In my studies of religions it has been quite a revelation to me that there is a lot more to a religion than simply believing statements of faith. Of course I need not have studied anything to come to this realization, I myself have been a part of a religious community from birth. Along with any religion comes a community of believers, comes festal gatherings, feasts, fasts, singing and so many other familiar rituals and rites of passage. We humans are sentimental creatures by nature and so when we defend our beliefs we are not simply defending what we "believe" but also the memories, the culture and the community that we are a part of.
There is what can be dangerous in religion I think. Our
experience is a bit like living in a box. Everything that we learn about our
system of belief, the history of our religion and of our holy men comes to us
from within the box. What I mean is that all this information is communicated
to us by people who are inside our religion. To illustrate this point, I have
learned about the beliefs of some very eccentric cults in America
My particular interest is in the"Abrahamic
Faiths". By Abrahamic faiths I am referring to: Judaism, Christianity and
Islam. These three religions share the same root, that of the man Abraham. In
essence, Christianity and Islam are branches springing from the tree of
Judaism. Jesus, the hero of the Christian faith, is claimed by them (and Islam)
to be the Messiah prophesied by the holy men in the Jewish tradition. Mohammed,
the hero of the Islamic faith, is claimed by them to be a prophet/reformer sent
by God to bring all of his faithful back to the truth which has been perverted
and deserted by the Christians and the Jews.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the claims
of this last man to arrive on the scene - Mohammed, because his words have
serious implications for those belonging to the other two Faiths. Indeed
Mohammed had a lot to say to both Christians and Jews,
"O
People of the Book! Now hath come unto you, making (things)
clear
unto you, Our Messenger, after the break in (the series of) our
messengers, lest ye should say:
"There came unto us no bringer of glad
tidings
and no warner (from evil)": But now hath come unto you a bringer
of
glad tidings and a warner (from evil)." (Quran 5:19)
Mohammed sees himself at the end of a long and well
respected line of "messengers" from God calling his people back to
righteousness. What I hope to highlight here is how unique he was when compared
with the prophets who came before him. As we begin to look at the words of
Mohammed it does not seem at first that he wants to overturn the authority of
the Scriptures that have come before him. He says,
"Lo!
We did reveal the Torah, wherein is guidance and a light, by
which
the prophets who surrendered (unto Allah) judged the Jews, and the
rabbis
and the priests (judged) by such of Allah's Scripture as they were
bidden
to observe, and thereunto were they witnesses." (Quran 5:44)
And to the Christians he says,
"And
in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming
the
Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was
guidance
and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him:
a guidance
and an admonition to those who fear Allah." (Quran 5:46)
So if this is what Mohammed says about himself and the
Holy Scriptures, I would expect that he would have gone about encouraging
people everywhere to come back to God and obey the Scriptures that have been
given as the other reformer prophets did before him, but this was not to be.
With previous prophets of the Biblical tradition, their
messages were transcribed and gradually added to the collection of prophetic
writings after those who heard them had made absolutely certain that they were
in fact the real thing and not just pretending to speak for God. This is what I
find truly unique about the situation with Mohammed. His words were not added
to the Bible along with those of the prophets that came before him, instead he
says,
"O
people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger,
revealing
to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over
much (that is now unnecessary):
There hath come to you from Allah a (new)
light
and a perspicuous Book" (Quran 5:15)
One book to replace them all! In practice we find that
rather than bring people back to an established religion, Mohammed has for many
people replaced it with his own. So when Mohammed references a passage from the
Torah, it is this reinterpreted text that replaces the original one and Muslims
do not feel obliged to look it up in the original text. Have a look at this
passage from the Quran where Mohammed quotes a passage from the Torah,
"Allah
did aforetime take a covenant from the Children of Israel,
and
we appointed twelve captains among them. And Allah said: "I am with
you:
if ye (but) establish regular prayers, practise regular charity,
believe
in my messengers, honour and assist them, and loan to Allah a
beautiful
loan, verily I will wipe out from you your evils, and admit you
to
gardens with rivers flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this,
resisteth
faith, he hath truly wandered from the path or rectitude." (Quran 5:12 )
If you had to search the Torah to find the words that
Mohammed is referring to (as I did), you will find the following words instead,
"Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the
judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to
teach you, that ye might do them in the land
whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep
all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son,
and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it;
that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the
LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk
and honey." (Deut 6)
You will not find mention in the Torah of
"regular prayers", "regular charity" or a "loan to
Allah". What we have in Muhammad’s quote or summary of the verse are parts
of the “Five pillars of Islam". Not only is Mohammed unique among the
prophets by presenting one new book to replace them all, he is also unique in
the way he reinterprets the Scriptures which went before him in order to bring
his new message. Mohammed went on to say,
"when Jesus, the son of
Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to
you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a
messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them
with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic." (Quran 6:6)
Now, again, I am not sure if this is intended to be a
direct quotation or a summary of the text, but if you search the Gospel of
Jesus you will find that the only verse which refers to someone who comes after
Jesus is this one,
"And
I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16,17)
The name "Ahmad"
[Praised One] in the Quranic verse, is used by Mohammed to refer to himself. Mohammed
is claiming here that Jesus prophesied that he would come. Could Mohammed be quoting
this verse from the gospel of John? Surely not because if this verse is
referring to Mohammed then how could the disciples of Jesus have known him at
that time considering that Mohammed was not yet born? How could it be that he (Mohammed)
"dwelleth with you, and shall be in you"? Quite apart from these
inconsistencies there is the interpretation of this promise in the rest of the
Bible itself. The Bible later records that the fulfillment of this prophecy
happened after Jesus' ascension at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which is
recorded in the Book of Acts. How do we resolve this mystery? Can it be that Mohammed
has also reinterpreted Jesus’ prophecy which is recorded in his Gospel? This
puts Mohammed in the rather interesting position of being the one to both
reinterpret the prophecy (by divine inspiration of an angel) and the person to
fulfill it.
Large portions of the Biblical story have been
reinterpreted in the Quran. It is not true to say that the Quran is a retelling
of the Biblical story with only a few minor revisions. Neither is it intended
to "supplement" the established Scriptures, this is evident in the
fact that neither the Torah nor the Gospel of Christ are read in Mosque along
with the Quran. It seems that the very unorthodox style of this late prophet
has put us in the rather uncomfortable position of having to choose between the
Bible and his Quran.
What is not unique about the prophet Mohammed is the
scathing tone which he directed towards the "apostate" Jews and
Christians. Joseph Smith Jr was one of a
of host men who adopted a similar tone and message after the visit which he received
from the angel Moroni
Why do I mention this? Only because I think it sheds some
light on the very hotly contested title of 'the last prophet'. Mohammed assured
us that he would be the last prophet that God sent us, but even before him we have
these words of Jesus regarding prophets who would come after him,
"Then shall they
deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall
betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall
rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of
many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved." Mat 24:9-13
Who are we to believe then? Are we to believe that Jesus
prophesied another prophet to come who would bring us back to the truth, as the
Quran tells us, or are we to believe that he said that the prophets to come
after him would be false, as the Bible says?
In defense of the truth of the Quran many Muslims say that God gave his messenger the Quran because the Bible had been corrupted and could no longer be trusted (although I am yet to find a compelling verse in the Quran to make this case). I am not sure if people who make this argument are aware of how inconsistent this view is with the history of God’s dealings with his people. There have been many times in history when the people of God turned their backs on him and walked in evil. In those times of rebellion God would send his prophets to turn his people back to himself. It has always been people that have been inconsistent, but God says about himself, “I the Lord do not change.” (Mal 3:6) Not only is he unchanging but his words which are revealed to us through the prophets cannot be changed. The prophet David wrote, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” (Psalms 12:6) I have spoken of the Gospel of Jesus, what of his words? Can they be changed? He says, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Mat 24:35
My point is that the Scriptures
that we have received from God are one of the few reliable gifts from God by
which we can judge what is true and what is false, what is good and what is
evil. I will trust the Scriptures before I trust any man, and I believe that is
the way God intended it. Any holy man, priest, prophet or preacher must first
be subjected to the full scrutiny of Scripture, without immunity. It is for the
Scriptures to judge people, not for a person to stand in judgment of the
Scriptures. The accusation that people have in some way altered God’s holy Scriptures
is more a reflection of the accuser's low view of God (the ultimate author and
preserver of His Scriptures) than it is of the current validity and authority
of the Scriptures. If we cannot at least be sure of the unchanging nature of
the Scriptures then our guiding light, our true north is lost forever. If the
Scriptures can be changed then what is to stop me from standing up tomorrow and
announcing, "Mohammed did a great
job restoring all of God's words to us, but it has been hundreds of years since
then and not only was the Torah tampered with by the Jews, the Gospel adapted
by the Christians but now the Quran has also been corrupted by the Muslims. The
good news is that an angel visited me last night..."
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