First Objection 

              The first objection frequently raised by Christian scholars is related to the transcendence of the eloquent language of the Holy Qur’an. Their contention in this respect consists mainly of the following points. Firstly that it is not acceptable to claim that its eloqucnce really surpassed all human genius and that no such text can be produced by human effort. Secondly that even if this claim of thc Muslims is accepted, it still only provides a defective argument for its being miraculous, bccause, in that case, it could only be recognised as a miracle by those few who have acquired the highest standard of proficiency and skill in the Arabic language. And this would further mean that books written in Latin and Greek, which have the highest standard of eloquence, should also be accepted as revealed, as well as implying that all kinds of false and abject works could claim to be miraculous simply on the strength of being composed in supremely eloquent language.

      We should here remind ourselves that in the previous section we have produced undeniable arguments to establish the transcendent quality of the Qur’anic language. Given those specific criteria, any objection to the miraculous eloquence of the Holy Qur’an is not valid unless a parallel description of equal eloquence is produced by other claimants to meet the Qur’anic challenge quoted by us in the first section.

       They are, however, justified in saying that only a few linguists could apprehend the miraculous quality of its eloquence, but this is of no help to them as this miraculous feature of the Holy Qur’an aimed exactly at that. That is to say, the Holy Qur’an challenged those few Arab linguists who had great pride in their eloquence.

            They were not only overawed by its eloquence but also admitted their inability to contest it because, through their perfect elocution, they instantly recognized its super-human eloquence. The common people have found out about this quality through these scholars. Thus the miraculous eloquence of the Holy Qur’an has become known by all. The argument, therefore, is not defective, as it achieved its goal by making the Arabs accept that it was the word of God.

      Moreover, the Muslims do not claim that the eloquence of the Holy Qur’an is the only thing that makes it a miracle. What they rightly claim is, that its eloquence is one of the many miraculous features of the Holy Qur’an and that the Holy Qur’an is one among many other miracles of the Holy Prophet. The miraculous nature of the Holy Qur’an is so widely acknowledged that it has not been refuted by anyone in these 1280 years.[1] The following statement of Abu Musa Muzdar,[2] a leader of the Mu’tazilites, who said that it was possible for a human being to produce something equal to the Qur’an, is unacceptable and rejected.

       It is generally known that Abu Musa had become mentally disordered due to his excessive involvement in spiritual exercises. He made many delirious statements. For example, he said, “God has the power of making false statements and acting with cruelty towards the people. He would be God, but a cruel and lying God.” May Allah forbid. He also said:

Anyone who associates with kings is an infidel. He cannot be an heir to anyone and no one can be his heir.

            As for their contention that books written in other languages possessing the highest degree of eloquence should also be considered as miracles, this contention is not well-founded as no book in any language has been proved to have achieved the super-human quality of eloquence that is possessed by the Holy Qur’an. The authors of such books never claimed them to be prophetic marvels. However, anyone making any such claim would be required to prove its transcendent quality of eloquence with effective arguments and specific examples.

            Besides, the claim by some Christian scholars to the effect that certain books of other languages demonstrate a standard of eloquence equal to that of the Qur’an, is not acceptable on the ground that those languages are not their first languages. They themselves are not capable of defining the standard of eloquence of other languages, as no one can claim to be as conversant with a foreign language as someone whose mother tongue that language is. This is not only the case with Arabic; it is equally true for all the languages of the world, be they Greek, Latin or Hebrew. Every language has its own particular structure, grammar and idiom, which usually is radically different from any other language. Acquiring any degree of knowledge in a foreign language is not enough to make the claim that one has mastered it in all respects.

        Under the orders of Pope Urban VIII, the Archbishop of Syria called a meeting of priests, cardinals and scholars and masters of the Hebrew, Greek and the Arabic languages for the purpose of revising and correcting the Arabic translation of the Bible that was full of errors and missing many important passages. The members of this council took great pains in rectifying the errors of this translation. After great labour and all possible efforts, they prepared a version in 1625. In spite of all their effort, this translation still contained many errors and defects. The revising members of this council wrote an apologetic introduction to it. We reproduce below their apology in their exact words: [3]

You will find many things in this copy deviating from the general rules of grammar. For example, masculine gender in place of feminine, singular replaced by plural and plural in place of a dual.[4] Similarly there are unusual applications of the signs of accentuation, emphasis and phonetics. Sometimes additional words have been used in place of a phonetic mark. The main reason of our being ungrammatical is the simplicity of the language of the Christians. The Christians have formulated a special language. The prophets, the apostles, and their elders took liberties with languages such as Latin, Greek and Hebrew, because it was never the will of the Holy Ghost to confine the words of God within the narrow boundaries of normal grammatical complexities. The Holy Ghost, therefore, revealed the secrets of God without effusion and eloquence.

             The English are particularly prone to arrogance when they acquire even a little knowledge of a particular subject or a slight proficiency in another language. An example of this vanity and self-complacency with regard to many sciences and subjects is pointed out below.

            The famous traveller, Abu Talib Khan, wrote a book of his travels recording his observations regarding the people of various countries. He described the people of England in detail discussing their virtues as well as their defects. The following passage is reproduced from his Persian book: [5]

           The eighth defect of the English people is their deceitful attitude towards the sciences and languages of other countries. They are easy prey to self-conceit. They start writing books on subjects of which they have only elementary knowledge, or in languages which they suppose they have mastered without having any real proficiency in them. They publish their works with a great complacency equal only to their ignorance. It was through the Greek and the French people that I first came to know this characteristic of the English. I did not believe them fully until I read some of their Persian writings and found it out for myself.

             Their last contention, that abject and false statements described in the most eloquent words should also be considered as miracles, has nothing to do with the Holy Qur’an since it is absolutely free from any such thing. The Holy Qur’an deals with the following twenty- seven subjects and every single one of its verses can be subsumed under one or another of them.

1.      Attributes of the infinity and perfection of Allah like His self- existence, eternality, His infinite power and wisdom, His infinite mercy and love, His infinite justice and truth, His holiness, majesty, sovereignty, infinity and unity, His being omnipotent, omniscient, all knowing, all-hearing, all powerful and His being the Creator of the universe.

2.      His being free of all imperfections, like accidental existence, mutability, ignorance and impotence etc.

3.      Invitations to pure monotheism, prohibition from associating partners to Him, the trinity being a kind of association.

4.      Historical passages related to the people of the past and accounts of certain Prophets.

5.      Freedom of the Prophets from idolatry, infidelity and association.

6.      Appreciation and praise of those who believed in their Prophets.

7.      Admonitions and exhortations to those who disbelieved and denied their Prophets.

8.      Invitation to believe in all the Prophets in general, and in the Prophet Jesus in particular.

9.      The promise and prediction that the believers shall ultimately triumph over the unbelievers.

10. Descriptions regarding the Day of Judgement and accounts of reward and punishment on that day.

11. Descriptions of the blessings of Paradise and torture of the fires of Hell along with related details.

12. Descriptions of impermanence and mortality of this worldly life.

13. Descriptions of the eternality of the Hereafter and the permanence and immortality of its blessings.

14. Enjoining the good and prohibiting of the bad.

15. Injunctions with regard to family life.

16. Guidance for the political and social spheres of human life.

17. Exhortations for the love of Allah and of those who love Him.

18. The description of the ways and means through which man can attain closeness to his Lord, Allah.

19. Premonitions and prohibitions against the company of evildoers.

20. Importance of sincerity of intention in the performance of all rituals and acts of worship.

21. Warnings against insincerity, ostentation and pursuit of false reputation.

22. Warnings against malefaction and malevolence.

23. Preaching of the moral and ethical behaviour appropriate to the occasion.

24. Approbation and encouragement of benefaction and other moral qualities like patience, modesty, generosity and bravery.

25. Disapprobation of unethical and immoral acts like vanity, meanness, rage, indignation and cruelty.

26.Teaching of abstinence from evil and the necessity of  taqwa (active fear of Allah).

27.Exhortation to the remembrance and worship of Allah. [6]

It is clear that all the above subjects are undoubtedly valuable and noble. Not one of them could be considered to be abject or unneeded.

  Abominable Descriptions in the Bible

         In contrast with the ideal and impeccable subjects dealt with by the Holy Qur’an, we find a large number of indecent, shameful and vile descriptions in the the Bible. Some examples would not be out of place here.

1.      A Prophet is reported to have committed fornication with his daughters. [7]

2.      A Prophet is reckoned to have committed adultery with another man’s wife.[8]

3.        A Prophet indulged in cow worship.[9]

4.       One of the Prophets abandoned his faith and took to idolatery and built temples for idols.[10]

5.      One of the Prophets wrongly attributed his own false statement to God, and described another Prophet and brought down the wrath of God upon him.[11]

6.       The Prophets David, Solomon and even Jesus were the descendants  of illegitimate ancestors.That is, the progeny of Pharez, the son of Judah.[12]

7.       The son of a great Prophet, who was the ”son of God” and father of the Prophets, committed fornication with his father’s wife. [13]

8.       Another son[14] of the same Prophet similarly committed fornication with his son’s wife. Besides this, the said Prophet, in spite of being aware of their fornication, did not punish them. At the time of his death he only imprecated [15] against the elder son while prayed for and blessed [16] the other.

9.      Another great Prophet, the “younger son of God,” committed fornication with the wife of his friend and did not punish his son for committing fornication with his sister.

10. The Prophet, John the Baptist, who is witnessed by Jesus to be the greatest of all born of women (though the ”least in the kingdom of God is greater than he”) [17] did not recognise the second person of his God for as long as thirty years,[18] until this second God became the follower of his servant, and so long as he did not perform baptism, and until the third God had descended on him in the form of a dove. When John saw this third one descending on the second God like a dove, he came to remember the word of God that the same will be his Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth.[19]

11. Similarly one of the great Apostles, who is said to be a great thief, who is also supposed to have performed prophetic miracles, and who, according to the Christians, is superior to the prophet Moses and others,[20] sold out his faith for only thirty pieces of silver. That is to say he betrayed his lord, the Messiah, and conspired against him with the Jews and got him arrested and crucified. [21]

12. The high priest, Caiaphas, who is considered by the Evangelist,    John, to be a Prophet, [22]issuedthe death sentence against his God, Christ,   believed in him and yet insulted him. [23]

       The above virulent imputations against the Prophets of God speak themselves of their falsity. We, however, express our absolute negation of these mythical allegations and totally disassociate ourselves from such sacrilegious beliefs which are both irrational and ridiculous.  

Intolerable Beliefs of the Roman Catholics

        The major sect of the Christians, the Roman Catholics, still gives credence to some dogmas that are obnoxious and at total variance with human reason. The number of Roman Catholics, as reported by some priests, is two hundred million.[24] Many shameful and abominable beliefs are still a part of their faith. For example:

1.                  According to a recently expressed opinion of the Christians, Mary’s mother also conceived her without any sexual union with her husband.

2.                  Mary is the mother of God in the real sense of the word.

3.                  If all the priests in the world were to perform the sacrament of Eucharist at the same time, according to the Catholics, the millions of pieces of bread would be transubstantiated into an equal number of Christs, all fully human and fully divine at the same time and born of Mary.

4.                 This single piece of bread, when cut into any number of pieces, is instantly transformed into an equal number of Christs.[25] The physically observed process of the wheat’s progress from its growth to being baked into the form of bread does not preclude its divinity, as physical senses have no say in these matters according to the Catholic faith.

5.               Making idols, and worshipping them is an essential part of their faith.[26]  

6.               No salvation of a Christian is possible without having true faith in the Pope with no consideration as to his impiety, dishonesty and immoral conduct. [27]  

7.               The Pope is considered to be infallible and pure of all errors.  

8.               There is always a great treasure of wealth in the Temple of Rome owned and managed by the Pope. Among many other sources of money is the money paid to him by the people for absolution of their sins for which the Pope is supposed to have special powers. That is to say, the Pope has all the powers of forgiveness and absolution of sins, and he gives this forgiveness for a considerable amount of money.[28]

9.               The Pope has absolute power to change the laws of the faith. He can permit any act that was previously prohibited. The Protestant teacher, Michael Meshaka, said in his Arabic book,  Ajwabatu’l Injileen ’ala abatil Attaqlidin:

       Now it should be noted that they permit matrimonial relations with blood relations prohibited by the Holy Scriptures. They receive large amounts of money for permitting this, at their own discretion, an act that was prohibited by the sacred books and by the blessed compilers of the gospels. For example, permission for an uncle’s marriage (paternal or maternal) with his niece, for marriage with one’s brother’s wife who is the mother of one’s brother’s children. There are many additional prohibitions that they have imposed, and many dispensations that they have disallowed people without any religious arguments.

He further says:

           There are many eatables that were prohibited by them, and later on were permitted again. Eating of meat has been allowed by them during fasting, that was strictly considered prohibited for centuries.

He also said in his book entitled  Thirteen Epistles on page 88 of the second epistle:

          The French Cardinal Zabadella said that the Pope enjoys absolute power to permit any prohibition. He is greater than God.

    We seek refuge with Allah from such blasphemies and proclaim that Allah is pure of all their imputations.

10.             According to the Catholic creed, good souls remain in Purgatory [29] suffering the torments of the fires of Hell, until the Pope grants acquittal to them. Similarly priests are authorised to  grant such deliverance of the dead from Purgatory, against payment of a certain amount of money, through their suffrages. [30]

11.             Catholics can obtain certificates of salvation from the Pope and his deputies for payment. It is strange that the people do not demand acknowledgement of the dead, confirming their salvation, from the Pope who is believed to be “greater than God”. He should be able, through his divine powers, to get attestations from the dead that they have attained eternal salvation.

            Since the Papal powers are increased day by day through the blessings of the Holy Ghost, indulgences were invented by Leo X [31] and were sold to the people by him and his clergymen. These documents contained the following words:

        May our Lord Jesus Christ take pity upon and pardon thee, by the virtue of his sanctified love. By the power accorded to me by the Saints Peter and Paul, chief of the apostles, I absolve thee of thy sins whenever they are committed, and thy faults and transgressions and even the unremitted sins forgiven by the Pope. As far as the power in the hands of the Church of Rome can contend, I remit the miseries reserved for thee in the purgatories. And I will lead you towards the mysteries of the Holy Church, and its unity and purity and innocence possessed by thee at thine baptism.  

            The gates of Hell shall be closed to thee on thine death and those of Paradise shall be opened. If thou will not die at present, the indulgence will remain operative till your death. In the names of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Written by Firtilium, agent.

12   They claim that the Hell is a space in cubic form situated in the centre of the earth having sides of 200 miles in length.

13   The Pope makes the sign of the cross on his shoes while other people do it on their faces. Perhaps his shoes are more sanctified than the cross and the faces of the people. .

 Sanctification of the Cross

        Christians in general hold the wood of the cross in great reverence, and prostrate in worship before the paintings or image of the Godhead, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as well as making prostrations of reverence to the images of their saints. There can be any of the following reasons for consecrating the wood of the cross: because it had a physical contact with, or was touched by, the body of Christ at the time of crucifixion; or because it became a means for their atonement, or the blood of Christ flowed over it. Now if it is for the first reason, all the donkeys of the world should be held holier than the cross, as Christ used to ride on the back of donkeys and mules. They had more physical contact with the body of Christ and, contrary to the cross, they served the purpose of providing comfort to him. It was a donkey that carried Christ to the temple of Jerusalem. Besides, being animate, the donkey is closely associated with man as opposed to the wood of the cross which is inanimate.

           As for the second reason, Judas Iscariot deserves more reverence and sanctification as it was through his betrayal that Jesus was arrested and then crucified by the Jews. Without his betrayal, atonement through the death of Christ would not have been possible. He, therefore, is the first and main cause of eternal salvation. If the sanctity of the cross is  related to the third reason, the thorns that were put on the head of the Christ on the form of a crown [32]  deserve more reverence and respect, as they too were coloured with the blood of Christ. We are unable to see any reason why only the cross is held in such great respect and reverence. Maybe it is another riddle like the trinity. The most abhorrent and abominable thing is the act of worshipping the image of the Father-God. We have already discussed with undeniable arguments that God Almighty is absolutely beyond the possibility of any similitude being made of Him. Visualization of Him is a physical impossibility. No human being can ever see Him. Is there any one to claim the ability to make an image bearing any degree of similarity to Him? Besides, it would be more logical for them to worship every human being as they are created in the image of God according to the Torah.[33]

         It is strange that the Pope prostrates himself before images made of stones, and humiliates and insults his human fellow beings by extending his feet to be kissed by them. We fail to see any difference between the Catholics and the idolaters of India.

   The Pope as Final Authority

            The Pope is supposed to be the final authority on the interpretation of the texts of the Holy Books. This belief must have been added at a later period, otherwise Augustine and John Chrysostom could have not written their exegetical works, since they were not popes and did not seek permission from the popes of their time for writing their works. Their works enjoyed great popularity among the Christians and in the Church of their time.

            Bishops and deacons were not allowed to marry. They, therefore, usually did the works that were not entrusted to married people. Some of the Christian theologians have strictly criticised this contention of the popes. I reproduce below some of their criticisms from the Arabic book  Thalatha Ashara Risalah, (The Thirteen Epistles). Saint Bernard said in song no. 66:

            They have completely abolished the noble institution of marriage, and legitimate sexual relations have been abandoned. Instead they have turned their bedrooms into a place of fornication. They commit adultery with young boys, mothers, sisters. They have filled the Church with corruption.

The Bishop Pelage Bolagius of Portugal (1300) said:

        It would have been much better if the Church authorities in general, and the people of the Church of Spain in particular, had not taken the oath of purity and chastity, because the number of children of the people of this area is only a little more than the illegitimate sons of the priests and bishops of the country.

        John Sattzbourg, a bishop of the fifteenth century, observed, “I have seen rarely any priests and bishops who do not habitually have frequent intercourse with women. Nunneries have been turned into cells of prostitution.”  

       In the presence of their deep involvemcnt in drinking liquor their purity and chastity remains out of question, as long as they are youthful and young.

     Perhaps one of the reasons that they do not believe in the Holy Qur’an is that it does not contain any of these obscene and absurd assertions.

     As for their objections with regard to some Qur’anic passages related to Paradise and Hell, we will discus this under the third objection.