The interesting thing to note about Allah’s supposed
revelation to Muhammad about the Qur’an is the complete lack of corroborating
evidence that the Christian Scriptures supply. What do I mean? I am speaking of
the Muhammad’s Nazil Revelation of the Qur'an, or the fact that it comes from
one source alone, the man to which it was supposedly revealed, Muhammad. Nazil
tranlateed means “come down”. In Islamic Nazil revelation there were no outside
witnesses before or at the time who can corroborate Muhammad's testimony; nor
are miracles provided to substantiate his claims. In fact, the evidences for
the authority of God's revelation, which the Bible emphatically produces are
completely absent in the Qur'an. They are:
1) That the revelation of God usually speaks in the name of
God, Yahweh (Exodus 3:1-15; the New Testament equivalent is also “I am,” John
8:58)
2) That the message must conform to revelation which has
gone before. In other words, revelation must conform to the pattern of
Scripture (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Isaiah
8:20; Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; and Revelation 22:18-20)
3) That it must make predictions which are verifiable
(Deuteronomy 18:21-22; Isaiah 43:9; and John 13:18-21). A prophet speaking on
behalf of God is 100% correct or it is not God speaking to the prophet. God is
infallible and non-contradictory.
4) That the revelation is generally accompanied by signs and
wonders in order to give it authority as having come from God (Exodus 10:1-2;
Deuteronomy 18:21-22; Isaiah 41:21-24; and John 7:20-23). Because these are
missing in the case of the prophet Muhammad and of the Qur'an, for those of us
who are Christians, it seems indeed that it is the Qur'an and not the Bible
which turns out to be the most human of documents.
In the next post I will focus on how Muhammad received these
supposed Nazil Revelations. When you are don reading you will probably be as
uncomfortable as I was because of the nature of the revelation and what it did
to Muhammad. It certainly sounded familiar but not for good reasons.
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