Rebuttal to Dr. James White's article: The Qur'an in the Light of God-breathed Scripture: Surah 5:116.

Rebuttal to Dr. James White's article:

The Qur'an in the Light of God-breathed Scripture: Surah 5:116

Dr. James White is a Christian scholar who runs his own radio show and website which can be accessed here:

Dr. James White has also released several books, and has debated several times, his most recent debate was a debate against Islamic apologist Shabir Ally, their debate was on the topic of the inspiration of the NT, the debate can be found here:

https://aomin.org/mp3/shop.html?shop=list3

The debate was fantastic, a clear cut victory for Shabir Ally, and I suggest all the readers go and download the debate.

However so, in this rebuttal I shall be dealing with an article of James White which he did write some time ago dealing with a Quranic passage, his article can be found here:

http://www.aomin.org/index.php?itemid=197

So with all that said, let us now proceed to White's article.

He Wrote

Few conservative Christians have ever read the Qur'an, and as such, it remains a closed and mysterious book to them. But even if you have read it, it likewise remains a closed and mysterious book, for it is not written in such a fashion as to communicate with much clarity to the vast majority of the human race, and apart from the traditions (the Hadith) many portions of the Qur'an are unintelligible.

My Response

Correction, the Quran is for all of humanity, and for all times, and it's message is very clear to all of those who read it, Muslim or Christian, it is the greatest book we have in our possession today superceding every other book you can imagine, from the Bible to Shakespeare’s work. You name it, the Quran beats it, and this is a simple fact which cannot be denied no matter what.

It is actually the Bible which is not clear at all, and the Bible has no traditions to give us explanations for un-clear incidents and stores in the Bible. Visit these links to see the incompleteness and incoherence of the Bible:

http://answering-christianity.com/forbidden_or_not.htm

http://answering-christianity.com/giants.htm

http://answering-christianity.com/cains_wife.htm

http://answering-christianity.com/enoch.htm

He Wrote

I am often asked about where the Qur'an contradicts the Bible. I would like to start providing some examples, as time permits, of such passages. One that strikes me every time I read it comes in the middle of a key passage in Surah 5, to which we will have to return numerous times in the future. It reads:

After reminding him of these favors, Allah will say: "O Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Marry), Did you ever say to the people, "worship me and my mother as gods beside Allah?" He will answer: "Glory to You! How could I say what I had no right to say? If I had ever said so, you would have certainly known it. You know what is in my heart, but I know not what is in Yours; for You have full knowledge of all the unseen. (Surah 5:116, Al-Maida, F. Malik Translation)

Here we have two grand errors in one short space: the gross misidentification of the doctrine of the Trinity (to which we will turn at a later time)

My Response

2 responses are in order, the first one is on the issue of the miss-identification of the trinity, I have already dealt with this argument, and my response can be found here:

http://answering-christianity.com/mary_worship.htm

Secondly, in what way does this passage contradict the message of Jesus in the NT? Perhaps James is committing the same mistake of his brothers and sisters in assuming that Jesus preached he was God in the Bible, far from it. Jesus never once claimed to be God in the Bible, and there is nothing from the lips of Jesus' mouth in the first 4 Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John that show Jesus teaching he was God. This is a simple Christian myth and fantasy.

He Wrote

and the assertion, placed upon the lips of the Lord Jesus, "You know what is in my heart, but I know not what is in Yours." I often ask audiences as I lecture on the topic, "What portion of Jesus' teaching about His relationship to the Father does this passage directly contradict?" Sadly, I have never had anyone offer the appropriate passage in response. Not once. It seems to be one of Jesus' lesser-known sayings, possibly because it sounds like it should be in the Gospel of John, yet it appears in the Gospel of Matthew:

"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27).

My Response

Where is the contradiction between the 2 verses? Let me post the Quranic passage with the Biblical passage and we shall see if they really contradict each other, or whether James has simply read into the text, reading something that is not there (something common with Christian apologetics):

Quranic passage:

Biblical passage:

"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27).

James believes that just because the Quran has Jesus saying he Doesn’t know God's heart, and the Bible showing Jesus saying he knows God then this means their contradicting each other. James has done the common mistake, he has read into the text!

Where in the Biblical passage does Jesus say he knows God's heart? All we see is that in the Biblical passage is that Jesus says HE KNOWS GOD, it does not say he knows God's HEART. There is a difference between knowing someone, and knowing what is in their hearts and what they plan on doing.

So there is no contradiction at all. Jesus as a prophet knew God, since God had chosen him and sent his revelations to him and so on, all prophets would know God since they are all close with God.

In fact to prove James wrong, if Jesus did supposedly know what was in God's heart, then Jesus would know the last hour would he not? Yes, he would, however so, when we read the Bible we see that Jesus DID NOT KNOW when the last hour was, this is clear proof that he did not know God's heart:

Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

So note, ONLY the Father knows, if Jesus really knew what was in the Father's heart then he would know to, the fact he does not know shows he does not know what is in God's heart exactly as the Quran tells us!

He Wrote

The intimate, reciprocal knowledge of the Father and Son, a theme repeated often in John's Gospel (see esp. chapters 5, 10, 17), here finds expression in Matthew, once again in the context of Jesus' role as the perfect, sole revealer of the Father. Islam, of course, denies this intimate union, let alone the idea that God could be so fully known as He made Himself known in Christ. There is truly so much less revelation of God's nature and Person in Islam than in the Christian faith. And remember, these words were written more than half a millennia before Mohammed, and we in fact can document them in papyri manuscripts dating to the third century (the Qur'an being a production of the seventh century). So you might want to start a little list: Matthew 11:27/Surah 5:116.

My Response

Well there is nothing much to respond to here, I clearly showed the Quranic passage does NOT contradict the Biblical passage you posted, you simple mis-interpreted your own book, something common which Christian apologists.

However so, as for the Quran being revealed in the 7th century, this is not true:

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Ms