The New Testament
Surat al-Ma’idah (The Table Spread) 5, Surat Maryam (Mary) 19, Surat al-Imran (The Family of ‘Imran) 3, and several other Surats are full of New Testament references. The Qur'an mentions Jesus ninety-seven times, plus Zachariah and his son, John, along with the disciples of Jesus. This indicates that Muhammad knew much more than the average Arab of his time about the New Testament ******ures. After all, his uncle, Waraqa, translated portions of the Gospels into Arabic, and Burhaira, a Nestorian mon, was his secret teacher. There are 131 passages in the Qur'an in which the Bible is referred to as the Law, Psalms, and the Gospel.
Furthermore, numerous passages in the Qur'an so closely parallel passages in the New Testament, which is six hundred years older that the Qur'an, that one can safely conclude that Muhammad borrowed some of the content of his "revelations" from the truly inspired text of the New Testament ******rues. Here are a few choice examples:
· Ah, woe unto worshippers who are heedless of their prayer; who would be seen (at worship). (Surat al-Ma’un [Small Kindnesses] 107) Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory form men. (Matt. 6:2)
· They taste not death therin, save the first death. . . . (Surat al-Dukhan [the Smoke] 44:56) He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. (Rev. 2:11)
· Lo! They who deny Our revelations and scorn them, for them the gates of Heaven will not be opened nor will they enter the Garden until the camel goeth through the needle’s eye. (Surat al-A’raf [The Heights] 7:40) And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. (Matt. 19:24)
· And the dwellers of the Fire  out unto the dwellers of the Garden; Pour on us some water or some of that wherewith Allah hath provided you. (Surat al-A’raf [The Heights] 7:50) Then he cried and said, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." (Matt. 16:24)
· And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel Lo! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was (revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who cometh after me, whose name is the Praised One. (Surat al-Saff [The Ranks] 61:6) . . . The word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me . . . But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:24, 26)
· But Lo! A Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon. (Surat al-Hajj [The Pilgrimage] 22:47) But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Pet. 3:8)
Apophal Fables
Surat al-Imran (The Family of ‘Imran) 3:35-37 closely follows a spurious gospel account, The Protevangelion’s James the Lesser. This second century A.D. apophal Christian fable tells the story of Zachariah, his wife, and John the Baptist. The Qur'anic passage reads:
(Remember) when the wife of ‘Imran said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me, Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower And when she was delivered she said: My Lord! Lo! I am delivered of a female—Allah knew best of what she was delivered—the male is not as the female; and lo! I have named her Mary, and lo! I crave Thy protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast. And her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and vouchsafed to her a goodly growth: and made Zachariah her guardian. Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary where she was, he found that she had food. He said: O Mary! Whence cometh unto thee this (food)? She answered: It is from Allah, Allah giveth without stint to whom He will.
|