Christian Book Burning

Write a 2000 word paper on one of the following topics with a bibliography of the references used


c) Christian Missionaries often compare the burning of the Gospels to the burning of the copies of the Quraan in the time of Uthmaan (radiAllaahu anhu) to prove that the Quraan too had various versions and so is unreliable. Present the correct explanation of this issue with proper references




In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful


Sometimes today in a desperate attempt by the Christian evangelist we find the argument that the Koran is unreliable. This argument is completely flawed on many levels. If the Christian thinks that the Koran is unreliable based on this event in Islamic history then he must also assume that his own Bible is unreliable. Typically a Christian making this comparison will not have strong faith in the validity of their own book


It would be like a person knowing their religion is wrong but trying to prove that other religions are wrong also and putting them on a level plain. But the problem is that these two religions are not on the same plain at all. It is like a person saying “yes I know my religion is wrong but yours is wrong also”. Such a statement is ridiculous. Therefore a Christians does not have a solid foundation of attack in any debate using this silly argument. Therefore the comparison between the Christian book burning and the Uthmaan book burning is made in a defensive manner to try and save what little credibility that may be left


The Christian world has a real problem on their hands. That problem is that people are choosing to think rather than to follow blindly. As a result many people turn to atheism as they feel there is no other alternative. They feel that they have to choose between Christianity and Science and do not explore the realm of other possibilities as other religions are portrayed as strange and in many cases are portrayed as worse than Christianity. Since they have distaste and distrust of Christianity and they have been programmed to believe that all other religions are strange and less credible then Christianity they are slowing being driven towards secularism


One of the main reasons for this Christian apostasy is from an examination of their own text. Christianity has always been a strong force in the world until recently when the modern day Bible is in the hands of masses. It’s not only the contents of the book that drives them towards disbelief but also the fact that it is not based on a solid foundation. People are coming to realize that this text is completely unreliable


Christians today sometimes make the claim that their Bible is 99% accurate. They say this because of numerous problems with manuscripts and differences of opinion in regards to what should or should not be in the Bible. For example the story of the adulterous women has been removed and put back several times. Within the footnotes of most Bibles it will indicate that this story is not in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. But rather than bickering over small verses or sections to determine the credibility of Bible, let us examine the actual books themselves and more specifically during the dark ages when the Christians used their power to subjugate the masses


For that we have to go back to the various councils of the Christians. Christian councils were chosen to determine what books should or should not be included into the Bible. Let us pause here for a moment and think about this. That means that in this period there was doubt already in regards to what was authentic and what was not authentic. You could end the argument right here. If the Christians thinks his books are accurate then what was the need for the councils? This is 100% proof that the Christians were in doubt about the accuracy of their texts in this period. If they were not in doubt then these councils would be useless. Obviously these councils were trying to solve a problem they had or the other possibility is that the councils were purposely trying to corrupt the Christian faith. We will let the Christian decide between the two, whether they were trying to corrupt Christianity or whether the councils were in doubt. Either way the result is disastrous for the Christian


But since I like to utterly crush and humble the arrogance of those who attack Islam let us continue on. When a study of these councils is done it is quickly realized that this was a bias act. For example, one of the criteria that the council had decided was that every book to be approved must have the story of the crucifixion in it. This is bias. Rather than going in with an open mind they instead had criteria to filter the books even before they knew which books are accurate. Instead of taking the scientific approach and study the chain of narrations as the Muslims have done with hadith and hadith sciences, the councils made criteria and used it as a filter to support their own agendas


These councils had an obvious agenda. And perhaps the brother of Jesus peace be upon him can give us some insight into this


Jude 1:4

For there are certain men crept in unnoticed...ungodly men…


Were the councils assembled by secret societies that infiltrated the Christians? Is that why only pagan gospels were chosen?


The Christians world was unable to verify their books the same way the Muslims have using hadith sciences because the Christians still don’t know who wrote the gospels or the letters of Paul. This is the condition that a hadith is labeled as accurate. They must know who wrote it. Not only to know the person but to know his character. Was he a liar, a thief, a rapist? When it comes to the books of the Bible nobody knows


The gospel of Thomas was excluded because it did not talk about the crucifixion of their god. Modern day scholars claim that the gospel of Thomas is more reliable than the gospel of John which was chosen to be in the Bible. Even some Christians today feel that this gospel of Thomas was unjustly labeled as heretic by early church leaders. Their argument is that the gospel of Thomas is a book of sayings and does not tell any of the stories of Jesus peace be upon him. It is only a collection of his sayings. So they argue that this gospel does not exclude the possibility of crucifixion nor does it confirm it. It simple leaves it out


The gospel of Mary was not selected to be in the Bible because it was written by a woman. Women during this period of Christianity were not respected and could never be seen as a scholar or a good source of knowledge. Therefore her gospel was not selected


On a side note one of the greatest hadith narrators is Ayesha who was a woman


There are many other gospels that were not selected based on the fact that they did not talk about the crucifixion. Historians say that the number of gospels in circulation during this time could have been in the thousands and it is unknown the amount of books that have been destroyed. So again let us pause for a second. They destroyed thousands of gospels because only four of them met their bias criteria? Thousands? And in the end only four talked about the crucifixion? Again the Christian’s logic is demolished


But let us continue on. What did the Church do after they selected the books of the New Testament? They deemed that anyone with a differing opinion must be executed and any books within the people possession must be destroyed. The ultimate in censorship. If a Christian ever gets upset about censorship then he should throw his Bible in the garbage as it is the result of the biggest event of censorship this world has ever known. Men were rounded up and murdered and their books burned. The church used force on the people to compel them to follow blindly. Book after book was destroyed and lost forever. The exact number of differing gospels is unknown and the majority of these texts are lost forever. Only a few have survived


Now we could stop there but it gets much worse. For the Christian it gets much much worse. The condition was a time when there was no alternative to the churches opinions. The only alternative to disbelief in the Bible was death. You had two choices. Death or to believe the Bible that they choose and make sure you did not have in your possession any other books with a different opinion. But here is where it gets worse. Even during this period you were not allowed to read the Bible they selected. Even though the masses were poor and uneducated and most couldn’t read anyway, the ruling class decided that you must be a priest to read the Bible. Only the priest had the right to read the Bible and it was his job to tell the people what it said. If you were caught with a Bible then you were killed because only the priest could own a Bible. Did they promote it and encourage people to read it and study from it. No, instead they kill you for reading it. And even today you find the largest sects of Christianity believe that it is only a priest who should read the Bible


To be fair, in our modern times there are lots of Christians who work hard to translate the Bible in many languages and spread it through the world for people to read however the largest sects in the world do not do this


When it comes to Islam, we of course know that we should be reading own book. The reward we receive for it is huge. And many people will give away Korans for free to their friends so that they can get ajar from Allah for encouraging good deeds


Now after discussing this issue with the Christian and pointing out the obvious flaws in the reliability of their Bible they are trapped, defeated and discouraged. I do feel sorry for them at this point. I do have a conscience after all


Usually by this point they have resorted to irrational explanations. And it is only natural when a person is being attacked to go on the counter attack. So they say that the Koran isn’t reliable because of the Uthmaan period


Really these two events cannot be compared. But they are desperate for anything. Like a drowning person grabbing on straws


Let us look at what happened during this period and point out obvious differences. The Koran is not like other books. It is a book that is memorized by millions today. And those who do not memorize the whole thing have memorized large portions of it. If you threw all the books into the ocean or burned all the libraries and books within in it, the Koran would be back in less than a week. It would be back in the same amount of time that it would take to recite it. In my mind this is the fundamental difference between the preservation of other books and the preservation of the Koran


During the lifetime of the prophet it was written down in written format. And many of the companions memorized it in oral format. And during the first caliphate, Abu Bakr had the Koran written down on high quality goat skins


The different dialects were causing division among the Ummah. These were not different version of the Koran this was different dialects


So Uthmaan called for the original written format of the Koran which was written in the time of Abu Bakr. From that he made copies and sent them throughout the empire. He also sent with them a teacher to teach proper pronunciation of the Arabic words


And reading this book was encouraged. All other manuscripts were turned over voluntarily to be burned to safeguard the Koran from corruption because of the differences in the dialects. But the bottom line is that the Koran was preserved orally and only written down for people like me who have not memorized it yet. Preserving it in written form was only secondary method of preservation. The primary method of preservation was by memorization. The writing it down into one book and one dialect made it possible for others to memorize it


So with the Koran we have a chain of proof. First it was written in the time of the prophet and then an official copy made during the time of Abu Bakr. And then in the time of Uthmaan official copies were sent out to the regions. A clear chain going back to the prophet. Where as other religious books can not trace the lineage of their books to authentic sources. And more specifically in the case of Christianity they had numerous differences within the gospels regarding fundamental issue such as crucifixion


Although other religions have doubt regarding their books. The Koran is one book in which there is no doubt


Surah 2:2 This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).


The Koran has always been in the hands of the people and the Bible has always been in the hands of the rulers