The REAL Christmas Story: How a Prophet was turned into a god
Muslims typically argue on the basis that the date of December 25th, and symbolic practices such as adorning trees with gold and silver, have direct parallels with paganism, and therefore such celebrations should be avoided.
Accurate Predictions – A Sign of True Prophethood
Many people make the claim that they can predict the future. Astrologists, clairvoyants and numerous religious scriptures put forward prophecies about the future. Is there any way that we can distinguish true prophets from the many liars and frauds that are out there? We can do so by analysing the nature of their prophecies. The predictions of false prophets are often vague in nature or lack a time frame. These characteristics make it easy for their followers to claim a fulfilment of prophecy when the inevitable happens – eventually something, somewhere, will occur which bears enough of a similarity to…
The Tear in the Christian Salvation Safety Net
For Christians the crucifixion of Jesus is a dangerous safety net. The cross has become somewhat of a crux in the sense that many feel they can live their lives in whatever manner that pleases them, without consequence, because they believe the sacrifice of Jesus has already guaranteed their place in Heaven. It is not uncommon to hear missionaries boast about this, putting forth scenarios of drowning Jews, Christians and Muslims with only a Christian being certain of salvation. It should come as no surprise that missionaries peddle such lies; a no-strings-attached religion represents an attractive package in an increasingly…
The Fallacy of Comparing ‘Violence’ in the Qur’ān & Bible
A Dā’ī’s Perspective on Violence in the Qur’ān and Bible A recent computer analysis of the Bible and Qur’ān has been making waves on social media. OdinText, developers of analytics software, recently announced results from a comparative analysis of the Qur’ān and the Old and New Testaments using the latest data mining technology. The aim, according to the researcher, was to uncover with as little bias as possible the extent to which the content of any of these texts is more violent than that of the others. Their inspiration was pundits’ claims that the rise of terrorism connected with Islamic…
How the Qur’an led to the iPhone
The Modern World’s Debt to Islām Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light Part 2: How the Justice of Islām Saved Jews and Christians Part 3: How the Qur'an led to the iPhone This series explores the astronomical impact that Islām had on the world. In the previous article we explore how the proliferation of Islām heralded a new era in human civilisation and development in many fields. Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice. In this article the consequences of this justice, tolerance and peaceful co-existence is brought to light. We…
How the Justice of Islam Saved Jews & Christians
The Modern World’s Debt to Islām Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light Part 2: How the Justice of Islām Saved Jews & Christians This series explores the astronomical impact that Islām had on the world. Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice, and the proliferation of Islām heralded a new era in human civilisation and development in many fields. In the last article we saw how people of different religious backgrounds in Syria welcomed the liberation from the Byzantine Empire that the Muslim “conquerors” brought them. This article looks at a…
The Modern World’s Debt to Islam
The Modern World’s Debt to Islām Part 1: Out of Darkness Into Light Part 2: How the Justice of Islām Saved Jews & Christians Before the coming of Islām, the world was in a state of oppression and injustice. Pre-Islamic Arabia was a dreadful place to live in. Among the Arabs was widespread immorality. Slavery was an economic institution. Male and female slaves were bought and sold like animals. They were the most depressed class of the Arabian society. Illiteracy was common among the Arabs, as were alcoholism and adultery. Those with power and money took advantage of the poor…
Ring Theory: the Quran’s Structural Coherence
The Qur’an is a very unique book in terms of its composition. Its 114 chapters (or ‘Surahs’ in Arabic) are not arranged chronologically or thematically. Even within the individual chapters, numerous topics can be covered with sudden switches from one topic to another and then back again. This unique structure at face value may appear to be disjointed. However, modern research has discovered a sophisticated structural coherence in the Qur’an known as ring composition. ALSO READ: Why does the Qur'an seem incoherent? THEORY OF RING COMPOSITION Ring composition has been explained by Mary Douglas in her book “Thinking in Circles:…
Unveiling History: The Qur’an’s Remarkable Insight into the Past
A popular trend among some Orientalists is to try and attack the Qur'ān by casting doubt on its historical reliability. What should we as Muslims make of these claims? It is important to understand the way historians view history. Much like detectives, they work by piecing together clues that they find in the present to form a bigger picture about something that happened in the past. The clues can vary from archaeological evidence to testimonies of those who lived during, or close to, a particular historical person or event. Motives must be sought, sometimes even second guessed. Therefore much like…