Is the Koran inspired by God?

koran

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While researching my previous article, I wasn’t sure about the English spelling of “Koran.” In the process of looking that up, I came across this quote from a Koran-believing Muslim:

“Quran, Qura'an, Koran are all used in English to spell a word in Arabic, it is just that the Arabic is the language of Quran in which God choose to send his last messenger with. The name should not be a reason for quarells...it is not the name of the book that matters, but it is the content.”

 

While his own spelling did not inspire confidence that his information was accurate, he did make me realize that I had never subjected the Koran – however spelled – to any sort of objective scrutiny.

Frankly, I've never seen any need to. My reply to a Muslim urging me to read the Koran would be the same as to a Mormon wanting me to read the Book of Mormon… that the Bible stands complete. No matter the subject under discussion – including subjects which were not discussed in the Bible, from smoking to stem cells to medical marijuana – I’ve always been able to find principles in the Bible that satisfactorily answered my questions. I’ve never been in a situation where I said, ‘I need something more than the Bible.’

In fact, when I once made this argument to some Mormon boys who came to my door, I asked them to show me something, anything, in their Book of Mormon that would make me say, ‘Wow! There’s something the Bible never taught me.’ The only verse they showed me was on the last page, which said something like ‘God shall show unto you that that which I have written is true.’ Setting aside for the moment that his verse didn’t answer my request, the fact remains that God hasn’t shown any such thing to me. So, either there is something wrong with me, or that is a false statement.

The same logic applies to the Koran. My belief is that the Bible is complete; the Muslim belief is that it isn’t, that God had more to say, and he did so through a man named Mohammad in the 7th century.

The Koran does not claim to replace the Bible. It requires its readers to believe in the Bible:

•  Surah 3:84 - "We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them.”

So, a Muslim should read the Bible. If he does so, he’ll come across this: “Dear friends, do not trust every inspired claim, but test each inspiration, to see whether it proceeds from God; because many false Prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

 

So, how could we “test” whether the Koran – or the Book of Mormon – is from God?

 

Since the Bible tells us that God does not change, anything written in any other book claiming divine authorship must agree with it. It isn’t necessary for anyone to spend weeks or months at this; a quick perusal will do:

•  Surah 2:2 “Behold, as for those who are bent on denying the truth it is all one to them whether thou warnest them or dost not warn them: they will not believe. God has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil; and awesome suffering awaits them.”

Well, there’s a problem. The Bible says it does matter whether mankind is warned: “When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood.” (Ezekiel 3:18)

Also, contrary to saying that God has put a veil over the eyes of the wicked, the Bible tells us that Satan has done that: “If our good news is veiled, it is veiled from those who are on the way to destruction: Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4) Jesus made clear that Satan is the 'god of this world'. (John 16:11)

 

Next case:

•  Surah 22:19, 20 Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. They shall be lashed with rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they try to escape from Hell, back they shall be dragged, and will be told: ‘Taste the torment of the Conflagration!’

Now wait: In the Bible, God tells us He finds the idea of fiery torment unthinkable! Describing Israelite parents offering up their children as sacrifices He says, “…burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.” (Jeremiah 7:31)

Furthermore, the Bible says the penalty for the wicked is simply dying, being ‘cut off’ from life on earth. See Psalm 37, where five times it says that the wicked will be “cut off,” Proverbs 2:22 (“The wicked shall be cut off from the earth”), Ecclesiastes 9:5 (“The dead are not conscious of anything”), Ecclesiastes 9:10 (“There is no work, or thought, or knowledge, or wisdom in the place of the dead”), and Ezekiel 18:4 (“Death will be the fate of the sinner's soul”).

Okay, here's another one:

•  Surah 4.128 “If a woman has reason to fear ill-treatment from her husband, or that he might turn away from her, it shall not be wrong for the two of them to set things peacefully to rights between themselves (ie. by agreeing to divorce), for peace is best, and selfishness is ever-present in human souls…”

While most today would agree with this sentiment, and divorce is quite common, how does God feel about it? "The LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence." (Malachi 2:16)

•  Surah 2:34 “And I (God) said to the angels: “Fall prostrate before Adam,” which they did except Satan who in his pride refused and became an unbeliever.”

Nowhere does the Bible describe a scene like this. In point of fact, the Bible says of man’s position relative to angels: "What is man that You are mindful of him… You have made him a little lower than the angels.” (Hebrews 2:7) And Satan didn't become Satan for refusing to bow to Adam; he became Satan when he misled Eve and Adam into essentially bowing to him.

•  Surah 17:111 'Praise be to God who has never begotten a son; who has no partner in His Kingdom..."

Clearly, Muslims don’t believe the statements of the apostle John, who five times used the term “only-begotten son” to describe Jesus, such as at 1 John 4:9, “Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”

Muslims are commanded to believe the Genesis account. Note what God himself said to Abraham, in Genesis 22:2. “Take your son, your dearly loved only son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and give him as a burned offering on one of the mountains…” Since Abraham had an earlier son, Ishmael (from whom Muslims claim descent), why would God use those words? He wasn’t trying to make the Muslims feel like second-class citizens. He was trying to paint a picture of the suffering of someone offering up His “dearly loved only son,” as He himself did when offering up his son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for mankind’s sins.

There are literally dozens of other Koran verses a person could cite to show it is not from God… the Koran says all life came from water; that the sun sets in a muddy pond somewhere in the middle east; that a man may have multiple wives; that he may beat his wife'; that her word is not as reliable as a man’s. But I saved this one for last:

•  Surah 2:115: “All things devoutly obey His will.” 
• Surah 81:2829 "But you shall not will except as Allah wills, the Lord of the Worlds."

Commonly heard in the middle-east are the expressions “Inshallah” (If God Wills) and “Masha’allah” (It is as God wills.) Muslims strongly believe that everything that happens is God’s will. Is there anything wrong with that belief?

If a person believes that everything is fated by Allah, he can be persuaded to fly an airliner into a building, for example, simply by telling him that if Allah doesn’t want it to happen, He’ll prevent it, or that if Allah wants anyone to survive such a tragedy, He will see to it that they survive.

If everything that happens is God’s will, why would the scriptures encourage us to work to make changes in our lives? “Strain every nerve to enter in through the narrow gate.” (Luke 13:24) “Pursue righteousness.” (1 Timothy 6:11)

God’s direction to people is, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) If our lives were fated, there would be no choice, and God would be deceiving people.

 

So, I've done what that anonymous Muslim asked... I've examined the content of the Koran. 

And I'm convinced it is not from God.

Your comments are welcome. Comments containing links or derogatory language will be deleted. 

 

 Bill K. Underwood is the author of several novels and one non-fiction self-help book, all available at Amazon.com. You can help support this site by purchasing a book.