Let Us Reason - A Christian/muslim Dialogue

Today Al Fadi and Michael Jones talk about the mental and the social harm of child marriage.  Islam promotes child marriage as we saw in a previous episode.  Studies shows the mental harm that it causes from depression, anxiety, phobia, and suicidal thoughts just to name a few.  The social harm are death during child birth, cervical cancer, STDs, and being a victim of domestic violence.  They conclude that child marriage is to be outlawed if Muslims really care about their daughters.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and his guest speaker Michael Jones of ( Inspiring Philosophy You Tube Channel) talk about why is child marriage allowed and promoted in Islam; 1. It was done by Mohammad who is an example to Muslims when he married Aisha at age six. 2. It is done to protect the parents social status and not the Girl's well being.  3. Muslims also claim that it reduces premarital sex. Yet the physical harm that is caused to the girls is great because of their undeveloped bodies; death and infection are two harms. The united nations classify any girl under 18  as a child. In Chapter 65:4  the Quran promotes child marriage.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi asks the question above. He gives a lot of Bible verses to show that if we believe in Jesus we have eternal life; 1John 5: 12-13 , John 5: 24, Romans 8:16, just to mention a few. And nothing can separate us from God's love or snatch us out of his hands John 10:29, Romans 8:38,39.  Our salvation is sure as Christian and the scripture proves it ; not so in the Quran or by Mohammad Sura 46:8-9, Sura 10:94.  Not even the Hadith ; Sahih Bukhari vol. 5, book 58, #266 and vol 4, book 51, # 16;  Mohammad was not sure of his salvation or the salvation of his family or any Muslim.  Al Fadi asks the question ; why would you follow someone who doesn't have an assurance of salvation? and says that Jesus is the way, and the life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi discusses a quote on his fakebook page Alfadi.cira in a new series "Simple Questions Answered". Today's quote is: If Mohammad was a prophet like Moses, why didn't he observe the Sabbath? Muslims claim that Deuteronomy 18:18 is about Mohammad. Muhammad  acknowledged that it was required of him not to transgress the Sabbath in Sura 4: 154. In Numbers 15: 32-36 working on the Sabbath was punishable by death. In Sura 62: 9-11 Muslims should give up trading only when hearing the call to prayer, and not completely stop all trade on Friday which Mohammad claimed to be his Sabbath.  Therefore he did not endorse the law of Moses, and in doing so he condemned himself and he is not the prophet like Moses.  Jesus on the other hand fulfilled the law of Moses and if we are in Christ we also have fulfilled the law through him and we are not condemned.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Brother Mel continue their talk  about the connection between Islam and the Zoroastrian religion of Persia.  Today they talk about the myth of the Buraq; which Muslims believe it  is a flying horse, which took Mohammad to Jerusalem to Al Aqsa mosque and then to heaven. The origin of the name is Persian which means : A riding animal, a rider or a horse.  In Zoroastrianism a demon god rides on a horse.  This shows the willingness of Islam to copy other religions.  They also touch on the origin of the names Aisha and Fatima. They think that they are Jewish names of two wives of Ishmael according to the Jewish Tergum. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi, Dr Jay, and Brother Mel are starting a new series called Exposing the Myth.  In this episode they are talking about how Islam borrowed from the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.  1.The name of the ZamZam well is zoroastrian in origin.  The name Zam is a pagan god which refers to mother nature.  2. The Black stone in al Kaaba is connected to another demon called Afraditi(Venus/ Lucifer).  3. The Jamarat represent Satan.  4. The Sunna/ hadith was written in persian lands.  5. The times of prayer, the washing before prayer, the kibla, and the word Jin were borrowed from Zoroastrianism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jay and Al Fadi continue with three more historical problems with the Quran: 1. The Al Aqsa mosque( Sura 17: 1), which Muslims believe that Mohammad ascended into heaven from, was built in 710 AD, and Mohammad died in 632 AD.  2. The chain mail that is mentioned in Sura 24: 10-11 that King David wore around 1000BC ,was not invented until 200 BC. 3. The reference to the crucifixion in Sura 7: 121-124 during the time of Moses and Pharaoh in 1400 BC and Joseph 1800BC (Sura 12 :41). The crucifixion was invented 1300 years later. Yet the Quran denies the crucifixion of Jesus in Sura 4 : 157 ; this is a theological and a historical problem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jay and Al Fadi discuss the refutations to Dan Brubaker book: Corrections in Early Quranic Manuscripts.  one of the refutations is by  Hythem Sidky who writes a book responding to Dan's book.  Dr Jay and Al Fadi also talk about the historical problems of the Quran, they give an example from Sura 20 : 85-87,95-97,  where it talks about a Samaritan who lived in the time of Moses and helped the Israelites build the golden calf.  The problem with that story is the time period ; Moses lived in 1400 BC and the Samaritan did not exist until 722BC. In conclusion; having even one mistake in the Quran proves that is not divinely preserved. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay Smith continue their discussion about the interview that Muhammad Hijab had with Dr Yasi Qadi about the Quran preservation.  Al and Dr Jay mention that most Muslims especially in the East do not cross the line of questioning the Quran.  Dr Yasir Qadi had a crisis of faith "knowledge" when he went to Yale university. The interview caused a lot of Muslims to doubt and leave Islam.  They also talked about Dr Brubaker's work on the early Quranic manuscript in his book" Corrections in Early Quranic Manuscripts" . In his work Dr Brubaker researched and found over 800 - 4,000 differences between the Hafs Quran of today and the early manuscripts.  These corrections was made to fit the Hafs Quran of today. This research had a very damaging result to the belief that the Quran is perfectly preserved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay Smith listen to a clip of a major interview of Dr Yasir Qadi by Mohammad Hijab on the topic of the preservation of the Quran. In this interview Dr Yasi Qadi admits it is a hard subject to discuss and that it should not be a public discussion.  He also says that it is enough to believe it and not question it. The original interview was done on 6/8/2020. This interview was very damaging to the Standard Islamic Narrative, and in it Dr Yasir Qadi admits that the S.I.N. has holes in it and it does not answer all the questions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Continuing last week's discussion,  Al Fadi and Dr Jay Smith say that Ibn Mujaahed chose the seven Kira'at in the tenth century.  The criteria for choosing them was popularity.  Hafs differ from the other Kira'at by 93 thousand dots and vowels.  Therefore the preservation claim does not stand the test.  They give several examples between the Hafs and Warsh: 1. Sura 2:184 ; Al miskeen and Al masaakeen; the first is singular noun and the second is the plural form of the noun. 2. Sura 3:146; the words kaatala (fought) and kutila (killed). These differences have huge theological and practice implications.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jay and Al Fadi discuss the multiple different Arabic Qurans that a Turkish sister called Hattun found in different Arabic countries starting in 2016.  Dr Jay and Hattun took the Qurans to speakers corner in England where they showed them to Muslims who were shocked to hear and see that, because they have been told by their leaders that the Quran has been perfectly preserved to the letter and the dot.  The Muslim response was that these are different readings for different dialects.  There is five thousand differences between the two major versions which are called the Hafs and the Warsh alone.  These differences do not only change the doctrine and the practice, but also the theology.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay continue there discussion from  Shoemaker's book Creating the Quran.  They name some scholars  including Montgomery, Patricia Corona and others who point out that Mecca was insignificant and Medina (Yathrib was a small date oasis with few hundred people living there, and there is no mention of Jews living there as the S.I.N. mentions.  They also say that most scholars conclude that the Quran and Islam is not from central Hijaz but from farther north.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay Smith continue there review of Shoemaker book; creating the Quran.  Today they focus on where was the origin of the Quran.  They say that there was some rock inscription in Northern Arabian not in the Hijaz. Some of the reasons why the inscription doesn't fit the Hijazi dialect of central Arabia are three distinctive features: 1. The distinctive form of the relative pronoun.  2. The distinctive form of the distal demonstrative .  3. the use of the verbal constructive of ya aleph. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay continue there discussion from  Shoemaker's book Creating the Quran.  They name some scholars  including Montgomery, Patricia Corona and others who point out that Mecca was insignificant and Medina (Yathrib was a small date oasis with few hundred people living there, and there is no mention of Jews living there as the S.I.N. mentions.  They also say that most scholars conclude that the Quran and Islam is not from central Hijaz but from farther north.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Al Fadi and Dr Jay Smith continue there review of Shoemaker book; creating the Quran.  Today they focus on where was the origin of the Quran.  They say that there was some rock inscription in Northern Arabian not in the Hijaz. Some of the reasons why the inscription doesn't fit the Hijazi dialect of central Arabia are three distinctive features: 1. The distinctive form of the relative pronoun.  2. The distinctive form of the distal demonstrative .  3. the use of the verbal constructive of ya aleph.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Muslims claim that Mecca is in Saudi Arabia, that Mohammad was born there, and that he also received his revelation of the Quran there.  If that is true where is Mecca? Steven Shoemaker in his book Creating the Quran on page114 mentions that there is no mention of a mecca in any of the great civilizations of the time .  Not only that,but another scholar; Patricia Corona said that there were no trade roues going through Mecca on land nor by the coast of the Red Sea bordering Mecca.  Many scholars say that Islam started way north of Mecca and that most Muslim scholars were Persians.  So Shoemaker concludes that Mecca was further north.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This manuscript was found in Damascus and was moved to Germany.  It looks a lot like the upper layer of the Sana manuscript.  There are three reasons why this manuscript is 8th century and not 7th century: 1. The dots , the circles ,and the verse markings suggests that the text is a later text.  2. .  The page layout and illuminations parallels the 8th century manuscripts.  3.  The ornamentations suggests Abd Al Malik and Al Hajjag new distinctive Islamic Arabic manuscripts.  The question is if this text came from Mecca and Medina, what was happening there? Scholars agree that in the 7th century those two cities where very isolated and insignificant.  See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jay and Al Fadi continue the comparison between the upper and the lower layers of the Sana manuscripts of the Quran with the 1924 Hafs edition of the Quran. They point out differences that changes the meaning of the text; for example Sura  9: 9 in the lower layer of the manuscripts states" the way of Allah while the Hafs Quran of 1924 says 'His way".  Another difference in the upper layer  as an example is Sura 7: 76 "you directed vs he directed" They point out that most of the differences have to do with the diacritical marking which did not exist until the 8th century.  Even with the upper layer of the manuscripts there was no standardized Quran yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Jay Smith discusses the book that Dr Asma Hilali wrote on the Sana Palimpsest manuscripts.  He talks about the conclusions that she came up with by comparing it to todays Hafs Quran; she says that there are seventy variants in sixty three verses.  She also believes that it is a student text.  Jay says that that shuts down the idea of the preservation of the Quran which both Muslim and the Quran claim ( ie Sura 85: 21,22).  Then Jay and Al discuss some of the differences as examples.  Then they ask the question : Is the Quran perfectly preserved?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.