Friday, December 15, 2006

Does The Quran have Texts from other Documents of History Past?

Salam All,
Today I Wish to Answer Another Question I have been asked many an occasion.

Does The Quran Have Texts From Other Documents Of History Past?
The Answer Is Yes, an as an Islamic Muslim Scholar it is my job to show the references of where some of Islamic Beliefs Came From.

Included among these are;

Satan's refusal to worship Adam (surah 2:30-38;7:11-18;17:61-63) and his expulsion from God's Presence. Its Parallel is found in the 2nd century's Talmudic Jewish writings.

An aberrant account of the murder of Abel by Cain (surah 5:27-32). the Parallel is found in the Targum of Jonathan-Ben-Uzziah and the Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:45.

The Story of Abraham destroying Idols (surah 21:51-71) us also found in the 2nd century collection of Jewish Folk tales known as the Midrash Rabbah.

The Account of God threatening to squash the Jews by dropping Mount Sinai on them (surah 2:63;7:171) is also found in the 2nd century Jewish collection known as Abodah Sarah.

The Story of King Solomon, the hoopoe bird and the Queen of Sheba (surah 27:17-44) is sourced in the II Targum of Esther, another 2nd Century Jewish Creation.

The Story of Mary, Imram & Zechariah (surah 3:31-41) is found in a 2nd century Christian Folktale included in The Protoevangelion's James the Lesser.

Fables regarding Jesus' birth (surah 19:16-28) are traceable to a 2nd century work known as The Lost Books of the Bible.

A Story recounting the infant Jesus being able to talk (surah 19:29-33) is originally Found in the 2nd century Egyptian Apocryphal writings known as The 1st Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ.

Jesus creating birds from clay (surah 3:49) is yet from another 2nd century work, Thomas' Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ.

The Use of balance to weigh believers' good & bad deeds on the Day of Judgment (surah 42:17;101:6-9) is found in the earlier Testament of Abraham.

Concepts of Paradise in which the righteous will be rewarded by access to perpetually virgin beautiful maidens(huris) (surah 2:25;3:15;4:15;44:54;55:56-58;56:22-24,35-37) are also found in Persian Zoroastrianism.
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The Name used for Deluge(Tufan), is a foreign word and is found in the Targum of Onkelos(Gen 7).

We are told that Abraham's father was an idolater whom he wished to convert to Monotheism. This addition may be traced to Midrash Rabbah on Genesis(para38)

Like the Quranic Account, the Rabbis recorded how the hand of Moses became leprous before pharaoh, which isn't Biblical.

The Quran claims that Pharaoh claimed divinity, this being in line with Jewish Legend contained in the Midrash Rabbah on exodus,para 5.

The Quran also States that pharaoh repented(10:39ff). This equates with a similar tale of Pirke Rabbi Eliezer,section 45.

The references to the 7 heavens, circles,strongholds & courses(suras 2:29;23:17,86 etc) have great affinity with the Talmud(Chagiga 96:12).Reference should also be made to the Slavomic Enoch 3:21.

Concerning the Description of Last Things,Yajay & Mujay(surah 18:93-97) are the Gog & Magog of Ezekiel 38 & 39.

The special use of "Kaffara" in sura 47:2 importing 'absolution', is associated with Jewish & Christian Ideas of Atonement.

Solomon was a great magician who had control of Demons,Spirits & Winds (sura 38:34-37), this account came from the 2nd targum of the book of Esther, and is possibly derived from a mistaken interpretation of Ecclesiastes 2:8.

The account in sura 3 opens with the story of the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary, as found in Protoevangelium of James. the Protoevangelium of James is an apocryphal book of the 2nd century A.D.

After this we find the Miracles of the Infancy-that Jesus spoke in His Cradle, an made clay birds & breathed life into them. These parallel to the stories in the Arabic gospel of the infancy(32), an in the apocryphal gospel of Thomas.

Ablutions before prayer(salat) are commanded in the Talmud, and in the sura 5:7 of the Quran.

No clear distinction is made between Angels & Jinn.
In sura 2:30, Satan appears as one of the Angels, and as one of the Jinn in surah 18:50. A similar conclusion appears in the "Book of Jubilee" 2:2 (Jewish Pseudopigraphia where we read the Jinn were made of Fire.

Satan is spoken of in the Quran under the Name 'Shaytan', which is the equivalent, and the name 'Iblis', which is a corruption of the Greek 'Diabolos'. He is represented as the head of a host, and it is interesting to find of the plurality of Satans(Shaytin) in the Quran, having parallel the Book of Enoch.

The Quran contains many references to Gabriel as an agent of revelation, and he is identified with the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Jubilees 32:31 speaks of an angel bringing down 7 tablets of revelation to Jacob.
In a fragment of the 'Prayer of Joseph' (23:15) reserved in Pilocalia, we read;'For i have read the tablets of heaven all that shall befall you & your sons.' This agrees with the reference in sura 7:145, where heavenly tablets are said to contain the details of everything.

Muhammad's usage of language such as 'nabi' (prophet) and 'nabuwwa' (prophecy) are borrowed from older religions.
To Quote another scholar, Wright, in Comparative Grammar(pg46), states that they are of Jewish-Arabic origin. Yet again this Refutes Muhammad's claim that the Quran is Pure Arabic.

From your Devoted Scholar in Islam & Imam
Musa Ibn Israil.

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