Muhammed - Prophet of God or Fantastic Storyteller
There is much debate concerning the source of the Quran. Sura 43:4 states, “And Verily, it (this Qur'an) is in the Mother of the Book (i.e. Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz), before Us, indeed Exalted, full of Wisdom.” Muslims believe that God alone is the source of the Quran.
Yet there are those who have done painstaking research into many of the Quran’s stories and have concluded that they are but “tales of the ancients” (Sura 25:5). Inside is a chart of a few of the many instances where Muhammed, differing from the Biblical accounts, extensively borrows from either Jewish sources, heretical Christian sources, Zoroastrianism, and/or Paganism and mythology! Ibn Warraq aptly stated, “Now, if we can trace the teaching of the Koran, or any part of it, to an earthly source, or to human systems existing previous to the Prophet’s age, then Islam at once falls to the ground.” In studying the following chart you will notice some unexplainable similarities between the Quranic teaching and the Jewish, Christian, and pagan fables!
Islam is “a concoction...mixing old ingredients into a new panacea for human ills and forcing it down by means of the sword.” S. Zwemer, Islam a Challenge to Faith
Comparing the Text(s) Source(s) of Quranic Reading
Bible
Quran
Unique Difference(s)
Jewish Legends
Heretical Christianity
Zoroastrianism
Paganism/Mythology
Gen. 4:1-15 Cain and Abel
Sura 5:27-35
1. Conversation between Cain and Abel
2. The raven that taught Cain how to bury his brother
1. Targum of Jerusalem(psuedo-Jonathan)
2. Book Pirke Rabbi Eleazer (chap. XXI)
Ex. 32:19 Moses breaking commandments “beneath the mount.”
Sura 7:170; 2:60,87
Mt. Sinai was actually hovering over the people.
Jewish legend from Aboda Sarah 2:2
Similar Hindu tale
Ex. 32:4 Golden Calf
Sura 20:88-95; 7:148
1. Al-Sameri instead of Aaron. 2. Golden idol was lowing!
Pirke Rabbi Eleazer, 45, Rabbi Yahuda (Muhammed mistook the name Sammael for Al- Sameri, the name of the Samaritans, who came into existence over 400 yrs later!)
Gen. 6-9 Flood
Sura 11:42
Flood waters came from an oven (boiling water)
Rosh Hashanah 16:2 Sanhedrin 108
Matt. 1:18-25; Lk. 2:1-20 Mary
Birth of Christ
Sura 3:31,32, 37-42; 19:16-31
1. Mary raised in the Temple 2. Casting of the Rods
3. Palm tree leaning down to feed Mary.
Protoevangelium of James the Less; History of the Nativity of Mary and the Savior’s Infancy
Books of Buddhist Pali Canon, Nidanakatha Jatakam (cap. i., pp. 50-3) in reference to Buddha’s birth.
Lk. 2:41-52
(All the Bible says about the childhood of Jesus.)
Sura 19:29-31 Sura 3:49; 5:110
1. Jesus speaking from cradle 2. Jesus making clay birds
although his first miracle is in Jn. 2:11!
Arabic Gospel of the Savior’s Infancy, ch. 1
Arabic Gospel of Infancy, ch. 46 Infancy Gospel of Thomas, ch 2
Lalita Vistara in the Buddha- Carita, Book I. § 34; Fo-sho- hing-tsan-king (pp. 3, 4), Beal’s version.
2 Cor. 12:1-5 Paul’s trip to Heaven Gen. 2:8-17 Paradise
Sura 17:1
The “Miraj” or Night Journey to Paradise (7 Heavens)
1. 7 Heavens
2. Transportation 3. Individuals seen 4. Specific details
Targum of Jonathan
Testament of Abraham Book of Enoch
Visio Pauli
Pahlavi book Arta Viraf Namak Zerdashtnama
Sanskrit poem
Rev. 21, 22 Description of Heaven
Sura 55:72; 56:15-23 Beautiful Houris in Paradise
Sensual pleasures and the “houris”
Paries, captivating to the heart of man. Houris from Avesta or Pahlavi source.
Old Hindu writings
1 Kgs. 10:1-10 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
Sura 27:17-45 Queen of Sheba
Numerous details not found in Biblical text. See http:// www.answering-islam.org/ Quran/Sources/sheba.html for details.
The Targum of Esther (Second)
I could easily list many more examples of Muhammed’s “borrowing” from earthly sources, such as: Abraham’s deliverance from the fire
Story of Joseph
Waters of Elim
Harut and Marut
Seeing God
Preserved Tablet
Mount Qaf
Seven Heavens, seven Earths, and the doors to Hell Throne of God
Angel Malik, Prince of Hell
Partition between Heaven and Hell Satan’s “stealing a hearing”
Hell never full
The seven sleepers
Worshipping of Adam by the angels The Balance
Adam’s joy and grief in Heaven
The bridge to Heaven
For more information and a more detailed analysis of this subject see The Original Sources of the Quran, Tisdale, http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Tisdall/Sources/ index.htm; Origins of the Quran, Ibn Warraq; Lifting the Veil, The True Faces of Muhammed and Islam, I.Q Al- Rassooli; www. answering-islam.org.
In Mecca, Mohammed, and the Moon-god, author Brett Stortroen sums up Muhammed’s use of earthly sources:
“Abu Amir was correct in his assessment of Mohammed’s new religion which had added extra elements to the faith of Abraham. Having borrowed from six basic sources, Islam had become a syncretistic religion as follows: 1) Christianity in various forms, 2) Gnosticism, 3) Judaism of all types, 4) Arab legends and rituals, 5) Sabean practices and 6) Persian Zoroastrianism.”
When Tisdall penned The Original Sources of the Quran, he made the following observation, “But the resemblances between Islamic beliefs and those held by men of certain other religions have been shown in the 'Sources of Islam' to be so very close, in many instances, that an inquiry was called for as to the reason of such resemblances.”
C.C. Torrey makes this observation, “Unquestionably the first impression gained by a reader of the Koran is that Mohammed had received the material of his faith and practice mainly from the Jews of the Hijaz. On almost every page are encountered either episodes of Hebrew history, or familiar Jewish legends, or details of rabbinical law or usage, or arguments which say in effect that Islam is the faith of Abraham and Moses.”
The Dictionary of Islam, in referring to Muhammed’s use of incidents in the Old Testament, says the Quran was written “with a strange want of accuracy and a large admixture of Talmudic fable”.
However, it is not just the Quran where we find Heathen practices prior to Muhammed, but it is true in the very pillars of Islam! I.Q. Al-Rassooli makes this devasting assessment of the practices of Muslims. He says, “All the Muhammadan Muslim traditions such as Salat/ Prayer, Hajj/Pilgrimage, Sawm/Fasting, Zakat/Charity, Shahada/ Witness, pre-existed among the Pagan Arabs as well as among the Judaized and Christian Arabs centuries before Muhammad and his Quran.” chap. 60, 6174, LV Rassooli, I.Q. Al (2008-12-15). Lifting the Veil: The True Faces of Muhammad and Islam (Kindle Locations 6171-6173). AuthorHouse. Kindle Edition. Jeffery muses “...the Islamic varnish only thinly covers a heathen substratum.”
How did all this come about? Did Muhammed pur- posely try to deceive the people? Or was he simply ignorant of the truth as found in the Bible? Tisdale makes this observation, “Arabia was a refuge for not a few heretics of different sects; and it is clear from the Qur'an (as we shall see) that, whether in written form or not, many of the mythical stories which are contained in the apocryphal Gospels and other similar works, together with certain heretical views on various subjects, must have reached Muhammad and have been accepted by him as true.” pg. 76, Original Sources of the Quran.
Before Muhammad’s Hijrah (Emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622), he used to sit in the assembly and invite the Meccans to Allah, citing the Quran and warning them of God’s punishment for mocking his prophets. Al-Nadr would then follow him and speak about heroes and kings of Persia, saying, "By God, Muhammad cannot tell a better story than I, and his talk is only of old fables which he has copied as I have." Al-Nadr is referring to legends and opaque histories about Arabs of long ago and possibly to Bible stories about such figures as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, which Muhammad told, but according to his own inaccurate versions. The Quran even quotes the unbelievers as accusing Muhammad of incorporating into his alleged revelation myths, legends and fables that were well known to the people of that time:
“Of them there are some who (pretend to) listen to thee; but We have thrown veils on their hearts, So they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they saw every one of the signs, not they will believe in them; in so much that when they come to thee, they (but) dispute with thee; the Unbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the ancients." (Sura 6:25).
“When it is said to them, "What is it that your Lord has revealed?" they say, "Tales of the ancients!" (Sura .)16:24
“When Our signs are recited to him, he says, 'Fairy- tales of the ancients!” (Sura 68:15).
“Those who disbelieve say: "This (the Qur'an) is nothing but a lie that he (Muhammad SAW) has invented, and others have helped him at it, so that they have produced an unjust wrong (thing) and a lie."And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon."Say: "It (this Qur'an) has been sent down by Him (Allah) (the Real Lord of the heavens and earth) Who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Sura 25:4-6). It is rather amazing that instead of denying the charge that the Quran contains ancient myths, the author simply says that Allah was the one who sent down these tales!
In The Origins of the Koran, this revealing observation is made on pg. 242, “We are told that Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter, was one day repeating as she went along the verse (‘the hour has come, and shattered is the moon’). Just then she met the daughter of Imra’ul Qays, who cried out: ‘O that’s what your father has taken from one of my father’s poems, and calls it something that has come down to him out of heaven’; and the story is commonly told amongst Arabs until now.”
Ignaz Goldziher in Intoduction to Islamic Theology and Law, pgs. 4-5, makes this summation. “The most important stages of [Islam’s] history were characterized by the assimilation of foreign influences... Its founder, Muhammed, did not proclaim new ideas. He did not enrich earlier conceptions of man’s relation to the transcendental and infinite ...The Arab Prophet’s message was an eclectic composite of religious ideas and regulations. The ideas was (sic) suggested to him by contacts which stirred him deeply, with Jewish, Christian, and other elements.”
My friend, Muhammed was not God’s prophet. He could not distinguish between fairy-tales and the truth! Your need is to trust in the Biblical Jesus Christ as your Savior! Turn to Him today!
َقا َل َل ُه َي ُسو ُع: »أَنَا ُه َو الطَّ ِري ُق َواْل َح ُّق َواْل َح َياةُ. َل ْي َس أَ َح ٌد َيأِْتي .إَِلىا لآِبإِلاَِّبي
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