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January 25 - February 25, 2022
From a historical perspective, denying the punishment of apostasy is a modern phenomenon, as is insistence on a predominantly peaceful Islam.3
When we turn to the example of Muhammad’s life, we find multiple accounts of Muhammad not just allowing sex slavery but also encouraging Muslims who were hesitant to use their newly captured women for sexual intercourse.6
So when a group of people were taken captive, such as the Qurayza Jews, the boys were separated from men by the growth of pubic hair, and the men were executed.8
Because Jesus made no clear allowance for war, such Christians developed an elaborate notion of “just war” starting with Augustine at the turn of the fifth century. Delineating stringent conditions of war, Augustine argued that fighting could be within the will of God, but it remained a necessary evil and something that required penance.
Muhammad taught Muslims that invading the Christian city of Constantinople would purge mujahideen of their sins: “The first army amongst my followers who will invade Caesar’s city will be forgiven their sins.”10 Fighting in jihad was so good in Muhammad’s eyes that there is nothing equal to it in this world.11 When a man asked him if there was any deed in this world equal to jihad, Muhammad responded, “I know of no such deed.”12
the “sword” to which Jesus refers is not a rhomphaia, the kind of sword used only for war.1 The sword that Jesus brings is a machaira. Like a machete, a machaira is a long knife or a short sword designed as a multipurpose tool, such as cutting meat or cleaning fish.
The Quran literally says, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah . . . nor acknowledge the true religion, from those who were given the scripture [i.e., Jews and Christians].”
By contrast, one must divert attention from Muhammad to argue that Islam is a religion of peace, since he says that a Muslim who does not fight in jihad or at least express a desire to fight is a hypocrite.7
If Muhammad, after gaining an army, commissioned or participated in eighty-six battles over the course of nine years, one would consider such activity among his followers to be inevitable. By contrast, it is beautiful that Jesus Christ, the exemplar for Christians, is never once reported to have even carried a sword. That leaves his followers somewhere between an otherworldly reliance upon God in pacifism and a reluctant use of violence for the defense of the oppressed. There is absolutely no room for exulting in violence for the follower of Jesus.
Jesus’ death by crucifixion Jesus’ resurrection from the dead Jesus’ claim to be God The prophetic authority of Muhammad The divine inspiration of the Quran
Theoretically, even if the Bible had never been written, Jesus could still have died on the cross for our sins and risen from the dead, making the Christian message true.
Repeatedly, at least five times, he offered the divine origin of the Quran as the reason why people should trust Islam. By contrast, when the early Christians proclaimed the gospel, the primary proof that they pointed to was the resurrection of Jesus, not the text of the Bible.5
Gerd Lüdemann is a German scholar who so doubted the Bible that he infamously said, “The person of Jesus himself becomes insufficient as a foundation of faith.”1 Yet even he did not mince words when it came to Jesus’ death. In his book, What Really Happened to Jesus, Lüdemann critically reexamines the life of Jesus from many angles, often dismissing the traditional Christian position outright. But in his section titled “The death of Jesus,” he spares only two sentences: “The fact of the death of Jesus as a consequence of crucifixion is indisputable, despite hypotheses of a pseudo-death or a
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Paula Fredriksen, another well-known scholar who frequently challenges Christian beliefs, also concludes similarly to Lüdemann, positing, “The single most solid fact about Jesus’ life is his death: he was executed by the Roman prefect Pilate, on or around Passover, in the manner Rome reserved particularly for political insurrectionists, namely, crucifixion.”3
John Dominic Crossan, who says, “There is not the slightest doubt about the fact of Jesus’ crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.”4
the flurry of media attention that followed the release of his book Zealot, Reza Aslan made it abundantly clear that Jesus “was most definitely crucified.”7
Another such creedal formulation, one which many scholars believe also predates the New Testament, is found in the letter to the Philippians. Here again, we find Jesus’ death not just present, but highlighted: “[Christ Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8 NIV).
Without providing the context, the Quran refers to this famous account in 5.110, assuming it to be historical truth.
According to 3.52, the disciples answered Jesus’ call to righteously follow Allah, and in 3.55, Allah promises to exalt Jesus’ followers, making them superior to others until the Day of Resurrection.1
On account of efforts such as theirs, this view became a hot topic of discussion in university forums, but the dust settled quickly and the victory was decisive: Paul remained a follower of Christ, not the founder of Christianity. The scholarly consensus has remained firm ever since.3
The problem becomes sharper when we revisit one of the Quranic verses that makes a promise to Jesus: “Indeed, I will cleanse you (Jesus) from those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve, until the day of resurrection” (3.55).15 Allah promises to make the disciples superior to disbelievers, and Jesus would be made free from such disbelievers. The Muslim view of Paul, that he overcame the disciples and hijacked Jesus’ message, seems to ignore the Quran’s promise to the disciples.
Why does the Quran not mention him? Is it on account of the Quran’s omission that Muslims in the early and classical periods of Islam, such as Tabari and Qurtubi, saw Paul as a follower of Jesus?16
a means, a motive, and an opportunity. The Islamic view that Paul hijacked Christianity fails to secure any of these three.
The Quran informs Muslims that Jesus never claimed to be divine. Rather, people began to believe this after Jesus left the earth (5.116–117).
John’s prologue concludes by calling Jesus “the only begotten God” (1:18). As John’s gospel progresses, the Christology is unpacked and elaborated. Jesus is worthy of the honor due to God (5:23); he asks people to have faith in him as they have faith in God (14:1); he claims to be the enabler of salvation (5:21) and the earthly manifestation of God (14:8); he is the king of another world (18:36–37); he assumes dominion over all things (3:35); and he claims to be able to do whatever people ask in his name after he is gone, more or less implying that he has omniscience, omnipotence, and
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also it reminded the Scribes, who knew well the Hebrew Scriptures, of Psalm 103:2–3, which says, “O my soul, bless Yahweh and do not forget all his deeds! He is the one forgiving all your sins and healing all your diseases.”
“The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28 NIV). Unless we know the Old Testament well, it is easy to miss the fact that the Sabbath is the fourth of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:8).
Amid the stormy waves, Jesus walks to them on the water. For those who know the Old Testament, the allusion is clear: In Job 9:8, when Job is speaking about Yahweh, he says, “He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea” (NIV).
Both Muslims and Christians agree Jesus is the Messiah, but in the Gospels Jesus only publicly proclaimed that he is the Messiah one time.5
This makes 14:62, the climax and divine revelation, all the more powerful and important to understand. It is there that Jesus claims to be the divine Son of Man from Daniel 7 and the One sitting on the throne of God from Psalm 110:1.
If Jesus truly taught tawhid, he was an entirely incompetent Messiah, worse than an abject failure.
If Allah saved Jesus from the cross while making it look like Jesus died, as most Muslims believe, then Allah is responsible for the disciples’ proclamation of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Therefore, Allah started Christianity, a false religion that has kept billions away from Islam. Worse, Christians believe Jesus is God because of their faith in his resurrection, yet the Quran tells us that people who believe Jesus is God will go to hell (5.72).
the records of the early Christian proclamation are categorically incompatible with Islam. If Allah saved Jesus from the cross and did not inform the disciples, he is a deceptive God who is responsible for the damnation of billions.
The best place to start is at the beginning. When he received his very first revelation, Muhammad reacted very strangely: He became suicidal. “He intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down,” an angel would appear to him and urge him not to kill himself.5 Is
Muhammad embraced warfare. He said that fighting is literally the best thing in the world.8 Nothing earns a Muslim more reward than fighting in jihad, and it is better than praying without ceasing and fasting perpetually.9 Muhammad taught that dying in battle is so great that it is the only thing that would make a man want to leave heaven.10
Muhammad would invoke curses upon them11 and encourage his men to compose insults and abusive poetry.12 On one occasion, he asked Allah to fill peoples’ homes with flames simply because they delayed the Muslims in their daily prayers.13 At other times, Muhammad sent assassins to kill his enemies in their sleep,14 and even to deceive and abuse trust in order to assassinate.15 He punished some enemies by cutting off their hands and feet, branding their eyes with a heated iron, and causing them to lick the dust until they died.16 He led battles against unarmed cities.17 He allowed even women and
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“I have been ordered to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger . . . then they save their lives and property from me.”20 Muhammad clarifies in another hadith, “I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.”21
Muhammad said that he had been a victim of black magic;23 he had delusional thoughts of doing things he had not done;24 and he confused demonic inspiration with divine inspiration, saying Satan had put Quran verses into his heart which he then used in prayer.25
Muhammad allowed for prostitution through the institution of temporary marriage;26 when fifty-two years old he consummated his marriage with his nine-year-old bride Aisha, who was still playing with dolls;27 Muhammad allowed his men to have sex with female captives and slaves, unconcerned if they became pregnant or were to be sold;28 Muhammad declared women to be mentally deficient compared to men;29 and Muhammad said women will be the majority of hell’s inhabitants because they are ungrateful to their husbands.
Aristotle had published a treatise on embryology, On the Generation of Animals. It is far more scientific and detailed than anything Muhammad suggests, being a whole book on the topic of embryology. In section 734a, Aristotle explicitly discusses embryological development in stages.31 In section 745b, he mentions that an embryo is attached to the uterus via an umbilicus.32 Galen, a Greek scientist living about five hundred years after Aristotle and five hundred years before Muhammad, also wrote a treatment on embryology, On the Natural Faculties. Agreeing
Although the assertion that mountains have roots beneath the earth’s surface is correct in a sense, the Quran was certainly not the first book to posit this. We see that assertion made at least three times in the Bible: Job 28:9, Psalm 18:7, and Jonah 2:6.
For example, just in the field of embryology, the Quran is incorrect regarding spermatogenesis, asserting that semen is produced between a man’s backbone and his ribs (86.7). In the hadith, we find a case that is very telling: A man asked Muhammad to prove that he is a prophet by correctly answering questions.34 One of the questions inquired why a child might look like his father more than his mother, or vice versa. Muhammad responded that Gabriel had informed him of the answer to his question: The first parent to have discharge during intercourse determined the appearance of the child.
the Quran says that the sun sets in a pool of muddy water in the west (18.86),35 and it assumes stars are the same thing as meteorites (67.5). In the hadith, apart from what we have already seen, Muhammad teaches that flies carry diseases on one wing and antidotes on the other,36 that cumin heals all diseases,37 and that camel urine cures stomach aches.38 These are but a few examples of many of Muhammad’s scientific inaccuracies.
For over two hundred years, stories about the Islamic prophet were passed orally from person to person, and among the true accounts proliferated many fabrications.
The most trustworthy hadith are ultimately graded sahih, which means “true” or “authentic,” whereas the weakest hadith are labelled daeef (“weak”) or even maudu (“fabricated”).
The first Arabic book to have been written was the Quran, and even that was turned into a written book only after Muhammad died.
The first biography, Sirat Rasul Allah, was written by a man named Ibn Ishaq, but the book itself has actually been lost. Ibn Ishaq taught a man named al-Bakkai, who made his own edition of Ibn Ishaq’s book, and al-Bakkai taught a man named Ibn Hisham, who edited al-Bakkai’s edition, and it is this edition that we have today. Why did these men each make their own editions? Ibn Hisham tells us in his introductory remarks: “Things which it is disgraceful to discuss, matters which would distress certain people, and such reports as al-Bakkai told me he could not accept as trustworthy—all these
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Muhammad personally oversaw the beheadings of up to nine hundred men on a single day, digging trenches in the marketplaces so that their corpses could fall into mass graves upon being decapitated;3 he ordered the assassination of an old man who had composed poetry complaining about Muhammad;4 a woman lamented the old man’s death in poetry, so Muhammad ordered her assassination, and her blood splattered on her children as she breastfed;5 Muhammad ordered the torture of a city treasurer to extract the location of the money, so his men kindled a fire with flint and steel on the treasurer’s chest
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For this reason, selective filtration, the whole body of hadith is inherently flawed: They contain only those accounts that multiple generations of early Muslims each chose to save. As
The word Muhammad appears only four times in the Quran, and it is unclear whether it is a name or a title. Quran 61.6 appears to say that the Prophet’s name was Ahmad, not Muhammad.9 There
