Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity
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61. John 1:1 – 3.
62. More accurately, “a word from God,” though Muslims generally do not dispute either title; 3:45.
63. The feeding of the five thousand.
64. For more on these arguments, see Bart Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
65. Mark 14:62.
66. “For Jesus to say, ‘Yes, I’m the Messiah,’ is not a blasphemy; there’s nothing blasphemous about calling yourself the Messiah, anymore than it’s blasphemous to say, ‘Yes, I’m the president of the United States,’ or, ‘I’m the president of the Southern Baptist Convention.’ I mean I may not be, but it’s not a blasphemy to say I am, there’s nothing illegal about it. There were Jews that we know about who called themselves Messiah and there were Jews that we know about that the leading religious leaders of the Jews called the Messiah. ‘Messiah’ simply means a future ruler of the people; it’s not blasphemous to say so” (Bart Ehrman, Historical Jesus, The Great Courses, course 643, lesson 21, 24:42 – 29:06, http:// www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=643).
67. Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels (Nashville: B&H Academic, 1997), 342 – 43.
68. Assumed in this summation is the fact that there is only one God in the Jewish worldview. By claiming to be God, Jesus is claiming to be a part of the very identity of Yahweh. For more, read Richard Bauckham, God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999).
69. Psalm 110:1 is the most commonly referenced passage from the Old Testament in the New Testament at over twenty times. This indicates that it was deeply embedded in the earliest Christian notions of Jesus.
70. Philippians 2:6 – 7.
71. 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Deuteronomy 6:4; for more, see Bauckham, God Crucified.
72. Matthew 5:17.
73. A contextually inappropriate use of Jesus’ words in John 20:17.
74. A commonly used attempt to argue that Galatians 1:8 indicates Paul brought his own gospel.
75. 2 Corinthians 11:23 – 27.
76. 5:73, 116; although 5:116 appears to construe the Trinity to be Allah, Son, and Mother Mary.
77. 2:256.
78. 9:5.
79. Found in Ibn Hisham’s notes; Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, 691.
80. This is unlike selectively quoting from the Bible. Christians generally consider the entire Bible accurate, whereas most Muslims would concede the vast majority of hadith are inaccurate. Thus, selectively drawing from the Bible still requires the consistent interpreter to reconcile contradictory passages once they are elucidated, whereas this is not the case with hadith literature. Plus, the sheer amount of hadith material is staggering, with single collections filling nine volumes or more. Therefore, selectively drawing from the massive pool of hadith affords exponentially greater opportunities for eisegesis than does selectively drawing from the Bible.
81. Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, 676. See also Ibn Sa’d, Kitab al Tabaqat
82. Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, 464.
83. 33:50.
84. Sahih Bukhari 7.62.64; 7.62.65; 7.62.88; Sahih Muslim 8.3310; 8.3311.
85. See Nujood Ali, I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2010).
86. Sahih Bukhari 3.47.786.
87. Sahih Bukhari 5.59.713.
88. Sahih Bukhari 4.54.490.
89. Guillaume, Life of Muhammad, 165 – 66.
90. Ibid., 515.
91. Sahih Bukhari 1.11.584.
92. Qur’an 33:37; Sahih Muslim 8.3330; Tabari, vol. 8, pp. 2 – 3.
93. Sahih Bukhari 8.82.794; Sahih Muslim 16.4130.
94. This is why this book does not build a case for Christianity using the Bible, and why it may appear to some that more critical attention is given to the Qur’an than to the Bible. However, this is not a double standard, because the comparison should be drawn between the Qur’an and Jesus’ deity/resurrection. The latter was equally critically examined, if not more so.
95. 2:23; 10:38; 11:13; 17:88; 52:34.
96. Another name for the Qur’an is “Al-Furqan.” By titling the book written in response The True Furqan, the title itself is a challenge to the Qur’an’s claim of supremacy.
97. Notification No. 78, September 7, 2005, from Anupam Prakash, Under Secretary to the Government of India, accessed July 1, 2013, http://www .cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2k5/csnt78-2k5.htm.
98. Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, The Qur’an, and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge, 7th rev. exp. ed. (Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, 2003), 218.
99. Bucaille, The Bible, The Qur’an, and Science, 214.
100. Ibid., 215.
101. “Belief in Divine Books,” WhyIslam.org, accessed July 1, 2013, http:// www.whyislam.org/submission/articles-of-faith/belief-in-divine-books.
102. The uncited information in the following paragraphs is all found in this book of Sahih Bukhari.
103. Sahih Bukhari 9.84.59.
104. Sahih Muslim 5.2286.
105. Sunan ibn Majah 1944.
106. Suyuti, Al Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an; Ibn Abi Daud, Kitab al-Masahif.
107. Ibn Abi Daud, Kitab al masahif, found by Arthur Jeffery and catalogued in his work Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur’an.
108. Sahih Muslim 8.3432.
109. Sunan Abu Daud 11.2150.
110. Tafsir ibn Kathir.
111. Sahih Bukhari 5.59.459.
112. Sahih Muslim 8.3371.
113. 5:33; “mischief makers” is a commonly used term for the Arabic fsada, though “corrupt” and “disorderly” also feature in translations.
114. See, e.g., Sahih Bukhari 9.84.57 – 58, 64, 72.
115. A prayer that means, “O Allah, by Your name I die and I live.”
116. Sahih Muslim 35.6475.
117. Luke 13:22 – 25, 28 – 29, emphasis added.
GLOSSARY
Adhan: The Muslim call to prayer
Alhamdolillah: A Muslim formula meaning, “All praise be to Allah”; it is the Islamic analogue of hallelujah
Aqeedah: Deeply held Islamic beliefs
Asbab-an-nuzul: A body of Islamic literature purporting to detail the circumstances of specific Quranic revelations
Assalaamo alaikum wa rahmutallah wa barakaathu: An extended Muslim greeting meaning, “The peace of Allah and His mercy and blessings be upon you”
Being: The quality or essence that makes something what it is
Bucailleism: The technique of referring to the Quran for miraculously advanced scientific truths in order to defend its divine origin
Christology: An interpretation of Jesus’ nature, identity, or role; for example, the Quran has a lower Christology than John, since He is just human in the former yet divine in the latter.
Criterion of early testimony: A principle of the historical method that posits that early accounts of an event are more likely to be accurate than later accounts, all else being equal
Criterion of multiple attestation: A principle of the historical method that posits that a recorded event is more likely to be historically accurate if it is recorded in multiple independent sources
Dawah: The practice of inviting people to Islam
Doctrine of abrogation: The belief that teachings and verses of the Quran have been repealed, usually by later Quranic revelations
Doctrine of the Trinity: The belief that God is one in being and three in person
Du’aa: Muslim prayers recited at specific occasions, as opposed to the ritual prayer called salaat; these may be memorized or improvised
Eid al-Fitr: One of two major Muslim holidays; it marks the end of Ramadhan
Fatwa: A decision or ruling by a Muslim authority
Fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence
Five Pillars of Islam: The fundamental practices required of all Muslims
Hadith: Muhamma
d’s words or actions recorded in tradition
Hafiz: A man who has memorized the entire Quran
Hajj: The annual pilgrimage to Mecca
Hazrat: An honorific title meaning “respected”
Historical Jesus: Jesus as He can be known through historical records
Historical method: Criteria and techniques used by historians to systematically investigate the past
Iftar: The meal Muslims eat after fasting, often in large gatherings
Imam: A leader of Muslims, usually referring to one who leads prayer at a mosque
Injil: The book that Muslims believe Allah sent to Jesus, often considered to be the Gospels of the New Testament
Inshallah: A very common Muslim formula meaning “If Allah wills it”
Isa: The Arabic name for Jesus
Isnad: The chain of transmission for a particular hadith
Jamaat: The Arabic word for assembly, usually used to mean “group” or “denomination”
Jinn: Spiritual beings often considered analogous to demons
Jumaa: The name for the Muslim Sabbath day
Kafir: Infidel, non-Muslim
Khalifa: The position of supreme leader over Muslims; usually the title is used to refer to one of Muhammad’s four successors
Khutba: A sermon, usually the Muslim Sabbath sermons on Friday
Manuscript: A physical copy of a text, whether in part or in whole
Masjid: A Muslim place of worship, often called a mosque
Mufti: A Muslim legal expert
Nafl: Optional prayers designed to invoke the help of Allah or draw the worshiper closer to Him
Person: The quality or essence that makes someone who he is
Rakaat: Units of repetition in salaat, composed of standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting postures
Ramadhan: The Muslim holy month
Sadqa: A voluntary offering, often to prevent misfortune
Sahih Bukhari: A classical collection of hadith, often considered by Sunnis as the most trustworthy accounts of Muhammad’s life
Sahih Sittah: The six books of hadith that Sunni Muslims consider most authentic
Salaat: The Muslim ritual prayers
Sehri: The meal Muslims eat before fasting
Shahada: The central proclamation of Islam: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger”
Sharia: Islamic law
Sheikh: A Muslim leader, usually with graduate-level education in Islamic theology
Shia: Followers of Shi’ism, one of the two major branches of Islam
Shirk: The unforgivable sin in Islam; it is roughly equivalent to idolatry, placing something or someone in the position due to Allah
Shroud of Turin: A controversial relic, it is often believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus Himself, supernaturally bearing His image
Sirah: Biographies of Muhammad’s life
Six Articles of Faith: The fundamental Muslim beliefs
Soteriology: The doctrine or study of salvation
Substitutionary atonement: The doctrine that Jesus is able to take and pay for the sins of man.
Surah: A chapter of the Quran
Synoptics: A collective term for the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke
Taraweeh: Voluntary prayers offered at night during Ramadhan
Tauheed: The Islamic doctrine of Allah’s absolute unity and self-reliance
Ulema: Muslim religious scholars
Urdu: The language of Pakistan
Wudhu: Ceremonial washing before salaat
Zakat: Obligatory alms