First a warning:
Adherence to religion is in no way akin to supporting a favorite sports team. Therefore, people cannot easily abandon their attachments to their religions, be they are true or false.
The Prophets were frequently told by people “We cannot abandon what our fathers left to us.”
Should people follow the way their fathers once followed? For instance, must a man whose father was poor live poorly? Must a man whose father was a shepherd be a shepherd? Finally, must a man whose father followed a wrong way follow the same way?
Of course not, as we know from life. Many poor children have become rich people and many children whose fathers were shepherds have become governors and statesmen. Likewise, many children whose fathers were on the wrong path have become the most idealistic and powerful defenders of the true religion.
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The clearest and most distinct characteristic of a divine book is its language.
A divine book should preserve its original language as it was revealed to its prophet. If this is so, it can keep its status of being a divine book and the source of religion. Otherwise, it loses this status.
The original language of the Bible revealed to Prophet Jesus was Hebrew. Unfortunately, true Bible has been lost, since the diligence, care and spirit of cooperation in the collection and memorization of the Qur'an was not or could not be manifested in the collection and memorization of the Bible.
The New Testament which has been recited in churches and distributed by missionaries for centuries consists of versions, selected among controversy from among hundreds of Bibles in 325 by the Nicea Consulate.
Another characteristic of the divine book is that its syntax and word order should be as Allah has assigned.
When we look at the verse Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil alamin, if we change the place of any word, say Alhamdu, then we change the syntax that Allah determined and this negates its character of divinity.
Let me give two examples from the New Testament in order to be clear. These examples are from Matthew and Mark, concerned with same topic and having the same title:
MATTHEW; “Jesus Heals Many” (8-14)
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.
MARK; “Jesus Heals Many” (29-39)
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.
While not one word of a divine book should be changed, these two examples exhibit many omissions, additions and changes.
If one of these versions is true, then the other is false; if one is correct then the other is wrong. Unfortunately, these two examples are from the modern Bible and are recited as the word of God in churches and ceremonies.
Another striking example is concerned with the genealogy of Jesus.
MATTHEW; “The Genealogy of Jesus” (1-17)
“Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob.”
Matthew begins by giving the genealogy of Jesus dating from Abraham as “Abraham was the father of Isaac” and ending up with Joseph, the son of Jacob: “Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
LUKE; “The Genealogy of Jesus” (23-38)
Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli...”
Luke, as opposed to Matthew, begins from Joseph, the son of Heli and goes back to Adam, and calling Adam the son of God.
“The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
Apart from additions, omissions and changes, one of these two texts says that Jesus is the grandson of Heli, while the other states that he is the grandson of Jacob, with both stating that his father was Joseph.
The whole world, except the Jews, knew that Jesus was born without a father and had only one grandfather. This was his mother’s father, Imran. And Jesus’ genealogy can only be traced down this line.
Unfortunately, these contradictory texts are recited as the holy book in churches.
When I saw the contradictions in today's Bible, I thought about Surah Al-Fatiha. If one attempts to compare the Qur'an that was written centuries ago and the Qur'an printed today by looking only at Surah Al-Fatiha, there is no difference, it always begins with “Alhamdu” and ends up with “Waladdâllin.”
The most crucial characteristic of the divine book is that it belongs to Allah Almighty. There should be no additions, not even one word, to the divine book by a person. When we evaluate this situation free from bias, we can understand that this is a prerequisite of logic and reason. While people protect their books from plagiarism and change by copyright, how can we think that Allah is not able to protect His Book and that He will not punish the wrong-doers.
As Allah Almighty, the Lord of all the universes and the only Sovereign of the earth and heavens, does not allow anyone to interfere with His acts, so too will He not allow His Book to be changed. For instance, the word “Amen” has not been added to the Qur'an, because it not the word of Allah, but rather the practice of the Prophet after reciting Surah Al-Fatiha. |