My French Quran
I’m going through the Quran yet again and I keep finding stuff that sticks out at me. I recently just saw a mistake in the Quran that I considered adding to my arsenal. I went through my usual evaluation to see how good it was.
Surah 6:83-86 says:
That was Our argument which We gave to Abraham against his people. We elevate by degrees whomever We will. Your Lord is Wise and Informed. And We gave him Isaac and Jacob—each of them We guided. And We guided Noah previously; and from his descendants David, and Solomon, and Job, and Joseph, and Moses, and Aaron. Thus We reward the righteous. And Zechariah, and John, and Jesus, and Elias—every one of them was of the upright. And Ishmael, and Elijah, and Jonah, and Lot—We favored each one of them over all other people.
Many descendants of Abraham are spoken of. One of them listed is Lot. From everything that we know, Lot is not a descendant of Abraham. I looked into my Quranic commentaries. They seem to acknowledge that Lot isn’t a descendant of Abraham. Their answer is that descendant is being used in a broader way. The commentary then focuses us to Surah 2:133 which reads:
Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, and he said to his sons, “What will you worship after Me?” They said, “We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac; One God; and to Him we submit.”
It seems to make the concept of descendant is vague. Am I convinced that this clarifies what we read in Surah 6? Not at all, but it’s enough of an argument to not add it to my arsenal.
The list of arguments that I have against Islam are actually very few. It’s probably less than most other apologists use against Islam. It’s not that I don’t know a lot of arguments. I just go for quality over quantity. The few arguments that I regularly use are airtight and cannot be refuted. They also deal with important topics. When you think about it, this error is a non-issue. If I bring this up with a Muslim, they may counter with some supposed mistake in a genealogy in the Bible then we’re all of a sudden entering into an argument about issues that aren’t really central. We’re then arguing about non-essential topics when we should be arguing about essentials.
Instead I take my small amount of arguments and develop them. I’ll share one of them now. The argument that Surah 5:68 and many other verses in the Quran show that the Bible(at least the Torah and the Gospel) is not corrupt. I also use historical arguments such as the fact that supposed devout Muslims like Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the disciples of Christ, and John the Baptist all believed in the entire Old Testament. I then conclude that Muslims have to believe in all of the Old Testament and the four Gospels.
Now, an argument can be made for the writings of St. Paul but I don’t believe it to be airtight so I don’t use it. On the other hand, the fact that the Quran and basic history testifies to the OT and the Gospels allows me to use it in my arsenal.
Many who read this blog also know about the Surah 5 Trinity blunder. I normally wouldn’t bring that up, but Muslims love attacking the Trinity so I then counter with something very relevant to that issue in the Quran. If you recall my Youtube video, I used it at the Dawah booth on Canada day. They couldn’t answer it. No one can answer it. I’ve looked at every apologetic website and commentary and no satisfying responses exist. They’re all really bad answers so I’ll continue to use this argument.
There are others as well but I won’t get into them here. Just know that I operate with a smaller arsenal of arguments than most apologists. This is also my personal preference. I have no beef with someone who wants to carry a large arsenal of arguments. I just take a different approach and I would recommend my approach for anyone starting out in apologetics.
It’s not easy. In fact, it takes a lot of time but I believe that is what has made me an effective apologist against Islam. This is what I recommend. If you want to start somewhere, try developing five core arguments. Remember to make them about key issues and not peripheral issues. Remember to seek out any argument they’ll put forward and be ready to crush it. Don’t let them get away with anything. Good luck!
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.