Islam and Christianity Contrasted

Ed Ward

• Publisher: First Edition Design Publishing
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781506907703
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

My first exposure to Muslims was in 2005 in Morocco. I enjoyed my visit and was surprised by the Berbers' hospitality. I was fascinated by the eagerness of Muslims to discuss God. While sharing personal stories was important, our conversations always concluded with talking about God. Discussions about our faiths was the foremost topic of my conversations with Muslims. Over the years, I have compared the teachings of Islam with the Christian Scriptures. I have found the narratives differing in detail and concepts conflicting in perspective. These theological differences confirm that Islam and Christianity do not worship the same God. For example, the Quran teaches that Allah commanded angels to bow down to Adam at creation. Satan refused, and Allah banished him to the earth (Qu.7: 11-13). According to the Bible, Yhwh would never command angels to bow down to man, for only Yhwh is worthy of worship. For an angel to bow down to man is idolatry. I have observed many debates between Muslims and Christians. Muslim debaters seldom stay on the agreed topic. Instead, they divert from the subject to ridicule and debase Christianity as foolishness. I have found that while Muslims ask difficult questions of Christianity, they never ask the same questions of Islam. Islam and Christianity Contrasted will seek answers to those questions from the early Islamic sources and compare them with the teachings of the Bible. The Quran, early hadiths, Islamic history, and four established translations of the Bible will be consulted. I hope that through Islam and Christianity Contrasted, both Muslims and Christians will have a deeper understanding of one another's faith.

Islam, Christianity, God, Allah, Muslims, Christians, Paradise, Heaven, Quran, Injil, Trinity, Tawhid

Chapter 3

The Injil

Holy Books of Islam

Muslims believe that Allah gave the Jewish Taurat (Torah) and the Zabur (Psalms), the Christian Injil (New Testament), and the Quran. The Quran teaches that Muslims are to accept all four books as truth:

Any who denieth Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Apostles, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray. (Qu.4:136 Y Ali)

The Quran states that all four books are equal, and one is not given prominence over the other:

We believe in God and what was revealed to us; and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the [other] prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them. It is to Him that we surrender ourselves. (Qu.2:136 Khan; 3:3-4)

The Quran teaches that Allah will keep his word from being corrupted--all four books:

There is good news in this life and in the Hereafter: the Word of God shall never change. That is the supreme triumph. (Qu.10:64 Khan, 18:27; 6:34 )

The Quran commands Christians to live according to their Gospel:

Therefore, let those who follow the Gospel judge according to what God has revealed in it. Those who do not judge by what God has sent down are rebellious. (Qu.5:47 Khan)

Furthermore, the Quran teaches that Muslims who have questions about the Quran are to seek out Christians for answers from the Injil. Islam's acceptance of the Injil supports its authenticity:

If you are in any doubt concerning what We have sent down to you, then question those who have read the Book before you: the Truth has come to you from your Lord, so do not be one of the doubter.

(Qu.10:94 Khan)

From these ayat, there is no doubt that Mohammed held the Injil as a source of the true knowledge of God:

The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His messengers." (Qu.2:285 Y Ali)

Therefore, the Quran places great confidence in the Christian Gospel as a source of truth and authority for a Christian's life.

The Taurat

Modern Muslims believe that the Quran cannot become corrupted because Allah promises to keep it safe:

We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it from corruption. (Qu.15:9 Y Ali)

However, Muslims are taught that the former books from Allah have been corrupted. If Allah could not keep the Torah and the Injil from corruption, how can he keep the Quran from corruption? The Quran considers both the Torah and the Injil as the books of Allah:

He has sent down the Book to you with truth, which fulfils the predictions in the Scriptures that preceded it: He sent down the Torah and the Gospel. (Qu.3:3 Khan)

According to Islam, in the same manner that the Quran came to Muslims, the Torah came through Moses. Allah had total confidence that the Torah was intact during the lifetime of Mohammad because the Quran uses the phrase "Book…that is with you":

O People of the Book, believe in what We have sent down, fulfilling [the predictions] that is with you… (Qu.4:47 Khan)

The Quran repeatedly declares that the Torah was unchanged. Consider the ayat in surah 2. The Quran states that the Jews had the authentic Scriptures when Mohammad was alive:

Children of Israel… And believe in the message I have sent down which fulfils that [predictions about the last prophet in their Scripture] which you already possess and do not be foremost among those who deny its truth. Do not sell My revelations for a paltry price; fear Me alone. Do not mix truth with falsehood, or hide the truth when you know it.

(Qu.2:40-42 Khan)

The Quran warns about misinterpreting the Scriptures. Two ayat later, the Jews were sited reading the Torah:

Do you admonish others to do good and forget this yourselves? Yet you read the Book. Will you not then understand? (Qu.2:44 Khan)

The Jews had to have had the Torah to read the Torah. Consider what was written later in the same surah:

And when there came to them (the Jews), a Book (this Quran) from Allah confirming what is with them (the Taurat {Torah} and the Injeel {Gospel}). (Qu.2:89 Hilali/Khan)

The Quran confirms that the authentic Torah and the Injil were with the Jews when Mohammad recited this ayah. All these ayat are in surah 2, recognizing that the Jews still had an authentic Torah when Mohammad founded Islam:

When they are told, Believe in what God has revealed, they say, We believe in what was revealed to us, while they deny the truth in what has been sent down after that, even though it is the Truth, confirming that which they already have. Say, Why did you kill God's prophets in the past, if you were true believers. (Qu.2:91 Khan)

Surah 2 confirms that the Jews had their Scriptures during the life of Mohammad, and yet, the Quran warns that some of the Jews discarded the Torah:

And when a messenger came to them from at God confirming to what (is) with them, a group from those who were given The Book , discarded/ rejected God's Book behind their backs, as if they do not know.

(Qu.2:101 M/S Ahmed)

Muslims should correct others who say that the Torah was corrupted, for Surah 2 is redundant that both the Jews and Christians had their authentic Scriptures when...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• The Traditional Record
• Mohammad
• Mohammad and Moses
• The Line of God
• Mohammad's Calling
• Mohammad's Deception
• A Year of Delusion
• Can Mohammad Be Trusted
• The Unlettered Prophet
• The Test of a Prophet
• Conclusion
• The Quran
• Basic Information on the Quran
• The Forgotten Ayat
• The Lost Surahs
• The Quran Was Edited
• Plagiarism
• Contradictions
• Abrogation
• Fabricated Ayat
• Conclusion
• Holy Books of Islam
• The Taurat
• Mohammad's View of the Scriptures
• The Hadiths
• The Corruption of the Injil
• Mohammad Endorsed the Injil
• A Final Word on the Authenticity of the Injil
• The Christian Defense: Textual Criticism
• The Destruction of Manuscripts
• Textual Criticism of the Quran
• Sana'a Manuscript DAM 0 1-27.1
• Birmingham Mingana 1572a
• Textual Criticism of the Injil
• Defense of the Injil
• The Expanse of the Church
• The Early Church Fathers
• Different Translations
• Paul the Apostle
• Conclusion
• Man is Born Good
• Allah Controls Everything
• Why Do Good Men Sin?
• Is Allah Holy?
• Allah Does Not Love Humanity
• Allah the Deceiver
• The Christian View
• Yhwh is Good
• Different Approaches
• Tolerance or Intolerance
• No Compulsion in Religion
• Christians Share
• Good News
• Backsliders
• Conclusion
• Justice
• Good Deeds
• Ignorance Negates Justice
• Religious Rituals
• Allah’s Mercy
• Mercy in Hell
• The Sirat
• The Christian View of Justice
• Yhwh is Just
• Yhwh is Love and is Thereby Merciful
• God Saves Us from His Wrath
• Conclusion
• Jesus’ Death
• One Ayah
• Muslim Commentaries—Tafsir
• The Historicity of Christ’s Death
• Modern Non-Christian Historians
• Jesus was a Prophet
• Jesus’ Enemies Were Satisfied
• Jesus’ Actions Proved He Died
• People’s Actions After His Death
• Conclusion
• A Common Problem
• Denial of the Trinity
• Mary Also Became Deity
• The Conception of Jesus
• The Spirit of Allah
• The Christian Concept
• The Old Testament
• God Reveals Himself in the Plural
• Moses’ Relationship with God
• A Triune God
• Abraham’s Experience with God
• The Possibility of the Trinity
• Conclusion
• Mohammad
• Mohammad Worship
• Maligning Mohammad
• Consider Jesus
• The Messiah
• Jesus Accepted Worship
• Was the Worship of Jesus Shirk
• Testimonies Concerning Jesus
• Conclusion
• God’s Death
• The Islamic Concept of Death
• The Christian View of Death
• Physical Death
• Jesus’ Death
• Jesus’ Experience After Death
• The Cleansing of the Cross
• Islamic Substitution
• Resurrected for Death
• Life In the Eternal
• Resurrected Bodies
• The Glimpse of a New Earth
• Conclusion
• Fear
• Islam’s Spiritual Paradigm
• Jinn
• Muslims Fear Jinn
• The Worship of Jinn
• Satan
• The Christian View
• The Fall of a Cherub
• The Fall of Mankind
• Banished
• Responding to Spiritual Aggression
• Conclusion
• Five Pillars of Islam
• Pillar 1: Shahada—How to Become a Muslim
• Yhwh’s Covenants
• Repentance
• Baptism
• Pillar 2: Salat--The Call to Prayer
• Pillar 3: Saum--Fasting
• Pillar 4: Zakat--The Giving of Alms
• The Christian’s View of Giving
• Pillar 5: Hajj--The Pilgrimage
• Conclusion
• Historicity
• Archaeology
• Al Aqsa Mosque
• Changing the Qibla
• Solving a True Mystery
• The Mystery of Mecca
• The Hajj
• The Holy House
• Science and Jerusalem
• The Kaaba
• Deception
• The Winds of Change
• Conclusion