A question for the Muslim

I am puzzled over the use of 'WE' in the Qur'an in which Allah refers to himself in plural form.

I would appreciate it if a Muslim could elaborate on this matter and educate us all where this use of 'WE' originally comes from, what it means, if it was used as such prior to Islam?

Debunking Islam: Islam and the Apostles of Jesus

This will be only a short point made on the modern Muslim view on the Biblical-Christian apostles.

I continue to be amazed by the inconsistency of Islamic apologetics and argumentation. I guess Muslims are aware of the danger posed upon Islam by the fact that early Christianity was organised and led by invidiuals who knew Jesus, who were trained by Jesus and appointed by Jesus.

Particularly damaging for Islam is the fact that the teaching and account of Jesus that we possess today (which is the only Gospel=Injeel) derives from these very individuals, the apostles.

Hence when Christians quote Matthew's Gospel or John's Gospel or the Epistle of First Peter, Muslims are often quick to point out that the apostles were failures and therefore unsuitable as candidates for the transmission of Jesus.

Already here, lays the first problem for the religion of Islam, namely that the information that we possess and that has existed in history that transmits the teaching of Jesus was conveyed to us by these very apostles.

Thus if these were unsuitable, we conclude that the Injeel referred to by the Qur'an is not even worthy of consideration. This is obvious considering that the Qur'an is referring to the same Gospel information that Christians have always possessed; for example it is obvious that the Qur'an mistakenly refers to councelor in John 14: 16 as Muhammad, who then existed in Jesus' time, the Muhammad who lived in the apostles, the Muhammad who is omnipresent, the Muhammad who in the same chapter is joined with the Father and the Son, and the Muhammad who was sent by Jesus.

If the Gospels went through seventy years of corruptive process and were embellished as Shabir Ally so often exclaims I find it funny that this very passage is not found in Mark's Gospel but rather in the Gospel to which Muslims ascribe the ultimate corruption (Another serious blunder for the Qur'an and modern Islamic apologists).

Hence we know that the Qur'an is here referring to e.g. John's Gospel, which Muslims consider a fabrication, lol, don't ask me how they manage to thrive in such confusion.

Secondly, Muslims tend to reject the apostles due to their immaturity as described in the Gospels. A Muslim I argued with lately referred to Mark 8: 33 where Jesus says to Peter: 'Get behind me satan...you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men'.

This particular Muslim assumed that Peter was develish and his epistles and contribution to the Gospel transmission would therefore have to be categorized invalid, after all how are we to take a individual seriously whom Jesus himself has named 'devil'.

Three problem arise here with this methodology:

Firstly, Muhammad himself can hardly be considered mature prior to or while being a prophet of God. He doubted God's revelation, attempted suicide (Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 111), received and transmitted revelation from Satan demanding worship of idols (Sura 22: 52-53), not to speak of the illicit behaviour on the maritial and sexual level.

If Muslims have no problem in seeing Muhammad as a valid prophet, I am astonished that they can reject Peter as an apostle of God.

Secondly, the passage describes Peter while still being instructed as a disciple, in other words Peter is still immature and slightly ignorant. In fact the immaturity of the apostles was a favorite argument of the second century Gnostic adheres, an argument that was effectively refuted by Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origin.

Thirdly, why is Peter categorized as a devil in this passage, I guess my Muslim friend failed to read the passage fully. Well, Peter was in this context harshly rebuked by Jesus since he objected to Jesus' death and resurrection which both contradict the teachings of the Qur'an.

In other words the passage describes here every Muslim and any individual who objects to the death and suffering of Jesus. I must say utilizing this argument from a Muslim point of view is shooting the entire foot off.

I remember Ayaz in our Birmingham Debate in 2008 qouted Thomas in John 14, where Thomas appears not to know the way to God. I find it funny that here we have yet another Muslim debater who fails to realize that the disciples of Jesus at this point do not possess the fullness of understanding which they were to possess later.

Fourthly, I guess Muslims not only fail to understand the Bible, they either deliberately or out of ignorance fail to understand their own book, the Qur'an.

According to the Qur'an the Apostles were not at all invalid or unsuccessful or failures; the Qur'an declares that the apostles of Jesus were Muslims:

When Jesus found unbelief on their part, he said: ‘who will be my helpers to (the work of ) Allah?’ Said the disciples: ‘We are Allah’s helpers: we believe in Allah and do you bear witness that we are Muslims. Our Lord! We believe in what you have revealed, and we follow the messenger, then write us down among those who bear witness’ (3: 53-4)

The Apostles according to this passage are those who bear witness and the Gospels we possess today and which the Qur'an (but not the follower of the Qur'an) confirms as valid is their testimony (How can Muslims today reject these previous revelations and still claim to be believers and faithful students devoted to the Qur'an?).

Secondly, the Qur'an declares that the followers of Jesus in contrast to the rest of Israel were victorious:

O you who believe! Be you helpers of Allah: as said Jesus the son of Mary to his disciples, “who will be my helpers (to the work) Allah?” Said the disiciples, “We are Allah’s helpers!” Then a portion of the children of Israel believed, and a portion disbelieved: but we gave power to those who believed, against their enemies, and they became the ones that prevailed (Sura 6: 14)

Conclusion:

The apostles when succeeding the Jesus in transmitting his teaching and account had matured in every way in stark contrast to the Gospels

The immaturity of the disciples in the Gospels is tantamount to the adherer of the Islamic doctrine.

The Qur'an praises the contribution of the apostles.

There to my Muslim readers, if you deprive the apostles of Jesus off the status ascribed upon them by both the Bible and the Qur'an you object to the Qur'an. On the other hand if you choose obedience to your book you accept their testimony, which is the Gospels and hence you cannot be a Muslim.

Oh come on, that cant be so difficult or is it?

Islam on Decline

Is Islam on decline?

It has become a normalcy to portray Islam as a growing religion, yet my own observation reveals that Islam may also be heading toward serious era of decline. This is hardly mentioned in todays assessments of Islamic statistics.

Why do I say this? Well among Muslims secularism is seriously on the rise, many of the Muslims I speak to here in the UK complain that mosque attendance is declining, furthermore it is heartbreaking to see the hight percentage of Muslim youth ending up in drugs and crime. The only individual ever trying to sell me drugs was an Arabic Muslim. Muslim youth in my area behave as indicently as the secular youth, sleeping around, following the worldly path and selling drugs for sex with white girls.

We may also take into consideration conversion and apostacy in Islam. It is estimated that two- thirds or more of those embracing Islam leave Islam unsatisfied or unsuccessful. On the other hand, as Christians we see currently a flux into the Christian fold from the Muslim community.

Recent statistic reveals that currently there are 20 million ex-Muslims who have embraced the Christian faith and this is only the beginning. This is also the impression I get here in UK. Only four years ago you hardly met or heard of Muslim converts to Christianity in UK, now we meet them everywhere, and that's not all, even more surprisingly is the number of Muslims we meet who are interested in becoming followers of Jesus Christ.

This begs the question: were missionary experts correct in their prediction that the world is now heading toward a Christian revival among the muslims, both within the Western Muslim community and in the Muslim world? Is God at the moment preparing the way for such a global occurance?

Well, consider this, not only is it the number of converts to Christianity, which on the rise everywhere in the Muslim world, but there is also a common experience shared by hundreds of thousands of Muslims globally in which they receive dreams and visions of the Biblical Jesus Christ revealing to them that he is the Son of God and that their faith in Islam is false.

Missionaries have recently discovered this phenomena among entire groups of Muslim children who experience this mutually.

My conclusion, Islam may decline or expand its growth and influence, it may even be the fulfilment of the Beast predicted in the Book of Revelation whose influence and powers were triggered by a false prophet, however, God and his people will remain victorious and influential even as lambs among the wolves to the very end of age, and the Christian harvest among the one billion global Muslim community has just begun.

It also concludes that the actual real muslims among the over all Muslim community might soon be as tiny as the hard core evangelical population of UK compared to the over all population.

It is needless for me to say however, that nobody can be a real Muslim as should be obvious to anyone engaging in a indepth study of the Qur'an.

Short Summer report

Brothers and sisters

To me personally it's been a great summer. It was a privilege to meet David Wood and Nabeel this summer and I was happy to be present for at least three of the Christian-Muslim debates in London in July. It was great to see debators from both factions not only debating each others but also be friends; I believe this is the way ahead. I was particuarly great to met Yahya Seymour and converse in a normal and friendly matter.

I have managed to take a number of church meetings while in Denmark. This time I decided that my overall topic should focus on God and the problem of evil; its been a blessing and the response from Christians has been overwhelming and positive. Funny, to me personally evil and suffering so far has not caused any doubt as to God's existence or more correctly God being.

I would appreciate your prayers for 22 and 30 August as I have taken it upon myself to do four lecturs focusing on a number of issues related to apologetics such as: 'God's existence', 'The problem of evil', 'Is the Bible the Word of God' and 'Science'. As far as I know a number of non-Christians might be present.

God willing I am back in the UK in September and will resume my studies and debate ministry. I have a number of projects ahead for this year in which I appreciate your prayers.

God bless you all

Debate: The Bible and the Qur'an Which is the Word of God?

Hi Everyone

My debate with Ayaz October last year can now be viewed here:

http://www.theonlyway.org.uk/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=54

Lecture on the Qur'an and Modern Science

Dear readers and participants we are preparing a one and a half hour session this month on the Qur'an and modern science. In the session we will debunk the famous claims of modern Muslim missionaries that the Qur'an predicts modern science.

This first lecture will concentrate on the Qur'an and cosmology in particular. God willing a lecture on the Qur'an, biology and earth science will follow later.

And God willing the lecture will be available on the internet in July.


The topics include:


The Qur'an and the Big Bang theory
The Qur'an insight into the gasseous universe
The Qur'an and the Expansion of the Universe
The Qur'an and the world of atoms
The Seven heavens and seven earths in the Qur'an
The Solar orbit in the Qur'an
The Qur'an and stellar objects and their movements

The Fabrication and Corruption of the Qur'an

Dear readers, students and participaters

This seminar will be held on Wednesday 13 May related to the Qur'an and why Christians reject it as the Word of God.

This is list below contains the variaty of topics we will assess under our session:

1. The Qur'anic Testimony to the Bible
2. The Inability of Allah to protect the Qur'an while revealed
3. Short introduction to the Satanic verses
4. Humans who influenced the Qur'anic information
5. Passages in the Qur'an revealed to benefit the prophet above others
6. The sources of the Qur'an: Greek philosophy, the Talmud and other Jewish sources, the Gospel of John and Gnosticism
7. The Fact that Muslims in Muhammad's time failed to preserve the Qur'an in its oral and written form.
8. The state of the Qur'an after Muhammad's death and prior to its written composition
9. The variaty of Qur'ans and their variaties
10. The conspiracy: the burning and revision of the Qur'an, its purpose and political motive
11. The attempt to clear away all traces of the conspiracy
12. Contradictions and errors in the Qur'an