1“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,    my chosen one in whom I delight;I will put my Spirit on him,    and he will bring justice to the nations.2 He will not shout or cry out,    or raise his voice in the streets.3 A bruised reed he will not break,    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.In faithfulness he will […]

In another article we have looked at perhaps the most popular claimed prophecy in the Qur’an. Less discussed is a potentially false prophecy in the Qur’an. The earlier stage – divine cataclysm In his book (2013 [1990]) God, Muhammad and the unbelievers, David Marshall argues that there is an evolution within the Qur’an in how […]

Muhammad, at least in the Qur’an, does not make many future proclamations. However in Q 30 we read: 2 The Byzantines have been defeated 3 in [their] nearest land. They will reverse their defeat with a victory 4 in a few years’ time: God is in command, first and last. (Abdel Haleem translation is used […]

In my reading, and as mentioned in a few of my blog posts here on this site (see ‘Apocryphal and non-canonical stories’ here), I have come across a number of occasions where the Qur’an seems to be interacting with non-canonical Jewish and Christian stories. In my blog posts I have explained why I find this […]

83 [Prophet], they ask you about Dhu ‘l-Qarnayn. Say, ‘I will tell you something about him.’ 84 We established his power in the land, and gave him the means to achieve everything. 85 He travelled on a certain road; 86 then, when he came to the setting of the sun, he found it [seemed to […]

TLTR Summary: Q 5:95 and Q 5:89 say that sometimes atonement is required for forgiveness. One of the starkest differences between Christian and Muslim theology is on the doctrine of salvation, or ‘soteriology’. I’m not even sure if a Muslim would use this language (please do let me know in the comments Muslim readers); rather […]

Q 2:111 – ‘They [i.e. the People of the Book] also say, ‘No one will enter Paradise unless he is a Jew or a Christian.’ This is their own wishful thinking. [Prophet], say, ‘Produce your evidence, if you are telling the truth.’ (Abdel Haleem) This is a rather curious passage. We are told that the […]

Please find above an Excel spreadsheet containing about 70 or so verses which I’ve come across which I believe suggest that the Qur’an is affirming the reliability of the Torah and the Gospel. They cover numerous categories from ‘Bad motives’ (suggesting the issue is the behaviour of Jews and Christians and not their corrupt texts), […]

Check out our latest YT video here. It relates to our blog post here. Video description: We focus on two generally neglected Qur’an verses to see what, or whom, the People of the Book are supposed to recognise as clearly ‘as they recognise their sons.’ In this video we argue that the object of recognition […]

Check out our first ever YT video here. Initial feedback is that I need to speak faster – duly noted for future videos, for this one you may wish to speed it up. The topic discussed is a snapshot of our article, ‘The Qur’anic paternity test: attempting to recognise our own sons‘