Islam –The Qur’an

Dr. Robert Patton

The Qur’an , The word means: Recitation It was a record of Muhammad’s

revelations over 23 years It is not chronological, but organized

with the longest chapters (except chapter 1) f irst, and the shortest last

The Qur’an Muhammad began to retire for

meditation in caves outside Mecca about age 40

One day he was confronted with a spirit being who identif ied himself as Gabriel

The Qur’an He seized Muhammad and commanded

3 times to recite – which the prophet, being i l l i terate, could not do

With further visions, Muhammad would sweat, go unconscious, foam, roar l ike a camel, hear bells

The Qur’an The time of the visions was

unpredictable His followers would write what he said

on whatever was nearby, or memorize orally what he said to write it later

The Qur’an The Qur’an is poetic in form in Arabic It is apparently str iking, especially read

by an experienced reader Some say that there are grammatical

errors in it

The Qur’an One scribe rejected Islam after

Muhammad accepted some suggestions he made about changing wording.

He felt that if i t was Allah’s word, it could not be changed

The Qur’an Most of the writ ings were in one of two

periods – in Mecca or Medina The Meccan period had more to do with

religion, against idolatry, and reform. They were shorter

The Qur’an The longer writ ings of the Medina

period had more polit ics and f ighting in them

Any confl icts were considered OK by the law of abrogation

Allah promised if he changed anything, it was for the better

The Qur’an and contradictions

This means that a more recent writ ing supersedes an earlier one.

Thus the warlike Medinan verses may take precedence over the Meccan verses – but they may use either depending on the situation

The law of abrogation

The Qur’an uses Surah 2:106.= nasikh Contrast with Christ ian graduated revelation.

It never contradicts the former one. Problems – Muslims may deny

The accuracy of a translation The relevance of an earlier statement

Don’t focus on Qur’an but the truth of the Bible

The Qur’an The Qur’an is used differently

depending on the circumstances of the Muslim

When the Muslim is in the minority, he tends to use the Meccan verses

When in the majority – the Medinan verses

Conflicts between the Qur’an and the Bible with the Bible

Noah’s son drowned in Qur’an Abraham sacrif iced Ishmael, not Isaac Jesus spoke as an infant; as a child,

he made a clay bird come to l ife Jesus never died on the cross; the

Jews only thought that they crucif ied him

Collection of the Qur’an

After many of those hafiz (those who have memorized the entire Qur’an) died in battle or with age, Umar ordered collection of the data

Collection of the Qur’an

The following caliph, Uthman ordered Zayd to hold only those written in Quraysh dialect; he codif ied them and destroyed all other copies. Bukhari Hadith 4:book 56; #709; Hadith 6: Book 61; #510

The Qur’an The book itself is considered holy

Highest place in the home Hands must be holy to handle it Do not hold below the waist

Muslims may react negatively to how Christians handle the Bible

Special schools

Schools set up to memorize it Those who do are hafiz

Qur’an is diff icult for western persons to understand

Why it is hard to understand In Arabic Rarely translated (now translations

available in many languages) Not in time sequence Need to know the situation around it

Sometimes there is no consistency within the Surah itself

Qur’an

Shiites claim Uthman omitted 25% of the original Qur’an.

Aisha said Surah 33 had over 200 verses, but in the Qur’an, only 73

The Qur’an

We, us as well as I = Allah Say = recite to the people Verses = sentences, not a complete

idea. Often clearer if grouped into a paragraph

Chrislam There is a tendency among

missionaries to seek a common ground Some will say

Stay in the mosque, keep your Muslim name

Do your regular Muslim prayers, alms, etc But you are a believer in Isa

We will discuss this later

“Muslim-friendly” Bible translations

Certain groups which use dynamic equivalent methodology focus on receptor, not text

They change terms Son of God – substitute messenger of

Allah, Isa, Messiah God the Father = substitute Allah Holy Spirit is not a person

Chrislam and the Muslim-friendly Bible This will be a separate discussion later

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