Islam: A Study in Contradictions

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I picked up a copy of the Koran today. Now, given all that is happening in the world, such a purchase might raise some eyebrows. However, before I am forcibly shipped out of the country or something, I must state that this is the second copy of the Koran that I have owned. The first was a required purchase for a class that I took on understanding Islam, a class I thought I needed for my degree, and a class that I dropped when I discovered that I did not. I then sold the book back to the bookstore.

Specifically, because of all that is happening in the world, I bought a new copy of the Koran, and in fact, I would encourage others to do likewise.

Why?

Well, for one thing, as Sun Tsu once asid, "know your enemy as yoruself, and you will always triumph." Another thing is that I have found that people sometimes cherry-pick sources so as to get the meaning from the source that THEY want, not what the source really is saying. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, and in fact, there is no blame...but having the source at your fingertips to sorta, "go deeper" into the actual text can sometimes be enlightening.

This is not limited to the Koran. In fact, I discovered this phenomena while doing a Bible study.

Take perhaps the two most prominent Bible verses: John 3:16, and Romans 3:23.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." KJV

The next verse however, reads: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." NKJV

See? The thought is rounded out, and complete.

Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," NKJV

Romans 3:24 - "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." NKJV

So, with all of the articles I have been reading and writing lately, I bought a Koran for the same purpose, and when I got home, my friend gave me a few other books on Islam. One of them was "Islam Unveiled," by Abdullah Al-Araby (2001), and in it, he tries to state that the Koran says that unbelievers are to be treated much differently than they tell us in public...as we see in the streets of a number of Middle East cities as the mobs burn flags, ransack buildings, and cause general mayhem over the publishing of cartoons.

Al-Araby says that Surah 73:10 states that God is telling Muhammad that the unbelievers are to be at least tolerated. However, if you read the entire thought, you get the following: (I'll put the part Al-Araby quoted in bold face)

"Remember the name of your Lord and dedicate yourself to Him utterly. He is the Lord of the East and of the West: there is no god but Him. Accept Him for your Protector. Bear patiently with what the unbelievers say, and leave their company without recrimination. Leave to Me those that deny the Truth, those that enjoy the comforts of this life; bear with them yet a little while. We have in store for them heavy fetters, and a blazing fire, choking food and harrowing torment; on the day when the earth shall quiver with all its mountains, and the mountains crumble into heaps of shifting sand."

Now, Al-Araby goes to a completely other verse to refute 73:10 and the assertion that muslims should be tolerant. However, look at the complete thought.Al-Araby refutes 73:10 with Surah 2:191, which reads: "Slay them wherever ye catch them and turn them out from where they have turned you out."

I believe that Al-Araby's book will be an extremely enlightening look at the real face of Islam.

He continues by saying that there is a doctrine called "al-Nasikh wal-Mansoukh", which means "The Abrogator and The Abrogated". According to Al-Araby, this means that if a more recent verse in the Koran contradicts an earlier one, the more recent verse REPLACES the earlier one.

Since part of the Koran was written before Muhammad's journey to Medina, where he changed the religion from one of peace to one of Jihad, then turned around and led an army back to Mecca, you can imagine what original tenets of Islam fell victim to the doctrine of The Abrogator and The Abrogated. Al-Araby states that an Ismalic scholar found that out of the 114 chapters (surahs) of the Koran, only 43 were not affected by this doctrine. He then states that 124 verses of the Koran were wiped out by a single verse:

"Find and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war." Surah 9:5.

Al-Araby then points out that if Allah is so perfect, why must he revise himself so often.

In a recent church service where I go to, it was pointed out that the apostle Paul might seem to contradict himself in the various letters to the ancient churches, but in reality, a single, solid Truth could be revealed through some further evaluation. The Bible itself stands from Genesis to Revelation as one spiritual doctrine of Truth....that we hate the sin, we love the sinner, and we are all redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who died so that all men may be saved from eternal death, but rather have eternal life.

Unlike Christianity, it appears that Islam is a religion of contrasts and contradictions. I'll continue these study sessions on Islam as I myself study further.

John B.
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