Confutation of the Quran by Brother Richard

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In what follows, we offer an English summary of Luther's 1542 translation and edition of a work of medieval Christian apologetics against the Quran and Islam in general.[1] The contents of this work is thus available for the first time to the English reader.

Contents

[edit] Introductory Questions

[edit] The Author

The author of the Confutatio Alcorani is one Brother Ricoldus, a member of the Dominican Order. He was born in the village of Monte Croce in Tuscany. He entered into the Dominican monastery Santa Maria Novella in Florence in 1267 to advance in the liberal arts. After having taught in several monasteries in the region, Ricoldus embarks on a missionary journey to the Near East, probably between the years 1280 and 1300. On this voyage, he spent a good amount of time in Baghdad to study Arabic and gain knowledge of the teachings held by the various schools of Quranic interpretation there.

The fruit of his studies is contained in the Confutation. It is considered a significant scholarly feat for the time, considering the difficulty of learning Arabic and studying the Quran in Europe.

Ricoldus died in 1320 in Florence.[2]

[edit] The History of the Text

Early in the 14th century, Ricoldus’s work was translated into Greek by the Byzantine theologian Demetrius Cydones (1324-1397, he was also the one who, for unknown reasons, changed the name of the author from Ricoldus to Ricardus). It was used by the Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakuzenos (reigned 1341-1355) in his apology against Islam. The Latin original was first published in 1609 in Venice, while the Greek translation was published by Theodore Bibliander in 1543 in Basel. Additionally, since 1506 there were several prints made of a retranslation into Latin by the Italian Bartholomaeus de Monte Arduo. One of these prints was also used by Luther as basis for his translation into German.

Luther knew the book since 1530. Along with Nicholas of Cusas’ Cribratio Alkorani (“sifting of the Quran”), it remained the only source for Luther’s knowledge about the Quran and Islam. First in 1542 does Luther get a hand on a Latin edition of the Quran, which confirmed and deepened Luther’s appreciation of Ricoldus’s work, since Luther at first had his doubts as to whether people could actually believe what Ricoldus was presenting as teachings of the Quran.

Luther’s edition is not a literal translation of the text. He left out conspicuously scholastic argumentations in order to produce a genuinely “Lutheran” confutation. He also left out passages in which Ricoldus expresses hope concerning a conversion of Muslims; for Luther, the Muslims are, like the Jews he was contending with at about the same time, hardened unbelievers whose conversion is not to be expected anymore. Furthermore, Luther shortens the text where Ricoldus digresses. On the other hand, there are a number of additions by Luther. Finally, the translation itself bears clearly Luther’s image.[3]

[edit] Outline of Ricoldus’s Confutation as Translated and Edited by Luther

[edit] Luther’s Preface

  • Luther at first did not believe what he read about Islam in Brother Richard’s work: can reasonable people on earth believe such shameful things? Yet reading the Quran, in a rough Latin translation in 1542, convinced Luther that Richard can be trusted.
  • Luther therefore translates the book into German so that the Germans would know what a shameful faith Islam is and would be strengthened in their Christian faith: due to the long-lasting good fortune of the Turks (God’s punishment and wrath over the Christians!), many a Christian might be moved to forsake the cross and join those who are victorious in this world, which is also praised in the Quran
“Christ’s blood must be shed from the beginning of the world till its end, so that many martyrs go to heaven, especially because not only the blood of the saints (which is all called his blood), but also his own personal blood had to be shed. Woe to those who shed it!”
  • Turks have been victorious not because their faith is true and Christian faith wrong; “rather, this is God’s way of ruling his people:”
    • he punishes them on account of their sins (Ps. 89:38-45; histories of people of Israel; 1 Peter 4:17-19; Prov. 11:31; Jer. 25:29) – this the Christians more than deserve because of heresies and new teachings and because of offensive, impenitent living in thanklessness and despising of Christ’s precious blood
    • “Christ’s blood must be shed from the beginning of the world till its end, so that many martyrs go to heaven, especially because not only the blood of the saints (which is all called his blood), but also his own personal blood had to be shed. Woe to those who shed it!” (274) – this Mohammed has done: he has made more martyrs than any tyrant before by killing so many innocent children and pious Christians
  • Mohammed himself is the object of God’s greatest wrath: he is condemned to be God’s tool for punishment and to mislead many in body and soul by his own lies, as the pope too has done and still does – they are the last horrible plagues, hard to bear for a Christian (Ps. 89:46-47)
  • Christians, thus, must endure Turks and Saracens[4] with their Mohammed as those who suffer God’s wrath (1 Thess. 2:16); they must see to it how they might be preserved in God’s grace lest they, blinded by his great power and good fortune and terrified by his sword, go to hell with Mohammed
  • Muslims, as Richard notes as well, cannot be converted: they are so hardened that they make fun of all the Christian articles of faith as totally unreasonable; furthermore, they reject all of Scripture and stick to their Quran (the greatest effect of God’s wrath!)
  • better to stick to Scripture and suffer all sorts of bodily injury than to enjoy victory here and condemnation in eternity
  • Ps. 118:6-7

[edit] On the Chief Teachings of this Quran

  • It rejects the Trinity, like Sabellians.
  • It rejects Christ’s divinity like Arians: while speaking of Christ in the most exalted ways (God’s Word, God’s Spirit, God’s Soul, Q. 4:171; born without a father of a Virgin, Q. 3:47; 19:19-21), it denies that Christ is natural, essential God, because, as it claims, Christ never called himself God or God’s Son (Q. 5:72, 116-117); God cannot have Son because he does not have a wife (Q. 6:100-101); if he had a Son, there would be disunity (Q. 23:91)
  • It denies, like the Manicheans, the crucifixion of Christ (Q. 4:157).
  • It teaches that Christ, now with God in heaven, will die first after killing the Antichrist at the end of the world (Q. 4:158-159).
  • It teaches that also the devil can be saved by the Quran (Q. 46:29-32).
  • It claims that Mohammed ascended into heaven and was touched by God (Q. 17:1).
  • It teaches that the Holy Spirit is a creature, like the Macedonians.[5]
  • It teaches that the angels became devils because they did not want to worship Adam (Q. 2:34; 15:28-35).
“Mohammed cuts everything out that is hard to believe and do in Scripture; and he permits everything to which one is inclined in this temporal life, such as carnal lust, theft, murder, something especially the wild, crude people, the Arabs, like. For he is an Arab. However, he does not mention anything worth reading concerning the true virtues, such as humility, patience, chastity, peace, and concerning eternal life.”
  • It teaches that heaven is an earthly paradise, like Cerinth (Q. 61:12).
  • It teaches the necessity of circumcision, like the Ebionites.[6]
  • It permits polygamy, concubines and maidservants, as many as can be captured in war and sustained afterwards; and the kidnapping of somebody else’s wives in war (Q. 23:5-6; 33:50-52).
  • It decrees to kill all who do not obey this law, or to have them pay tax (Q. 9:29).
  • It appears as if it permits male and female homosexuality.[7]
  • Summary: “Mohammed cuts everything out that is hard to believe and do in Scripture; and he permits everything to which one is inclined in this temporal life, such as carnal lust, theft, murder, something especially the wild, crude people, the Arabs, like. For he is an Arab. However, he does not mention anything worth reading concerning the true virtues, such as humility, patience, chastity, peace, and concerning eternal life.” (282)
  • It forbids regarding anything outside the Quran as truth, but praises the psalms and other prophets (Q. 4:163; 17:55).
  • It claims that Christ foretold the coming of Mohammed (Q. 61:6), though no authenticating miracle was performed by Mohammed (Q. 13:7; 17:90-93; 3:183-184); instead the sword is used to prove the truth.

[edit] How to Deal with Them

  • Muslims like to hear something of Christian doctrine, esp. regarding the Trinity and the Person of Christ, but only to make fun of it. Therefore, lest one cast pearls before sows, one should not talk to them about the faith, but rather prove that their law is wrong from the Quran itself.

[edit] That the Quran Is not God’s Law because neither the Old nor the New Testament Bear Witness to It

  • Neither the Old nor the New Testament bears witness to Mohammed; he cannot be sent from God because he is without miracles and without Scripture.
  • Muslim reply: Mohammed has been predicted in the Old and New Testaments, but the Jews and Christians changed the Scriptures; Mohammed gathered the truth contained in their Scriptures (Q. 3:70-71; 5:13-16).
“It is also foolish to say that the bible has been falsified, after all the heretics of the world have used it against the Christians. And it would be ridiculous, if the heretics wanted to use a different bible than the Christians, because then they would have known that their new bible would not have been valid against the old bible of the Christian, again the bible of the Christians against their bible, since there would be two bibles. Yet now we are talking about one single bible, who has it and who does not.”
  • Reply
    • Quran itself points those who don’t believe in Mohammed to the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians (Q. 10:94) – what would be the point of this, if their Scriptures cannot be trusted?
    • God, in Quran, promises to preserve the Scripture of Moses and Jesus (Q. 15:9) – how can he break his promise and permit them to be falsified?
    • Mohammed, in the Quran, points the Jews to the Old Testament as book containing God’s righteousness (Q. 5:43-44) – why would he do that, if the OT is falsified?
    • “It is also foolish to say that the bible has been falsified, after all the heretics of the world have used it against the Christians. And it would be ridiculous, if the heretics wanted to use a different bible than the Christians, because then they would have known that their new bible would not have been valid against the old bible of the Christian, again the bible of the Christians against their bible, since there would be two bibles. Yet now we are talking about one single bible, who has it and who does not.” (288)
    • In the East, there were many sects prior to the birth of Mohammed, e.g., the Nestorians and Jacobites (Monophysites); the Nestorians agree more with the Saracens, which is why Mohammed commands to honor them. Jacobites and Nestorians are sworn enemies [how could a common change in the NT have been done, given this enmity among the sects that have all the same bible?]
    • Why would the Christians have taken the name Mohammed out of the NT, since he speaks positively about Christ and his mother? They rather would have eliminated Pilate, Herod, Judas, Caiaphas, etc. Besides, the Quran commends the gospel as teaching “truth and perfection” (Q. 5:46)
    • Why would the Christians have made up that Christ was crucified and died (something Mohammed denies), if it had been more advantageous for them to leave it out, since reason cannot believe that a true God can die?
    • Many all over the world believed this, from highest kings to humble laymen, beginning with the apostles and their disciples; there was even a Saracen caliph in Babylon who died a Christian and whose tomb Ricoldus saw with his own eyes.
    • The Quran points those of the “society of the book,” that is, the Muslim Saracens,[8] to keep the gospel and torah (Q. 5:68) – how can the gospel and the law have been falsified, if the Quran itself points to it?
    • Finally, if the Christian bible is false, where did the Saracens get their bible without any error? They must refute the false bible with a true one, or else follow the one bible recognized as such by the whole world.

[edit] That the Quran Cannot Be God’s Law because It Has a Different Manner of Speaking

  • The thoroughly poetic character of the Quran shows that it is not only against the Scriptures, but also against the philosophers, laws, and other textbooks: if someone wants to teach something or prove something in court, he does not use poetry and rhymes – however, the Saracens praise the poetic quality very highly and see in it a key proof for their claim that the Quran is from God, even though in the Quran itself people consider Mohammed to be dreaming or out of his mind (Q. 21:5).
  • Mohammed, as God’s mouthpiece, does not speak about God in the way God speaks about himself in the Scriptures (in the 3rd as opposed to the 1st person).
  • About the “carnal work” the Quran speaks in an indecent way, while the Holy Spirit in the bible does it in a very chaste manner.
  • The Quran is filled with useless miracles and fairy tales (e.g., Q. 27:17-44; 54:1 and its interpretation; 34:14); likewise, the narrative tradition (hadith).

[edit] That the Quran Agrees neither with the Holy Scripture nor with other Reasonable Teachings

  • While not agreeing with the bible (John 17:3; Ex. 33:18), the Quran also does not agree with philosophical definitions of man’s blessedness: while the latter speak of virtues, the former speaks of carnal lust, an earthly paradise, and warfare (unlike the gospels that talk about spiritual things with bodily pictures). Mohammed prophesied concerning the divisions among them (73 sects); Quran foretells that all Saracens go to hell (cf. Q. 19:66-72).
  • Quran also does not agree with the commandments of Moses that prohibit murder, theft, and carnal lust (see Q. 23:5-6).

[edit] How the Quran Contradicts Itself

  • Mohammed says in the Quran that if it were not from God, there would be contradictions in it (Q. 4:82).
  • Mohammed claims to be the prophet of the whole world – but the Quran is given only in Arabic (Q. 42:7; 16:103) and Mohammed only knows Arabic.[9]
  • The Quran teaches that Jews, Christians, and Sabeans [Mandeans] will be saved (Q. 2:62) – but it also says that only the Saracens will be saved (Q. 3:19-20).
  • Saracens are commanded to deal gently with members of other religions, because only God can guide rightly and no one can be forced to believe (Q. 5:13; 3:73; 6:71; 42:48; 2:256) – but they are also commanded to kill and rob those who don’t believe rightly until they believe or pay tribute (Q. 9:29).
  • The Quran permits homosexual intercourse[10] – but the sin of the Sodomites is condemned (Q. 11:77-83).
  • The Quran claims that Abraham etc. were Saracens (2:135-141; 3:33, 65-68) – but Mohammed claims to be the first Saracen.[11]
  • Divination is forbidden (Q. 27:47) – but it is also commanded.[12]
  • Mohammed is only sent to the Arabs (Q. 26:214; 36:6; 42:7), only speaks Arabic, only reveals Arabic Quran (Q. 42:7) – but he is also called the prophet of the whole world (Q. 7:158; 21:107; 34:28).

[edit] That the Quran Was not Confirmed by any Miracle

  • Moses, the prophets, and Christ all performed authenticating miracles; Mohammed acknowledges (Q. 13:7) that, but has no miracles of his own, which goes to show that he is not God’s apostle.
  • The miracles attributed to Mohammed later contradict the teachings of the Quran.
  • Appeal to the sword, that is, the miracle of military victory (Q. 2:190-193; 8:39-40; 21:5-6), is futile because Mohammed, like other tyrants, sometimes won, sometimes lost, unlike the true prophets of God in the OT who always won their battles.
  • Christians, who confess that the crucified Christ is true God and true man, do perform miracles to authenticate their teaching, beginning with Christ and the apostles to the present day.
  • It is a great miracle that the Romans, who ruled the world and were once pagans, accepted the Christian faith and life with their difficult teachings.
  • “Whether the world was converted with miracles or without, it is certainly a great miracle that this happened, without miracle, by means of simply, unlearned folks. And this was done by the Christians, who, while not killing others, patiently suffered others to kill them.” (312)
  • Christian faith is founded by miracles, Muslim faith is not. In fact, due to its carnal nature, the Muslim faith needs no miracles for authentication.

[edit] How Mohammed’s Quran Is Bestial and Swinish

  • The Quran could have been accepted by the world even without miracles; however, it is counter to reason …
    • … on account of its author: Mohammed was an evil man (murderer, robber, adulterer, etc.) – how should he be able to give a “holy law”? BUT: weren’t Moses and David also sinners? YES, but they repented of their sins, while Mohammed confirms his sins by his shameful laws and life (e.g., Q. 66:1-5; 33:37-38); Mohammed did not even know what would happen to him and his followers in the future (Q. 46:9), whether they are on the path to salvation. Therefore, the Quran is bestial on account of its author.
    • … on account of the law itself:
      • it uses explicit language where chaste speech is required
      • only God can understand it (Q. 3:7)
      • it relates a command from God to the angels to worship Adam (Q. 2:34; 15:28-35)
      • the Muslim creed (no God other than God and Mohammed his prophet (Q. 3:32); God is great) is redundant (who denies that God is God and that he is great?) or uncertain (who knows whether Mohammed is his apostle?)
      • Mohammed says, on the one hand, that at first all had the same religion, but that different religions came about because of the prophets sent by God (cf. Q. 2:213) – but: God wants unity and not many sects; sects are the result of devils and evil men who separate men from the one truth
      • Mohammed commands all non-Saracens to be killed (Q. 9:5) while admitting that they cannot know the truth without God’s guidance (Q. 7:178) – it is foolish to kill them for something they cannot change; if they can change it, it is foolish to force them, because God is not pleased with forced service
    • … on account of the prescribed works / teachings
      • the Quran contains chapters on ants, spiders, smoke (Q. 29; 27; 44) – is that not foolish?
      • fleeing in a battle is taught as unforgivable sin (Q. 8:15-16) – is it not foolish to punish someone for fleeing from danger?
      • the prescribed ritual washings (Q. 5:6; 4:43) are foolish since they do not affect the heart (cf. Jer. 4:14)
      • the greatest lack of reason is seen in the Quran’s teaching on divorce and remarriage (Q 2:228-232)
    • … regarding the end: it teaches that man’s blessedness consists in carnal lust in an earthly paradise (Q. 55:46-78): what is meant figuratively in Scripture is meant literally in the Quran (also against reason, see Aristotle)
      • BUT: sex without conceiving children? (already heathen knew: intercourse not given for lust, but lust for intercourse and procreation); eating without hunger and bowel movement? (constant sweating is also not a pleasant alternative)
      • If eternal blessedness consist in carnal lust, what about the souls of the departed saints now (they don’t have a body); what about the angels who neither eat nor marry?
      • If eternal blessedness consists in having many women and concubines, what is the blessedness and joy of women? Why can’t they also have many men? How can man be blessed if his wife has many men?
    • other foolish contents: God swears by things lower than he (Q. 95:1-3), while reason teaches that an oath is made by invoking what is higher than oneself, see Hebrews 6:13-16 – any drinking of wine is prohibited (Q. 5:90), even though it is a good creature of God, only its abuse is to be prohibited (did Mohammed suspect that the Saracens could not use it in moderation?)

[edit] On Open, Coarse Lies of the Quran

  • Mohammed in the Quran: God teaches the truth, and one ought to follow the truth (Q. 10:35); without God nothing should be set forth as divine law (Q. 10:37)
  • Augustine: one lie in the gospel would make the entire gospel suspicious and nothing; for God cannot lie
  • there are many things in the Quran that agree with the bible, but there are other things that Mohammed adds to them from his own imagination – this renders the entire Quran suspicious and false; one must ascribe it to him who is a liar and a father of lies (John 8:44)
  • lies in Quran can be summarized under ten heads:
    • lies concerning Mohammed himself
      • claim to be the last of the prophets (Q. 33:40), but Jews and Christians claim to have those with prophetic gifts among them; and there was a prophet even among the Saracens after Mohammed
      • praise of the Quran, that all angels and men combined would be unable to replicate it (Q. 17:88)
    • lies concerning the Christians
      • claim that they add a companion to God (Q. 5:72-77), although all Christians say that God is one and undivided
      • claim that they accept their bishops and priests as equal to God (Q. 9:31)
      • claim that they make Mary into a goddess (Q. 5:116)
      • claim that they cannot be God’s children because they must suffer much like sinners (Q. 5:18)
    • lies concerning the Jews
      • claim that they make Ezra into a god and god’s son (Q. 9:30), while they do no such thing
      • claim that they do not say that they killed Jesus, the Son of God, the apostle of God (cf. Q. 4:157),[13] while they in fact do that, because they claim that Jesus was an evil man whom they killed for blasphemy
    • lies concerning the apostles
      • claim that they professed to be Saracens (Q. 3:52), although they lived 600 years prior to Mohammed
    • lies concerning the patriarchs
      • claim that Abraham and his offspring professed to be Saracens (Q. 2:135-137; 3:67-68), equally Noah (Q. 11:25-49), although they lived thousands of years before Mohammed
      • claim that Mohammed would be the first to enter paradise[14]
    • lies concerning the devils
      • claim that they rejoiced in the Quran and that they can be saved by becoming Saracens themselves (Q. 72:1-2)
    • lies concerning the angels
      • claim that they all worshiped Adam, except for the devil (Q. 2:34)
      • claim that Mohammed on his journey to heaven saw a huge angel bemoaning his sin for whom Mohammed interceded with God for grace[15]
      • claim that angels have a tangible body, made out of fire (Q. 38:76)
    • lies concerning the Virgin Mary
      • claim that she was Abraham’s daughter[16]
      • claim that she was a sister of Aaron (Q. 19:29), but Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron (Ex. 15:20; Num. 26:59), is not Mary the Mother of Christ[17]
    • lies concerning Christ
      • claim that Jesus never claimed to be God and God’s Son, rather stated before God that he never taught such a thing (Q. 5:116-117) – BUT see John 14:1; 5:16-17, and other verses in John – Therefore: when Mohammed points others to the gospel as a confirmation of the Quran (Q. 10:94), then he contradicts himself
      • claim that Jesus was not crucified (Q. 4:157), but would first die at the end of the world (cf. Q. 4:159) – again, if Mohammed, on the one hand, invokes the gospel, but, on the other hand, contradicts the gospel, can he be believed?
    • lies concerning God
      • claim that God cannot have a son since he has no wife (Q. 6:101) – but this is the same as saying: God cannot live because he does not eat, drink, defecate, or cough – in other words: the Christians know how God can have a son without a wife, but Mohammed here reveals that his first and last thought is women and flesh; in fact, the “woman is Mohammed’s god, heart, and eternal life” (334)
      • why is it that Mohammed calls Christ, Mary’s son, God’s word and spirit (Q. 4:171)? If Christ is God’s oral word, as the word of the prophets is also called God’s word, what praise of Christ is that? He could then also be Mohammed’s word. On account of such oral word, God should not be able to talk about himself in the first person plural: “we.” Yet if Christ is to be considered God’s eternal Word, how can Mohammed then lie that he is not God or God’s Son?
      • Mohammed fears that, if God had a son, this would lead to disunity in the world (Q. 23:91) – as if God is no more than a man whose son might become disobedient. (Surprisingly, Mohammed does not fear that God and his Son might become disunited on account of some woman.)
      • claim that God and angels pray[18] for the Saracens – to whom would God pray, especially if he is by himself?
      • claim that the Quran, when sent by God onto a mountain, would divide this mountain (Q. 59:21)
  • Summary: God cannot lie; where there are lies, faith cannot exist; lies cannot save, only damn – proof that even the learned Saracens do not believe their Quran: there are no public disputations on the Quran; they are hesitant to publish the Quran; it must not be translated from the Arabic – Christians, on the other hand, take comfort in the eternal truth of Scripture that remains forever; they talk to others about the gospel; place the gospel on a stand, not under the basket; see to it that it is translated in all different languages; they are not ashamed of the sufferings of Christ ridiculed by Mohammed and the heathen.

[edit] That Mohammed’s Law is Murderous, Tyrannical, and Raging

  • Mohammed’s law cannot be from God because it is a law of death and rage: not only does it lead to eternal death; it also commends forcing people to believe it by physical death, even though the Quran states that there is no compulsion in faith (Q. 2:256)
  • since the Quran contradicts God’s law in the NT; since there are no authenticating miracles for the Quran, the only way to get people to believe in it is the sword (Q. 9:5)
  • the Christians, on the other hand, are commanded by Christ to love their enemies, to pray for their persecutors, to do good to those who offend them (Matt. 5:44); Augustine says: a person can be forced to confess with the mouth, but not to believe in the heart
  • there are four kinds of followers of Mohammed:
    • those who follow just because of outward threats and who might let go of their error once the outward danger is gone
    • those who follow because they, deceived by the devil, consider his teachings to be true
    • those who, unwilling to leave behind the idolatry of their predecessors, consider Mohammed’s teachings better than what their predecessors believed in
    • those who follow because of the license for sinful life granted by Mohammed that is also against reason – Christians becomes Saracens in life because of the sinful life permitted; Saracens become Christians at the end of life: both therefore prefer to die as Christians
  • three features that show that Mohammed’s law is murderous and raging in addition to the constant command to kill:
    • Mohammed said that his law would remain only as long as his followers remain militarily strong – John Chrysostom said that the truth gets stronger the more it is attacked, while lies, even when supported by great strength, will collapse by themselves; proof: the Christian gospel grew the most while being persecuted for 300 years
    • when a Saracen preaches the Quran, he displays a sword during his sermon – the Christians show the cross when they preach, the friendly sign of those who are sent like sheep among the wolves
    • the Assassins are trained by the Saracens as assassins, with the promise of eternal life; they are under the command of the sultan in Baghdad – both Christians and Tartars abhor this murderous lifestyle as being against the laws of God and nature
  • Summary: the law of the Saracens is murderous and raging; it is not God’s but the devil’s

[edit] That the Quran Is not God’s Law because It Is too Disorderly

  • what is from God is well ordered, Rom. 13:1, as seen in nature and in holy Scripture
  • there is no order in the Quran; verses are disjointed and seem not pertinent; the poetic qualities of the book might be significant, but, as seen above (3.4.), that actually disqualifies the Quran as legitimate Scripture

[edit] That the Quran Is not God’s Law because It Is Unjust and Evil

  • the Quran itself teaches that the devils are pleased with it (Q. 46:29-32; 72:1-3); yet the devils are evil, fallen spirits who can be pleased only with what is distorted and false
  • the Quran not only permits sins such as murder, theft, perjury; it also teaches to kill the unbelievers who do not want to pay tribute (9:29)
  • the Quran says that ascribing lies to God is the greatest sin (Q. 6:21); but this is exactly what the Quran itself does
  • in the Quran, God apologizes for sending a man and not an angel, since the latter would not have been safe in the world (Q. 17:94-95) – but would angels and peaceful men not have been safer in the world than Mohammed?
  • in the Quran, God states that he did not make the world jestingly (Q. 21:16) – but who believes that God made the world in this way?
  • Summary: whatever Mohammed wanted to do or have done he ascribes to God; from there all evil flowed, as if God had commanded it in his law – it is therefore not surprising that the devils like this law

[edit] Who Is the Maker of this Law, and how Uncertain the Quran Is

  • the wisest among the Saracens hold that the first maker of the Quran is not a man but the devil: out of envy, by God’s judgment on account of man’s sin, the devil started this abomination of the Antihrist: as the devil realized that he could no longer defend all the idolatry that existed earlier, he came up with a new faith located in the middle between Moses and the gospel
  • to spread this faith, the devil used Mohammed, an idolater and poor, but proud person, acquainted with magic (this was the only cover he was granted by divine wisdom): first, he became rich by marriage; then he became a leading thief; then he strove to become king of Arabia, but he was rejected; he therefore claimed to be a prophet who masks his epileptic convulsions as visitations by an angel – the devil supplied him with advisors: apostate Jews and heretical Christians (Jacobites, Nestorians)
  • after Mohammed’s death, the Quran was unintelligible: each of his followers established his own version of the book, widely disagreeing from each other; first later, after their death, was one single version of the Quran established that is still in use today; all other versions were burned – given this, how is it true when the Quran says that God not only sent it from heaven, but also promised to preserve it (Q. 15:9)?
  • Quran claims that only God can understand the Quran (Q. 3:7)
  • the great teachers and interpreters were never agreed in their interpretation, and they will never be agreed in their interpretation but are divided in various schools (followers of Mohammed [Sunnis] vs. followers of Ali [Shiites], the latter being fewer and better)
  • under the influence of philosophy (Aristotle, Plato), some Saracens gave up on the Quran altogether – to counteract the influence of pagan philosophy, the caliph in Baghdad built schools and dormitories and offered them for free to all who wanted to come to study the Quran, just that they were prohibited from studying philosophy

[edit] Concerning a Peculiar, Shameful Great Lie and Vision

  • Mohammed’s night journey (Q. 17:1) is at first not believed by many of his followers who did not see it happen – BUT: does the Quran not teach that Mohammed did not perform any miracles (Q. 21:5-21)?
  • the Holy Spirit only permitted Mohammed to lie in such an obvious manner so that his deceit would be easily recognized

[edit] Concerning Six Common Questions on the Quran, Against the Saracens

  • these questions are meant to lead the Saracens, who cannot answer them, to the truth
“Thus the Holy Spirit admonished and drove him to enunciate with words the highest article of our faith, but to introduce against them the wrong meaning.”
  • First question: what does it mean that the Quran speaks of God as speaking in a way as if he were more than one person? In the bible, God speaks like that in one place, Gen. 1:26, where the Father speaks to the Son, or the entire Trinity to himself: therefore, the “we” passages in the Quran referring to God are really about one God in three Persons – Mohammed has the right words, but gives them a wrong meaning, as if three persons needed to be three gods: “Thus the Holy Spirit admonished and drove him to enunciate with words the highest article of our faith, but to introduce against them the wrong meaning.” (366)
  • Second question: the Quran remembers the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Who are they? Obviously, they are not creatures like the angels, because only God can make holy and forgive sin, according to the Quran. Thus, if there is one indivisible God, the Giver of the Spirit and the Spirit must be one God in essence, but differentiated personally.[19] Therefore, Mohammed must again, albeit unknowingly, bear witness against himself for the Christian faith’s highest article.
  • Third question: the same question can be raised for the Word of God: Christ is God’s Word, according to the Quran. What kind of word is this word? A human, perishable word, or an essential word? It cannot be a human word, because it is to be God’s word, therefore man’s word is not placed into Mary by the Holy Spirit, much less born of her. Thus the gospel and the Quran speak of a single word of God that is not the voice of a man. “For man’s word that is also called, and is, God’s word, is manifold; and by the same heaven and earth were not created, nor was it born of Mary.” (370) Otherwise, if Christ is called “God’s Word” simply because he preaches it, then all prophets could be called God’s Word; but Mohammed wants to praise Christ above all prophets. – Therefore, if Mohammed speaks of the essential, incorruptible Word, then it must be an eternal Word and true God: the Word spoken by the eternal mouth of God must be eternal as well. Since, however, there can be no more than one God, it follows that God and his Word must be essentially one God, but different persons – the Word by whom God spoke and made everything, John 1:3. – Mohammed again confesses with (Christian) words, albeit unknowingly, the high article of the Trinity in God. – If it is impossible for God to have sons (cf. Ps. 82:6!), is it not also impossible for a woman to have a child without a man, something the Quran affirms for Mary (Q. 3:47)? Mohammed simply parrots the words he’s learned from the Arians. – If Jesus is called God’s word only because he was created like Adam by a divine word of command (Q. 3:59), then what does it mean that God’s Word and Spirit were poured into Mary (Q. 4:171)? And: should not then all creatures be called “God’s Word” since they all are created by a divine word of command (Q. 2:117)? But then Christ would not be the Word by which God made all things.
  • Fourth question: why does Mohammed praise Moses, Job, David, and, above all, the gospel, confessing that truth and blessedness are in it? Why do the Saracens not read the books highly praised thus? The Christians took the books highly praised by Christ, translated them and preached on them. As was shown above, Mohammed’s claim that the Christians (and Jews) falsified their books is a lie. – Therefore, the reason why Saracens do not read the books of the Christians is that then they would quickly see the lies of the Quran. Hence, the Quran has surrounded its lies with four walls: the command to kill all who speak against the Quran; the prohibition to dispute with members of other sects; the prohibition to believe anyone not from their sect; it severs all ties to others. – If the Saracens followed their Quran and read Moses, David, Solomon, and the gospel, they would be saved; now, however, they remain condemned also by their own Quran which points them to the right books which they nonetheless despise.
  • Fifth question: why does Mohammed always use words like “Believe in God and his apostle”? This sounds as if Mohammed wanted to make himself equal to God, although he always says that there is no one equal to God. Only Christ, as God’s natural Son, is justified in saying: Believe in God, believe also in me, John 14:1. The other prophets do not do this; they only call people to follow God.[20]
  • Sixth question: Given that the Quran says so many splendid things about Christ, and so little about Mohammed, why do the Saracens not follow Christ instead of Mohammed?
    • Christ is said to be announced to his mother by an angel and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, conceived by the power of the Most High God, born of the holiest Virgin Mary, the purest among all women (Q. 3:42-48). – None of this is said of Mohammed: he was a poor orphan, hired by God (Q. 93:6-7).
    • Christ is said to be God’s omniscient and sure Word (Q. 4:171). – Mohammed is an uncertain prophet who is not sure about the truth of his message (Q. 46:9), reportedly bewitched and killed by the Jews.
    • Christ is a descendent of Abraham and Isaac to whom was given the promise of the blessing concerning the heir. – Mohammed comes from Ishmael to whom the promise does not apply; rather it is written about him that he will be a wild man, his hand will be against all, and the hand of all against him (Gen. 16:12, cf. Q. 37:100-113).
    • Christ never sinned, for God’s Word and Spirit cannot sin. – Mohammed is an idolater, murderer, rapist, robber, and filled with all vices, although they say that God forgave them all.
    • Christ is said to have done many miracles in broad daylight. – Mohammed, according to the Quran, is said to have done none; the miracles attributed to him later are made up or impossible, foolish or useless, or took place in secret, e.g., his night journey.
    • Christ is said to have been an excellent teacher from childhood on (Q. 3:46; 5:110). – Mohammed is said to have been an ignorant teacher (Q. 46:9), a layman (Q. 7:158) who only knew his mother tongue, who did not even understand his own law (Q. 3:7).
    • According to the gospel, Christ was crucified, died, and rose from the dead, seated at the right hand of God. The Quran at least agrees with this in that Christ now is alive (Q. 4:157-159). – Mohammed is dead. But a living helper is better than a dead one. Why is it that the Saracens do not rather follow Christ and the gospel than Mohammed and the Quran? The better teacher should give the better law; that is common sense.

[edit] How the Gospel Is Superior to the Quran

“And who reads the Quran itself will find all this more clearly, so that we may say in the future: If you don’t want to believe us, just read the Quran. Yet in the gospel is found the opposite of all this.”
  • Based on what was said above, it’s easy to see how the gospel is superior to the Quran, for it was proved that the Quran cannot be God’s law. “And who reads the Quran itself will find all this more clearly, so that we may say in the future: If you don’t want to believe us, just read the Quran. Yet in the gospel is found the opposite of all this.” (378)
  • Mohammed himself praises Christ and the gospel (Q. 5:46-47). “We know that no testimony of doctrine or life is as strong and powerful as the praise of the adversaries.” (378)
  • The Quran states that God, since he wanted the world to know the truth by his word and not to be corrupted by falsehood (cf. Q. 8:7-8), ordered it in such a way that this law which is common to all and alone necessary, namely, the law of the gospel, be published everywhere in all languages. – This is why Christ commands his disciples to preach the gospel everywhere, while the Quran says that it came to the Saracens alone, and in Arabic alone. – It is fair to ask them why – since they insist that all need to know the Arabic Quran to be saved – God only wants the Saracens or Arabic speakers to be saved, while the law of the Christians, translated into all languages, teaches that God wants all to be saved.
  • All Saracens who truly want to be saved need to learn to know Christ, the one Savior, and read the gospel, in whatever language. They will find how Moses and the prophets witness to it, without contradiction; in simple prose; without self-boasting and shameful words; in common, honest words; without fables, the parables interpreting themselves. “It also is perfect, prohibiting not only the external work, but also the inward evil lusts.” (380) It does not permit murder etc., rather commands to suffer injustice for God’s sake (Matt. 5:39-41), to pray for enemies and persecutors (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28). It is well ordered and certain, written by certain teacher. It does not, like the Quran (Q. 109:6), point people away from it when they do not want to believe right away (as if it cared only about one’s own salvation, not about that of others), but rather teaches to be ready to given an answer to all who desire to know the reason for faith and hope (1 Peter 3:15) and wishes all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).

[edit] How the Saracens Respond to All This

  • Saracens respond: we don’t say the gospel is not from God or imperfect; the problem is: it commands a perfection the world is not able to render: who can love God from all his heart (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37)? who can love his neighbor as himself (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39)? who can pray for his enemies and persecutors (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:28)? who can, from all his heart, do good to those who do evil to him (Luke 6:27)? Because the gospel was too difficult, God accommodated the world by giving it an easier law, the Quran, which is better for the common man and more than enough for salvation.[21] This is how the Quran came to replace the gospel, by assimilating all that was good in it.
  • This is a lie: there are no time limits for the gospel, esp. since the Quran itself states that truth and salvation are in the gospel. By what is truth and salvation replaced?
  • The argument that God noticed that the gospel is too difficult first after giving it is useless, since every man knows what his animals can bear; how much more would God have known it.
  • If the Quran is easier than the gospel, so it is also more dangerous where it is not kept – the Saracens do not keep the Quran: they drink wine; they eat forbidden foods; do not keep the fast; do not offer the prescribed prayers; do not give the prescribed alms; etc.
  • The Quran claims to be easier, but Mohammed inserted also more difficult things:
    • difficult beliefs: that the Quran is understood only by God; but then also that Mary is the virgin mother of Jesus, that God has a Word and Spirit, which are difficult to believe and authenticated by miracles in the church
    • difficult works: circumcision, temperance, fasting, praying, almsgiving, etc., things only few Saracens observe
  • If the difficulty of a law calls for a new law, then someone, who might find the Quran still too difficult, might give a new law, easier yet; finally everybody would do as they pleased – therefore, God’s word stands firm: “Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccl. 12:13)

[edit] Confutation by Martin Luther

  • Quran is a shameful law since Mohammed himself admits about it that only ¼ of it is true[22] – who in his right mind would seriously believe and accept such a book, about which he knew that most of it is false, but about which he didn’t know what was true and what false? Most Saracens cannot be human anymore; they must have become rock and wood.
  • Those who believe the Quran in earnest are without excuse: their own prophet has warned them. Faith in Quran must be the result of black magic, in federation with the devil.
  • The devil cannot be overcome with weapons; true faith and serious prayer would have to drive him away, before the sword could do anything against his allies.
  • However, there are also still real men among the Turks:
    • the philosophers, read also in Europe, who did not believe the Quran (or the bible)
    • those who join the Turks because of their luck, victories, carnal glory and lust; they don’t care about God or devil
  • Those people are also the majority among Christians: idolaters who worship mammon, temporal glory and power, etc.; the masses who hear God’s word but ridicule preachers and God; those who outright ally themselves with the devil – all these will not be able to say on the Last Day that the devil deceived them.
  • The Turks at least have the excuse that God gives them good fortunes and they do not know that God gives such worldly success to the worst offenders, even to the devil himself, the prince of the world.
  • If two Turkish armies battle each other, one called Mohammedan, the other Christian, whom should God give victory? Luther: the Mohammedan Turks should win, because they sin in ignorance (they don’t have God’s word or preachers of the same; if they had those, some of them would repent; they don’t even have the original Quran), while the Christian Turks despise God’s word and preachers and thus become real pigs, blaspheme Christ’s name by boasting in Christ even though they are worst Turks than the Mohammedan Turks who do not boast in Christ.
  • While Saracens or Turks do not have the original Quran, in the church the gospel was washed away by decretals, legends, sums, about which no one knows where they came from, who wrote them, why they must be believed, etc. – all these nonetheless are deemed to be the articles of the holy Christian church one must believe or else be considered a heretic, in spite of 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Tim. 3:14
  • This is God’s final wrath: the devil is permitted to broadcast all his power and evilness to the utmost – in the West through the pope and in the East through Mohammed – this is how God punishes our lack of gratitude for Christ’s blood
  • Luther writes this book for those who fight against the Turk and might become subject to the Turk so as to be able to defend themselves against Mohammed’s faith where they couldn’t resist his sword – Luther has despaired totally of those who want to fight against the Turk, but who with their blasphemy, sexual immorality, and arrogance are really worse than the Turk himself
  • God will not give good fortune where people such as these fight for us; those who repent, honor his word and sacraments, humble themselves before God and pray, they must make God relent and keep his angels with his Christians on the battlefield – otherwise, all is lost
  • It should move a Christian, but also a decent heathen, that there is so much immorality among the Mohammedans (e.g., marriage not much different than fornication); their commendable features (strict order, obedience in war, prayers, etc.) are of no avail to them (murderers are peaceful among themselves, also diligent and careful, dedicated, courageous, willing to suffer – the flesh is more ready to serve the devil; where is there more prayer than among the idolaters, the false prophets, and the papacy?): whatever is done without faith is sin, Rom. 14:23.
  • All this should move Christians to see God’s terrible anger and wrath that has gone over the world because the gospel has been despised: Mohammed in the East (son of the devil instead of the Son of God); the pope (much more subtle) in the West (evil spirit instead of the Holy Spirit).
  • Yet God’s undeserved mercy in preserving his church attenuated his horrible wrath so that, in the East, Mohammed was permitted only to deceive those who wanted to be deceived, since his lies are so obvious. – In the West, the papacy mightily kept the text of the bible and the sacraments in public use, so that the deceived elect were able to see the light at last or at their end and grasped the Savior in his word and sacrament, as happened to St. Bernard and many others like him.
  • Mohammed is not the Antichrist; he is too crude, too recognizable a devil; he is like a heathen who attacks the church from the outside.
  • Yet the pope is the true Antichrist among us; his devil is high, subtle, beautiful, and bright; he sits inside Christendom, 2 Thess. 2:4, but rules it craftily by elevating his Quran[23] and decretals, his doctrine of man, above God’s word, in order to deprive the Christians of God’s word, baptism, etc., and direct them to their own works. – This devil attacks and deceives even the elect, Matt. 24:24, by using all the right words and titles while at the same time destroying all that is good in the church by his own Quran, 2 Tim. 3:5. – This devil, unlike Mohammed, also does miracles, as Christ and Paul foretold, Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4, 9, all recorded in the legends of the monks etc.
  • The estate of marriage did not fare well under the crude devil and under the subtle devil: the crude one takes many wives, but has no marriage; the subtle one takes no wives, but secretly takes many.
  • Also in murder and bloodshed the pope would outdo the Turk, since he has caused so many wars between kings and nations, and has done so in the name of Christ as a blasphemer – in comparison, Mohammed appears as a veritable saint before the world!
  • If one is to prevail against Mohammed, the external enemy of Christendom, one will have to foreswear the inner enemy, the Antichrist, in genuine repentance and turn to Jesus Christ with all one’s heart, in order to be able to pray rightly and truly, thus being certain of being heard
  • Luther has done his prophetic duty by warning his people against both Turk and pope; he is excused both now and on the Last Day.[24]

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑ Standard edition of the text is WA 53:272-396.
  2. ↑ Cf. the information supplied by H. Barge in WA 53:261-263.
  3. ↑ Cf. the information supplied by H. Barge in WA 53:263-268.
  4. ↑ While the Turks were the leading Muslim people at the time of Luther, the Saracens, Ricoldus’s customary term for Muslims in general, is a term first applied by Ptolemy (1st / 2nd century A.D.) to people living in the northern Sinai Peninsula; later Roman and Christian geographers applied the term to dwellers of the Syrian and later Arabian deserts. Until the emergence of the Turks in the 11th century (Seljuk), the Arabs were the main Muslim force. Since Ricoldo visits the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty, Baghdad, after the Mongol sack in 1258, he is still dealing with Arabs (i.e., Saracens) there, though with Arabs in sharp decline.
  5. ↑ Where?
  6. ↑ Tradition.
  7. ↑ Where?
  8. ↑ In reality, the “society of the book,” ahl al-kitab, are pre-Muslim monotheists with a written prophetic record, that is, primarily the Jews and Christians, but later also the Zoroastrians of Persia.
  9. ↑ Where?
  10. ↑ Where?
  11. ↑ Where?
  12. ↑ Where?
  13. ↑ The Quran states that the Jews claim to have killed Jesus, while it denies that their claim is true: Jesus was not killed by them.
  14. ↑ See the tradition.
  15. ↑ See the tradition on Q. 17:1.
  16. ↑ The Quran, in fact, mentions Imram as name of Mary’s father, Q. 3:33-36.
  17. ↑ Cf., however, Luke 1:5, 36 and Luke 3:23, 31, 33.
  18. ↑ Luther thinks of Q. 33:43. Yet, when God is the subject, the form يصلي (yṣly) means “he blesses,” not “he prays,” as in the customary eulogy after the name of Mohammed, “May God bless him and give him salvation” (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
  19. ↑ However, cf. Q. 15:29: God’s Spirit breathed into Adam.
  20. ↑ However, cf. Ex. 4 and esp. Ex. 14:31; 19:9, but also 2 Chr. 20:20; John 17:20.
  21. ↑ Cf. Q. 3:50, on Jesus’ allowing certain things forbidden in the law of Moses.
  22. ↑ Luther here seems to apply the traditional Muslim criticism of certain traditions concerning Mohammed (ahadith) to Mohammed himself.
  23. ↑ Cf. the 1542 book by Lutheran superintendent, Erasmus Alber, Der Barfüßermönche Eulenspiegel und Alkoran (“The Franciscans’ Tomfoolery and Quran”) that dealt with the manifold legends about, and miracles by, St. Francis collected in a book, the Liber Conformitatum, to demonstrate that St. Francis was the most faithful follower of Christ, thereby commending his example to be imitated by others. Luther supplied a preface for it in order to assure those no longer acquainted with Catholicism based on personal experience that these outlandish legends were held in high esteem when he was a monk, even though at present the Catholics no longer emphasized them, WA 53:409-411.
  24. ↑ See Ezek. 3:19.

[edit] Further References

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