There are three major religions on the earth today: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Each of these three religions has a holy book claimed to be the Word of Allah by its votaries. The Holy Book of Judaism is the Torah. The Holy Book of Christians, the Bible, is composed of two parts: the Old Testament, i.e. the Torah, and the New Testament, i.e. the (four) Gospels and the complementary epistles. Muslims’ Holy Book is the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
Whereas Christians deify Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihis-salâm’, we know him as a prophet. Since he was a prophet, Allâhu ta’âlâ, naturally, should have revealed a holy book to him. Therefore, the genuine Injîl, (i.e. the original, undefiled copy of the Bible), is, no doubt, the Word of Allah. Only, that real Injîl does not exist today. The copies of the Bible possessed by today’s Christians contain very few passages from the original Injîl. The original Injîl was in the Hebrew language. That genuine Injîl disappeared as a result of the inimical campaigns waged against it by the time’s Jews. Later, various books full of superstitions appeared in the name of the Bible. In the course of time, those already untenable books were translated with numerous errors and mistakes into Greek and Latin, many passages were added, changes were made continuously, and consequently, quite a number of Gospels were written. Most of those Gospels were rejected in the clerical councils held various times, and today’s four Gospels survived.
These facts will be proved in the pages ahead. The alterations, corrections and explanations are still going on. The Qur’ân al-
kerîm, on the other hand, has preserved its originality since it was revealed to our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’, without undergoing any diacritical alteration until today.
The facts that we have stated so far are not only Muslims’ opinions. In fact, Western scientists and theologians have examined the Bible again and proved that it is not the genuine ‘Word of Allah’. We should not forget that today, when the twenty-first century has entered and when the world’s knowledge and science have improved so much so that even the least cultivated nations have established universities, people cannot be expected to close their eyes and take for granted a credal tenet that you try to impose on them as something that you have heard from your father or teacher and which you cannot explain to yourself. Today’s young people delve into the inner nature and the real causes of matters, and they reject things that they find irrational. In Turkey, for instance, more than a million youngsters take the university entrance examinations every year. There is no doubt as to that these youngsters, who have been educated with up-to-date methods, will pass the religious theories and ideas said or taught to them through the sieve of reason and logic. As a matter of fact, today’s Western theologians divulge the faults in the copies of the Torah and the Bible that they have. In order to refresh our Muslim brothers’ minds concerning the difference between today’s Torah and Bible and the Qur’ân al-kerîm, we have utilized those theologians’ publications. Another source we have benefited from in the preparation of this chapter is Houser, an American writer who wrote on religious subjects. Furthermore, Anselmo Turmeda was a renowned Spanish priest. He accepted the Islamic religion in 823 [1420 C.E.], and changed his name to Abdullâh-i-Terjumân. We have studied that scholar’s book Tuhfat-ul-erîb, which dealt with errors in the Bible, the book Pearls of Bible, written by S. Merran Muhyiddîn Sâhib Ikbâl of Pakistan, and also the Turkish book Diyâ-ul-qulûb, a work of research on the Torah and the Bible written by Is-haq Efendi of Harput (d. 1309 [1891 C.E.]), a great writer and a member of the Ottoman Ministry of Education, and which was published in 1295 [1878 C.E.]. The last book was translated into English and published by Hakîkat Kitabevî in Istanbul with the title Could Not Answer. Furthermore, Shems-ul-haqîqa, a book of two hundred and ninety pages written in Turkish, again, by Khwâja Is-haq and printed in 1278 [1861 C.E.], which is registered at number 204 of the Düğümlü Baba section of the public library of Süleymâniyye in
Istanbul, proves with sound documents that the Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allah and that the Christians’ Holy Book, which they call the Bible, is a history book which was written afterwards. In addition, Idhâh-ul-merâm, written in Turkish by Hâdji Abdullah bin Destân Mustafa Efendi of Bosnia (d. 1303 [1885 C.E.]) and printed in 1288 [1871 C.E.] in the printhouse owned by Yahyâ Efendi, who was the Shaikh of the convent of Mustafa Pâsha situated immediately outside of Edirnekapı, is registered with number 771 at the Nâfiz Pâsha section of the library of Süleymâniyye. It proves with various documents that Christianity is a religion mangled into utter heresy. Another book we have borrowed from is Izhâr-ul-haqq, by Rahmatullah Efendi of India. That book delivered the severest blow on Christianity and divulged the fact that it was a groundless religion.
It is written as follows on the three hundred and ninety-sixth page of the Persian book Maqâmât-i-ahyâr: Fander, a Protestant priest, was very famous among Christians. The Protestant missionary organization selected a commission of priests under the presidency of Fander and sent them to India. Their task was to try and spread Christianity. In 1270 [1854 C.E.], scientific debates were held between that commission and Rahmatullah Efendi, a great Islamic scholar of Delhi. The most heated of those debates took place sometime during the month of Rabî’ul-awwal and on the eleventh of Rajab. By the end of the long discussions, Fander was altogether beaten out. Four years later, when the British forces invaded India, [after which they perpetrated horrendous persecutions and torments on Muslims, and especially on the Sultan and the men of religion], Rahmatullah Efendi migrated to Mekka-i-mukarrama. In 1295 [1878 C.E.] the same commission of missionaries came to Istanbul and launched a campaign propagating Christianity. The Grand Vizier (Sadr-i-a’zam) Khayr-ud-dîn Pâsha invited Rahmatullah Efendi to Istanbul. Seeing Rahmatullah Efendi as their opponent was enough to frighten away the missionaries. This time the debate was no more than a brief act of formality, and the missionaries, unable to answer the scholar’s questions, took to their heels. The Pâsha congratulated the great scholar warmly and showed him great kindness, requesting him to write a booklet telling about how he refuted and beat down the Christians. So he began to write his book Izhâr-ul-haqq in Arabic on the sixteenth of Rajab and, completing it by the end of Zi’l-hijja, he left for Mekka. Khayr-ud-dîn Pâsha had the book translated into Turkish and then had both versions
printed. It was later translated into European languages, and printed and published in every country. British newspapers wrote that spreading of the book would cause irreparable harm to Christianity. Abd-ul-hamîd Khan II ‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’ (d. 1336 [1918 C.E.]), Muslims’ Khalîfa, invited the great scholar once again, in the blessed month of Ramadân in 1304, and hosted him with deep respect and generous kindness in his palace. Rahmatullah Efendi passed away in Mekka-i-mukarrama in the month of Ramadân in 1308 [1890 C.E.].
In addition to all these books, we have studied books written about the Qur’ân al-kerîm by Western orientalists in the previous century. Then we have reached the conclusion that an unbiased comparative study of these two holy books will reveal which of them is the Word of Allah with such indisputable clarity as cannot be denied by the most obstinate person regardless of his religious background. We have arranged this chapter in six divisions. The first three divisions deal with the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the existing copies of the Torah and the Bible, as we have stated above.
The last three divisions are dedicated to our Prophet Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, his miracles, virtues and beautiful moral qualities. The information contained in these divisions have been borrowed from a history book in Turkish, namely Mir’ât-i-kâinât, written by Nişancızâde Muhammad Efendi ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’, a renowned Islamic scholar. He passed away in 1031 [1719 C.E.]. His book was published in 1269 [1853 C.E.].
We hope that our dear readers will read this chapter of our book with deep interest and will benefit from the information provided. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless us all with true guidance. May He keep us all on the right path. Âmîn.
Do not annoy others, and others will not annoy thee;
Deceive no one, and no one will deceive thee.
Water from Islam’s enemy will never satiate thee;
Nor will the disbeliever, be him fire, a bit burn thee.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarrass thee!
Harm of all sorts come to thee from thee;
Thy own evil thoughts, alone, will defame thee.
The dweller is what gives a dwelling its dignity;
Islam is the only source that will guide thee.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarrass thee!
All worldly existence is transient, nothing stays forever,
Worldlies are all worthless, sorrow about them never.
Abide by the right path, then you’ll be safe forever;
Be faithful to Haqq,[1] and enemy can harm thee never.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarrass thee!
To subdue someone, never consult to cruelty;
Of thy friends, misconduct will deprive thee.
Never humiliate thyself, nor backbite the absentee;
Be true, and work, Allah will reward thee.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarrass thee!
Allah, the Eternal, if He wishes, protects thee.
Even if the enemy mars the Believers’ chastity;
As the saying goes among the Muslim community,
What brings the reward is one’s pious activity.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarrass thee!
Doff that sordid hypocrisy, and don pure sincerity,
Don’t be a blabbermouth, and never talk indiscreetly.
Perfect as you might be in hiding your hypocrisy,
From Haqq ta’âlâ, the Omniscent, none can be done in secrecy.
Keep on the right way, Allah will not embarras thee!
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[1] Allâhu ta’âlâ.