BOOK: QUESTIONS ISLAM CAN'T ANSWER
Questions Islam Can't Answer is a best seller by J K Sheindlin.
These are some points made by the book with my own thoughts.
This book says that the Muslim Tradition, not the Quran though, asks if God
prays and God says he does and God prays to Muhammad saying he prays to him with
his angels. This tradition comes up in reference to a commentary on Quran 33:56
by Tafsir Ibn Kathir.
The book quotes Allah being asked if he prays and he says "Yes, I do pray,
and my angels (pray) upon my prophets and my messengers."
The Muslim tradition is that Muhammad was sinless and that Allah can make right
morally right by just commanding it so Allah worshipping Muhammad fits in this
theology. Muhammad is vastly above Issa who some imagine is Jesus. The book is
clear that God shares none of his glory with Issa and even calling him God's son
is unconscionable. The claim that the book does not have a problem with Allah
having a son except that the culture of the time thought a son for Allah would
have to be another God or an equal is just speculation.
Quran 7:172 declares that the “children of Adam”, all people, are born Muslim but it is
parents who make you something else. Sahih Muslim 33:6426 says that no baby is
born non-Muslim – it is the parents who have him as a polytheist or Jew or
Christian. Talk of converts to Islam offends the Muslim faith. It is reverts not
converts.
The book mentions Muhammad's doctrine that Adam the first man was a Muslim.
"Islam teaches that not only were every Biblical character in history was a
Muslim, but even you were burn a Muslim! I kid you not. Referring to
the Quran, it is your parents who pervert your true faith, imposing their own
religion on you". It quotes Quran 7:172 where Allah says that nobody has
an excuse for not knowing their religion is Islam or submission to Allah.
"No babe is born but upon Fitra. It is his parents who make him a Jew or a
Christian or a Polytheist" Sahih Muslim 33:6426.
God commands hate in Quran 2:65 where he says that heretics be told that they
are apes and despised and hated by all. That is a command that they be told the
truth – it is a command that everybody really must make this curse true by
hating them!
This is also a rejection of evolutionary theory if understood as saying man is a
species of ape.
Nearly all Muslims hold that Issa/Jesus did not die on Good Friday so it can be
considered a core and essential doctrine of the religion.
The book covers how the Quran says that Jesus (we will ignore how this figure is
not Jesus Christ as such) or Issa did not get killed by the Jews, nor did they
even crucify him but another who looked like him to them. He was the one who
they did this to. It says the crucifixion and death are mere assumptions. See
Quran 4:157. The Jews are quoted as saying, “We have killed the Messiah, Jesus,
the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” Jews did not practice crucifixion.
The Jews here sound like the Jewish Christians. No Jew called Jesus Messiah or
messenger of God. The book fails to notice that the blame for murdering Jesus is
put on what is essentially Christianity. The Jews did not like to refer to Jesus
as the son of Mary – they believed he was the son of Roman soldier.
The Quran saying that they did not kill him nor did they crucify him is an
interesting order. It is stressing first and foremost that Jesus was not
murdered and he was not crucified either. The implication is that neither
happened. Jesus did not come down from the cross for he was never on it.
The saying that Jesus was neither murdered or crucified can be seen as emphasis
if you think the two amount to being the same thing.
The claim by some Christians that this figure is Jesus means Christian belief
insults God and Islam.
