© 1996 Research and Education Foundation

Is The Qur'an The Word of God?

Dr. Robert Morey

 
         
When you pick up a copy of the  Qur'an, several questions should 
immediately come to your mind: 
         
WHO?      AUTHORSHIP   
WHAT?     LITERARY NATURE   
WHERE?    PLACE OF ORIGIN  
WHEN?     TIME OF WRITING                 
HOW?      MEDIUM OF TRANSMISSION                 
WHY?      JUSTIFICATION OF NEED                  
         
These questions are good and necessary. But how can we find answers 
to them? There are two different approaches to answering these questions:  
         
1. The Muslim approach depends upon secondary sources which were put 
together generations after Muhammad died. The Sira and the Hadith supply 
the Muslim with the official answers to these questions. Thus while the 
Qur'an an does not answer the questions above, the Hadith does. 
Note: Muslims are guilty of circular reasoning at this point: They prove 
the Qur'an an by the Hadith and then prove the Hadith by the Qur'an!                  
         
2. The secular approach focuses on the issue of primary sources. It 
questions the veracity of the Traditions as well as the veracity of 
the Qur'an. It does not want material written in the ninth or tenth 
century telling them what was written in the seventh century. They want 
actual material from the seventh and eight century. The failure of the 
Muslims to come up with anything has great implications.   
         
         
Part I The Muslim Approach                 
         
The Hadith is sometimes called the second inspiration with the Qur'an 
being the first inspiration. The Hadith claims to be the record of the 
Muhammad's exposition and application of the Qur'an,  biographical 
material on Muhammad, and the history of the writing, collection, and 
composition of the text of the  Qur'an. (Bukhari vol. VI, no. 564). 
The authority and authenticity of the Qur'an depends entirely upon the 
integrity and teachings of the Hadith. In other words, the Qur'an is 
valid only if the Hadith is true. If it is  false, then the Qur'an is 
automatically false.                                                  
         
A. The Integrity of Muhammad        
         
The integrity of Muhammad is all important. He was either whom he 
claimed to be, a liar or a nut case  (mentally insane or demon 
possessed).This is why the Traditions went to such great lengths to 
create a model of Muhammad that depicts him as a "super man" as well as 
a  prophet.   What do we find in  the Hadith?       
         
1. Muhammad's credentials for prophethood are unacceptable. 
The two prominent Hadithic "proofs" of his prophethood came from pagan 
ideas of what a shaman would look like and the manner in which he would 
be inspired.                                                                     
         
A. The Hadith explains that when the Qur'an an refers to the seal of 
prophethood being upon Muhammad  (Surah 33:40), the seal was a large 
hairy mole on his back. This is found in   both Bukhari (vol. I, no. 189; 
vol. IV, no. 741) and Muslim (vol. IV, no. 5790,5793). This mole was the 
physical proof that Muhammad was a prophet according to Tabari and other 
later Muslim authorities. They even claimed that the mole was a fulfillment 
of such   Scriptures as Isa. 9:6. We cannot accept this proof. While such 
ideas can be found in pagan   traditions from many primitive cultures, it 
is not a part of the religion of Abraham, the prophets, the apostles or 
Jesus.                 
         
B. Both the Bukhari and Muslim Hadiths describe what happened to Muhammad 
when inspiration came upon him. He heard ringing in his ears, fell to the 
ground, turned red, sweated   profusely, made moaning sounds, spit ran 
from his mouth, etc.. While ancient pagans placed a great deal of 
importance on such things, they were never a part of the biblical 
prophets.       
         
2. He failed a direct test of his claim to prophethood. He was asked to 
explain why a child will look like one parent as opposed to looking like 
the other. He claimed that Gabriel came and gave the inspired answer. 
See Bukhari vol. IV: no. 546. So, we are dealing with revelation and not 
just his personal opinion. He said that the child will look like which 
parent reaches his or her sexual climax first. The study of genetics 
and DNA forever disproves this idea.       
         
3. He believed in magic, the evil eye, amulets, omens, spells, etc. He 
was superstitious about many things and made up weird rules about 
bathroom duties (Bukhari vol. I, no. 144;  vol. IV, nos. 110, 111;  
vol. VII, nos. 636, 648, 649, 650;  Muslim vol. I,  no. 458; vol. III, 
nos. 5424, 5427 ). He was afraid whenever a strong wind blew (Bukhari 
vol. II, no. 144) and of eclipses (Bukhari vol. II, no. 167).  
         
While this is bad enough, the Hadith tells us that Muhammad was at times 
under magical spells, i.e., bewitched, and told lies and did things while 
under those spells. (Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 400, 490;  VII, no. 660; 
Muslim vol. III, no. 5428) Once it is admitted that he told lies and did 
things while under satanic influence, then the entire Qur'an could be 
satanic in origin.
         
Later Muslim authorities even went so far as to say that he was at one 
time inspired by Satan to put some verses into the Qur'an. They were 
later removed because they were Satanic verses. (Surah 53:19,20) 
              
4. The Hadith tells us that "Allah made the prophet wealthy through 
conquests." (Bukhari III: no. 495). Was  he was in it for the money? 
Some Muslims are ignorant of this Hadith and claim that Muhammad was 
poor like Jesus.      
         
5. He did not keep the rules he imposed upon others. He had more wives 
that four (Bukhari vol. I, no. 268) and did not write a will (Bukhari 
vol. IV, nos. 3,4).       
         
6. He commanded that anyone who fell away from Islam should be murdered. 
(Bukhari vol IV, no. 260; vol. V, no. 630)  Volume  IX is filled with 
death threats against apostasy (pgs. 10,11, 26, 34, 45,50, 57, 341,342).
These Hadiths contradict other Hadiths which say that no one ever leaves 
Islam (Bukhari vol. I, nos. 6, 48). 
         
The punishment of apostates reveals that he did not believe in the 
freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly 
and the freedom of the press. The fact that he commanded that no 
churches or synagogues be allowed in Arabia is a telling argument that 
he was not a man of peace.                    
         
7. The Hadith reveals that Muhammad had to ask forgiveness for sin more 
than seventy times a day. (Bukhari vol. I, nos. 711; 78; vol. V, no. 724) 
Since  Muslims believe that prophets  must be sinless, this means that 
Muhammad was not a prophet.      
         
8. He was guilty of false prophecies.
         
  1. The 100 yr. Prophecy. (Bukhari  vol. I, no. 539) 
  2. The end of the world predictions. (Bukhari vol. IV,  no.401)      
         
9. He kissed and caressed the idol of black stone set into the wall 
of the Kabah. (Muslim vol. II, no. 2912,2916)  We cannot imagine 
Abraham or Jesus kissing a pagan idol and then commanding their 
followers to do so.       
         
10. While Muslims claim that Muhammad was illiterate order to make the 
Qur'an a miracle, the Hadith records that he could in fact read and write. 
(Bukhari vol. IV, no. 393)
         
II. The Teachings of Muhammad                 
         
Just as the Hadith gives us good reasons to question the integrity of 
Muhammad, his teachings recorded in the Hadith give us even more reason 
to doubt he was a prophet. The following is a brief list of some of the 
strange and absurd teachings of Muhammad.       
         
1. Adam was 60 cubits tall! (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 543) Then how tall 
was Eve? If they were that tall, how did we get here? Is it medically 
possible for him to be that tall?      
         
2. Muhammad was a dog hater. He  thought that angels could not enter 
a house if a dog was there and that black dogs were devils. Thus he 
ordered dogs to be killed and forbid the selling of dogs. (Bukhari 
vol. IV, nos. 539, 540;  Muslim vol. I, nos. 551,552; vol. II, nos. 
3803, 3829)        
         
3. Satan lives in the nose over night. He can be flushed out if you 
snort water up and then out the nose. (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 516; 
Muslim vol. I, no. 462) How big is Satan? Is he in everyone's nose? 
Is he omnipresent?
         
4. Muhammad forbade the game of chess! (Muslim vol. IV, no. 5612)  
This makes no sense to me.      
         
5. People turn into rats, pigs and monkeys. (Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 524, 
627; Muslim vol. IV, no. 7135). Abraham's father was turned into an 
animal (Bukhari vol. IV, no.569)  
         
6. Muslims have one intestine while non-Muslims have seven! (Muslim 
vol. III, no. 5113-5115) 
         
7. If you lift up your eyes towards heaven while praying, your eyes 
will be snatched out!  (Muslim vol. III, nos. 862-863)       
         
8. One wing of a fly has poison but the other wing has the antidote to 
it. (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 537)      
         
9. We should drink camel urine as a medicine. (Bukhari vol. 1, no. 234)
         
10. Fevers are from the fire of hell and can be cooled by water. 
(Bukhari vol. IV, nos. 483,486) 
                                                                     
         
III. The Text of the Qur'an                 
         
Who wrote out the Qur'an? On what materials? Who put the Qur'an 
together? Where did he find the materials to do this? Why did he do 
this? Were others putting together their own Qur'ans? Did these 
Qur'ans contradict each other? How did one text gain dominance over 
all the others? What happened to the other Qur'ans? Only the Hadith 
gives us answers to these questions.         
         
1. From Bukhari vol. VI, no. 509 we learn the following things:  
  a. Muhammad did not collect the fragments of the  Qur'an and make them 
     into a manuscript.                  
  b. Some of the Companions of Muhammad were killed in battle and whatever 
     surahs they had memorized died with them.                 
  c. Abu Bakr asked Zaid to collect the fragments of the Qur'an and 
     arrange them into a manuscript.                  
  d. Zaid hesitated because the task was harder than sifting through an 
     entire mountain.                  
  e. The task was difficult because of:       
   1. the fragile nature of the fragments: palm leaves, stones, bones, etc. 
   2. the faulty memories of men  (vol. VI, no. 527)                   
   3. the false claims of men (vol. VI, no. 523)               
   4. conflicting versions of the Qur'an ( vol VI, no. 510, 514, 523)      
   5. contradictory orders of the surahs  (vol VI, no. 515, 518)    
   6. God caused verses to be abrogated or forgotten. (vol. IV, nos.57, 
      62, 69, 299, 393;  VI, nos. 510, 511, 527,    
   7. Muhammad himself forgot and missed various parts of the Qur'an 
      (vol. VI, no. 558, 562)   
         
2. Even after the manuscript was put together, they found that they had 
missed some verses (Bukhari vol. IV, no. 62; VI, no. 510). 
         
3. They tried to burn all the other Qur'anic fragments and manuscripts. 
(VI, no. 510)    
         
4. Uthman is usually credited for making the present text. (vol. I, no. 63; 
vol. IV, no. 709; vol. VI, nos. 507, 510) 
         
  It is clear that the text of the Qur'an was not perfect and that conflicts 
arose which made it necessary to make one uniform text. That Uthman tried 
to burn all the other Qur'ans is clear. Yet, there are thousand of variant 
readings and there remains controversies about verses such as the one about 
stoning which were omitted by mistake.                                      
         
IV. The Contradictions and Variant Readings in the Hadith                
         
 One  problem all Muslims face is that there are contradictions in the 
Hadith, conflicting readings and abrogations of Hadiths (Bukhari vol. I, 
nos. 42, 47, 74, 78, 80, 81, 86, 102, 107, 112, 159 vs 160, 161, 179, 180; 
vol. III, nos. 159,161; Muslim vol. I, nos. 682,685, 689,699;   vol. II, 
nos. 2547,2548)). The footnote on Bukhari  vol. III, no. 159 says, 
"Hadith no. 159 contradicts the Hadith of Al-Hassan"   Evidently Allah was 
not capable of preserving a perfect text of the Hadith. On what grounds then 
can we assume that the Qur'an was kept perfect?                                                        
         
V. The Inspiration of the Qur'an 
         
  The mistakes in the Qur'an are well known. I list over one hundred such 
problems in Islamic Invasion. The following is a few of the more 
glaring problems  that the average person has no problem seeing. All we need 
is ONE factual error to disprove the Qur'an. We are not talking about 
conflicts with theories but with brute facts.      
         
1. Theological errors: The Qur'an is mistaken about what Christians and Jews 
   believe. (Surah 5:73,75; 9:30).   
         
2. Historical mistakes: the Samaritans (Surah 20:85,97), Alexander the Great, 
   etc.    
         
3. Grammatical errors: Arabic scholars point out errors in Surahs 2:177, 192; 
   3:59; 4:162; 5:69; 7:160; 13:28; 20:66; 63:10, etc.   
         
4. Linguistical errors: Even though the Qur'an claims to be in pure Arabic 
   (12:2; 13:37; 16:105; 41:44;42:7 ), it has foreign words.   
         
5. Scientific errors: sun in muddy pond (Surah 18:86), mountains never shake 
   (Surah 16:15;   21:31; 31:10; 78:6,7; 88:19)    
         
6. Moral errors: Muhammad justifying the taking of his daughter-in-law 
   Surah 33:36,38)   
         
7. Mathematical errors: Did creation take six days (Surahs 7:51; 10:3) or 
   eight days (Surah 41:9,   10, 12)?   
         
8. Chronological errors: Puts Muslim vocabulary put into mouth of Patriarch, 
   prophets, etc. (Surah 2:128133; 7:124,126, etc.). The words did not exist 
   in Hebrew or Arabic at that time.   
         
9. Biblical errors: The convolution of names, places, events and times. 
   Couldn't even get the name of Jesus right. He was the Son of God who died 
   for our sins on the cross according to the Bible. The Qur'an contradicts this.   
         
10. Political errors: Commands Jihad against apostates and non-Muslims 
    (Surahs 4:91; 5:33; 9:5)                                           
                             
Conclusion 
         
The Hadith and the Qur'an stand or fall together. The facts are clear that 
they are not from God and are false works.                                                                     
         
         
         
Part II The Secular Approach                 
         
Modern scholars such as Crook, Crone, Wansbrough, Rippin, etc. are 
giving us a totally different model of the origins of Islam and the 
Qur'an. Once you put aside the Qur'an and the Hadith, you begin to 
see that Islam created the Qur'an instead of the Qur'an creating 
Islam. Islam created a mythological Muhammad who is nothing like 
the historical Muhammad, if that was his true name. The Qur'an had 
multiple authors from various locations who combined different 
legends and materials to make the stories found in it. It took 
150-200 years for the Qur'an to appear. Muhammad never saw the 
present Qur'an and would disown it if show it. He is not the source 
of it. This explains the contradictions and mistakes in it.        
         
         
Time line
                570     Muhammad's birth
7th Century
                610     Muhammad's call to prophethood
                632     Muhammad's death
                650     Calif Uthman
         
                691     Dome of the Rock
8th Century     700
         
         
                        legends
                                  myths
9th Century     800                       traditions
         
                        700,000 Hadiths
                850     Bukhari's Hadith
         
10th Century
                923     Tabari's Commentary
         
         
         
	1. No references to Muhammad as a prophet have been found in
contemporary literature, rock inscriptions or coins.
         
	2. No manuscripts of the Qur'an exist before 150-200 years after
Muhammad. This allows opportunity for myths and legends to arise.
         
	3. The claim that Uthman complied the Qur'an has no evidence to
support it.
         
	4. The claim that two "original" Uthman Qur'ans can be seen at
Topkapi, Turkey and in Tashkent, Russia is false. The manuscripts are
in the Kufic script which did not exist in the 7th Century. They are 
clearly fron the 9th Century and are in "landscape" format which was 
not used in the 7th century.
         
	5. The present text of Qur'an came from multiple authors using
erroneous legends, myths, and stories. It has many additions, deletions,
variant readings, and no primary source materials to support it. It is
thus a corrupt text and cannot be trusted to tell us what Muhammad
really taught or did.
         
	6. The text and stories of the Hadith are as corrupt as the 
Qur'an. Where is the evidence to support its claims?
         
         
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