Quran (Koran)

It means There is no god but Allah and muhummad is the prophet of Allah.

La illaha il Allah muhummad-ur- rasul Allah.

The Muslim Holy Book Quran includes many scientific statements that their correctness and authenticity were possible to proved only with the current state of art of technology and developments. These statements has been said in Quran since its revelation in the seventh century. It was impossible for prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to know these scientific facts by himself or through the scientific status at that time. These scientific facts are strong proofs on the authenticity of Quran and that Quran is real God words revelation to prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).

As an example is the Quran verse that reflects a scientific miracle in Quran and drew the attention of Dr Miller. It is the verse number 30 in Surat "Al-Anbiya" (The Prophets) that says:

{Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?}

Dr. Miller says: "This verse is exactly the subject of the scientific research that won the Noble Prize in 1973 and was about the theory of the "Great Explosion". According to this theory, the universe was the result of a great explosion that lead to the formation of the universe with its skies and planets".

Refer to related questions below for more information.

Answer 1

No, they are not at war. Iran and Pakistan are Muslim brother countries. Many of the Shiites are living in Pakistan and many other Muslim countries. The basic beliefs of both the sects are the same. Why should they be at war?

Answer 2

The question is posed makes an implicit assumption about the nature of Middle Eastern conflict which is incorrect. There is not a war between all Sunnis or a group representing all Sunnis and Shiites or a group representing all Shiites. Struggles between Sunnis and Shiites, which have sometimes broken out into actual war (such as the Lebanese Civil War) are localized national conflicts. People divide along religious lines for no other reason than that it works as a good ethnic-identifier. This is no different than the Catholic-Protestant conflict in Ireland or the Jugoslav Wars between Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks.

Quran guides life through:

• Calling for worship of Allah (God), the one and only one God, with no partner and no companion and no son
• correcting previous faiths and previous holy book texts from alterations introduced by human
• describing ritual worships and relevant obligations
• setting God commands as for what to do and what not to do
• laying down basis for true faith and right path to God
• giving tales of old nations for gaining lessons for true faith and good life
• giving scientific statements that were only validated by current technologies and discoveries to provide evidences on the authenticity and miracle of Quran as god revelation and not human written text.
• reminding with the Day of Judgment to be prepared for it
• describing the 2nd life and the paradise and hell fire.
• setting the morals and characteristics of the true Muslim who is keen to follow God commands and prophet Muhammad (PBUH) teachings. Refer to the question below for those characteristics of Muslims as derived from Quran.

Most Quranic experts attribute the Qur'an in its form today to post-7th Century alterations. The consensus is, "independent scholars studying the Qur'an and Hadith, have concluded that the Islamic scripture was not revealed to just one man, but was a compilation of later redactions and editions formulated by a group of men, over the course of a few hundred years. The Qur'an which we read today is not that which was in existence in the mid-seventh century, but is a product of the eighth and ninth centuries. It was not conceived in Mecca or Medina, but in Baghdad."

Because the origins of Islam and the Qur'an are dubious. This is the opinion of renowned scholars and professors of Islam, history, Arabic and many other fields. Among them - Dr. John Wansbrough, American historian who taught at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies; Professor Joseph Schacht, professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York and a leading Western scholar of Islamic law; Dr. Patricia Crone, a scholar, author and historiographer of early Islamic history working at the Institute for Advance Study; R. Stephen Humphreys, professor of history and Islamic studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara; and Professor Andrew Rippin, professor of history and specialist in Islamic studies at the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada "Almost universally, independent scholars studying the Qur'an and Hadith, have concluded that the Islamic scripture was not revealed to just one man, but was a compilation of later redactions and editions formulated by a group of men, over the course of a few hundred years. The Qur'an which we read today is not that which was in existence in the mid-seventh century, but is a product of the eighth and ninth centuries. It was not conceived in Mecca or Medina, but in Baghdad. It was then and there that Islam took on its identity and became a religion. Consequently, the formative stage of Islam was not within the lifetime of Muhammad but evolved over a period of 300 years."Gerd Puin, a German scholar and the world's foremost authority on Qur'anic paleography, the study and scholarly interpretation of ancient manuscripts. He is a specialist in Arabic calligraphy: "My idea is that the Koran is a kind of cocktail of texts that were not all understood even at the time of Muhammad. Many of them may even be a hundred years older than Islam itself. Even within the Islamic traditions there is a huge body of contradictory information, including a significant Christian substrate; one can derive a whole Islamic anti-history from them if one wants. The Qur'an claims for itself that it is 'mubeen,' or clear, but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense. Many Muslims will tell you otherwise, of course, but the fact is that a fifth of the Qur'anic text is just incomprehensible. This is what has caused the traditional anxiety regarding translation. If the Qur'an is not comprehensible, if it can't even be understood in Arabic, then it's not translatable into any language. That is why Muslims are afraid. Since the Qur'an claims repeatedly to be clear but is not-there is an obvious and serious contradiction. Something else must be going on." Another reason why the Qur'an fails the criteria as the word of a perfect God is because of the imperfections within the Qur'an. The Qur'an is riddled with literary contradictions, scientific errors and historical errors. Some examples:

1. Internal contradictions

- Allah does not forgive shirk (Surah 4:48), Allah does forgive shirk (4:153)

2. Historical errors

- The Qur'an places Samaritans in a time period of Moses before Samaritans existed as a people. Yet the term 'Samaritan' was not coined until 722 B.C., which is several hundred years after Moses.

- According to the Qur'an, no-one bore the name of Yahya before John the Baptist (sura 19:7). Yet, we find that name mentioned in the Old Testament (2 Kings 25:23) implying that it was a well known name hundreds of years before the writing of the Qur'an.

3. Scientific errors and absurdities

- Sura 86:5-7 tells us that man is created from a gushing fluid that issues from between the loins and the ribs. Therefore, in this sura we find that the semen which creates a child originates from the back or kidney of the male and not the testicles.

4. Mathematical errors

- The inheritance law in Sura 4:11-12 and 4:176 add up to over 100% of the estate being distributed.

6. Grammatical errors

- Sura 2:177, the word Sabireen should be Sabiroon it is a human plural, it should remain in the masculine plural form. Or sura 7:160, the phrase "We divided them into twelve tribes," is written in the feminine plural: Uthnati Ashrat Asbaataan. however, it should be written in the masculine plural form: Uthaiy Ashara Sibtaan, as all human plurals are automatically male in Arabic.

The Qur'an tells us that Muhammad's critics caught him plagiarising traditions, folklore and Jewish and Christian scripture. Examples: "We have heard this (before): if we wished, we could say (words) like these: these are nothing but tales of the ancients" (8:31). "Such things have been promised to us and to our fathersbefore! They are nothing but tales of the ancients!" (23:83)" In regard to the Islamic versions of heaven, 'paradise', plagiarism from non-Abrahamic beliefs is also evident. "None of this, of course, can be found in the Jewish or Christian Scriptures, but it is in the writings of the Zoroastrians of Persia, who were a considerable presence in the areas around the Persian Empire before the advent of Islam. According to historian W. St. Clair Tisdall, who did pioneering work on these questions in his monograph "The Sources of Islam," which he later expanded into a book, and in his other writings, "the books of the Zoroastrians and Hindus... bear the most extraordinary likeness to what we find in the Koran and Hadith. Thus in Paradise we are told of 'houris having fine black eyes,' and again of 'houris with large black eyes, resembling pearls hidden in their shells.'... The name houry too is derived from an Avesta or Pehlavi Source, as well as jinn for genii, and bihisht (Paradise), signifying in Avestic 'the better land.' We also have very similar tales in the old Hindu writings, of heavenly regions with their boys and girls resembling the houris and ghilman of the Koran."" Source: The Truth About Muhammad by Robert Spencer (2006) Islamic sources tell us that Muhammad's followers would argue because Muhammad provided contradicting versions of the Qur'an. A notable example appears in Bulhari's Hadith: "Umar bin Khattab [the second Caliph] said, 'I heard Hisham bin Hakim bin Hizam reciting Surat Al-Furqan ["Al-Furqan," the title of the 25th surah, has no meaning in any language.] during the lifetime of Allah's Apostle. I listened to his recitation and noticed that he recited it in several ways which Allah's Apostle had not taught me. So I was on the point of attacking him in the prayer, but I waited till he finished, and then I seized him by the collar. "Who taught you this Surah which I have heard you reciting?" He replied, "Allah's Apostle taught it to me." I said, "You are lying. Allah's Apostle taught me in a different way this very Surah which I have heard you reciting." So I led him to Muhammad. "O Allah's Apostle! I heard this person reciting Surat-al-Furqan in a way that you did not teach me." The Prophet said, "Hisham, recite!" So he recited in the same way as I heard him recite it before. On that Allah's Apostle said, "It was revealed to be recited in this way." Then the Prophet said, "Recite, Umar!" So I recited it as he had taught me. Allah's Apostle said, "It was revealed to be recited in this way, too." He added, "The Qur'an has been revealed to be recited in several different ways, so recite of it that which is easier for you."(Bukhari:V6B61N561) The Qur'an in itself as a source for anything is devoid of context and thus arbitrary. Being devoid of context and any understanding, how can it be understood as the word of God? "We do not have material in the Qur'an to compose a biography of Muhammad because the book is a disjointed discourse, a pastiche [imitation, parody] of divine monologues that can be assembled into a homily [lecture, sermon] or perhaps a catechism [snippets of dogma] but that reveals little or nothing about the life of Muhammad and his contemporaries.... The Qur'an give us no assurance that its words and sentiments are likely to be authentic in the light of the context they were delivered and in the manner of their transmission. There are no clues as to when or where or why these particular words were being uttered.... The Qur'an is of no use whatsoever as an independent source for reconstructing the life of Muhammad. The Qur'an is not terribly useful even for reconstructing the Meccan milieu much less the life of the man who uttered its words; it is a text without context." Source: Jay Smith, "Is the Qur'an the Word of God?" A debate between on the Qur'an hosted at Trinity College, Cambridge and Dr Jamal Badawi in 1995 So far not one single person has successfully found any errors or contradictions in the Quran. They tried, but always failed. * On the other hand, many writings have been self-consistent without being accurate or truthful. In the case of a religious or philosophical text that is used to guide one's life, more than "errors" or "contradictions" must be examined. The difficult part of that, though, is that such texts are used to define a religion. Since any religion tries to show something beyond human knowledge, more than scientific or logical analysis is often required to validate or invalidate a religion, or any guiding text thereof. In the Quran itself we find admission of such contradictions in that it claims for itself the right of ?cancellation? or ?abrogation.? Muhammad?s critics had complained that he sometimes contradicted himself, and so he taught that whenever a subsequent revelation contradicted a previous one, the second canceled or abrogated the first. Thus we read, ?None of our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten but We substitute something better or the like. Knowest thou not that God hath power for all things???Sura 2:106; 16:101, Ali. Since both the former or the canceled verse and the one that came later and does the canceling or abrogating remain in the Quran it can easily be seen how there would be contradictions in the Quran. Especially is this possible in view of the fact that it is not at all certain when each sura was ?revealed,? and therefore it cannot always be determined which is the abrogating and which the abrogated text. Some modern Muslims object to all this and claim that what Muhammad referred to as being canceled or abrogated was not anything that appeared in the Quran but only such things as may have been written in the Tourat or the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible or in the Injil or the Gospel accounts of the Bible. However, in the Quran, we read:?Each one (of them) [the men of faith] believeth in God, His angels, His books, and His apostles.? (Al-Baqarah [2]:285) The Qur?⮠also speaks about the faithful ?who believe in the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.? (Al-Baqarah [2]:4) But what is meant by ?the Revelation . . . sent before thy time?? The Holy Scriptures are God?s books. They preceded the Qur?⮬ which mentions them often and emphasizes that they contain God?s guidance. We read at ¬ ?Imr⮠[3]:3, 4, NJD: ?He has revealed to you the Book with the truth, confirming the scriptures which preceded it; for He has already revealed the Torah and the Gospel [Injin Arabic] for the guidance of men.? (See also Al-M⒩dah [5]:46, 47.) And we find at Al-Nis⒠[4]:163: ?To David We gave the Psalms.? The Qur?⮠also encourages going back to these books: ?If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee, then ask those who have been reading the Book from before thee.??Y?[10]:94. So the Quran itself is "confirming the scriptures which preceded it...the Torah(Hebrew scriptures in the Bible) and the Gospel," as "the truth." One of the more striking contradictions found in the Quran concerns itself with freedom of worship. On the one hand there are a number of expressions favoring religious liberty, such as, ?Let there be no compulsion in religion.? And on the other hand, time and again expressions appear that indicate the direct opposite: ?When the sacred months are passed, kill those that join other gods to God wherever ye find them; and seize them, besiege them, lie in wait for them with every kind of ambush: but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way for God is gracious.? And again: ?Fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you: Kill them wherever you find them. . . . Fight therefore until there be no more civil discord, and until the only worship be that of God,? or ?until the temptation stops.??Sura 2:186-190, 212, 213; 8:12; 9:5, 124, Rodwell. Modern Muslims claim that the Quran teaches freedom of religion and advocates only defensive warfare, but can such expressions as ?kill those that join other gods to God wherever you find them,? ?but if they convert . . . let them go their way,? and ?kill them . . . until the temptation stops? be construed as either defensive warfare or permitting freedom of religion? The very Arabic word jihad disproves such a contention, for it means, ?A religious war against infidels or Mohammedan heretics.? (Webster) Many, many Muslims were slain by other Muslims because of religious differences. Certainly that does not spell out freedom of religion.