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Salam Joseph.

I was wondering what your Islamic opinion of Paul is. Many Muslims I talked to or articles I've read about Paul, always insult him and say he 'corrupted' Christ's true message. Could he really have done something at such a massive scale within 30 years of Jesus' death?

I do find it odd that most of his letters refer to Jesus as a servant or lord more than a Son of God. I was also talking with a Reverend Mike and he told me that most of the Epistles that claim that Paul referred to Jesus as 'God' are forgeries. He said Paul, as well as the rest of the Apostles, were still way too Jewish to say this.

Ibn Kathir also said the 3 messengers who supported each other (the people of the City) were Paul, Simon and Peter in Antioch. Is this possible with your Quranic interpretation?

Salam,
I've been reading articles for quite a while now and they discuss the actual meaning of the word 'Furqan.'

Apparently the early Mufasirs and exegetes had a hard time understanding this word up until the 3rd Cen. Hijri.

1. They reduced the word to its jizr or root and the logical root would be FRQ.

2. Verb would be Yufariq or he divides, Al-Farq (the difference) , Mufariq (he who yufariq).

3. The nominal form appears to be Farooq (As in Umar Al-Farooq), but there is no -an suffix in any derivation. [Compare to Uthman]

4. In Syriac, a similar Semitic language, we have the common word Purqan(a) and because there is no P in Arabic it becomes Arabized as Furqan where the letter Fa replaced the Syriac Pa.

5. Purqana means Salvation in Syriac. This is how Arberry translates it in 25:1 and it fits context.

It is obviously synonymous with Quran.

Is it possible that Furqan doesn't mean Criterion / Judge, but actually means the Salvation???
Or is it dual-meaning as 'Daraba' is??

[Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit]

Dear Joseph, you stated:

I find no cogent warrant for such a mainstay belief from my study of the Gospels, its intended purpose and wider Biblical scholarship. I believe these doctrines and beliefs to be a consequence of 'evolved theology' and Christian tradition often 'read into' the Biblical documents.

However, what would you make of these verses:
Matthew 28:19
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Psalm 2:7
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
John 6:27
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for lthe food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."
John 8:58
58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
Luke 24:52
52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
Mark 2:7
7 "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

[Samiri]

Salam, could you please explain this:
Al-Samiri = The Samritan (inhabitant of Samaria)

"We have tested thy people in thy absence: the Samiri has led them astray." So Moses returned to his people... and that was what the Samiri suggested. "Then he brought out (of the fire) before the (people) the image of a calf."

This seems to be a chronological error because the Samaritans did not exist until the 8th Cen. BCE. The Exodus, which was 500 years prior could not have had a Samaritan.

Is this word, Samiri, mistranslated and if so, what is the correct translation?

[LEGENDARY]

Salamun Alaikum,

My brother was reading about Muhammad Asad and his translation. He was shocked to find:

"In this instance, Solomon evidently refers to his own understanding and admiration of nature (cf. 38:31-33 and the corresponding notes) as well as to his loving compassion for the humblest of God's creatures, as a great divine blessing: and this is the Qur'anic moral of the LEGENDARY story of the ant." (Asad, The Message of the Qur'an [Dar Al-Andalus Limited 3 Library Ramp, Gibraltar rpt. 1993], p. 578, fn. 17

"In this as well as in several other passages relating to Solomon, the Qur'an alludes to many POETIC LEGENDS which were associated with his name since early antiquity and had become part and parcel of Judeo-Christian and Arabian lore long before the advent of Islam. Although it is undoubtedly possible to interpret such passages in a 'rationalistic' manner, I do not think that this is really necessary. Because they were so deeply ingrained in the imagination of the people to whom the Qur'an addressed itself in the first instance, these legendary accounts of Solomon's wisdom and magic powers had acquired a cultural reality of their own and were, therefore, eminently suited to serve as a medium for the parabolic exposition of certain ethical truths with which this book is concerned: and so, without denying or confirming their MYTHICAL character, the Qur'an uses them as a foil for the idea that God is the ultimate source of all human power and glory, and that all achievements of human ingenuity, even though they may sometimes border on the miraculous, are but an expression of His transcendental creativity." (Asad, p. 498, fn. 77;

There are about a dozen things of the like Asad states in his translation. Does anyone believe the things he claims. Is he supposed to be a Kafir for rejecting the literal meaning of the verses(i.e. historicity)

[truthful]

Salam Joseph,

I read through the pages you asked me too, and a bit ahead as well. I thought this was a bit irrelevant so I broke to a new topic.

On Page 81 of Robinson's book:

In 26. I18 (N56/E 4 7), when Noah is rejected by his people, he implores God:
"fa-'ftah between me and them and rescue me together with the
believers who are with me."
Noah can hardly have required God to grant him a military conquest.
...
It is therefore possible that Muhammad already expected a fath during what Noldeke describes as the second Mecca period. Moreover, in 32.28 (N7o/E75), which on N61deke's reckoning is the first of the late Meccan Suras, Muhammad's opponents ask him
"When will this fath occur if you are truthful?"
...
band of persecuted believers who lived in expectation of a dramatic divine intervention followed by mass conversion.
...
The departure of the Emigrants was not, however, accompanied by anything akin to the flood which drowned the unbelievers in the time of Noah; the earthquake, which struck the people of Thamild (e.g. 7.73-9); or any of the other punishments, which God had meted out to the disbelievers of old. Almost a year and a half passed before the pagans.

The Pagans, similar to the people of Old, wanted a miraculous sign. They did not receive a sign until after they were warned, and persecuted the messenger. The sign must have been something catastrophic if the Quran's prophecies came to pass.

Is it just coincidental that Midian had an enormous earthquake soon after the Quran's propagation?
All records of these polytheist cities disappear after the 7th Century.
And that the entire region is barren today, as you are an eye-witness?

Could this be Allah's sign that he left for us?

[fee assilmi kaffatan]

Shabir Ally made the interesting claim that 2:208, is referring to Peace, not Submission.

Khan, Pickthall, and Shakir all translate it as Submission. Dr. Ghali and Ahmed Subhy Mansour translate it as Peace.

Ya ayyuha allatheena amanooodkhuloo fee assilmi kaffatan walatattabiAAoo khutuwati ashshaytaniinnahu lakum AAaduwwun mubeen

Can anyone prove that this refers to Peace using Arabic linguistics?

Salam All,

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good Quran translation that has 2 or 3 meanings side-by-side, so that I get the full scope of A word without memorizing A concordance.

I'm not looking for a secondary meaning in the footnotes, but like right next to it in the translated text.

Example: Lord of the Alameen (Creatures / Worlds / Universe)

[giants formerly dwelt there]

I know that ZamZam is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an, but I found something quite interesting about this word.

Wikipedia has the Hajar background: "Neither Sara nor Hājar are mentioned by name in the Qur'an, but the story is traditionally understood to be referred to in a line from Ibrāhīm's prayer in Sura Ibrahim (14:37): "I have settled some of my family in a barren valley near your Sacred House."[12] While Hājar is not named, the reader lives Hājar's predicament indirectly through the eyes of Ibrāhīm."...

NON-Quranic
"Hājar panicked and ran between two nearby hills, Al-Safa and Al-Marwah repeatedly in search for water. After her seventh run, Ismā'īl hit the ground with his heel and caused a miraculous well to spring out of the ground. This is called Zamzam Well and is located a few metres from the Kaaba in Mecca.[15]"

I was reading through the Bible and as luck has it, Deuteronomy:

20 (That was also regarded as a land of giants;[a] giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them ZAMZUMMIM, 21 a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place,

Wikipedia on the Rephaites: "The area of Moab at Ar, (the region East of the Jordan) before the time of Moses, was also considered the land of the Rephaites. Deuteronomy 2:18-21 refers to the fact that Ammonites called them "Zamzummim", which is related to the Hebrew word זמזם, which literally translates into "Buzzers", or "the people whose speech sounds like buzzing." In Arabic the word زمزم (zamzama) translates as "to rumble, roll (thunder); murmur". As per Deut 2:11, the Moabites referred to them as the Emim."

Since this was written around the time of King Josiah, and is in North-West Arabia, it is possible that these are the 'Ad people mentioned in the Qur'an!

[eye]

Salaam all Sisters and Brothers,

After reading Joseph's article on Huroof Al-Muqatta'at, I decided to apply Farahi's 'method' to each Surah and compare the Letters in a Final Analysis. It is at my website:

http://thequranisclear.blogspot.com/2012/12/huroof-al-muqattaat.html

Please tell me what you think about it in the comments. Jazakullah.

Here is a small portion:

'AYN

This literally means Eye in Arabic and Hebrew. It can also mean to project (that is far away) or be lofty. One can recall the words 'Ala and 'Ali, which means lifted/exalted as well. Lo and Behold, this also fits the narration chronology (Shakir):
22.    So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place.
Even if one were to deny this secondary definition, the primary one follows shortly:
26.    So eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say: Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent Allah, so I shall not speak to any man today.
After this Mary is accused by the Jews of Jerusalem. Amazingly enough, the third definition is 7 verses away:
33.    And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.

24 verses later, the prophet Idris is also mentioned being raised:
56.    And mention Idris in the Book; surely he was a truthful man, a prophet,
57.    And We raised him high in Heaven.
Therefore, this letter could be a reference primarily to the Jesus infancy-narrative due to large amount of textual support, but may also refer to the entire second quarter of the Chapter(After Yahya).

[hundreds of old Qur'anic manuscripts]

Dan Gibson made this statement:

"There was confusion during the following 100 years until the Abbasids firmly established the qibla in the present Mecca direction. This contradicts the Qur'an which tells us that the qibla changed during Muhammad's lifetime. How did those verses get into the Qu'ran? Were they inserted by later writers? I then examined hundreds of old Qur'anic manuscripts to search for these verses, and they are missing in all of the Qur'ans written during the first 100 years of Islam. This clearly indicates to me that the Qur'an was re-compiled by the Abbasids, and verses were added to substantiate their decision to move the Black rock to Mecca in Saudi Arabia."

Can you refute these claims, as he is a renown researcher I just passed by while reading? Jazakullah

Salam Brother Joseph,
I was recently reading your article on the Injeel.
''The Quran clearly confirms the existence of the Injeel that the contemporaries of the Prophet had with them at the time of his ministry.''

If the Christians of the 7th century definitely had some portions of the Injeel, then we must also have those today, because Biblical scholars have more access to archaic documents than Christians of old. Almost all ancient Christian documents cite Jesus referring to God as Abba - 'Father' and himself as His 'son'. Some portions of the Gospels even say he claimed divinity. You will note that almost every instance Jesus refers to himself as the 'son' in the Gospels, he refers to himself as 'servant' in the Quran(Compare Infancy Gospel of Thomas to Quran's infancy story). Some of the Gospels clearly make Jesus contradict the Quran(Eye for an eye).

What can an objective student to do with these overwhelming occurrences that could not have possibly been 'late interpolation' or forgeries, as the Quran seems to imply(or suggest that the Christians were deviating)? Why does Prophet Muhammad even need to reveal this new revelation if the Injeel was never corrupted, as it is widespread throughout the world today?

[not an Arabic translation]

Many Christians claim that Muslims don't "know" Jesus because we don't even have his actual Arabic name. I will attempt to disprove this claim. The Quranic name for Jesus is 'Isa('Ayin-Seen-Alif). The Arab-Christian name is Y'sua'(Ya-Seen-Waw-'Ayin).

If you ask anyone what languages Jesus spoke, the response would be: Aramaic/Late Syriac for common dialogue, Hebrew for liturgy/Torah, and Greek for the Romans/Elite. His name would be Eshoa' in Aramaic, Yeshua' in Hebrew and Iēsous in Greek. Knowing this, the best translation would have to come from Aramaic to Arabic.

It is a common Quranic/Arabic phenomena to remove the initial consonant Y, if followed by an I or E(e.g. Israel, Isaac, Ishmael) as opposed to names followed by an A or O(e.g. Yacob, Yosef). For some reason, Arab Christians will accept the latter, but not the first(case in point:Jesus).

The native Sheen is translated into Seen in both Arabic forms.

The Quranic name 'Isa replaces "ua" with "aa". The Arab-Christian name Y's-UA' retains this. Basic Arabic translations would remove double-vowels like this(e.g. N-OA-h=Nuh, Mash-IA-ch=Masih).

So without a doubt the Arabic name of Jesus is IsA'(Alif-Seen-Ayin'). We now know that the Arab-Christian name is just a transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua', not an Arabic translation of his real name. The question remains: Why does the Qur'an switch the position of the 'Ayin and Alif?

The answer is relatively simple. For ease of rhyming and memorization. Allah changed names in the Qur'an in order for them to sound more poetic together(e.g. Habil-Kabil, Talut-Jalut, etc.). 'Isa occurs five times with the name Musa, out of a total of 25 times. So the Quranic 'Isa is actually a better translation(although deliberately changed) than the Arab-Christian Y'sua'!

Please spread this info. and use it to debate people who make such claims against Muslims...