People of the Book

Let´s have some fun...

Some Christian ministry has published a list of 10 questions for Muslims, which they apparently think Muslims can´t answer (the "questions" are really anti-Muslim polemics). I´m not a Muslim, but I will nevertheless answer the questions as if I was. As far as I can tell, I can counter all arguments except number 8 (I admit it´s very central). Obviously, there are billions of Muslims, so not every believer will answer the questions in the same way, but I think I´m fairly mainstream Sunni orthodox here... 

1. Do you pray five times a day? If you have not done the minimum requirement for a Muslim, how can you be sure you are going to get to heaven?

Yes. Nobody can ever be sure about his salvation, but Allah is merciful, compassionate. Therefore, we have faith that all our good deeds will be rewarded, and all our sins forgiven (or punished in this life as a learning opportunity, but ultimately forgiven if we repent). I don´t think you as a Christian can *really* disagree with me on this point! All the intra-mural conflicts between different strands of Christianity about "faith versus works" really boils down to "faith and works" in practice, and nobody except a very vain unbeliever can claim to have *absolute* knowledge of his salvation.

2. How can Jesus be considered a great prophet when the Gospels say many times that Jesus accepted worship as God (Matthew 8:2; 14:33; 28:9; Luke 24:52; John 9:38; 20:28-29)?

I don´t care what your unholy scripture says!

3. If our Bible today is corrupted, then how do we know what parts are corrupted?

So you know that Muslims consider the Bible corrupted? Then, why did you ask me the second question? We know which parts are corrupted by reference to the Holy Quran, which was revealed by Allah precisely to counter the distortions of Christians and Jews of the previous revelations. In the same way, you claim that the Injil was revealed to correct (or correctly interpret) the Torah, so you can´t dispute the principle itself: that Allah can and will reveal such corrections when it pleases Him. 

4. How can the Bible be corrupted when Muhammad told people to read it (Sura 5:68; 10:94) and we have manuscripts showing that the Bible of Muhammad’s day was substantially the same as the one we have today?

Muhammad didn´t tell people to read the corrupted Bible. The reference in the Holy Quran is to the uncorrupted versions of the Torah and the Injil. However, if uncorrupted verses still exist in your Bible, it is not wrong to use them to disprove you by your own words. Also, the term "substantially" surely cannot be used by a strict evangelical, since the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles are *not* "substantially" the same as the evangelical Bibles currently in use. Which just shows how corrupted your Bible is.

5. How can you believe the Qur’an when it states that “none can change His word” (Sura 6:115; see also 6:34; 10:64), yet it also says that the Bible is God´s previous revelation (Sura 2:136; 4:163)? Yet you believe that Jesus never claimed to be God but merely claimed to be a prophet, and somehow the Bible got corrupted because it teaches that Jesus claimed to be God.

This is the same question you have already asked at least twice. See previous responses!

6. If killing is wrong for religious reasons, then why does the Quran prescribe the killing of unbelievers (Sura 9:5,29; 47:4)?

Because killing *isn´t* wrong for religious reasons. You don´t believe that either. You support the killing of unbelievers mentioned in the "Old Testament". You also support the killing of unbelievers on the day of Christ´s return. Many Christians also support crusades or the execution of unbelievers in their own countries (although your particular ministry probably doesn´t). 

7. How can heaven be described as a place full of wine and women when this is the kind of life Allah forbids here (Sura 78:32)?

It´s an allegory. Your Bible contains allegorical descriptions of heaven which describes it as a city with streets of gold, gigantic gemstones, etc. Yet, that is not how Christians should live in this world, is it?

8. Why do Muslims believe Muhammad is superior to Jesus when even the Quran affirms that Jesus was sinless (Sura 3:45-46; 19:19-21), born of a virgin (Sura 3:47), called the Messiah (Sura 3:45), performed miracles such as raising the dead (Sura 5:110), and bodily ascended into heaven (Sura 4:158), and Muhammad did none of these things?

(This is the only good argument in the Christian list. Of course there are Muslim answers to it, but I´m not sure if I would find them particularly convincing, for instance that all prophets are equal, or that Muhammad´s miracle was the Quran. In practice, Muslims don´t consider all prophets to have been equal, and the miracles of Jesus still look more impressive than those of Muhammad.)

9. If many Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the eternal Word of God and yet different from God, then why can’t Jesus be the eternal Son of God and yet different from God?

"Many Muslims" are wrong. The Quran is not a logos-like emanation from Allah´s nature, but Allah´s will expressed in the form of propositional revelation. 

10. If Allah can do whatever He pleases, then why could He not allow His prophet Jesus to die on the cross and raise Him to life again?

I could ask you the same thing: if God can do whatever he pleases, why did Jesus have to die on the cross to forgive the sins of men? Why couldn´t God forgive sins anyway? Even you believe that he is both all-powerful and merciful! Of course Allah *could* have allowed Jesus to die on the cross and then raise him to life again, but the Holy Quran and the Sunna says that He didn´t. We trust this revelation. In the same way, some evangelicals admit that God *could* have created Adam and Eve through evolution, but chose not to do so, as indicated in the first chapters of Genesis, which you believe is direct revelation from God! 

Questions for atheists, agnostics and non-Christian