change it: I follow naught but what is revealed unto me: if I were to disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the penalty of a Great Day (to come).” (Yunus, 10/15) As it is stated in the verse above, the polytheists wanted the Prophet (pbuh) to change the Quran. They wanted him to exclude the things that they did not like and include those they liked. This verse and verse 27 of the chapter of al-Kahf give answers to them. (see Zamakhshari, the interpretation of the verse in question)
f. Another issue shown as the reason for the revelation of the verse in question is as follows:
As the Prophet (pbuh) answered the questions of the polytheists, they asked new questions and demanded new things. As a matter of fact, he answered their questions about Ashab al-Kahf and Dhul-Qarnayn.
They told the Prophet (pbuh) to make some changes in the Quran that would support their and their ancestors’ customs and faith if he wanted them to accept his call. The verse in question was sent down to reject those demands of the polytheists and the Messenger of Allah was ordered to read and to obey what was sent down to him.
Thus, he was informed about the following issue:
The Prophet is responsible for reading what is revealed to him and act accordingly. He has no right to change Allah’s words. If he does not act in accordance with revelation, he cannot find any place to take refuge from Allah’s penalty. (see Kur'an Yolu Tefsiri Volume: 3 Page: 549)
Claim:
The following is stated in the chapter of al-Araf (7:157): “Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the law and the Gospel… it is they who will prosper.”
How will Christians find the Prophet Muhammad in the Gospel, which they claim to have been distorted centuries ago?
Does Allah tell us to find the Prophet Muhammad in our distorted holy books?
We do not find the Prophet Muhammad in our holy books but we find the part about general warning telling us to keep away from fake prophets.
If we found the Prophet Muhammad in our holy books, how could we be sure that it was not among that parts that had been distorted?
If our holy books contradict Islam, why does Allah show it as proof for the trueness of Islam?
….
Answer:
Al-Araf, 157:
“Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the law and the Gospel;- …it is they who will prosper.” It is particularly emphasized in the verse above that the attributes of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) are written in the Torah and the Gospel.
If it had not been true, the hatred of those two groups of the People of the Book against Islam would have increased. Would Hz. Muhammad (pbuh), who was a very clever and intelligent person, have insisted on an issue contrary to the truth in the face of his biggest opponents? How would Abdullah b. Salam, who was a great Jewish scholar, have accepted Islam as soon as Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) arrived in Madinah?
- In addition, it is stated in the verse below that the People of the Book knew the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) very well since they knew his attributes in their books: “The people of the Book know this (the Prophet Muhammad) as they know their own sons.” (al-Baqara, 2/146)
If it had not been true, would so many Jewish and Christian scholars believed in the Prophet and the Quran during the Era of Bliss (when the Prophet lived)?
- As a matter of fact, Hz. Umar asked Abdullah b. Salam, who became a Muslim after this verse was sent down, “How do you know the Prophet?” Abdullah gave the following interesting answer:
“I know Hz. Muhammad better than my children as a prophet. For, I have no doubt about the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh). However, I cannot know what the mother of my children did.” (see Zamakhshari, Razi)
Al-Maida, 68:
The verse in question is as follows: “(O Messenger!) Say: « O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord…» “
They regarded this statement (…unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord…) in the verse as evidence that those two books were true, were not abrogated and were not distorted in their claim.
In fact, according to what Ibn Abbas states, a group of Jews came to Hz. Muhammad and said, “Do you agree that the Torah is a true book?” He said, “Yes, I do.”
Thereupon, they said, “We believe only in the Torah; we do not believe in anything else.”
Thereupon, the verse in question was sent down. (see Razi, Qurtubi, the interpretation of the verse in question)
Let us read that verse again:
Say: "O People of the Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord." It is the revelation that cometh to thee from thy Lord, that increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. But sorrow thou not over (these) people without Faith.
They are asked to believe in the Quran in particular; otherwise, they will not be regarded as followers of a religion.
Standing fast by the Torah and the Gospel is the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad, which is mentioned in them, and the news given in them about him. If they do not accept it and do not believe in it, it means they have no place in any religion. (see Baydawi, Hazin, the interpretation of the verse in question)
Finally, we will quote the statement of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi to see and accept the truth:
“The words of the Torah, the Bible, and the Psalms do not have the miraculousness of those of the Qur’an. They have also been translated again and again, and a great many alien words have become intermingled with them.
Also, the words of commentators and their false interpretations have been confused with their verses.
In addition, the distortions of the ignorant and the hostile have been incorporated into them.
In these ways, the corruptions and alterations have multiplied in those Books.
In fact, Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Hindi, the well-known scholar, proved to Jewish and Christian scholars and priests thousands of corruptions in them, and silenced them.
Nevertheless, despite these corruptions, in our times the celebrated Husain Jisri (May God have mercy on him) found one hundred and fourteen allusions to the prophethood of Muhammad (UWBP), and included them in his al-Risala al-Hamidiya. This was translated into Turkish by the late İsmail Hakkı of Manastır; whoever wishes may refer to it.” (Mektubat, 163)
The Christian writers of the first period mention the existence of the Gospel called "Logia", which means words, written in Hebrew-Aramaic. In addition, some Western scientists who started to research the Gospels beginning from the eighteenth century state that there was one single Gospel before the current four Gospels emerged and that the current Gospels were written based on that Gospel.
Lessing, one of those researchers, stated in the thesis he put forward at the end of the eighteenth century that there was an original Gospel before the four Gospels, that its language was Aramaic and that Matthew, Mark and Luke made use of it when they wrote their Gospels.
J. G. Eichon reports the existence of this first original copy too. According to J. Wellhausen, this first original copy belongs to Mark. Mark wrote this first copy in Aramaic and translated it into Greek by enlarging it. According to him, Matthew and Luke wrote their Gospels by making use of this original Aramaic copy and its Greek translation. According to Zahn, this original copy belongs to Matthew, not Mark. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark that exist today were written based this original script.
L. Waganay states that the original manuscript belongs to Mark and that Mark wrote it making use of Peter's sermons. According to him, Matthew’s Gospel in Aramaic was copied from this original Aramaic copy. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke written in Greek were written based on the Gospels of Mark and Matthew written in Aramaic.
Again, according to some Gospel researchers, there were some written, small and separate pieces containing the words and miracles of the Hz. Isa (Jesus) before the current Gospels. The authors of the existing Gospels benefited from those pieces while writing their Gospels.
Among the versions of the Gospels, the closest one to the original copy is the Gospel of Barnabas.
It is known that the traces of the Gospel have been seen in Turkey recently and that some research has been made on it:
One of them is Abdurrahman Aygün's unpublished work called "İncil-i Barnaba ve Hz. Peygamber Efendimiz Hakkındaki Tebşîrâtı". This work was written in 1942. (see Osman Cilacı, "Barnaba İncili Üzerine Bir Türkçe Yazma ", Diyanet Periodical, October-November-December, 1983, Volume:19, Issue: 4, p. 25-35)
It is also known that a book written in Aramaic with Assyrian alphabet was found around Hakkari, Turkey, in 1984, that this book was the Gospel of Barnabas and that it was caught before it was smuggled abroad. (see İlim ve Sanat, March-April 1986, issue: 6, p. 91-94).
In addition, a book translated as "Barnaba İncili" into Turkish by Mehmet Yıldız was published by "Kültür Basın Yayın Birliği" in 1988.
- There are different interpretations about the distortion of the Torah and the Gospel but there is no sound interpretation in the Islamic literature stating that all of them were distorted. For instance, many issues related to the stories of prophets in the Torah/Old Testament are harmonious with the ones in the Quran.
Similarly, some nice advice in the Gospel does not contradict with the verses of the Quran and hadiths.
They might not be directly a product of revelation but they are the manifestation of the lessons given by Hz. Musa (Moses) and Hz. Isa (Jesus). They consist of the information taken from the prophets even if it is verbal. The information in the question is something like that.
It is not true to explain that information as one of them having taken it from the other. Allah informed both prophets and also other prophets about it separately. The source of both of them is the same.
Abu Hurayra states the following regarding the issue (Musnad, 5/ 98; Bukhari, I’tisam, 25):
"The People of the Book read the Torah in Hebrew and would translate it into Arabic for Muslims. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) told his Companions the following regarding the issue:
"Do not confirm or deny the words of the People of the Book:
"Say ye: ‘We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma´il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam).’" (al-Baqara, 2/136).
The translation of the hadith mentioned in the question is as follows:
According to what is reported from Abu Hurayra, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,
“Allah will state the following on the Day of Resurrection:
- “O son of Adam! I was ill but you did not visit Me”. Son of Adam will say,
- How could I visit You since You were the Lord of the realms? Allah Almighty will say,
- “Such and such servant of Mine got ill but you did not visit him. If you had visited him, you would have found Me by him. Did you not know this? O son of Adam! I asked food from you but you did not feed Me.” Son of Adam will say,
- How could I feed You since You were the Lord of the realms? Allah Almighty will say,
- “Such and such servant of Mine asked food from you but you did not feed him Were you not aware that if you had fed him you would have found what you gave him by My side? O son of Adam! I asked water from you but you did not provide Me.” Son of Adam will say,
- O Lord! How could I give You water since You were the Lord of the realms? Allah Almighty will say,
- “Such and such of servant of Mine asked you for water but you did not provide him. If you had provided him water you would have found its reward near Me. Did you not know this?” (Muslim, Birr 43)
It is not possible to explain that visiting ill people means attaining Allah’s consent better than the explanation in the hadith above.
Allah Almighty regards visiting any patient as visiting Allah Himself because He represents and honors His ill slave with Himself. He states in the first sentence of the hadith that His consent awaits those who will visit the patient near the patient. It means Allah’s grace, grant, mercy and consent are with those who are ill, weak and who need help. It is understood that it will be possible to attain divine mercy and consent in accordance with the care given to them.
As it is known, it is unthinkable that our Lord will get ill, eat, drink and need the help of others for them. Nevertheless, when Allah says, “I got ill, I asked food, I asked water”, the slave justifiably gets astonished and says, “How could I visit You, feed You and give You water since You are free and away from them and You are the Lord of the realms?”
However, the astonishment of the slave is eliminated by the answers that he who visits an ill person will find Allah’s consent near the ill person and that a person who feeds the needy people and gives them drink will find their reward in the presence of Allah.
Besides, it is possible to conclude that the good deeds mentioned in the hadiths are among the deeds that make a slave approach Allah and that visiting an ill person is more virtuous than feeding a hungry person and giving water to a thirsty person due to the statement “You would have found Me near him”.
It was said only due to that statement that “no reward greater than visiting an ill person has been mentioned”.
Taking into consideration the difference of one letter in the Arabic spelling of those two words, some scholars reached the following conclusion: “Al-iyadah afdalu minal-ibadah (Visiting an ill person is more virtuous than worshipping)”. (see Aliyyul-Qari, Mirqat, 4/10-11)
Keeping the society alive, healthy and safe constantly is possible through taking care of the ill, weak and disabled people. It is a great honor and incentive that the favors of those who are healthy and able to help to the needy people at times of illness, poverty and need, when the order in the society, and the emotions and behaviors in people are disturbed the most, are regarded as favors presented to Allah.
Naturally, missing such opportunities is great heedlessness and irreparable harm. The servant must think about whose order he fulfils, not whom he visits. The addressee of his visit or treat might be Ahmad or Muhammad. However, what matters is the owner of the will that wants this visit. Allah's consent lies in the fulfillment of His will.
It is stated in the hadith that visiting an ill person is a means of pleasing Allah, and it is pointed out that such an opportunity should not be missed.
To sum up
- Allah becomes pleased when ill people are visited.
- Meeting the needs of the needy is extremely acceptable in the sight of Allah and its reward will never be lost.
- It is necessary to be sensitive toward ill, weak and poor people.
The Incident of the Deluge and the other incidents are narrated in a similar way in the Sumerian, Assyrian-Babylonian records, Greek mythology, the epics of Satapatha, Brahmana and Mahabharata of India, in some legends narrated in Wales of Britain, Edna legends of Scandinavia, legends of Lithuania and even stories of Chinese origin apart from the Torah and the Gospel.
How can such detailed and coherent knowledge about the Deluge can exist in different cultures that are so distant from one another and from the region of the Deluge?
The answer to the question is clear: That the same incident is mentioned in the inscriptions of those communities that could not have contacted one another in the ancient times is actually a clear evidence that those people received information from a divine resource. It seems that the Deluge, which is one of the biggest incidents of destruction in history, was narrated by various prophets sent to different civilizations so that people would take lessons and information about the deluge settled in various cultures.
Although the incident of the Deluge and the story of Nuh are narrated in many cultures and religious resources, they underwent a lot of changes and became different from the original forms due to the distortion of the resources, misquotations and deliberate changes. The researches regarding the issue show that the only narration that is in compliance with the current scientific findings among the narrations that narrate the same thing but that have some differences is the narration in the Quran.
Allah did not leave any nation without a prophet; He sent nations prophets to convey them the divine message. Therefore, it is wrong to claim that Sumerians lived without a prophet. For, it is stated in a hadith that 124.000 prophets were sent to human beings to convey them the divine message.
Besides, the biggest cause of all prophets is to convey people tawhid (oneness) and the truths of belief. Therefore, it is normal that some issues mentioned in the Sumerian epics also exist in the Torah, Psalms, Gospel and Quran. For, the cause of the prophets is the same; their addressees are people and the owner of those religions is Allah. There is nothing to find strange in it.
The highest level of knowledge is given at university; can we say it should be given to elementary school children, too? Humanity is like an educational institution. Every era is like a department of this school. The teachers of those departments are prophets. Humanity has reached the level of university and has developed the ability to receive the perfect lessons of Islam by receiving lessons from the teachers of humanity since Adam. Therefore, the last and perfect religion came in the end. In elementary school, the essence of mathematics is present. However, it is taught according to the level of elementary school children and the teacher teaches them what they can understand not everything that he/she knows.
The other prophets taught humanity according to its level and educated it. When they attained the sufficient level, the religion of Islam and its lofty prophet was sent. There is no trial and error here. Books and shari'as were sent wisely based on the level of nations.
Everything is the best in the environment it exists. However, generally there is something which is the best and the most beautiful among all things.
For example, in the Holy Qur’an, it is expressed that man was created in the best of moulds. Accordingly, were the other things created deficiently? No. They are the most beautiful creatures in their own environments, too.
As an example, the Sun is the most beautiful in its own environment. In other words, none of the people could live if the Sun did not exist. However, man is the most beautiful in general, and the Sun is the most beautiful in point of its existence, and in point of the mission it performs. We can give more examples. Sheep, earth, fruit trees, angels, etc are the most beautiful and the most perfect creatures in their own environments.
In this case, the fact that man is the most perfect does not mean that other creatures are not perfect or that they are created deficiently.
No other sheep more perfect than those existing sheep can be conceived. No camels more beautiful than those camels or no sun more beautiful than the Sun can be imagined. In the same way, the Holy books revealed were the most perfect books which were to be sent at those times.
Teaching a primary school student the multiplication table is neither extra nor insufficient. However, not the multiplication table but more advanced topics are taught to a university student. Similarly, the holy books sent before the Qur’an are the best of their times and sending them at those times is reasonable and it is not a deficiency. From that standpoint, every prophet and every revelation sent to them is the best and the most favorable of its own time.
However, so to speak, the Qur’an was revealed when all men came to the same level like the students of a university who could take their lessons from a single book and from a single prophet.
Considering that the most advanced science is taught in universities, can we say the science taught in a university should be taught to primary school children? Humanity is also like an education institution. Every period is like the departments of that school and the lecturers of those departments are the prophets.
Since from the time of Adam (peace be upon him), humanity has come up to the level of university and achieved the ability to take the perfect lessons of the religion of Islam. Therefore, the last and the most perfect religion was left as the last. The essence of mathematics also exists in primary school. However, the lesson is taught in accordance with the level of primary school students and the teacher does not teach everything he knows but teaches the topics they can understand.
In the same way, the other prophets instructed the people according to their levels and educated them. In the end, when they reached the level of being educable from all aspects, the religion of Islam and the exalted Prophet (pbuh) were sent.
-Why did Allah let the Gospel and the Torah to be distorted although He has protected the Qur’an? Why did Allah let His own words be changed before?
1. Trusting in Allah for the things which we do not know their reasons (wisdom) demonstrates the perfection of our belief and our fidelity to our religion.
2. The things Allah has created on the earth are not the same as each other. He ties some of them to causes and creates some of them without any causes or means. For example, although every person comes from a mother and a father, He created Adam (pbuh) without a mother and a father, Jesus (pbuh) without a father and Eve without a mother. It means He sometimes acts out of general laws.
Moreover, with regards to laws, fire burns, the Moon does not split into two, trees do not walk and sticks do not transform into snakes. However, with the order and desire of Allah, Abraham (pbuh) was not burnt, the Moon was split into two, the tree walked by the Prophet’s (pbuh) order and the stick of Moses (pbuh) became a snake.
Moreover, while some prophets came and were killed by the communities they were sent to, Allah protected some of His prophets such as Moses, Abraham and Muhammad (pbuh).
The same situation can be valid for the books. Allah, who let the other books be changed, prevented the Noble Qur’an from being changed by His particular beneficence. For that reason, He indicated that the Qur’an is under His private protection. Allah, who prevented Abraham (pbuh) from burning in the fire, also protected the Qur’an from being changed.
Our souls and satans cannot ask why He did not prevent His other prophets from being killed but protected Abraham; they cannot express their opinion regarding the issue, either.
3. If Adam had not been expelled from Paradise, not so many people could have progressed. Seeds get out of storehouses and get into fields so that they become trees; similarly, human beings have descended to the field of Earth from the storehouse of Paradise so that they would progress like a tree.
In the same way, if the other books had not been changed, the revelation of the Qur’an would not have been in question, then. They had to be changed so that they would give rise to the revelation of the Qur’an. However, only the people who changed them are responsible for their alteration.
4. The status of the Prophet (pbuh) among the other prophets is apparent. He was sent as a mercy to all worlds and his prophethood does not pertain to a certain time and a certain period but comprises all times and periods. And he was sent to the human beings and the jinn. The other prophets are not like that.
So, the book of that prophet (pbuh) had to comprise all times and places. If that book had not had a seal that it was unalterable, men would also have changed that book. That seal has protected it.
5. No one can do anything against Allah if He does not let. Thus, He has shown it by protecting the Qur’an.
The Gospel was not compiled as a written book when Hz. Isa (Jesus) was alive as it was the case for the previous prophets. For, the period of Hz. Isa’s prophethood was short and the conditions of that age were not suitable for it. The earliest Gospel was written after 70s AD. Therefore, the truths that Hz. Isa conveyed to people could not be written at the same moment they were sent down; human statements were included in the Gospels that were written afterwards; thus, the original Gospel was distorted.
There are four Gospels accepted by the church today: The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are accepted to have come from the apostles and to be sound. The first three of them – despite some differences – are close to one another in terms of issues and chapters. They are called "Synoptic Gospels" meaning "written with the same viewpoints". Those three gospels were written before the fourth Gospel. (G. Thomas)
It is said that the Gospel of Mark is the oldest one and that the Gospel of Matthew and Luke were based on it and the lost Gospel called “it”. The Gospel of John, which is the fourth Gospel, was written later and its mystic aspect is dominant. (Schimmel ibid, s. 118; Bucaille, ibid, p. 96)
The four Gospels and their writers are as follows:
The Gospel of Matthew has 28 chapters. Matthew is one of the apostles; he died in Abyssinia, where he settled in order to spread Christianity, in 70 AD. He deals with the messianism of Hz. Isa in the Gospel.
The Gospel of Mark: Mark is a student of Peter, who is the leader of the apostles. He died in Egypt, where he settled in order to spread Christianity, in 62 AD. His Gospel consists of 16 chapters and mentions the life of Hz. Isa.
The Gospel of Luke: Luke, who is said to be a doctor or an artist, is a student of Paul; he is not an apostle. He wrote his Gospel in 60 AD; it has 24 chapters. He mentions the life of Hz. Isa and the things he conveyed to people.
The Gospel of John: It has 24 chapters; the writer of this Gospel is thought to be a student of John. It is insistently stated in this Gospel that Hz. Isa is the son of Allah. In fact, the Gospel we have today have 23 Gospels apart from those 4 Gospels; it consists of 27 Gospels. However, the Gospel that Allah sent to Hz. Isa is only one. (Ahmet Kahraman, Dinler Tarihi, İst. 1968, p. 189)
According to the determinations of a scientist, the purpose of today’s Gospels is to report Hz. Isa’s words and deeds, and the instructions he wanted to give to people when his prophethood on earth was completed. It is bad luck that the writers of the Gospel were not witnesses of the incidents that they reported. The Gospels consist of the narrations of the spokespeople of various Jewish and Christian congregations about the information that has been lost today and that was kept in oral or written form, playing the role of an intermediary between the oral narrations and final texts. (Maurice Bucaille, ibid, s. 369)
The Quran mentions the heavenly books and the Gospel as follows:
"It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong). Then those who reject Faith in the Signs of Allah will suffer the severest penalty, and Allah is Exalted in Might, Lord of Retribution." (Aal-i Imran, 3/3-4)
"Then will Allah say: ‘O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: ´This is nothing but evident magic.’" (al-Maida, 5/110)
(see Şamil İA, item İncil)
- First of all, we should say that this missionary should first solve the nonsensical issue of the creed of trinity (son-father-holy spirit), which is the basis of the religion of Christianity and convince us of it. After that, he can speak about the religion of Islam.
- It is accepted that “there are many deeds of worship and they all have rules” but is said that it is complicated since there are rules. However, any sane person knows that there is a system and order in a place where there are rules and principles. Where there is a system and order, there is no confusion but a regular mechanism, transparency and clear information.
Complication is in question only related to the issues that remain ambiguous and whose details are not explained. A sane person will never use the word “complicated” to express the fact that deeds of worship such as prayer, fasting, zakah and hajj are explained in details.
- The claim “there are so many details about a fiqh subject in Islam and there are even different views. People have difficulty in following them; they get confused; they cannot be sure they are doing things correctly” in the question is not true. People’s different interpretation exist in all religions. The fiqh differences in the four madhhabs of Ahl as-Sunnah in Islam do not confuse the followers of that madhhab; they do not have difficulty in worshipping according to that madhhab either.
To speak about this issue “is not like playing the flute from a distance”. The witnessing of those who do it is essential. Christians shed so much blood for centuries due to the deep conflicts about the Bibles, which are the religious resources of Christians, in religious wars. It is not possible to compare this religion, whose origin was changed, with Islam.
As Badiuzzaman Said Nursi expresses, apart from one occasion (the Incident of Jamal, Siffin), no religious/internal war took place in Islam. We will quote his statement here so that the missionary will learn his lesson:
“Thirdly: To compare Islam with Christianity is a false comparison and wrong. For when it was bigoted in its religion, Europe was not civilized; it became civilized on giving up its bigotry. Furthermore, religion caused three hundred years of war between them. And since it was the means of despotic tyrants crushing the common people, the poor, and thinkers who were in their power, they all felt a temporary disgust at religion.”
“However, in Islam, history testifies that apart from one occasion, religion has not been the cause of internal war. Also, whenever the people of Islam have adhered in earnest to their religion, they have advanced proportionately, achieving significant progress. Witness to this is the greatest master of Europe, the Islamic state of Andalusia. But whenever the Islamic community has been slack in religion, it has sunk into wretchedness, and declined.” (Mektubat, p. 325)
- It should not be forgotten that nobody – even that missionary – can show that a Muslim cleric or scholar exited the religion of Islam and became a Jew or Christian based on reasoning and definite evidence throughout history. However, the number of people – including their clerics and scholars – in history and today is quite high. The following determination of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi regarding the issue is remarkable:
“History presents no evidence from the Era of Bliss up to the present day for any Muslims having preferred another religion to Islam and embraced another religion on the strength of reason. There are some Muslims who exit the religion of Islam but it is a different issue. Imitating them is unimportant.”
“However, as a result of reasoned argument and definite proofs, the followers of other religions have embraced Islam in groups. If we were to display through our actions the perfections of the moral qualities of Islam and the truths of belief, the followers of other religions would enter Islam in groups.” (Münazarat, p. 45- 46)
- The claim “those rules are open-ended” expressed for the rules of Islamic deeds of worship in the question is a lie consisting of slyness and misty ignorance.
- The claim “you can exit the religion if you do not follow these rules” is a big lie like the previous one.
Anybody who knows the religion of Islam knows very well that the most distinguished principle of Ahl as-Sunnah creed is as follows: “A believer does not exit the religion of Islam due to any sin no matter how big it is unless he denies (the principles of belief).” (see al-Fiqhul-Akbar, 1/43)
- In the question, the deeds of worship left to people’s will and deeds like doing favors are compared to the deeds of worship ordered by Allah in Islam and the following statement is included: “...it does not have deeds of worship like zakah and prayer but you can read the Bible if you want to worship; there is no zakah, but if you want to help some people, you can help.”
That statement of the missionary is like confessing the truth; he expresses the truth unwillingly:
In the question, zakah, which is a compulsory duty Islam assigns to the rich as a humanitarian duty is compared to “optional” charities in Christianity. In fact, helping the poor in the human community, where there are always rich and poor people, is a very important thing and it cannot be optional. It is necessary to render a certain amount of financial help obligatory. It is a necessity of being a human.
The following is stated: “There is no deed of worship similar to prayer but a person can read the Bible if he wants...”
However, the greatest purpose of religions is to worship Allah after belief. This duty of worshipping is determined by divine revelation and it cannot be left to the conscience of people.
Besides, the writers of the Bible are certain people. How can one worship by reading a book that is not divine revelation. In fact, as it is stated in the Quran, the worship of prayer with ruku’ and sajdah exists in the original religion of Hz. Isa (Jesus.
- The claim “grow a beard of this or that length; follow such and such rules when you worship; otherwise you will exit the religion...” is a baseless slander that is a product of ignorance.
As we have stated above, according to the creed of Ahl as-Sunnah in Islam, nobody exits the religion of Islam because he does not worship or because he commits a sin.
Besides, according to an important part of the Islamic scholars, it is sunnah to grow a beard. Abandoning a sunnah is not regarded as unbelief; it is not even regarded as a sin.
What is more, none of those who regard growing a beard wajib has claimed that “a person who does not grow a beard exits the religion.”
May Allah include us among those who know the last religion and the last prophet, Muhammad (pbuh) truly and who attain the honor of following the religion of Islam! Amin!
As it is known, an independent shrai’ah was not imposed by the Psalms; Hz. Dawud (David) acted in accordance with the shari’ah of Hz. Musa (Moses).
The Psalms sent down to Hz. Dawud generally includes his invocations to Allah and hymns. The original Hebrew form of the Psalms is in verse. The Psalms, which is one of the first divine books of the period of religions based on the oneness of Allah, was sent down in order to show the way of Allah to the nation of Jews, who deviated from the right path, did not accept ethical rules and plunged into sins. In addition, the claim of Jews "No book will come after the Torah" was refuted when the Psalms was sent down to Hz. Dawud. (Elmalılı, Hak Dini Kur'ân Dili, İstanbul 1938, IV / 3081)
The Psalms was in Hebrew first and it was written with the alphabet of Hebrew-Aramaic. After the spread of Christianity, it was translated into Latin. However, it is not possible to say that there exists an original copy of the Psalms today. There is no nation following the Psalms on the earth today. However, both the Jews and Christians read some pieces from the Psalms in worship and rites today. It is known that especially the Christians always read some selected pieces of the Psalms on Sundays in the church.
Basic decrees are the same for all prophets; they are not abrogated. For instance, the principles of belief are the same in all true religions and worshipping exists in all of them. However, there are differences in the secondary decrees, that is, in details, of worshipping. Abrogation is in question related to the decrees like the form and time of worshipping and the direction of the qiblah.
The divine books that were sent were the same as the ones before them in terms of principles of belief. However, there were differences in worshipping and fiqh decrees.
The Psalms did not abrogate the shari’ah sent by the Torah. For, the Torah had not been distorted then. People were given religious and ethical advice in the Psalms and it was sent as a religious book confirming the Torah.
A lot of things were written about the trueness of Barnabas / the Gospel of Barnabas, and for and against it.
In his book called “al-Yahudiyya wan-Nasraniyya”, Dr. Muhammad Ziyaurrahman al-Azami examines the evidences for and against it in detail and states the following in conclusion: The Gospel of Barnabas was written by Yusuf b. Lawi b. Ibrahim, who was known as Barnabas and who was a disciple of Hz. Isa (Jesus).
According to the author, after this Gospel was found, it caused a shock among Christians and was forbidden completely by Pope GELASIUS I. This Gospel, which was in Italian in origin, was translated into English and Arabic later. (see ibid, p.353-395).
For more information, please click on the link given below;
- The opinion in the Islamic world regarding the issue is as follows: The old holy books, like the Quran, were revealed with both their words and their meanings.
- As it is stated in the Quran, the fact that what was revealed to the Prophet Musa (Moses) was in tablets indicates that they were revealed in written tablets. It cannot be without words.
“It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).” (Aal-i Imran, 3/3)
The verse above is a clear indication that the Torah and the Gospel, like the Quran, were sent down - in words and in meaning - by Allah.
However, it is also known that the words of the holy books other than the Quran are not miracles like the Quran and they were not under special divine protection.
“It was We who revealed the law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah’s will, by the rabbis and the doctors of law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah’s book, and they were witnesses thereto...” (al-Maida, 5/44)
It is stated in the verse above that the preservation of those books was left to people, and it is pointed out that they were open to destruction and distortion - because they were not the final revelation.
However, it is stated that the Quran is protected by Allah Himself.
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).” (al-Hijr, 15/9)
That fact is emphasized in the verse above.
- At present, we do not have original copies of either the Torah or the Bible. Although there is a lot of revealed truth in those two books that are now available, there are also contradictions and unreasonable points showing that a lot of distortion has been done.
- The fact that those two books that we have now were written much later is also accepted by the scholars of the People of the Book. In particular, the state of the Gospel is much more critical. The current number of four Gospels selected from among dozens of Gospels three hundred-odd years after Jesus, as well as the existence of other unaccepted Gospels, show significant hesitations regarding the issue. The authors of the four existing Gospels are known.
The Bible, which includes the Torah and the Gospel, consists of information about the history written by people.
The divine books’ being sent down is not based on the distortion of the previous books. As a matter of fact, the Gospel, which was sent down to Hz. Isa (Jesus), did not include the decrees of the Torah. When Hz. Isa taught love, compassion and ethical values with the Gospel, he applied to the Torah for legal arrangements. The Psalms were like that too. There were almost no decrees of shari’ah in those two books. This shows that a divine book’s being sent down is not dependent upon the distortion of the previous book. On the contrary, they were sent down to teach the new principles that were necessary to be introduced based on the conditions of the time and place.
It is not appropriate to attribute the Quran’s being sent down to the distortion of the previous books. In that case, the following wrong decree would be deduced: If they had not been distorted, there would have been no need for the Quran. However, the truths of belief, which are the basic essentials of all religions, are always up-to-date. Nevertheless, the conditions of the time and place play an important role in the explanation, summarization and the detailing of the issue. This is the wisdom behind the coming of different shari’ahs. The Quran has some important issues that are also included in the previous books; they are the common ground for the divine religions.
However, almost all Islamic scholars agree that the Quran abrogated some decrees in the previous books. Nevertheless, we should say it again that the Quran’s being sent down is not based on the distortion of the previous books. For, it was necessary to change some decrees and abolish completely others in the previous books whether they were distorted or not.
a) We looked at both Turkish and Arabic Bibles. (Hebrews, 4/12)
The word of God is mentioned there. It is said that His words are much more effective than double-edged swords. The words soul, spirit, joint, etc. show that there is a simile in that statement.
In our opinion, the word in question is the Quran. It is a divine word that penetrates both material and spiritual organs and faculties of people.
b) In John’s revelation, he says that he heard a voice, that then he saw a human form that was the owner of that voice; while describing it, he says “he held seven stars in his right hand”. The phrase “John’s revelation” is translated as “John’s dream” in Arabic (1/16).
Neither Ali nor Dhulfiqar is mentioned in those verses.
John continues and states that when he turns toward the voice behind him, he sees 7 lampstands under it and a person resembling a human being in the middle of them… he has 7 stars in his right hand and a double-edged sword comes out of his mouth and he sees it.
However, neither Ali nor his sword is mentioned in those statements.
It is probably a symbolic expression representing the 7 stars of synagogues and churches. Besides, the relationship between those 7 stars and the churches is pointed out a little further ahead of the place in question.
c) Even if Dhulfiqar is mentioned there, what is wrong with that? It is understood from the last verse of the chapter of al-Fath that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his great Companions are mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel.
Mentioning Dhulfiqar like them is not against Islam, but in favor of it.
In fact, that any news or beauty existing in a nation or culture also exists in one of the true religions does not show that this religion is influenced by that culture, but that its source is divine revelation. Over time, its relation with divine revelation may have been forgotten and it may have been regarded as the culture of that nation because Allah sent thousands of prophets to humanity. The first man is also the first prophet. In this respect, the fact that the news given by religions exists also in another culture shows that its origin is based on divine revelation. However, over time, the revelation may have been forgotten and it may have been regarded to belong to a culture or a person.
As for your question, since other heavenly books are also the books of Allah, it is quite natural that the same stories exist in all of them. It is not very difficult for those who do not believe in the Quran to regard them as excerpts.
However, another characteristic of the Quran is being muhaymin. It means to control, to supervise another. We also learn from the Quran that the Quran is a muhaymin/controller for the previous heavenly books:
“And We have sent down to you the previous books, both confirming and controlling, this book as the truth.” (al-Maida, 5/48)
Indeed, when the Quran deals with the same stories existing in the Bible, it both confirms and corrects them. It is normal for those who claim that the stories in the Bible were also borrowed from previous mythological epics and who cannot think of a deity who knows the past and the future to express those facts in divine books to slander the Quran too. Anyone with intelligence and conscience who does not miss this point will have no difficulty in understanding that this claim of excerpt is a product of imagination.
Thus, the fact that some of the stories in the Quran also exist in other divine books shows that they are related with the same divine source, not excerpts. If what is mentioned in other divine books is in accordance with the story in the Quran, it means that the Quran confirms it. If it is contrary, it means that the Quran corrects it.
Will you please click on the link given below;
Can't Qur'an be the words of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? If not, how can it be proven?
The following is stated in verse 49 of the chapter of Hud by referring to the stories of the prophets mentioned previously:
“Such are some of the stories of the unseen, which We have revealed unto thee: before this, neither thou nor thy people knew them. So, persevere patiently: for the End is for those who are righteous.”
The verse above shows that some of the stories of the prophets mentioned in the Quran were not known by the people living at that time.
Similarly, many verses indicating scientific facts (like the winds’ pollinating plants and clouds, the water of two different seas not mixing with each other, etc.) were not known in the previous eras.
Some stories are narrated in the Torah and the Gospel, but not exactly. In the Quran, some parts of those stories are narrated as in the Torah and the Gospel but some parts have been corrected.
Since the source is the same, there can be nothing more natural than mentioning similar things, talking about the same realities and narrating the same stories in the heavenly books. However, it is strange that this state, which shows the oneness of the source, is presented as a reason for some people’s moving away from the way of guidance.
For instance, Turan Dursun, who is one of those people, narrates the reason why he became a denier as follows in his book called “Din Bu”:
“Why did the revolution of faith happen in me? Or, why did faithlessness form in me? I was interested in orientalism. I went to big libraries. I saw and read the origin of Islam then. I read them in legends too. Once, I came across with a Sumerian legend: the Deluge legend. I saw that it exists in the Torah and in the Quran. How can a legend, a Sumerian legend, exist both in the Torah and the Quran? It is thought to have been written in 3.000 BC. Much earlier than Islam and even the Torah. Why do their legends exist in the holy books? Most of the laws of Hammurabi exist exactly in the Torah; then, they were transferred to the Quran. What is that if they are Allah’s words? My shock started like that.”
In fact, what makes T. Dursun doubt is one of the greatest evidences showing that the Quran is the word of Allah, that all divine religions had the same origin and that they were all sent by Allah.
Since the source is the same and since they are based on the same revelation, it is normal that the same things are mentioned, the same realities are talked about and the same stories are narrated in all divine books; it must be like that. The opposite of it is not in question.
People are physically dependent on one source, and they are fed from the same source in terms of faith. As conflicts arose, corrections were made through prophets.
1) In Islam, it is obligatory to believe that the previous books such as the Torah and the Gospel are also revelations from Allah and that those messengers are true prophets. He who does not believe in them cannot be a Muslim.
However, not all collections of the books of the Torah and the Gospel known as the Bible (like the original Torah and Gospel) are divine revelations. The Jews and Christians do not claim that those books are revelations of Allah from the beginning to the end.
The authors of the four Bibles are certain people. It is accepted by the scientists of those religions that there is some wrong information along with true information coming verbally from Hz. Isa (Jesus) in the Bibles.
It is also accepted that by the Jews that the other parts of the Torah collection except the part called “Torah” are not revelations from Allah.
2) All prophets, from the Prophet Adam to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), were subject to the same principles in terms of creed but different shari’ahs in terms of deeds. This fact is underlined in the verses of the Quran and hadiths that we will quote below:
“Not a messenger did We send before thee without this inspiration sent by Us to him: that there is no god but I; therefore, worship and serve Me.” (al-Anbiya, 21/25)
We can understand from the verse above that all prophets learned and taught the creed of oneness through divine revelation.
“For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, (with the Command), "Serve Allah, and eschew Evil".” (an-Nahl, 16/36)
The creed of oneness and worshipping only Allah are taught in the verse above, along with keeping away from taghut (evil), which expresses all kinds of shirk (polytheism).
- The Prophet states the following: “All prophets are paternal half-brothers; their mothers are different but their religion is the same.” (Hakim, 2/648)
Bukhari includes a shorter version of the same hadith. The meaning of the hadith is as follows: The religion (the issues of creed that form the basis of the religion, principles of belief) of all prophets is the same but their shari’ahs are different. (see Ibn Hajar, 6/489)
As it is seen, the issues of creed that form the basis of the principles of belief are expressed with the title of “religion” and it is pointed out that they are like a father for the prophets and that they are all the sons of this father, that is, they teach the products of the same truth.
The shari’as, which are called the subsidiary issues of the religion (which are outside the principles of belief), are likened to mothers.
Thus, it is a requirement of divine wisdom that the decrees related to deeds differ in different religions.
The fact that a teacher who teaches mathematics in an elementary school explains the same lesson differently at a university does not indicate that the teacher has learned new things but that he displays a wise attitude considering the situation of his addressees.
The existence of different shari’ahs, different revelations, orders and prohibitions in different ages and times is a reflection of this wisdom.
c) What matters is to believe in a religion that exists now and that preserves its trueness because it is vital to believe in the true religion. The bliss of the world and the hereafter depends on it. There is no doubt that this religion is the religion of Islam.
The fact that hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of clergymen and scientists from other religions, have embraced Islam throughout history is an indication of the trueness of this religion.
d) If the moon stayed in the shadow of the world and did not give light, would it harm the existence of the sun? Likewise, if the other heavenly religions that are like the moon stayed in the shadow of the desires and wishes of people, could they harm the religion of Islam, which shines like the sun?
Definitely not, because
- “Islam is like the sun; it does not go out by blowing. It is like the day; it is not transformed into the night when one closes his eyes. He who closes his eyes makes it dark only for himself.” (see Münazarat, p. 9)
- The religion of Islam is the true religion. It is a necessity of the mind to approve what is right.
- The religion of Islam invites all people to believe. Nobody has the luxury of staying out of Islam.
- He who believes in Islam gains an eternal life like Paradise. He who does not believe is sentenced to the eternal imprisonment in Hell.
- The religion of Islam says, "a person who believes in all religions but does not believe in Islam" cannot enter Paradise.
Since Islam is the true religion, the words of the Quran are the words of Allah. Therefore, it is our duty to use our mind in order to guarantee our eternal life.
To sum up:
It is necessary to prefer the religion of Islam because it provides guidance to the lives of all men and women, foresight to their minds, love to their hearts, justice to their individual and social deeds, light to their graves, salvation and joy in the hereafter, and Paradise and eternal happiness in the hereafter.
The following is stated in the Quran regarding the issue:
"We ordained therein (in the Torah) for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrong-doers." (al-Maida, 5/45)
The following is stated in the Torah for the decree of qisas (retaliation):
Lev.24:17 Exo.21:12 «Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death.
Lev.24:18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life.
Lev.24:19 Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner.
Lev.24:20 Exo.21:23-25; Deu.19:21; Mat.5:38 Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.
Lev.24:21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.
Lev.24:22 Num.15:16 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.»
The approach of the Gospel related to retaliation and revenge is quite different from the Torah and the Quran.
Matthew / Chapter 5:
38. You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.‘
39. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
40. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
43. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ‘
44. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Luke / Chapter 6:
27.-28. But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
29. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
30. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
31. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
33. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.
34. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
35. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
36. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that there will be no prophet after Jesus.
On the other hand, the Bible gives the following criterion for recognizing those who claim to be prophets:
“Look at the fruit and distinguish between the liar and the truthful...”
If there were no prophets to come after Jesus, he could have settled the issue very simply by saying, “There will be no prophet after me, and whoever claims to be a prophet after me is a liar.”
In other words, the method of distinguishing between a true and a false prophet suggested by Jesus is in itself sufficient evidence that there will be a prophet after Jesus (pbuh).
The fact that there will be a prophet after Jesus is also sufficient evidence for the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) because such a wonderful fruit as the formation of communities that came after Jesus (pbuh) and believed in Allah, trusted in Allah, loved Allah and abandoned idols was achieved only thanks to the religion sent through our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
In addition, in many places in the Bible, a prophet whom Jesus foretold would come after him and whom he asked to be followed is mentioned.
It is not appropriate to say “there are some excerpts from the other heavenly books in the Quran” because this statement might evoke wrong ideas.
What is true is that the Quran expresses the facts included in the previous heavenly books. That is something natural because the one that sent all heavenly books is Allah Almighty. Since the religion in the eye of Allah is one (that is, Islam), it is natural that issues like oneness, the hereafter and the Day of Reckoning are mentioned in all of them.
As a matter of fact, after those issues are mentioned in the chapter of al-A’la, this fact is expressed as follows:
إِنَّ هَذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَىصُحُفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَى “And this (what is mentioned in the previous verses) is in the Books of the earliest (Revelation),- The Books of Abraham and Moses.” (al-A’la, 87/18,19)
After the Companions are mentioned in verse 29 of the chapter of al-Fath, it is stated that their characteristics that have been mentioned also exist in the Torah and the Gospel.
The verse in question is as follows:
مُّحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاء عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاء بَيْنَهُمْ تَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِم مِّنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ ذَلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوَى عَلَى سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنْهُم مَّغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا
"Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other. Thou wilt see them bow and prostrate themselves (in prayer), seeking Grace from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure. On their faces are their marks, (being) the traces of their prostration. This is their similitude in the Taurat; and their similitude in the Gospel is: like a seed which sends forth its blade, then makes it strong; it then becomes thick, and it stands on its own stem, (filling) the sowers with wonder and delight. As a result, it fills the Unbelievers with rage at them. Allah has promised those among them who believe and do righteous deeds forgiveness, and a great Reward." (al-Fath, 48/29)
We can give the following example to clarify the issue:
A person who has written a lot of books can say the following in his last book: I wrote about what I said in my previous book called this and that. Or, I will explain here in detail such an issue that I mentioned in my previous books.
Thus, in this last book, Allah Almighty gives information about the books He previously sent and the content of those books. This proves that the owner of all those divine books is Allah Almighty because they all express the same truth.
In fact, this state, which causes some people to doubt, is one of the biggest proofs that the Quran is the word of Allah, that the origin of all divine religions is one (the same) and that all of them were sent by Allah. Since the source is the same, there cannot be anything more natural than narration of similar things in all divine books, mentioning the same truths and talking about the same stories.
People are physically dependent on one source, and they are fed from the same source in terms of faith. As conflicts arose, corrections were made through prophets.
And the Quran was sent down as “the confirmer” and “the preserver”, that is, to confirm the facts that were not distorted in those books and to correct the distorted issues. This fact is expressed as follows in the Quran:
وَاَنْزَلْـنَٓا اِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقاً لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِناً عَلَيْهِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَٓا اَنْزَلَ اللّٰهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ اَهْوَٓاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَٓاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّۜ لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجاًۜ وَلَوْ شَٓاءَ اللّٰهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ اُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلٰكِنْ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ ف۪ي مَٓا اٰتٰيكُمْ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِۜ اِلَى اللّٰهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَم۪يعاً فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ ف۪يهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَۙ
“(O Muhammad!) To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee. To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute.” (al-Maida, 5/48)
