Early Muslims, Jews and Christians were called BELIEVERS in The Quran | Fred Donner

Frequently Asked Questions

1.Why should we believe the Quran if it comes 600 years after Jesus?

The Quran may have come 600 years after Jesus, but does that make it false? Jesus came 1600 years after Moses, does that make Jesus false? The underlying or main argument here is the time between one person and another, but as we can see, if time is a problem then Christians should reject the other Prophets and Messengers since they have a greater number of years between them.

The complete manuscript collections of the New Testament and Old Testament date to the 4th and 5th century, within 100 years of the Qur'an, if Christians want to reject the Qur'an because it is 600 years after Jesus then they must be consistent and also reject the New Testament.

It should be noted that the Church itself did not ordain or make it canon (law) that the New Testament should be scripture until 393 and 397 CE in the Carthaginian councils. With all of these evidences, and centuries between Jesus and the New Testament, then they must reject the New Testament first. If not, then they are admitting that their argument is weak, unintelligent and absurd.

2.What is the Quran?

The Quran is the scripture revealed to Muhammad via the Angel Gabrial

3.How was the Quran revealed?

The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabrial. Muhammad would repeat the exact words Gabrial gave him and they were written down and memorised.

4.What does the Quran say about Jews and Christians?

The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.
[Quran 2:113]

5.How authentic is the Quran historically?

Thanks to its undisputed authenticity, the text of the Quran holds a unique place among the books of Revelation, shared neither by the Old nor the New Testament.

6.How was the Quran text kept authentic?

As the Quran was revealed, the Prophet and the believers following him recited the text by heart and it was also written down by the scribes in his following.

It therefore starts off with two elements of authenticity that the Gospels do not possess. This continued up to the Prophet's death.

At a time when not everybody could write, but everyone was able to recite, recitation afforded a considerable advantage because of the double-checking possible when the definitive text was compiled.

7.How was the Quran revealed?

The Quranic revelation was made by Archangel Gabriel to Muhammad. It took place over a period of more than 23-years of the Prophet's life up to his death in 632 AD

8.How was the Quran preserved?

Whenever a fragment of the Quran was revealed, the Prophet called one of his literate companions and dictated it to him, and setting the exact position of the new fragment in the fabric of what had already been received.

Muhammad then asked the scribe to repeat back what he dictated so that he could correct any deficiencies.

Another famous story tells how every year in the month of Ramadan, the Prophet would recite the whole of the Quran (so far revealed) to Gabriel.

Since that day, Muslims recite the whole Quran during the month of Ramadan. The head scribe of the Quran was Zaid Ibn Thabit who was present at the final compilation of the Quran text.

Extremely diverse materials were used when recording: parchment, leather, wooden tablets, camels' scapula, soft stone for inscriptions, etc.

At the same time however, Muhammad encouraged the faithful to learn the Quran by heart. Many memorized the entire Quran by heart and helped to spread it abroad.

By preserving the Quran text both in writings (on materials) and by human memorization proved invaluable in the preservation of the entire text.

9.After the death of Muhammad, the Quran was changed?

This is false. The first three Caliphs, especially Uthman completed a critical analysis of the entire Quran text.

This was due to the rapid expansion of Islam in the first decade amongst people whose native language was not Arabic. So it was deemed essential the text retained its original purity.

Uthman sent copies of the standardized Quran text to the centre of the Islamic Empire. Today, copies attributed to Uthman exist can be found in Tashkent and Istanbul.

Apart from a few dialect variations in copying, the oldest documents known to the present day found throughout the Islamic world are identical; the same is true for documents preserved in Europe (fragments in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris which, according to the experts date from the 8th Century AD).

The minor dialect variations do not change the general meaning of the text. For example, the absence of diacritical marks could make a verb either active or passive and in some instances, masculine or feminine. This is a minor issue since the context indicated the meaning in many instances.

Therefore the Quran has been fully preserved since its revelation.

10.Is Muhammad mentioned in the Quran?

The Bible speaks about a prophet who cannot read Gods word

11.Does the Quran tell Jews and Christians to refer to their Scriptures (Torah and Bible)?

When the Quran refers to the previous Scriptures (Torah, Gospel etc.), this is understood to mean the original revelations sent to Moses and Jesus, and not the 'corrupted' versions we have today

12.Does the Quran encourage violence against the disbelievers (non-Muslims)?

The historical context is that this Quran verse was revealed at the Battle of Badr, a battle in which the pagans of Makkah traveled over 200 miles to destroy the Muslims of Madinah. The Pagans of Makkah had an army of about 1000 while the Muslims were only 300 followers. Muhammad and his followers had suffered severe persecutions and torture for 13 years in the city of Makkah. Having fled from Makkah to the safety of Madinah, they found that they were once again threatened.

It is obvious from historical and textual context therefore that this Quran verse does not promote the killing of innocents.

13.Are Muslims told to kill polytheists in the Quran?

This Quran verse is often quoted out of context. The preceeding Quran verses inform us there was a war treaty between the Muslims and pagan Arabs, which the pagans of Arabia broke.

Therefore this verse applies to a very specific historical event and applied only to those who broke the agreement.

Naturally, in war violence is expected. If country A declares war with country B because a peace treaty was violated, then both countries will expect their soldiers to kill or be killed.

14.Does the Quran promote killing?

This Quran verse is often misquoted. The previous verses clearly state the command is to fight those who fight you, and not to overstep the limits. This verse does not promote the killing of innocents, Muslim or non-Muslim, and only allows for fighting in self-defence (when attacked).

15.Does the Quran promote violence?

This verse was revealed by God to Muhammad at a time when Muslims were being attacked by the enemy from Makkah on a regular basis. The verse only allows for self-defence fighting against those who 'withdraw not from you nor give you (guarantees) of peace besides restraining their hands'. So the guarantee of a peace treaty or agreement is required for the war and fighting to completely stop.

16.Does the Quran encourage Muslims to kill non-Muslims?

This verse was revealed about the Battle of Badr. The pagans of Mecca travelled more than 200 miles to Madinah with an army of about 1000 to kill the Muslims who numbered around 300. The Prophet Muhammad and fellow Muslims had suffered severe persecution, torture and even murder of their brethren for 13 years in the city of Mecca at the hands of these very same pagans.

And once the Muslims had fled Mecca and found a sanctuary in the city of Madinah, they were followed by the pagans of Mecca. By this verse God gave the order to Muslims to fight to defend their lives and faith, as they had previously been forbidden from defending themselves.

17.Is their violence in the Quran?

This verse is applicable to the Muslims during the time of Muhammad – historical Muslims – who were terrified of fighting in the battles to defend themselves because they were out numbered.

God bolstered their bravery by assuring them that they would be rewarded.

18.Does the Quran encourage ill-treatment of non-Muslims?

The 'disbelievers' in this verse refers to those who persecuted and attacked the Muslims. This is not a verse directing Muslim to just go out and be awful to non-Muslims.

In fact there is a lot in the Quran and hadith collections that command Muslims to be compassionate and kind to all of God's creation. One such hadith states: Whoever is deprived of gentleness is deprived of all good. (Muslim, Abu Dawood)

It is also reported by Abu Dawood (a hadith collection) that Muhammad said, 'Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will; I (Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgement.'

19.Why does the Quran discourage the asking of questions?

This is in reference to those who asked useless questions about revelation. If all their questions were answered, it would have made the duties of faith more specific and, therefore, more difficult to perform. There is mercy in leaving questions alone and specifics unspecified. 7

In Chapter 2 of the Quran, when the Children of Israel were told to slaughter a cow, they began to ask useless questions about what type of cow. All the questions were answered to the point that it became very difficult for them to find such a cow. If they had not asked, any cow would have been acceptable.

Useless, petty questions are just a stalling tactic; ask any mother or teacher. But asking honest, sincere questions to clarify matters of faith is, in fact, encouraged.

20.How did the Early Jewish-Christians practise their religion?

The Jewish-Christians practised three daily prayers, male circumcision, ritual washing for purity, fasting, attention to clean/unclean foods, giving charity and pilgrimage to a central temple.

21.Did Jesus claim to be 'King of the Jews'?

A placard where Jesus was accused of claiming to be 'King of the Jews' was nailed to his cross. Today this placard can be found at the Church of Santa Croce in Rome.

22.How was Jesus Jewish?

In many ways, Jesus was Jewish:

He did not preach a new religion He taught people to do the Will of God; not a new God
He never went to Church
He fully observed the Jewish Law
His followers continued attending and meeting at the Temple
His followers observed the dietary regulations of the Torah and continued the practise of circumcision

Therefore, the early Jewish-Christians did not give up Judaism, nor did Jesus every ask them to do so.

23.What did early Jewish-Christians think of Apostle Paul?

Paul's popularity was in decline between 55-66 CE because missionaries from the Church of Jerusalem publicly rejected his innovation and claim to be an Apostle.

24.Were the early Christians Jews?

Yes. Jesus himself and his immediate followers observed all Jewish law, customs and practise.

25.Did Saul kill the early Jewish-Christians?

Prior to becoming a Christian, Saul of Tarsus hated Christians. He made it his goal to capture, then bring Christians to public trial and execution.

26.How did the Jews view Apostle Paul?

Paul's salvation theory was considered blasphemy by faithful Jews. The Jews knew Pauls teachings ridiculed all previous revelations from God as expressed through the Torah.

The Jews after all, were the one race of people in the world who were taught God was One, without form or substance, and did not bear the likeness of anything in the universe.

27.According to Apostle Paul, why did God give Jews the Torah?

Paul claimed God gave Jews the Torah so that they could be saved later on by believing in Jesus Christ. This was God's divine plan.

28.How did Apostle Paul differ with the Jewish Rabbis?

The Jewish Rabbis preached a person was saved so long as their intention was to remain within the covenant, and one truly repented and seek forgiveness for their sins.

Paul preached that every person was 'damned' until they was offered salvation. Mans problem was that he was 'in the flesh' in bondage to the Law, sold under Sin, enslaved by the fundamental spirits of the universe (ie. dead).

Paul preached the only cure was liberation from slavery and death by union with Christ, who had conquered death and sin.

29.How did the early Jewish-Christians view Jesus' resurrection?

30.Who seperated Christianity from Judaism?

It was Paul's dramatic conversion to Christianity that resulted in the seperation of Christianity from Judaism. Within months of his disappearing, Jesus' teachings were changed.

31.Why Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah?

The Bible claims the Messiah will accomplish certain signs:

A. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).

C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

D. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world—on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).

The historical fact is that Jesus fulfilled none of these messianic prophecies.

Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming, but Jewish sources show that the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright, and no concept of a second coming exists.

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32.What does the Quran say about Jews and Christians?

The Jews say "The Christians have nothing [true] to stand on," and the Christians say, "The Jews have nothing to stand on," although they [both] recite the Scripture. Thus the polytheists speak the same as their words. But Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.
[Quran 2:113]

33.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

Although, Paul was of the Jewish background, the Jewish-Christian followers of Jesus rejected Paul and wanted to kill him.

34.Does the Quran tell Jews and Christians to refer to their Scriptures (Torah and Bible)?

When the Quran refers to the previous Scriptures (Torah, Gospel etc.), this is understood to mean the original revelations sent to Moses and Jesus, and not the 'corrupted' versions we have today

35.In the time of Jesus, what qualities would identify the Messiah, to the Jews?

A human empowered by God. Not a God-man, a person of the Godhead or part of a Triune God (Trinity)
From the lineage of Abraham (Gen. 22:18)
From the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
A descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12)
A Lord under Yahweh, the God of Israel (Ps. 110:1)
From amongst their own people (Jer. 30:21)

36.How did the 1st century Jews view the Holy Spirit?

First century Jews believed the Holy Spirit was another name for God, similar to Yahweh, Elohim or El Shaddai - not a separate Person in the Trinity!

There is no record of Jesus ever trying to correct the Jews and prove the Holy Spirit was a third Person in the Trinity.

37.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

The Jews and early Jewish-Christians who observed Mosaic Law constantly harassed Paul. They even followed him around and stirred the people against him. To the extent he was often beaten and threatened with death.

38.Jesus claimed to be God. The Jews must have understood this, as they accused him of blasphemy and were ready to stone him?

The Jews were mistaken. Jesus did not claim to be God, claim divinity or commit blasphemy. In the next verse (John 10:34), Jesus tells the Jews to read their own books, Psalm 82:6 where men in power, eminence, dignity, government, judges, magistrates, in high office posts are called Gods too. i.e. the term God does not literally mean GOD.

39.Why do Jews let the hair grow on the sides of there head?

In the Torah, God forbids the cutting of the hair on the sides and the beard

40.How did Jews view the Greek Bible (Septuagint)?

For the Jews, the Septuagint would always be a translation of the Hebrew bible.

41.In the time of Jesus, how were the Jews viewed by the Greeks?

Judaism was views as an inward looking, demoralized by centuries of Roman occupation, declining economic fortunes and ongoing emigration.