Understanding Islam XXXV: Nazil Revelation & Bizarre Behavior, Part 1

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.