The Qur'an and the Christian

An In-Depth Look into the Book of Islam for Followers of Jesus

Matthew Aaron Bennett

• Publisher: Kregel Academic
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780825447082
• eBook ISBN: 9780825477560
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Understanding Islam's sacred text is integral to understanding your Muslim neighbor Cross-cultural missionary and scholar Matthew Aaron Bennett blends the insights of Islamic believers, secular Qur'an scholars, and missionaries to Muslims, making The Qur'an and the Christian like no other resource for Christian ministry to Muslims. Combining these perspectives in one guide better equips Christians to communicate the biblical gospel to friends and neighbors who are adherents to Islam--both in and out of majority-Muslim cultures.

The Qur'an and the Christian addresses issues both simple and profound, such as:

• How the Qur'an came to be, including Muhammed and the Qur'an's textual precursors

• The major themes of the Qur'an and how these shape the practice of Islam

• The presence of Bible characters, Jews, and Christians in the Qur'anic text

• Whether and how a Christian should read the Qur'an

• Avoiding miscommunication with Muslims when the Qur'an and Christian teaching seem to overlap

This book will help Christians learn how to explore Islamic faith with missiological wisdom and biblical precision. The Qur'an and the Christian will give believers the insight to deepen friendships, promote understanding, and clarify the biblical gospel among Muslim friends and neighbors.

PART ONE

THE QUR’AN AS REVELATION

1

THE EVENT OF THE QUR’AN

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Recite in the Name of your Lord who creates; creates the human from a clot. Recite, for your Lord is the Most Generous, who teaches by the pen, teaches the human what he does not know.

Qur’an 96:1–5

According to Islamic tradition, the first verses of the Qur’an that the angel Jibril revealed to Muhammad are found in Qur’an 96:1–5.¹ In many ways, these five verses prepare the reader for the major themes with which the rest of the Qur’an concerns itself. These verses introduce the creator as a beneficent and merciful sovereign. They depict humanity as the result of God’s creative act. And they demonstrate that a life rightly lived consists of learning God’s teaching.

On the other end of the spectrum, many commentators believe that the final words of the Qur’an that Muhammad received are found in Qur’an 5:3: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed my blessing on you, and I have approved Islam for you as a religion.”² Thus, the Qur’an concludes its teachings with a transcendent affirmation of Islam as the perfection of human religion. What lies between these two passages suffices to instruct all of humanity on how to live a life that is in keeping with God’s revealed will.

As you may have already noticed, the first verses and the final verse are not where one expects to find them. Most readers are accustomed to finding the first events of a book on the first page, and the final events on the last page. That this is not the case with the Qur’an provides an important initial observation about how different the Qur’an is from other works.

In order to draw out these differences, we must consider the Qur’an from a variety of angles. The first part of this book will primarily lean on traditional Islamic accounts of the reception, function, and miracle of the Qur’an. As a component of this approach, the current chapter looks at the event of the Qur’an as God’s final and incorruptible communication of the divine will to humanity.

Understanding the traditional perspective requires investigation into the body of material known as the Sunnah. These extra-qur’anic records consist of Muhammad’s biography (known as the Sira), traditional accounts of Muhammad’s explanation and exhibition of qur’anic living (hadith), and some of the earliest qur’anic commentators (tafsir). This material is the only available means of reconstructing the historical context surrounding the Qur’an, because the Qur’an itself contains very little historical narrative and admits only the slightest hints of its chronology.³

As such, the Qur’an proves unique in a variety of ways. Recognition of these distinctions is vital for a Christian as they engage their Muslim friends and neighbors lest they make the mistake of assuming the Qur’an to be the Muslim equivalent of the Bible. In fact, the Qur’an is a thoroughly different book that plays a different role in Islam than the Bible plays in Christianity.

Perhaps the best place to begin our investigation, then, is with the traditional backstory of the one who received God’s final dispensation of revelation. Though Muhammad is not considered to be the author of the Qur’an, as its chosen recipient, his biography plays an important role in validating the message of the Qur’an. This chapter will highlight a few aspects of his life that help to illuminate why Muslims believe the Qur’an itself to be a miracle.

MUHAMMAD: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Most evangelical Christians view the Bible as having sixty-six books written by around forty human authors. These human authors express their thoughts using vocabulary, grammar, and phrases that bear the marks of their context. At the same time, 2 Timothy 3:16 clearly states that the Scriptures have been inspired (lit. “breathed out”) by the divine author who superintended the writing of Scripture. Thus, while we can speak truly of the human authors of the Bible, the Holy Spirit stands behind and over the text of the biblical canon.

In contrast to a Christian understanding of human-divine authorship of the Bible, the Qur’an exists apart from Muhammad’s reception, recitation, and transmission. In fact, as we will see later on in this chapter, many Muslims believe that the Qur’an is an eternal book that has always existed with God in the heavenly realm. Muhammad is merely the human conduit by whom God has made the content of this eternal book known to his creatures. In several ways Muhammad’s life story reinforces the divine origins of the text he transmitted.

A TRAGIC BEGINNING

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad was born in 570 CE into the Quraysh tribe in the region of Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. His childhood was marked by tragedy and loss. Muhammad’s father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was six. As an orphan of such a tender age, he was admitted into the care of his grandfather. However, his grandfather also died before Muhammad had turned eight years old.

Thus, from the age of eight through adolescence, Muhammad’s uncle, Abu Talib, took responsibility for raising him. The home of Abu Talib provided a loving and caring environment, and one rich with opportunity for experience beyond his immediate surroundings. Including Muhammad on his trading journeys, Abu Talib exposed his nephew to the people and places stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to Syria. Despite the instability of living in three different households and being part of a trading caravan during the first decade of his life, Muhammad grew up and gained the reputation of being a well-rounded, respectful, and pious young man.

AN UNLETTERED MAN

Not only was Muhammad known for his character, but even from his youth he was reported to have exhibited natural intelligence and wisdom. In a recent biography, Safiur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri refers to Muhammad as “an exemplary man of weighty mind and faultless insight. He was favored with intelligence, originality of thought and accurate choice of the means leading to accurate goals.”⁴ Such lauding of Muhammad’s intellect is not surprising considering that he is viewed in Islam as the only proper and perfect interpreter of the Qur’an.

What is surprising, however, is the fact that most Muslims believe that he was not afforded the opportunity of formal education. This belief derives from places in the Qur’an such as Qur’an 7:157–58, where Muhammad is twice identified as the ‘ummi prophet. Muslims have long understood the Arabic word ‘ummi to mean that Muhammad was unlettered or illiterate.

Further support for the idea that Muhammad was illiterate comes from Qur’an 29:48, which addresses Muhammad, saying, “You were not accustomed to read from any book before it, or to write it with your right (hand), (for) then the perpetrators of falsehood would indeed have had (reason to) doubt (you).” Thus, many early Muslim commentators contend that Muhammad was neither able to read nor write.⁵ Though some contemporary scholars have argued that ‘ummi should not be understood to refer to Muhammad’s education, the idea of Muhammad’s illiteracy is still employed as evidence of the miraculous nature of his reception of the Qur’an.⁶ Regardless of how one understands the word ‘ummi, Muhammad’s educational background is not the only aspect of his biography that supports his role as a prophet.

PROPHETIC MARKERS

According to the Sira, several signs identified Muhammad as a prophet long before he received his call. First, when Muhammad’s mother, Amina, was pregnant, she reported hearing a voice that told her, “You are pregnant with the lord of this people and when he is born say, ‘I put him in the care of the One from the evil of every envier; then call him Muhammad.’”⁷ When Amina told this story to Abd Muttalib, Muhammad’s grandfather, he brought the infant Muhammad into the Ka‘ba where he thanked God for the child. Thus, Muhammad’s life began with prophetic premonition and with a pilgrimage to the Ka‘ba.

Second, as per custom of the people, a Bedouin wet nurse named Halima took Muhammad into her care. At this time, Halima and her husband had a camel that would not yield milk, and she herself struggled to produce sufficient milk. As soon as she brought Muhammad to her bosom, however, her supply of milk rushed in, and she was able to feed not only Muhammad but also her own infant son. When her husband went out to check on their livestock, he found that the camel, too, had resumed milk production and was able to provide sustenance for the family amid the famine that surrounded them.⁸

In addition to these events, the Sira records various occasions when Christians recognized the bright future that stood before Muhammad. For example, just before Halima returned the weaned Muhammad to Amina, a group of Abyssinian Christians attempted to take Muhammad, declaring, “Let us take this boy, and bring him to our king and our country; for he will have a great future. We know all about him.”⁹

Likewise, on a trip to Syria, Muhammad’s caravan was stopped by a Christian monk named Bahira. This monk possessed a book that spoke of a child who would bear the mark of a great prophet on his body. After speaking with Muhammad and finding him to be devoted to God, Bahira eventually asked to see the child’s back. The Sira reports that Bahira discovered between Muhammad’s shoulder blades the seal of prophethood in the very place described in his book.¹⁰ Before the caravan left, Bahira is reported to have told Muhammad’s uncle, “Take your nephew back to his country and guard him carefully against the Jews, for by Allah! if they see him and know about him what I know, they will do him evil. A great future lies before this nephew of yours so take him home quickly.”¹¹

These events—along with many other similar accounts—provide the prescript to Muhammad’s prophetic call. However, evidence of Muhammad’s prophetic future is not exhausted by such passive and external support. Reports of his reputation as a pious and prayerful youth along with his impeccable record of honesty in his adult life endorse him as a summarily suitable prophet.

RELIGIOUS REPUTATION

According to the traditional narrative, Muhammad was born into a polytheistic pagan society. His hometown of Mecca reportedly served both as a bustling hub of trade and as a place of religious pilgrimage due to the temple housed in the city. Muslims believe that this temple—the Ka‘ba—was originally built by Ibrahim and Ismail as a place of worship dedicated to the one true God. However, by the time Muhammad was born, it had been desecrated by the polytheists, having come to serve as a house of worship for some 360 idols.

Despite the surrounding milieu of pagan worship and the often dishonest business practices to which Muhammad would have been privy, he was known as “an honest man of unusual moral sensitivity.”¹² Such was his reputation within his community that “his fellow citizens, by common consent, gave him the title of Al-Ameen (the trustworthy).”¹³ Not only was Muhammad known for his integrity and character, but he also was known to be pious and dutiful in his pursuit of religious truth.

Perhaps the central manifestation of Muhammad’s piety was his fervent opposition of polytheism from a young age. For instance, in his dialogue with the Syrian monk Bahira, he refused to swear by two pagan gods, saying, “Do not ask me by al-Lat and al-Uzza, for by Allah nothing is more hateful to me than these two.”¹⁴ As a result of his rejection of polytheism, Muhammad often sought spiritual truth and guidance by retiring to the desert for long periods of prayer, meditation, and fasting. In his fortieth year, during one such visit to a small cave named Hiraa’, Muham...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Qur’an as Revelation
• Part 2: The Qur’an as a Text
• Part 3: The Qur’an and the Christian
• Conclusion