The debate continues to rage between Christianity on the one hand and Islam on the other.  Charges upon charges are leveled between the two groups, hoping to convince each other of the superiority of their respective religious positions.

Due to this, many Muslims have taken up the pen in the attempt to disprove the divine inspiration of the Bible by exposing the apparent contradictions contained therein. Volumes of books have been written on this very subject, hoping to demonstrate the fact that the Bible cannot be the inerrant word of God.

Although the charges leveled against the Bible have been refuted time and again, Muslims continue to consistently present these same arguments.  In this study we will not be dealing with the charges presented by Muslims against Christianity, but will deal specifically with the contradictions and inconsistencies contained within the Quranic revelation.

The object in doing so is to show Muslims the futility in presenting charges against the Bible which only hinders the Islamic position, since the very same accusations can be used against Muslims to disprove the Quran, Muhammad and Islam. The Quran, Hadith and Islamic expositors will be quoted at length here to emphasize the point more clearly that the Quran does contain contradictions, fables and historical inaccuracies within its pages.  (At the conclusion of our study we will present several book titles that deal primarily with answering the alleged contradictions presented against the Bible by both the secular and religious communities.)

CONTRADICTIONS

Contradiction 1

The length of a day

Q. 22:47:

“And surely a day with your Lord is a thousand years of your counting.”

This passage contradicts Q. 70:4:

“To Him the angels and the Spirit mount up in a day whereof the measure is fifty thousand years.”

Ibn Abbas, considered the premiere Islamic interpreter, was incapable of reconciling these passages together:

Abu Ubaid said “A certain man asked Ibn Abbas about a day whose measure was 50,000 years to which he answered: “‘They were two days which Allah has mentioned in His Book. Allah alone knows what they are.  I do not know what they are, and I am afraid to say about them that which is not according to my knowledge.’”

Ibn Abu Mulaika stated: “I struck the camel till I entered upon Said ibn Al-Musayyab. He was asked about this (matter), but he knew not what to say. Therefore I said to him: ‘Should I not tell what I heard Ibn Abbas say?’ And I told him so Ibn Musayyab said to the inquirer: ‘Behold Ibn Abbas, who is more knowledgeable than me avoided to speak about it.’” (1: pt. 5, pp. 215, 216; citing Al-Qurtubi and Al-Razi)

Contradiction 2

The Day of Judgement

The Quran indicates that human beings will be questioned on the day of reckoning:

“So We shall question those unto whom message was sent, and We shall question the envoy.” S. 7:6 

“And halt them, to be questioned.” S. 37:24

Yet Q. 55:39 contradicts these passages:

“On that day none will be questioned about his sin, neither man nor jinn.”

Contradiction 3

The creation of the Heavens and Earth

Q. 41:9-12:

“Say: Is it that ye deny Him who created the earth in two days… and bestowed blessings on the earth and measured there in all things to give them nourishment in due proportion in four days… Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been a smoke: He said to it and to the earth: ‘Come ye together willingly or unwillingly’… so He completed them as seven firmaments in two days.”

These verses imply that God completed the heavens and the earth in eight days (2+4+2) and that the heavens were fashioned after the earth. Yet other passages suggest that the heavens were created before the earth and that it took six, not eight, days to complete their formation:

“What are ye the more difficult to create or the heaven (above)? (God) hath constructed it on high. He raised its canopy, and He hath given it order and perfection… and the earth, moreover, hath He extended (to a wide expanse).” S. 79:27-28, 30

“Your guardian – Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days.” S. 7:51

“Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days.” S. 10:3

Contradiction 4

Noah’s family and the Flood

According to Q. 21:76, Noah and his family were saved from the flood:

“(Remember) Noah, when he cried (to us) aforetime: We listened to his (prayer) and delivered him and his family from great distress.”

And:

“And Noah verily prayed unto Us and gracious was the Hearer of his prayer, and We saved him and his household from the great distress, and made his seed the survivors…” S. 37:75-77

Yet in Q. 11:42, 43 and 66:10 we are told that Noah’s wife and one of his sons were not saved:

“… and Noah called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): ‘O my son! embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!’… and the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the flood.”

And:

“God sets forth, for an example to the unbelievers, the wife of Noah and the wife of Lut: They were (respectively) under two of our righteous servants, but they were fake to their (husbands), and they profited nothing before God on their account, but were told: ‘Enter ye the fire along with (others) that enter!’” S. 66:10

Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his translation, The Holy Quran, tries to explain:

“Evidently his (Noah) contemporary world had been so corrupt that it needed a great flood to purge it, ‘None of thy people will believe except those who have believed already; so grieve no longer over their evil deeds.’ But there were evil ones in his own family. A foolish and undutiful son is mentioned in xi. 42-46. Poor Noah tried to save him and pray for him as one of his family, but the answer came: ‘He is not of thy family: for his conduct is unrighteous.’ We might expect such a son to have a mother like him, and here we are told that it was; Noah’s wife who was also false to the standards of her husband, and perished in this world and in the Hereafter.” (Ibid., p. 1573, fn. 5546)

Contradiction 5

The dwellers of Paradise

Q. 56:11-14 states that few of the later believers will enter paradise:

“Those are they who will be brought nigh in gardens of delight; a multitude of those of old and a few of those of later time…”

This is contradicted by verses 39 and 40:

“… a multitude of those of old and a multitude of those of later time.”

Contradiction 6

The Position of the Jews and Christians

Q. 5:82-83 holds Jews as hostile enemies to the Muslims whereas Christians are held in highest regard:

“Thou wilt find the most vehement of mankind in hostility of those who believe (to be) the Jews and idolators. And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: ‘Lo! We are Christians.’ That is because there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not proud…”

Yet verse 51 puts both Jews and Christians on the same list of people whom Muslims are to avoid:

“O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who take them for friends is one of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.”

The question a Muslim must ask is whether Christians are their brethren or are they to be avoided at all costs, since a person does not avoid associating with his brother.

I have more to say in the next segment: The Quran’s Manifold Blunders Pt. 2.

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