Divine Revelation or Demonic Hoax?

For centuries, many people have believed that Islam's holy book the Quran, was revealed by God from heaven. In fact, Muslims believe that no one has the right to even question the Quran, and anyone who does is worthy of contempt and even death.

Thankfully, we still have the freedom in the west to critique the Quran because that freedom doesn't exist in many other parts of the world. While many Muslims openly claim they believe that the Quran is divine and unquestionable, many others have their doubts about that book's authenticity.

And for good reason. How so? For starters, the Quran presents two conflicting accounts of God's creation of the physical universe. One account claims that God created the universe in eight literal days, (Sura 41:9-12) while the other account claims that God created the universe in only six literal days. (Sura 7:51)

Then there's the Quran's revelation concerning Muhammad's reception of that book. Suras 53:2-18 and 81:19-24 state that God appeared directly to Muhammad and dictated the Quran to him while Suras 16:102 and 26:192-194 claim that "the Holy Spirit" appeared to Muhammad and revealed the Quran. And Sura 15:8 states that a group of angels appeared to Muhammad and revealed the Quran to him while Sura 2:97 claims that the archangel Gabriel personally appeared to Muhammad and dictated that book to him.

If that's not enough, the Quran contains some serious historical inaccuracies. For example, the Islamic holy book claims that Jesus Christ's physical mother Mary was also the sister of the Hebrew patriarchs Moses and Aaron. (Sura 19:28) That's impossible because Moses and Aaron lived over 1,000 years before Mary gave birth to Christ.

There are other examples. The Quran states that crucifixion was a method of capital punishment utilized by the ancient Egyptians during the time of the Pharoahs. (Sura 7:124) That's erroneous because crucifixion was unknown until it was introduced by the Romans in the 1st century B.C.

The Quran also states that the Jews built the infamous golden calf idol at the suggestion of a Samaritan. (Sura 20:87-95) The Samaritans didn't even exist during the time of the Jews' 40-year journey from Egypt to Canaan which later became Israel.

The Quran also claims that Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), the king of ancient Macedonia was a Muslim who worshiped Allah and lived to a ripe old age. (Sura 18:89-98) That's false because Alexander died at age 33, and Islam didn't even exist at that time and wouldn't come into existence until the 7th century A.D.

Islam teaches that God revealed the Quran in Arabic. And yet, according to Arthur Jeffrey who wrote the highly informative The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran, the Islamic holy book contains words from several different languages including Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Akkadian, Ethiopian and Persian. In fact, Jeffrey counted words from over 100 different languages in the Quran, debunking the claim that it was revealed entirely in Arabic.

With this volume of evidence, how can anyone with a rational and objective mind believe that the Quran is anything but a hoax, and a cruel one at that? Sadly, millions of people are either too afraid or too immersed in Islamic culture to admit that. Surely, in many parts of the world, to question the Quran is to invite persecution and death. Tragically, fear is the motivating factor that keeps these people silent.

What's even worse is the myth that Islam is a multicultural religion unlike Christianity that's considered "the white man's religion." According to the Quran, only whites will be saved on Judgment Day while all blacks will be condemned to hell. (Sura 3:106-107) 

And according to Victor and Deborah Khalil: American blacks have been wooed by Islam, but through misinformation. They are told that Muhammad and Allah are black. In reality, Muslims in the Middle East still regard blacks as slaves. It would be worse than blasphemy for them to believe that either Allah or Muhammad were black. (When Christians Meet Muslims, Christian Herald, July/August 1988, p. 44)

Jesus Christ said this in regards to false teachers who come to murder the souls of innocent people: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Islam is the thief that steals and kills and destroys. But Christ is the One who has brought us eternal life through His death on Calvary's cross for all sin and His resurrection from the dead. As Christ said: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) Indeed.