The following pages have been added newly or substantially revised during the year 2007 at the following dates:
December 31, 2007
Today, we are looking back on some issues that have been debated this year.
Who Was Muhammad? Review of a Debate between
David Wood and Ali Ataie by Mary Jo Sharp, and a second review of the same debate
by Wildcat: Who Know Who Mo?
Sam Shamoun presents rebuttals to various arguments used by Shabir Ally in connection
with his debate against Dr. James White: The Purpose and Cause of Jesus' Death
(Part 1,
Part 2),
Ipsissima Verba or Ipsissima Vox?,
The Islamic Concept of Corporate Justice.
In preparation to his own debate with Nadir Ahmed, Sam Shamoun compiled much source material
on the topic "Is Islam a religion of Peace?"
Two new rebuttals to Bassam Zawadi:
Jesus' Superiority Revisited
and Did the Meccans really believe
that Allah was the Supreme God?, and a postscript to the older
Did Muhammad Confirm the Torah?
Finally, we want to point our readers to an important article on another website:
Response
to Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders to Christian Leaders, 13 October 2007.
December 11, 2007
The first block of articles comes under the topic of the Deity of Jesus:
The Lord Jesus: Our Divine Redeemer,
The Exalted Lord of Glory: Jesus as the Most High God,
If being called God proves that Jesus is the Almighty
wouldn't the same hold for Moses? The next two articles responds to Ebrahim Saifuddin's
charges that Christians are deliberately mistranslating the Bible to support the doctrine
of the deity of Jesus: The Truth of John 1:1,
The meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:4.
The next four files provide further discussion on the trinitarian nature of God:
Plurality in the Old Testament
(Part 1, Part 2),
Isaiah 6 and its Trinitarian Implications, and
Doesn't Jesus' calling "belief that God is One"
the greatest command disprove that he believed in the Trinity?
Our readers may also want to consult the articles that Sam Shamoun posted on
another website in August and October.
December 1, 2007
Today's update deals with various issues of history. Samuel Green provides
A survey of how Muhammad spread Islam. Andrew Vargo
answers to articles by Islamic Awareness in which they seek to defend historical
errors in the Qur'an: Sun Worship or Moon
Worship in Sheba? discusses the claim that the Queen of Sheba worshipped the sun.
Theodor Nöldeke and Fertility in
Ancient Egypt deals with the statement that Egypt's fertility depended on
rainfall. We also updated two older articles,
Was 'Uzayr (Ezra) Called the Son of God?
(some additional information) and
Arda Wiraz Namag (Iranian "Divina Commedia")
and Muhammad's Night Journey (plenty of new material). Finally, a historical
question with political implications: The Wailing Wall
and Al Buraq: Is the "Wailing Wall" in Jerusalem the "Wall of Al-Buraq" of Moslem Tradition?
November 10, 2007
The first three articles continue the discussion on what the Qur'an and early Islam
are really teaching about the Bible. Derik Adams gives an overview on the topic in
Early Islam’s View of the Holy Bible.
Sam Shamoun rebuts Bassam Zawadi's claims in two detailed articles on the meaning
and implications of Sura 10:94
and Sura 15:9. Moreover,
Sam Shamoun responds to claims made by Jalal Abualrub in his most recent book:
Is Muhammad Really the Prophet of Mercy?
(examining Abualrub's claims about Sura 2:256), and
Did Muhammad Really Bring Anything New?
Furthermore, Did the Apostle John Anticipate Mohammed?
by Dallas Roark, and some comments on Allah's Pride.
November 3, 2007
Bismikaallahuma Day – several rebuttals to articles by MENJ & Co. Hesham Azmy
wrote a parody on Christian arguments against the Qur'an that was supposed to incriminate
the Bible, but his arguments backfire: The Qur'an
Cannot Be A Text of Divine Origin. MENJ adapted an argument from the Medieval Muslim polemicist
Ibn Hazm, attacking the Bible for depicting God as changing. Sam Shamoun responds in two parts:
Does Yahweh Change his Mind and Can He Lie?
and Allah Repenting and Changing His Mind.
Muslims often refer to the statement in Surah 2:256, "There is no compulsion in religion"
in order to depict Islam as tolerant. MENJ tried to convince the readers that this is
a general principle in Islam – against the clear evidence from the Muslim sources.
This topic as well as the use of deception in Islam is discussed in
Sunni Muslims and Taqiyyah. MENJ does
not only misrepresent Muslim sources, he also distorts statements made on our website
as seen in the short article, Being stupid or
playing stupid? On using atheist sources, in which we are responding to his accusation
of our alleged hypocrisy. Continuing the same theme of using atheist sources in Muslim
and/or Christian arguments, Sam Shamoun responds to an attack by Usman Sheikh in
Setting the Record Straight:
Exposing Johnny Bravo's Distortion of the Facts.
October 26, 2007
Three articles on foundational topics of the Christian faith:
Who is the Real Jesus? by Dallas Roark
and The Trinity and you by Sam Schlorff.
Derik Adams' paper on The Confusion
of Islam regarding the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is also the first of today's
three problems for Islam. Barry Peters' article,
Mis-quotations in the Qur'an?,
lists various instances of differing versions of the same story in the Qur'an.
Finally, Sam Shamoun exposes another one of Muhammad's inconsistencies in
The Prohibition of Marrying as a Muhrim.
October 18, 2007
Islam's Next Great Hope or Dope? is an
analysis of several arguments which Nadir Ahmed used in his debate against David Wood.
Another major argument by Nadir Ahmed was that the prohibition of alcohol in Islam
"saved billions and billions of children", thus proving that the Qur'an is from God.
Sam Shamoun takes a close look at this claim in The
Quran's Prohibition of Intoxicants. Three rebuttals to Answering Christianity:
Osama Abdallah on Biblical Salvation,
Osama Abdallah and Polygamy,
and a rebuttal to Yahya Ahmed's attempt of
Meeting Sam Shamoun's Challenge.
Finally, with adding the letter "M", "U", "V", "W", "Y" and "Z" entries of Hughes'
Dictionary of Islam, this book is now complete.
October 12, 2007
Islamic Awareness Day – We provide five rebuttals to arguments
propagated by the website Islamic Awareness:
Crucified by the Pharaoh?,
"Dirham" In The Time Of Joseph? and
The "Samaritan" Error in the Qur'an
deal with three historical errors in the Qur'an. The other two articles
investigate questions regarding the identity of the Islamic Allah:
Did the Meccans Believe in Allah
as the Most High? and Ar-Rahman
of the Quran: A Pagan Deity or the God of the Bible?
October 1, 2007
Six chapters of the book "The Qur'an: Is It A Miracle?" by
M. Rafiqul-Haqq and P. Newton are now available on this site:
(1) Scribal Errors,
(2) Grammatical Errors,
(3) The Gate,
(4) Zul-Qarnain,
(5) Zul-Qarnain and the Sun,
(6) Inventions to protect the miracle.
Sam Shamoun expanded the article The Quran on Christians:
Those Who Have Strayed or the Guided Ones? with additional material in the section
regarding the meaning of saddaqa, updated his response to Bassam Zawadi on
Did Muhammad Confirm the Torah?
by providing a quote from Ibn Kathir which further substantiates the authenticity of
the narrative from Sunan Abu Dawud, and answers a Muslim response regarding the Quran
contradiction Can angels disobey?
Samuel Green provides a short article about Comparing
the Bible and the Qur'an.
September 25, 2007
This is Bassam Zawadi Day who is honored to receive five rebuttals:
(1) Does Allah Inherit or Doesn't He?,
(2) Revisiting the Face of Allah,
(3) Is Allah the Only Judge and Forgiver of Sins?,
(4) Did Muhammad Confirm the Torah?, and
(5) Revisiting Muhammad's Supposed Superiority.
However, so that Zawadi doesn't feel so lonely all by himself, we also continue our
response to Ebrahim Saifuddin, Does Q. 29:46 confirm
the veracity of the Holy Bible?, and provide another short rebuttal to Umar:
Did God speak to Jesus directly
according to the Quran?
September 10, 2007
Did God want Christ's followers to be called Christians?
answers a common question raised by Muslims. The Quran on Christians:
Those Who Have Strayed or the Guided Ones? A rebuttal to Dr. Jamal Badawi:
Are Jews and Christians Mushriks according to the Quran?
Dr. Paul Stenhouse helps the reader to understand The Crusades
in Context. A Muslim argument claiming that Muhammad is above all of creation prompted the writing of
the next three articles: Is Muhammad Superior to Angels?,
How, how much, and above whom are the Children of Adam preferred?
and Preferred for Hell? Finally, two rebuttals to Bassam
Zawadi: Barra: Juwayriyyah's Original Name or Nickname?
and an answer to his attempt of discrediting a statement by Ibn Abbas was added as postscript to
Did Ibn Abbas Believe that the Holy Bible was Corrupt?
August 31, 2007
Wail Taghlibi revised and expanded his article,
One Adam or Two? The second paper also discusses
various (dis)similarities between Jesus and Adam: Is
Jesus Like Adam? The article, Jesus and Latreuo,
investigates how the Bible applies the Greek word for "worship" to Jesus, and
All the Nations will serve Him
expounds on the worship given to the Messiah in the Old Testament. The next three articles
examine various aspects of Jesus' superiority over Muhammad according to the Islamic
sources: The Quran Agrees: Jesus is the most
Exalted of all, The Quran Also Agrees:
Jesus Is the Most High!, and Mary in the Islamic
Perspective: Additional Proof for Jesus' Superiority over the Prophet of Islam. Finally,
Prostration as evidence
of corruption? and Evidence
for Muhammad's Duplicity? are answering to an argument by Bassam Zawadi.
August 15, 2007
Today, we launch the Portuguese language section of Answering Islam with four introductory
articles: Respondendo ao Islă. In the English section,
we provide an article on the topic of Islam and Slavery.
Sam Shamoun answers Bassam Zawadi on the issue of
Islam and the Doctrine of Original Sin,
and he examines two instances in which Zawadi tries to deny the validity of reports
in the Islamic source materials that give evidence of
Muhammad's cruelty. Finally, a discussion
of verses in the Qur'an that speak of Allah as
the Inheritor of Creation.
August 7, 2007
Today's update provides several articles expounding on the nature and position of Jesus.
The Messiah as Israel's God and King:
More Evidence from the Hebrew Bible for the Deity of the Messiah and
Jesus as the Judge of All the Earth:
Additional Evidence from the New Testament for the Deity of Christ. In order to
diminish the impact of what the Bible teaches about Jesus, some Muslims pose questions like
"Doesn't the Bible present Melchizedek as possessing divine attributes?" This is answered
in Jesus and Melchizedek and connected with
a detailed examination of The Nature of Jesus in Hebrews 1.
The paper, The Dead Sea Scrolls and God’s Uniplurality:
Some Observations on Melchizedek, provides further historical and theological insights.
The final article, God and his Son in Proverbs 30:4,
shows again that the concept of a divine Son of God did not originate with the Christians
but is present in the Hebrew Scriptures.
July 7, 2007
We provide three articles on the question of what the classical scholars of Islam say about the Bible:
Did Ibn Abbas Believe that the Holy Bible was Corrupt?,
The Quran on the Holy Bible: Examining Some More
Comments from Islamic Scholars, Al-Tabari's Notes
on the Veracity of the Bible. The article, Does
Q. 2:77-79 speak of Bible Corruption?, responds to a specific Muslim argument. In the section on
the Situation of non-Muslims under Islamic rule, we added a link to
the article Islam's
Global War against Christianity. After nearly a year has gone by, the next update of
the Answering Islam CD-ROM is finally available.
July 2, 2007
Will Muslims Enter Hell? An Analysis of
the Conflicting Hadith Reports on a rather existential question for every Muslim who is
concerned with the hereafter. How the Wives
of Muhammad Helped Shape the Muslim Scripture, and the next round in the discussion
with Bassam Zawadi about The
Dissatisfaction of Muhammad's Wives. Salafi Muslims are challenged to examine their
understanding of God in Allah's Self-annihilation.
Though Allah is mostly referred to in "male language", he has at least one female attribute
which is discussed in Allah: An Exalted Woman?
Examining the Issue of Allah's Veil. The final article deals with the issue of Allah
swearing by pagan deities: Is the Quran
An Implicit Endorsement and Continuation of Arab Paganism?
June 5, 2007
Sam Shamoun expounds on the nature and position of Jesus in several new articles:
(1) Lukan Christological Preexistence:
More Evidence for the Deity of Christ from the Third Gospel, (2)
Jesus as the Occupier of God’s Heavenly Throne
presents further evidence for the absolute Deity of Christ. (3)
Jesus Christ, the Justifier and Forgiver of Sinners,
and (4) Why did Jesus never say,
"I am God, and there is none else"? We provide plenty of new Quran Contradictions:
(1) Messengers Were Sent Only to Their Own People?,
(2) Fighting All People Until They Do What?,
(3) How are the sexually immoral supposed to be punished?,
(4) Does Allah Act Alone Or Does He Have Partners
That Assist Him?, (5) Is Allah the Only Judge or Not?,
(6) Did the Meccan Polytheist Believe That Allah Was The Supreme Being?
Finally, the article Ba’al, Hubal, and Allah
(off site) is linked in the section of rebuttals to
Islamic Awareness.
May 10, 2007
In his series of answers to common questions, Sam Shamoun responds to
God has many sons who are not divine.
Why then would Jesus be? Silas revised and expanded his article on
Wife Beating in Islam. We started a new section
with responses to Muslim polemicist Ali Ataie,
listing several earlier responses to arguments propagated by him, and adding some
new articles: Responses to Common Muslim
Challenges (as posted on Ali Ataie’s web site) by Mike Licona,
"Jesus: Resurrected or Rescued?"
-- A Review of the Debate Between Mike Licona and Ali Ataie by Amy Sayers, and
Does Jesus Have Servants or Not?
by Sam Shamoun.
April 25, 2007
Three additions to the "common questions" section: Does
being called "Kyrios" really imply Deity?, Why
did Jesus curse the fig tree for not bearing fruit, although it was not even fig season?,
Doesn't Ezekiel 18 show that God does not require perfect
obedience but expects us to sin? Two responses to Bassam Zawadi:
The Bible and Vicarious Atonement: A Response
to A Desperate Muslim Dawagandist and Muhammad
and the murder of Kinana, and one rebuttal to Umar regarding the Muslim claim of
the Holy Spirit being the angel Gabriel
(Round 3 in this discussion). Moreover, a short article examines the origin of the prophet
announced in Deuteronomy 18: A Prophet Like Moses -
who would rise out of Israel. Finally, we added a new page recommending a selection of
thoughtful Muslim articles.
April 4, 2007
This is Bassam Zawadi's day. We provide rebuttals to several of his articles.
(1) Jesus and Paul On Salvation,
(2) On the Islamic Demand for Obeying the OT Laws,
(3) Muhammad and the Meccans: How his Opponents viewed him,
(4) The Dissatisfaction of Muhammad's Wives:
Being a Response to his Challenge,
(5) Muhammad and Safiyyah Revisited (Part 1,
Part 2).
Already more than two weeks ago, a very short rebuttal to another Muslim polemicist's question,
Was Sarah really Abraham's sister?,
was added to the Bismikaallahuma rebuttal section.
March 6, 2007
In his "answers to common questions" series Sam Shamoun discusses meaning and status of the Old
Testament Law: Did Paul slander the Law? and
Did Jesus claim that salvation comes from observing the Law?
The incoherence of the Quran features again in Is
Allah a Messenger? Or is Gabriel God?, and the Quran contradictions section also grows by two more
entries: Should Muslims show kindness to parents?
and Can one be a believer in God and oppose Muhammad
at the same time? Silas revised his article Ahmad, Allah
and Abrogation. Finally, a quick list of links serving as rebuttal to
Another Muslim attack on the Virgin Birth.
February 23, 2007
Two additions to Sam Shamoun's series of answers to common questions: Why
did the Son die? and How can the Bible be inspired
when it contains passages that are merely Paul's personal opinion? The article,
Should Jewish converts to Islam obey the Old Testament Laws?,
exposes an inconsistency in a particular Muslim polemic. Muhammad
as Al-Amin (the Trustworthy) — How His Enemies Really Viewed Him. A rebuttal to Bassam Zawadi:
Muhammad's Marriage to Safiyyah Revisited. Silas
revised and expanded his article on The Punishment for Apostasy from Islam.
February 15, 2007
In the articles, The Quran, Allah and Plurality Issues
and Not really so eloquent, Sam Shamoun
ponders some linguistic oddities found in the Quran having implications for both Islamic
theology and the challenge to the unbelievers to match the eloquence of the Quran.
Furthermore, he provides two rebuttals to Muslim polemicists:
The Lord Jesus Christ: The Muslims' Only Straight Path of Salvation,
Muhammad's Marriage to Safiyyah: A Case Study in Allah's Mercy.
Silas revised and expanded his article on Muhammad and the dogs.
January 18, 2007
Silas presents a detailed discussion of The Verse of the Sword:
Sura 9:5 and Jihad, and James Arlandson adds Part 8 to his series on pacifism and the sword:
Addendum: Fight or Flight?
(What could or should Christians do under persecution?) Sam Shamoun answers two alleged prophecies
of Muhammad in the New Testament: Isn't Muhammad
"that prophet" awaited by the Jews? and Wasn't
Muhammad announced by John the Baptist?, and answers to Umar in Round Five regarding the discussion
about the status of Mary the Copt, Muhammad's Concubine.
January 7, 2007
The integration of the Muslim community in Western societies is an important and difficult
topic. How can we deal firmly with violent Muslims without discriminating against those
who want to live peaceful and law-abiding lives in the context of a liberal democracy?
We want to point the attention of our readers to a new initiative at the European Parliament
regarding this very question: A Proposed Charter
of Muslim Understanding. Further articles:
A Brief Explanation of the Sword in Luke 22:36
by James Arlandson, and Pondering the Invitation
to Convert to Islam by Dallas Roark.
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