Is the QUR’AN Allah’s Eternal and UNCREATED WORD or Does it Contain BORROWED CONTENT? 14 Considerations
INCLUDING input from Islamic Studies Lecturer Dr. Bernie Power
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Note: Qur’anic references are from the Saheeh International Version while Bible references are from the English Standard Version
1. Not so Arabic?
2. Inconsistent frequency of the use of the word Allah between earlier and later surahs
3. Formulaic density- statistical evidence of oral sayings borrowing from other sources
4. Satan and Adam
5. The sleepers in the cave and their dog
6. 8 examples of potential apocryphal gospel borrowing in the Qur’an
7. Mary provided with food miraculously as a child
8. The palm tree provides for Mary while pregnant
9. Jesus speaking from the cradle
10. Jesus bringing clay birds to life
11. The Gospel of Basilides and Jesus appearing to have been crucified
12. Solomon’s talking bird and the Queen of Sheba lifting her dress in the palace
13. Did a Syriac Legend about Alexander the Great makes it way into the Qur’an?
14. Failed attempts at borrowing historical details- does the Qur’an confuse historical details in the Old Testament?
The view Muslims hold of the Qur’an differs from the view Christians hold of the Bible. The Bible is deemed a divine-human book whereby God inspires human writers in their given historical context, given their ways of writing.
By contrast, the Qur’an is deemed to be Allah’s revealed eternal word. The Qur’an was not created as such but revealed.
This is based on verses such as Surah 12:2, “We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an so that you may understand.”
The Oral Tradition Question
As such, if there is strong evidence the Qur’an is based on oral traditions it would make it unlikely the Qur’an is Allah’s eternal word.
The Borrowed Content Question
Going one step further, evidence the Qur’an borrowed from or relied on earlier sources that were legendary would make it even more unlikely the Qur’an is based on Allah’s eternal word.
Possible evidence the Qur’an confuses historical data would cast further question on the Islamic belief regarding the Qur’an.
Islamic Source Data- Muhammad’s Contemporaries Thought he Re-told Legends that he Heard
Interestingly, Muhammad’s contemporaries accused him of being a fabricator of legends and a copier of tales. Surah 25:4–6 reads:
And those who disbelieve say, “This [Qur’ān] is not except a falsehood he invented, and another people assisted him in it.” But they have committed an injustice and a lie. And they say, “Legends of the former peoples which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon.” Say, [O Muḥammad], “It has been revealed by He who knows [every] secret within the heavens and the earth. Indeed, He is ever Forgiving and Merciful.”
1. Not so Arabic?
The Qur’an is written in pure Arabic according to Surah 12:2, 13:37, 16:103 and 41:41–44.
Surah 13:37 expresses:
And thus We have revealed it as an Arabic legislation. And if you should follow their inclinations after what has come to you of knowledge, you would not have against Allāh any ally or any protector.
However, it contains numerous foreign words in Egyptian, Acadian, Assyrian, Aramaic, Persian, Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, and Ethiopian.
Jalal-ud-din Al-Suyuti, (c. 1445–1505 AD) in his book Itqan fi Ulum al- Qur’an “Perfection in the Qur’anic Sciences” chapter 38 lists 275 non-Arabic words in the Qur’an.
2. The name “Allah” is missing or rarely mentioned in the earliest chronological surahs of the Qur’an
This indicates possible development and raises the question whether the Qur’an is based on an eternal unchanging source. Particularly given many of the earliest surahs do not even mention Allah while the latest surahs refer to Allah every second verse or more!
For a chronological ordering of surahs (there are some slightly varying views) in the Qur’an refer to this link from the Tanzil site.
Dr. Power’s thoughts
Dr. Power notes this phenomenon has been previously noted by Regis Blachere. See Montgomery Watt The History of al-Tabari Vol. 6 — Muhammad at Mecca (New York: SUNY Press, 1988), xxxiv. Richard Bell suggests the following: “Muhammad had, in fact, to meet the difficulty which … confronts all those who seek to introduce a high religion amongst a people of primitive ideas, whose language has no term for God quite free from polytheistic associations. He begins by using rabb, ‘Lord’ … He also uses Allah, but rather hesitatingly, [maybe] … because it was already combined with belief in subordinate deities. Then ar-Rahman appears alongside it. The use of too many names, however, had its disadvantages …[because it] might lend colour to polytheistic ideas again. He seems to have solved the difficulty finally by adopting Allah as the name for Deity, retaining rabb in the sense of Lord, and associating with both words, descriptive epithets, and phrases.” Richard Bell The Origin of Islam in Its Christian Environment (London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd, 1968), 117.
How often different surahs use the name “Allah”
Dr. Power provides the following information on this point (Note: he is referring to chronologically ordered surahs not surahs as ordered in the Qur’an. Also note this does not include the introductory comment about Allah at the start of each surah):
Thirty-four of the earliest surahs (i.e. 30% of the 114 chapters which make up 15% of the Qur’an’s verses) never use ‘Allah’ as the name of God.
- Six surahs 101, 102, 103, 107, 109 & 111 do not mention any deity at all.
- Three surahs in 80, 86, and 90 allude to an unnamed deity but do not give any name for Him. The divine self-descriptor ‘We’ occurs sometimes.
- In 25 surahs, (surahs 43; 54; 55; (note: 7 of the 10 chronological lists put this as Meccan); 56; 68; 73 (v.20 was a Medinan addition); 74; 75; 77; 78; 79; 82; 83; 89; 92; 93; 94; 97; 99; (note: 5 of the 10 chronological lists put this as Meccan); 100; 105; 106; 108; 113; 114) ‘Lord’ rabb or ‘the Merciful’ al-Raḥmān (Surah 43 and 78) are the only names used for the deity.
The earliest revelation to Muhammad doesn’t mention Allah?
The earliest surahs are invariably the Meccan surahs. 96:1–5 is generally seen as the earliest revelation to Muhammad, and it does not mention ‘Allah’.
Note that Sura 96, the earliest chapter in the Qur’an, has two parts. vv.1–5 are seen as the first verses revealed to Muhammad in the cave on Mt Hira in 610 AD. However vv.6–19 come at a later stage after Muhammad had been taught to pray (v.10), and began public preaching (v.12) before being opposed by ‘Abu Jahl’ Amr bin Hisham (vv.13–19). This would have been after the ‘intermission’ or fatrah, the period of public silence before Muhammad began preaching openly, possibly as late as 613 AD.
Among the thirteen other earliest Meccan chapters, ‘Allah’ is named only once each in eleven surahs (112, 104, 96, 95, 92, 88, 87, 84, 70, 69 & 67), twice in one (85), four times in another (71).
So 47 of the earliest surahs (with nearly 1200 verses) contain the word ‘Allah’ a total of 17 times.
The name Allah becomes more frequent
As the Qur’an progresses, the name ‘Allah’ becomes more frequent: the later surahs name ‘Allah’ on average once every two verses (2652 times in 5067 verses).
There appears to be some uncertainty about a suitable nomenclature for the Deity in the chronologically earliest surahs of the Qur’an. Initially “Lord” rabb or “We” or “the Merciful” al-raḥmān were used. It may be significant that the full first sentence of the shaḥāda or confession of faith la ilāh illa allāh (‘There is no god except Allah’) is found only twice in the Qur’an (37:35; 47:19) and in the later chapters, whereas the non-Allah version “There is no god except Him” la ilāh illa huwa occurs twenty-nine times (eg. 73:9) always in the earlier chapters.
In the later surahs, however, Allah becomes the most common name for the Deity, and it is used frequently.
This trend can be represented in a chronological diagram.
Source: Dr. Bernie Power
This uncertainty is hinted at in 17:110 where the readers are told: ‘Invoke Allah or invoke al-rahmaan, whatever (name) you invoke…
Conclusion
Thus, there is substantial evidence of development or change in the way Allah is referred to in the Qur’an.
Using resources from, QuranicAnalysis.com (searching for الله) and Tanzil.net, I put together the following charts on the word use of Allah in the Qur’an ordered by chronological Surah.
Detailed chart:
High level chart
3. Andy Bannister’s Ground-breaking Evidence — Formulaic Density
In An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’an, Islamic scholar Andy Bannister analyses the formulaic density in the Qur’an. Bannister identifies “an overall formulaic density for the entire text of between 23.55 % and 52.18 % depending upon the parameters configured for the computer analysis tool (p.163)”.
Formulaic density refers to the concentration or frequency of formulaic expressions within an oral or written text.
A density of over 20% indicates formulaic borrowing, where a speaker incorporates existing legends, stories, or narratives into oral communication.
99 surahs have a density of 20% or higher, 69 of 40% or higher, 45 of 50% or higher and 14 have a density of 60% or higher. One (Surah 61) has a density of 77% or more.
Diagram found at link
This demonstrates the Qur’an is based on oral performance responses that often incorporate commonly known narratives, fables, or legends.
Bannister’s work casts significant doubt on the commonly held Muslim belief that the Qur’an is Allah’s eternal word, for the evidence points to the Qur’an being founded on oral communication that frequently incorporated stories circulating at the time of composition.
Remember in Surah 25:4–6, Muhammad is accused of retelling legends he has heard. If this is true we expect to see similarities between what is found in the Qur’an and earlier legends but not word-for-word copying.
As such the written narratives we will explore could have influenced legends circulating during Muhammad’s time, which he then incorporated through oral communication.
What are some examples of this? You’ve come to the right place for that.
4. Satan and Adam
The story of Satan (or Iblis) and Adam is found in Surah 2:30, 34; 7:11–18, 15:28–44; 17:61–65; 18:50; 20:116–117 and 38:71–85.
For example, note Surah 15:28–34 below:
And [mention, O Muḥammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “I will create a human being out of clay from an altered black mud. And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.” So the angels prostrated — all of them entirely, Except Iblees; he refused to be with those who prostrated. [Allāh] said, “O Iblees, what is [the matter] with you that you are not with those who prostrate?” He said, “Never would I prostrate to a human whom You created out of clay from an altered black mud.” [Allāh] said, “Then depart from it, for indeed, you are expelled.
In this tale, Allah commands the angels to prostrate before Adam but Satan refuses because he is superior to Adam given Adam was only created from clay. Subsequently, Satan is expelled from heaven.
Did the Qur’an copy the apocryphal work The Life of Adam and Eve?
Bannister helps identify the source of this legend.
“The oldest extant version of the story is that found in Vita Adae et Evae (Life of Adam and Eve) 13:1–16:3 which some scholars argue could originally be as old as 100 BC, although the current Latin text dates to circa AD400. In this version, the story is told in the first person, with Satan explaining to Adam why he was cast out of heaven. Satan reports that it was Michael who had brought Adam before the angels and commanded them to worship him; Satan refused, protesting that Adam was younger and inferior, so Adam should be worshipped by him. Michael continues to insist upon obedience but Satan and many angels refused, following which God cast them out of heaven. There are many Jewish versions of Iblis and Adam, including allusions to the tale in both 2 Enoch and a myriad of rabbinic uses of the story. Ginzeberg discusses these, several of which combine it and the account of Adam naming the animals (as does sura 2). Satan protests to God that he and the angels had been created from Shekinah glory itself and were now being asked to prostrate to a thing made from dust! It is at this point that God asks Satan to demonstrate his superiority by naming the animals; he fails, Adam succeeds, and Satan is cast out of heaven (An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’an, p.6).”
The Life of Adam and Eve is also known in its Greek version as the Apocalypse of Moses.
5. The Sleepers in the cave and their dog
In Surah 18:8–25, we are told about the legend of the companions of a cave in a story of youths and their dog who take refuge from danger in a cave. They miraculously sleep for around 300 years, after which they wake up and depart from the cave.
The story has many parallels in apocryphal Christian works, such as the Acta Sanctorum by the Syriac writer Jacob of Sarug (died 521 AD). “The oldest mention of the legend in the east we find made by Dionysius of Tell Mahra in a Syrian work of the fifth century AD; in the west by Theodosius in his book on the Holy Land” (Gibb and Kramers, Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, p. 45).
Regarding the timeframe, the Qur’an states in Surah 18:25 “They had remained in their cave for three hundred years, adding nine.”
The exact number of youths is also not specified. Surah 18:22 reads:
They [i.e., people] will say there were three, the fourth of them being their dog; and they will say there were five, the sixth of them being their dog — guessing at the unseen; and they will say there were seven, and the eighth of them was their dog. Say, [O Muḥammad], “My Lord is most knowing of their number. None knows them except a few. So do not argue about them except with an obvious argument and do not inquire about them among [the speculators] from anyone.”
6. 8 Examples of Apocryphal gospel borrowing and the Qur’an
We touched base with Islamic studies scholar Dr. Bernie Power who provided the following 8 examples of apocryphal gospel borrowing in the Qur’an.
Gospel of Thomas: Why is it missing from the Bible? 10 Considerations
Here’s some more examples in more detail:
7. Mary provided with food miraculously as a child
Surah 3:37: So her Lord accepted her with good acceptance and caused her to grow in a good manner and put her in the care of Zechariah. Every time Zechariah entered upon her in the prayer chamber, he found with her provision. He said, “O Mary, from where is this [coming] to you?” She said, “It is from Allāh. Indeed, Allāh provides for whom He wills without account.”
Chapter 8 of the Protoevangelium of James (a 2nd century apocryphal work) reads: And her parents went down marvelling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel.
Evidently, there is a clear parallel between the Qur’an and a 2nd century apocryphal work, the Protoevangelium of James in Mary being miraculously provided food as a child.
8. The palm tree provides for Mary while pregnant
Surah 19:22–26: So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, “Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten.” But he called her from below her, “Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream. And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, ‘Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.’”
The apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew reads in chapter 20:
And it came to pass on the third day of their journey, while they were walking, that the blessed Mary was fatigued by the excessive heat of the sun in the desert; and seeing a palm tree, she said to Joseph: Let me rest a little under the shade of this tree. Joseph therefore made haste, and led her to the palm, and made her come down from her beast. And as the blessed Mary was sitting there, she looked up to the foliage of the palm, and saw it full of fruit, and said to Joseph: I wish it were possible to get some of the fruit of this palm. And Joseph said to her: I wonder that you say this, when you see how high the palm tree is; and that you think of eating of its fruit. I am thinking more of the want of water, because the skins are now empty, and we have none wherewith to refresh ourselves and our cattle. Then the child Jesus, with a joyful countenance, reposing in the bosom of His mother, said to the palm: O tree, bend your branches, and refresh my mother with your fruit. And immediately at these words the palm bent its top down to the very feet of the blessed Mary; and they gathered from it fruit, with which they were all refreshed.
In both stories, Mary is fatigued, sits under a palm tree and in a somewhat miraculously fashion is provided produce from the palm tree.
9. Jesus speaking from the cradle
Surah 19:29–30: So she pointed to him. They said, “How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?” [Jesus] said, “Indeed, I am the servant of Allāh. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.
The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour that likely dates to the 5th of 6th century AD (before the rise of Islam) reads:
We find what follows in the book of Joseph the high priest, who lived in the time of Christ. Some say that he is Caiaphas. He has said that Jesus spoke, and, indeed, when He was lying in His cradle said to Mary His mother: I am Jesus, the Son of God, the Logos, whom you have brought forth, as the Angel Gabriel announced to you; and my Father has sent me for the salvation of the world.
10. Jesus bringing clay birds to life
In Surah 3:49 Jesus proclaims:
And [make him] a messenger to the Children of Israel, [who will say], ‘Indeed I have come to you with a sign from your Lord in that I design for you from clay [that which is] like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird by permission of Allāh. And I cure the blind [from birth] and the leper, and I give life to the dead — by permission of Allāh. And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your houses. Indeed in that is a sign for you, if you are believers.
The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour reads in 1:36:
Now, when the Lord Jesus had completed seven years from His birth, on a certain day He was occupied with boys of His own age. For they were playing among clay, from which they were making images of asses, oxen, birds, and other animals; and each one boasting of his skill, was praising his own work. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys: The images that I have made I will order to walk. The boys asked Him whether then he were the son of the Creator; and the Lord Jesus bade them walk. And they immediately began to leap; and then, when He had given them leave, they again stood still. And He had made figures of birds and sparrows, which flew when He told them to fly, and stood still when He told them to stand, and ate and drank when He handed them food and drink. After the boys had gone away and told this to their parents, their fathers said to them: My sons, take care not to keep company with him again, for he is a wizard: flee from him, therefore, and avoid him, and do not play with him again after this.
Infancy Gospel of Thomas (2nd century AD)
Similarly the Infancy Gospel of Thomas that likely dates to the 2nd century AD, on which the Arabic Infancy Gospel likely relied states in 2:1–2:
(1) The child Jesus was five years old. After it rained, he was playing at the ford of a flowing stream. And stirring up the dirty waters, he gathered them into pools, and he made them clean and excellent, ordering them by word alone — and not ordering them by a deed. (2) Then, having taken soft clay from the mud, he formed twelve sparrows from it. But it was the Sabbath when he did these things, and many children were with him..
11. Going one step further.. is Jesus appearing to have been crucified copied from the Gospel of Basilides?
Nabeel Qureshi in No God but One: Allah or Jesus? went one step further to suggest Surah 4:157 “they neither killed him nor crucified him” traces back to the 3rd century Apocryphal Gospel of Basilides (p.200). Gnostic texts did not believe the divine could suffer physically. Thus, any physical suffering was merely an appearance.
Goodreads
Ehrman notes we do not have the Gospel of Basilides so are reliant on what authors like Irenaeus tell us.
Quoting Ehrman: 20 Bart Ehrman quotes every NON-CHRISTIAN should know
Irenaeus records what Basilides taught about the death of Jesus on the cross in Against Heresies, “He [Christ] did not himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain man of Cyrene, being compelled, bore the cross in his stead; so that this latter being transfigured by him, that he might be thought to be Jesus, was crucified, through ignorance and error.”
Ehrman explains:
To understand Basilides’ account of the crucifixion, it’s important to realize (or remember) that many Gnostics did not believe that Christ, as a divine being, could actually suffer. If he seemed to suffer (he was crucified, after all), then it was in fact all an appearance. Different Gnostics had different ways of explaining how it was an appearance: some said that Christ did not have a real flesh-and-blood body, so that when it appeared that his enemies inflicted pain and death on him, they were actually unable to do so; others said that the Christ was a divine being and that Jesus was a separate, human being, in whom the Christ came at his baptism and left at his crucifixion, leaving Jesus, the man, to suffer alone, while the Christ, the divine being, was beyond suffering. And Basilides had yet a different explanation.
This is sounding a lot like Surah 4:157:
And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh.” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
Sure, Romans conducted crucifixion but the Jews did condemn Jesus to death (Mark 14:64) and in Surah 4:157 claim to have killed him.
Dr. Power, however, is not convinced of a clear parallel claiming the Qur’an is unclear whether Jesus died or not due to Arabic terms for dying being applied to Jesus in Surah 5 and Surah 21. Power also emphasises the fact Romans crucified Jesus not Jews.
Jesus’ crucifixion is one of the most certain facts in ancient history even according to agnostic and atheist scholars. More here:
Did Jesus REALLY Rise from the Dead? Your Comprehensive Guide
Are the Gospels based on eyewitness accounts? 10 key considerations
12. Solomon’s Talking Bird and when the Queen of Sheba lifts her dress in Solomon’s Palace
In Surah 27:16–44, there is a story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Qur’an says Solomon had birds fighting for him in battle (27:20). Solomon then cannot find his hoopoe bird (27:20) and gets upset. The bird then comes back to Solomon and talks to him about the Queen of Sheba (27:22).
As the Queen enters the palace, she lifts her dress thinking the floor is made of water when it is really made of glass.
Surah 27:44 reads:
She was told, “Enter the palace.” But when she saw it, she thought it was a body of water and uncovered her shins [to wade through]. He said, “Indeed, it is a palace [whose floor is] made smooth with glass.” She said, “My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, and I submit with Solomon to Allāh, Lord of the worlds.”
This exact story comes from the Jewish Second Targum of Esther.
“One day, the king (Solomon), observing that the mountain-cock or hoopoe was absent, ordered that the bird be summoned forthwith. When it arrived it declared that it had for three months been flying higher and thither seeking to discover some country not yet subjected to Solomon, and had at length found a land in the East, exceedingly rich in gold, silver, and plants, whose capital was called “Kitor” and whose ruler was a woman, known as the ‘Queen of Saba (Sheba)’.. the bird suggest that it should fly to the queen and bring her to Solomon. The king approved this proposal; and Solomon, accordingly, caused a letter to be tied to the hoopoe’s wing.. On being information of her arrived, Solomon, sent his chief minister, Benaiah, to meet her, and then seated himself in a glass pavilion. The queen, thinking that the king was sitting in water, lifted her dress, which caused Solomon to smile (quoted in The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 11 eds. Isidore and Singer, Cyrus Alder, [Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1907] p.443).”
Bernard Grossfield dates this Targum to the early 7th century. Beate Ego agrees with this dating.
A similar story is found in Legends of the Jews 4.5. Although published in the early 1900s, this work seeks to compile legends found in Jewish traditions through time.
13. Did a Syriac Legend about Alexander the Great makes it way into the Qur’an?
Surah 18 contains a story about Dhul-Qarnayn (the two-horned one). Historically many Muslims scholars have associated this with Alexander the Great (eg. Yusuf Ali).
In ancient coins, there are drawings of Alexander the Great with two horns on his head.
Horns of Alexander — Wikipedia
Richard Stoneman in The Ancient Novel and Beyond p.8 notes, “the two names (Alexander the Great and Dhul Qarnayn) were already synonymous when Muhammad came to compose this sura of the Qur’an.”
This story has striking legends with Syriac source, A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander.
In both stories:
- A gate of iron/ wall gets built (18:95–96)
- The sun rises and people have no shelter (18:90)
- Person has two horns (18:83)
- Gog and Magog spread corruption through the land (18:94)
Interestingly, while telling this narrative, Muhammad claims in Surah 18:83:
And they ask you, [O Muḥammad], about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say, “I will recite to you about him a report.”
In the Qur’an Alexander is presented as a God-fearing Muslim but history shows he was a pagan idolater.
You can read A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander here.
14. Failed Attempts at Borrowing History- Confusing Old Testament Narratives?
The Old Testament dates to over a thousand years before the Qur’an. Yet, does the Qur’an potentially confuse details in the Old Testament or seem to borrow or alter details? Do these passages point to failed attempts at borrowing?
Ezra as God’s son?
Surah 9:30: The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allāh”; and the Christians say, “The Messiah is the son of Allāh.” That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before [them]. May Allāh destroy them; how are they deluded?
Yet, Jews do not think Ezra is God’s son in the same way Christians think the Messiah is God’s son. In the Bible, Ezra helps restore God’s law but is never recognised as God’s son.
Dr. Bernie Power provided 3 other references:
Saul and Gideon confused?
- Saul and Gideon are confused, with some of their troops being dismissed for drinking water in a certain way from a river e.g. Q.2:249 vs. Judges 7:1–7
Surah 2:249: And when Saul went forth with the soldiers, he said, “Indeed, Allāh will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand.” But they drank from it, except a [very] few of them. Then when he had crossed it along with those who believed with him, they said, “There is no power for us today against Goliath and his soldiers.” But those who were certain that they would meet Allāh said, “How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allāh. And Allāh is with the patient.”
By contrast, Judges 7:4–7 recalls a similar story about Gideon, not Saul:
And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ shall not go.” 5 So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink.” 6 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon, “With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.
Moses and Haman contemporaries when they lived 800 years apart?
2. Moses and Haman are presented in the Qur’an as contemporaries, although they lived about 8 centuries apart. The name Haman appears six times throughout the Qur’an, Qur’an 29:39,40:24, 40:36, 28:6 28:8 and 28:38. four times with Pharaoh and twice by himself. In the Bible, Haman is the protagonist of Mordecai, in the book of Esther (45 references in chapters 3 to 9).
Surah 28:38: And Pharaoh said, “O eminent ones, I have not known you to have a god other than me. Then ignite for me, O Hāmān, [a fire] upon the clay and make for me a tower that I may look at the God of Moses. And indeed, I do think he is among the liars.”
Surah 28:8: And the family of Pharaoh picked him up [out of the river] so that he would become to them an enemy and a [cause of] grief. Indeed, Pharaoh and Hāmān and their soldiers were deliberate sinners.
Again, in the Old Testament, Haman and Moses live during completely different times.
Moses and Jacob
3. Moses and Jacob are potentially confused in Q.28:27 vs. Gen.29:14–30 for working for their future fathers-in-law for several years to gain their wives
Surah 28:27: He said, “Indeed, I wish to wed you one of these, my two daughters, on [the condition] that you serve me for eight years; but if you complete ten, it will be [as a favor] from you. And I do not wish to put you in difficulty. You will find me, if Allāh wills, from among the righteous.”
Genesis 29:15–16, 27–28: 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” 28 Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
There is no evidence in the Bible of Moses working for a man with two daughters. The Old Testament narratives concerning Moses pre-date the Qur’an by over 1000 years. It is interesting similarities from the story of Jacob are applied to Moses.
Conclusion:
We have provided detailed evidence to demonstrate the following:
- The Qur’an was not written in pure Arabic but included over 250 words from other languages
- The Qur’an does not use the word Allah anywhere near as often in the earliest surahs as it does in the later surahs, indicating potential development and change rather than being based on an eternal uncreated source
- The Qur’an has a high formulaic density as demonstrated by Andy Bannister, indicating heavy reliance on oral traditions that incorporated legends circulating at the time
- The Qur’an’s narrative on Satan and Adam parallels a legendary tale from apocryphal work the Life of Adam and Eve
- The Qur’anic story of the sleepers in the cave and their dog mirrors a 5th-6th century Syrian tale
- There are at least 8 cases of possible apocryphal gospel borrowing in the Qur’an
- Mary being miraculously provided with food as a child appeared in 2nd century apocryphal work the Protoevangelium of James well before getting a mention in the Qur’an
- The story of the palm tree providing for Mary in Surah 19 is similar to an apocryphal story in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
- Jesus speaking from the cradle appeared in embellished apocryphal works the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour and the Infacy Gospel of Thomas before it appeared in the Qur’an
- Jesus bringing clay birds to life as a child also appears in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
- Jesus appearing to have been crucified but not suffering has similarities with the 3rd century apocryphal Gospel of Basilides
- The story of Solomon’s talking bird and the Queen of Sheba lifting her dress in Solomon’s palace mirrors earlier Jewish tales found in the Second Targum of Esther
- The account in Surah 18 about Dhul-Qarnayn has striking similarities with legends of Alexander the Great found in Syriac source, A Christian Legend Concerning Alexander.
- Failed attempts at borrowing- the Qur’an not only includes legendary information but confuses historical information found in the Old Testament
With all this context, make up your own mind. Is the Qur’an the eternal uncreated word of Allah or does it show signs of reliance on legendary works circulating at the time of Muhammad?
I would also like to thank Dr. Bernie Power for his assistance, in providing information and guidance in the research process for this article. We will have more articles with Dr. Power in the future, Lord willing so please be sure to subscribe and refer our Substack newsletter to friends or family who want to learn more about Islam. You can find Dr. Power’s resources at www.berniepower.com
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