I still find this quote one of the best explanations as to why the West is scrambling to understand the actions of Jihad.

(Writing before Sept. 11, 2001) The Jihad, the Islamic so-called Holy War, has been a fact of life in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Near and Middle East for more than 1,300 years, but this is the first history of the Muslim wars in Europe ever to be published. Hundreds of books, however, have appeared on its Christian counterpart, the Crusades, to which the Jihad is often compared, although they lasted less than two hundred years and unlike the Jihad, which is universal, were largely but not completely confined to the Holy Land. Moreover, the Crusades have been over for more than 700 years, while the Jihad is still going on in the world. The Jihad has been the most unrecorded and disregarded major event of history. It has, in fact, been largely ignored. For instance, the Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the Crusades eighty times more space than the Jihad. In the New South Wales State Library, where I did part of my research while in Australia, there were 108 entries listed in their catalogue cards for the Crusades, but only two for Jihad! The Jihad has been largely bypassed by Western historians, and this book is an attempt to right the situation, for the Jihad has affected the lives – and continues to do so – of far, far more people and regions in the world than the long-extinct Crusades ever did. (Paul Fregosi, Jihad in the West, New York: Prometheus Books, 1998, p.19)

Here is a new leaflet to help you explain the ministry of the Apostle Paul to your Muslim friends.

http://engagingwithislam.org/leaflets/Paul_Gospel.pdf

There are many other leaflets in the “Evangelism” menu item.

Bart Ehrman has been popular in Muslim circles as a reliable and authentic source for understanding Christianity. A typical quote from Bart used by Muslims is the following:

The argument based on Jesus as liar, lunatic, or Lord was predicated on the assumption that Jesus had called himself God. … I had come to realize that none of our earliest traditions indicates that Jesus said any such thing about himself. And surely if Jesus had really spent his days in Galilee and then Jerusalem calling himself God, all our sources would be eager to report it. To put it differently, if Jesus claimed he was divine, it seemed very strange indeed that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all failed to say anything about it. Did they just forget to mention that part? I had come to realise that Jesus’ divinity was part of John’s theology, not part of Jesus’ own teaching. (Bart Ehrman, Jesus Interrupted, 2009, pp. 141-142)

But now Bart has changed his mind.

Until a year ago I would have said – and frequently did say, in the classroom, in public lectures, and in my writings – that Jesus is portrayed as God in the Gospel of John but not, definitely not, in the other Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. … I finally yielded. These Gospels do indeed think of Jesus as divine. Being made the very Son of God who can heal, cast out demons, raise the dead, pronounce divine forgiveness, receive worship together suggests that even for these Gospels Jesus was a divine being, not merely a human. … So yes, now I agree that Jesus is portrayed as a divine being, a God-man, in all the Gospels. But in very different ways, depending on which Gospel you read. (Bart Ehrman, ehrmanblog.org, posted 13-04-2014)

This is an enormous change in understanding and Bart is to be commended for his honesty, however, Muslims need to consider the changing nature of his arguments when they quote him as a reliable and authentic source for understanding Christianity.

When Christians and Muslims talk about God the question of the preservation of the Bible and Qur’an often comes up. Christians are regularly told that the Bible has been corrupted and that only the Qur’an is perfectly preserved. This new booklet deals with this issue. Print it out as an A5 booklet. Read it yourself and give a copy to your Muslim friend.

The Preservation of the Qur’an

I have just finished a new leaflet for Christians to give to their Muslim friends about the preservation of the Qur’an (see next post) and while writing it I considering the following familiar hadith:

Abu Harb b. Abu al-Aswad reported on the authority of his father that Abu Musa al-Ash’ari sent for the reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in number. They recited the Qur’an and he said: You are the best among the inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you. We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara’at (sura 9). I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it:” If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust.” And we used so recite a slirah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it:” Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise” (lxi 2.) and” that is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection” (xvii. 13). (Sahih Muslim: bk. 5, no. 2286)

This hadith mentions suras that were once recited but are now not part of the Qur’an. However, what I had not noticed before were the surrounding hadiths to the above hadith:

Anas b. Malik reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying this, but I do not know whether this thing was revealed to him or not, but he said to. (Sahih Muslim: bk. 5, no. 2283)

Ibn Abbas reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: If there were for the son of Adam a valley full of riches, he would long to possess another one like it. and Ibn Adam does not feel satiated but with dust. 1413 And Allah returns to him who returns (to HiM). 1414 Ibn Abbas said: I do not know whether it is from the Qur’an or not; and in the narration transmitted by Zuhair it was said: I do not know whether it is from the Qur’an, and he made no mention of Ibn Abbas. (Sahih Muslim: bk. 5, no. 2285)

What struck me with these hadiths is the open way in which they say that major companions like Anas b. Malik and Ibn Abbas did not know whether this was part of the Qur’an. These hadiths lend support to the other hadiths which say the Qur’an was gathered together from different sources; it was not that the major companions had memorized the entire Qur’an and simply wrote it out.

A point of application for this is that sometimes Muslims attack the Bible by saying there were some books in the New Testament that the early Christians discussed as whether or not they were authentic while all of the Qur’an was universally accepted by all Muslims. Most of the New Testament was homologoumena, that is, accepted by all the churches without exception. However there were a few documents that were antilegomena, that is, spoken against by some but received by the majority. However, these hadiths show that Islam too had its homologoumena and antilegomena material.

Debate: Can God become a man?

Sydney University, Old Geology Lecture Theatre

Tuesday May 6, 6pm.

Speakers: Sheikh Wesam Charkawi and Samuel Green

https://www.facebook.com/events/1443077652598475/

It is orthodox Muslim belief that Muhammad is the final prophet – but it took many years for this belief to become orthodox as there were other people claiming to prophets around this time. It was through the actions of Muhammad’s close companions that the belief that he was the final prophet was enforced and made orthodox. 

Muhammad in Context

The following people claimed to be prophets at the same time Muhammad was claiming to be a prophet:

• Talhah bin Khuwailid Al-Asadi
• Malik bin Nuwairah
• Al-Mundhir bin An-Numan
• Al-Yamamah Musailamah
• Dhu At-Taj
• Muhammad bin Abdullah
• Laqit bin Malik Al-Azdi
• Iyas bin Abdullah bin Abd Yalil
• Al-Ashath bin Qais Al-Kindy
• Qais bin Makshuh
• Al-Aswad Al-Ansi (Dr. Shawqi Abu Khalil, Atlas on the Prophet’s Biography, Riyadh: Darussalam, 2003, p. 254)

These prophets were monotheists and some were known to have their own words from God which they taught to their followers. This is the Arabian context in which Muhammad was doing his activity; he was not alone.

When some of the Arabian tribes accepted Islam they accepted Muhammad as a prophet along with their own prophet. They had at least two prophets. Muhammad was certainly not viewed as the final prophet by these early Muslims.

How did the belief that Muhammad was the final prophet become the orthodox view?

(Immediately after the death of Muhammad) The situation that Abu Bakr faced on assuming the caliphate was very grim. Many tribes apostatised from Islam and refused to pay Zakat. Many false prophets rose throughout the length and breadth of Arabia, and many people offered allegiance to them. The argument that weighed with them was that a living prophet was to be preferred to one who was dead. (Prof. Masud ul Hasan, History of Islam, 2002, vol. 1, p. 97)

And so we see that after Muhammad’s death these other prophets continued their activity. Abu Bakr’s response to this situation was to declare war on these Muslims and unify them around Muhammad alone. To the north of Medina was the tribe of Asad. They followed their prophet Talhah. Muhammad’s followers marched against them and defeated them at Buzakha. The tribe of Hanifa was led by the prophet Musailamah. Muhammad’s followers fought hard against this tribe and finally killed Musailamah. In Oman Laquit b Malik was the prophet. An army was sent against him. Laquit and ten thousand of his followers were killed. In Yemen there was a prophet called Aswad Ansi. He had a large following. Muhammad’s army defeated them and killed Aswad.

This is how Muhammad became the final prophet; his close companions killed all the other prophets and forced their version of Islam upon these Arab tribes. Muhammad’s Qur’an was to be preserved but any Qur’an-like material from these other prophets was not preserved.

Reflections and Applications

1. It was not universally acknowledged among the early Muslims that Muhammad was the final prophet. This belief took time to be established and was enforced violently on the early Islamic community. If these different early Islamic communities had been allowed to continue to follow their own prophet then their belief that Muhammad was not the final prophet would continue today and Islam would look very different.

2. Muhammad and his companions did not introduce monotheism into Arabia but by killing the other prophets they introduced Muhammadism. The Islam of these early Muslim communities who had other prophets along with Muhammad now had to conform to Muhammadism.

3. The killing of these prophets and stopping the transmission of any Qur’an-like material they may have had destroyed important evidence for the context of Muhammad’s Qur’an. How did what Muhammad recite relate to what these other prophets recited? Was there common material between them? Did any of their material get included in Muhammad’s Qur’an or was Muhammad’s completely different to them? It is an assumption to say there was no connection between them and Muhammad. To claim that what Muhammad recited was completely unique is an argument from silence, a silence created by killing these prophets and their words. Therefore when we think about the history of the Qur’an we need to consider this context. Even if we cannot answer certain questions about these prophets and their words we can at least know that modern Islamic claims are just assumptions and arguments from silence.

4. “How Muhammad became the final prophet” would be a good title for a book and there is plenty of material in the Islamic sources to work with. I say this because there are a few books with titles like “How Jesus Became God” and Muslims seem to like these books. However, Muslims cannot say that because early Christians wrestled to understand the divinity of Jesus this means his divinity is a later invention. Would Muslims say the same about Muhammad being the final prophet? Some issues take a while to sort out. The main issue for Christians and Muslims in this area is to make sure we learn our history properly and not rely on cliches and exaggeration.

Muslim leaders tell us that Jesus’ description of the coming Spirit/Comforter in John 14-16 is a description of Muhammad and not the Biblical Holy Spirit, and therefore Jesus predicted the coming of Muhammad in John 14-16. As a result Christians and Muslims may think that this is the only possible Islamic interpretation of John 14-16, however this is not the case, there is a better Islamic interpretation of John 14-16.

The Qur’an speaks about Muhammad but it also speaks about the Spirit of God and the Qur’an’s description of the Spirit is far more similar to John 14-16 than Muhammad is. The following table is a simple comparison between the Spirit/Comforter in John 14-16, the Spirit in the Qur’an, and Muhammad.

The Qur’an’s description of God’s Spirit is very close to that found in John 14-16, however, Muhammad is not close at all. This means there is stronger evidence from the Qur’an that John 14-16 is about the Holy Spirit rather than Muhammad. To say that Muhammad is the fulfilment of John 14-16 is a weak Qur’anic argument. The much stronger Qur’anic argument is to say that John 14-16 is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit.

The Qur’an never quotes any part of John 14-16 and claims that it is refers to Muhammad. This means that Muslims are not compelled to say that John 14-16 is about Muhammad. It is a perfectly legitimate Qur’anic argument to say that John 14-16 is referring to the Holy Spirit, in fact it is a stronger Qur’anic argument to do so.

Application

When Muslims say to Christians that John 14-16 is about Muhammad the Christian can answer that this is not the only Islamic option for how to understand this scripture; Islam has at least two options. Then, the Christian can ask the Muslim why they believe the weaker Islamic argument, that it refers to Muhammad, over the stronger Islamic argument, that it refers to the Holy Spirit, when there is no necessity for them to do so? According to the Qur’an John 14-16 is about the Holy Spirit.