Review of the Books by the Councils
Council of Nicaea (325) examined and
defined status of books – Epistle of Jude was genuine and believable.
Council of Laodicea (364): Confirmed
authenticity of Epistle of Jude, The book of Esther, The Epistle Of James, The
Second Epistle of Peter, The Second and Third Epistles of John, The Epistle of
Paul to the Hebrews. Book of Revelations remained out of list.
Council of Carthage (397): Added the
Book of the Songs of Solomon, The Book of Tobit, The Book of Baruch,
Ecclesiastics, The First and Second Books of Maccabees to the divine books.
The Books Rejected By the Protestants
The Book of Baruch, The Book of
Tobit, The Letter of Jude, The song of Solomon, Ecclesiastics, The First and
Second Books of Maccabees.
The Present Pentateuch Is Not the Book of Moses
1. The existence of the Torah,
Pentateuch, is not historically known before King Josiah (d 609 BCE). This book
along with its copies were again destroyed and burnt by Antiochus (215-164 BCE)
at the time of his invasion of Jerusalem.
2. The Pentateuch is very different
in style, we do not find even a single place to indicate that the author of
this book was Moses. In order to separate the statements which he thought were
the statements of God and Moses, he prefixed them with the phrases, “God says”
or “Moses said”. The third person has been used for Moses in every place. Had
it been the book of Moses, he would have used the first person for himself. At
least there would have been one place where we could find Moses speaking in the
first person.
3. The present Pentateuch includes
within its chapters some statements which are historically impossible to
attribute to Moses, e.g. death of Moses.
4. The present Pentateuch contains a
large number of errors while the words of the Prophet Moses must have been free
of this defect. Eg: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the
Lord, even to his tenth generation shall not enter into the congregation of the
Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:2). On the basis of this statement the Prophet David and
all his ancestors up to Perez would be excluded from the congregation of the
Lord because Perez was an illegitimate son of Judah.
Biblical text: Are they revealed?
Luke’s writing is not inspired is
evident from the dedication of his Gospel to Theophilus.
Irenaeus said that Luke conveyed to
us the things which he learnt from the apostles.
Jerome said that Luke does not depend
only on Paul, who was never in the physical company of Christ. Luke also
acquired the knowledge of the Evangel from other apostles as well.
According to Beausobre and L'Enfant
(a preface to the French Version of the New Testament, published 1718) an
expert of the original language will easily recognize the differences of idiom
and expression in the gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John and the epistles of
Paul. If, however, the Holy Ghost had truly inspired the words to them, this
would have not happened. The style and expression of all the gospels would have
been identical. Besides, there have been many events the description of which
does not require inspiration. For example, they write of many events which they
saw with their own eyes or heard from reliable observers.
Statements Regarding the Authenticity of the Bible
Adam Clarke said on page 369 of vol.
5 of his commentary: It is customary that the number of the writers on the
lives of great men has always been large. The same is true of Jesus and the
Apostles; that is to say the number of narrators of their lives is also great
but many of the statements they make are erroneous. They used to write
fictional events as if they were facts. They also made mistakes, deliberate or
accidental, in other descriptions, especially the historians of the land where
Luke wrote his Gospel. For this reason the Holy Spirit imparted appropriate
knowledge to Luke so that the faithful might know the true accounts.
In his Epistle to the Galatians Paul
said: I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel; which is not another but there be some
that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ (Gal.1:5,6). The above
statement of Paul brings out three important facts, firstly that there was a
gospel called the Gospel of Christ in the time of apostles; secondly that there
was another gospel that was different and contrary to the Gospel of Christ; and
thirdly that there were some people who wanted to distort and change the Gospel
of Christ, even in the time of Paul, not to speak of subsequent periods when
there was nothing left of this Gospel but its name. Adam Clarke under his
comments on the above verse said in vol. 6 of his commentary: It is established
that many minor gospels had become common in the early centuries of
Christianity. The abundance of such false and incorrect accounts led Luke to
write his Gospel. We read about more than seventy such gospels. Some parts of
these gospels are still in existence and available. Many such gospels were
collected and published in three volumes by Fabricius. Some describe the
obligatory nature of the laws of Moses, the validity of circumcision and
imperativeness of the Gospel. The above implies that many spurious gospels were
present before the compilation of the Gospel of Luke and Paul’s letter to
Galatians. It also proves that Paul referred to a properly compiled Gospel and
not to the meanings that he had conceived in his mind, as sometimes is
contended by the Protestants.
The fact that a gospel called the
Gospel of Christ existed in the time of the Apostles is certainly true and was
also testified to by Eichhorn and many other German scholars.
The Eloquence of the Qur’an
The Holy Qur’an maintains throughout the highest possible standard of
rhetoric in its speech, to the extent that it is literally impossible to find
its parallel in human works.
Human eloquence, whether from Arabs or non-Arabs, usually concerns the
physical phenomena that are closely associated with those people. For instance,
the Arabs are considered to be great orators and eloquent in the description of
camels, horses, swords and women. However, the Holy Qur’an does not fit this
pattern, owing nothing to precedent and being replete with astonishing and
unparalleled examples of eloquence that were unanimously acknowledged by all
the Arabs.
It is our usual experience that when poets and writers of literature
try to adorn their language with eloquent expressions they do not remain
truthful. The Holy Qur’an presents miraculous examples of eloquence in spite of
being absolutely true in all it says.
Any writer or poet, when he relates the same event more than once, does
not manage in the repeated account to be as elegant and beautiful as he was the
first time. The Holy Qur’an repeats versions of the same event, and of
descriptions of the creation and the end of the world, and of the injunctions
and the attributes of God. Each description is different in style and in size,
but everyone is of so high a standard that one cannot be preferred to another.
The Qur’an talks of many things like obligatory rituals, legal prohibitions,
instigation to virtue, repudiation of worldly desires, and preparation for the
Hereafter and other similar themes. The description of these things does not
lend itself to elegance and beauty and any poet trying to compose poetry on
practical injunctions of this kind would be hard put to produce a passage of
literary merit. The Holy Qur’an deals with all these subjects with a high
standard of eloquence.
The eloquence of every poet is confined to a particular subject and
when the same poet speaks on other subjects his beauty of expression and his
proficiency is distinctly circumscribed. Imru’l-Qais, the famous Arab poet, is
known for his description of wine, women and horses. No other poet is as
eloquent on this subject. Nabigha is known for his description of fear and
awful events, Zuhayr for hope and so on. The Holy Qur’an, on the other hand,
talks on all kinds of subjects with great force of eloquence, beauty and
elegance, and is found to be miraculously eloquent in each description.
Diversion from one subject to another which in turn has many branches
usually makes it impossible for an author to maintain flow and continuity with
the same grandeur and majesty and his language usually loses its height of
eloquence. The Holy Qur’an is full of such diversions.
Another distinct feature of the Qur’anic diction is that it encloses a
vast range of meaning in a surprisingly small number of words without losing
its charm and majesty in the least.
Surah Sad’s opening verses are a good example of this.
Majesty and sweetness, elegance and beauty are counteracting qualities
that are rarely found together in a single work. These two opposite qualities
are seen divinely combined together throughout the Qur’an in a way unknown to
human genius.
Divine Quality of the Qur’an
The second quality of the Qur’an that makes it a living miracle is its
unique structure and internal arrangement, and, above all, the sublimity of its
thought and contents.
Arabs were forced to admit that the language of Qur’an was comparable
neither with the poetry of the poets nor the oratory of the orators.
It is unimaginable that the Arabs who were known to be the masters of
the Arabic language would not have met the simple challenge of the Qur’an.
Walid ibn Mughirah, the nephew of Abu Jahl, burst into tears when he
heard the Qur’an recited. Abu Jahl came to him and admonished him. He replied:
I swear by God, none of you is as conversant and acquainted with poetry as I am
and I declare that the words of Muhammad have nothing to do with poetry.
Once at the time of Hajj the same Walid gathered together the
dignitaries of the tribe of Quraysh of Makka and suggested that they should
agree on what to say to the pilgrims if they enquired about Muhammad.
According to a report, the Companion of the Prophct, Abu Dharr, said
that he had not seen a poet greater than his brother Anis who had defeated
twelve poets in a contest in pre-Islamic days. Once, when he returned from
Makka, they asked him the opinion of the Makkans concerning the Holy Prophet.
He said that they accused him of being a poet, a soothsayer, and a sorcerer.
Then he said that he was fully conversant with the speech of soothsayers and
sorcerers and found the words of the Prophet in no way comparable to them. He
was neither a poet nor a sorcerer and soothsayer for all of them were liars
whereas his words were the truth.
Predictions
Conquest of Macca was foretold two years ago on 6AH, in Qur’an 48:28
In Qur’an 24:55, it is foretold that Allah will grand the Muslims land
inheritance of power, The whole of Arabian peninsula was brought under the Holy
Prophet’s domination in his own life. Islamic forces conquered Spain in the
West, and part of China in the East in just 20 years.
Conquest of Khaybar was promised in Qur’an 48:18-21.
The Holy Qur’an declares: The Roman Empire has been defeated, in a land
close by; but they, (even) after this defeat, will gain victory in a few years.
Allah’s is the command, in the past and in the future. On that day shall the
believers rejoice, with the help of Allah. He helps whom He wills. And He is
Mighty and the most merciful. (It is) the promise of Allah. Allah never departs
from His promise: but most men understand not. They crave for the outer (things
in the) life of this world, but of the Hereafter they are heedless. (Qur’an
30:1-7.). This surah was revealed in Makka when Persia defeated the Romans. The
Persians were Magicians by faith while the the Romans were Christians. The
idolaters of Makka were pleased with this news and argued with the Muslims that
they and the Christians claimed to be the People of the Book while the
Magicians and Makkans were without the Book. As the Christians of the Roman
Empire were defeated by the Persians, the Muslims would, likewise, be defeated
by the Makkans. The Holy Qur’an, itself, refuted’ their assumption in the above
verse and predicted the victory of the Romans. Abu Bakr Siddiq, the devoted
friend and companion of the Holy Prophet, told the Makkan idolaters that the
Romans would gain victory over the Persians in a few years. Ubayy Ibn Khalaf
accused him of making a false claim. It was decided that a specific period be
fixed for the confirmation of this prediction. Both of them offered ten camels
to be given to the winner and a period of three years was fixed. Abu Bakr told
the Holy Prophet of this and the Holy Prophet said that the prediction
contained the word bid’a (a few) which signifies a period from three years to
nine years, and suggested that he should increase the number of years by adding
to the number of camels. Abu Bakr went to Ubayy and it was decided that a
hundred camels would be given by each of them and the period of nine years was
fixed. Ubayy died when he was returning from the battle of Uhud in 3 AH.
Exactly seven years after this event the Byzantines gained a great victory over
Persia, as was predicted by the Holy Qur’an. Abu Bakr, having won his wager,
received hundred camels from Ubayy’s heirs. The Holy Prophet said that the
camels received by him should be given away in charity.
Knowledge of Past Events
He had no teachers nor did he ever keep company with scholars. On the
contrary, he was brought up among illiterate idol worshippers, devoid of any
knowledge of the scriptures. The Holy Prophet remained among these people
throughout his life, except for two trading journeys to Syria which were too
short to admit any possibility of his having acquired knowledge from anyone
there.
Unveiled and disclosed all the ill intentions of the hypocrites of
Madina
Qur'an unveiled and disclosed all the ill intentions of the hypocrites
of Madina. They used to conspire against Islam and the Muslims in their secret
meetings. All their decisions and secret plans were made known to the Holy
Prophet through divine revelation. He used to inform the Muslims of the
intentions of the hypocrites. All such expositions of the Holy Prophet were
found to be true.
The Holy Qur’an, in spite of being a copious and voluminous book, is
absolutely free of any contradiction, inconsistency or incompatibility which
would not possible for any human work of this size.
The Holy Qur’an rightly claims to be the only divine revelation that is
everlasting, preserving its originality and genuineness beyond all reasonable
doubts. The texts of other Prophets and their signs all disappeared with them
and no trace of them can now be found in the world.
Another distinct divine feature of the Holy Qur’an is its capability of
being memorized, even by those who do not know the Arabic language. The Qur’an
refers to this feature in this verse: "We have made the Qur’an easy to
remember" (Qu’ran 55:22).
Christian Objections
1. If eloquence of Qur'an really surpassed all human genius books
written in Latin and Greek, which have the highest standard of eloquence,
should also be accepted as revealed!
Miraculous eloquence of the Holy Qur’an is not valid unless a parallel
description of equal eloquence is produced by other claimants to meet the
Qur’anic challenge.
Muslims do not claim that the eloquence of the Holy Qur’an is the only
thing that makes it a miracle.
No book in any language has been proved to have achieved the
super-human quality of eloquence that is possessed by the Holy Qur’an.
