Saturday 23 September 2017

MYTH: Quran Describing the Expansion of Universe

There is a very popular claim made by Muslims that the Quran describes the universe as "continuously expanding", which I will debunk here. Before that, consider these basic facts:

1) Before Edwin Hubble's research in 1929 which established the expansion of universe in the scientific community, not a single translation of the Quran and tafseer (exegesis of Quran) gave the idea that the Quran describes the expansion of universe.

2) After the above discovery, the translators slowly started reinterpreting the Quran to fit the discovery. Notable ones include the post-1970 translations of TB Irving, Rashad Khalifa, Muhammad Asad and Shabbyr Ahmed.

Here is a vast list of translations of the verse in question - Quran 51:47: http://www.islamawakened.com/quran/51/47/

Now, on to the main point - What does the Quran actually say? To know that, let us put together verses 51:47 and 51:48: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=51&verse=47

Arabic:

51:47 - "Wa al-samaa banaynaahaa bi-aydin wa-innaa lamoosi'Aoona"
51:48 - "Wa al-arda farashnaahaa fa-ni'Ama al-maahidoona"

English (literal, word by word):

51:47 - "And the heaven, we have built it with strength, and indeed we are (surely) expanders"
51:48 - "And the earth, we have made it a resting place, so how excellent are the spreaders"

The apologetic claim is that the verse 51:47 describes the universe as "continuously expanding". They often translate the phrase "wa innaa lamoosi'Aoona" as "and indeed we are expanding it". Such a translation is a distortion of the original Arabic. Apart from that, not a single traditional tafseer writer understood it that way. The phrase "lamoosi'Aoona" is the emphasis "la" (meaning: "surely") added with the collective noun "moosi'Aoona" (meaning: "expanders"). To translate moosi'Aoona as "expanding" is a clear grammatical error, where the verb "expanding" is inserted in place of the collective noun "expanders". "moosi'Aoona" comes from the Arabic word "moosi'Ai" meaning "rich" (http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=236) and hence it has been understood as making the heaven more spacious, in context of verse 51:47.

The logic and tone of the verses 51:47 - 51:48 is as stated below:

1) Allah and angels (we) constructed the heaven - one of the later steps in the construction was the raising of its ceiling, ie, the expansion of heaven (part of the creation narrative - Quran 79:28). Hence they are referred to as "expanders" (moosi'Aoona).
2) Allah and angels spread the earth very well (making it a resting-place). Hence, they are referred to as "spreaders" (maahidoona).

The Arabic grammar of 51:47 and 51:48 is symmetrical. Just as "moosi'Aoona" means "expanders", "maahidoona" means "spreaders". This is a poetic way of referring to the ones who did the creation and shaping of the heavens and the earth. Throughout the centuries, the readers of the Quran were well aware that the verse 51:48 was not talking about a "constant" spreading of the earth, rather was just stressing that they spread the earth very well. Likewise, they understood verse 51:47, not as a "constant" expansion of the heaven, rather was just stressing that they expanded the heaven (like narrated in verse 79:28 "allah raised the ceiling of the heaven").

It is a simple matter of being consistent with the grammar. Those Muslims who want to argue that the verse 51:47 is talking about a constant expansion of the universe, by the same token of consistency, they would have to argue that 51:48 is talking about a constant spreading of the earth. Which simply does not happen at all! Do these people want a package with one scientific miracle and one scientific error, or do they want neither? I will let them decide.

Finally, let us look at what Ibn Katheer, one of the most respected commentators of the Quran has to say about this: http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1713&Itemid=107

Allah reminds us of the creating of the higher and lower worlds,
﴿وَالسَّمَآءَ بَنَيْنَـهَا﴾
(We constructed the heaven.) meaning, `We made it as a high roof, protected from falling,'
﴿بِأَيْدٍ﴾
(with Hands), meaning, with strength, according to `Abdullah bin `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, Ath-Thawri and several others,
﴿وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ﴾
(Verily, We are able to extend the vastness of space thereof.) means, `We made it vast and We brought its roof higher without pillars to support it, and thus it is hanging independently.'
﴿وَالاٌّرْضَ فَرَشْنَـهَا﴾
(And We have made the earth a Firash), meaning, `We have made it a resting place for the created,'
﴿فَنِعْمَ الْمَـهِدُونَ﴾
(how excellent a spreader (thereof) are We!), meaning, `We spread it for its inhabitants,'
﴿وَمِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ﴾

This is very similar to how I described these verses. The tone of the passage is like a reminder to the construction and transformation of the heaven and the earth, as told in the creation narrative of the Quran (chapter 79 and 41 for example).

To conclude, there is absolutely no miracle here. One has to distort the Quranic grammar or treat it with some serious inconsistency inorder to present it as a miracle.

Saturday 16 September 2017

Persecution of non Muslim men and Muslim women by Indian Muslims for marrying/dating


Here is a list of 79 incidents of murder/harassment/kidnap/death threats involving 52 Murders and leading to 8 suicides over the last 10 years, perpetrated by Indian Muslims for the reason of a Muslim woman marrying/loving a non Muslim. All these incidents happened in India from the time-frame of July 2008 - October 2018.

1) http://m.timesofindia.com/city/meerut/Muslim-woman-weds-Hindu-man-both-killed/articleshow/45321279.cms
Muslim woman marries Hindu man, both killed by the woman's brothers and gang in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

2) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Murshidabad_beheading
https://www.telegraphindia.com/1080801/jsp/frontpage/story_9631281.jsp
Hindu man marries Muslim woman, murdered by a Muslim gang in Murshidabad, West Bengal following the orders of a Muslim tribal "court".

3) https://www.firstpost.com/india/honour-killing-horror-meerut-man-shoots-sister-for-marrying-outside-community-1822925.html
A 25 year old Muslim woman shot dead by her brothers and an accomplice, for marrying a Hindu man in Meerut, UP.

4) http://www.firstpost.com/india/karnataka-21-year-old-pregnant-muslim-woman-burnt-alive-by-parents-for-marrying-a-dalit-3521809.html
Muslim woman who married a dalit (lower caste Hindu) man, burned to death by her parents in Karnataka.

5) http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra-pradesh/2017/sep/06/31-year-old-succumbs-to-injury-in-kuppam-1653042--1.html
A Muslim gang hacks to death a Hindu man for loving a Muslim woman, and severely beat up his mother.

6) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/lucknow/lucknow-parents-kill-girl-over-love-affair-with-hindu-boy/articleshow/65642290.cms
A 14 year old girl from Muslim community was killed by her father and mother in Sitapur, UP for a love affair with a boy from Hindu community.

7) https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/a-love-story-murdered-in/
Hindu man marries Muslim woman in Kashmir and her parents bribe policemen and get him murdered.

8) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/8515426/India-mothers-accused-in-honour-killing-of-two-brides.html
Two Muslim women in Uttar Pradesh murdered by their mothers for marrying Hindus. One of them admitted to the killing and justified it.

9) http://zeenews.india.com/news/uttar-pradesh/man-kills-daughter-honour-killing-suspected_814649.html
Muslim girl beaten to death by her father and 5 other family members for having an affair with a Hindu boy. The boy commits suicide.

10) https://www.deccanherald.com/content/282865/moral-police-kill-footballer.html
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/Hartal-over-youth’s-death-total-in-Mavelikara/article12544133.ece
Hindu man killed in Kerala for being in love with a Muslim woman. Burned to death by her relatives after he refused to convert to Islam for marriage. Here is the news from Kerala news channel Indiavision (Title is misleading): https://youtu.be/pvs0k9d3VaE

Here is the video of part of the victim's death-bed testimony infront of a magistrate: https://mobile.twitter.com/partyvillage017/status/938943372529582080

11) http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/couples-murder-in-thane-pregnant-victims-relative-arrested-from-up-3040004/
Hindu man and Muslim woman from UP who got married, found dead with throats slit in Thane near Mumbai. Woman's relative arrested for the murder.

12) http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2896687/posts
Hindu man killed for marrying Muslim woman in Tamil Nadu, by her brother and gang. Original post removed from Asian Age, but confirmed by Tamil locals and widely reported and verified authentic.

13) http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_TOINEW&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=TOIBG/2009/11/20&ID=Ar00300
Hindu man beaten to death by a gang of 9 Muslims in Bangalore for being in love with a Muslim woman.

14) http://indianexpress.com/article/india/bihars-teenage-love-story-ends-in-two-murders-honour-and-hate-4962546/
Hindu boy (16) and Muslim girl (17) were killed by girl's family members in Bihar for having a love affair.

15) http://m.hindustantimes.com/india/muslim-girl-killed-for-love-affair-with-hindu/story-UVRV0Aq9RVPYnbw3svOAhI.html
Muslim man murders his 18-year old daughter near Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh for having a love affair with a Hindu man. More family members probably involved in the crime.

16) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/hubballi/ballari-honour-killing-womans-dad-brothers-held/articleshow/58088488.cms
Muslim woman and Hindu man killed for loving each other by the woman's relatives in Bellary, Karnataka. They had earlier beaten up the man's parents harshly for trying to negotiate for marriage.

17) https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/3-arrested-after-hindu-man-killed-by-muslim-girlfriends-family-in-delhi-1808128
23 year old Hindu man murdered for having a love affair with a Muslim girl in Delhi. The girl's father, mother and uncle have been arrested.

18) https://www.ndtv.com/muzaffarnagar-news/in-muzaffarnagar-girl-allegedly-killed-buried-by-father-over-affair-721399
19 year old Muslim girl strangled to death by her father for being in love with a Dalit Hindu man in Muzaffarnagar, UP. The victim's mother as well as a guard testifies to the event.

19) http://indianexpress.com/article/india/crime/three-burnt-to-death-as-mob-torches-houses-in-bihar-village/
19 year old Hindu man kidnapped and killed - his body was found near the house of his Muslim lover's relative. Locals indicate their love affair as the reason.

20) https://www.deccanherald.com/content/408716/girl-killed-relatives-interfaith-marriage.html
https://www.oneindia.com/india/honour-killing-22-year-old-girl-killed-by-brother-1451507.html
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/honour-killing-22-year-old-girl-killed-brother-inter-caste-marriage-193814-2014-05-21
22 year old Muslim girl killed by her family members for marrying a Hindu man in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.

21) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/rajkot/youth-murdered-over-love-affair/amp_articleshow/64099758.cms
A 23 year old Dalit man killed in Gujarat for having a love affair with a Muslim woman; perpetrated by her father and uncle.

22) http://indianexpress.com/article/india/muslim-families-flee-after-hindus-murder-near-haridwar-4885982/lite/
A 32 year old Hindu taxi driver murdered for having a love affair with a 19 year old Muslim girl in Haridwar, Uttarkhand. Girl's father and brother arrested.

23) https://m.hindustantimes.com/jaipur/dalit-man-beaten-up-to-death-in-barmer-allegedly-over-affair/story-MgXRQdEAhZZ8VsXSEuTs4O.html
A 22 year old Dalit man tied up and beaten to death by the girl's relatives for being in a love affair with a Muslim girl in Barmer, Rajasthan.

24) http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/missing-schoolboy-murdered-body-found-with-face-smashed/466487/0
14 year old schoolboy belonging to Hindu community kidnapped and killed by two Muslim students for having an affair with their sister, in Kurla near Mumbai.

25) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/interreligious-marriage-leads-to-honour-killing-in-kadapa/article4908029.ece
Muslim woman killed by her brother for marrying a Hindu man in Andhra Pradesh. The attacker also injures the Hindu man.

26) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/bareilly/life-term-to-man-for-burning-pregnant-daughter-alive-in-honour-killing/articleshow/64875683.cms
Muslim woman burnt to death in Rampur, UP by her father for having a love affair with a man from another religion. The woman was pregnant.

27) https://www.ndtv.com/others-news/ranchi-teacher-arrested-for-allegedly-killing-daughters-classmate-1275860
12 year old boy from Hindu community killed for suspected love affair with his classmate, by the girl's mother (also a teacher in their school) and her 16 year old son in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

28) https://indianexpress.com/article/india/maharashtra/dalit-boy-found-murdered-in-beed-in-suspected-honour-killing-case/
Dalit boy killed in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra for affair with a Muslim girl, by her relatives.

29) http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra-pradesh/2016/jul/08/Mother-kills-daughter-for-having-affair-with-divorcee-878492.html
17 year old girl from Muslim community killed by her mother for having a love affair with a Hindu neighbour in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.

30) https://www.aidwaonline.org/aidwa-statement-incident-honour-killing-bhatar-burdwan-west-bengal
http://peoplesdemocracy.in/content/aidwa-condemns-‘honour-killing’-west-bengal
A Hindu labourer killed for having a love affair with a 17 year old girl from Muslim community, by her elder brother in a village named Eruar in West Bengal. The girl was kept in illegal detention by the killer and she was found hanging, possibly murdered. Local Trinamool Congress activists tried to block the investigation.

31) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/patna/Vaishali-village-tense-after-youths-murder/articleshow/46992348.cms
15 year old boy from Hindu community killed for having an affair with his classmate from Muslim community, by the girl's father and brother in Vaishali, Bihar.

32) https://m.timesofindia.com/india/Suicide-note-exposes-honour-killing-in-Agra/articleshow/7490799.cms
18 year old Muslim woman killed by her family members in Agra for having a love affair with a 19-year old Hindu man. The man committed suicide after leaving a suicide note.

33) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/patna/Honour-killing-in-Nawada/articleshow/7300100.cms
30 year old Hindu man killed in Nawada, Bihar for marrying a Muslim woman by her brother, uncle and a local council leader. They beat her up as well.

34) http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Crime/2013-11-06/Karimnagar-A-case-of-honour--killing-comes-to-light/76098/amp
A Muslim B.Tech girl-student killed by her father for having a love affair with, and insisting on marrying a non-Muslim in Karimnagar, Telengana.

35) http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/teen-couple-murdered-in-meerut/487927/
19 year old Hindu man and 18 year old Muslim woman murdered by four of her cousins at Meerut, UP for having a love affair.

36) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/delhi/Uttar-Pradesh-man-arrested-for-honour-killing/articleshow/14006085.cms
A man named Rohit Singh (Hindu or Sikh) killed for having a love affair with a Muslim woman, by her brother and his friends in Azamgarh, UP.

37) https://www.firstpost.com/india/three-arrested-in-faridabad-after-hindu-man-was-found-murdered-by-muslim-ex-wifes-family-5028841.html
A Hindu man killed by his Muslim partner's brother and father in Faridabad, Haryana just 30 km from Delhi. The Muslim woman's family had forced this couple to divorce two months ago.

38) https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/communal-tension-grips-bihar-s-vaishali-after-alleged-honour-killing-of-youth/story-7YNo4H8AOuHywUgAtFNhWK.html
http://www.thespeedpost.com/?p=8647
20 year old Hindu man killed by the father of a Muslim girl with whom he was having a love affair, in a village in Vaishali district, Bihar.

39) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chandigarh/Girls-father-kills-youth-for-honour-in-Karnal-village/articleshow/27555409.cms
21 year old Hindu man killed by the father of his Muslim lover in a village in Karnal district, Haryana.

40) https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/man-kills-sister-over-love-affair-surrenders/
https://hindi.news18.com/news/uttar-pradesh/meerut/brother-murdered-his-sister-for-honor-killing-in-bagpat-up-837689.html
16 year old Muslim woman (name Kaushar - mentioned in second news) killed by her brother (name Taj - second news) for having a love affair with a Hindu youth in Baghpat, UP.

41) http://southbengalherald.blogspot.in/2012/12/hindu-man-marries-muslim-woman-shot.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Arrests-put-Bongaon-on-a-knifes-edge/articleshow/17701161.cms
Hindu man who married a Muslim woman shot dead by a Muslim fanatic in West Bengal close to Bangladesh border.

42) http://www.opindia.com/2015/03/hindu-man-brutally-killed-for-marrying-a-muslim-girl-in-bihar/
Hindu man abducted and brutally murdered by a mob of 100 Muslims in Bihar for marrying a Muslim woman. Woman still missing.

43) https://www.deccanchronicle.com/131220/news-current-affairs/article/man-killed-inter-religion-love-affair
A 22 year old Hindu man killed for having a love affair with a Muslim girl, by her family members near Karimnagar, modern Telengana.

44) https://indianexpress.com/article/india/inter-religious-marriage-driver-killed-in-mishap-during-chase-by-brides-kin-5024802/
Driver killed when Muslim girl and her Hindu husband were chased by a gang hired by girl's relatives in Khammam, Telengana.

45) https://www.news18.com/news/india/bengal-woman-killed-for-loving-hindu-man-father-and-brother-confess-to-strangulating-mutilating-her-1875011.html
https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2018/09/11/ces26-wb-honour%20killing.html
Muslim woman murdered in Burdwan, West Bengal for having a love affair with a Hindu man.

46) https://www.news18.com/news/india/delhi-teacher-shot-dead-over-love-affair-with-muslim-student-eyewitness-accuse-brother-of-murder-1894665.html
https://theprint.in/governance/delhi-tuition-teacher-shot-dead-for-alleged-affair-with-muslim-student/127741/
31 year old teacher (Hindu) shot dead over relationship with Muslim girl student by masked men lead by her brother, in Delhi.

47) http://m.indiatimes.com/news/india/kerala-muslim-girl-who-married-a-hindu-boy-alleges-threat-to-her-life-from-islamist-outfit-269697.html
Kerala Muslim girl marries Hindu man, fanatic Muslims try to kill and threaten them.

48) http://m.ndtv.com/south/death-threats-for-this-hindu-muslim-couple-in-kerala-698713
Hindu man and Muslim woman from Kerala get married, and both are being hunted by Muslim gangs, they cant even step out of house and struggle for a living since they are not being able to work.

49) http://archive.news18.com/amp/news/bihar/bijnor-court-allows-married-hindu-man-muslim-woman-to-live-together-634789.html
Muslim woman marries Hindu man in Bihar, the woman's relatives threaten and try to kidnap her, but fails.

50) http://m.indiatoday.in/story/muslim-jat-marriage-hindu-muslim-wedding-allahabad-court-police-baghpat-lucknow-iqrana-bano-amar-deep/1/446609.html
Muslim girl marries Hindu man in UP... Elopes amid threats... Muslim father persists to nullify their marriage.

51) http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/muzaffarnagar-tense-over-conversion-of-muslim-woman/article6682917.ece
Muslim girl converts to Hinduism and marries a Hindu man. Local Muslims threaten her, her relatives clash with police to take her away by force.

52) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/article-3550599/Hindu-husband-Dadri-married-Muslim-bride-claims-officials-won-t-register-marriage-case-sparks-religious-riots.html
Officials from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh refuse to let Muslim woman marry Hindu man fearing riots and girl seeks police protection from her relatives.

53) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3067822/Communal-hatred-drives-lovers-suicide-Hindu-man-21-Muslim-girl-18-lives-Muzaffarnagar-fears-society-never-accept-marriage.html
Muslim woman who was in love with Hindu man in UP gets locked up and beaten up by her parents who forcibly prevent them from marrying. Finally both commit suicide (allegedly). Possible murder, bodies found hanging from a tree in a compound owned by the woman's relatives.

54) http://www.hindupost.in/news/hindu-boy-assaulted-and-critically-injured-in-west-bengal-for-marrying-a-muslim-girl/
Hindu man attacked and critically injured by Muslims in West Bengal after he married a Muslim woman. The woman is being held captive by her parents.

55) http://www.hindupost.in/news/hindu-man-married-muslim-woman-forcibly-circumcised-maulana-threatened-convert/
Hindu man who married a Muslim woman in UP badly beaten and is constantly harassed and threatened with forced conversion or to leave his wife.

56) http://zeenews.india.com/home/sc-protection-to-jandk-couple-restrains-cops-from-arresting_523834.html
Hindu man and Muslim woman from Kashmir get physically abused and constantly hunted by the woman's relatives and police for inter-faith marriage.

57) https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/news/couples-from-different-religions-in-jammu-and-kashmir-lament-the-absence-of-the-special-marriage-act
Kashmiri Muslim woman commits suicide after her parents forcibly obstruct her from marrying a Hindu.

58) https://mdaily.bhaskar.com/news/CHD-now-i-am-a-hindu-haryanas-muslim-girl-speaks-with-vermillion-on-her-forehead-4387105-NOR.html
Muslim woman who got married to a Hindu and converted to hinduism, alleges threat from parents and seeks police protection.

59) http://m.timesofindia.com/city/delhi/Delhi-HC-helps-Muslim-woman-live-with-Hindu-husband/articleshow/46772070.cms
Muslim woman who married Hindu man in Delhi initially chooses to live with her parents who then beat her up and prevent her from going with her husband.

60) http://www.newskarnataka.com/mangalore/relatives-attack-bride-over-inter-faith-marriage
Muslim woman who married a Hindu man, gets attacked by her relatives at a temple, rescued by police.

61) http://m.deccanherald.com/articles.php?name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deccanherald.com%2Fcontent%2F523156%2Fhigh-court-reunites-hindu-muslim.html
Muslim woman who married Hindu man in Karnataka gets death threats from Muslims. They get attacked when they were riding on a motorbike where she was kidnapped and he was injured. Finally reunited by highcourt.

62) http://m.timesofindia.com/india/High-court-helps-Muslim-girl-to-live-with-her-Hindu-husband/articleshow/15281848.cms
Muslim woman in Madurai, Tamil Nadu gets death threats from relatives and an Islamic organisation after her marriage to a Hindu man.

63) http://m.hindustantimes.com/india/inter-religious-marriage-sc-asks-j-k-police-to-protect-couple/story-spDIG03RdfKEgwz28JAbHK.html
Muslim woman in Jammu converts to Sikhism upon marrying a Sikh man, upon threats flee to Haryana, where her parents try to kill the couple, finally provided with police protection.

64) http://m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/Bombay-high-court-reunites-Hindu-Muslim-couple-from-Rajasthan/articleshow/49898779.cms
Hindu man and Muslim woman from Rajasthan gets married, escapes to Madhya Pradesh from where the woman was kidnapped by her family and forced to marry a Muslim. Later, Mumbai High Court reunites her with her Hindu husband.

65) http://m.timesofindia.com/city/kolkata/Couple-harassed-for-inter-religion-marriage/articleshow/16456542.cms
Hindu man and Muslim woman marry in West Bengal; the woman's parents, brother and sister torture her mentally and physically, some of them threaten the man and he luckily escapes murder. They get constant death threats from Muslims.

66) http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/cover-story/woman-filed-false-theft-case-against-daughter-for-marrying-a-hindu/articleshow/59728787.cms
Hindu man and Muslim woman in Pune, Maharashtra gets married after eloping amid threats on life and being asked to convert to Islam. The woman's mother hires a gang of men who come in 5 cars to kill them. They narrowly escape due to help from neighbours.

67) https://m.timesofindia.com/city/mumbai/High-court-orders-protection-to-runaway-Hindu-Muslim-couple/articleshow/5204888.cms
Muslim woman loves a Hindu man, her family takes her away to their native place. She manages to escape and marries him. Her family along with some policemen from Bihar threaten the Hindu man's parents. Finally, the Mumbai High Court orders their protection.

68) https://m.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/up-woman-survives-honour-killing-attempt-brother-and-father-land-in-jail/story-z8bCC6uL0S92vikDn1pRdL.html
20 year old Muslim woman shot by her brother with her father's support, for being in love with a Hindu man. The woman is battling for her life in a critical condition.

69) http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/dalit-tied-to-a-tree-and-beaten-up/article19166698.ece
Dalit man tied to a tree and beaten by some Muslims who suspected that his son eloped with a Muslim girl.

70) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/dalit-man-forced-to-lick-own-spit/article24294335.ece
A Dalit father forced to spit on the ground and lick it, and beaten up since his son eloped with a Muslim girl. The man is under threats on his life and fears that he will be killed if he returns back to his village.

71) https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/dont-kill-us-we-want-live-together-kerala-couple-faces-death-threats-85072
Christian man marries a Muslim woman in Trivandrum, Kerala and gets showered with death threats from the woman's family and activists from SDPI, an Islamic fanatic party.

72) http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2018/jun/20/dalit-assaulted-for-marrying-muslim-girl-1830997.html
Dalit man from Kalburgi, Karnataka severely beaten up for marrying a Muslim girl, by her relatives and their friends.

73) https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/displeased-with-hindu-muslim-couple-elopement-mob-in-gujarat-attacks-burns-man-s-house/story-S7Msqw3D74aB7So5n5k39L.html
Hindu man elopes with Muslim woman in a village near Dahod, Gujarat and the woman's family leads a mob of 200 into his house, burns it down and loots ornaments worth Rs 45,000.

74) https://m.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/man-set-on-fire-for-marrying-muslim-girl/story-KIpTAAEwsXRlfYPLpHV4dL.html
22 year old Hindu man severely burnt with Kerosene when he came to rescue his Muslim wife and kid from her family's illegal forced custody in Baduria near Kolkata.

75) https://www.firstpost.com/india/muslim-woman-reunites-with-hindu-husband-after-four-weeks-delhi-hc-slams-police-for-forcibly-separating-them-4846331.html
Hindu man and Muslim woman gets married in Ghaziabad, UP and starts living in JNU campus area at the man's residence. Delhi Police forcibly separate them with help from JNU security personnel acting on her brother's complaint and keeps the man in illegal custody for 3 days. Police gets harshly criticised by the Delhi High Court which rules in the couple's favour.

76) https://www.hindupost.in/news/muslim-girl-getting-death-threats-family-marrying-hindu-boy-aligarh/
Muslim girl who converted to Hinduism and married a Hindu man, under constant death threats from her family in Aligarh, UP. They are threatening to burn her alive.

77) https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/father-tries-to-kill-muslim-girl-for-affair-with-a-hindu-75676-2010-06-02
17 year old girl from Muslim community in Bulandshahr, UP, has acid thrown on her face and strangled by her brother and father for having a love affair with a boy from Hindu community. The girl narrowly escapes death and remains in a critical condition.

78) https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20121210-recent-honour-killing-in-uttar-pradesh-love-commandos-shelter-in-delhi-760882-2012-11-30
27 year old Hindu man and his Muslim girlfriend escape from Moradabad, UP where the mosque authorities issue death threats.

79) https://m.gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/teenage-lovers-kiss-and-jump-before-train-1.2190782
A girl from Muslim community and a boy from Hindu community (both 14-15 years old) commit suicide in Dalangi village, Jharkhand after the girl's parents forcibly try to marry her off to break up their affair.

Friday 14 July 2017

A Reply to Richard Carrier's Article - "You Might Be an Islamophobe If..."

On December 11, 2015, famous atheist historian Richard Carrier published an article titled - "You Might Be an Islamophobe If..." here: http://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/9211

Carrier focusses on the rising anti-Muslim violence and hatred, particularly in the US and a stagnant and unhealthy amount of support for Old Testament laws. He goes on to list reasons to show that the heavily increased and increasing focus on criticism of Islam is irrational. In my reply to his article, I will demonstrate how Richard uses scores of false equivalences to defend his position (while I completely agree that the support for OT laws is still unhealthy). Before that, let me give you an example of what a false equivalence is. Consider two scenarios -

Scenario A: A poor person came begging for money to a singer named Johann who is neither too rich nor too poor and lives a peaceful life. Johann refuses to give anything.

Scenario B: A poor person came begging for money to an active terrorist named Omar who is neither too rich nor too poor. Omar gives him a lot of money.

A person named Mike writes an article on this stating - "Omar helped the poor man a lot whereas Johann refused to offer any help. So, please don't think Omar is all evil and that Johann is a saint." And Mike does not even acknowledge that there are scores of reasons why Omar is a danger to the society whereas Johann is basically harmless. What Mike wrote, is a factual statement, but what he committed is an example of false equivalence... Sort of like how Linda Sarsour compares the treatment of women in USA and Saudi Arabia.

Richard does not quite come down to this level of fallacy, but he comes close. He also uses a lot of hyperbole - for example to make American Conservative Christians/Republicans look much worse than they actually are. Now, I will start quoting his article:

Richard wrote --

[Pundits have said “vast numbers of Muslims want humans to die for holding a different idea” (even though that’s not true of Muslims in any democratic nation, like the U.S., the U.K. or E.U., or any Western nation in fact, as well as Turkey, and even barely democratic nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Azerbaijan) and share “too much in common with ISIS” (even though in fact the “vast majority” of Muslims not only oppose ISIS, but Muslim nations are unanimously united in actively fighting ISIS).]

My answer: I am not sure which "pundit" said that "vast numbers of Muslims want humans to die for holding a different idea". But let's assume that someone actually wrote that. It is indeed misleading to make a blanket statement like that without clarifying further. It is actually true though.. vast numbers of Muslims DO want to kill people, just for holding a different idea. But, as most people know, they are a tiny minority (except when it comes to killing Ex Muslims -- I will come to that later). So, I am not blaming Richard for this statement. However, Richard continues to negate the idea that vast numbers of Muslims share too much in common with ISIS using a logical fallacy - "vast majority of Muslims not only oppose ISIS, but Muslims nations are unanimously united in actively fighting ISIS".

Why is this a logical fallacy? Because Richard seems to miss the original point! The original point was not that vast numbers of Muslims even sympathize with ISIS. The point was that vast numbers of Muslims share too much in common with ISIS. How? It is very simple.. The support for things like killing Ex Muslims, killing homosexuals, gender segregation, stoning married adulterers to death, chopping off hands for theft etc.. is disturbingly high in the Muslim world, eventhough it is not always a majority-held view.

Let us talk about the support for killing Ex-Muslims in the Muslim world. Based on the results of extensive polling conducted by the PEW Research Agency (http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/), 78% of surveyed Muslims in Afghanistan support death penalty for Ex Muslims. 64% in Pakistan, 64% in Egypt, 59% in Palestinian territory, 58% in Jordan, 53% in Malaysia, 36% in Bangladesh, 21% in Thailand and 13% in Indonesia. This is ground reality -- and whoever fails to see how disturbing this statistic is, should really come to his senses. Sure, the support for the same is much lower in certain countries like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. That does not negate what I said. So, even if the vast majority of Muslims (let's say 96%) condemn an organization like ISIS which, apart from endorsing terrible laws, blows up Christians in churches, commits genocide of Shias and Yazidis and go around suicide bombing all over the world, that does not change the facts I set straight above. And it is not mere statistics, Ex Muslims are suffering a lot in these countries, even in India the average Ex Muslim is scared to declare his disbelief.

As for Richard's claim that "Muslim nations are unanimously united in actively fighting the ISIS", that is not true.. what might be true is - "Muslim nations claim to be unanimously united in actively fighting the ISIS".

Richard wrote --

[Hosts [on national news programs] have repeated bigoted falsehoods, for example that female genital mutilation is an inherently Muslim problem (in fact, it is a regional practice that crosses religious lines [e.g. “In Niger, for example, 55 percent of Christian women and girls have experienced FGM, compared with two percent of their Muslim counterparts”]) or that restrictions on women driving are “commonplace” in the Muslim world (in fact, it is restricted to one country, Saudi Arabia, that represents 2 percent of the global Muslim population).]

My answer: Although, there is more to FGM than being merely a "Muslim problem", it IS a Muslim problem too, in addition to being a regional problem (eg: African). First let us talk about African countries - Richard notes how FGM is disproportionately high among Christians in Niger and almost negligibly low among Muslims. Let me give the readers, the other side of the story -- Looking at the UNICEF data, FGM is practiced for 96% of all women in Guinea (where 85% of the population is Muslim), 98% of all women in Somalia (where 99% of the population is Muslim), 91% of all women in Egypt (where 85% of the population is Muslim) ...

On the other hand, Cameroon (which is 70% Christian and 20% Muslim) has merely 1% of its women undergone FGM. Uganda (which is 85% Christian) has merely 1% of its women undergone FGM. Ghana (which is 71% Christian and 18% Muslim) has merely 4% of its women undergone FGM. You can see the full UNICEF statistics for FGM in different countries of the world, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_female_genital_mutilation_by_country

A close look at the statistics clearly suggests that on an average in African countries, the problem of FGM is more rampant among Muslims, eventhough it is entirely the other way in Niger.

What about outside Africa? A whopping 98% of all Muslim females have undergone FGM in Indonesia and 93% of Muslim females in Malaysia... whereas UNICEF notes that the practice is almost non-existant in the Hindu and Buddhist communities in Malaysia. A honest look at these statistics and some common-sense is all that is required to understand that FGM is also a Muslim problem, apart from an African problem. What about the religious texts? Both the Quran and Bible are completely silent on FGM. To give some credit where it is due, the Quran does not even prescribe the concept of circumcision. However, there are some strong (Sahih) hadiths that indicate that FGM was thought to be normal/moral by Muhammad and his child bride Aisha. For example --

Jami at-Tirmidhi 1:1:108 (Classified Sahih by Darussalam)

http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/1/108
Aishah narrated:
"When the circumcised meets the circumcised, then indeed Ghusl (Islamic ritual washing) is required. Myself and Allah's Messenger did that, so we performed Ghusl."

Richard wrote --

[Yes, Saudi Arabia is just a successful ISIS. Just as Kim Jon Un is a successful Bond villain. But Turkey has nearly three times as many Muslims as Saudia Arabia has, and the vast majority of them do not at all share the criminal views of the Saudi regime. Much less the Saudi people, which one should not confuse with the elite in a tyrannical state: most Iranians are de facto secular, for example, and simply required by law to pretend to be Muslim, not even being allowed to elect their own candidates.]

My answer: I have one objection (or let's say some detail to add) to this paragraph.. Muslims of Saudi are on an average, extremely fanatic. Support for killing anyone who criticizes Islam, let alone for declaration as an Ex Muslim, is widely rampant. As a person who has had thousands of discussions with Muslims all over the world, I know this. Hell, lots of Ex Muslims are killed secretly in Saudi and the government and police censor this heavily, just enough to not lose too much of their "image" while still letting out a message that it shall kill Ex Muslims. Woman are widely harassed if they reveal their hair, often even if they reveal their faces, not just by the religious police, but by their own families. Honour killing is rampant. People are kept in dark about this because of how much Saudi censors news. Pakistan is another country where Ex Muslims are routinely hunted and harassed... even to the point that you cannot even identify as an Ex Muslim on social media unless you totally hide your credentials. It has become a parallel rule that of anyone speaks anything against Islam, he would be hunted.. often killed. Otherwise, I agree with what Richard said about Iranians and Turks, more or less.

Richard wrote --

[Similarly, much is made of Islamic opposition to homosexuality rendering it especially evil, as if that hasn’t always been a Christian thing as well. In fact, it is not notably different. The Koran does not even command the killing of gays; the Christian Bible does. And like a slight majority of Muslim, and still many Christian, nations now do, Christian authorities in America were jailing gays as recently as 1986; even life sentences remained on the books until 2003. In fact, it was American Christian lobbyists who tried to get the death penalty for gays instituted in several African nations in just the last few years (because they couldn’t succeed at this in any decent nation on earth). Meanwhile, nearly half of Muslim countries don’t even outlaw it. Think about that.]

My answer: What is more relevant is the mainstream beliefs -- most Christians do not believe that the Old Testament punishments are to be implemented today, and the Gospels promote (or atleast give a good case for) a non-retaliatory interpretation of using the OT as commandments whose violations are not to be punished by humans on earth.. most notably Mathew 5:38 - 5:45.. and unlike Muhammad, Jesus does not overturn his peaceful teachings with commands for violence and establishing a theocracy - he even discourages it. For the readers, the New Testament does not have a punishment for homosexuality (although Paul sort of says that they deserve to die). With that said, one certainly cannot ignore that there is a sizable fundamentalist Christian crew who still believes that OT laws have to be enforced, the support for the same is way lesser among the Christians globally than the support is for similar laws among the Muslims.

Yes, the Quran does not ask humans to punish homosexuals (it is remarked as the highest abomination though). However, most Muslims accept strong-chained hadiths as legally binding. And there is one strong hadith which commands to kill homosexuals (and a bunch of good (hasan) hadiths).

Sunan Abu Dawud 39:4447 (Classified Hasan-Sahih by Al-Albani)

http://sunnah.com/abudawud/40/112
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The Prophet said: If you find anyone doing as Lot's people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done.

As for some of the Christian nations/provinces having jail terms for same-sex activity on paper, yeah. That is a problem. However, I can vouch that gays/lesbians would be far safer while living among the average religious Christian communities than they would be in pretty much any religious Muslim community. While Christian fundamentalists whine about homosexuality being a disease, their Muslim counterparts would have physically abused them. While the former would resort to physical harassment, the latter would have killed them. That is the average equivalence. The sad reality is that most Muslim countries (and often communities) censor news too much, that we don't get to hear about these things unless and until we contact Ex Muslims/homosexuals living in the Muslim world.

Let us look at another development that happened fairly recently. In 2011, South Sudan split away from Sudan. Sudan is a 97% Muslim country whereas South Sudan is 60% Christian and 6% Muslim (rest pagan). South Sudan has removed death penalty for homosexuality (which was and is still part of Sudan law) and replaced it with a 10-year jail term. It has also no apostasy law, whereas Sudan still has death penalty for apostasy from Islam. Isn't that great?

Richard wrote --

[Even this year, major American presidential candidates (Jindal, Huckabee, and Cruz) spoke at a rally calling for the death-penalty for gays.]

My answer: That is a bit misleading. Richard talks as if Jindal, Huckabee and Cruz directly called for or supported death penalty for gays. It was the zealot Kevin Swanson who called for it.. perhaps supported by people who spoke later. It is disgusting to see the crowd clap at these zealots. And make no mistake, Jindal, Cruz and Huckabee deserve condemnation for being soft on this, and being irresponsible (Also, there is a good chance that they were fully aware of Kevin's propaganda before coming there to speak). But they did leave the stage before Kevin started sprouting venom.

Richard wrote --

[This decade, in the very United States, hundreds of thousands of Christian voters still support kill-the-gays candidates. Last year, kill-the-gays Scott Esk won 5% of his district in a primary. In 2012, Charlie Fuqua won 30% in a general election (even though p. 168 of his book God’s Law makes clear what he wants for gays: executing them is the “kind and loving thing to do”). Very small districts, but these percentages were no fluke. Larry Kilgore “ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008 and came second in the Republican primary behind Senator John Cornyn with 225,897 votes,” which is about 19% of voting Texan Republicans. And Merrill Keiser, also openly calling for the death penalty for gays (even saying Elton John and Mary Cheney should be killed), received 163,000 votes in Ohio as recently as 2006.]

My answer: These stats are really disturbing and shows that we have got a lot to do with OT-loving Christianity. No sane human should even consider voting for any of these people. My only point is that Christianity having problems does not make a special focus on Islam "irrational" as really unique problems thrive in the Muslim communities, even in USA - such as harassment/isolation of apostates/their families, especially if they involve in any sort of public criticism of Islam, or even publically flaunting their apostasy. One could get to know a lot, if he was to listen to Ex-Muslims like Sarah Haider. It would be safer to criticize Islam now (when Muslims are just 1% in USA), rather than wait till their percentage gets as high as 5-6. Besides, we need to send a strong message to the mainstream Muslim world with regards to their treatment of apostates.. which is a safer place for that, than USA?

Richard wrote --

[But otherwise, Dominonists, Reconstructionists, Restorationists, Armageddonists, David Barton, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, John Hagee and his tens of thousands of worshipers and millions of fans, 57% of Republican voters…yes, let me say that again in case you missed it, 57% of Republican voters…they want sharia law instituted in this country.]

My answer: To clarify for the readers, these are statistics of how many republicans who want *Christianity to be the official religion*, which does not necessarily mean support for the barbaric OT laws (although intolerance towards homosexuals comes in the top list of a large % of these people).

Richard wrote --

[I cite the evidence that we are more likely to be killed in this country by Christian terrorists than Muslim ones (seven times more likely even). Because that exposes the irrationality of their defending a fear of Muslims, when they obviously don’t fear Christians. And an irrational fear of Muslims is Islamophobia.]

My answer: Some flawed logic here. There are 60 times more Christians than there are Muslims in the US. And if despite this, Christians are only 7 times as likely to kill you compared to Muslims, in USA, that tells you something underlying the ideology behind Muslims.

Richard quotes another member's response (which I will put within "Quotes") --

[Member Quote - "Name-calling with the term Islamophobia is an aggressive tactic popularized by apologists for radical Islam to silence individuals who attempt to tell the truth about Jihadist Islam. The psychological term phobia describes an excessive and irrational fear. So-called Islamophobia, by contrast, is appropriate willingness to heed the solid evidence of who commits terror acts and their motivations."

Richard - Yep. This douchebag just justified all the horrible bigotry, violence and murder and dismemberment and all, documented in that article, with the argument that it’s all “appropriate” and in accordance with “solid evidence” of who is endangering us.]

My answer: No, the quote does not justify any of what Richard states. Much simply because most people whom Richard would classify as "Islamophobes" actually do not want to unleash violence against Muslims in general. Nor does a US citizen focussing on Islamic extremism much more than Christian extremism, imply that he is condoning the latter. Richard is also genuinely interested in explaining the terror attacks on US as "a reaction to US invasion of Iraq". If he would bother the same way, he would know that a lot of the anti-Muslim violence is actually "a reaction" to politically correct masses trying to shut down criticism of Islam and branding as a "racist" and a "bigot" and an "islamophobe" anyone who focusses on it.

Richard wrote --

[Someone notices and calls out the original commenter’s Islamophobic dogwhistle about Islam being a “civilizational risk.” Like, say, a large asteroid impact, or Global Thermonuclear War (which requires arsenals of thousands of nukes, which no Islamic nation will ever have even a fraction of access to). Did I mention Islamophobia consists of an irrational fear of Islam? Yeah. That’s what this is. “Muslims will destroy civilization” is as irrational a thing to believe as “California will soon fall off into the sea.”]

My answer: Islam IS a civilizational risk. The amount of intolerance and danger it brings with its spread, is as clear as day. For instance, refer the PEW Research statistics that I cited for the support for killing Ex-Muslims. Islam also brings many other problems with it, but I would like to focus on two - Intolerance towards women from their community marrying from outside their religion, intolerance towards gender-mixing (not even coming to sex). A good observer knows these things.

Richard wrote --

[But look? Almost none of the Muslims here are killing us. In fact, in fifteen years, out of over two million Muslims, barely a dozen have even tried. That’s a total headscratcher.]

My answer: After using false equiavalences throughout his article, Richard makes a factual error here. A study conducted in USA (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/terrorism-right-wing-america-muslims-islam-white-supremacists-study-a7805831.html) revealed 63 Islamic terror-motivated incidents in US from the time period from 2008 - 2016 (although I go one year further than the date Richard wrote this article, I am only checking an 8 year time period, not even 15 years). Now most of these terror attempts involve more than one person in the conspiracy chain. Discounting the odd cases where the same person was behind multiple attempts, that would still mean something like 80-100 US Muslims documented trying to commit terror attacks in the US over the last 8 years. Probably a lot more. And that's grossly inconsistent with how Richard downplays this threat. Perhaps he means this is too less. But most would disagree (considering that Muslims make up only 1% of the US population).

I could go on.. but I think I will stop here. By the way, Richard is a great historian and there are many things I like about his approach.. such as not simply buying into "expert consensus" and analyzing the actual data.. here in the topic of Islam, he however happens to be way off the mark.


Sunday 23 April 2017

Evidence for alteration of the Quran - The Sana'a Manuscript

Muslims from all over the world claim that the Quran has been perfectly preserved and is still in the original form as it was recited by Muhammad. Many of them go as far as saying "not a word of it has been changed or removed". The hadiths tell us that Caliph Uthman made 4-7 standard copies of the Quran in the written form and distributed to various provinces like Medina, Kufa, Basra, Syria and according to some later reports - to Mecca, Egypt and Bahrain as well. What is interesting is that none of these 4-7 copies exist today. Uthman died in 656 AD and this is attested by a very early source outside hadith as well. The writings in the earliest manuscript collections of the Quran that exist today are all dated to 670 - 750 AD.

Many people will jump in and say that the Birmigham Manuscript of the Quran (which is part of the Mingana collection) is dated to 568 - 645 AD. What they miss is that the mentioned date range shows only the dating of the animal skin, not the writings. The animal from which the skin was taken, supposedly died between 568 AD and 645 AD. The writings could have come much later, and infact the features used in the writings show a date later than 630 AD and could be as late as 690 AD. The Birmigham manuscript is also extremely fragmentary in nature. It contains Quran verses 18:17 - 18:31, 19:91 - 19:98 and 20:13 - 20:40 and the writings are also somewhat continuous, with chapter separators. So, let us go to the earliest known large manuscript collection of the Quran - The Sana'a Manuscript: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/soth.html

The Sana'a manuscript is a palimpsest, ie, it has a lower text which was erased and in its place the content was rewritten - which is called the upper text. The upper text contains about 75% of the content of the Quran, whereas the lower text contains a little lesser. The traces of lower text have been highlighted and reconstructed using ultra-violet photography. The texts are inscribed on a parchment (animal skin) which has been carbon-dated to the period from 632 AD - 671 AD. That means, the lower text was certainly written after 632 AD. The literary features of the lower text indicate a somewhat early dating - somewhere around the 640s and 650s. The upper text, on the other hand is dated to late seventh century or early eighth century.

The upper text does not have too much variations from the Quran that we read today. However, the lower text has more than 100 variations from today's Quran. Words are totally omitted in many places, whereas they are replaced with new words in other places.

Here is a full comparison of the lower text with the upper text (you can even find the original Arabic text here), published by Muslim research scholars Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who studied the manuscript collection in detail: https://pl.scribd.com/mobile/doc/110978941/Sanaa-1-and-the-Origins-of-the-Qur-an

Here are a few examples of verses that have been changed. Follow carefully, the parts that are put in bold:

Quran 2:87 - For the word by word translation of the standard text: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=87#(2:87:1)

a) Lower Text: "Wa-laqad aataynaa moosaa al-kitaaba wa-qaffaynaa 'alaa aathaarihi bi-alrrusuli wa-aataynaa 'eesaa ibna maryama al-bayyinaati ..."

Translation: "And certainly, we gave Moses the scripture and we followed up on his footsteps with messengers and we gave Eesa (Jesus), the son of Maryam, clear signs ..."

b) Standard Text: "Wa-laqad aataynaa moosaa al-kitaaba wa-qaffaynaa min ba'dihi bi-alrrusuli wa-aataynaa 'eesaa ibna maryama al-bayyinaati ..."

Translation: "And certainly, we gave Moses the scripture and we followed up after him with messengers and we gave Eesa (Jesus), the son of Maryam, clear signs ..."

Quran 2:196 - For the word by word translation of the standard text: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=196

a) Lower Text: "... wa-laa tahlikoo hattaa yabhlugha al-haydu mahillahu fa-in kaana ahadun minkum mareedan aw bihi adhan min rasihi fa-fidyatun min siyaamin aw nusukin ..."

Translation: "... and not shave until the offering reaches its destination, then if anyone among you is sick or has an ailment of his head, then a ransom of fasting or sacrifice ..."

b) Standard Text: "... wa-laa tahlikoo ruoosakum hattaa yabhlugha al-haydu mahillahu fa-man kaana minkum mareedan aw bihi adhan min rasihi fa-fidyatun min siyaamin aw sadaqatin aw nusukin ..."

Translation: "... and not shave your heads until the offering reaches its destination, then whoever among you is sick or has an ailment of his head, then a ransom of fasting or charity or sacrifice ..."

Quran 9:74 - For the word by word translation of the standard text: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=9&verse=74#(9:74:1)

a) Lower Text: "... wa-in yatawallaw yu'adhibhumu allahu fee al-dunyaa wa-maa lahum fee al-ardi min waliyyin wa-la naseerin"

Translation: "... and if they turn away, allah will punish them in this world and there will not be for them on the earth, any protector or helper"

b) Standard Text: "wa-in yatawallaw yu'adhibhumu allahu 'adhaaban aleeman fee al-dunyaa wa-al-aakhirati wa-maa lahum fee al-ardi min waliyyin wa-laa naseerin"

Translation: "... and if they turn away, allah will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and in the hereafter and there will not be for them on earth, any protector or helper"

Quran 63:7 - For the word by word translation of the standard text: http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=63&verse=7

a) Lower Text: "humu alladheena yaqooloona laa tunfiqoo 'alaa man AAinda rasooli allahi hattaa yanfaddoo min hawlihi wa-lillaahi khazaainu al-samaawaati wa-al-ardi ..."

Translation: "They are those who say - donot spend on those who are with messenger of allah until they disband from around him and for allah are treasures of the heavens and the earth ..."

b) Standard Text: "humu alladheena yaqooloona laa tunfiqoo 'alaa man AAinda rasooli allahi hattaa yanfaddoo wa-lillaahi khazaainu al-samaawaati wa-al-ardi ..."

Translation: "They are those who say - donot spend on those who are with messenger of allah until they disband and for allah are treasures of the heavens and the earth ..."

So what do we have here? Many verses with words that have been inserted, deleted or replaced with new ones. If anyone is to argue that the lower text was an old corrupted quran, let me remind you that there is no reason to believe that the upper text which was written later on, is any more "original" than the lower text. As Sadeghi and Goudarzi pointed out, many of the variants in the lower text correspond to those reported in the recitation of Ibn Masud. The "Standard Quran" was supposedly compiled by Zayd bin Thabit under Caliph Uthman. Ibn Masud was reportedly one of the highest authorities of Quran as narrated by Muhammad.

Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61:521

https://sunnah.com/bukhari/66/21
Narrated Masriq:
`Abdullah bin `Amr mentioned `Abdullah bin Masud and said, "I shall ever love that man, for I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, 'Take (learn) the Qur'an from four: `Abdullah bin Masud, Salim, Mu`adh and Ubai bin Ka`b.' "

So where is Zayd bin Thabit here? Nowhere... He had basically no authority on the Quran.

To continue the story, Uthman had ordered all the copies that disagreed with his version, to be burned. And Ibn Masud clearly dismissed Zayd as a rookie.

Jami at-Tirmidhi 5:44:3104

https://sunnah.com/urn/641130
Narrated Az-Zuhri:
from Anas who said: "Hudhaifah bin Al-Yaman came to 'Uthman, at the time when the people of Ash-Sham and the people of Al-'Iraq were waging war to conquer Arminiyah and Adharbijan. Hudhaifah saw their (the people of Ash-Sham and Al-'Iraq) different forms of recitation of the Qur'an. So he said to 'Uthman: 'O Commander of the Believers! Save this nation before they differ about the Book as the Jews and the Christians did before them.' So he ('Uthman) sent a message to Hafsah (saying): 'Send us the manuscripts so that we may copy them in the Musahif (plural of Mushaf: a written copy of the Qur'an) then we shall return it to you.' So Hafsah sent the manuscripts to 'Uthman bin 'Affan. 'Uthman then sent order for Zaid bin Thabit, Sa'eed bin Al-'As, 'Abdur-Rahman bin Al-Harith bin Hisham, and 'Abdullah bin Az-Zubair to copy the manuscripts in the Musahif. 'Uthman said to the three Quraish men: 'In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the (recitation dialect of the) Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish for it was in their tongue.' So when they had copied the manuscripts, 'Uthman sent one Mushaf from those Musahif that they had copied to every province." Az-Zuhri said: "Kharijah bin Zaid [bin Thabit] narrated to me that Zaid bin Thabit said: 'I missed an Ayah of Surat Al-Ahzab that I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) reciting: Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah, of them some have fulfilled their obligations, and some of them are still waiting (33:23) - so I searched for it and found it with Khuzaimah bin Thabit, or Abu Khuzaimah, so I put it in its Surah.'" Az-Zuhri said: "They differed then with At-Tabut and At-Tabuh. The Quraish said: At-Tabut while Zaid said: At-Tabuh. Their disagreement was brought to 'Uthman, so he said: 'Write it as At-Tabut, for it was revealed in the tongue of the Quraish.'" Az-Zuhri said: "'Ubaidullah bin 'Abdullah bin 'Utbah informed me that 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud disliked Zaid bin Thabit copying the Musahif, and he said: 'O you Muslims people! Avoid copying the Mushaf and the recitation of this man. By Allah! When I accepted Islam he was but in the loins of a disbelieving man' - meaning Zaid bin Thabit - and it was regarding this that 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud said: 'O people of Al-'Iraq! Keep the Musahif that are with you, and conceal them. For indeed Allah said: And whoever conceals something, he shall come with what he concealed on the Day of Judgement (3:161). So meet Allah with the Musahif.'" Az-Zuhri said: "It was conveyed to me that some men amongst the most virtuous of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) disliked that view of Ibn Mas'ud."

There goes the myth of "perfect preservation of the Quran, down to each word".

Sunday 20 November 2016

Historical Error: Mary, the mother of Jesus as Miriam, the sister of Moses

The Quran makes a clear historical error when it borrows stories from the Bible (Torah and Gospels). The error we have in spotlight here is that the Quran mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, as the same person (both names are written as Maryam in Arabic). This is totally absurd since Moses (if at all he existed) lived more than 600-1000 years before Jesus.

The evidence for this is so strong that the Quran repeats this mistake in two different ways.

1) By mistaking Mary, the mother of Jesus as "Sister of Harun (Aaron)" (Quran 19:28).
2) By mistaking Imran (Amram), the father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam, as the father of Mary (Quran 3:35 - 3:45, 66:12).

Before I describe the evidence, let us consider the possibility that the verse 19:28 is not referring to a biological sister. Is it then a mere coincidence that Aaron actually had a sister with the same name Maryam as per the Torah? Even to the point that she is described in Torah as "Sister of Aaron", exactly as Jesus' mother is referred to in the Quran? Think over it. If the Quran is from God, then we have to accept that God was deliberately misleading humans into believing that the Quran is from a human author who mistakes Mary and Miriam as the same person. Or is God so careless that he didn't realize this and ended up using the word "sister" when he could have used much better wordings or atleast made a clarification?

Let us forgive this and see if there is any other place in the Quran where this confusion between Mary and Miriam is repeated. Yes there is! The Quran verses 3:35 - 3:45 describe that the wife of Imran gave birth to Maryam, who later became the mother of Jesus. Verse 66:12 describes Maryam, the mother of Jesus as the daughter of Imran. There are absolutely no inscriptions or scriptures mentioning Imran as the father of Mary, till the author of Quran came up with this claim in the 7th century. Strange! So, from where did the author pull out the name "Imran" from? The answer is Torah. Exodus 6:20 and 15:20 describe that Amram was the father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Amram is arabicised to Imran. This idea that Imran had a daughter "Maryam" made the author of Quran think that this was talking about Maryam, the mother of Jesus.

Here is a verse from the Torah that state that Moses and Aaron had a sister named Miriam where she is described as "sister of Aaron", exactly as Jesus' mother is described in Quran: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+15%3A20&version=NKJV

Here is another verse from the Torah that state that Amram (Imran) was the father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+26%3A59&version=NKJV

Here are the verses 19:27 - 19:34 from the Quran which show that the author of Quran mistook Mary, the mother of Jesus as the sister of Aaron: http://www.islam101.com/quran/QTP/QTP019.htm

19:27 - Then she brought him to her own folk, carrying him. They said: O Mary! You have come with an amazing thing.
19:28 - O sister of Aaron! Your father was not a wicked man nor was your mother a harlot.
19:29 - Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy ?
19:30 - He spoke: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and has appointed me a Prophet,
....
19:34 - Such was Jesus, son of Mary: (this is) a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt.

Here are the verses 3:35 - 3:45 and 66:12 which show that the author of Quran further affirms his previous error by mistaking Amram, the father of Moses, Aaron and Miriam as the father of Mary: http://www.islam101.com/quran/QTP/QTP003.htm

3:35 - (Remember) when the wife of 'Imran said: My Lord! I have vowed unto you that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo!  you, only you, are the Hearer, the Knower!
3:36 - 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 your protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast.
....
3:45 - (And remember) when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah gives you glad tidings of a word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near (unto Allah).

http://www.islam101.com/quran/QTP/QTP066.htm
66:12 - And Mary, daughter of 'Imran, whose body was chaste, therefore We breathed therein something of Our Spirit. And she put faith in the words of her Lord and His scriptures, and was of the obedient.

A hadith from Sahih Muslim states that the Christians of Najran questioned Mughira bin Shu'ba, one of Muhammad's men regarding this. Mughira was sent to Najran in 631 AD and Muhammad had delivered verses 19:28, 3:35-3:45 and 66:12 long before. Upon Mughira reaching Najran to recite the Quran, the Christians asserted that Moses was born long before Jesus. Mughira was clueless how to respond to this, went back to Muhammad and informed him what happened. Muhammad seemingly understood his mistake at this point and tried to cover it up by indicating that the verse 19:28 was referring to another Harun (or that the usage "sister of Harun" was a symbolic reference to connect Mary with Harun - this claim is addressed in the last 4 paragraphs). Here is the hadith:

Sahih Muslim 25:5326

https://sunnah.com/muslim/38/13
Mughira b. Shu'ba reported:
When I came to Najran, they (the Christians of Najran) asked me: You read" O sister of Harun" (i. e. Hadrat Maryam) in the Qur'an, whereas Moses was born much before Jesus. When I came back to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) I asked him about that, whereupon he said: The (people of the old age) used to give names (to their persons) after the names of Apostles and pious persons who had gone before them.

Muhammad obviously did not want to change the Quran and attempts to cover it up - "The people of old age used to name people after the names of Apostles". And Muhammad wanted to tell people that it is a mere coincidence that Jesus' mother Maryam (Mary) had a brother with name Harun, exactly as Moses' sister Maryam (Miriam) had a brother named Harun. Not to mention the amazing coincidence of Mary's father having the same name as Miriam's father, on top of the other coincidence. It is well understandable because he would not want to admit having made a mistake, at all cost!

Is it still possible that Mary's father was actually named Imran and/or that she had a brother named Harun? If you are thinking that way, you need to think why no other book ever mentioned this for more than 600 years since Mary's era until the Quran mentioned it? The obvious answer is that the author of Quran borrowed the names from the Torah while making a fatal error, associating these characters with the wrong Maryam. Infact, multiple Christian traditions including the Gospel of James from the second century state that Mary's father was named Joachim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim

Many Muslim apologists point out Bible verses depicting Jesus as "son of David", Abraham as "brother of Lut" (found in both Quran and Bible), Quranic depiction of Shuaib as the "brother of Midian" etc and state that it was common in semitic languages for such references to be made depicting a symbolic relationship. They claim that it was such a symbolic relationship between Harun and Mary that is depicted in verse 19:28. However, it should be noted that the alleged speakers in this verse ("O sister of Harun") are 1st century Jews, not Arabs! There is a difference between how the Jews used Type A (Brother of/Sister of usages) and Type B (Son of/Daughter of usages). We have absolutely no examples in Jewish literature around 1st-3rd century of any person A being referred to as "brother/sister of person B" when B lived centuries before A. Whenever there are such references, A and B are contemporaries such as in the example of Abraham and Lut. And in case of Shuaib being referred to as "brother of Midian", Midian was his own tribe. For connecting two individuals who lived in different eras, the Jews used "son of" and "daughter of" phrases - eg: Jesus as "son of David", "son of Abraham", Elizabeth as "of the daughters of Aaron".

And when Jesus is labelled as the son of David, there is no parallel Jesus character who was actually the son of David in the books that describe David's life. Same can be said about Jesus being called as "son of Abraham", Elizabeth being called as "of the daughters of Aaron". As such, the usages "son of" and "daughter of" are understood as "descendant". An overview of these examples strengthen the observation - the phrases "brother of" and "sister of" were not used by the Jews to connect two individuals who lived in different eras. Rather, "son of" and "daughter of" are used; ideally when such references don't bring any confusion to parallel characters with the same name.

Additionally, the fact that the Quran verse 19:28 compares Mary to her father and mother right after making the usage "sister of Harun" increases the chances that the author was infact referring to her as the biological sister of Harun - the idea being to compare Mary with her own family members - indicating that they were all chaste.

There is no way to reconcile this historical error. This only affirms that the author of Quran was actually borrowing second hand knowledge from scriptures such as the Torah and Gospels.