Islamic Apologetics

There are those who try to attack the linguistic details in the Qur’an, in an effort to prove certain concepts incorrect. These arguments often ignore the actual context of the situation or they even ignore what the Qur’an specifically says about these situations. One such issue has arisen regarding who exactly the Qur’an allows us to call ‘mother.’ The missionaries have written an article claiming that the Qur’an contradicts itself when it comes to who “one can call mother.” This article will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that such a claim is not only lame but unfounded and unreasonable. To do so we will cover the verses that deal with the usage of the word ‘mother.’ We will look at the so-called contradiction as well as the usage of the word ‘mother’ in the Arabic language.

This paper critically examines a claim made by the critics of Islam that Aishah, the wife of Prophet Muhammad, had doubts towards the reality of his prophethood. The context of saying is highlighted as a tool to see its actual implications. And the whole claim is deconstructed through understanding of the key words and Prophet’s conduct on the issue. And in doing all this positive argument is made for the prophethood of the Prophet.

یہ  تحقیقی کاوش ایک ملحدانہ اعتراض کے جواب میں پیش کی جا رہی ہے، جو بھارت سے تعلق رکھنے والے ایک ملحد شخص، جو فرضی نام سے اسلام کے خلاف زہریلا پراپیگنڈہ کرتا ہے، کی تحریر کا جواب ہے۔ اِس قسم کی تحقیقی کاوش اِس سے قبل اُردو زُبان میں پیش نہیں کی گئی۔ لہٰذا یہ اپنی نوعیت کی پہلی تحقیق ہے جو عبرانی زُبان وادب اور یہودی صحائف کا احاطہ کر کے کچھ ایسے موضوعات پر بحث کرتی ہے، جن کا فہم برِصغیر پاک وہند کے مسلمان علماء کے اندر خال
خال ہی پایا جاتا ہے۔ قارئین سے گزارش ہے کہ اِس تحریر کا بغور مطالعہ کریں اور اپنے خیالات اور تاثرات سے نوازیں۔

One very important question that is raised when it comes to the Noble Qur’an is: how well was it preserved? This is not just important to the enemies of Islam – who seek to disprove its beautiful message – but this is very significant to Muslims as well. If Islam is your religion, then you should want to know how your Divine Message was maintained throughout the years because you want to know if what you are reading is actually the words of Allah- your Lord. Moreover, there are some claims that the Qur’an was compiled many years after the life of the Prophet, but this is a misconception that will be cleared to show that not only was it compiled during the lifetime of the Prophet, but it was done with his supervision. This article will cover some of the concerns that have been raised when it comes to the preservation of the Message, and it will prove – without a doubt – that the Qur’an is indeed the exact words of Allah, unchanged throughout the years.

Critics of Islam often bring up issues that seem to be controversial without providing the proper context for the situation or how such a situation would have been viewed in light of Arab society at the time of the Prophet – peace be upon him. This leads to false information being spread and misleading impressions being given. One such issue is with the wording of a response that the Companion Abu Bakr to one of the pagans. These critics claim that Abu Bakr was unnecessarily insulting and insensitive to the other’s religion. This article will examine the context of this incident and explain how Abu Bakr’s statement would have been viewed by the Arabs during that particular time period.

The majority of materials available to equip missionaries in answering Muslim objections to the Christian faith are primarily rooted in Arminian theology and pragmatism. To date, the bulk of apologetic arguments written to answer Muslims are also heavily influenced by evidential apologetics. This research was conducted in response to an absence of a truly Reformed presuppositional apologetic (RPA) approach to Muslim objections. 
The goal of this research was to fill the gap in the literature by presenting how presuppositional apologetics can be applied with Muslims. The common Muslim argument specifically addressed is the claim that the Bible has been changed and/or corrupted, and therefore is not authoritative.   
Before answering this claim the research examined the theological aspects of Reformed presuppositional apologetics, the biblical rationale and grounds for a truly RPA model and historical usage of presuppositionalism in the early church applied with Muslims. 
The two sides of RPA were employed to answer the allegation of the corruption of the Scriptures. The proposed model is called Presuppositional Approach with Muslims (PAM). The two aspects of PAM presented were the negative and positive and each with three areas of content: (1) authority, (2) experience, and (3) evidence. The result of the research was the presentation of a biblical and presuppositional approach that can be effectively employed when answering Muslim objections.

Once again, we come across a hadith that seems to have an ‘odd’ phrasing when looked at from the literal perspective - even more so when approached from the English language. Some have called it vulgar, others think it sounds superstitious; but one thing is for sure: none of them have any idea what the phrase actually means! The hadith in question uses a phrase that involves Satan urinating in one’s ear, but if we take a look at the use of this phrase in the Arabic language, we will quickly come to the conclusion that this phrase cannot be taken at face-value. This article will examine the hadith and other ones like it. It will also note what the scholars have said about this phrase, and it will clear up any misconceptions about the hadith.

The misinterpretation of the hadiths of our beloved Prophet – peace be upon him – is very common in today’s society, especially when many of the people criticizing these hadiths are not well-informed about the Arabic language. In fact, some of them do not even speak it or understand more than a few words of it! When the situation is as stated, many turn to the English translation to understand some small piece of Islam, but they look at it through the wrong eyes and come to conclusions that no one who was familiar with the Arabic language would do. One such hadith that allegedly calls women ‘devils’ will be examined in this article. We will look at the actual wording of the hadith, what the scholars have said about this use of the word, what the word means in other hadiths and finally we will come to a conclusion about the topic at-hand.

Some critics of Islam try to attack the consistency of the Prophet’s actions, in an effort to show that there are contradictions in the religion. They do this as an effort to delegitimize Islam, thus achieving their goal of spreading disbelief. Islam is far above such accusations, and if one were to take the time to examine the full evidence provided - not just the few excerpts provided by people who are unfamiliar with Islamic study - then they would surely come to the correct conclusion. One such accusation is related to the Prophet’s direction in not allowing his cousin (who was married to his daughter) to marry another woman who was the daughter of the man who was once at war with Islam. These critics say that it does not make sense that the Prophet would prohibit polygamy while it is allowed in the Qur’an, and that his reasoning does not make sense since he was actually married to the daughter of one of the men fighting against Islam. This article will clearly explain why neither reason is comprehensible, even by using the same evidence that is brought up to “prove” the points of these critics.

Since the appearance of Orientalism in the English language and the propagation of Islamic knowledge through the Western languages, the Qur’an has been attacked in every way. Primary reason why the Orientalists have spread misconceptions about Islam and have been able to mislead many is their failure put in their best to appreciate the fuller details of Islamic sciences. Quranic Sciences or ‘Uloom al-Quran is one of such sciences, especially when it comes to the concept of different readings and what they mean. In this article I will review various approaches in understanding to the issue of Seven Ahruf, and how they have failed or succeeded in bringing clarity to this rather complex subject.

With their efforts to malign the Prophet of Islam having failed on the oft-discussed issues, the critics now pick on lesser known aspects of his life. One such issue is about the Prophet’s conduct with his wife Sawdah. It is alleged that the Prophet divorced her after years of marriage solely because of her advancing age. This paper critically analyzes the available information and shows how the revocable divorce pronounced by the Prophet was meant only to bring out some practical lessons for the Muslim community. It is also shows that the Prophet continued to show his love and affection for Sawdah even after the said incident.

Si les sources juives et chrétiennes sont unanimes sur le fait que le fils qu’Abraham devait sacrifier est Isaac, le fils né de Sarah, les savants musulmans, par contre, divergent : certains penchent pour Ismaël, premier-né d’Abraham né de Hagar ; d’autres, pour Isaac ; quand d’autres préfèrent ne pas trancher.

Human emotion is a very natural and normal way of expressing ourselves. All people have different emotions and they want to express them in their own way - whether these emotions are sadness, happiness, anger or grief. In an attempt to disconnect people from Islam and dehumanize the religion, some critics have said that Islam does not allow people to experience grief and that crying is completely not allowed on occasions such as the death of a loved one. As it happens too often, these claims lack substantiated proof or understanding of the proof that is cited. Even more surprising is that these critics do not look into their own religious texts to find out what their religion says about these types of emotions; if they did, they would find very similar lines of thought. This article will examine the evidence that the critics bring to the table, and then show the full explanation of each of these proofs in their proper light.

« The oral and the written in genesis, transmission and creation of a fixed text of the Qurʾān », in Philippe Cassuto et Pierre Larcher (under the direction of), The oral and the written in the Bible and the Qurʾān, Aix-en-Provence, Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2014, p. 99-142
« Oralité et écriture dans la genèse, la transmission et la fixation du Coran »

ماہانہ تحقیقی مُجّلے "الاسلام رئیل" میں شائع ہونے والے اِس مضمون کی اہمیت کا اندازہ آپ اِس بات سے لگا سکتے ہیں کہ اُردو زُبان میں یہ اپنی نوعیت کا پہلا مضمون ہے جو قُرآنِ کریم اور آلِ یہود کے صحائف کے مابین باہمی تعلق کی حقیقت اور تاریخی حیثیت کو تلاش کرنے کی سعی کرتا ہے۔ بُنیادی طور پر یہ مضمون اِسلام کے دفاع کے نقطہ نظر سے لکھا گیا ہے اور اِس کے اندر الحاد پرستوں کے اعتراضات کا مُدلّل جواب دیا گیا ہے۔ یہ مُختصر مضمون لکھنے کے لیے مصنف کو بےتحاشہ تحقیقی عرق ریزی کرنا پڑی جبکہ اِس تحریر کو مزید جامع اور مُستند بنانے کے لیے عبرانی ذرائع سے بھی براہِ راست استفادہ کرنا پڑا۔

اُمید کی جا سکتی ہے کہ آپ کو یہ تحقیقی کاوش ضرور پسند آئے گی۔ مضمون کسی حد تک طویل ضرور ہے لیکن انتہائی دلچسپ اور تاریخی علم سے بھرپُور ہے۔

You can read the journal at www.alislamreal.org

In the middle of the 7th century, Islam stormed throughout the Middle East, across North Africa, and even into Spain before the forces under Charles Martel near Tours, France, halted it in 732. In a mere one hundred years after the death of Muhammad, one-third of the Christian world was subjected to the rule of a new religion that John of Damascus (675-749) called the “heresy of the Ishmaelites.” How did the Christian Church respond to the invasion of Islam? Why was Islam so successful in subduing Christianity even though the Muslims were in the minority? Why did so many Christians convert to Islam?

There are many who seek to prove portions of the Qur’an or Sunnah wrong by presenting “logical” evidence as to why certain statements cannot be correct. However, they have often failed to understand the context of the statements; let alone the actual statements themselves! In order to truly understand what a verse from the Qur’an means, it must be approached by understanding the reason for its revelation and the actual language used in the verse. We cannot act like every verse is stand-alone and is meant to be read without any other supporting information. This article explores a commonly misunderstood verse that talks of Allah’s exclusive knowledge about what is in the womb and timing of rain among things and explains how claims about it failing in view of modern science are baseless.

Reading specific verses out of context could possibly change the meaning of the Qur’ān. Sometimes this misunderstanding is just due to ignorance of what the verses actually mean. Sometimes it is due to a malicious intent, in hopes of misleading others away from what the Qur’ān is actually saying. This article will discuss one of the stories in the Qur’ān that has been misinterpreted by some. The full context of the verses will be examined and it will be clear, without a doubt, as to what these verses are actually referring to.

В настоящей статье, впервые в отечественном востоковедении, автором исследуется ранняя исламская антихристианская и антиудейская исламская полемическая традиция, нашедшая свое отражение в текстах Корана, сунны и первых коранических толкований. Отдельно рассматривается начальный этап рецепции библейского текста раннеисламскими апологетами на примере сообщений, приписываемых таким авторитетам, как Ибн ʻАббас, Каʻб ал-Ахбар, Вахб б. Мунаббих и Мукатил б. Сулайман.

Statements related to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, are often taken out of context in order to further propagate the agenda of certain individuals that despise Islam. In this paper, we will examine a narration where such individuals claim that ‘A’ishah doubted the prophethood of Muhammad. It goes without saying that if such a disparaging claim from the wife of the Prophet were true, then this would change everything. However, the actual context of the statement, its wording in Arabic and the grading of the hadith must be examined before anyone can jump to false conclusions. It is always important to analyze such suggestions very closely, not only to disprove such claims, but so that we can know what the truth actually is.

« Apologetik. Islam », RGG [Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart], Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 1998, 4th ed., I, col. 622-623
Koran and Islamic religion are very apologetical and polemical
1. Apologetics in Koran. 2. Islamic-Jewish.
3. Islamic-Christian. 4. Islamic-dualistic