There are many objections raised by Christian scholars against various aspects of the Holy Qur’an. A review of such objections and their answers is our main object in this section.


First Objection

• Abominable Description in the Bible.

• Intolerable Belief of the Roman Catholics.

• Sanctification of the Cross.

The first objection frequently raised by Christian scholars is related to the transcendence of the eloquent language of the Holy Qur’an. Their contention in this respect consists mainly of the following points. Firstly that it is not acceptable to claim that its eloqucnce really surpassed all human genius and that no such text can be produced by human effort. Secondly that even if this claim of thc Muslims is accepted, it still only provides a defective argument for its being miraculous, bccause, in that case, it could only be recognised as a miracle by those few who have acquired the highest standard of proficiency and skill in the Arabic language. And this would further mean that books written in Latin and Greek, which have the highest standard of eloquence, should also be accepted as revealed, as well as implying that all kinds of false and abject works could claim to be miraculous simply on the strength of being composed in supremely eloquent language.

We should here remind ourselves that in the previous section we have produced undeniable arguments to establish the transcendent quality of the Qur’anic language. Given those specific criteria, any objection to the 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 quoted by us in the first section.

They are, however, justified in saying that only a few linguists could apprehend the miraculous quality of its eloquence, but this is of no help to them as this miraculous feature of the Holy Qur’an aimed exactly at that. That is to say, the Holy Qur’an challenged those few Arab linguists who had great pride in their eloquence.

They were not only overawed by its eloquence but also admitted their inability to contest it because, through their perfect elocution, they instantly recognized its super-human eloquence. The common people have found out about this quality through these scholars. Thus the miraculous eloquence of the Holy Qur’an has become known by all. The argument, therefore, is not defective, as it achieved its goal by making the Arabs accept that it was the word of God.

Moreover, the Muslims do not claim that the eloquence of the Holy Qur’an is the only thing that makes it a miracle. What they rightly claim is, that its eloquence is one of the many miraculous features of the Holy Qur’an and that the Holy Qur’an is one among many other miracles of the Holy Prophet. The miraculous nature of the Holy Qur’an is so widely acknowledged that it has not been refuted by anyone in these 1280 years. 1[1] The following statement of Abu Musa Muzdar,2[2] a leader of the Mu’tazilites, who said that it was possible for a human being to produce something equal to the Qur’an, is unacceptable and rejected.

It is generally known that Abu Musa had become mentally disordered due to his excessive involvement in spiritual exercises. He made many delirious statements. For example, he said, “God has the power of making false statements and acting with cruelty towards the people. He would be God, but a cruel and lying God.” May Allah forbid. He also said:

Anyone who associates with kings is an infidel. He cannot be an heir to anyone and no one can be his heir.

As for their contention that books written in other languages possessing the highest degree of eloquence should also be considered as miracles, this contention is not well-founded as 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. The authors of such books never claimed them to be prophetic marvels. However, anyone making any such claim would be required to prove its transcendent quality of eloquence with effective arguments and specific examples.

Besides, the claim by some Christian scholars to the effect that certain books of other languages demonstrate a standard of eloquence equal to that of the Qur’an, is not acceptable on the ground that those languages are not their first languages. They themselves are not capable of defining the standard of eloquence of other languages, as no one can claim to be as conversant with a foreign language as someone whose mother tongue that language is. This is not only the case with Arabic; it is equally true for all the languages of the world, be they Greek, Latin or Hebrew. Every language has its own particular structure, grammar and idiom, which usually is radically different from any other language. Acquiring any degree of knowledge in a foreign language is not enough to make the claim that one has mastered it in all respects.

Under the orders of Pope Urban VIII, the Archbishop of Syria called a meeting of priests, cardinals and scholars and masters of the Hebrew, Greek and the Arabic languages for the purpose of revising and correcting the Arabic translation of the Bible that was full of errors and missing many important passages. The members of this council took great pains in rectifying the errors of this translation. After great labour and all possible efforts, they prepared a version in 1625. In spite of all their effort, this translation still contained many errors and defects. The revising members of this council wrote an apologetic introduction to it. We reproduce below their apology in their exact words: 3[3]

You will find many things in this copy deviating from the general rules of grammar. For example, masculine gender in place of feminine, singular replaced by plural and plural in place of a dual.4[4] Similarly there are unusual applications of the signs of accentuation, emphasis and phonetics. Sometimes additional words have been used in place of a phonetic mark. The main reason of our being ungrammatical is the simplicity of the language of the Christians. The Christians have formulated a special language. The prophets, the apostles, and their elders took liberties with languages such as Latin, Greek and Hebrew, because it was never the will of the Holy Ghost to confine the words of God within the narrow boundaries of normal grammatical complexities. The Holy Ghost, therefore, revealed the secrets of God without effusion and eloquence.

The English are particularly prone to arrogance when they acquire even a little knowledge of a particular subject or a slight proficiency in another language. An example of this vanity and self-complacency with regard to many sciences and subjects is pointed out below.

The famous traveller, Abu Talib Khan, wrote a book of his travels recording his observations regarding the people of various countries. He described the people of England in detail discussing their virtues as well as their defects. The following passage is reproduced from his Persian book: 5[5]

The eighth defect of the English people is their deceitful attitude towards the sciences and languages of other countries. They are easy prey to self-conceit. They start writing books on subjects of which they have only elementary knowledge, or in languages which they suppose they have mastered without having any real proficiency in them. They publish their works with a great complacency equal only to their ignorance. It was through the Greek and the French people that I first came to know this characteristic of the English. I did not believe them fully until I read some of their Persian writings and found it out for myself.

Their last contention, that abject and false statements described in the most eloquent words should also be considered as miracles, has nothing to do with the Holy Qur’an since it is absolutely free from any such thing. The Holy Qur’an deals with the following twenty- seven subjects and every single one of its verses can be subsumed under one or another of them.

1. Attributes of the infinity and perfection of Allah like His self- existence, eternality, His infinite power and wisdom, His infinite mercy and love, His infinite justice and truth, His holiness, majesty, sovereignty, infinity and unity, His being omnipotent, omniscient, all knowing, all-hearing, all powerful and His being the Creator of the universe.

2. His being free of all imperfections, like accidental existence, mutability, ignorance and impotence etc.

3. Invitations to pure monotheism, prohibition from associating partners to Him, the trinity being a kind of association.

4. Historical passages related to the people of the past and accounts of certain Prophets.

5. Freedom of the Prophets from idolatry, infidelity and association.

6. Appreciation and praise of those who believed in their Prophets.

7. Admonitions and exhortations to those who disbelieved and denied their Prophets.

8. Invitation to believe in all the Prophets in general, and in the Prophet Jesus in particular.

9. The promise and prediction that the believers shall ultimately triumph over the unbelievers.

10. Descriptions regarding the Day of Judgement and accounts of reward and punishment on that day.

11. Descriptions of the blessings of Paradise and torture of the fires of Hell along with related details.

12. Descriptions of impermanence and mortality of this worldly life.

13. Descriptions of the eternality of the Hereafter and the permanence and immortality of its blessings.

14. Enjoining the good and prohibiting of the bad.

15. Injunctions with regard to family life.

16. Guidance for the political and social spheres of human life.

17. Exhortations for the love of Allah and of those who love Him.

18. The description of the ways and means through which man can attain closeness to his Lord, Allah.

19. Premonitions and prohibitions against the company of evildoers.

20. Importance of sincerity of intention in the performance of all rituals and acts of worship.

21. Warnings against insincerity, ostentation and pursuit of false reputation.

22. Warnings against malefaction and malevolence.

23. Preaching of the moral and ethical behaviour appropriate to the occasion.

24. Approbation and encouragement of benefaction and other moral qualities like patience, modesty, generosity and bravery.

25. Disapprobation of unethical and immoral acts like vanity, meanness, rage, indignation and cruelty.

26.Teaching of abstinence from evil and the necessity of taqwa (active fear of Allah).

27.Exhortation to the remembrance and worship of Allah. 6[6]

It is clear that all the above subjects are undoubtedly valuable and noble. Not one of them could be considered to be abject or unneeded.

Abominable Descriptions in the Bible

In contrast with the ideal and impeccable subjects dealt with by the Holy Qur’an, we find a large number of indecent, shameful and vile descriptions in the the Bible. Some examples would not be out of place here.

1. A Prophet is reported to have committed fornication with his daughters. 7[7]

2. A Prophet is reckoned to have committed adultery with another man’s wife.8[8]

3. A Prophet indulged in cow worship.9[9]

4. One of the Prophets abandoned his faith and took to idolatery and built temples for idols.10[10]

5. One of the Prophets wrongly attributed his own false statement to God, and described another Prophet and brought down the wrath of God upon him.11[11]

6. The Prophets David, Solomon and even Jesus were the descendants of illegitimate ancestors.That is, the progeny of Pharez, the son of Judah.12[12]

7. The son of a great Prophet, who was the ”son of God” and father of the Prophets, committed fornication with his father’s wife. 13[13]

8. Another son 14[14] of the same Prophet similarly committed fornication with his son’s wife. Besides this, the said Prophet, in spite of being aware of their fornication, did not punish them. At the time of his death he only imprecated 15[15] against the elder son while prayed for and blessed 16[16] the other.

9. Another great Prophet, the “younger son of God,” committed fornication with the wife of his friend and did not punish his son for committing fornication with his sister.

10. The Prophet, John the Baptist, who is witnessed by Jesus to be the greatest of all born of women (though the ”least in the kingdom of God is greater than he”) 17[17]did not recognise the second person of his God for as long as thirty years,18[18] until this second God became the follower of his servant, and so long as he did not perform baptism, and until the third God had descended on him in the form of a dove. When John saw this third one descending on the second God like a dove, he came to remember the word of God that the same will be his Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth.19[19]

11. Similarly one of the great Apostles, who is said to be a great thief, who is also supposed to have performed prophetic miracles, and who, according to the Christians, is superior to the prophet Moses and others,20[20]sold out his faith for only thirty pieces of silver. That is to say he betrayed his lord, the Messiah, and conspired against him with the Jews and got him arrested and crucified. 21[21]

12. The high priest, Caiaphas, who is considered by the Evangelist, John, to be a Prophet, 22[22] issuedthe death sentence against his God, Christ, believed in him and yet insulted him. 23[23]

The above virulent imputations against the Prophets of God speak themselves of their falsity. We, however, express our absolute negation of these mythical allegations and totally disassociate ourselves from such sacrilegious beliefs which are both irrational and ridiculous.

1[1] Now, in 1988, the number of years passed from the beginning of the Qur’anic revelation has been 1410 years. (Raazi


2[2] . ’Isa ibn Sabih Abu Musa Muzdar who died in 226 AH, was an insane person- ality. He was maniacally rigid in his belief in the accidentality of the Holy Qur’an. Any one believing in the self-existence of the Holy Qur’an was an infidel in his eyes. Once, the governor of Kufa asked his opinion about the people living on the earth and he said that all of them were infidels. The governor said to him that the Holy Qur’an describes Paradise as being greater than the heavens and the earth. Did he think that he and his followers alone would live in paradise? He had no answer. (Shahristani vol.l page 94). (Taqi)


3[3] . Our author has reproduced it exactly in their words in the Arabic, but, as a translator of the Urdu edited version, I have rendered it into English from the Urdu reproduction of the original. (Raazi)


4[4] The Arabic has a unique system of numbers. Singular for one, dual for two and plural for any subseqent number. (Raazi)


5[5] I have translated it from the Urdu edited version. (Raazi)


6[6] . Examples of the above subjects can be seen in the following Qur’anic verses according to the order given above. 1-1. 2-6. 3-3. 4-37. 5-4. 6-2. 7-4. 8-6. 9-23. 10-


68. 11-46. 12-29. 13-6. 14-5. 15-4. 16-9. 17-3. 18-49. 19-4. 20-48. 21-49. 22-16. 23-


3. 24-24.


7[7] Genesis 19:33. The Prophet Lot is imputed with this act.


8[8] II Samuel 11:2-5 describes the prophet David as having done this act.


9[9] Aaron is accused of this in Exodus 32:2-6.


10[10] The Prophet Solomon in I Kings, 11:2-13.


11[11]See I Kings 13:11-29 for details.


12[12] It is described in Matthew 1:3 and Genesis 38 that Judah committed fornica- tion with his daughter-in-law who gave birth to Pharez.


13[13] This great prophet is Jacob. His elder son was Reuben. Genesis 29:32 and 35:23


14[14]This other son is Judah as described by Genesis 38:18.


15[15] Genesis 49:10, “The Septre shall not depart from Judah-0and under him shall the gathering of people be”.


16[16]Genesis 49:4 says, ”Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wen- test up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.”


17[17] This is a reference to Matthew 11:11: ”He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”


18[18]This refers to John 1:32-34: “And John bare record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.”


19[19] In fact, it is understood from Matthew 11:2 that John did not recognise him even on that occasion. During his imprisonment, he sent his disciples to ask him if he was the same that was to come or if they should wait for another one.


20[20] Matthew 26:14-47, Mark, 14:10-43, Luke 22:3-47, John 13:26, 18:2.


21[21] The famous Christian theologian De Quincy justified this act of Judas Iscariot by saying that he did not betray the Christ for any personal interest, but for making Christ manifest his powers of salvation. In this way he acquired salvation himself and redeemed the whole of Christendom through the death of Christ. (Britannica-Judah Iscariot). Apart from being illogical, this justification is contrary to vivid descriptions of the Bible. For example Luke 22:3 has said, “Then entered Satan into Judas, sur- named Iscariot.” The same statement is contained in John 13:27, and 6:70. The Acts 1:18 says: “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity.”


22[22] John 11:51.


23[23] Matthew 26:65, Mark 14:63, Luke 22:71