by Sheikh Sultan M. As-Salameh of Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
The Muslims of the world are practicing much of the Judeo-Christian beliefs largely from the Old Testament. The ‘religion’ considered and practiced as Islam today has degenerated from the time of Prophet Muhammad (S). In the beginning there was a very simple Deen (religion) of Islam revealed to the Prophet (S), which was fully encapsulated in just the one Book, Al-Qur’an.
For example, the covering of the head for women which has become a point of much discussion in the West, is actually not found in the Qur’an. Therefore, it is not a part of the original teachings of the Prophet. It has been taken from the Christian Bible and incorporated into Islam.
Similarly many of the beliefs that are considered Islamic are actually derived from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. The early converts from Judaism and Christianity gradually incorporated their old beliefs into Islam to such an extent that the ‘Islam’ of today is often a verbatim manifestation of the Bible. None of these Biblical teachings were known to the Prophet and they cannot be found in the Qur’an at all. But the ‘scholars’ of Islam are unanimous in accepting these beliefs as part of Islam today. Other than the head covering for women, our other practices like:
The stoning to death for adultery
The stoning to death for apostasy
The circumcision of males
The wearing of beards for men
The dietary prohibition of many types of food
The displaying of holy writings on the wall
The belief that woman is created from man
The injunction against graven images like statues, sculptures and other representations of human and animal life forms
The religious injunction that menstruating women are spiritually unclean
The ritualized blessing of “Amen”
The animal sacrifice (Aqeeqah) at the birth of children
All these things are derived from the Christian and Jewish Scriptures. This list is by no means exhaustive. These beliefs are NOT found anywhere in the Qur’an which is the only authentic teaching of Prophet Muhammad (S). However, these teachings can be found in very exact detail in the Christian Bible and the Jewish Scriptures.
1. HEAD COVER FOR WOMEN ORIGINATES FROM THE BIBLE:
The wearing of the head covering for women is not part of the Prophet’s teachings and is not found in the Qur’an. It is a belief and a practice that was taken by the early Muslim scholars from the Christian Bible (1 Cor 11:5-13) and has now become part and parcel of today’s Islam. The West has no problem with Catholicism putting its nuns in head cover. In Europe Catholic schools still encourage young girls to take up the wearing of the Catholic head-cover.
2. CIRCUMCISION IS DERIVED FROM THE BIBLE:
The Sunni and Shi’a ‘Muslims’ believe male circumcision to be mandatory and they practice it universally. The truth is that God and the Prophet never asked the Muslims to circumcise anyone.
But where does the Muslim belief in circumcision come from? Once again the answer lies in the Bible. The Covenant of Circumcision is mandated in the Bible.
Genesis 17:14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Later Muslims have found this belief acceptable and have incorporated it into their Muslim practices.
[A health note: Circumcision is a part of the Abrahamic tradition. The Qur’an neither ordains it nor forbids it. Allama Aslam Jairajpuri (d.1955) in his Tareekh-ul-Ummat states that Muhammad (S) was circumcised on the seventh day of his birth, according to the Arab tradition (Pg 48). Some historians have written that he was born circumcised. Medically speaking, one out of 1,000 males is born without a foreskin. Circumcision is a health beneficial practice e.g. cancer is seldom encountered in a circumcised penis and the hygiene factor is obvious.]
3. PUNISHMENT FOR ADULTERY:
The recent cases of stoning women to death for adultery in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are laws that are not from the Qur’an. God and the Prophet never taught Muslims to stone anyone to death for any crime. The words Shariah Law are not even mentioned in the Qur’an. The law of stoning to death for adultery is taken from the Bible. See Deut 22:20-21.
If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death (Lev 20:10). The Qur’an also prescribes a punishment for adultery, but it is a scourge of 100 lashes (Quran 24:2).
4. THE PUNISHMENT OF APOSTASY:
The United Nations Charter on Human Rights guarantees freedom of religion. This right was first guaranteed in the Qur’an. As the words of the Quran 2:256 inform, there is absolutely no compulsion or coercion in religion. In Islam human beings have the right to believe or disbelieve as they choose. Muslims fought only to assert their own right to be left alone to worship according to their conscience and not according to societal dictate: “So, fight them (the aggressors) only until there is no more harassment.” Quran 2:193
The Biblical teachings, however, say that anyone who blasphemes or becomes an apostate from his faith must be punished with death by stoning (Lev 24:16). Included among those who must be put to death by stoning are the deviants. (Deut 13:5-10)
5. THE TALIBAN’S DESTRUCTION OF STATUES IN BAMIYAN:
We recall with dismay the hue and cry when Taliban destroyed the priceless ancient treasures in Bamiyan. Under the guise of religion the Taliban insisted that the statues of the Buddha had to be destroyed. The Taliban based their actions on Islamic beliefs that have actually been absorbed from the Christian Bible. It is a Biblical teaching that graven images must not be made, and if made, they must be destroyed. (Deut 27:15, 4:16). The Qur’an does not say anywhere that statues or graven images are forbidden or that they must be destroyed.
6. The Qur’an Does Not Forbid Pictures, Paintings And Sculptures For Décor:
The Quran boldly asserts that a Prophet of God had at one time decorated his kingdom with statues, sculptures, paintings and images without any disapproval from God: “They worked for him (King Solomon) as he desired, making forts, statues, sculptures, paintings and images, pools, and boilers well-dug into the ground….” _Quran 34:13.
Yet, Muslim orthodoxy, unfortunately, declares all fine arts as forbidden.
07. THE WEARING OF BEARDS:
Keeping of the beard is again not the teachings of the Prophet or the Qur’an but is taken from the Christian Bible.
21:5: Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
Samuel 2: 10:5: When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”
The Muslims are told in the Qur’an that they should not follow the path of the Christians and the Jews. The remarkably absurd in the world to day is that the Christian world has disassociated with these worthless traditions while the Muslims have perversely imbibed them to the point that they are now considered traditions of Muslim origin!
[I have edited for a better reading experience. _se]
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