FAQ-46: The Qur'an's case for authority is illegitimate!

As Christians, we are very clear that there are certain criteria, four of them in fact, that every revelation needs in order to be authoritative, or in order to claim to have come from God. These four evidences, or criteria are all documented in the Bible, so that we can know pretty clearly whether a certain book or writing is indeed from God or not. These include:

1) That the message must conform to revelation which has gone before (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; and Revelation 22:18-20). When we look at the Qur’an, we find contradictions after contradictions with the earlier scriptures, especially concerning the person of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion.

2) The scripture must make predictions which are verifi¬able (Deuteronomy 18:21-22; Isaiah 43:9; and John 13:18-21). Where are there any predictions in the Qur’an which can be verified? The only one Muslims try to suggest, the destruction of the Byzantines by the Persians is not a prediction at all, as the Byzantines came back and then defeated the Persians.

3) The revelation must be accompanied by signs and wonders in order to give it authority as having come from God (Exodus 10:1-2; Deuteronomy 18:21-22; Isaiah 41:21-24; and John 7:20-23). Not only did Muhammad do no miracle to prove that his revelation was authoritative; but when asked, he merely responded that he was nothing more than a warner, and a prophet; not a very suitable defence.

4) The revelation of God must speak in the name of God, Yahweh (Exodus 3:1-15; the New Testament equivalent is “Eigo Eimi” which in English is ‘I am,’ John 8:58). Neither the Qur’an, nor the Islamic Traditions know that name, and instead borrow a pagan and polytheistic Nabatean name for god, which turns out to be no name at all, but nothing more than a generic title for that Nabatean god.

Because these are missing in the case of the prophet Muhammad and of the Qur'an, for those of us who are Christians, it seems indeed that it is the Qur'an and not the Bible which turns out to be the most human of documents.

© Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2019
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illegitimate!