Month: January 2023

Surah 11:1 says that the Qur’an is a fully-explained book, but nobody seems to known what “Alif-Lãm-Ra” means.

Surah 12:20 speaks about currency (“dirhams”) used in Egypt at the time of Joseph, which didn’t exist at the time. This is an anachronism, unless we allow the Qur’an to speak in terms that its hearers would understand. If we do this, the objection to the Bible referring to the Egyptian king as “Pharaoh” goes away.

Surah 3:35 says the Virgin Mary is the daughter of Imran (who was the father of Moses!)

Surah 3:7 says that parts of the Qur’an are unclear.

Surah 3:93 speaks of the Torah as though it is present and uncorrupted

Surah 33:50 speaks of marrying first cousins

Surah 105 is utterly imcomprehensible without the Hadith

Surah 1:54 says a man dies and nobody knows

Surah 2:62 says Christians are okay, but Surah 3:85 suggests that they’re in trouble

Surah 2:85 says you can’t just believe part of the earlier Scriptures

Surah 3:3 The Torah and Injeel are a guidance for mankind!

Surah 9:29 says that persecution is allowed on the basis of belief

Surah 4:24 says slaves are allowed

Surah 33:56 says Allah and the Angels pray? for Muhammad?

Surah 4:48 says that Shirk will not be forgiven but Surah 4:153 shows that it can be forgiven.

Surah 4:65 says you have to submit to all of Muhammad’s teachings (which are spread across multiple volumes of hadith)

Surah 4:167 denies the crucifixion. What happened? Does this mean that Allah is responsible for Christianity’s existence Surah 5:47 tells Christians to judge by the Gospel, implying that Gospel is still inexistance.

Surah 5:3 says that Islam was completed and perfected on this day, but this isn’t the last verse of the Qur’an revealed. Doesn’t that mean it’s incomplete and perfected later? Isn’t that a contradiction?

Surah 7:109 and Surah 26:34 put the words “Surely this man is a skillful magician” into the mouths of two different people at the same event. This can certainly be harmonized, but were this found in the Gospels this would be called a contradiction.

Surah 7:143: Allah enters creation?

Surah 19:28: The Virgin Mary is sister of Aaron?!

Surah 20:85: A Samaritan led the worship of the Golden Calf?!

Surah 22:6 Allah says he is “The Truth”…a title claimed by Jesus.

Surah 24:35 comes Allah to many things he has created (and I’ve heard it said often that you can’t do this)

Surah 26:196: Claims that the Qur’an has been foretold in the previous scriptures

Surah 40:55, Surah 47:19, and Surah 48:2 all seem to say that Muhammad sinned, despite the common Islamic belief that he was sinless.

Surah 47:7: You can help Allah?

Surah 55:56 the rewards of Jenna

Surah 16:44 says that Muhammad will explain the revelation he’s been given and Surah 59:7 says Muhammad will explain what is allowed and forbidden (outside of the Qur’an?).

Surah 98:6 and Surah 8:55 Those who don’t believe in the Qur’an are the “worst of creatures”

Surah 5:45 quotes “the Torah” but doesn’t match either Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, or Deuteronomy 19:21

Surah 21:105 says it’s quoting the Psalms but adds an extra word (“servants”) in Psalm 37:29

Surah 28:38: High towers are built out of baked clay?! And has it confused Haman from the story of Esther?

Surah 61:6 says that Jesus gave “good news of a messenger after me whose name will be Aḥmad”

Surah 66:12 has translations which obscure the word “vagina”. Mary protected it and it was breathed into. It also claims that Mary was the daughter of Imran.

Surah 33:36: Muhammad is a decision partner with Allah (shirk?!)

There are three main problems with what’s said here:

1. As with most scientific miracle claims in the Qur’an, A LOT is read into a vague text. All it says is that “the heavens” and “the earth” were once together and that God separated them. It’s a BIG jump from this basic statement to the Big Bang Theory (a theory first suggested, not by a Muslim reading this Qur’an, but by a Catholic priest).
2. The idea of God (or the gods) separating and organizing creation isn’t unique to the Qur’an. If this is a proof, then many other religions of the world are vindicated.
3. Most importantly, the Qur’an says that EVEN UNBELIEVERS recognize that the heavens and the earth were separated. If this was common knowledge among unbelievers, what is exactly is the miracle of the Qur’an?

I’ve always found this to be a very strange argument…

I can’t write a poetry like Shakespeare – does that mean his poetry is divine revelation? Of course not.

In fact, when I read the Qu’ran, I found it very erratic and stilted, so producing something equal or better doesn’t seem hard. I think I would submit in response to this challenge the poetry of Kahlil Gibran.

However, the challenge is impossible to meet because by what standard would one judge one better than the other? The Qur’an doesn’t say…