themes for the diligent - by nicola yacoub ghabril

842019 Themes for the Diligent - By Nicola Yacoub Ghabril

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THEMES FORTHE DILIGENT

Nicola Yacoub Ghabril

1 Introduction 2

2 First Discourse 3

21 Part One The Authenticity of theTorah and Gospel3

22 Part Two Intellectual Proof 5

23 Part Three Historical Evidence7

24 Part Four ArchaeologicalEvidence8

3 Second Discourse Has the QuranAbrogated the Torah and Gospel 11

4 Third Discourse All have Sinnedeven the Prophets 13

5 Fourth Discourse 20

51 Part One Gods Purpose in theCrucifixion How This Reconciliationwas Accomplished 20

52 Part Two Only Christ Was Fit forthis Task 22

53 Part Three Did Christ WillinglyAccept Crucifixion22

54 Part Four The Crucifixion in theQuran25

55 Part Five The Crucifixion inHistory 28

6 Fifth Discourse Christs SinlessnessDivinity and Sonship 30

7 Sixth Discourse The Superiority of

Christ in the Quran Over Others 33

8 Seventh Discourse Trinity in Unity35

9 Eighth Discourse The Paraclete andMuhammad 39

10 Conclusion41

11 Quiz 41

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1 Introduction

I have spent much time in the company of my Muslim brethren most of whom arescholars When we engaged in friendly andsincere discourses about religion weexplored every avenue and knocked atevery door so it occurred to me tosummarise these discourses in the form of a book As a result this effort comes to allthose who have sought fair-mindednessand made truth their goal in the hope thatit will benefit and guide them in the pathof Truth Then if the truth is clear to themhopefully they will embrace it sellingeverything they have in order to buy it

Such folk will be blessed and they willprosper

In my discussion I have followed a methodsuited to any reasonable Muslim and nohonourable seeker will disapprove of it Itis to furnish whenever possible proofsfrom the Quran and the Traditions as wellas from history because these carry more

weight with the Muslim and meet with no

objections Thus we shall arrive at theconclusion of the matter Surely truth isthe daughter of investigation as scholarsdefine it The seeker after truth is notagainst roaming in the field of discussionin order to find it The one who alreadypossesses it will not refrain fromdiscussion since it will only establish himmore firmly Therefore my Muslimbrother do not be upset by my invitationto discuss in the spirit of piety for in so

doing you will either benefit others oryourself in both cases you will come outof the arena a winner The fact that I quotefrom the Quran and Traditions does notcommit me to acknowledging theirveracity The rules of logical debate andcivil laws permit me this method For theMuslim brother in the first place does notaccept the infallibility of my Holy Book (the Torah and Gospel) Otherwise I wouldhave quoted him numerous proofs from it

of the veracity of each of the discourses inthis publication thus removing from hisheart every doubt and exchanging certaintyfor suspicion

My Muslim brethren dont you and wehave the same purpose in religion toworship the Creator and enable us tosecure eternal felicity after death So youfollow a certain path to this end while wefollow another How would it harm us if we discuss the subject thoroughly in a

spirit of humility piety and objectivityTruth is one and indivisible so let us walk together in amity thereby gaining ourCreators favour and at last enjoy anEden-like immortal bliss It was onlygenuine love which led us to compile thisand other messages We wish you to walk side by side with us and share with us theSalvation which we have obtained in

THEMES FOR THE DILIGENT

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Christ and to enjoy with us everlasting

life We cannot hate you if we wish youthe happiness joy and salvation we covetfor ourselves but rather we are sincerefriends who love you So do not mistrustus May God guide you in the right path

In discussion one should avoid shallowamiability and so I shall beg my Muslimbrothers indulgence if he finds some of my words hard to bear for it is not myintention to denigrate his beliefs At thesame time I would like to arrive at sometruths and this does not permit me to setaside my own convictions in order toplease him Likewise I do not expect himto set aside his This is after all a debatingopportunity However I shall promise myesteemed reader to avoid any trace of provocation ridicule or scorn Let it beadmitted that I have in compiling thisbook made use of previous publicationsMy prayer to God is that it will provebeneficial and a means of accord He it is

who answers the petitions of the sincereand he is my sufficiency and the source of all my help

2 First Discourse

21 Part One The Authenticity of the Torah and Gospel

We believe that the Holy Bible (the Torahand Gospel) is the cornerstone of all

Christian doctrine its foundation and thearbiter used by Christians in solvingproblems It is the fair judge who fears notcensure but exposes truth and suppressesfalsehood the faithful witness in legalcases I have therefore placed it first in mydiscussions so that if I can prove itsreliability by convincing argument andlogical proof we can together consult it in

every case and refer to it in every dispute

yielding to its judgements and beingenlightened by its guidance Truly it is alight and a right guidance to all beings

1 In the Quran Sura al Imran 32 weread these words He sent down theTorah and the Gospel aforetime asguidance to the people God sentdown the Torah and the Gospel for theguidance of mankind

2 In Sura al-Maida 572 Say Peopleof the Book you do not stand onanything until you perform the Torahand the Gospel This shows that theTorah and Gospel are reliableotherwise Muhammad would not attestto them

3 Also in Sura al-Maida 551 So let thePeople of the Gospel judge accordingto what God has sent down thereinmeaning that the Gospel is sent downfrom God and Muhammad recognisedits authority

4 In Sura al-Nisa 4135 O believersbelieve in God and His Messenger andthe Book He has sent down on HisMessenger and the Book which Hesent down before Whoso disbelievesin God and His angels and His Booksand His Messengers and the Last Dayhas surely gone astray into far error It

judges the infidelity of the Muslimwho does not believe in the Torah andGospel in the same way that hebelieves in the Quran

5 In Sura Saba 3430 The unbelieverssay We will not believe in this Qurannor in that before it Thus the peopleof Mecca knew about the Torah andGospel in the same way they knew theQuran

6 In Sura al-Qasas 2849 Say Bring a






Book from God that gives better

guidance than these (the Quran and theBible) and follow it if you speak truly Clearly Muhammad attests tothe accuracy of the Torah and Gospeland their equality with the Quran

7 In Sura al-Maida 547 Yet how willthey make thee their judge seeing theyhave the Torah wherein is Gods

judgement Here we have a plainadmission that the Torah is soundcontains Gods decrees and whoever

follows it will not need anotherarbitrator

The meaning of the foregoing verses isvery plain and they do not requireinterpretation or explanation

The gist of these texts is that the HolyBible (the Torah and Gospel) was sentdown by a wise and all-knowing God as alight and guidance to the world Itsprecepts are to be observed and should be

followed If any Muslim does not believeit his religion is lacking and he will strayfar Furthermore the people of Meccawere as familiar with the Bible as theywere with the Quran

My Muslim brother do you still hold back from believing in this Book in spite of these explicit verses and consider it asirrelevant How will you excuse yourself on the day of reckoning for disobeyingGods commands when the books will be

opened I counsel you to read this book (the Torah and Gospel) believe it andobey its precepts In so doing you willdiscover the only way whereby Gods

justice and mercy are reconciled You willfind cleansing from sins and will attaineternal joy through Christ Jesus the mostimportant Person in this world and thenext

It may be that a Muslim brother would

object The verses you have quoted aretrue and your conclusions right Howeverthe Torah and Gospel which you ask me tobelieve in and to which the Quran attestedhave been altered and distorted acorrupting hand has been at work Whatyou today call the Torah and Gospel differcompletely from the ones witnessed to bythe Quran It is for this reason thatMuslims avoid them rejecting theirprecepts Surely you dont blame them for

that I ask the objector and others likehim to pay attention and judge my replyfairly

You have learnt from the aforementionedQuranic verses that the Book (Torah andGospel) was quite perfect and reliable inMuhammads day Otherwise he would nothave testified to it and commanded peopleto keep its precepts You have to admitthat at one time at least it was correct freefrom alteration and forgery

Also I would like you to read thefollowing verses to see for yourself if suchchanges could take place or if humanscould alter it in such a manner

Recite what has been revealed to thee of the Book of thy Lord no man can changeHis words (Sura al-Kahf 1826)

No man can change the words of God(Sura al-Anam 634)

No man can change His words (Suraal-Anam 6115)

There is no changing the words of God(Sura Yunis 1065)

And thou shalt never find any changingthe word of God (Sura al-Fath 4823)

A Book Sublime falsehood comes not to






it from before it nor from behind it (Sura

Fussilat 4142)

It is We who have sent down theRemembrance and We watch over it(Sura al-Hijr 159)

From these quotes you will see that no onecan change the words of God becauseGod has sent down a Book and promisedto protect it Should you say that what ismeant here by the Remembrance is theQuran I would respond that it also means

the Torah and Gospel Witness forinstance the Quranic statement Questionthe People of the Remembrance (the Torahand the Gospel) if you do not know (Suraal-Anbiya 217) In fact the Torah itself isreferred to as Quran in the verse Wegave Moses and Aaron Salvation(al-Furkau) and a Radiance and aRemembrance for the godfearing (Suraal-Anbiya 2149)

You say this applies only to the Quran Isay all that applies to the Quran appliesalso to the Torah and the Gospel For theTorah and Gospel are the words of Godand the Quran according to your belief isthe word of God If you believe that Godsaid in the Quran that there is no changecorruption addition or deletion of hisword (as Jalalayn has stated) then howcan you say that the Torah and Gospelhave been altered in view of all this

If you allow this possibility then it wouldalso follow that the Quran could havebeen changed because what is admissiblefor the Torah and Gospel is alsoadmissible for the Quran If men are ableto alter Gods words -- the Torah andGospel -- it follows that they wouldinevitably have been able to alter theQuran as al-Razi has stated And you do

not admit that the Quran has been

changed Therefore you are obliged toagree that altering the Torah and Gospel isan impossibility You must admit that theyare genuine observe their precepts andadopt them as your guide to Christ who isthe Way the Truth and the Life As for thealleged corruption referred to by theQuran in the Medina Suras it was withreference to some of the Jews only TheGospel is free from this accusation Thecorruption intended here was in the

meaning of certain verses that is in theirinterpretation since the Jews used tointerpret them contrary to Muhammadswishes This has been proven by Al-Raziand Al-Baidawi in their exposition of corrupted texts Otherwise the words of the Quran in the Medina Suras wouldcontradict the Meccan Suras

22 Part Two Intellectual Proof

Every intelligent being knows that the Godwho by the fiat of his eternal power madethe heavens the worlds and all creaturesis Almighty Furthermore it is evidentfrom the perfection of his handiwork theprecision of universal laws and theirconstancy over thousands of years thatGod is wise Since God is both able andwise he had to establish a constitution orproduce a canon for his intelligent humancreatures to enable them to comprehendtheir relationship to their Creator and their

duties to one another They needed toknow the destiny of mankind for thedisobedient a punishment and for thebelieving and obedient a rewardOtherwise chaos would reign with norestraints or laws like fish the large eatingthe small Ultimately man wouldexterminate his kind as savage tribes didthat have disappeared Virtue then would






be the same as vice in fact no term or

distinction of these terms would existSuch a state of affairs is unacceptable tothe Almighty the Wise One

If this constitution and canon are not theTorah and the Gospel then tell me whatare they Is there an ancient holy book which meets such a need like the Torahand Gospel Not at all

Doubtless God the Almighty and Wise insending down a book to be the constitution

and guide for mankind would ensure itspreservation from change additiondeletion or deterioration If that were notso it would be the target of every attackerThere would be a multiplicity of books adiversity of opinions and truth would belost in perplexity and confusion Far be itfrom God to do this For he has preservedhis books the Torah and Gospel centuryafter century free from change and errorHe has kept them as a beacon of light

guiding all who strayIt is impossible to have unanimity for aplot to alter the Bible (the Torah andGospel) For a start the Christian religionand Judaism had already spread in the Eastand West in Syria Turkey EgyptEthiopia India and Europe The Bibleespecially the Gospel was translated fromthe original Hebrew and Greek into thelanguages of all the nations such asArabic Armenian Amharic (Ethiopian)

Coptic and Latin Is it reasonable tosuppose that all these multitudes shouldcome together and agree on a scheme toalter their book considering theirdifferences of language and creedespecially as there were numerousdenominations of Christians each vyingwith the other for orthodoxy

Doubtless the Muslims claim that the

Bible has been changed is a charge withoutproof Otherwise where are the textswhich have been altered Which texts arethey what were they originally and whatwas the purpose in changing them If thereis no answer to these questions and it isclear that is so I ask them How doessomeone dare to make such an allegationThe prudent scholar does not embark onsuch a scheme without first havingsomething to support his allegation The

Gospel had been translated into Arabicbefore the appearance of Islam for thebenefit of those Arab tribes who wereChristianised such as Himyar GhassanRabiya and the people of Nijran Heeraand others How else would they haveunderstood Christianity These facts arecorroborated in the book Al-Aghanee(The Songs) for it relates that Waraka BinNawfal (the most famous Arab writer of Muhammads time) wrote this book

copying in it whatever he desired of theArabic Gospel Now if the Gospel hadbeen subsequently changed Muslimswould have kept the original tosubstantiate their case

As for the Jews their zeal in preservingtheir book is proverbial They know theexact number of words and letters itcontains as all who have associated withtheir leaders know Thus the Holy Biblein its entirety is free from alteration and

change will never overtake it as iswitnessed by common sense and historictransmission

If books proliferate do not allow truth tobecome clouded investigate search andcompare Thus you will arrive at the factsFor the book which condemns lusts andselfish inclinations which transformsmens evil hearts conforms to Gods pure






attributes sustains a civilised life

commands love of ones enemies frownson repaying evil and regards all sons of Adam as brethren is most indeed TheBook given by the Creator of all to beobserved by his creatures everywhere

23 Part Three Historical Evidence

The timelessness of the Bible (Torah andGospel) and its authenticity isindisputable No other book in the

universe is so well-attested Since historyis the fairest witness and the truest proof Ihave decided to use it in our discussion touncover and reveal the truth indubitably

It is obvious that the Bible contains a largenumber of prophecies most of which havebeen fulfilled The remainder will come topass in their time God through his nobleprophets foretold the occurrence of numerous events such as the rise of certainkings and the fall of others the destruction

of great cities and the extinction of glorious and haughty nations which neverdreamed of their coming destruction

For instance the prophet Nahumprophesied clearly the destruction of Nineveh the capital city of the AssyriansThis was a great metropolis whose wallswere 100 feet high with a perimeter of 60miles having 1500 towers which at theheight of its grandeur rose to 200 feetThis prophecy was literally fulfilled

Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold thedestruction of Babylon the capital of theChaldeans at the height of its splendourand prosperity In less than 160 years fromthe date of the prophecy the great Babylonhad fallen according to the word of theprophets The details of its downfall asdescribed by the historians Herodotus and

Xenophon agree remarkably with what the

prophets described

Among the other biblical prophecies is theone by Ezekiel about the city of Tyrewhere we see the following facts whichhistory witnessed and recorded for us

In Ezekiel 268 we read thatNebuchadnezzar would destroy the city of Tyre In verse 3 the prophet says thatmany nations would rise against it inverse 4 that it would become a barren rock

and in verse 5 that fishermen would casttheir nets on its site In verse 12 it isprophesied that its remains would be castinto the sea in verse 14 that it wouldnever rise again and verse 21 says that itsdisappearance is determined and certain

Three years after Ezekiels prophecy theKing of Babylon besieged Tyre for 13years until it surrendered on his terms(585-573 BC) When he finally stormed ithe discovered that its inhabitants had fledby sea to a new island half a mile from thecity He then razed it to the ground as theprophet Ezekiel foretold in chapter 26verse 8

Then came Alexander the Great whosurrounded the rebellious new cityemploying the ruins of the old city tocreate a 60 meter wide causeway Heconquered it as Ezekiel had prophesied inchapter 26312 and it became a barren

rock again as the prophecy describes it inverses 4 and 5

Although the history of Tyre did notfinally end after Alexanders horrendouscampaign the successive attacks byAntigones (314 BC) followed byPtolemais Philadelphus (285-247 BC)extinguished its trade and its importance asa maritime power Later in the year 1321






AD the Muslims occupied and completely

destroyed it It became in the words of theArab traveller Ibn Batuta a bywordnowa complete ruin exactly as the prophecyhad stated in chapter 26 verse 14

In his day Ezekiel looked at Tyre and sawa great city at the height of its splendourso that to those who heard the words of hisprophecy and beheld the wealth and gloryof the powerful city it sounded likehallucinations According to humanwisdom the likelihood of his propheciescoming true within seven years on thebasis of pure chance were one in 750million And yet all his prophecies came topass in detail

Therefore this is what the SovereignLORD says I am against you O Tyre andI will bring many nations against you likethe sea casting up its waves They willdestroy the walls of Tyre and pull downher towers I will scrape away her rubble

and make her a bare rock (Ezekiel2634)

24 Part Four ArchaeologicalEvidence

If history encounters a challenge to itswitness the evidence of archaeology(antiquities) cannot be challenged

The Scriptures have been and still are thetarget of critics and the object of the

attacks of atheists and infidels It iscontrary to their sensuous desires theirnaive views and their destructivephilosophies Hence many of them haveturned to the remains of antiquity inPalestine Babylon Assyria and Egypt inthe hope of finding if possible somethingto discredit inspired Scriptures They wantto prove to the world that the Bible is a

mixture of distorted sayings and traditions

However God has thwarted theirintentions their arrows have missed themark and their hopes have been dashedFor the testimony of these archaeologicalfinds was in complete harmony with theinspired books even though the writers of these inscriptions themselves were pagans

When our Muslim brethren found that thebooks of the Torah and Gospel werecontrary to the fundamental Quranicteachings they levelled at them the chargeof corruption claiming they wereerroneous But their charge lacked properevidence Since the witness of archaeologyhas convinced many atheistic enquirers Idecided to refer to some of theseantiquities in the hope that it would helpour Muslim brethren as it helped othersbefore

The criticism of infidels and their disbelief of the Bible can be traced to two factors

Firstly to the idea that writing was eitherunknown or else little used in Palestineuntil just before the Babylonian Exile(around 540 BC) Consequently theythink it is unlikely that Moses or othersused writing at the time Secondly to thebelief that the Torah highly exaggeratedthe level of civilisation in the ancient NearEast in contrast with the contemporaryhistorians But recent discoveries havecome out in favour of the biblicalaccounts depicting clearly the advancedcivilisations of Egypt Babylon andAssyria Sennacherib Tiglath Pileser andNebuchadnezzar are portrayed to usthrough their chronicles their culture andthe battles they engaged in We can nowsee for ourselves the form of the lettersused by Isaiah Jeremiah and even Mosesin their writings Thus the stones havespoken out in support of Gods






declarations These antiquities have

established the fact that the art of writinghad been perfected in the days of EzekielMoses and Abraham in fact since 2234BC to a level similar to what we havetoday

I shall now proceed to mention theimportant subjects and great eventsmentioned in the Torah which have beencorroborated as you will see by ancientantiquities

The original Assyrian tablets exhibitedtoday in the British Museum confirm thecreation story (mentioned at the beginningof the Torah) in detail in an amazing wayIf not for the need for brevity I would havetranslated it to the reader While thisaccount has elements of legend in it thetruth shows through It confirms theexistence of a single human pair for itstates that there be two created by theLord of the noble face In the same

museum one can see a picture on anancient Babylonian column depicting ourfirst parents with the tree between themand the snake behind Eve This agreesexactly with the account of the Fall in thefirst chapter of the Torah

Formerly unbelieving scholars haveregarded the biblical story of the Flood asmere myth one of the ancients legendsThey supposed it could not bear thescholars scrutiny rigorous enquiry would

prove it to be a forgery However afterlengthy investigations they ended bylosing their case when later archaeologicalfinds exposed their glaring errors Theyconfessed that the Flood was a fact andacknowledged the truth Notable amongthem were the geologists for among thefinds in Assyria were tablets now in theBritish Museum bearing an inscription of

how an ark was built how men and all

kinds of animals were preserved howrains covered the face of the earth(inhabited by living beings) destroyingmen and beasts with all the details of theFlood story

In every continent of the world largequantities of sea fossils have beendiscovered either concentrated orscattered in solid layers on mountains andin deep valleys Some of them are specificto certain seas There are remains of fishand marine plants in fossil form embeddedin mountain strata Anyone interested caninspect these since they are on display inmost museums All this proves the truth of the Biblical account of the FloodOtherwise how could those shells andfossils of fish and plants have reachedthese remote places where they are notnative

A certain Mr Smith came across a tablet

in the ruins of Nineveh which is now inthe British Museum On it there is anaccount of the confusion of tongues andthe building of the Tower of Babel(Genesis 11) The same man found a tabletin the ruins of Assyria relating thedestruction of Sodom and Gomorrah withfire and brimstone as the Bible mentions inGenesis 1924 These finds corroborate theaccount of the raid on Canaan byChedorlaomer King of Elam and his alliesAmong them was Amrafel King of Shinarand Southern Babylon referred to inGenesis chapter 14

The historians Plutarch and Herodotusdenied the existence and use of wine inEgypt in the time of the prophet Moseswritings However we now know from thediscoveries of Egyptian archaeology thatthese historians were wrong in their






assumption and that Moses the lawgiver

was right In some Egyptian tombs thereare pictures showing the process of wine-making from the culture of the vineto crushing the grapes to extracting the

juice and storing it in vessels Some bottleswere found with the word ERB whichmeans wine The ruins also give proof of the famine in Josephs day mentioned inthe Torah (Genesis 4130)

Egyptian inscriptions have shown thatRamses the Great employed foreigners inthe construction of the two towns of Pithom and Ramses This is in agreementwith Exodus 111 and archaeologistsdiscovered in a tomb in Thebes mention of the Israelites and their slavery andconscription in public works

Among the silent witnesses to the truth of the Bible is a piece of marble knownamong the antiquarians as the MoabiteStone A priest by the name of Augustus

Klein found it He was of German originand lived in Palestine for a long timeserving 20 years in Cairo as Secretary forthe English Church Mission He was afamous scholar and knew severallanguages The discovery was made inTransjordan in what was ancient Moaband dates back to 890 BC At present it isin the Louvre Museum in Paris The stonebears an inscription consisting of 30 linesof Phoenician writing which tells of thewars between Misha King of Moab andOmri King of Israel and the Edomites aswe find it in the book of 2 Kings 34-27 Italso mentions other precise details whichare in accord with the Bible but spaceprevents us from giving them

Furthermore the discovery of the Siloaminscriptions in Jerusalem confirm theaccuracy of what we read in 2 Kings

2020 2 Chronicles 3230 and Isaiah

22911 to the effect that Hezekiahstopped the higher source of the GihonSpring running it underground to thewestern flank of the City of David

In the ruins of Nineveh a cylinder wasfound bearing a record of the war betweenSargon King of Assyria in 722 BC andAshuri King of Ashdod in the reign of Hezekiah (Isaiah 21) This cylinder is nowin London

Another hexagonal column was found withan account of the siege of Jerusalem It isalso in London Sennacherib King of Assyria besieged it in 705 BC as relatedin 2 Kings 1813-16

We have in the numerous ancientmanuscripts of the Bible irrefutabletestimony to the veracity of the BookThese are to be found in the foremostlibraries and museums in Europe They arewritten on leather parchment in theoriginal Greek language of the Gospel aswell as other languages Some of themconsist of the Torah and the Gospel intheir entirety Others are of certain booksof the Bible The following are some of these manuscripts

1 Codex Vaticanus (VaticanManuscript) - You will find this in theVatican in Rome It was writtenapproximately 250 years before theHijra

2 Codex Sinaiticus (SinaiticManuscript) -Named after Mount Sinaiwhere it was found It is now in theBritish Museum in London andconsists of the Torah and the Gospel Itwas penned approximately 200 yearsbefore the Hijra

3 Codex Alexandrinus (Alexandria






Manuscript) - This document is in the

Treasure Room of the British Museumin London It was also writtenapproximately 200 years before theHijra and contains the Torah and theGospel

4 Codex Ephraemus (EphraimManuscript) - It is now in Paris andwas written approximately 150 yearsbefore the Hijra and contains theGospel

Furthermore the following story madeheadlines in the year 1948 and wasconsidered among the most momentous of historical events A certain MuhammadAl-Deeb Badawi of the Taamirahs wasshepherding his flock near the Dead SeaWhen one sheep climbed the mountainside he threw a stone at it Hearing thesound of smashed pottery he threw anotherstone Then he climbed the mountain andstepped cautiously through a hole into acave thinking he would find treasure In

fact he found it however it was not justfor himself and his tribe but for the worldat large

This discovery consists of a collection of bundles of the Holy Scriptures amongthem the Book of the prophet Isaiah oneof the biblical books which dates back 700years before Christ It came as an eloquenttestimony to the accuracy of the Biblesince it agreed with the copies incirculation today Thus it refuted thecharges that the Book has been corruptedand challenged and exposed the falseaccusations These scrolls are now knownas Qumran or the Dead Sea Scrolls

Since the discovery of this preciousstorehouse it has become abundantly clearthat the copying and transmission of GodsHoly Book is living proof of the guidance

of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church

of Christ - the repository of Godsmysteries Christians possess numerousother manuscripts some written beforeIslam others contemporary to it We havenot listed these for the sake of brevity If we compare the copies of the Scriptures inmore than 300 languages in the hands of Jews and Christians today with thoseancient manuscripts we shall find a greatdegree of harmony between them Theyare there for everyone to examine

3 Second Discourse Has theQuran Abrogated the Torah andGospel

When the Muslim steed fails in the arenaof discussion lacking proof and evidencehaving to accept the proposition that theTorah and Gospel are free from corruptionand change as well as being sent downfrom an All-wise God to be guidance and

light to all men he resorts to the chargethat the Quran has abrogated the Torahand Gospel However this is anunsupported charge and a grave slanderbecause the Quran itself does not claimthis On the contrary it proclaimed overevery head in clear Arabic that it was sentdown confirming the Torah and Gospeland keeping watch over them as you willsee from the following verses

And believe in that I have sent down

confirming that which is with you (Suraal-Baqara 238)

Confirming what was before it (Suraal-Baqara 291)

Then there shall come to you aMessenger confirming what is with you(Sura al Imran 375)






He has sent down upon thee the Book

with the truth confirming what was beforeit (Sura al Imran 32)

You who have been given the Bookbelieve in what We have sent downconfirming what is with you (Suraal-Nisa 450)

This Quran could not have been forgedapart from God but it is a confirmation of what is before it and a distinguishing of the Book (Sura Yunis 1038)

And We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth confirming the Book thatwas before it and assuring it (Suraal-Maida 552)

Say People of the Book you do not standon anything until you perform the Torahand the Gospel (Sura al-Maida 572)

The prudent will not embark on a chargeunless he is confident that he is able to

prove it by a thousand proofs Some of ourMuslim brethren approach this matterwithout thought If we tell them Produceyour evidence if you are truthful theybring us empty and feeble reasons such asThe later abrogates the earlier In otherwords the Quran came after the Torahand Gospel therefore it abrogates themOthers say that since the Quran containsthe Torah and Gospel we no longer needthem I dont think with due respect to thereaders intelligence that I need to

challenge such feeble evidencesespecially since the Quran itself hasspared me this effort The previous sevenverses like tens of others demonstrateunequivocally that the Quran cameattesting to the veracity of the Torah andGospel confirming them and watchingover them as a guardian and preserver Itnever claimed that it was sent to abrogate

their precepts and there is no trace in the

Quran of such a claim indeed oneunderstands the opposite for in additionto confirming and attesting them itexhorts the Jews and Christians openlysaying People of the Book you do notstand on anything until you perform theTorah and the Gospel

Had the idea of abrogation been true wewould not have seen Muhammad urgingthe Jews and Christians to keep thecommandments of the Torah and GospelAlso we would not have seen him askingthe Muslims to believe in them Nowheredoes the Quran state that it contains theTorah and Gospel so that the Muslimcould say that he has no need of them Infact the Quran does state the contrary asone can see in Sura al-Shuara 26193-196

Brought down by the Faithful Spirit uponthy heart that thou mayest be one of thewarners in a clear Arabic tongue Truly it

is in the Scriptures of the ancients (theTorah and Gospel)

So the last quotation confirms that theTorah and Gospel contain the Qurantruly it is in the Scriptures of theancients How strange it is that ourMuslim friends allege that the Quranencompasses them without giving proof

Even assuming that the Quran failed toaffirm the Torah and Gospel one cannot

argue from silence that it has abrogatedthem and that they are no longer neededGod be thanked it did no such thing butinstead sought to establish its own wordson their authority and placed itself alongside the Torah and Gospel SayBring a Book from God that gives betterguidance than these (the Quran and theBible) and follow it if you speak truly






(Sura al-Qasas 2849) And many a time

the Quran tried to convince the Arabs of the truthfulness of the Bibles message andhow badly they needed it by mentioningthat the Torah and Gospel came down inforeign languages to a foreign nation anda guide to every people (Sura al-Rad138) And since the Arabs could notunderstand those languages the Quransays that God sent down the Quran in thesame way (as the Torah and Gospel) inyour own language in a clear Arabic

tongue Yet before it was the Book of Moses for a model and a mercy and this isa Book confirming in Arabic tongue towarn the evildoers and good tidings to thegood-doers (Sura al-Ahqaf 4611)

4 Third Discourse All haveSinned even the Prophets

God created man pure and made for him ahappy home in the Garden of Eden There

was nothing there to distract him fromworship However he disobeyed the wordof his Lord eating of the forbidden fruitThus he lost everything Adam was arepresentative of his descendants and byhis rebellion he broke the covenant thatGod made with him His descendants haveever since regretted this representationbecause of its consequence Adamresponded to the temptation and fell intosin Since we humans are his offspring wehave inherited this weakness and are bornwith the same inclinations according tothe laws of heredity However we are notpunished for his sin for we too have beendisobedient even though we know of Gods disapproval We have committedactual sins just as he did The followingstatement confirms this Adam fell andso his offspring fell Adam forgot and ateof the tree and his offspring forgot Adam

sinned and his offspring sinned It is

attributed to Tarmathi and others and is afair and truthful statement In shortAdams representation of his descendantsis an indubitable reality among Muslimscholars The Sheikh Muhyi Ed Din Ibn ElAraby has written an article on this subjectin chapter 305 of his book

If Adam whom God created puredisobeyed his Lords commands howmuch more can be said of his weak descendants Then we find that all havesinned and come short of Gods glory andmercy

Both history and experience teach us thatmans heart is wicked and these hearts of ours tell us that Surely the soul of manincites to evil (Sura Yusuf 1253)Whenever it finds a way to satisfy its lustsit follows it unless it has a deterrent fromits Creator Although we know that sin andwickedness are forbidden we violate our

conscience submit to our corrupt naturesand commit what is forbidden Have younot noticed that the drunkard though heknows what harm his habit does to hishealth livelihood and religion still doesit He is drawn by forces within himlikewise the fornicator thief and slanderer

Our personal experience teaches us that wehave leanings and passions within uswhich are reprehensible These are theresult of the corruption of human nature

and they fight our consciences and opposeour good intentions Thus we findourselves captives doing that which iscontrary to the will of our Creator God

We do not know anyone who has no faultsNo human has ever claimed to beabsolutely pure except Jesus We willdiscuss this later on in this book






The following verse points to the fact that

all men are corrupt when it says Surelythe soul of man incites to evil (SuraYusuf 1253) Al-Razi has commentedThe soul of man incites to evil in otherwords it leans to wickedness is desirousof rebellion and has a nature which cravespleasures Since attraction to the materialworld is predominant and desire to rise tothe higher world rare it was judged tohave incited us to evil (Al-Razis words)What is also clear is that the definite

article the refers here to the speciesmankind Therefore we are permitted tosay that every soul incites to evil Theform (la-ammara in Arabic) renderedsurely is a form of emphasis orexaggeration by the use of l am It iscertain then that every mans soul inciteshim to wickedness and has a strong desireto commit disobedience

Another proof that all have sinned is thefollowing verse Not one of you there is

but he shall go down to it that for thyLord is a thing decreed determined ThenWe shall deliver those that weregodfearing and the evildoers We shallleave there hobbling on their knees (SuraMaryam 197273) Al-Razi said Onecannot say then we shall deliver etcunless all were destined to go down to it(the fire) Information on this subjectpoints in the same direction When Jaberwas asked about this verse he said I

heard Gods Prophet saying thatal-worood going down to it meansentering and everyone without exceptionwhether he is good or evil will enter itJalal Ed Din interprets the wordwariduha (shall go down to it) byentering and being burnt Al-Razi confirmsthis in his exposition of the verse hewhose scales are heavy (Sura al-Araf

77) But the sins of the believer will be

forgiven

Does not this clearly show that everyonecommits sins and some will be punishedfor a while whereas others will stay in thefire eternally Another proof of the factthat all have sinned is the verse Whosoblinds himself to the Remembrance of theAll-merciful to him We assign a Satan forcomrade (Sura al-Zukhruf 4335) Sincethe remembrance of Gods name isperpetually beyond mans power it is notsurprising that Satan is in continuous battlewith every man When Muhammad wasasked which fight (jihad) is the better hereplied Your struggle with yourpassions This fight has been named thesupreme struggle It has also been saidYour worst enemy is yourself which iswithin you From this one sees thecorruption of nature and the evil whichlurks in the heart and the inclination to sinin ways both great and small

The truth of the matter is that mankind iscorrupt and sinful and but for the grace of God and his mercy not one would be

justified Muslims have regarded it a gravesin to consider oneself safe from Godswrath We have thus concluded withirrefutable proofs that everyone hassinned Therefore they are in need of Christs sacrifice to atone for their sinsOtherwise they are sent to hell to satisfyGods justice Since they have thisinherited weakness and leaning to sininherited from their father Adam they alsoneed the Holy Spirit Gods Spirit topurify their souls This is needed toremove evil inclinations bit by bit and totransform twisted thoughts and corruptemotions This is what the Bible calls theNew Birth or the Second Birth






Christians believe that according to the

Bible all have sinned and corruption hasovertaken the whole human race Since theprophets are human they too are sinnersThey also believe that these prophets andapostles whom God chose to warn menand deliver his message were preservedfrom error in their task whether themessage was spoken or written Thus Godkept them from forgetting or erringguiding their efforts by his Holy Spirit andinspiring them in what they should say to

men However they (prophets andapostles) were not immune to sin in theiractions and normal behaviour thusindicating the inherent weakness of humannature and establishing the fact thatsinlessness and perfection are Gods alonethe Almighty and Glorious One

Moreover sin deserves Gods wrath andthe fires of hell whether that sin is great orsmall So although murder is differentfrom stealing or cursing all merit the same

punishment from God because they eachconstitute an offence and a disobedienceThis fact is supported by many verses inthe Torah and Gospel for example Allhave turned away they have togetherbecome worthless there is no one whodoes good not even one (Romans 312)and for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 323) In theHadith (Tradition) we find this confirmedhere is its text If anyone extorts anothers

due with his right hand God must consignhim to the fire and deny him paradise Aman said Oh Prophet of God even if it isa small matter He replied Even if it is arod of arak wood

Let us now come to the sins of theprophets Muslims have disagreed amongthemselves as to the sinlessness of theprophets Some have said that they were

absolutely sinless Others have said that

they sinned as children but when theyattained adulthood they became sinlessYet others have restricted their sinlessnessto their role in delivering their messagesbut admitted that they could sin in otherrespects This last view is the oneespoused by the late Sheikh MohammadAdo although the Quran clearly indicatesthat most of the prophets have committedtransgressions not just minor but alsomajor sins according to their admissions

as you will see presently

Muslim theologians have differentiatedbetween two kinds of sins major andminor God forgives the minor ones butnot the major In their opinion there are 17major sins

1 infidelity

2 persistence in committing minor sins

3 despairing of Gods mercy

4 considering oneself safe from Godswrath

5 false witness (perjury)

6 defaming a Muslim

7 swearing falsely

8 magic

9 drinking alcohol

10 extorting the money of orphans

11 usury

12adultery or fornication

13 sodomy or the like

14 stealing

15 murder

16 fleeing in battle from infidels

17 disobedience to parents

Thus in their judgement every believer






who has committed any of these offences

and has not repented will be punished inthe fires of hell Anything else isconsidered minor

Adam sinned as one can conclude fromSura Ta Ha 20119 Adam disobeyed hisLord and so he erred Expositors havesaid that he disobeyed his Lord by eatingof the tree but draw not nigh this treelest you be evildoers (Sura al-Baqara233) Baidawi said He strayed fromwhat was required and went wrong inseeking immortality by eating of the treeor in what he was commanded or from theright course by being deceived by theenemy Al-Razi admitted that Adamsinned but he claimed that it happenedbefore his prophethood He went on to saythat he disobeyed and erred but only inrespect to eating from the tree Since herepented of it this transgression will notbe counted against him However Al-Razihas not confirmed to us that sin occurred

before the call but only that he wasforgiven since he repented We agree withhim in this last phrase but this does notdeny that he disobeyed and erred from thepath

Furthermore disobedience is among thegrave sins as we find expressed in thisverse And whoso rebels against God andHis Messenger for him there awaits theFire of Gehenna (Sura al-Jinn 7224)And by saying and turned again untohim and He guided him (Sura Ta Ha20120) it shows that Adam disobeyedand then repented Repentance is beingsorry for ones sin confessing it anddetermining not to repeat it Andrepentance can only be for disobediencefor Adam himself repented of hisdisobedience in his words They saidLord we have wronged ourselves and if

Thou dost not forgive us and have mercy

upon us we shall surely be among the lost (Sura al-Araf 722)

Here we have Adam one of the foremostprophets obeying Satan listening to himdoubting his sublime Lord and covetingimmortality In so doing he sinned andthis sin is considered among the graveones

Noah sinned as one can see from SuraNuh 7124-29 Increase Thou not the

evildoers save in error And Noah saidMy Lord leave not upon the earth of theunbelievers even one When it was clearhe had sinned he said My Lord forgiveme It follows that the plea to be forgivencomes from a sense of having committed amajor sin However commentators try tosoften this verse The meaning thoughcan only be as we have stated

Abraham sinned as we find written in Suraal-Anam 676 When night outspreadover him he saw a star and said This ismy Lord But when it set he said I lovenot the setters When he saw the moonrising he said This is my Lord But whenit set he said If my Lord does not guideme I shall surely be of the people whohave gone astray This happened to himwhen he saw the sun If he said thisbecause he believed it then he was anidolater otherwise he was lying In eithercase these are grave sins

So we find in Sura Ibrahim 1442 OurLord forgive Thou me and my parentsand the believers upon the day when thereckoning shall come to pass HereAbraham plainly asks forgiveness forhimself his parents and the believers Alsoin Sura al-Baqara 2266 And whenAbraham said My Lord show me how






Thou wilt give life to the dead He said

Why dost thou not believe Yes hesaid but that my heart may be at rest

Here we find Abraham doubting the powerof God and this constitutes a grave sin Inthe Hadith we read We are more inclinedto doubt than Abraham

In Sura al-Anbiya 2164 we read thatAbraham said No it was this great oneof them that did it Abraham had brokenthe idols and when asked he lied saying

that the large idol had smashed the smallones According to Abi Huraira theProphet of God stated that Abraham onlylied three times two lies of whichconcerned the person of God When hesaid I am ill this great one (the idol)did it and Sarah is my sister when thegiant wanted to approach her (quoted byBukhari and Muslim)

Moses sinned as we find in Sura al-Qasas281415 And he entered the city at atime when its people were unheeding andfound there two men fighting the one wasof his own party and the other was of hisenemies Then the one that was of hisparty cried to him to aid him against theother that was of his enemies so Mosesstruck him dispatched him and said Thisis Satans doing he is surely an enemymisleading manifest He said My Lord Ihave wronged myself Forgive me SoGod forgave him for He is the

All-forgiving the All-compassionateAlso in Sura al-Shuara 2619 Said heIndeed I did it then being one of thosethat stray And when Moses returned tohis people angry and sorrowful he saidVilely have you done in my place afterme what have you outstripped yourLords commandment And he cast downthe Tablets and laid hold of his brothers

head (Aaron) dragging him to him He

said O my Lord forgive me and mybrother and enter us into Thy mercy Thouart the most merciful of the merciful

It is evident from these verses that Mosescommitted murder and felt that this was agrave sin So he confessed it and pleadedforgiveness Likewise he sinned when hewas angry and threw the stone tablets andinsulted his brother When he becameaware of his sin he asked forgiveness forhimself and his brother As for Aarons sinit was that he made the golden calf for theIsraelites to worship

Joseph sinned as we read in Sura Yusuf 1224 because of his affair with the wifeof Potiphar the head of Pharaohs armyFor she desired him and he would havetaken her but that he saw the proof of hisLord So was it that We might turn awayfrom him evil and abomination he wasone of Our devoted servants

David sinned as we find in Sura Sad382324 And David thought that We hadonly tried him therefore he soughtforgiveness of his Lord and he fell downbowing and he repented Accordingly Weforgave him that and he has a near placein Our presence and a fair resort Hesinned by committing a murder andadultery as described in detail in the Torahin 2 Samuel 1112 However when he feltthat he had committed a crime he asked

forgiveness of God and was forgiven Allthis is clearly stated in the Torah whichwould spare you the lengthy andconflicting sayings of the commentatorsRecurring stories prove that David fell intosin and reveal his penitence and greatsorrow and the forgiveness he obtained aswas mentioned by Ibn Malek Ibn AbbasWahb Ibn Munabbeh and others






Solomon sinned as we see from Sura Sad

3830-32 When in the evening werepresented to him the standing steeds hesaid Lo I have loved the love of goodthings better than the remembrance of myLord until the sun was hidden behind theveil Return them to me And he began tostroke their shanks and necks CertainlyWe tried Solomon and We cast upon histhrone a mere body then he repented Hesaid My Lord forgive me and give me akingdom such as may not fall to anothers

lot after me Expositors such as theal-Kashaf al-Razi and others haveinterpreted these verses in quite divergentways quoting numerous accounts to provetheir case However the upshot is thathorses diverted him from the remembranceof God and Prayer They even said that hefinally slaughtered them

Verses 33 and 34 of Sura Sad reveal thatSolomon actually sinned Otherwise whywould he ask forgiveness unless he felt

his guilt

Jonah (Yunis) sinned as we find in Suraal-Saffat 37139-144 Jonah too was oneof the Envoys when he ran away to theladen ship and cast lots and was of therebutted then the whale swallowed himdown and he was blameworthy Now hadhe not been of those that glorify God hewould have tarried in its belly until the daythey shall be raised The verb tarriedindicates that Jonah disobeyed his Lordand the strange thing is that he disobeyedin spite of being one of the EnvoysWhat proves this is his saying he isblameworthy Further confirmationcomes in the words that for thisdisobedience he deserved to remain in thewhales belly until the day they shall beraised except that he was of those thatglorify God (that is of those who ask

forgiveness) Otherwise what would be the

significance of glorify in this context

Muhammad sinned as can be inferredfrom Sura al-Fath 482 that God mayforgive thee thy former and thy latter sinsand complete His blessing upon thee andguide thee on a straight path and fromSura Muhammad 4721 and ask forgiveness for thy sin and for thebelievers men and women and fromSura al-Muminun 2357 And ask forgiveness for thy sin and from Suraal-Nisa 4106 Surely We have sent downto thee the Book with the truth so thatthou mayest judge between the people bythat God has shown thee So be notadvocate for the traitors and prayforgiveness of God surely God isAll-forgiving All-compassionate

The first verse shows that Muhammadsinned even before this saying and that hewould sin thereafter If like Al-Razi

Al-Kashaf and others one says that he isseeking forgiveness for his people thesecond verse refutes this and demonstratesthat what is required of him is to ask forgiveness for his sin first then for thesins of believers both male and female

Some Muslim scholars have said that themerits of the pious are the evils of Godsnear ones (muqarrabin) If the pious mandisobeys God in small matters God willreckon it to him among the grave sins

Often what he does not regard as sin iscounted against him as such until he asksforgiveness for it They say that this iswhat happened to Muhammad What theyforget is that God is the speaker in thisverse according to their belief when hesays and ask forgiveness (Muhammad)for thy sin and for the believers men andwomen Does God imagine to be sin what






in fact is not and require him to ask

forgiveness for it

From Sura al-Ahzab 3337 When thousaidst to him whom God had blessed andthou hadst favoured Keep thy wife tothyself and fear God and thou wastconcealing within thyself what God shouldreveal fearing other men and God hasbetter right for thee to fear Him So whenZaid had accomplished what he would of her then We gave her in marriage to theeso that there should not be any fault in thebelievers touching the wives of theiradopted sons when they haveaccomplished what they would of themand Gods commandment must beperformed

The story is that Muhammad freed hisslave Zaid and adopted him as son after hebelieved and married him to a noblewoman called Zaina But sometime laterhe indicated to her his attachment with the

remark Praise be to the one who changesthe hearts Zainab then mentioned this toher husband He understood Muhammadsintentions Approaching him as though byhis own accord he said I wish to leavemy woman companion Muhammadappeared to ignore him and said Whatsthe matter with you Do you suspect herHe replied No except that owing to hernobility she lords it over me He then toldhim Keep thy wife to thyself (See whatAl-Kashaf said in commenting on thisverse page 213 second volume and whatBaidawi has said)

Here he is seen as concealing in himself what God was revealing He tried to makeit appear to men that he did not marryZaids wife except in obedience to Godscommand You can see from the texts thatMuhammad did wrong in concealing his

affection for Zainab and by pretending

something that was not in his heartTherefore he was rebuked in the wordsconcealing within thyself what Godshould reveal

In his exposition of this verse Al-Razisays In that you wanted to marryZainab But Al-Razi retracts by sayingHe feared God and was afraid of menand so God rebuked him for he saidGod has a better right for thee to fearHim Therefore Muhammad sinned in thismanner also and feared what he shouldnot have feared

We read in Sura al-Isra 1776 And hadWe not confirmed thee surely thou wertnear in inclining unto them a very littleAl-Razi writes after Al-Zajjaj Had Wenot confirmed thee meaning in the truthby our protection you were near toinclining to them that is to lean towardsthem a very little that is a little

inclination Qatada remarked that whenthis verse descended the Prophet said OhGod do not leave me to myself (even amoment or for the twinkling of an eye)Does this verse not show that Muhammadsinned or at least that he was not immunefrom sin for he said do not leave me tomyself for the twinkling of an eye

In the sayings of Muslim and Bukhari theyattribute to Muhammad this statementNone of you will enter heaven except by

Gods mercy One said not even you OhProphet of God he said Not even meexcept that God encompass me with Hisgrace Of Abu Huraira he stated that heheard the Prophet say Surely Ill ask Gods forgiveness and repent seventytimes daily and in some accounts morethan seventy It is said of Ibnat Khaled andAbu Huraira -- The Prophet of God






would say Oh God I take refuge in you

from the torment of the grave and thetorment of the fire (Bukhari Part One)

It is absolutely clear from the foregoingpassages to those who are honest that ourFather Adam fell into disobedience andthe thoughts of his heart became corruptand he started to incline to evil Also wehis descendants have naturally inheritedfrom him this corruption and tendency tosin This has also been confirmed to usfrom personal experience

We have seen that the great prophets havecommitted transgressions evenMuhammad the Prophet of the MuslimsSo all men everywhere are in need of aSaviour from the torment prepared for allwho transgress Gods laws and commitsins They need a spotless redemption inorder to redeem their souls anddemonstrate Gods justice and mercy Thisthing can be fulfilled only by the

crucifixion of Jesus Christ his death as asacrifice for mankind so that whoeverbelieves in him will have his sins forgivenby God and made clean by his Holy SpiritThus he will receive eternal life andeverlasting bliss

I do not understand why our Muslimbrethren try to exonerate the prophets fromthe stain of sin contrary to the declarationsof every book considered to be revealed(munzal) This is especially so since none

of the prophets ever claimed thissinlessness but admitted that they wereweak and sinful Truly God has sent downthe books and recorded the creedsaccording to his supreme wisdom He isall-wise in his works and all-knowing of the needs of mankind

5 Fourth Discourse

Introduction

Both Islamic and civil law prescribe thatthe punishment for transgression or crimeshall be severe or mild in proportion to theone sinned against For instance if astudent at school insults his fellow pupilhe is punished lightly whereas if he insultshis teacher he would be expelled fromschool In legislative terms if someonereviles his equal it is considered anoffence but if he insults the judge hispunishment would be greater However if

he insults the king his sentence would begreater still But if he should sin againstGod who is unsurpassed in greatness andholiness how much more would be hispunishment Doubtless he would becondemned to painful endless torment

God is just so he cannot overlook theslightest offence Therefore we have toadmit that those who sin against God forall have sinned and fall short of the gloryof God (Romans 323) will have to stayforever in the fire as a punishment forthem Therefore when this takes placewhere is the mercy of God And if Allahhas mercy on those sinners forgives themand does not punish them then where ishis righteousness For this reason hearranged a means of reconciling hisrighteousness and his mercy

51 Part One Gods Purpose in theCrucifixion How ThisReconciliation was Accomplished

Adam disobeyed his Lord (that is hesinned) and was expelled from Eden(Genesis 3) This is echoed in Suraal-Baqara 234 Then Satan caused themto slip therefrom and brought them out of that they were in He thus deservedeternal death Evil desires grew in him






and the tendency to commit sin took root

in his heart His descendants also inheritedthese tendencies and so they followed intheir fathers footsteps The earth becamefull of evil and mens destruction becameinevitable so as to satisfy Gods justicesince they could not find a way to reformand return to their original state the stateof purity and holiness which befits heavenwhere only the pure can enterFurthermore God cannot deviate from hisown laws because his justice demands that

the sinner pay with his life and that justicerun its course The soul who sins is theone who will die The son will not sharethe guilt of the father nor will the fathershare the guilt of the son Therighteousness of the righteous man will becredited to him and the wickedness of thewicked will be charged against him(Ezekiel 1820) If the legislator does notenforce his own laws then there is no suchthing as justice left

Linguistically justice is the opposite of injustice and means fairness correctionrequital Mercy linguistically signifiestenderness of heart graciousnessbenevolence and forgiveness Others havesaid it is to forgo punishing one whodeserves it Since God is merciful hewanted to show mercy to man and savehim from the fires of punishment (albeitwithout ignoring justice) Therefore he hasordained the work of redemption from

eternity At first it started with bloodsacrifices which are pivotal to the MosaicLaw The sons of Adam offered sacrificeseven before the written Law was sentdown Those coming after them did thesame until the Law was given to MosesGods spokesman where the subject isgiven in detail In it we see how God toimpress on men the ugliness of sin and its

painful consequences proceeded to teach

them as children He divided the animalsinto clean and unclean and taught themthe principle In fact the law requires thatnearly everything be cleansed with bloodand without the shedding of blood there isno forgiveness (Hebrews 922) Thus heinstructed the sinner to offer as a sacrificefor his sin a clean animal in whom was noblemish He was to slay it and place it onthe fire to remind him that the sinnerdeserved to be put to death However by

means of the substitute sacrifice he couldobtain forgiveness All these sacrificespointed to Christs great sacrifice sincethey could never in themselves redeem oneman because of their inferior value

When the time came God sent his WordChrist who took on him human form andbecame man like us He shared manythings with us but he never committed sinneither was there any deceit in his mouth(See a discussion of Christs sinlessness in

the fifth discourse of this book) ThisWord that is Christ offered himself upon a cross as a victim and substitute for thesouls of men In this way Divine justicewas satisfied because God accepted thisoffering in exchange for all souls He alsoreconciled Gods justice with his mercyfulfilling the Prophet Davids sayingLove and faithfulness meet togetherrighteousness and peace kiss each other(Psalm 8510) All who believe in Christs

death on the cross obtain this salvationAlso all who will have this same faith willobtain salvation on the condition they goon to live according to Gods commandsas recorded in the Torah and Gospel ThusChrist was crucified as a man and not asGod as some of our Muslim brethrenimagine raising great objections beforethey understand the Christians real belief






in this matter

I dont think I need to show in detail theplace given in Islam to sacrifices as doother religions Namely that it is a way toobtain forgiveness of sins and acceptancewith God All Muslims know that theslaying of sheep in the al-Adha feast is notfor food but is regarded as a redemption toobtain Gods bounty and beneficenceLikewise the ram which Abraham offeredwas a substitute for his son And Weransomed him with a mighty sacrifice(Sura al-Saffat 37107) Thus everysacrifice is regarded as a substitute for theofferer and a means to obtain pardon EvenMuhammad himself considered the bloodof sacrifices a means to atone for sins andto obtain pardon as we know from thefollowing hadith

He told his daughter Fatima Be presentOh Fatima at the head of the victim for assoon as the first drop of his blood falls to

the ground your sins will be forgivenAnd on the basis of another hadithattributed to Muhammad Muslims believethat on the Day of Reckoning they willmount the sacrifices which they offeredduring their lifetime and cross the straightand narrow path to paradise Thesesacrifices are not equal to the souls forwhom they were offered in fact all theanimals offered are not worth one rationalbeing They are not adequate to atone forsin but are only a symbol of the greatestsacrifice of Christ about whose institutionwe hear in the Torah and we read theaccount of its fulfilment on the cross in theGospel This is the sacrifice which Godconsidered equal to the souls of allmankind For God so loved the world thathe gave his one and only Son thatwhoever believes in him shall not perishbut have eternal life (John 316)

52 Part Two Only Christ Was Fitfor this Task

Yes only Christ was fit for this enterprisefor the following reasons

1 The sacrifice had to be pure andwithout blemish

2 The sacrifice was to be of such valueto equal the number of souls to beredeemed

3 It had to be of the same kind as man

4 It had to have the necessary standingbefore God to serve as a connectinglink between God and man

If one were to search among all mankindone would not find any who would meetthese conditions except Christ The reasonis that all have sinned even the prophetsand need someone to redeem them No onepossesses the necessary worth in Godssight No one has the intrinsic standing

except the Word of GodFor my soul O my healer is in miseryand decay

Grant it healing at your hands throughthe Cross

O mediator of peace I seek refuge in theCross

For me present this plea to your Fatherwho will heed

53 Part Three Did Christ WillinglyAccept Crucifixion

If you were to ask the Muslim why he doesnot believe that Christ was actuallycrucified he would reply Because he wasone of the foremost prophets and it wouldhave been impossible for God to deliver






his worthy servant to vile Jews to put him

to death on the cross in such a horriblefashion The Muslim has forgotten a versein his Quran about God permittingsomething like this to happen as we see inSura al-Nisa 4154 So for their breakingthe compact and disbelieving in the signsof God and slaying the Prophets withoutright

In Sura al-Baqara 282 And whensoeverthere came to you a Messenger with thatyour souls had not desire for did youbecome arrogant and some cry lies to andsome slay Even Muhammad himself confessed that he died of poisoning by thetreachery of a Jewish woman (as we see inthe history of Almaghazi and thebiographies by Mohammad Ibn Ishaq andthe hadiths) In addition the Torah thePsalms and the Gospel have declared thatChrists crucifixion was voluntary as Godhad ordained from the beginning Christhimself said plainly that the purpose of his

coming was to complete the work of redemption that is to offer himself up as asacrifice on the Cross When one of hisdisciples told him Never Lord Thisshall never happen to you Jesus rebukedhim saying Get behind me Satan Youare a stumbling block to me you do nothave in mind the things of God but thethings of men (Matthew 1623) Alsowhen one of his disciples wanted to defendhim from the Jews who came to arrest him

Jesus said to him Put your sword back inits place for all who draw the sword willdie by the sword Do you think I cannotcall on my Father and he will at once putat my disposal more than twelve legions of angels But how then would the Scripturesbe fulfilled that say it must happen in thisway

Some of our Muslim brethren say How

can God punish Christ by crucifixion for

the sins of others since it says in 2 Kings146 Yet He did not put the sons of theassassins to death in accordance with whatis written in the Book of the Law of Moseswhere the Lord commanded Fathers shallnot be put to death for their children norchildren put to death for their fathers eachis to die for his own sins I would replythat God did not condemn Christ to deathfor the sins of mankind but rather Christout of love for us volunteered to offer

himself in our place This is the ultimateexpression of love and deservesglorification However if I volunteer topay that debt what can he say butcommend and praise such action

When the Jews seized Christ to crucifyhim he said Am I leading a rebellion thatyou have come out with swords and clubsto capture me Every day I sat in thetemple courts teaching and you did notarrest me But this has all taken place that

the writings of the prophets might befulfilled Then all the disciples desertedhim and fled (Matthew 265556) Christwas not crucified because he hadcommitted an offence The Jews could findno fault in either his character or hisactions but he was crucified to be oursacrifice taking our place in judgementand standing in our stead Therefore hewas made a curse for us not because hedeserved it but because he willingly

agreed to lay down his life in place of theguilty sinner who deserved the curse Soyou see from the foregoing that Godpermits the killing of his prophets fornoble purposes and that Christ diedwillingly out of love for us to redeem usfrom the curse of the law satisfy divine

justice and grant us salvation and eternallife Therefore apart from Christ Jesus






God does not forgive the believer or have

mercy on him

This is the only way which God ordainedfor the salvation of believers whereby hedemonstrates his justice and mercysimultaneously As for Islamic Law it doesnot harmonise Gods justice and his mercyand neither in the Quran nor theTraditions (Hadith) do we find an effectiveway to deal with judgement reckoning andforgiveness The verses which our Muslimbrethren quote on the subject of judgementare Whether you publish what is in yourhearts or hide it God shall make reckoningwith you for it He will forgive whom hewill and chastise whom he will (Suraal-Baqara 2284)

If God settled accounts with men on thebasis of this verse there would be noindication either of his justice or hismercy While it is true he can do as hepleases yet he would not will what denies

his original attributes and his divine lawSupposing the judge pardoned yourbrothers murderer after his crime wasproved then went on to forgive himWould you regard him as being just Notat all You would regard him as unjustbecause he violated the law This isunthinkable with God for it does notreflect his decrees Furthermore itcontradicts sound thinking

The weighing that day is true he whose

scales are heavy -they are the prosperousand he whose scales are light -- they havelost their souls (Sura al-Araf 778) Thisverse shows the reckoning system to besimple and it is the one used by theancient Egyptians and the Magi wherebyGod places a mans good deeds on one sideof the scales and his sins on the other If the side of good is the heavier he will be

delivered and prosper but if the evil deeds

tip the scales he will be among the loserswho will spend eternity in hell Thiscannot be true because heaven or paradisewhich men aspire to enter is a pure spotwhere only the purified and those maderighteous can enter Thus he who commitsone sin has transgressed and becomeunclean In that condition it is impossiblefor him to enter paradise I shall give anexample to make the matter clearer

Suppose a Muslim is dressed in a whiterobe and while on his way to prayer aspeck of dirt fell on his robe or personWouldnt he be considered unclean If thatwas his state wouldnt he have to returnand purify himself to be able to startprayer This is the state of man towardsGod in respect to purity and impurityTherefore it is impossible for the believerto enter paradise before completepurification and renewal of heart For if hewere cleansed from sins and forgiven his

transgressions yet the germ of evilremained entrenched in his heart he wouldremain wicked and unfit for heaven Alsoif the Muslim believes he can atone for hissins in the fire Not one of you there isbut he shall go down to it that for thyLord is a thing decreed determined Thenwe shall deliver those that weregodfearing and the evildoers We shallleave there hobbling on their knees (SuraMaryam 197273) Without a mans

corrupt heart and inclinations beingchanged he too would not be fit forheaven nor heaven for him Likewiseneither punishing the thief byimprisonment nor cutting his hand norflogging the adulterer changes theinclination of the first to theft or thesecond to adultery Rather the punishmentmight aggravate them and make them






worse as Sura Yusuf 1253 says Surely

the soul of man incites to evil TheChristian faith or more accurately the HolyBible (the Torah and Gospel) has ordaineda way which cannot be objected to becauseit is Gods provision By it the believer canattain purity and forgiveness by means of Christs sacrifice and obtain renewal or achange of heart through the Holy Spirit Inthat way the believer becomes fit to enterparadise and happy to do so

Surely God shall not wrong so much asthe weight of an ant and if it be a gooddeed He will double it (Sura al-Nisa444) This verse presumes on Godsfavour because it indicates that he willdouble a mans good deeds and youyourself know that doubling these is notfair

And every man -- We have fastened tohim his bird of omen upon his neck andWe shall bring forth for him on the Day of

Resurrection as book he shall find spreadwide open (Sura al-Isra 171415) Thisverse shows that for every man there is abook to be opened at the Resurrection Hewill read it and judge himself However itis not clear what the method of writing thisbook is nor how man will judge himself and what rule he will follow

surely the good deeds will drive awaythe evil deeds That is a remembrance untothe mindful (Sura Hud 11116) This

verse shows that one good deed cancels anevil deed If the good ones exceed the evilthe person will be saved otherwiseperdition is inevitable Muslim scholarshave said No one can complain that Goddid not reward him for his good deedsbecause the wicked whose bad deedsoverweigh are rewarded on earth for theirgood deeds It is said if the account is

reckoned and every mans deeds are

weighed justly all creatures will startexacting their wrongs that is giving theiradversary his deserts Thus everyoppressed person will obtain redress fromhis oppressor This is what Muslims calldisputing and requiting injusticesAccordingly angels will take from themerits of the oppressor a portion equal tohis injustice and add them to the merits of the oppressed If the merits of anyoneoutweighs his demerits even by a grain

God will double them out of mercy so hewould enter paradise If ones merits arecancelled and he is left with the unrequitedsins God will add to him an equal amountof the burdens of those he wronged Hewill cast him in hell to be punished for hissins and theirs All this is not justice

Dont you see that all these things do notachieve the required end namely to purifythe heart from the pollution of sin anduproot the germ of evil desires from it to

make it fit for Gods pure presence in aspotless heaven

There is no doubt that the way Godprovided and appointed in the Torah andGospel for mans salvation is the idealway We have to follow it in order toreceive pardon and heart cleansing andenter paradise to live there eternally

54 Part Four The Crucifixion in

the QuranThe Muslim believes that the crucifixiontook place but that it was not Christ butanother on whom his likeness fell as Suraal-Nisa 4156 indicates Yet they did notslay him neither crucified him only alikeness of that was shown to themandthey slew him not of a certainty - noindeed God raised him up to him The






statement in the Quran is confused and

ambiguous and no conclusion can be basedon it To me it is as though the Quran notwishing to deny the crucifixioncategorically stated I did not see

It is permissible to expound this Quranicverse in this way they slew him not of acertainty meaning they could not hurthis real person because the Jews thoughtthat by crucifying Jesus they woulderadicate his memory and make his nameridiculed among men The verse shows theJews that they failed to do this For hisdeath became a means of spreading hisname and glorifying his cause Furtherthat the cross did not extinguish himbecause physical death is not extinctionnor perdition Though Christ died yet Godraised him up and this death was theprelude of his raising To clarify this letme give you an example Suppose I insultcurse and belittle you But you arenoble-minded and do not recompense me

in kind Could you not rightly say to meYou did not insult or degrade me butraised and honoured me in peoples eyesbecause of my forbearance and degradedyourself by reason of your vulgarity Thetruth is that the crucifixion was attributedto the Roman Governor Pilate whoordered it and not to the Jews

As for the words a likenesswas shownto them who does this refer to It couldnot be to Christ since he is the one likenedto not the likeness If you say it refers tothe victim no victim has been mentionedThus you see that the verse is vague If God had intended to rescue Christ fromdying on the cross he would have done itwith a crystal-clear miracle demonstratingto the Jews their inability to harm hisprophet and messenger However themiracle which the Muslims devise in order

to save Christ did not achieve the desired

result in spite of the deception involvedwhich ill befits the Lord as it did notdemonstrate to the Jews Gods power andtheir impotence Had God regardedcrucifixion as demeaning to his holinesswould it have been reasonable for him toperform a miracle which actually showshis disdain But he raised up Christ tohimself in order to save himself that scornaccording to the belief of most Muslims

We have found verses in the Quran whichhint if not declare that Christ actuallydied It serves to clarify the obscureportions of the former verse as you willsee from Sura Al Imran 348 When Godsaid Jesus I will take thee to Me and willraise thee to Me and I will purify thee of those who believe not Somecommentators have said that the wordmutawaffeeka (will take thee to Me)means to put you to sleep One cannot seeat all the wisdom of putting someone to

sleep before raising them I wish thelearned successors can enlighten us wherethe predecessors have failed

The truth is will take thee to Me meansdeath and this is according to Ibn Abbasand Mohammad Ibn Ishaq They differedregarding the duration of death Wahb saidthat Christ remained dead for three hoursthen was raised Mohammad Ibn Ishaqsaid that he was dead seven hours thenGod raised him Ibn Anas said that Godcaused him to die when he raised him upto heaven As for the Imam al-Baidawi hebelieved that Christ actually died for threehours In the language dictionary it says of the verb tawaffa God made him die thatis he took his soul of so and so that hedied meaning his soul was taken and hedied






The word mutawaffeeka and the

derivatives of this verb (tawaffa) in thissense occur 23 times in the Quran In allbut two cases it means absolute death Inthese two exceptions the context refers tofigurative death during sleep It is He whorecalls you by night and He knows whatyou work by day (Sura al-Anam 660)and in Sura al-Zumar 3943 God takesthe souls at the time of their death and thatwhich has not died in its sleep

Some commentators have said that thewaw (and) in the phrase mutawaffeeka is aplay on words to mystify the reader Intheir opinion the real meaning is thatChrist will come again and die Oh GodSave us from the evil of deception Wouldit hurt if they considered these words intheir real sense If the Quran intendedwhat they desire it would surely not havecouched it in an ambiguous statement

As you see in Sura Maryam 1915 Peace

be upon him (refers to John) the day hewas born and the day he dies and the dayhe is raised up alive And in SuraMaryam 1934 Peace be upon me (Jesus)the day I was born and the day I die andthe day I am raised up alive

There is no disputing that all Muslimsbelieve that (Yahya) John was born anddied according to the first verse Then whynot believe the same of Isa the Christaccording to the second verse Because

the order of the two verses is the same andthe words are practically the same Thecontext in the second can only mean onething

As we find in Sura Maryam 1932 andHe has enjoined me to pray and to givethe alms so long as I live Legally alms(Zakat) is a certain sum of money given by

the Muslim in the way of God to the

non-Hashimite Muslim not being hisslave etc According to authoritieswherever Zakat is found in the Quran itmeans money except its saying and atenderness from Us and purity (SuraMaryam 1914) where purity is intended

Now if Christ went up to heaven withoutdying as most of our Muslim brethrenbelieve it was his duty to pay almsaccording to the commandment Are thereI wonder poor Muslims in heaven towhom his alms would be given If on theother hand Christ is still alive on earthwhere is he and who are the recipients of his alms (Zakat)

When we learn that he is not on earth andthat he is not giving alms we know of acertainty that he died and therefore hisobligation to pay alms has been removed

As we read in Sura al-Maida 5117 I wasa witness over them while I remainedamong them but when you let me die (fallasleep or take me to you) you wereyourself the watcher over them Of thisAl-Razi and Al-Jalalayn said This versewill be said by Christ Isa to God mostlikely on the day of reckoning And whileAl-Razi explained the words to let medie by ascension he had forgotten that hehad previously explained it with makinghim fall asleep where it occurs in Sura AlImran 355 Oh Isa truly I let you fall

asleep and will lift you up to meTherefore if we go with Razi and othertranslators agreeing that falling asleepmeans only lifting up these words willcome into existence on the last day of

judgement and mean that Christ never willdie This is contradicting the text of theQuran that All that dwells upon the earthis perishing yet still abides the Face of thy






Lord majestic splendid (Sura al-Rahman

552627) All things perish except HisFace (Sura al-Qasas 2888)

This also contradicts the belief of manyMuslim scholars who believe that Christ infact died contrary to those among themwho believe that Christ has to die in thisworld before the Day of ResurrectionWhat harm would it do if they believedthat take me to Thyself (mutawaffeeka)here does mean death and that this sayingoccurred before the Quran as theintroduction to the verse indicates whenhe said which indicates past tense and notfuture In that case this Quranic text fallsinto line with the Torah and the Gospeland the belief of the Christians about thecrucifixion and death of Christ

Oh God I beseech you reveal the Truth tothose who seek it and grant Light to thosewho need it you are the best to beinvoked Oh most Bountiful of Givers

55 Part Five The Crucifixion inHistory

The event of the cross is not of mansinvention Otherwise Christians would nothave been content to attribute to theirleader prophet and Saviour yea their Lordthis great ignominy The Law of Mosessays because anyone who is hung on atree is under Gods curse (Deuteronomy2123) The Gospel says Christ hasredeemed us from the curse of the lawhaving become a curse for us (for it iswritten Cursed is everyone who hangs ona tree (Galatians 313) Not only haveChristians confessed the fact of theCrucifixion but they have proudlyregarded it the source of their bounties andheavenly blessings and the fountain of allSalvation for themselves as well as for all

who believe in the Crucified Christ and the

redemption he accomplished by hismemorable death It seems to me indiscussions with my Muslim brothers thatthe subject of Christs crucifixion is anhistorical event in some respectsTherefore I have chosen now to discuss ithistorically

The prophets of old David Isaiah Danieland others prophesied on every aspect of the life of Christ especially his death andresurrection starting more than 1050years before it happened In fact some hadfixed the place of the crucifixion and thetime citing signs some of which werenatural such as the eclipse of the sun andearthquake Others were historical such asthe final cessation of the sacrifice becauseit had pointed to Christs great sacrificealso of the end of the monarchy among theJews

When Jesus came he announced to the

Jews plainly that what was written in theirLaw concerning his death had to come topass and that he had to be crucified toatone for the sins of mankind The apostlesafter him gloried in this Crucifixionleading one of them to say For I resolvedto know nothing while I was with youexcept Jesus Christ and him crucified (1Corinthians 22) A few days after thecrucifixion one of them stood up before agreat crowd of Jews and declared Youwith the help of wicked men put him todeath by nailing him to the cross (Acts223) The result of his speech was that3000 of those present believed in theCrucified One

The crucifixion became the theme of thedisciples and of apostolic preaching thepivot of all their sermons and the onlyway to obtain forgiveness of sins They






used to say God forbid that I should

boast except in the cross of our Lord andSaviour Jesus Christ in spite of beingfollowers of the Crucified The ChristianChurch in every century since hasregarded the crucifixion of Christ as theoriginal disciples did The reason is thatnothing in the Torah and Gospel is clearerthan this fact

The famous Jewish historian Josephusmentioned the crucifixion of Christsaying Pilate sentenced Christ to becrucified to satisfy the clamour of the chief priests among us and those who lovedChrist at first did not leave him butcontinue with us to this day They arecalled Christians after him Even Jewstoday admit that Christ was crucified andthe Quran itself witnesses that the Jewsadmit that they killed Christ as you cansee in Sura al-Nisa 4156 and for theirsaying We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary the Messenger of God The Rabbi

Yohanan Bin Zakka disciple of thefamous Hillel wrote a book in Hebrew along time ago mentioning the Jewssentencing Christ to be crucified becausehe claimed to be Gods Son and that theyhanged him on a tree outside Jerusalem inaccordance with the order of the king andthe Jewish rulers

The Talmud incidentally mentions thecrucifixion of Jesus Christ and the paganhistorian Tacitus mentioned in chapter 15of his work written nearly 40 years afterChrist that he was killed by order of Pontius Pilate the local governor duringthe reign of Tiberius

This historian wrote to people who lived atthe time of Christ and in all likelihoodsome had been eye witnesses at his deathHe had access to Roman records where

the official chronicles of the various

governors were kept Among them werethe chronicles of the governors of Palestine where Christ was crucifiedConsequently this authors writings wereheld in high esteem since they related toofficial events and public information

The important fact is that Pilate sent areport to Rome about the crucifixion anddeath of Christ which has been preservedamong the records of Rome as wascustomary with civilised empires of theday From this legal inscription Tacituswas able to obtain his information inaddition to other public sources Referenceto this inscription was made by thephilosopher Flavius Justinus in writing tothe Emperor Antonius Pius in the year 139AD also by the scholar Tertullian writingfrom Carthage in the year 199 AD

Thus you see that the incident of thecrucifixion of Christ was a thing

predetermined and a notable event knownamong pagans Jews and Christians notonly among the common people but alsoamong the elite for 600 years Until theQuran came and denied it not openly butby means of ambiguous statements andvarious texts which have caused muchuncertainty for Muslims causing some todeny it emphatically and others to believeit as you noted from the previous section

Now thoughtful reader assume that 50

honest men witnessed clearly that Zaidkilled Amr and that the eyewitnessesknew perfectly both the killer and victimThen assume that the killer confessedpublicly to his ugly deed For about 600years it is the general belief and anundisputed fact that Zaid killed Amr Butthen after this long period a contradictorywitness presented himself before the






judge obviously not an eye witness Let us

assume that he was an impartial witnessand said I testify that the killing didoccur but that the one killed was not Amrbut Bakr How do you think the judgewould decide the case Would he confirmthat Amr had been killed or would he

judge that the one killed was Bakr basinghis decision on this latest isolatedtestimony There is no doubt that afair-minded judge would confirm thedecision that it was Amr who was killed

on the basis of numerous witnesses and theconfession of the killer Anyone who

judges otherwise would demonstrate hisignorance of civil and canonical laws andonly confirms to others that he is totallydevoid of justice

I do not have to warn you that thisexample concerns the case of Christscrucifixion and applies to it in every way

What will you say after this oh Muslim

brother you who are looking for the truthI counsel you to leave your credal bias and judge in this matter as a free manaccording to justice and your intellectualhonesty You will find that the case issimple and does not require all thistroublesome pursuit You will then knowthat Christ (Isa) was killed and crucified toredeem the world But he arose from thegrave and ascended up to heavenvictorious Henceforth death will not havedominion over him

6 Fifth Discourse ChristsSinlessness Divinity and Sonship

According to what God has revealed in hisPrecious Book we Christians believe thatJesus Christ is infallible since he is not inthe genetic line of corrupt human nature

as the inspired books have confirmed We

have in the Quran and the Hadith a basisfor the inspiration of the Holy Bible

We also believe Christ to be God and manat the same time in the light of the divineinspiration in the Gospel As an expressionof this truth and by way of illustration wesay The one God appeared in the manJesus Christ and indwelt him with thefullness of his deity a limitless indwellingFor in Christ all the fullness of the Deitylives in bodily form (Colossians 29) Inthe past God spoke to our forefathersthrough the prophets at many times and invarious ways but in these last days he hasspoken to us by his Son whom heappointed heir of all things and throughwhom he made the universe The Son isthe radiance of Gods glory and the exactrepresentation of his being sustaining allthings by his powerful word After he hadprovided purification for sins he sat downat the right hand of the Majesty in heaven

(Hebrews 11-3) Therefore it is correct tosay that Christ is God and man at the sametime For the man is not a God but God isGod and man is man He is not two godsas the Muslims imagine Christ to beChrist by his divine power performedmiracles and superhuman acts unlike theprophets -- for they performed the miraclesby the power of God and not by their ownstrength As man he ate and drank andslept like any other human He would at

times speak of himself as God andsometimes as man As we have said thiswas only because he was both God andman Our Muslim brethren and someChristians have had doubts regarding thedivinity of Christ since they have seenmany passages in the Book which showhim to be man However if they reviewthe numerous texts which point to his






divinity and do it meticulously and with

care the clouds of doubt which obscuretheir vision would disappear Jesus said tohim Yes it is as you say Jesus repliedBut I say to all of you In the future youwill see the Son of Man sitting at the righthand of the Mighty One and coming on theclouds of heaven (Matthew 2664) Jesussaid to him Dont you know me Philipeven after I have been among you such along time Anyone who has seen me hasseen the Father How can you say Show

us the Father (John 149)

Moreover Christ as man lived for a whileon earth was crucified died and roseagain but the crucifixion and death fell onhis physical nature

As for Christs divinity it is very clear inthe Torah and Gospel from theprophecies the words of Christ himself and in the teachings of the apostles Alsofrom the following verse from Sura Al

Imran 340 Mary God gives thee goodtidings of a Word from Him whose nameis Messiah Jesus son of Mary highhonoured shall he be in this world and thenext near stationed to God If theexpositors claim that what is meant byWord is the verb be (kun) or speech inother texts there is no way they can claimthis meaning in this instance The wordsa Word from him whose name isMessiah shows that the Word here is aperson and not an utterance or commandas will be clear upon the slightestreflection It is almost like saying Abeing from him Notice that the pronounin the Arabic ismihi (whose name) ismasculine referring to kalima (Word)which in Arabic is feminine phoneticallybut masculine in meaning otherwiselinguistically it would not be permissible

Muslim scholars have stated that all Gods

creatures can be termed Gods words sincethey were created by a word I would saythat this is false for otherwise one can calla cause effect and a book a pen becausethe pen is the means or the tool whichwrote the book but not the book itself If God created Isa the Christ by a word of command (kun in Arabic) as they allegehe could not be called (kalima) wordbecause he is not the word but the effect of the word (the command) If I write a book

with my mind that book is not called amind (or my mind) but the object of themind Otherwise truth will be mixed witherror and essentials will be confused withaccidentals

What is clear from other verses is thatChrist is the Spirit of God You know thatwhatever is of God is God Therefore theWord of God is God eternal and Spirit of God is God eternal everlasting Thisexactly corresponds with what we have at

the beginning of Johns Gospel

In the beginning was the Word and theWord was with God and the Word wasGod He was with God in the beginningThrough him all things were madewithout him nothing was made that hasbeen made In him was life and that lifewas the light of men The light shines inthe darkness but the darkness has notunderstood it (John 11-5)

As to Christ being the Son of God that ispossible and not an infidelity The Hadithspeaking on Gods behalf says The poorare my family This is not impossible asshown in the saying in Sura al-Zumar396 Had God desired to take to Him ason He would have chosen whatever Hewilled of that He has created No wonderthen that the Book has announced that






Christ is the Son of God not by way of

reproduction as some Muslims think because Son is an expression notexclusive to the male child by procreationbut is also used figuratively as in sons of the word or son of the sea or son of the desert and so on We also use theexpression so and so is the son (or child)of so and so by way of adoptionmetaphorically or analogically God hascalled the believers his children Howeverhe declared that Christ is his only

begotten Son In other words the latter isa different sonship from the former

We do not comprehend this sonship fullybecause it is beyond humancomprehension And as Christ was calledSon of God so as to elevate him abovemen for his deity he was called Son of Man to indicate his humanity This is whatis intended in Daniels prophecy chapter71314 which points to Christ being Godand man in one

Beyond all question the mystery of godliness is great He appeared in abody was vindicated by the Spirit wasseen by angels was preached among thenations was believed on in the worldwas taken up in glory (1 Timothy 316)

That which was from the beginningwhich we have heard which we haveseen with our eyes which we havelooked at and our hands have touched--

this we proclaim concerning the Wordof life (1 John 11)

The sins of the prophets are mentioned inthe Torah the Psalms and the Gospel oneby one (and the Quran supports theirevidence) The corruption of the wholehuman race is also mentioned as you haveseen However none of these books

mentions any sin of Jesus Christ On the

contrary they all testify to his holiness andpurity beyond any other human and hisinfallibility with respect to sin He standsout unique among men in this regard asyou will see from the coming discussion of the excellence of Christ

No prophet or apostle however great hasdared to claim infallibility for himselfbecause sinlessness in human creatures isimpossible Only God possessesinfallibility and perfection As to Christwho excelled all others by virtue of his

joint divinity and humanity he had suchutter confidence in his perfection andpurity that he could boldly ask Can anyof you prove me guilty of sin If I amtelling the truth why dont you believeme (John 846) I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of the worldis coming and he has nothing in me(John 1430) Numerous other testimonialsin the Book testify to Christs infallibility

Even his foes could not find any fault inhis behaviour

When the governor Pilate examined thecharges of the Jews he declared that hecould not find any fault in Christ whichdeserved death (John 1838 and 1946)Pilates wife also sent a message during thetrial advising her husband Dont haveanything to do with that innocent man forI have suffered a great deal today in adream because of him (Matthew 2719)After that Pilate washed his hands I aminnocent of this mans blood he said Itis your responsibility (Matthew 2724)

So the Jews said Let his blood be on usand on our children It was then thatChrist was delivered to be crucifiedChrists whole life and walk speakseloquently of his absolute purity integrity






and infallibility in contrast with the

conduct of the rest of humanity includingthe prophets and apostles which are full of faults inconsistencies injustice andcorruption of heart

This purity of Christ and his sinlessnesswere essential so that he would be fit tooffer himself an atonement and a pure andunblemished sacrifice for the souls of sinful humanity

7 Sixth Discourse TheSuperiority of Christ in theQuran Over Others

Prophets and Apostles have been givendifferent titles and participated in manydeeds but Christ excelled them all Let usnow mention what the Quran has to say onthis subject

1 That he was the Word of God and hisSpirit as we find in Sura al-Nisa 4169

The Messiah Jesus son of Mary wasonly the Messenger of God and HisWord that he committed to Mary anda Spirit from Him In Sura Al Imran340 Mary God gives thee goodtidings of a Word from Him whosename is Messiah Jesus son of Maryhigh honoured shall he be in this worldand the next near stationed to God

Tell me my friend of whom whetherprophets or men did the Quran state

they were Gods Word or Spirit

God has called some people Apostlessome prophets some warners somePreachers But all these names are lessthan Word of God and Spirit of God which Jesus Christ was calledHe is thus undoubtedly greater than allparticularly as the spirit is greater than

the apostle because Spirit of God

means God himself whereas Hisapostle is another individual

Commentators such as Al-RaziAl-Jalalayn and others have said thatChrist was called the Word of Godbecause he was called into being by aword without a father therefore he isreferred to as the Word However wewould ask them If that is so why wasnot Adam who was created by a wordof command also called Word of Godand of his Spirit

Does not this designation require thelearned Muslim to look into the wordsword and spirit in the foregoingtexts which suggest if not declareChrists pre-eminence and divinity

2 He creates as we find in Sura Al Imran343 I will create for you out of clayas the likeness of a bird then I willbreathe into it and it will be a bird by

the leave of God

God has permitted his creatures toshare with him in several attributessuch as generosity justice mercy andcharity He also bestowed on hisprophets the power to performsupernatural miracles and to foretellfuture events before they happenedThis was for mans benefit and toauthenticate their heavenly messageBut he has left for himself some thingswhich he will not share with anyone

First omnipresence being present inevery place (an imperceptible presencewithout limit) in order to be in totalcontrol and hear the call of every livingsoul world-wide even simultaneouslyBut the creature cannot be present inevery place at the same time In






summary no person or king can be

omnipresent otherwise he wouldbecome God

Second omnipotence as an original notderived power The prophets haveperformed amazing deeds andcompelling miracles which no humancan equal but these were by Godsenabling power and not intrinsic ForGod alone is the cause of all causesand the fountain of all power If anyone should acquire intrinsic powerhe would become like God and that isobviously absurd

Third creating and bringing a soul intobeing This word signifies making orbringing into being something out of nothing and the dictionary definition isto bring into being or fashioningsomething like nothing before

God Almighty has endowed prophetsand apostles with power to raise thedead heal the dumb cure a variety of diseases and foretell events (beforethey happen) But he did not permitanyone to create or give the spiritexcept Jesus Christ Why Onlybecause Christ is greater than theprophets and apostles and occupies adifferent position Of whom was it saidin the Quran that he created even byhis Lords permission This was notsaid of anyone as anybody who is

familiar with the Quran will confirm

From the preceding verse you will seethat the Quran asserts that Christ usedto create birds in the same way thatGod created Adam since he fashionedman from the soil of the ground andbreathed on him the breath of life andhe became a living soul

3 His miraculous birth as we read in Sura

al-Nisa 4169 The Messiah Jesusson of Mary was only the Messengerof God and His Word that Hecommitted to Mary and a Spirit fromHim Meaning that Christ was bornwithout a father by the Holy Spirit in asupernatural manner It is true Adamhad no father but that was of necessity since there were no humanbeings before him As for Christs birthit was not of necessity but purposed of God a miracle to the world andappointed her and her son to be a signunto all beings (Sura al-Anbiya2191) and that We may appointhim a sign unto men and a mercy fromUs (Sura Maryam 1921)

Does not Christs unusual birth capturethe attention of the honest Muslim andbring him to a belief that Christ (Isa)had no equal among men and that heoccupies the highest station

4 Eminence in this world and the next aswe find in Sura Al Imran 340 MaryGod gives thee good tidings of a Wordfrom him whose name is MessiahJesus son of Mary high honouredshall he be in this world and the nextnear stationed to God

Al-Kashaf has said Eminence in thisworld means prophecy and precedenceover men and in the next intercessionand exaltation of position in paradiseAl-Razi and Jalal Ed Din al-Suyuti hasexpounded this verse in exactly thesame way

Regarding the eminence of Moses inSura al-Ahzab 3369 and he washigh honoured with God Al-Razi hasexpounded it as being knowledge Hehas also said in explaining the phrase






high honoured with God as follows

Not every eminent one ishigh-honoured because the people of Paradise are in ranks and degreestherefore did God say and you shallbe three bands going on to theoutstrippers those are brought nigh theThrone (Sura al-Waqia 5671011)

From a study of the Quran one learnsthat no one has been described as beingeminent in this world and the nextother than Christ (Isa) and none of theprophets and apostles enjoyed thisdistinction except him Search and seeand afterwards please tell me whyEnquire after the reason you will beamazed

5 The absence of any mention of sin laidto his account (review the FifthDiscourse)

6 He raised him to heaven as we find inSura Al Imran 348 When God said

Jesus I will take thee to Me and willraise thee to Me and I will purify theeof those who believe not

Earlier we discussed the question of whattaking thee to me (mutawaffeeka)means so there is no need to repeat it butwe desire to clarify the meaning of raiseAl-Razi has said what is intended byraise is to raise to the level of Godshonour he has used the form to Me forpurposes of exaltation and magnification

By using purify thee he means removingyou from among the infidels As he hasexalted him by the term raise he hasindicated the sense of deliverance by theword purify All this points to a desire toexaggerate in honouring him andmagnifying his position with GodAlmighty

In explaining the phrase taking thee to

Me Al-Kashaf said taking thee to myheaven and the place of my angelsRaising Christ in the Quran signifiesexaltation (of the high honoured) TheGospel informs us of the reason for theexaltation of Christ saying

Who being in very nature God did notconsider equality with God something tobe grasped but made himself nothingtaking the very nature of a servantbeing made in human likeness Andbeing found in appearance as a man hehumbled himself and became obedientto death-- even death on a crossTherefore God exalted him to thehighest place and gave him the namethat is above every name that at thename of Jesus every knee should bow inheaven and on earth and under theearth and every tongue confess thatJesus Christ is Lord to the glory of Godthe Father (Philippians 26-11)

Does not this subject call upon us toenquire into the reason If you theesteemed reader want the reason from meI shall answer you with a verse from theGospel which has expressed this in theclearest terms

For the word of God is living andactive Sharper than any double-edgedsword it penetrates even to dividingsoul and spirit joints and marrow it

judges the thoughts and attitudes of theheart (Hebrews 412)

8 Seventh Discourse Trinity inUnity

For the reader to be well-informed aboutthe Christian doctrine of the Unity of Godand the Trinity I shall now present in






detail the first doctrine of the Christian

Faith

There is no god but God the One LivingTrue Eternal Everlasting without bodyparts or emotions Whose might andwisdom and goodness know no limitsCreator of all things visible and invisibleIn this One God are three Persons of thesame substance the same might and thesame eternal existence they are TheFather The Son and the Holy Spirit

This creed is well supported by verses inthe Torah and Gospel Therefore it is notan invention of the Christians Howeverwhether it was first realised or arrived atby logical discussion will be answeredfrom what follows

It is not fully understood because it isbeyond the perception of the sons of Adam However it is a reality and anaccepted fact even though the majority of Muslim enquirers have failed tocomprehend it in accordance with theIslamic doctrine which says Investigationregarding the essence of God is infidelity(Hadith)

I shall not at present attempt to explain adoctrine which the ancients failed toexplain and whose essence the modernscannot grasp because it is an enquiry intothe nature of God the Creator of allbeings Since scholars cannot comprehend

the secret of any of these beings how thencan they comprehend the nature of theFirst Cause the Creator I want todemonstrate firstly that we have to acceptthis concept by faith with our heart eventhough our minds do not comprehend itThe reason is that we have it given indetail in Gods inspired Book which is formankinds guidance I mean by it the

Torah and Gospel Secondly I would like

to point out to my Muslim brethren thatthey themselves have many basicfundamental beliefs which are not logicalOf these and foremost among them is thebelief in God Why then do they require usto prove what they themselves cannotprove

First of all all believers in God whetherJews Christians or Muslims know nothingabout God except what he has revealedabout himself Anything beyond that is theimagination or speculation of scholars Itcannot be relied on by the God-fearing norused to convince the sceptics

Our own perceptions are incapable of comprehending their creator If we couldhe would cease to be God Only God canunderstand God Although God is theultimate being yet unlike other beings hefills the heavens and the worlds withouthaving length breadth height depth or

origin Because he is boundless andincomprehensible he has soared wayabove analogy and representationWhatever your mind can conceive God issomething other Therefore we should notoverreach ourselves in trying to fathomwhat our minds are incapable of fathoming Let us instead accept what Godhas revealed to us of himself withoutprobing or debate That is closer togodliness

The important thing is to find out Doesthe Book (the Torah and Gospel) comefrom God or not If we answer in theaffirmative (and thank God it is so) wehave to believe all that we read in itwhether it agrees or disagrees with ourown opinion For we are not permitted tobelieve some of the Book which weunderstand and disbelieve other parts due






to lack of understanding In the Quran

such folk are blamed as we see from Suraal-Baqara 279 What do you believe inpart of the Book and disbelieve in partWhat shall be the recompense of those of you who do that but degradation in thepresent life and on the Day of Resurrection to be returned unto the mostterrible of chastisement

Quite often our Muslim brethren attack theTorah and Gospel for mentioning that Godspoke heard wrote with his finger wassad sorry and other human-likeexpressions

In order to remove any doubts in theirhearts we would remind them that theQuran too uses similar statements Hereare some of them

Hast thou received the story of MosesWhen he saw a fire and said to his familyTarry you here I observe a fire Perhaps Ishall bring you a brand from it or I shallfind at the fire guidance When he came toit a voice cried Moses I am thy Lord putoff thy shoes (Sura Taha 208-12)

God is the Light of the heavens and theearth the likeness of His Light is as aniche wherein is a lamp (the lamp in aglass the glass as it were a glitteringstar) (Sura al-Nur 2435)

Gods hand is over their hands (Suraal-Fath 4810)

He said (Abraham) I am going to myLord (Sura al-Saffat 3797)

Whoso emigrates in the way of God(Sura al-Nisa 4101)

and for their saying We slew theMessiah Jesus son of Mary theMessenger of God (Sura al-Nisa

4156)

and unto God all matters are returned(Sura al-Baqara 2206)

then sat Himself upon the Throne(Sura al-Araf 752)

then He lifted Himself to heaven(Sura al-Baqara 227)

When God said Jesus I will take thee toMe and will raise thee to Me and I willpurify thee of those who believe not (Sura

Al Imran 348)

All that dwells upon the earth isperishing yet still abides the Face of thyLord majestic splendid (Sura al-Rahman5527)

All things perish except His Face (Suraal-Qasas 2888)

In the Quran we have sayings whichattribute to God love anger and pleasure

which are emotional reactions also regretand forgetfulness Therefore today Weforget them (Sura al-Araf 749)

If you accept the foregoing verses at facevalue you would have to admit that Godwas represented by fire or was inside itBut if you say he wasnt fire nor was he init but it was in order to direct Moses tosomething I would reply that the end of the verse put off thy shoes thou art in theHoly Valley Towa contradicts you and

proves me right If you admit God is lightand that this light is as a niche whereinis a lamp etc this is what is known asyes and no (hulul and hasr) - a dilemmaThen you are bound to admit that God hasa place and a face and so on And this noMuslim would accept

Secondly you say my Muslim brother






that you do not believe the doctrine of the

Trinity (ie that God is one in threePersons) because you are unable tounderstand it and no one can prove it toyou What you forget is that you as aMuslim believe many things in commonwith the Jew and the Christian Howeverif disbelievers in inspiration ask you toprove one of these beliefs you and theablest scholars could not do so nor respondwith an answer supported by proof

Every believer in God believes that he hascreated the heavens and all that is in themof suns and moons and planets and starsHe fashioned the world and all that istherein of plant and animal life in six daysand created living rational man with aword from his mouth Now every believerbelieves that the noble prophets and thegood apostles performed miracles such asraising the dead healing the dumb andparalytic and so on Every believerbelieves in the Resurrection namely that

every being from Adam to the last personon earth will be resurrected those whohave died natural deaths as well as thosewhom the fish have eaten Also thoseeaten by beasts of the field shall have theirspirits return to their bodies which havedecomposed into various forms of earthplant animal and matter and this for thepurpose of reckoning and judgement

Supposing an infidel challenged youregarding these truths and denied themWould you be able to defend your beliefsby logical reasoning sound proof andintellectual arguments without the inspiredbooks You know better than I do that youwould not be able to furnish proofsestablishing the foregoing beliefs

You believe in God and trust him But if Iask you what is God and where is he

You would fail to give a convincing

answer You also know you have a spiritand believe in that However you areignorant of what the spirit is or of where itexists Furthermore you know and believeyou have a mind and intellectual capacitiesbut you do not understand their natureYou do not even understand much of intangible things Learned men have statedthat we do not understand the essence of material things but only know theirproperties and characteristics How much

more can this be said of intangible things

I know and you know and the JewsChristians and Muslims all know that weand they believe statements about creationmiracles the resurrection the judgementand immortality of the soul We alsobelieve in God not because we are capableof proving these doctrines but becausethey are mentioned in books we regard assent down from God and infallible Thusthe Jew believes in obedience to his Book

the Torah the Christian on the authority of the Torah and Gospel and the Muslim insubmission to the Quran

If it is valid to deny the Trinity because wehave no way to prove it we must deny allother doctrines in fact denying allrevelations which we cannot prove suchas Gods self-existence and eternal naturehis being the first cause of everythingomnipresent and omniscient knowing allthat has happened from eternity to eternityat every moment in time and that hisknowledge does not allow any additions oromissions

God is one in essence three in personSince he is unique in the universe in hisnature and attributes it is no wonder thathe is superior to all else in the mode of hisbeing even as he excels in his supreme






attributes It is said that one essence

having three hypostases is impossible Wewould say this is an unsupported claim andthat our finite minds cannot measure of what is possible and what is not beyond itslimits of comprehension The persons of the Trinity are in essence one not ingeneric or qualitative essence Thereforeplurality in trinity does not affect theessence and does not involve essentialdichotomy since Gods essence is notmaterial but spiritual Spirit does not

under any circumstances permit divisionThus the Father the Son and the HolySpirit are in respect to their hypostasis of the same essence Each of them enjoys theessence of one deity without division orseparation In our language there is noequivalent to the meaning of hypostasis inorder to be able to describe the HolyTrinity more easily

After what I have said do you still insistthat the Christians belief in the Trinity

belies ignorance Do you insist after allthese examples that you do not accept theTrinity because you do not find anintellectual proof for it Dont you knowthat to every matter there is proof of acertain kind For instance in the historicrealm you cannot prove Alexander of Macedon and all his campaigns in EgyptSyria Persia India and others by means of a chemical geometrical or a logical proofNo because these events pertain to history

and nothing else Or can you demonstrateto me that the whole is greater than its partby chemical means If this principle istrue we conclude that everything has ademonstration of its own kind Thusreligious things are demonstrated fromrevealed (or inspired) books mathematicalproblems by mathematical proofs such asin arithmetic algebra and geometry

astronomical matters from the science of

astronomy and so on and so forthTherefore my Muslim brother do not tryto prove religious doctrines by means of scientific proofs lest you go far astrayAnd why do you disagree with me on thequestion of Trinity It may be that we arebasically in agreement For you say Godand his Word and his Spirit that makesthree And I say The Father the Son andthe Holy Spirit So believe in God andHis Messengers and say not Three

Refrain better is it for you God is onlyOne God Glory be to Him (Sura al-Nisa4169) We believe that God has a Wordand Spirit and he is one with his Word andSpirit Everything which is in God is Godaccording to you Therefore Gods Word isGod having all his attributes such as beingand infinity and much else Also GodsSpirit is God and is partner with him inbeing from eternity to eternity

In closing I would beseech God who is

one in substance and triune in number togrant you his Holy Spirit and convince youin your heart of the truth of this doctrineIn this way you will believe in it even asyou have believed that he is able to do allthings and is worthy of your response

9 Eighth Discourse The Paracleteand Muhammad

Our Muslim brethren claim that the name

of their prophet Muhammad is mentionedin the Gospel based on the words in theQuran in Sura al-Saffat 376 And whenJesus Son of Mary said Children of IsraelI am indeed the Messenger of God to youconfirming the Torah that is before meand giving good tidings of a Messengerwho shall come after me whose nameshall be Ahmad






It was said that the meaning of the Greek

Paraclete in the Gospel is the same asAhmad the praised one and that Ahmadand Muhammad are the same Some allegethat the Gospel has been altered becausethis announcement is no longer in it eventhough it is still recorded there as it was inMuhammads day in the Greek

However what the Quran understood bythe intended word was misconstruedbecause the word in the Greek is thisHAPAKAHTOE not HEIPIKAHOTE

In the Latin spelling thus PARACLETOSand not PERICLUTOS is its correct formThe first means the comforter while thesecond is the famous or praised one

This verse is still in the Gospel provingthat it has not undergone change Let usnow return to study the verses containingthe word Paraclete in order to understandits meaning in the Quran and see if it isright to attribute it to Muhammad as ourMuslim brethren claim

1 And I will ask the Father and hewill give you another Counselor tobe with you forever-- the Spirit of truth The world cannot accept himbecause it neither sees him norknows him But you know him forhe lives with you and will be in you(John 141617)

2 When the Counselor comes whom I

will send to you from the Father theSpirit of truth who goes out from theFather he will testify about me(John 1526)

3 But I tell you the truth It is for yourgood that I am going away Unless Igo away the Counselor will notcome to you but if I go I will sendhim to you When he comes he will

convict the world of guilt in regard

to sin and righteousness and judgment (John 1678)

4 On one occasion while he was eatingwith them he gave them thiscommand Do not leave Jerusalembut wait for the gift my Fatherpromised which you have heard mespeak about For John baptized withwater but in a few days you will bebaptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts145)

5 When the day of Pentecost camethey were all together in one placeSuddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heavenand filled the whole house wherethey were sitting They saw whatseemed to be tongues of fire thatseparated and came to rest on eachof them All of them were filled withthe Holy Spirit and began to speakin other tongues as the Spirit

enabled them (Acts 21-4)

It is clear that Christ was the disciplesteacher while he was among them He wasa guide and a comforter to them defendingthem so that they became attached to himWith his foreknowledge he knew that hisdeparture from them through death wouldbreak their hearts He was convinced thatthey were in need of heavenly help tostrengthen guide and comfort them afterhis departure For this reason he promised

to send them the Holy Spirit to be theirComforter as you have seen from theprevious verses

After close examination of these texts itbecomes clear to us that the Person whowas promised could not possibly beMuhammad the Prophet of Islam forreasons that we see in the same verses






First the one promised was not corporeal

(Spirit of Truth) therefore the world couldnot receive him because they could not seehim This description does not fitMuhammad because he had a body and theworld saw him both believers and infidels

Second the Promised One came to staywith the disciples forever This too cannotbe said of Muhammad because he did notcome at the time of the disciples and didnot remain in the world forever

Third the Promised One was at that timewith the disciples because he is withyou This also cannot apply toMuhammad because he was not with thedisciples

Fourth Christ instructed the disciples notto leave Jerusalem but wait for thatComforter the Holy Spirit In obedience totheir Master (and Muslims believe thatdisciples are obedient) they waited tendays in Jerusalem until that Comfortercame and everyone was filled with theHoly Spirit This too cannot apply toMuhammad Otherwise it would have beennecessary for the disciples to wait inJerusalem 600 years until Muhammadsarrival How long could they liveespecially as Christ promised them to sendthe Spirit Comforter quickly Otherwiseit was no use comforting them after deathTherefore to encourage them he said ForJohn baptized with water but in a few

days you will be baptized with the HolySpirit (Acts 15)

I do not think that the Muslim brotherwants to believe that Christ is the one whosent Muhammad because the verses aboveshow that Christ was the one who sent theComforter Spirit If that was so it wouldbe another matter for he would have to

agree to the divinity of the one who sent

(Christ) because Muhammad claimed tobe Gods Apostle Imagine I ask God togive my Muslim brother this Holy Spirit ashe gave to those disciples so that hewould guide him to the truth and guidehim to the right path and enlighten hismind so that he may distinguish betweenthe worthless and the worthwhile

10 Conclusion

You have seen from the above that there isno way to obtain pardon for sins andcleansing of heart except in Christ and nobook which shows the way to thissalvation except the Bible the Torah andGospel There is no religion whichreconciles the justice of God and hismercy showing us Gods love to man savethe Christian religion Seize theopportunity my brother because the timeis a time of salvation and today is a day of grace and acceptance

The purpose of these discourses and thestudy of them is to reach the truth andobtain happiness by following this truth Inclosing I ask God to grant you my Muslimbrother his Holy Spirit and to enlightenyour mind in your search after truth MayGod guide you in the straight path whenyou pray daily to obtain salvation in Christand everlasting life in heaven forever

11 Quiz

If you have been diligent in reading thisbook you will be able to answer thefollowing questions easily Please send usyour answers using our feedbackndashform

1 What position does the Bible occupy inthe Christian religion

2 How does the Quran regard those






Muslims who do not believe in the

Bible3 Mention one Quranic verse that

testifies to the truth of the Torah andGospel in Muhammads day and after

4 How is the veracity of the Torah andGospel proved intellectually

5 Are those who speak of the Book asbeing altered or corrupted able to pointto the altered texts and give thepurpose for doing so

6 What did Nahum the prophet prophesyabout Were his prophecies and othersof the prophets fulfilled

7 Give one archaeological proof whichtestifies to the accuracy of the Torahand Gospel

8 What did the scholar Smith find in theruins of Nineveh

9 Give the names of the ancientmanuscripts of the Bible

10 Give one Quranic verse which refutesthe theory of abrogation

11 In what state did God create Adam andEve Did they stay in that condition

12 Mention a text from the Biblesupported by a reference in the Quranwhich speaks of the corruption andstraying of all mankind

13 Is there evidence that the prophets fellinto sin

14 According to divine justice what do allsinners deserve

15 To whom did the sacrifices point

16 How do you confirm the death of Christ from the Quran

17 Is there a historical proof of Christscrucifixion

18 How is Christ superior to the rest of

the prophets and the rest of mankind

19 What does the Book of Acts 413 sayabout Jesus Christ

20 How can you explain the doctrine of Trinity if you are asked

21 Summarise your understanding of thisbook in two lines

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1 Introduction

I have spent much time in the company of my Muslim brethren most of whom arescholars When we engaged in friendly andsincere discourses about religion weexplored every avenue and knocked atevery door so it occurred to me tosummarise these discourses in the form of a book As a result this effort comes to allthose who have sought fair-mindednessand made truth their goal in the hope thatit will benefit and guide them in the pathof Truth Then if the truth is clear to themhopefully they will embrace it sellingeverything they have in order to buy it

Such folk will be blessed and they willprosper

In my discussion I have followed a methodsuited to any reasonable Muslim and nohonourable seeker will disapprove of it Itis to furnish whenever possible proofsfrom the Quran and the Traditions as wellas from history because these carry more

weight with the Muslim and meet with no

objections Thus we shall arrive at theconclusion of the matter Surely truth isthe daughter of investigation as scholarsdefine it The seeker after truth is notagainst roaming in the field of discussionin order to find it The one who alreadypossesses it will not refrain fromdiscussion since it will only establish himmore firmly Therefore my Muslimbrother do not be upset by my invitationto discuss in the spirit of piety for in so

doing you will either benefit others oryourself in both cases you will come outof the arena a winner The fact that I quotefrom the Quran and Traditions does notcommit me to acknowledging theirveracity The rules of logical debate andcivil laws permit me this method For theMuslim brother in the first place does notaccept the infallibility of my Holy Book (the Torah and Gospel) Otherwise I wouldhave quoted him numerous proofs from it

of the veracity of each of the discourses inthis publication thus removing from hisheart every doubt and exchanging certaintyfor suspicion

My Muslim brethren dont you and wehave the same purpose in religion toworship the Creator and enable us tosecure eternal felicity after death So youfollow a certain path to this end while wefollow another How would it harm us if we discuss the subject thoroughly in a

spirit of humility piety and objectivityTruth is one and indivisible so let us walk together in amity thereby gaining ourCreators favour and at last enjoy anEden-like immortal bliss It was onlygenuine love which led us to compile thisand other messages We wish you to walk side by side with us and share with us theSalvation which we have obtained in










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6 defaming a Muslim

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his guilt















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5 Fourth Discourse

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his guilt















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The Good Way

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The Good Way

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CH-8486 Rikon

Switzerland



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