FACING THE MUSLIM CHALLENGE A HANDBOOK OF CHRISTIAN — MUSLIM APOLOGETICS by JOHN GILCHRIST 2002 first print 1999 Life Challenge Africa PO Box 23273 Claremont/Cape Town 7735, Rep of South Africa Facing the Muslim Challenge Dedicated to the members of the Eastvale Baptist Church Introduction The Christian-Muslim Cutting-Edge 5 in Springs, South Africa, who have The Christian Response: Right Methods and Approaches 8 faithfully contributed to Muslim evangelism in South Africa for 1. The Integrity of the Bible the past fifteen years The Textual Authenticity of the Qur’an and the Bible 1.1 The Ancient Biblical Manuscripts 17 1.2 The Early Different Qur’an Codices 20 Publisher: 1.3 The Passages in Mark 16 and John 8 23 Life Challenge Africa 1.4 Missing Passages from the Qur’an 26 1.5 Variant Readings in the New Testament 29 1.6 Evidences of Qur’anic Variant Readings 32 LCA - East LCA - South LCA - West PO Box 50770 PO Box 23273 25 Bp 1997 Biblical Contents and Teaching Nairobi Claremont/Cape Town Abidjan 25 1.7 Apparent Errors in Biblical Numerics 35 Kenya 7735 Rep South Africa Côte d’ Ivoire 1.8 The Authorship of Matthew’s Gospel 38 1.9 The Variety of English Translations 41 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1.10 The Genealogy of Jesus in the Gospels 43 1.11 Biblical “Pornography” and Obscenities 46 The Qur’an in Relation to the Bible 1.12 The Jewish and Christian Scriptures 49 1.13 Tahrif - The Allegations of Corruption 52 Copyright © Reserved 1.14 The Tawraat, Injil and Qur’an 55 Life Challenge Africa 1999 1.15 The Old and New Testaments in the Bible 58 ISBN 0-9583905-5-1 2. The Doctrine of the Trinity The Christian Doctrine of God Printed by: 2.1 Biblical Origins of the Trinitarian Doctrine 63 Tandym Print, Cape Town 2.2 The Incomprehensible Nature of God 66 2.3 The Unity of God: The Basis of the Trinity 69 Coverdesign by: 2.4 Does the Doctrine have Pagan Origins? 72 The BlueBuoy Company, Cape Town 2.5 The Father, Son and Holy Spirit 74 2.6 The Qur’an and the Christian Doctrine 78 Introduction 3. Jesus the Son of the Living God The Deity of Jesus Christ in the Bible Introduction 3.1 The Qur’anic Rejection of Jesus’ Deity 81 3.2 The Son of God in a Metaphorical Sense? 84 3.3 Biblical Limitations on the Son of God 87 3.4 The Unique Sinlessness of Jesus 89 The Christian-Muslim Cutting-Edge 3.5 Old Testament Prophecies of his Deity 92 3.6 “Flesh and Blood have not Revealed This” 95 Great conflicts come and go but one, which has endured for nearly fourteen centuries, appears destined to remain until the end. It is the classic battle - a universal one which outlives every generation. It is the struggle between Islam 4. The Crucifixion and the Atonement and Christianity for the souls of all who live on earth. Although mostly The Historical and Spiritual Issues unrecognised, it is probably the supreme contest -one which tackles the greatest 4.1 The Consequences of Man’s Fallen Nature 99 of issues, namely the very purpose of human existence and its ultimate destiny. 4.2 Do Christians Enjoy a License to Sin? 102 Each has its own figurehead who is claimed to be God’s final messenger to all 4.3 The Young Ruler and the Commandments 105 mankind - Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world or Muhammad the universal 4.4 The Substitution Theory in the Qur’an 108 Prophet to the nations. Each has its own mission - the spread of the Gospel to 4.5 The Swooning Theory of Muslim Apologists 111 the ends of the earth or the establishment of an ummah (community) which covers the globe. Each, likewise, has its own conviction of its ultimate triumph 4.6 What Really was the Sign of Jonah? 114 over all the philosophies, religions and powers that have challenged human allegiance. It is only natural that they should come into conflict. 5. Muhammad in the Bible? This book tackles the cutting-edge between Islam and Christianity, in Muslim Arguments from Biblical Texts particular the arguments Muslims employ in discussion or debate with 5.1 The Prophet Like Moses in Deuteronomy 18 117 Christians to establish the pre-eminence of Islam by rigorously refuting the 5.2 Jesus - The Prophet Foretold by Moses 120 authenticity of the Christian scriptures and its fundamental doctrines. Any 5.3 The Prophet From Among their Brethren 123 Christian who engages Muslims in conversation will soon find that they are 5.4 Jesus’ Promise of the Coming Comforter 125 equipped with an armoury of objections which they will interject into the 5.5 “His Name Shall be Ahmad” in the Qur’an 128 conversation to undermine the Gospel message and distract the Christian by 5.6 The Holy Spirit: The Promised Comforter 131 placing him firmly on the defensive. 6. The Gospel of Barnabas Islam’s Onslaught against Christianity The Spurious Gospel in Islamic Apologetics The challenge goes back to the time of Muhammad himself. The Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, has numerous polemical passages confronting Christian 6.1 Muslim Interest in the Gospel of Barnabas 135 beliefs, not only opposing them but proposing rational arguments to disprove 6.2 Medieval Origins Proving it is a Forgery 137 them. In the early centuries of Islam Muslim scholars wrote numerous 6.3 Other Evidences Against its Authenticity 140 disputations challenging the integrity of the Bible (Ibn Hazm), the doctrine of 6.4 The Original Authorship of the Gospel 142 the Trinity (Abu Isa al-Warraq), the social structure of Christian Society (Al- 6.5 Paul and Barnabas in the Book of Acts 145 Jahiz) while also arguing forcefully that Muhammad is foretold in both the Old and New Testaments (Ali Tabari). Modern times have seen polemical material Bibliography mass-produced for distribution throughout the world, in particular the booklets of Ahmed Deedat, a Muslim propagandist from my own country, South Africa. 5 Facing the Muslim Challenge Introduction Christians have been equally confrontational at times, powerfully he has no wife?”, “If Christ died for your sins, does this mean you can sin as calling the credentials of Muhammad’s prophethood into question and much as you like?”, etc., as if the objection itself proved the point and was the producing numerous evidences against the assertion that the Qur’an is the Word last word on the subject. The Muslim often does not want to hear a reply, let of God. In both cases the thrust has often been strongly partial and imbalanced. alone an effective refutation! The finest ideals of the adherent’s faith are often set in contrast to the worst excesses of the other’s in practice without the debater apparently being aware Very few Muslims have a real understanding of Christianity as is of the unfairness of his method. For example, the Christian may argue forcefully abundantly evidenced in the booklets they produce against it. Christians are that women are treated very poorly in parts of the Muslim world in contrast with accused of believing in three gods, the New Testament is presumed to be a the Biblical teaching that they are entitled to enjoy equality in a monogamous changed version of the Old Testament which is assumed to be the original marriage (Ephesians 5.28-33) without taking the prevalence of divorce and scripture, while the deity of Jesus Christ is discounted on physical grounds, it immorality in traditional Christian societies in the Western world into account. being alleged that God cannot have a Son without a wife even though the Likewise a Muslim will teach that Islam is the religion of perfect peace while Qur’an itself, in Surah 19.20-21, teaches that by God’s power and decree Mary ignoring the numerous conflicts in the Muslim world and the bombings of could have a son even though she had no husband! embassies, aircraft, trade centres and the like in the name of Islam. Muslims will Christians need to show much patience when reasoning with Muslims also claim that the universal unity of the Muslim world compares favourably in such cases. Another source of frustration is the inclination on the part of many with the numerous divisions in Christian churches while ignoring the vast Muslims to freely assail the authenticity of the Bible or basic Christian beliefs numbers of conflicting sects in Islam and the fact that Islamic unity is really a while at the same time becoming highly offended when the tables are turned on uniformity of worship only based on the strictly prescribed nature of Muslim the Qur’an and Islam. Yet again Christians need to be tolerant and remain prayers, fasting, ablutions and the Hajj pilgrimage. focused in such cases, not resorting to a similar approach in return. Other In this book my aim is to deal mainly with Muslim arguments against Muslims will argue purely to find fault with no desire to hear reasonable Christianity, providing Christians with effective answers to their contentions. I answers. I have often had encounters where Muslims have boldly proclaimed an have had the privilege of engaging in discussion with thousands of Muslims in objection against a tenet of our faith which I have taken time to effectively South Africa over twenty-five years and must have heard just about every answer. Often the answer cannot be given as briefly or emphatically as the objection that they could possibly raise to the Christian faith and its scriptures.