Removed from "Answering Islam"

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The following pages have been added newly or substantially revised at the following dates:

May 14, 2010
Today is "Zawadi Day" as Sam Shamoun provides plenty of rebuttals to recently published articles by Bassam Zawadi: (1) Were there Messengers sent to the Arabs before Muhammad?, (2) Reexamining Allah's Forgetfulness of the Muslim Wives, (3) A Rebuttal to Zawadi's Reply to TurretinFan's Article "Mohamed Did Not Believe that the Old Testament was Corrupt", (4) The Inconsistency of Bassam Zawadi (Part 1, Part 2), (5) Muhammad the Antagonist Still!, and (6) an Appendix to Muhammad on the Divine Throne. Masud Masihiyyen discusses further instances of Muhammad’s plagiarism and confusion in Surah 18: From Alexander to the Messiah. This detailed examination of the text and its sources leads to several new insights. Then we have another contribution to one of the most fundamental topics of discussion between Christians and Muslims: The Qur'an’s View of the Bible: A Study Guide by Callum Beck. The Trinity and Christian Missions to Muslims by Rev. Bassam Madany.

April 30, 2010
Sam Shamoun continues his series on The Binitarian Nature of the Shema with Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7. Moreover, he provides two rebuttals to Bassam Zawadi: (1) Does Islam really teach that Muhammad is the only Universal Messenger?, and (2) Revisiting the Issue of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah’s Comments Regarding the Text of the Torah One More Time.

April 23, 2010
The central Christian message to Muslims: Knowing God Personally by John Gilchrist. Do Christians and Muslims Worship the Same God? by Roland Clarke. A Case for the Deity of Christ in Light of Muslim Objections by Keith Thompson. Are there problems with John 3:16? by Dr. Dallas Roark answers to certain claims by Sami Zaatari. The Arabic Bible – Islam’s Friend or Foe? and The Binitarian Nature of the Shema (Part 4) by Sam Shamoun. Authorship of Barnabas: Was the Writer a Jew of the Time of Christ? is the second chapter of Dr. William Campbell's book on the Gospel of Barnabas. Samuel Green greatly expanded his article on The Different Arabic Versions of the Qur'an.

March 31, 2010
The Trinity in the Old Testament: A Brief Summary of the Evidence by Anthony Rogers. Two further books by John Gilchrist are finally available online: Muhammad: The Prophet of Islam and The Qur'an: The Scripture of Islam. Sam Shamoun presents rebuttals to (1) Sami Zaatari: Reexamining Some of the Reasons Why Muhammad cannot be a true Prophet of God [Part 1, [Part 2] and (2) Bassam Zawadi: Reexamining Islam’s Divine Insurance Scam [Part 1, Part 2]. Keith Thompson refutes an argument found on many Muslim websites: The Muslim Misuse of Hebrews 5:7. Earlier this month, on the first day of Spring, the Hindi language section of Answering Islam was launched.

March 8, 2010
Christianity as the Pathway to Refinement for a Muslim by Timothy Abraham. Why Islam Is Different from All Other Faiths by Rev. Bassam M. Madany. With Part IV the final installment of Arthur Jeffery's series The Qur'an as Scripture is now available, and we begin with the online publication of Dr. Campbell's book on the Gospel of Barnabas: Prologue and Chapter 1: Contradictions to the Qur'an in the Gospel of Barnabas. Masud Masihiyyen responds to Harun Yahya in regard to some of his claims about Scientific Predictions in the Qur'an. Then, we have some rebuttals to (1) Sami Zaatari: (a) What about Slavery in the Bible? by Dallas Roark, (b) The Messiah is God Indeed! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by Sam Shamoun, and (2) Unveiling Ibn Anwar (Part 1, Part 2). Finally, several papers on Christology and the Trinity: (1) Early Christian Writings on Genesis 19:24, (2) The Early Post-NT Witness to the Trinity and Deity of Christ, (3) The Binitarian Nature of the Shema (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

February 13, 2010
Sam Shamoun presents a number of christological articles: (1) How Jesus’ Claims to Messiahship prove he is God, (2) Refuting the Deity of Christ? – Understanding How the Use of Exclusive Language Functions in the Holy Bible (Part 1, Part 2), (3) Jesus as the First Creature and the Irrationality of Arianism, (4) Is Jesus Christ the Archangel Michael? and (5) another installment in the series of common questions: Does the fact that the Bible distinguish Jesus from God disprove his Deity? Furthermore, he provides a couple of rebuttals to (A) Bassam Zawadi: (1) Reexamining the Qur'an’s Distortion and Misrepresention of Historic Christian Beliefs, (2) The Arrogance and Ignorance of Bassam Zawadi, and (B) Ibn Anwar: Mark’s Prologue Examined In light of the assertions of an Incompetent Dawagandist. Arthur Jeffery's The Qur'an as Scripture, Part III was added to the Classical Library. With the last three articles we move from "academic" discussions to life (and death) issues: A Bloody Greeting for Coptic Christians As They Celebrate Christmas by Jacob Thomas. How I became a Christian is Khadija's testimony of conversion. Learning from the “New” Maghrebi Christians by Rev. Bassam Madany.

January 20, 2010
What is so bad about child brides? by Dallas Roark looks at the medical and social consequences when girls marry and thus become pregnant too early, which is a common problem in the Islamic world based on the model of Muhammad's marriage to young Aisha. A new Index entry on Child Brides provides links to further articles discussing this topic. The Incompatibility of Islam with Western Civilization by Jacob Thomas. Anthony Rogers added the subsection "Joshua and Jesus" to his article Do Not Be Afraid of Him – Part II examining the fulfillment of God's promise to send "a prophet like Moses". The Anatomy of Qur'an’s Mistakes by Masud Masihiyyen presents a detailed analysis of some major blunders and proposes explanations of how they might have arisen. The Quran on Moses as the Most High by Sam Shamoun discusses a discrepancy between Islamic theology and a quranic statement. Two articles show how the Trinity is necessary in order to have a satisfactory understanding of the nature of God, and to have a love relationship with God: (1) The Triune God – The Greatest Conceivable Being that Exists by Sam Shamoun. (2) When My Beloved Became Triune by Timothy Abraham is a meditation on the trinitarian nature of God supported with thoughts from Ibn Arabi. Finally, Sam Shamoun provides rebuttals to various Muslim authors: (1) Shabir Ally admits that the Quran confirms the Gospels, (2) Bassam Zawadi: (a) Examining the Muslim criticism of C. S. Lewis’ Trilemma, (b) The Word Became a Book – The Inlibration of Allah’s Word, (c) Islam’s Divine Insurance Scam, and (3) Sami Zaatari: (a) Examining John 17:3 Once Again!, (b) Allah is not the only true God and the only true God is not Allah.

December 23, 2009
The Great Christmas Crime explores the true meaning of Christmas. Since Muslims occasionally attack Christianity with the charge that Christmas has pagan origins, we reproduce an older article examining this question in greater detail: Christmas: Pagan Festival or Christian Celebration? Jacob Thomas reviews a new book: Journeys into the Heart and Heartland of Islam: Victims Speak Out.

December 12, 2009
Submitted to a Medieval Forgery by Masud Masihiyyen examines the reasons why many Muslims believe in and cling to the "Gospel of Barnabas" although it is proven to be late and fake. The Prophet and the Prophets is an appendix supplementing the series "Do Not Be Afraid Of Him" in which Anthony Rogers provides a careful exegesis of Deuteronomy 18, the primary passage abused by Muslims for finding Muhammad in the Bible. Dayton Hartman takes another look at aspects of Muslim misunderstandings of the Trinity: Did Muhammad Deny the Trinity or Paganism? Sam Shamoun contributes two christological papers: (1) Revisiting the Issue of Jesus Receiving the Divine Name According to Philippians 2:9 (Part 1, Part 2, Excursus), and (2) Binitarianism in the Book of Isaiah, and takes a closer look at the Islamic background of the Fort Hood shooting: Analyzing the Actions of Major Nidal Malik Hasan (Part 1, Part 2). Finally, Fort Hood in light of the Quran by Nakdimon is an open letter to CNN regarding one of their publications on the Fort Hood massacre.

November 14, 2009
Jacob Thomas comments on the Fort Hood massacre in The Consequences of America’s Failure to Understand Islam. Sam Shamoun answers to Bassam Zawadi's recent series of articles: The Deity of Christ in light of His Enthronement [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3] and Muhammad on the Divine Throne.

November 9, 2009
Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (*). Towers, walls and fortresses can be means of protection, but they can also used for oppression by unjustly imprisoning people, robbing them of their freedom. On the German "9.11.", or "11-9" in American notation, i.e. the mirror date of 9-11, millions of people who had been imprisoned all their lives because they were born into this physical and ideological prison, gained freedom for the first time. The destruction of the World Trade Towers on 9-11 caused the death of thousands of people. The destruction of the Berlin Wall, the border towers, the removal of the deadly mine fields, etc. meant liberation; not only the freedom to travel, but also genuine freedom to be critical of the ruling ideology, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Today's update is about demolishing towers that imprison people and about gaining the freedom to think critically and independently. The edifice of hundreds of alleged "miracles of the Qur'an" is one such strong tower that intellectually imprisons Muslims in Islam. The scientific "Miracle of Iron" and the historical "Miracle of Haman" are two of the most prominent among those miracles that have been fabricated by Muslim apologists to dazzle and shackle Muslim minds. 11-9 is an appropriate date for publishing articles which may open eyes and thus help Muslims to gain the freedom to start thinking independently from what their leaders tell them to think.

(1) The Haman Hoax by Jochen Katz is a comprehensive rebuttal series to the three versions of this argument as created by Maurice Bucaille, Islamic Awareness and Harun Yahya including several appendices with detailed background information (Who was Haman according to the Qur'an?, The similarities between Haman in the Bible and Haman in the Qur'an, The full inscription of "Haman's" door post, etc.). Associated with it, Amazing Qur’an or Amazing Gullibility? exposes various contradictions between several of Harun Yahya's articles on quranic statements about Egypt. (2) A Fortress of Iron or a Castle of Sand? by Masud Masihiyyen carefully examines the "Miracle of Iron" as propagated by Harun Yahya. Not to be outdone, Osama Abdallah also wanted to make some contribution to this miracle: Pondering the concept of “the Middle of the Qur’an”. The entries IRON and TOWER were added to the Index to Islam. Before one can build a tower, one needs a good foundation. Bassam Khoury's article The Impossibility of the Revelation of the Qur'an looks at that foundation and finds it wanting. Two former Muslims tell their story of searching for the truth and freedom: Fatimah's Testimony and Finding the Last Adam by Khaled.

November 4, 2009
We continue our rebuttal series to Ibn Anwar with two articles by Nakdimon: (1) A Trinity of abused texts by a Tawheedist responding to Ibn Anwar's argument "God is not a man = Jesus is not God" and (2) Eved Adonai – The Servant of the Lord: The clear reference to Yeshua haMashiach in Isaiah 53. Sam Shamoun contributes four articles providing further evidence for the Deity of Christ: (1) The Significance of Jesus’ Name in Acts, (2) The Inter-Testamental Jewish Literature and the Deity of the Lord Jesus [Part 3], (3) Jesus and the Criteria for Deity, and (4) an Addendum: A Critique of James D. G. Dunn’s Assessment of Paul’s Worship of Christ. Jacob Thomas again translates from an article by a reformist Algerian author: Islam & the Decline of the West. In the section on The Text of the Qur'an we added a file with a small List of differences between the Warsh and Hafs readings of the Qur'an and an off-site link to Studies in Two Transmissions Of The Qur'an by Adrian A Brockett. Finally, an article showing human influence on the Qur'an: A blind man reminds Muhammad and corrects the Qur’an by Rafael and, in order to provide some background information for this last article, an entry on Muhammad's blind companion Ibn Umm Maktum was added to our Index to Islam.

October 18, 2009
Critics of the Bible often refer to the two seemingly contradicting accounts of the death of Judas in Matthew 27 and Acts 1. Masud Masihiyyen carefully analyses the two passages in Judas Iscariot: One Man & Two Prophecies in Jeremiah. Mutee’a Al-Fadi asks: Can a Muslim have Hope in Allah’s Salvation? Jacob Thomas translates from and comments on an article by a reformist Muslim author: The Absence of Freedom in the Lands Governed by Sharia. Bart Ehrman has become a favorite of a number of Muslim polemicists because of his critical writings about the Bible. Bart Ehrman: A Hero for Islam? by Keith Thompson shows that Ehrman's writings are not quite as helpful to the cause of Islam as some are wont to imagine. Dallas Roark responds to a question sent to him by email: Is there Jihad in the Old Testament? Then we have a number of rebuttals to various Muslim authors. Nakdimon discusses claims by Osama Abdallah: Exchange about alleged mistranslations of Isaiah 53 and the Quranic error about Ezra in Surah 9:30. Anthony Rogers contributes two rebuttals to Sami Zaatari's website: (1) Silencing A Muslim Dawagandist is a refutation of Sami Zaatari’s “Jesus and Isaiah 53” and (2) A Lie Upon God? answers Ibn Anwar’s anti-Trinitarian “Examination of Mark 12:29-34”. Did Jesus teach us to hate? is another rebuttal to Ibn Anwar by Raphael Princ. Finally, Jochen Katz takes a look at some of Ibn Anwar's language blunders in The Likeness of a Donkey Carrying Books? In fact, Ibn Anwar may want to mark this day in his diary as a significant step to future fame since today he was awarded his own section on Answering Islam under the title Rebuttals to Ibn Anwar. Finally, an entry on Muslim Population Figures was added to the Index to Islam.

September 11, 2009
Today we remember the thousands of victims who died in the 9-11 terror attack on the World Trade Center towers, without forgetting those further victims of the hundreds of additional Muslim terror attacks throughout the world (Madrid, London, Beslan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria etc.) that took place in recent years. We want to point to Jesus, the only hope for mankind in this life and the life to come. Therefore, we present two articles on the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ: Yahweh – Our Kinsman Redeemer Has Come! and Examining the Deity of the Lord Jesus in light of the theology of Psalms.

September 2, 2009
Masud Masihiyyen shows why the quranic account of the Crucifixion is an Immature Resurrection of Gnosticism in Islam. Sam Shamoun answers a couple of Muslim attacks on Christian doctrine: Jesus Forgiving Sins In Light of the Lord's Prayer and The Lord Jesus Christ – The God-man who saves perfectly and to the uttermost! with a second part that applies the reasoning to Islam: Muhammad – The Curse of Muslims. Dallas Roark reflects on a list of alleged Top Ten Misconceptions about Islam and gives some sample correspondence with readers of his articles: Correspondence with a Muslim and Correspondence with a Muslimah.

August 22, 2009
Muslims try to undermine the necessity of Jesus' atoning death on the Cross by questioning the necessity of sacrifices with reference to the Old Testament: I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice? – What The OT Really Teaches Concerning Vicarious Sacrifices. Then, we provide more answers to and reflections on various Muslim attacks on the Trinitarian understanding of God: (1) The Plural of Majesty: Allah is Neither Plural nor Majestic by Anthony Rogers. (2) Yeshua (Jesus) – the Name above all names!, (3) God's Uniplurality and the Cohortative Mood, and (4) Reexamining the context of Mark 12:28-34 in light of Trinitarian Beliefs [Part 1, Part 2] by Sam Shamoun. Jochen Katz provides careful discussions on three more topics from the "Qur'an and Science" department: (1) Does the Qur'an Speak about Atoms? is the foundational linguistic analysis, (2) Subatomic Particles Revealed in the Qur'an? responds to a specific "scientific miracle" claims by Harun Yahya, Zakir Naik and others, and finally, (3) The "Water is needed for life to exist" Miracle in the Qur'an examines another product from Osama Abdallah's "Miracle Faketory". Sam Shamoun issues a new Challenge to the Muslims Concerning the Quran [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Excursus], and examines The Kabah - The Great Idol of Islam [Part 1, Part 2]. Jacob Thomas translates from and comments upon an article that was published by the Arabic newspaper Awan: “Anyone Who Claims that Jihad Does Not Originate from Religion (Islam) Is Lying!” Finally, an Open Letter to Saudi Muslims by Dallas Roark.

July 24, 2009
Searching for the True Religion? by Dallas Roark is an examination of Dr. Adel Elsaie's eight criteria for evaluating a religion. Do Not Be Afraid of Him – Part II and The True Shahada: Defended [Part 3] by Anthony Rogers. Sam Shamoun exposes further Problems with the Islamic Shahadah and discusses another theological oddity in Islam: Satan: A Co-Occupier of Allah’s Throne or Allah in Disguise? He presents three papers on the deity and incarnation of Jesus: The Testimony of the Hebrew Bible concerning God becoming a man, The Deity of Christ in light of Jesus’ I AM Statements, An I AM saying in the earliest Gospel. Finally, a rebuttal to a Muslim polemic: The Lord Jesus Christ the Bright Morning Star Versus Allah the Greatest Deceiver of them all. In the "Quran and Science" department we have two more rebuttals to Harun Yahya: Land Loss at the Extremities? and Harun Yahya's "Science" Fiction (Or: How many more points of sunrise are necessary for enlightenment?) Bassam Madany reports about a Muslim reformist author: Toward a Tanweeri (Enlightened) Hermeneutics of the Qur’an and An Example of the New “Enlightened” Hermeneutics of the Qur’an. Roland Clarke substantially revised two of his articles: The Mystery of Abraham's Sacrifice and Peace and Hospitality.

July 4, 2009
Surah 19, verses 2 to 35 contains annunciation and birth stories of John and Jesus, quranic version. Masud Masihiyyen carefully examines this passage and identifies the sources for various ideas and (often strange) details contained in those verses: Surah Mariam: The Curse of the Apocrypha. Dallas Roark raises the question, Is Islam Rational? Keith Thompson ponders Would Jesus Approve of Muhammad? and exposes Sami Zaatari's Crucial Mistake On John 1:14. Sam Shamoun examines John 1:1 In Light of Jehovah Witness Doctrine, and presents a number of rebuttals: Jesus as the Way, and the Truth, and the Life replies to Zakir Naik’s "Explanation" of John 14:6, Revisiting the issue of Jesus’ Lordship in the Quran answers Bassam Zawadi, and Examining Jerald F. Dirks’ Presuppositions and Theological Beliefs In Light of the Teachings of Islam (Part 1, Part 2). And More Examples of Muhammad’s Blatant Violation of Tauhid. Lessons from the past: The Intolerable Life of Dhimmis In 19th Century Damascus by Jacob Thomas. Could the past also become the future? On US Independence Day it is certainly relevant to ponder what happened at the Arab Festival in Dearborn about two weeks ago: Sharia Comes to Dearborn, Michigan (Answering Muslims blog) and Dearborn Silences Arab Christians (FrontPage Magazin). Finally, Wildcat discusses Miscellaneous Issues in NT Textual Criticism.

June 18, 2009
The Swedish language section of Answering Islam starts with a bang: More than 160 articles expounding on the Christian faith and on Islam. A new team has taken over the development of the Turkish language section and, after having been stagnant for several years, this section started afresh last week with plenty of new material.

June 10, 2009
Masud Masihiyyen starts a series of rebuttals to claims by Harun Yahya. The first installment deals with two alleged scientific miracles in the Qur'an: The Qur'an as the Miraculous Source of the Erroneous Islamic Science on the sequence of the development of the organs in the human embryo and Sub-Atomic Particles Mentioned in the Qur'an? Roland Clarke's Joseph: From Prison to Prominence looks at some of the amazing similarities between the life of Joseph and Jesus the Messiah. Sam Shamoun presents two more articles on the deity of Jesus according to the Bible: (1) The Son of Man as the Son of David, (2) The Christology of Luke-Acts: Additional Evidence for the absolute Deity of Christ, two rebuttals to Jerald F. Dirks: (1) Jesus Christ – God’s Eternal Son or Adopted Son of God?, (2) The Quranic understanding of historic Christian theology, an Addendum to the second part of his rebuttal to Sami Zaatari on the issue of Tauhid, and in his final article, Islam and the prayers of Allah, he examines another strange issue in Islamic theology. Rev. Bassam Madany brings to our attention Jacques Ellul’s View of Islam & Dhimmitude. A day after the Cairo Speech, a short index entry was added on Barack Obama and Islam, listing various articles analyzing the Ankara Speech and the Cairo Speech of the new President of the USA.

May 20, 2009
A Hoax and its Paradoxes: The Cruci-fiction of the Qur’an by Masud Masihiyyen. Tears between Muhammad and Jesus by M. Rafiqul-Haqq and P. Newton. The Law of Apostasy in Islam Must Change by Bassam Madany. Khadija Butt shares her testimony of conversion. Sam Shamoun examines the question, Is Allah truly eternal and absolutely self-sufficient? (on the problem of Islamic monotheism and the issue of inheritance), contributes a rebuttal to Dr. Jerald F. Dirks: More than a prophet (on the nature and status of Jesus), and a two part rebuttal to Sami Zaatari: Revisiting the Problem of Islamic Monotheism [Part 1, Part 2].

May 7, 2009
Anthony Rogers answers to a Muslim reply to his article: The True Shahada: Defended [Part 1, Part 2]. Keith Thompson looks at Heaven vs Jannah: Assessing the Dilemma. Sam Shamoun contributes Examining the Trinitarian Implications of Isaiah 48:16 [Part 1, Part 2] and An Analysis of a Dialogue between Bassam Zawadi versus Thabiti Anyabwile [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]. Jochen Katz added a second appendix to Who are those messengers that were rejected by Noah's people? examining Osama Abdallah's hotfix reaction to this article.

April 30, 2009
The Only True God by Rafique, as well as a short examination of the so-called Gospel of Barnabas by the same author. Roland Clarke ponders the role of song and music in the worship of God: Singing the Praises of God. Sam Shamoun provides More Evidence that Paul thought of Jesus as God; Jesus Christ – The God who gathers his people is Part 2 in his series on The Inter-Testamental Jewish Literature and the Deity of the Lord Jesus. Then some rebuttals to various Muslim authors: (1) Bassam Zawadi: Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah and the Text of the Torah Revisited, (2) Jalal Abualrub: The Quran confirms – The Two Testaments of the Holy Bible Are the Torah and Injil! (Part 1, Part 2), and Reexamining Muhammad’s Cross-Dressing, (3) Sami Zaatari: Revisiting the Issue of Jesus' Subjection to the Father, (4) Who are those messengers that were rejected by Noah's people? responds to Osama Abdallah's latest attempt to explain away a certain quranic error. Was the Torah given for guiding the Egyptians? makes some observations on an incoherent passage in the Qur'an. “Why the Multiplicity of Mosques?” and Reflections on the Flawed Historiography of President Barack Obama by Jacob Thomas. Finally, an entry on Islamic Banking or Shariah compliant FINANCE institutions was added to the Index to Islam as well as a short list of Arabic-English Dictionaries.

April 9, 2009
Missing Cross: Muslim Loss ponders the Crucifixion of Jesus. A link to Resources For Easter (a comprehensive list of articles answering to various objections) was added to the Index, entry "EASTER". Adoption by Adaption by Masud Masihiyyen analyzes the interrelationship between the stories of Moses and Joseph in their quranic version. One of the major errors in the story of Moses and Pharaoh is the teaching that Egypt is the promised land of the Children of Israel (see our earlier article, Israel, the Quran and the Promised Land). A possible explanation for this error is provided in a new section of the article, I AM all the prophets. Then there is a new article in the section on Qur'an contradictions: Sexy Fruits? examines a statement in the Qur'an which is claimed to be a scientific miracle but turns out to be utterly wrong on scientific grounds. Sixty Years of Lost Opportunities: A Critique of the Arabs’ Refusal to Normalize Relations with Israel by Jacob Thomas.

April 1, 2009
Masud shares his testimony of conversion and his first article, Noah’s Ark Or Noah’s Steamboat?, is appropriately published on April Fools' Day. Since Ahmed Deedat has also fooled too many people for too long, Samuel Green greatly expanded his article examining Ahmed Deedat's publications: Another Choice: The Teaching of Ahmed Deedat. Dallas Roark asks the question, Is there honor in honor killings? Jacob Thomas informs about New Light on Slavery in the Islamic World. Roland Clarke presents a meditation on the central issue of Loving God. Sam Shamoun continues to explore the Old Testament and other Jewish writings as background for understanding Jesus' claim to deity: Divine Encounters of the OT – The book of Daniel’s witness to God’s Uniplurality, Early Jewish Monotheism and Divine Plurality (Part 1, Part 2). In the series, The Messiah in the Jewish Traditions, he adds Part 3: The Witness of the Old Greek Version of the Hebrew Bible (LXX) and an Appendix: The Witness of Christian Apologist Justin Martyr. Finally, two new Qur'an contradictions: What were jinn created from?, Allah's forgotten creatures, and an update to an old contradiction article, Everything in Pairs?

March 11, 2009
We start with two papers examining the trustworthiness of the text of the Bible and the Qur'an: New Testament Textual Criticism and the True Significance of the Variants by Wildcat and Sam Shamoun gives an overview on The Compilation of the Qur'an. An addition to the classical library: The Setting of the Crescent and the Rising of the Cross is a detailed account on the life story of Kamil Abdul Messiah, a Muslim convert at the end of the 19th century. [For those who prefer to skip the Foreword, Preface, and Introduction, the story itself begins here.] Rev. Bassam Madany reflects on lessons from this book in The Missiology of Kamil Abdul Messiah, A Syrian Convert from Islam to Christianity. Roland Clarke's article, Homeward Bound, speaks about our desire to "return home" into an intimate fellowship with God. And he offers thoughts on Peace, Abraham and Hospitality. In a new addition to the series of answers to common questions, Sam Shamoun clarifies the relationship between Jesus' Rule and the Father's Authority. Then he examines statements in the Qur'an and ahadith that conflict with the Islamic doctrine of Tauhid: Does the Quran really enjoin fearing Allah alone? and Is Allah the only sovereign or isn’t he?, ponders Jesus Christ – An Essential Pillar of Islamic Monotheism, and presents a two part rebuttal to Jalal Abualrub on The Human Origin of Muhammad’s Legislation [Part 1], [Part 2]. Further rebuttals: Of Kings and Paupers answers to Bassam Zawadi's attempt of rescuing the Qur'an from a historical error in S. 5:20, and Say Not Three Gods exposes Sami Zaatari's poor polemic against the Trinity. Then we offer two detailed articles in the section on the history of relationships between Muslims and Christians: The Process of Islamization in Egypt and A Survey of Byzantine Responses to Islam. Finally, one week ago, we launched a new language section on Answering Islam: Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, a country in which nearly half of the population are Muslims.

February 14, 2009
Hear, O Muslims! by Anthony Rogers is a comparison and contrast of the Shema and the Shahada. Sam Shamoun revisits the matter of Pauline Christology by providing a thorough exegesis of Romans 9:5 in Jesus Christ – He who is over all, God blessed forever! [Part 1] and Jesus Christ – He who is over all, God blessed forever! [Part 2] and his exegesis of Psalm 45, The God who reigns forever, presents more prophetic hints to the Deity of the Messiah. Allah – the creator of all things? ponders problems raised by the uncreatedness of Allah's throne. Jesus and Tauhid: An examination of NT Christology in relation to Islamic monotheism, and he gives A Brief Analysis and Reply to the James White versus Sami Zaatari Debate. Two brothers share their testimony of conversion: How Did I Come to Know Jesus Christ? by Ibrahim from Kosovo and Called to a higher purpose by Azad, a Kurdish Iraqi. Rev. Bassam Madany reflects on reports that many Algerians Alienated from Islam Are Turning to Christ. Dallas Roark asks, Does the Qur’an have a revelation from God? Cornelius takes another look at the question Was Muhammad the Prophet like unto Moses? Another pivotal claim of Islam, Did Abraham Build the Kaaba?, is examined by Jesse Toler, and his article Who Are the People of God? answers a polemic by Osama Abdallah. The Onerous Rules and Regulations Imposed on the People of the Book by Jacob Thomas, and finally, From Poison Save Us is an answer to a Muslim objection to Roland Clarke's earlier article A Dialog about the One True God.

January 21, 2009
Since our last update announcement, we published Oskar's New Year’s Reflections: Good Enough for Paradise? and Gaza: No Justice - No peace! Know Justice – Know Peace! Roland Clarke has one new article, Timeless Truth Encrypted in Ancient Wisdom, and updated Nearing the End?, The Mystery of Abraham's Sacrifice and The Cornerstone: Muhammad or Jesus? Sam Shamoun contributed a whole series of in-depth studies on the Deity of Jesus: The Lord Jesus Christ – The Divine Recipient of Worship, What did the Apostle Peter really believe about Jesus?, Carmen Christi: Worshiping Christ as God, Yahweh is one, Yahweh alone: Examining the Deity of Christ in light of the Divine Name, The Gods of Israel have come down to save!, and The Glory of Yahweh and the Exaltation of the Suffering Servant presents more proof for the Deity of Christ from the prophetic book of Isaiah. Several authors take a look at a number of historical and social issues: What was and what might have been – The "Golden Age" of Harun Al-Rashid by Paul Stenhouse, Islam and the suffering of women by Dallas Roark, and Concerning a New Definition of Non-Muslims by Jacob Thomas. Already a day before Christmas Eve, we published The Desperate Plight of Iraqi Christians by Rev. Bassam Madany.

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