September 8, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (09/08/25), Hank interviews Christian apologist and philosopher David Wood, author of an article in the Christian Research Journal titled, “Muhammad and the Messiah: Comparing the Central Figures of Islam and Christianity”. Hank and David discuss the political correctness of Islam in the West despite its teachings that militate against everything that we would think we should hold dear, the doctrine of abrogation, Muhammad’s treatment of women, the claim that the Quran is an eloquent masterpiece that could not be anything but divine in origin, the satanic verses, and the Islamic dilemma.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Bible answer Man broadcast with your host,
Hank Anigraph. The Bible answer Man is the radio ministry
of the Christian Research Institute designed to equip believers to
defend their faith and become true disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because life and truth matter. Our phone number
is eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can find
(00:31):
us on the Internet at equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded, and now to begin today's broadcast,
here's Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you very much for Indy. You'll do want to
spend a little time talking about an article that appeared
in the Christian Research Journal by David Wood. It's titled
Mohammad and the Messiah, comparing the central figures of Islam
and Christianity. And of course, according to Islam, the Qur'an
is not only credible, it is God's only uncorrupted revelation,
(01:05):
and therefore, if it is to be compared with anything
in Christianity, it is to be compared with Christ rather
than the Bible. Of course, in truth, the Koran is
replete with questionable ethics, particularly when it comes to the
equality of women. Think about the fact that the testimony
(01:27):
in a court of law by a woman does not
carry as much weight as it does by a man.
In fact, her legal statements cannot even be accepted as
true unless there are two women testifying. Furthermore, the Quran
dictates that when a business transaction takes place between two people,
(01:48):
two men must witness it, or one man and two women.
That way, if one woman forgets what transpired, the second
of the two may remind the other. Now, obviously, that
brings up the question as to why Islam is considered
(02:10):
politically correct by so many people in Western culture. We're
going to talk to David would about that. He joins
me right now on the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Hi, David, Hey, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Doing good? The question about the political correctness of Islam
in the West, while many of the things taught in
chronic lore seem to militate against everything that we would
think we should hold dear as those who are enlighten
in Western culture.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
You're absolutely right, and it's really shocking, especially when you
consider how some of the most vehement defenders of Islam
here in the West are liberals. Right, So, I mean
people whose values would be most opposed to what we
find in Islam are the first people to defend it.
They seem to hate their own culture here so much
that they'll praise anything that's against it, including Islam.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Talk about something you write about in the article, the
doctrine of abrogation. This is so often misunderstood, and yet
I think it's one of the most Sillian things for
us to understand with respect to the Koran, because you
can make the Koran anything you want to make it.
You can make it a book of peace, you can
make it a book of violence and war.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, And the issue of abrogation is really the basis
for the differences of interpretation between what we might call
Westernized Muslims who will tell you Islam is peaceful and tolerant,
and classical Muslims, Muslims who actually follow what Islam teaches
as it was meant to be taught. And the basis
(03:45):
for this is classical Muslims and Westernized Muslims have two
different methods of interpretation. So, for instance, you open up
the Koran, if you go to S. Two two fifty six,
it says there is no compulsion in religion. Well, it's
a very nice teaching, right, I would say to that
no compulsion in religion, don't force people, don't force people
to submit if they don't believe. But you open up
(04:06):
other passages of the Koran sar A nine to twenty nine,
for instance, which says fight those who do not believe
in a law, and its specifically they're refers to Jews
and Christians in that verse, and in the next verse
says we're not real believers because we say Jesus is
the son of God, so we're not true believers in
a law, and so Muslims are commanded to fight us. Well,
you know what's going on here. One passage says no
(04:27):
compulsion in religion sounds like, you know, peace and tolerance.
Another passage says you're going to fight people based on
what they believe about God. And how Westernized Muslims reconcile
these passages, they basically take the one they like better,
and in this case it would be they like, there's
no compulsion in religion better because they were raised, you know,
in the West, with the around the same values and
(04:47):
going to the same schools that the rest of us
are familiar with. So they like that one, and then
they'll use that to reinterpret the teaching that they don't like.
So they'll say, okay, whatever the Quran means when it
says fight those who do not believe, it can't fight
those who do not believe because that would go against
there's no compulsion in religion. So they will go with
the one they like better, the one that fits in
(05:08):
with Western values more, and then they'll use those to
reinterpret passages that are harsher. That's how Muslims in the
West interpret things, and it goes totally against the classical
method of interpretation that goes back to Muhammad himself, and
for a Muslim, basically for the first twelve centuries of Islam,
the method of interpretation was actually very easy. Muslims have
(05:32):
collections of various texts. They have their hadith, these are
narrations about Muhammad and the situations he was in. They
have the Sira. These are like straightforward biographies. You know,
Muhammad was born, here's what he did during his life,
here's how he died. And they have massive commentaries on
every verse of the Qur'an. So for a classical Muslim
who's looking at a passage like there's no compulsion in
(05:54):
religion and fight those who do not believe in a lah.
What am I going to do here? Well? The only
question for a classic Muslim not influenced by Western values,
the only question was which one came last? Very simple
method of interpretation. I have two verses. They seem to
be in conflict here, So what am I going to do? Well?
(06:16):
I'm going to go with whatever one Allah revealed last,
because according to the Qoran and sort a two to
one oh six, that's Allah's method of revelation. Sometimes he
cancels things that came earlier and he gives something something better.
And so when a Muslim reads that, the method of
interpretation is go with the last one. And that's the
(06:37):
only question. It's a very simple, straightforward method of interpretation.
Let me go back to the text that talk about
when these verses were revealed and whichever one came last.
That's the one that applies to Muslims today. But what
you find is the peaceful teachings of the Qoran. We're
among the earliest teachings of the Quran. When Muhammad was
(06:57):
a persecuted prophet in Mecca and in the early stages
of when he traveled to Medina, and you know, there
was a large Jewish community, there a large pagan Arab
community there. And during these early stages, when Muhammed's a
persecuted prophet and then when he starts to gain a
little bit of power, the revelations are pretty peaceful. And
(07:18):
it's later when Muslim start gaining political power and can
actually start fighting, that we see the more violent passages.
And so from the perspective of any classical Muslim scholar,
and from the perspective of what the Quran itself lays down,
it's the violent passages that are supposed to apply and
the peaceful teachings those were abrogated, those were canceled by
later passages. Whereas if you go up to just about
(07:41):
any Muslim living in the West today, they're going to
point to the peaceful passages and say, this is what
Islam teaches. The violent stuff that has nothing to do
with our religion.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which kind of leads me to the heart of the
article you prepare for the Christian Research Journal, Mohammad and
the Messiah, talking about the moral differences between the two
of them. Unfortunately, what you have so often is Mohammed
and Messiah put on the same footing. But as you
(08:10):
demonstrate in the article Jesus cared for the poor and
downtrodden certainly did not have the kind of view of
women that was espoused by Mohammed. Mohammed had a less
than acceptable view with respect to women in morality.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh, no question, And really lots of people in the
West would be horrified if they knew about some of
the things Mohammad did so. The most glaring example here
would be his relationship with a nine year old girl.
He married a girl named Aisha, who was the daughter
of one of his best friend's closest companions, Abo Bucker,
and Aisha was six years old when the marriage was
(08:51):
arranged and she was nine years old when the marriage
was consummated. And the Koran. This is entirely in accord
with the Koran, which in Seria sixty five, verse four.
You have to get a good translation. If you think
you don't have a good translation, go to any commentary.
The main Muslim commentaries are all available online, but Sara
sixty five, verse four talks about what to do if
(09:12):
you're divorcing a girl who hasn't yet reached the age
of puberty, in order to make sure that she didn't
get pregnant. Somehow well, if it's telling you how to
divorce a girl who hasn't reached puberty, and it's telling you,
you know, to wait three months to make sure that
she's not pregnant. This is assuming, of course, that you've
been having sex with this prepubescent girl. And that is
(09:34):
exactly what we find Mohammed himself doing. And so if
any of your listeners have heard that, we're wondering if
it's true. No question some of the other issues. Mohammed
married the divorce wife of his own adopted son. He
went over to the house of his adopted son one
day and was greeted by the wife and the wife
her name was Zanab, and she was dressed in what
(09:55):
today would call like a nighty or a neglige or
something like that, and Mohammed so and he started praising God.
And apparently he got a revelation at that moment that
he was going to have her for himself. And when
his adopted son, Zaid heard that Muhammad was attracted to
his wife, he divorced her, and so Mohammed then married her.
Zeyneb was one of at least nine wives that Muhammad
(10:18):
had at once, depending on the source, both of them
considered reliable he had at least nine or at least
eleven wives at one time, so it will be as
generous as possible. He had at least nine wives at
one time. And the problem is, according to the Qurans
or four to three, Muslims are allowed to marry no
more than four women. And so how do Muslims get
out of this when their prophet says, hey, you guys
(10:41):
get four, but I get more. Well, the justification is
that Muhammad received yet another special revelation and Sarah thirty three,
verse fifty saying that he gets to marry more wives
than his own revelations allow to other women. And so basically,
when we go through the Muslim sources, we find the
issue after issue like this where Muhammad gets special privileges
(11:02):
that no one else gets, and it usually involves women.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We'll be right back in just a moment with more
of the vilence men broadcast.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
While legions of the theologically clueless and politically correct fall
over themselves in their rush to paint a warmer and
kinder picture of Islam, you might well be wondering what's
really the truth. Hank hantagraph clearly answers the question. In
his book Muslim What You Need to Know About the
World's Fastest growing Religion. To receive the book Muslim as
(11:33):
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in origin? Or are they, in fact the very words
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It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination
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(14:15):
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Speaker 2 (15:07):
And now here's Hank Anagraph having a discussion with David Wood.
He wrote an article for the Christian Research Journal. It's
titled Mohammad in the Messiah, comparing the central figures of
Islam and Christianity. One of the things David that I
was struck with reading the article, particularly the things that
you talk about with respect to the morality of Islam.
(15:30):
It seems to me almost unthinkable that Western figures would
say things like Islam shares common principles of justice and progress,
intolerance and dignity of all human beings. These kinds of
statements where it seems to me that that's simply not
(15:50):
the case.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Oh, you're absolutely right, it's not the case. And it's
not the case according to the Quran. It's not the
case according to Mohammad. It's not the case according to Islam.
It's the case according to Western leaders and the media
who keeps spinning it that way. But just as a
couple of examples, Surah ninety eight, verse six talks about
Christians and Jews who reject the truth of Islam, and
(16:12):
it calls us the worst of creatures. So Christians and
Jews who reject Islam are called in the Quran the
worst of creatures. And in Sarah nine, verse thirty, actually
it calls down a curse from Alan and asks Allah
to fight us, and the verse before that commands Muslims
to violently subjugate us because of our beliefs. And you
(16:34):
can compare this with what the Quran says about Muslims,
where in Sara three, verse one hundred and ten, Muslims
are called the best of peoples. So Muslims are the
best of peoples. Christians and Jews are the worst of creatures,
and one of those groups has to violently subjugate the
other group. The Muslims are required to violently subjugate non Muslims.
(16:56):
And so how can you say that this has any
relationship at all to Western tolerance and democracy. It boggles
the mind.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
One of the proofs that you expose so often you
hear someone say, well, you know, the Quran is an eloquent,
beautiful masterpiece, a tapestry that could not be anything but
divine in origin, and therefore you should believe in the Koran.
But it seems to me, and you expose this in
(17:27):
the article, that if you actually start reading the Qoran,
you're not all that impressed with its tapestry.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
No, reading the Koran is probably the most boring thing
anyone could do. And I want to be clear, I'm
not just saying that because I debate Muslims and I
criticize Islam, So I'm not just trying to be mean.
Muslims have other sources, which are their historical sources, like
the hadith. I think the hadith are very interesting, it's
very interesting reading material. But the Qoran itself, I believe
was Anthony Flu, the atheist two became some kind of
(17:56):
theis shortly before he died. But Anthony Flu said when
he was comparing Christianity and Islam. I believe it was
Flu who said, regardless of your theological perspective, no one
would doubt that the Bible is great literature. And then
he said, to read the Koran is to do penance.
So you're actually it's like you're punishing yourself for your
(18:16):
sins if you read the Koran. But this is an
argument that's very common. The Kuran is so wonderful it
could only come from God. And it's an argument that
wasn't taken very seriously. In Mohammad's own time. He used
to have people who would follow him around. So during
his time when he was in Mecca and he was
preaching this as his main argument, there was a man
named al Nather who used to follow him around. And
(18:38):
Muhammad would get up and deliver a revelation, and al
Nather would stand up right behind him and deliver a
similar in style and content chapter and then say, in
what way is Mohammad's revelation better than what I just said?
And he would challenge the people there, and Muslims as
soon as they got the chance, soon as they became
more powerful, they just killed him. Apparently they couldn't respond
but Islam. Using this argument. For the first twelve years
(19:01):
or so that Muhammad was claiming to be a prophet,
he only won a few dozen followers. He only got
a few dozen converts using that message. It wasn't until
later when he left Mecca and the message changed too.
Join me, and we'll split the spoils. And if you
die in battle, you will go to paradise and you
will get your virgins. And if you survive, you're going
(19:22):
to divide the spoils of the war and you're going
to take your female captives. And so either way you win.
Now join me. That's when he started getting the large
numbers of converts. So for the first more than decade
of his life, when he was actually trying to present
arguments for why people should believe in him, he didn't
win very many followers. When his message changed, that's when
he started getting thousands of converts.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
A couple of other things I want to discuss with
you in the article rich with all kinds of wonderful content.
A lot of people have heard of Satanic verses, don't
really know what they are.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
In enlightenness, the Satanic versus that's basically a name given too,
definitely one of the most embarrassing moments in Mohammad's career,
and that the story goes something like this, and I
have thirty seven sources on the Satanic verses giving one
version or another of the story. So thirty seven Muslim
sources I have right here on the Satanic verses. So
(20:18):
this is something that goes back to the earliest Muslim sources. Basically,
the story goes like this, Muhammad really wanted his tribe,
the Korash, that was a tribe that he was from.
He really wanted the Karash to convert to Islam, but
they wouldn't and they were very offended at these revelations
that he was given, which were condemning their paganism, their polytheism,
and so he started longing for a revelation that would
(20:41):
help them convert to Islam. And one day he got
what he was looking for. He was reciting Sura fifty three,
which was in the process of being revealed to him,
and when he came to a verse that said have
you not heard of a lot Alusa and Manat. These
are the three pagan goddesses of the Karash tribe, a
(21:02):
lot Alusa and Manat. He said, these are the exalted cranes,
whose intercession is to be hoped for. So the meaning
to them was, these are the exalted cranes. These are birds,
and they can intercede. Their intercession is to be hoped for,
so they can intercede with Allah. So these three goddesses,
they're not on the same level as Allah, but you
(21:24):
can still pray to them because they can carry your
messages to Allah like birds carrying something up to Heaven.
So Muhammad delivered these verses as part of the Koran,
saying that there's a Llah, and then there are three
goddesses that you can also pray to. Mohammad bowed down
in honor of the new revelation. All his followers would
bow down when a new Quran revelation came, and the
(21:47):
Pagans joined in and bowed down as well. Muslims were happy,
all the Pagans were happy. They were all now one big,
happy family that now Muhammad had approved of their gods.
But a little while later Muhammad came back and said
said that Satan had tricked him into delivering these verses,
that he was receiving the revelation from the angel Gabriel,
(22:08):
and Satan kind of snuck in there and gave him
some extra material that he wasn't supposed to get, and
so he took those revelations back and said, in effect,
the devil made me do it, that Satan tricked me
into delivering these revelations. And after that Mohammad was certainly
considered someone you're not going to take very seriously as
a prophet. So that again, I have variations of that
(22:30):
story in thirty seven Muslim sources talking about Muhammed receiving
these revelations, and I mean, the implication is pretty obvious.
This is a man who, according to his own sources,
not according to Christian sources, not according to Jewish sources,
according to the sources of his own followers, he could
not tell the difference between a revelation from God and
(22:50):
a revelation from Satan, and that should be eye opening.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Small wonder then, that at one point late in life,
Mohammad said he was the victim of a man to
expel lasting around a year. One of the questions that
I want to ask you, and that has to do
with the Islamic dilemma that you read about in the article.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
We call it the Islamic dilemma. It's an argument that
my partner Sam Shimun and I use in debates. And
what's interesting is you mentioned at the beginning of the
program that Muslims regard the Koran as the only perfect book,
perfect revelation of God, and that is the orthodox position
in Islam, that the Koran is the only uncorrupt book.
(23:32):
What's interesting, and what most Muslims don't know because they
don't read their own sources, is that you would never
in a million years get that impression from the Qoran itself.
The impression you get from the Koran itself is that
the scriptures of the Christians, the scriptures of the Jews
were revealed by Allah. They have been perfectly preserved, and
(23:53):
they are authoritative for Christians and Jews. So let me
just read just so people don't think I'm making this up,
or read a couple of verses very quickly. Surah three
three through four says that Allah has revealed to you
the book with truth, verifying that which is before it,
and he revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime a
guidance for the people, and he sends the Qoran. So
the Torah that's the scriptures of the Jews. The Gospel
(24:15):
that's the scripture of the Christians. And what's very interesting
is that in Surah ten Muhammed was actually having doubts
about his revelations. He was doubting that these revelations were
from God, and Allah commands him what to do. In
ten verse ninety four of the Koran, Allah says, this
is his advice to Muhammad, who's having doubts. But if
(24:35):
you are in doubt as to what we have revealed
to you, ask those who read the book before you.
Certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord.
Therefore you should not be of the disputed. So he says,
ask those who read the book before you. Christians and
Jews are called the people of a book. So Muhammad,
who's having doubts, Allah tells him, if you're having doubts,
(24:56):
go ask the Christians and the Jews about this stuff
that we're revealing to you. So it says here that
the Christians and Jews were reading the book. That's how
Mohammad could go and ask them about what's in the
book to see if it lines up with his revelations.
But that only makes sense if Christians and Jews during
Mohammad's time still had the book. Now, one of the
probably the most interesting verses, Sarah five, verse forty seven, says,
let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah
(25:18):
has revealed Therein, if any fail to judge by the
light of what Allah has revealed, they're no better than
those who rebel. So the Qoran commands Christians to judge
by the Gospel. This only makes sense if we still
have the Gospel. So you find this with the Jews
telling the Jews to judge by the Torah. Christians are
told to judge by the Gospel. And in the Koran
over and over again it says that no one can
(25:40):
corrupt a law's word. So the impression you get from
the Koran itself is that the Bible has been perfectly
preserved it can't be corrupted. But if that's the case,
then Islam has to be false because it doesn't line
up with what's in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
David would again. He wrote an article of Muhammad and
the Masaiah comparing the central figures of Islam and Christianity.
Hope you are blessed, educated, equipped, and look forward to
seeing you tomorrow with more of the Bible Listman Broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Thank you for joining us today. In appreciation for your
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of CRII, Hank Anagraph would like to send you his
book Muslim What You Need to Know about the World's
fastest growing Religion. Simply call eight eight eight seven thousand
CROI and make a gift to support CRI's life changing
(26:30):
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(27:01):
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Welcome to the Bible answer Man broadcast with your host,
Hank Anigraph. The Bible answer Man is the radio ministry
of the Christian Research Institute designed to equip believers to
defend their faith and become true disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because life and truth matter. Our phone number
is eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can find
(00:31):
us on the Internet at equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded, and now to begin today's broadcast,
here's Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thank you very much for Indy. You'll do want to
spend a little time talking about an article that appeared
in the Christian Research Journal by David Wood. It's titled
Mohammad and the Messiah, comparing the central figures of Islam
and Christianity. And of course, according to Islam, the Qur'an
is not only credible, it is God's only uncorrupted revelation,
(01:05):
and therefore, if it is to be compared with anything
in Christianity, it is to be compared with Christ rather
than the Bible. Of course, in truth, the Koran is
replete with questionable ethics, particularly when it comes to the
equality of women. Think about the fact that the testimony
(01:27):
in a court of law by a woman does not
carry as much weight as it does by a man.
In fact, her legal statements cannot even be accepted as
true unless there are two women testifying. Furthermore, the Quran
dictates that when a business transaction takes place between two people,
(01:48):
two men must witness it, or one man and two women.
That way, if one woman forgets what transpired, the second
of the two may remind the other. Now, obviously, that
brings up the question as to why Islam is considered
(02:10):
politically correct by so many people in Western culture. We're
going to talk to David would about that. He joins
me right now on the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Hi, David, Hey, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Doing good? The question about the political correctness of Islam
in the West, while many of the things taught in
chronic lore seem to militate against everything that we would
think we should hold dear as those who are enlighten
in Western culture.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
You're absolutely right, and it's really shocking, especially when you
consider how some of the most vehement defenders of Islam
here in the West are liberals. Right, So, I mean
people whose values would be most opposed to what we
find in Islam are the first people to defend it.
They seem to hate their own culture here so much
that they'll praise anything that's against it, including Islam.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Talk about something you write about in the article, the
doctrine of abrogation. This is so often misunderstood, and yet
I think it's one of the most Sillian things for
us to understand with respect to the Koran, because you
can make the Koran anything you want to make it.
You can make it a book of peace, you can
make it a book of violence and war.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, And the issue of abrogation is really the basis
for the differences of interpretation between what we might call
Westernized Muslims who will tell you Islam is peaceful and tolerant,
and classical Muslims, Muslims who actually follow what Islam teaches
as it was meant to be taught. And the basis
(03:45):
for this is classical Muslims and Westernized Muslims have two
different methods of interpretation. So, for instance, you open up
the Koran, if you go to S. Two two fifty six,
it says there is no compulsion in religion. Well, it's
a very nice teaching, right, I would say to that
no compulsion in religion, don't force people, don't force people
to submit if they don't believe. But you open up
(04:06):
other passages of the Koran sar A nine to twenty nine,
for instance, which says fight those who do not believe
in a law, and its specifically they're refers to Jews
and Christians in that verse, and in the next verse
says we're not real believers because we say Jesus is
the son of God, so we're not true believers in
a law, and so Muslims are commanded to fight us. Well,
you know what's going on here. One passage says no
(04:27):
compulsion in religion sounds like, you know, peace and tolerance.
Another passage says you're going to fight people based on
what they believe about God. And how Westernized Muslims reconcile
these passages, they basically take the one they like better,
and in this case it would be they like, there's
no compulsion in religion better because they were raised, you know,
in the West, with the around the same values and
(04:47):
going to the same schools that the rest of us
are familiar with. So they like that one, and then
they'll use that to reinterpret the teaching that they don't like.
So they'll say, okay, whatever the Quran means when it
says fight those who do not believe, it can't fight
those who do not believe because that would go against
there's no compulsion in religion. So they will go with
the one they like better, the one that fits in
(05:08):
with Western values more, and then they'll use those to
reinterpret passages that are harsher. That's how Muslims in the
West interpret things, and it goes totally against the classical
method of interpretation that goes back to Muhammad himself, and
for a Muslim, basically for the first twelve centuries of Islam,
the method of interpretation was actually very easy. Muslims have
(05:32):
collections of various texts. They have their hadith, these are
narrations about Muhammad and the situations he was in. They
have the Sira. These are like straightforward biographies. You know,
Muhammad was born, here's what he did during his life,
here's how he died. And they have massive commentaries on
every verse of the Qur'an. So for a classical Muslim
who's looking at a passage like there's no compulsion in
(05:54):
religion and fight those who do not believe in a lah.
What am I going to do here? Well? The only
question for a classic Muslim not influenced by Western values,
the only question was which one came last? Very simple
method of interpretation. I have two verses. They seem to
be in conflict here, So what am I going to do? Well?
(06:16):
I'm going to go with whatever one Allah revealed last,
because according to the Qoran and sort a two to
one oh six, that's Allah's method of revelation. Sometimes he
cancels things that came earlier and he gives something something better.
And so when a Muslim reads that, the method of
interpretation is go with the last one. And that's the
(06:37):
only question. It's a very simple, straightforward method of interpretation.
Let me go back to the text that talk about
when these verses were revealed and whichever one came last.
That's the one that applies to Muslims today. But what
you find is the peaceful teachings of the Qoran. We're
among the earliest teachings of the Quran. When Muhammad was
(06:57):
a persecuted prophet in Mecca and in the early stages
of when he traveled to Medina, and you know, there
was a large Jewish community, there a large pagan Arab
community there. And during these early stages, when Muhammed's a
persecuted prophet and then when he starts to gain a
little bit of power, the revelations are pretty peaceful. And
(07:18):
it's later when Muslim start gaining political power and can
actually start fighting, that we see the more violent passages.
And so from the perspective of any classical Muslim scholar,
and from the perspective of what the Quran itself lays down,
it's the violent passages that are supposed to apply and
the peaceful teachings those were abrogated, those were canceled by
later passages. Whereas if you go up to just about
(07:41):
any Muslim living in the West today, they're going to
point to the peaceful passages and say, this is what
Islam teaches. The violent stuff that has nothing to do
with our religion.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Which kind of leads me to the heart of the
article you prepare for the Christian Research Journal, Mohammad and
the Messiah, talking about the moral differences between the two
of them. Unfortunately, what you have so often is Mohammed
and Messiah put on the same footing. But as you
(08:10):
demonstrate in the article Jesus cared for the poor and
downtrodden certainly did not have the kind of view of
women that was espoused by Mohammed. Mohammed had a less
than acceptable view with respect to women in morality.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh, no question, And really lots of people in the
West would be horrified if they knew about some of
the things Mohammad did so. The most glaring example here
would be his relationship with a nine year old girl.
He married a girl named Aisha, who was the daughter
of one of his best friend's closest companions, Abo Bucker,
and Aisha was six years old when the marriage was
(08:51):
arranged and she was nine years old when the marriage
was consummated. And the Koran. This is entirely in accord
with the Koran, which in Seria sixty five, verse four.
You have to get a good translation. If you think
you don't have a good translation, go to any commentary.
The main Muslim commentaries are all available online, but Sara
sixty five, verse four talks about what to do if
(09:12):
you're divorcing a girl who hasn't yet reached the age
of puberty, in order to make sure that she didn't
get pregnant. Somehow well, if it's telling you how to
divorce a girl who hasn't reached puberty, and it's telling you,
you know, to wait three months to make sure that
she's not pregnant. This is assuming, of course, that you've
been having sex with this prepubescent girl. And that is
(09:34):
exactly what we find Mohammed himself doing. And so if
any of your listeners have heard that, we're wondering if
it's true. No question some of the other issues. Mohammed
married the divorce wife of his own adopted son. He
went over to the house of his adopted son one
day and was greeted by the wife and the wife
her name was Zanab, and she was dressed in what
(09:55):
today would call like a nighty or a neglige or
something like that, and Mohammed so and he started praising God.
And apparently he got a revelation at that moment that
he was going to have her for himself. And when
his adopted son, Zaid heard that Muhammad was attracted to
his wife, he divorced her, and so Mohammed then married her.
Zeyneb was one of at least nine wives that Muhammad
(10:18):
had at once, depending on the source, both of them
considered reliable he had at least nine or at least
eleven wives at one time, so it will be as
generous as possible. He had at least nine wives at
one time. And the problem is, according to the Qurans
or four to three, Muslims are allowed to marry no
more than four women. And so how do Muslims get
out of this when their prophet says, hey, you guys
(10:41):
get four, but I get more. Well, the justification is
that Muhammad received yet another special revelation and Sarah thirty three,
verse fifty saying that he gets to marry more wives
than his own revelations allow to other women. And so basically,
when we go through the Muslim sources, we find the
issue after issue like this where Muhammad gets special privileges
(11:02):
that no one else gets, and it usually involves women.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
We'll be right back in just a moment with more
of the vilence men broadcast.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
While legions of the theologically clueless and politically correct fall
over themselves in their rush to paint a warmer and
kinder picture of Islam, you might well be wondering what's
really the truth. Hank hantagraph clearly answers the question. In
his book Muslim What You Need to Know About the
World's Fastest growing Religion. To receive the book Muslim as
(11:33):
our thank you for your gift today, simply call eight
eight eight seven thousand CURI and make a gift to
support CRI's life changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand
CURI or visit equip dot org. We'll return to the
Bible answer Man broadcast right after this. Anyone who's been
(12:02):
paying attention knows there's a war going on, not just
on traditional morality, civility, and decency, but even more fundamentally
on historic notions of truth. And the enemy isn't just
the onslaught of fake news, facilitated by a post truth
culture and turbocharged by growing legions of ideological spinductors. Note
the real enemies of truth range from postmodernist convictions that
(12:26):
there is no objective truth to militant scientism that claims
that only science can determine truth and religion is little
more than primitive superstitions. But CRI Support team members are
not waving a white flag of surrender. They're holding the
fort by undergirding everyone of Christian Research Institute's mind shaping
and life changing outreaches twenty four to seven. To learn
(12:49):
how you can make a difference and enjoy all the
benefits of support team membership, simply visit equip dot org.
Has God Spoken? Are the words of Scripture merely human
(13:09):
in origin? Or are they, in fact the very words
of God himself? Three years in the making and based
on two decades of research and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental
book Has God Spoken answers what is surely the most
important question facing our world. In Has God Spoken? Memorable
(13:30):
Proofs of the Bible's divine inspiration, Hank counters the contentions
of the Bible attackers and clearly shows that belief in
the Holy Scriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking.
It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination
of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God Spoken? From the Christian
Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven thousand CRII or
(13:53):
go online to equip dot org. Equip dot org. So
rapid and pandemic has been the decline of biblical literacy
and spiritual discernment that our once unimaginable post truth culture
is effectively becoming an anti truth culture. While the sun
is setting on the Western Church. Islam is now the
(14:15):
fastest growing religion in the world. This means that it's
not simply enough to be aware of this threat. Christians
need to wake up, stand up, and speak up. This
means being able to counter the outright lies about Islam
that otherwise will go unchecked with horrendous consequences. And that's
what Hank Hanagraphs book Muslim What You Need to Know
(14:36):
About the World's Fastest Growing Religion, will enable you to do.
To receive your copy as our appreciation for your financial partnership,
call eight eight eight seven thousand CROI make a gift
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Speaker 2 (15:07):
And now here's Hank Anagraph having a discussion with David Wood.
He wrote an article for the Christian Research Journal. It's
titled Mohammad in the Messiah, comparing the central figures of
Islam and Christianity. One of the things David that I
was struck with reading the article, particularly the things that
you talk about with respect to the morality of Islam.
(15:30):
It seems to me almost unthinkable that Western figures would
say things like Islam shares common principles of justice and progress,
intolerance and dignity of all human beings. These kinds of
statements where it seems to me that that's simply not
(15:50):
the case.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Oh, you're absolutely right, it's not the case. And it's
not the case according to the Quran. It's not the
case according to Mohammad. It's not the case according to Islam.
It's the case according to Western leaders and the media
who keeps spinning it that way. But just as a
couple of examples, Surah ninety eight, verse six talks about
Christians and Jews who reject the truth of Islam, and
(16:12):
it calls us the worst of creatures. So Christians and
Jews who reject Islam are called in the Quran the
worst of creatures. And in Sarah nine, verse thirty, actually
it calls down a curse from Alan and asks Allah
to fight us, and the verse before that commands Muslims
to violently subjugate us because of our beliefs. And you
(16:34):
can compare this with what the Quran says about Muslims,
where in Sara three, verse one hundred and ten, Muslims
are called the best of peoples. So Muslims are the
best of peoples. Christians and Jews are the worst of creatures,
and one of those groups has to violently subjugate the
other group. The Muslims are required to violently subjugate non Muslims.
(16:56):
And so how can you say that this has any
relationship at all to Western tolerance and democracy. It boggles
the mind.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
One of the proofs that you expose so often you
hear someone say, well, you know, the Quran is an eloquent,
beautiful masterpiece, a tapestry that could not be anything but
divine in origin, and therefore you should believe in the Koran.
But it seems to me, and you expose this in
(17:27):
the article, that if you actually start reading the Qoran,
you're not all that impressed with its tapestry.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
No, reading the Koran is probably the most boring thing
anyone could do. And I want to be clear, I'm
not just saying that because I debate Muslims and I
criticize Islam, So I'm not just trying to be mean.
Muslims have other sources, which are their historical sources, like
the hadith. I think the hadith are very interesting, it's
very interesting reading material. But the Qoran itself, I believe
was Anthony Flu, the atheist two became some kind of
(17:56):
theis shortly before he died. But Anthony Flu said when
he was comparing Christianity and Islam. I believe it was
Flu who said, regardless of your theological perspective, no one
would doubt that the Bible is great literature. And then
he said, to read the Koran is to do penance.
So you're actually it's like you're punishing yourself for your
(18:16):
sins if you read the Koran. But this is an
argument that's very common. The Kuran is so wonderful it
could only come from God. And it's an argument that
wasn't taken very seriously. In Mohammad's own time. He used
to have people who would follow him around. So during
his time when he was in Mecca and he was
preaching this as his main argument, there was a man
named al Nather who used to follow him around. And
(18:38):
Muhammad would get up and deliver a revelation, and al
Nather would stand up right behind him and deliver a
similar in style and content chapter and then say, in
what way is Mohammad's revelation better than what I just said?
And he would challenge the people there, and Muslims as
soon as they got the chance, soon as they became
more powerful, they just killed him. Apparently they couldn't respond
but Islam. Using this argument. For the first twelve years
(19:01):
or so that Muhammad was claiming to be a prophet,
he only won a few dozen followers. He only got
a few dozen converts using that message. It wasn't until
later when he left Mecca and the message changed too.
Join me, and we'll split the spoils. And if you
die in battle, you will go to paradise and you
will get your virgins. And if you survive, you're going
(19:22):
to divide the spoils of the war and you're going
to take your female captives. And so either way you win.
Now join me. That's when he started getting the large
numbers of converts. So for the first more than decade
of his life, when he was actually trying to present
arguments for why people should believe in him, he didn't
win very many followers. When his message changed, that's when
he started getting thousands of converts.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
A couple of other things I want to discuss with
you in the article rich with all kinds of wonderful content.
A lot of people have heard of Satanic verses, don't
really know what they are.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
In enlightenness, the Satanic versus that's basically a name given too,
definitely one of the most embarrassing moments in Mohammad's career,
and that the story goes something like this, and I
have thirty seven sources on the Satanic verses giving one
version or another of the story. So thirty seven Muslim
sources I have right here on the Satanic verses. So
(20:18):
this is something that goes back to the earliest Muslim sources. Basically,
the story goes like this, Muhammad really wanted his tribe,
the Korash, that was a tribe that he was from.
He really wanted the Karash to convert to Islam, but
they wouldn't and they were very offended at these revelations
that he was given, which were condemning their paganism, their polytheism,
and so he started longing for a revelation that would
(20:41):
help them convert to Islam. And one day he got
what he was looking for. He was reciting Sura fifty three,
which was in the process of being revealed to him,
and when he came to a verse that said have
you not heard of a lot Alusa and Manat. These
are the three pagan goddesses of the Karash tribe, a
(21:02):
lot Alusa and Manat. He said, these are the exalted cranes,
whose intercession is to be hoped for. So the meaning
to them was, these are the exalted cranes. These are birds,
and they can intercede. Their intercession is to be hoped for,
so they can intercede with Allah. So these three goddesses,
they're not on the same level as Allah, but you
(21:24):
can still pray to them because they can carry your
messages to Allah like birds carrying something up to Heaven.
So Muhammad delivered these verses as part of the Koran,
saying that there's a Llah, and then there are three
goddesses that you can also pray to. Mohammad bowed down
in honor of the new revelation. All his followers would
bow down when a new Quran revelation came, and the
(21:47):
Pagans joined in and bowed down as well. Muslims were happy,
all the Pagans were happy. They were all now one big,
happy family that now Muhammad had approved of their gods.
But a little while later Muhammad came back and said
said that Satan had tricked him into delivering these verses,
that he was receiving the revelation from the angel Gabriel,
(22:08):
and Satan kind of snuck in there and gave him
some extra material that he wasn't supposed to get, and
so he took those revelations back and said, in effect,
the devil made me do it, that Satan tricked me
into delivering these revelations. And after that Mohammad was certainly
considered someone you're not going to take very seriously as
a prophet. So that again, I have variations of that
(22:30):
story in thirty seven Muslim sources talking about Muhammed receiving
these revelations, and I mean, the implication is pretty obvious.
This is a man who, according to his own sources,
not according to Christian sources, not according to Jewish sources,
according to the sources of his own followers, he could
not tell the difference between a revelation from God and
(22:50):
a revelation from Satan, and that should be eye opening.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Small wonder then, that at one point late in life,
Mohammad said he was the victim of a man to
expel lasting around a year. One of the questions that
I want to ask you, and that has to do
with the Islamic dilemma that you read about in the article.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
We call it the Islamic dilemma. It's an argument that
my partner Sam Shimun and I use in debates. And
what's interesting is you mentioned at the beginning of the
program that Muslims regard the Koran as the only perfect book,
perfect revelation of God, and that is the orthodox position
in Islam, that the Koran is the only uncorrupt book.
(23:32):
What's interesting, and what most Muslims don't know because they
don't read their own sources, is that you would never
in a million years get that impression from the Qoran itself.
The impression you get from the Koran itself is that
the scriptures of the Christians, the scriptures of the Jews
were revealed by Allah. They have been perfectly preserved, and
(23:53):
they are authoritative for Christians and Jews. So let me
just read just so people don't think I'm making this up,
or read a couple of verses very quickly. Surah three
three through four says that Allah has revealed to you
the book with truth, verifying that which is before it,
and he revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime a
guidance for the people, and he sends the Qoran. So
the Torah that's the scriptures of the Jews. The Gospel
(24:15):
that's the scripture of the Christians. And what's very interesting
is that in Surah ten Muhammed was actually having doubts
about his revelations. He was doubting that these revelations were
from God, and Allah commands him what to do. In
ten verse ninety four of the Koran, Allah says, this
is his advice to Muhammad, who's having doubts. But if
(24:35):
you are in doubt as to what we have revealed
to you, ask those who read the book before you.
Certainly the truth has come to you from your Lord.
Therefore you should not be of the disputed. So he says,
ask those who read the book before you. Christians and
Jews are called the people of a book. So Muhammad,
who's having doubts, Allah tells him, if you're having doubts,
(24:56):
go ask the Christians and the Jews about this stuff
that we're revealing to you. So it says here that
the Christians and Jews were reading the book. That's how
Mohammad could go and ask them about what's in the
book to see if it lines up with his revelations.
But that only makes sense if Christians and Jews during
Mohammad's time still had the book. Now, one of the
probably the most interesting verses, Sarah five, verse forty seven, says,
let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah
(25:18):
has revealed Therein, if any fail to judge by the
light of what Allah has revealed, they're no better than
those who rebel. So the Qoran commands Christians to judge
by the Gospel. This only makes sense if we still
have the Gospel. So you find this with the Jews
telling the Jews to judge by the Torah. Christians are
told to judge by the Gospel. And in the Koran
over and over again it says that no one can
(25:40):
corrupt a law's word. So the impression you get from
the Koran itself is that the Bible has been perfectly
preserved it can't be corrupted. But if that's the case,
then Islam has to be false because it doesn't line
up with what's in the Bible.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
David would again. He wrote an article of Muhammad and
the Masaiah comparing the central figures of Islam and Christianity.
Hope you are blessed, educated, equipped, and look forward to
seeing you tomorrow with more of the Bible Listman Broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Thank you for joining us today. In appreciation for your
gift to help strengthen and expand the life changing outreaches
of CRII, Hank Anagraph would like to send you his
book Muslim What You Need to Know about the World's
fastest growing Religion. Simply call eight eight eight seven thousand
CROI and make a gift to support CRI's life changing
(26:30):
outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CROI or visitequip dot org.
You can also write CRII at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, two eight two seven one.
The Bible answer Man Broadcast is funded by listeners like you.
We're on the air because life and truth matter. The
(27:01):
number of wolves surrounding the Christian flock is growing, and
they relish nothing more than docile's sheep, Utterly incapable of
defending themselves from militant secularists at home to militant Islamists abroad.
The assaults on Biblical Christianity are growing dangerously, but Christian
research institutes. Support Team members aren't in favor of feeding
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these wolves. Instead, each day they're making possible an array
of outreaches that defang these wolfpacks with solid arguments and
evidence that have stood the test of time. What's more,
Support Team members are equipping themselves with criis Equipping Essentials,
a handpicked collection of the best apologetics tools around. Your
(27:44):
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To learn more about the benefits of membership, simply visit
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