Answering Muslims

A Timely Message

2010-09-09T22:42:00.004-05:00

Since the prospective day is fast approaching, and since there is still time for Pastor Terry Jones to make the right decision, not to mention time for Muslims to reflect on the appropriate response they should make should Pastor Jones chose to plod on with his reckless idea, I wanted to draw attention to an article recently put up today at Answering Islam by Jochen Katz:

Cancel the "Burn a Qur'an" Day! When Irresponsibility Meets Irrationality

Please read it, and spread the word.

Burn the Quran Day is CANCELLED... Because Ground Zero Mosque is Being Moved?!?

2010-09-09T16:38:00.009-05:00

Whoa... this could be about the awesomest thing I've heard all week! Burn the Qur'an Day is, according to USA Today, getting cancelled because Imam Rauf has agreed to move the Ground Zero Mosque!

He (Pastor Terry Jones) said he decided to cancel his protest because the leader of a planned Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its controversial location. READ MORE

If this is truly the case, then Terry Jones is a genius. If Imam Rauf is pulling a fast one on the Pastor from Florida, well, we'll just have to wait and see.

*UPDATE*

Reports are coming in that the developers of the Ground Zero Mosque are denying that the mosque will be moved. According to ABC News:

But as soon as Jones and al-Masri finished speaking, denials were issued that the Islamic community center and mosque would be moved away from its current controversial location.

"The Muslim Community Center called Park51 in Lower Manhattan is not being moved," read a statement from SoHo Properties, the developer of the community center that is being called the Ground Zero Mosque. READ MORE

As far as the American public goes, there's no telling what will happen. Let's pray while we're still waiting to see how all this will unfold.

*UPDATE 2*

Well, it looks like they got Pastor Jones. According to Yahoo News: "Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said he was surprised by the announcement and that he would not barter." (Emphasis mine) It just remains to be seen whether Pastor Jones un-cancels "Burn the Qur'an Day". Then we can blame the Qur'an burning entirely on Abdul Rauf. That would make him single-handedly responsible for offending the entire world, Muslims and non-Muslims alike! (Disclaimer for the undiscerning: that was humorous sarcasm).

*UPDATE 3*

After realizing that he'd been conned, Pastor Jones is reconsidering the cancellation.

(CNN)--A Florida pastor who called off a Quran burning said late Thursday he was "rethinking our position" after a Muslim leader said the minister incorrectly announced that the proposed Islamic center near New York's ground zero would be moved as part of a deal. Read more.

Should the Qur'an Be Burned? David Wood and Pastor Terry Jones Debate the Issue (with Calls from James White and Sam Shamoun)

2010-09-09T14:56:00.005-05:00

On September 11th, 2010, Pastor Terry Jones is hosting "International Burn the Qur'an Day." Most Americans would agree that Pastor Jones has a legal right to burn books. However, many people would question whether a public book burning is a good idea. Fortunately, America protects our right to have disagreements, and to peacefully discuss our views. In the following discussion, Pastor Jones and David Wood debate the wisdom of Saturday's demonstration. (You can view the initial response of Acts 17 here.)

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

PART TEN

PART ELEVEN

PART TWELVE

PART THIRTEEN

Gospelophobia Spreads from Dearborn to Kansas

2010-09-09T11:08:00.003-05:00

It seems that Kansas Police have swiped a page from the Dearborn Police playbook. They're now violating the Constitutional rights of Christians in order to protect Muslims from hearing the Gospel.

A pastor is facing a court date after sharing the gospel with Muslims -- in Kansas.

About 14 people, including three senior pastors, went to the local mosque to distribute to Muslims packets containing the books of John and Romans in English and Arabic and a DVD with testimonies of former Muslims. Pastor Mark Holick of Spirit One Christian Center was one of those passing out the packets to people leaving the mosque.

Holick tells OneNewsNow that when local police officers arrived on the scene, he was handcuffed then detained in a patrol car, where he repeatedly asked what crime he had committed.

"And then about 15 minutes later, 20 minutes later, something like that, they finally came over and told me that I was being charged with 'loitering' and 'failure to disperse,'" the pastor shares.

Asked if this episode occurred in Saudi Arabia, he replies, with a chuckle: "No, this was in Wichita, Kansas."

The pastor says it was very disconcerting to see the gospel squelched -- especially on a public sidewalk in a country with a constitutional guarantee of free speech. Holick believes police are suggesting that he was blocking traffic on the driveway.

"Of course we never did do that," he assures. "There would be no reason for us to block vehicles -- and they probably have no idea how much I like all of my organs and bones perfectly in the position they're in right now."

Holick says serious free-speech rights are in question, so he is asking the Alliance Defense Fund to represent him. There has been no decision on that so far. Source.

Hmmm. Why does this sound familiar?

Special News Bulletin: Acts 17 on Hate Crimes

2010-09-09T03:03:00.001-05:00

It has come to light that perhaps the New York City cab driver's stabbing was not as closely linked to hatred towards Muslims as was initially propounded by virtually all media outlets. Regardless, our position towards attacks on Muslims is the same: stop attacking Muslims!

David Wood and Pastor Terry Jones on ABN Tonight at 10:30 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time)

2010-09-08T20:10:00.002-05:00

Tonight Pastor Jones and I will be on ABN via Skype discussing his "Burn the Qur'an Day." If you don't get ABN via satellite, you can tune in live over the internet here.

Refuting Adnan Rashid: Was Muhammad the Illiterate Prophet Predicted in Isaiah 29: 11-13?

2010-09-06T07:13:00.009-05:00

While investigating certain modern Muslims claims about science in the Qur’an, I came across a lecture of Adnan Rashid, in which he asserts a particular prediction of Muhammad in the book of Isaiah, chapter 29: 11-13.

http://www.hittininstitute.com/video.aspx?ID=31

I felt it would be appropriate to share my thoughts on his interpretation of the passage.
I must say I was slightly puzzled by Adnan’s constant flaws in Biblical interpretation, his historical inaccuracies and his hermeneuctical methods.

As to the presumed prediction of Muhammad, he completely, either fails to grasp the context of the passage or deliberately distorts its meaning.

Hence I encourage everyone, first, to read the passage, then read the full chapter, and finally ask yourself whether, the passage in the context or even separately predicts the coming of distant future, Arabic, illiterate prophet?

Let's elaborate on the chapter and assess this claim of Adnan and numerous other Muslim exponents.

Firstly, the passage concerns the City of David several centuries prior to the birth of Jesus and more than a thousand years prior to Islam (see verses 1: 1-4).

Secondly, the passage describes God blinding the people of Israel, in this case those living and abiding in the City of David (it’s people, the prophets and the seers) for imminent judgement.

Hence neither time nor circumstances fit the description or interpretation of Adnan!

Verses 10-11a reads:

‘The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep, he has sealed your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (seers). For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll ’.

Here God clarifies in his revelation to Isaiah the prophet, that his words to this particular community at this particular time cannot be perceived by the particular community.

Consequently then, if the passage concerned the revelation of the Qur’an, the Qur’an would then be unreadable and impossible to perceive particularly by its earliest recipients such as Muhammad and his close followers, and therefore modern attempts by Muslim apologists to utilize this passage to confirm the prediction of the Qur’an will simply backlash.

The revelation to Isaiah continues (verses 11b-12):

‘...And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed”. Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

Hence someone, not God, nor Gabriel, but either the prophet of this revelation who is Isaiah, or the ruling body of the city, is informed that the people living in the City of David sometimes between 800-700 BC will be blinded from perceiving the future calamity.

They will be so blinded, that if Isaiah or the ruling body hands a scroll of warning to a reader within the community, he would be unable to read the message therein due to its divine sealing, and if Isaiah would hand the scroll to an illiterate, the person would simply admit his inability to read.

Notice the wording, ‘if’, if Isaiah gives the scroll to a reader or an illiterate.

The passage is not claiming that God will convey his scroll or reveal his word to an illiterate who miraculously will be able to recite. Quite the opposite, that (not God but) Isaiah or another agent is the provider of the word, yet there is no definite command or statement that the scroll was necessarily ever given, but rather ‘if’ you give.

Moreover, the recipients of the scroll (if they were ever handed a scroll) are not one, but two. Therefore, if Muhammad is the illiterate whose divine destruction is imminent, then who is the literate?

Furthermore, both the literate and the illiterate are blinded and singled out with the rest of the community for destruction, not in 570 AD or a little later but in 700 BC, not in Arabia but in the City of David in Israel. If the passage predicted Muhammad's arrival and the rise of the Muslim community, Islam would be wiped by God himself within Muhammad’s era. That is if Adnan and other Muslims are accurate about their hermenuetical skills of the text.

So is this illiterate individual a prophet?

Far from it, every indication to such an interpretation is completely wanted.

This illiterate is not an Arab, he does not abide in Arabia, neither was not alive in Muhammad's era; in fact he is not even a prophet but someone close to the wrath of God.

The only mention of a prophet is possibly to Isaiah himself who probably never handed a scroll to this poor individual, but if he did, this individual would gain absolutely nothing from this encounter with the Word of God.

I am virtually astonished that Muslims resort to such speculative and distortive approaches of interpretation to boost their desperate ideas.

Adnan Rashid, committed in fact a number of errors, e.g. stating that the Isaiah scroll was written five centuries prior to Muhammad, while in fact, the two Isaiah scrolls were written approximately 150 and 100 BC. Furthermore, his claim that the Isaiah scroll is the oldest manuscript of Jewish scripture. There are in fact a number of written Scriptures in our possession that precede the scroll of Isaiah.

The Qur’an and the miracle of the female talking ant

2010-04-29T04:12:00.003-05:00

A number of Islamic proponents have proposed the idea that Sura 27: 18-19 depicturing the prophet Solomon hearing the words of a female ant reveals two clear modern scientific discoveries, which were virtually unheard off prior to Islam and not confirmed until the recent era.

This is the passage:

When they approached the valley of the ants, one ant said, "O you ants, go into your homes, lest you get crushed by Solomon and his soldiers, without perceiving." He smiled and laughed at her statement, and said, "My Lord, direct me to be appreciative of the blessings You have bestowed upon me and my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Admit me by Your mercy into the company of Your righteous servants" (Sura 27: 18-19).

Muslim exponents presuppose two miraculous predictions here:

1. The ant can communicate by talking

2. The ant is a female

Both claims are drastically portrayed in this youtube video in a response to the ‘answering-islam’ website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWO7kow59E&feature=related

Lets assess these claims:

Does the Qur’an predict the female nature of worker ants?

That the Qur’an addresses the ant as feminine is accurate, it is also accurate that the worker ants are females. However, contrary to what Muslims believe this idiom is not suggesting that the Qur’an describes a female creature. In a number of languages not only human female and males are referred to by their gender as male or female but entire species and objects are referred to as either male, female or neuter gender. In the Arabic language the ‘ant’ (naml) is simply generic female, it does not indicate natural gender or a biological female or male at least not in its singular and this particular ant is referred to as singular.

For further study read:

http://arabic.tripod.com/VocabAnimals.htm

http://www.quran4u.com/Tafsiraya/027%20Naml.htm

http://www.studyquran.co.uk/LLhome.htm

This completely debunks and refutes the popular claim that the Qur’an predicts the discovery that worker ants are female.

Does the talking ant predict modern scientific discoveries?

Similar exaggeration is utilized to introduce divine miraculous revelation through the prediction of a talking ant. Solomon supposedly heard an ant warning the ant community to escape into their dwellings do evade Solomon’s proceeding army.

To prove their case Muslims have recently turned to a very recent discovery which involved microphones to detect the communication between ants. The discovery revealed that some ants indeed communicate with sounds.

A Muslim youtube which appears to represent Osama Abdallah’s website ‘answering-Christianity’ praises this discovery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWO7kow59E&feature=related

This particular and very recent discovery which Muslim exponents quote is found here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5672006.ece

Unfortunately for the Muslim the claims are typically exaggerated and the discovery does not effectively render that much support to the Muslim use of the passage.

In the article we read:

‘Professor Thomas said it remained unclear how much the ants relied on sound for
language but he suspected that further analysis would reveal a wider vocabulary
than had been seen yet.
“The most important discovery is that within the ant
colony different sounds can provoke different reactions,” he said. “I would be
very surprised if we didn't get different types of sound.
“It's within the
power of the ant to play different tunes by changing the rhythm with which they
rub.”

Hence, far from what the Qur’an supposes, ants do not talk, they make sounds by rubbing body parts together. The sound might according to professor Thomas ‘provoke different reactions’.

However Thomas also concedes that it still remains unclear to what extent ants rely ‘on sound for language’ and that the variety in sounds is still a matter undiscovered.

Hence contrary to what the Qur’an states an ant cannot by talking vocabulary warn a community of ants about an imminent disaster.

But there is more, lets for a moment presume that the Qur’an actually provides insight into a natural fact that virtually remained unknown until recent times; are when then correct to deem the Qur’an as miraculous in its statement.

Not really.

A pre-Islamic scientific description of much greater details than the Qur’an describes this same ability to ants and appears much closer in word and details to the modern discoveries of Professor Thomas and others.

The text is found in the writings of the Christian philosopher Origen in his writings against Celsus, chapter 84, written in the third century and therefore predates Islam with 350 years; it reads:

And since he asserts that, "when ants die, the survivors set apart a special
place (for their interment), and that their ancestral sepulchres such a place
is," we have to answer, that the greater the laudations which he heaps upon
irrational animals, so much the more does he magnify (although against his will)
the work of that reason which arranged all things in order, and points out the
skill336 which exists among men, and which is capable of adorning by its reason
even the gifts which are bestowed by nature on the irrational creation. But why
do I say "irrational," since Celsus is of opinion that these animals, which,
agreeably to the common ideas of all men, are termed irrational, are not really
so? Nor does he regard the ants as devoid of reason, who professed to speak of
"universal nature," and who boasted of his truthfulness in the inscription of
his book. For, speaking of the ants conversing with one another, he uses the
following language: "And when they meet one another they enter into
conversation, for which reason they never mistake their way; consequently they
possess a full endowment of reason, and some common ideas on certain general
subjects, and a voice by which they express themselves regarding accidental
things."337 Now conversation between one man and another is carried on by means
of a voice, which gives expression to the meaning intended, and which also gives
utterances concerning what are called "accidental things; "but to say that this
was the case with ants would be a most ridiculous assertion.

http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/EN/eso.htm

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen164.html

Notice that Origen in his writings against Celsus 350 years prior to Islam describes a view of his time that ants talk and converse with each other:

For, speaking of the ants conversing with one another, he uses the following
language: "And when they meet one another they enter into conversation, for
which reason they never mistake their way; consequently they possess a full
endowment of reason, and some common ideas on certain general subjects, and a
voice by which they express themselves regarding accidental things."

Ants were in fact considered unique in the writings of antiquity; in this same passage Origin described them as highly intelligent, possessing gardens, etc. Plato, Aristotle, Pliny and others referred to the ant as a political animal and Aelian the Greek-Roman philosopher ‘noted that ant colonies and ant highways were very much like the famous buildings and roads of Greece and Crete’:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+toc&redirect=true

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%D11%3Achapter%3D36

While most of these noted that ants communicated by other means rather than sounds, the source of Origen nevertheless reveals that speaking ants was a theory that existed 400 years prior to Muhammad and indeed the effective observation of ants within that era might certainly have led to such a conclusion by a number the thinkers of antiquity.

Yet I am not proposing that Muhammad or another Qur’anic author borrowed straight from Origen or even from an oral tradition deriving from such a source or even that the Qur’anic author had access to Origen’s writings. The Qur’anic description appears much more fairytale-like than then description of Origen and apart from Origen there were indeed tales existing prior to Islam of talking ants.

Hence I am inclined to believe that the author of the Qur’an did not depend upon a Greek Philosophical source.

Here ancient tales fit Islam a much as philosophy, Islam is a religion in which trees bow before prophets and where the dinner on your table has the capability to speak to you and stones possess the ability to steel you possessions. Solomon in Jewish fairytales possessed the ability to communicate with animals, to understand them and even to mobilise them in his battles against human enemies, hence the reason for this story. It reveals nothing of scientific significance but merely the belief that Solomon had extraordinary abilities. Desperate Muslim apologists read far too much into this fairytale.

Osama Abdallah, Haran Yahya and others nevertheless propose that the passage is miraculous in its incredible prediction of modern science; just take Osama Abdallah for example:

Again, the Holy Quran and Islam are filled with scientific statements and
notions. These are statements of Allah Almighty describing how He created things
on earth and in the Universe. What's most amazing is that all of these
scientific statements and notions had been proven to be in perfect agreement
with science and our modern-day scientific discoveries. Allah Almighty made the
Noble Quran be Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) Everlasting Divine Miracle
and proof for Prophethood. The Holy Book certainly stood the test of time 1,500
years ago with Its Claims, Prophecies and Miraculous language eloquence, and it
does again and again in our day today with Its overwhelming agreement with
science and discoveries that were not known to man 1,500 years ago.

http://www.answering-christianity.com/ants_do_talk.htm

If Abdallah is correct then Origen’s source was indeed inspired by God some 400 years prior to Islam:

For, speaking of the ants conversing with one another, he uses the following
language: "And when they meet one another they enter into conversation, for
which reason they never mistake their way; consequently they possess a full
endowment of reason, and some common ideas on certain general subjects, and a
voice by which they express themselves regarding accidental things.

I am sure that Osama Abdallah will not ascribe such divine honour to Origen as to the Qur’an despite the fact that Origen provided more insight and details than the Qur’an?
Furthermore, Osama Abdallah also needs to consider the divine inspiration upon pre-Islamic Roman writers and their tales, such as Aesop who wrote the fable ‘The ant and the Grasshopper’:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Grasshopper

The Fable reads:

‘The ants were spending a fine winter's day drying grain collected in the
summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged
for a little food. The Ants inquired of him, "Why did you not treasure up food
during the summer?' He replied, "I had not leisure enough. I passed the days in
singing." They then said in derision: "If you were foolish enough to sing all
the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter."’

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekliterature/a/antsgrasshopper.htm

It is obvious that the Qur’anic description is much more of the same nature as the tale of Aesop rather than that of Origen, yet neither Muslims nor scientists would recognise the tale of Aesop to provide us with anything of scientific nature. Here Muslims might argue that ants deploy the ability to communicate to each other and not to grasshoppers, however Aesop does describe the ants as communicating by language or sounds.

Note here, I am not saying that the author of the Qur’an plagiarized Aesop’s tale, I am pointing out that such tales were common in Muhammad’s time.

So, Harun Yahya and Osama Abdallah, do you guys 1) recognise the source of Origen and Aesop as divinely inspired? 2) Do you still claim that the ability of ants to speak in detailed language (if that should be proven right in future) is a scientific fact unheard of until the rise of Islam?

The above sources do not agree with you and I suggest that since your claims have been debunked and refuted that you remove these particular deceptive articles about the ant from your websites and ones again apologize to the readers you have mislead.

Hogan Elijah Hagbard Versus Ayaz: The Qur'an and the World of Ants

2010-07-11T18:19:00.007-05:00

I don't wish to break the present flow concerning the dangerous situation in USA (may God bless David Wood and the team and their struggle to stand up for the truth and freedom; my prayer is with you guys), hence I will just provide the link of an online written debate between myself and Ayaz (a UK Muslim) on the Qur'an, the Bible and science in relation to the Ant.

Ayaz and myself debated publically in 2008 in UK on the topic: 'The Bible and the Qur'an: Which is from God', and contemplate an imminent debate this year on the divinity and humanity of Jesus.

Our online written debate can be viewed here:

http://debunkingquranicscience.blogspot.com/2010/07/ant-in-bible-and-quran-dialogue-between.html

The Qur'an and the (supposed) Big Bang Theory: In Comparison to Ancient Philosophy and Pre-Islamic (pagan) Religions

2010-07-22T18:49:00.008-05:00

This post includes an essay on the Qur'an and Cosmogony with a focus on the Big Bang theory, which I wrote five years ago. The purpose was obviously to debunk the various exponents of Islam (e.g. Bucaille, Harun Yahya and Osama Abdallah) who propagate their wishful imagination to what they deem as scientific evidence for the Qur'an.

Since then I have greatly expanded my insight into the matter and am currently preparing a more detailed work, which I may post in small parts or in a lengthy essay in near future.

Notice that my intention here is not to debunk the improbability of the Qur'anic view (that will derive in a later post) but to point out that the Qur'anic picture of the cosmological origin was a view that flourished centuries prior to the rise of Islam, and which the authors and composers of the Qur'an appear to have borrowed from circulating teaching or sources, sometimes (possibly) even word for word.

To assess the cosmology of the Qur’an our study has to begin with its concept of cosmogony, the origins. Here Muslims usually refer to Sura 21: 30:

‘Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them, and we made every living thing of water? Will they not then believe? (Sura 21: 30)’

The joining and separation of the heavens and earth is according to a range of Muslim writers a prediction of the modern the Big Bang theory; Bucaille, expounds upon this:

‘The reference to a separation process (fatq) of a primary single mass whose elements were initially fused together (ratq). It must be noted that in Arabic ‘fatq’ is the action of breaking, diffusing, separating, and that ‘ratq’ is the action of fusing or binding together elements to a make a homogenous whole.’ (1)

Yet the text itself does not follow Bucaille’s overall line of thought! The phrase: ‘Have not those who disbelieve known…’ implies that the Qur’an describes and refers to a concept that was already familiar in the era prior to Islam (2); hence in all correctness we may need to leave out any notion of modern scientific discoveries, and consider what ancient science and belief had already concluded.

Cosmogony in Ancient Religions:

A range of ancient religions e.g. the Hermopolitan (3) appear to describe the origin of the universe as a primordial universal egg. In the Hindu writings, the Laws of Manu, creation begins with a seed placed in water. The seed grows into a golden egg, which divides into two halves, which initially forms into heaven and earth. (4) In the Upanishads, existence suddenly begins, gradually grows into an egg and when the egg has remained still for a year, it is split open, out of which the two parts appear, which initially became the heaven and the earth. (5)

The resemblance is obvious; yet interestingly, the Laws of Manu and the Upanishads provide a description which is much closer to modern science than the Qur’an, as both describe a chronology which includes the state from singularity to inflation. (6)

Following the thought of Bucaille therefore, the Qur’anic cosmogony depends upon an external and much more detailed theory, which reveals further scientific predictions; this does not render the Qur’an as necessarily being miraculous.

The ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian writings contain the same concept, as is the case with Gilgamesh: ‘…when the heavens had been separated from the earth and the earth had been delimited from the heavens.’ (7)

Furthermore, the Emma Elish, describes the god Marduk creating the heaven and earth by separating the women Tiamat in two halves, which become the vault of the sky and the earth; next he fixes the courses of the stars in the sky. (8)

Cosmogony in Ancient Philosophy:

Yet the concept of one primary entity separating was not confined to the world of mythology only; the Greeks and the Romans speculated in the same lines but transferred the concept to the category of science. Aristotle (384-322 BC) in describing the proposition of Anaxagoras (500-428 BC), writes:

‘That is why they make statements like ‘everything was originally mixed together…others talk in this context of combination and separation…So the reason they say that everything is mixed in everything is because, in their view, everything comes from everything. (9)

This is certainly in line with Bucaille and Haruna, who applied the terminology of mixing and fusing and then separating. (10) If the earth was not presented in the original entity, the Qur’an might have been closely in line with Anaxagoras; yet the separation of the earth does not indicate that, or else the passage would render a clear description of a mere entity exclusive of its reference to heaven and earth.

Hence in the Qur’an it is not a cosmological globe that separates but the actual heaven and earth. This nevertheless highly contradicts even the most simple about obvious cosmological observations.

The plausibility is also that the reference to the heavens while still smoke in Sura 41: implies that the earth originated from the same material. Yet nothing in the passage explicitly reveals so; furthermore we would assume then that the earth would distance itself from the smoke, yet the earth and smoke are brought to together, leaving us with no explanation for its occurrence.
In addition to a fused universe Anaxagoras and the Greeks also considered this mixing of the universe to occur in one place, as one entity before they separated.

Interestingly, Anaxagoras refers to the mixture as being comprehended by air and an element called aether.’ (11) Aether, was the mysterious matter of the universe, often referred to as fire or fiery fume (12); whether this can be interpreted into terminology such as gas or primordial gaseous clouds, (13) if we really wish to speculate, is probably overstating the matter, at least when considering the thought of Anaxagoras. (14)

Interestingly however, according to Zeller, various ancient philosophers considered this element, usually fire and air to be mixed inside a fiery universal glob. The globe exploded and the fire collected in fiery circles from which the stellar bodies derived. (15) According to Anaxagoras the earth was implausible at this stage, rather the separation occurs from rotation in which all matter gets included starts forming and are brought into orbit. (16) Compared to modern science, the analogy is still distant but yet surprisingly accurate. (17)

Yet, the most significant philosopher when it concerns the cosmology of the Qur’an and its use of ancient science is Lucretius. (18) His postulate involves the mixture and separation of the universe, but also in details describes a theory in which the role and contribution of the atoms is separating the heaven and earth and so expanding the cosmos.

As to the Big Bang, Lucretius describes a time in which nothing existed except for a congregated mass of atoms, compressed into one small entity:

‘At that time the sun’s bright disc was not to be seen here, soaring loft and lavishing light, nor the stars that crowd the far-flung firmament, nor sea nor sky, nor earth, nor air nor anything in the likeness of things we know – nothing but a hurricane raging in a newly congregated mass of atoms of every sort.’ (19)

Lucretius further describes a state of chaos and turmoil in which the atoms collide:
‘From their disharmony sprang conflict, which maintained a turmoil in their interspaces, courses, unions, thrusts, impacts, collisions and motions.’ (20)

It is vital to consider that Lucretius envisages this early state of the universe to be a ‘newly congregated mass of atoms of every sort’; in other words a previous cause must have brought this congregated mass into its shape and function. Yet at this point the universe is still a congregated mass which contains the entire universe, the earth, the heaven, the stars, the sun and the moon, and possibly its space.

The next stage of the universe is the combination of atoms with other atoms which causes what Lucretius calls the ‘main features of a world’ to be composed. This might explain why the Qur’an refers to the heaven and earth rather than a cosmological globe. According to Lucretius, it is from this primordial state, that the separation of heaven and the earth and the expansion of the space between them take place:

‘…they (the atoms) began, in fact, to separate the heights of heaven from the earth, to single out the sea as a receptacle for water detached from the mass and to set apart the fires of pure and isolated ether. In the first place all the particles of earth, because they were heavy and intertangled, collected in the middle and took up the undermost stations. The more closely they cohered and clung together, the more they squeezed out the atoms that went to the making of sea and stars, sun and moon and the outer walls of the great world.’ (21)

Lucretius therefore describes the separation of heaven and earth as being caused by the composition of the primordial universe; particularly by the atoms.

The similarities between these sources and the Qur’an are significant; yet the Qur’an provides little insight into to the state of this primordial entity and the cause of separation.
Later commentators e.g. Kathir suggests the air between the heaven and earth was the cause, (22) while Mujahid suggests that the heaven began as smoke gusting out of the earth. (13) If is the case, then the Qur’an does not follow in line with Anaxagoras’ exclusion of the primordial earth. Following Mujahid however, and the reference to the earth and smoke (Sura 41: 11), the Qur’an certainly follows a range of philosophers on the centrality of the earth and its contribution to the cosmological structure. In addition the reference to smoke also suggests that the Qur’an is depending upon the earlier Greek theories of the elements, rather than the atomic theory of Lucretius. (24)

Yet again I suggest Harun Yahya, Osama Abdallah among others to remove from their websites their distorted attempts to apply modern science as a means to prove the Qur'an as miracolous and furthermore, I hope these Islamic proponents will also reveal the honesty to admit that Qur'anic science did not originate with the Qur'an but pre-Islamic sources, such as the 'Separation of the heaven and earth' which is not a prediction of the Big Bang but which the contemporaries of Muhammad by the use of the same wording applied to an actual separation of the heaven and earth, typically with the earth as the main cosmological centre.

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Bibliography and sources:

1. Bucaille, 1975: 139; see also Harun Yahya, The Scientific Miracles of the Qur’an, Al-Attique Publishers, 2000:21-2. Yahya elaborates on Bucaille’s theory by suggesting that the verb fataqa implies the destruction or tearing apart of something to create something new. See also Muhammad Assadi, The Unifying theory of everything: Koran and Nature’s Testimony (http://members.aol.com/silence004/koran.html)

2. Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged Vol. 6, Abridged by a group of Scholars under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore, Darussalam, 2000: 440.

3. The Hermopolitan cosmogony is depicted in several versions, one being a cosmological egg which was placed on the Primeval Hill by a goose from which Re appeared; see Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries, vol.1, St James’s Place, London: Collins, 1979:17-8)

4. G. Buhler (translation), Sacred Books of the East, XXV: 'The Laws of Manu,' 1, 5-16 (Oxford 1886), pp.2-8
(http://alexm.here.ru/mirrors/www.enteract.com/jwalz/Eliade/057.html)

5. S. Radhakrishnan (editor and translator), The Principal Upanishads: Chandogya Upanishad, III, 19, 1-2, New York: Harper & Row, 1953, PP. 151-2, 399, 447-9 (http://alexm.here.ru/mirrors/www.enteract.com/jwalz/Eliade/058.html).
See also Dr. E. Zeller, A History of Greek Philosophy: From the earliest Period to the Time of Socrates, Vol. I, London: Longmans Green and Co, 1881: 115; the Greek myth in which Chronos-Heraclis produces a giant egg which is divided, from which the heaven and earth originate.

6. Alan H. Guth & Paul J. Steinhardt, ‘The Inflationary Universe’ in (ed.) David H. Levy, The Scientific ‘American: Book of Cosmos’, London, Oxford and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000:361-62; the theory implies that the universe in a brief period of suddenly by some ‘extraordinary’ cause expanded, while the entire universe in its pre-inflationary state had been compressed into to a tiny volume.

7. Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the netherworld: 1-26 (Version A, From Nibru, Urim and elsewhere) in Babylonia and Ancient Near Eastern Texts, by Kenneth Sublett, Piney.com, Hohenwald, Tennessee; the text describes a multiple number of heavens and excludes the usual mythology (http://www.piney.com/BabGilgEnkid.html)

8. Mircea Eliade, AHistory of Religious Ideas: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries, vol.1, St James’s Place, London: Collins, 1979:71-2

9. Aristotle: Physics, A New Translation by Robin Waterfield, Oxford: University Press, 1999:17

10. see Sura 21: 30; the theory of Bucailleism implies that the passage predicts fusing and separation

11. Arthur Fairbanks, ed. and trans. The First Philosophers of Greece, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1898: 235 (Hanover Historical Text Projects) http://history.hanover.edu/project.html

12. See Aristotle, he applies the same terminology to a mysterious cloudy material, such as vapour and ether, similar to the Qur’ans reference of dukhan, which Muslim authors claim predicts primordial gasseous clouds (Aristotle, Aristotle Meteorologica, I. iii, translated by H.D.P. Lee, London: William Heinemann, Ltd & Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1962: 19-23, 31.

13. Fred Adams & Greg Laughlin, The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity, USA, New York: The Free Press, 1999: 34-40; the entire galactic host of the Universe was originally composed and formed in clouds of hot gas.

14. This resembles the claim that the Qur’anic reference to dukhan is a prediction of the primordial gaseous clouds; the main problem however remains that the gaseous clouds did not derive from a central earth, but the other way round.

15. Zellar, 1881: 267; this was the view of Anaxagoras, but other philosophers, such as Plutarch and Hippolytus held the same view. Anaximander, however, applied this concept upon the earth and the heaven; he envisaged the sun, moon, stars and their circles to have originated from a fiery sphere that split from the earth; see Arthur Fairbanks, Plut. Strom. 2 ; Dox. 579, 1898: 14, 16

16. Arthur Fairbanks, 1898:241

17. Adams and Laughlin, 1999:35; the theory proposes matter that was pulled together into galactic structured by gravity, and then endowed with rotation.

18. Lucretius, The Nature of the Universe, (translated by R.E. Latham), Penguin Books 1957, ‘The Nature of the
Universe’ was written 50 BC, slightly nearer the ear of Islam, and reveals a cosmogony that has been significantly developed since Anaxagoras and Aristotle, as ancient postulates and the atomic theory are combined. See also 184-5; while earlier cosmogonies typically described the world being created from the elements; Lucretius rejects this view and combines the atomism concept with the concept of separation.

19. Lucretius, 1957: 184; Here Lucretius alludes slightly to Anaxagoras who proposed the inauguration of a small rotating motion, while Lucretius describes an atomic mass effected by a raging hurricane; considering modern science, this ancient postulate is remarkable. Furthermore Lucretius predicts an original fused entity. Comparing the picture to modern theories the picture does not resemble cosmological singularity but apart from earths existence, rather the later proposed cloud of radiation, from which the atoms and particles suddenly exonerated. See also Heather Couper & Nigel Henbest, To the ends of the Universe, UK, London: Dorling Kindersley, 1998: 24-7). The Qur’an makes no reference to the nature of this entity, such as Lucretius; yet the principle remains the same, this entity is combined by heaven and earth.

20. Lucretius, 1957: 184; According to modern scientific postulates this closely resembles the interval period between the Big Bang and the Cosmological Inflation; Couper & Henbest, 1998; 20-3: see also Carl Sagan, Cosmos, UK, London: Book Club Associates, 1981: 218-235, despite from the fact that the earth was not present at that stage of the universe.

21. Lucretius, 1957: 184-5; this is where the Qur’an comes in having excluded all the details; hence the reference of Sura 21: 30 refers to a already detailed description of cosmogony. Here it have to be noted however, that Lucretius’ postulate is only an option among many

22. Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged Volume 6, Abridged by a group of Scholars under the supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Riyadh, Houston, New York, Lahore, Darussalam, 2000: 440-1

23. Mujahid commented on Allah’s statement 41: 9-12 which reveals the earth to be created and made inhabitable prior to the forming and rising of the heavens (compare to 21: 30-2). Based on Sura 41 Mujahid states that the earth was created first: ‘...and when He created the earth, smoke burst out of it.’ According to Mujahid this is why Allah turned to the heaven ‘when it was smoke’ Sura 41: 11’ Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol.1, 2000: 180

24. Most Greeks held on to the a universe consisting of the basic elements, Democritus (470-380 BC) Epicurus (341-270 BC) and later Lucretius (95-55 BC) held on to the atomic universe; they rejected the significance of the elements; yet this theory remained a minority view and almost vanished until early fourteen century, when it became superior; see Isaac Asimov, Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos, UK, Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd: 1982: 265-8 93. See also Lucretius who stated that the elements are depended upon the atoms, and mocked those who believed the raw material to be air, water or fire (Lucretius, 1957: 47, 93)

http://debunkingquranicscience.blogspot.com/2010/07/quran-and-big-bang-theory-in-comparsion.html

The Upcoming "Burn the Qur'an Day" Has Sparked a "Death to America Day"

2010-09-06T21:25:00.002-05:00

Taken from ABC news.

A Florida pastor ignites tensions among Muslims days before 9/11 anniversary.

The crowd in downtown Kabul reached nearly 500 today, with Afghan protesters chanting "Long live Islam " and "Long live the Quran," and burning an effigy of Terry Jones, senior pastor from the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida who is planning the event.

The protesters were well aware of the pastor's inflammatory comments, such as the "Islam is an evil religion," since they have been spread wide on the Internet. Jones has also authored a book, "Islam Is of the Devil."

The protesters' anger wasn't limited to Jones, however. Chants of "Death to America" echoed through the crowd, and U.S. flags were set ablaze alongside the effigy of Jones.

"America cannot eliminate Muslims from the world," one Afghan man told ABC News.

The angry crowd pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with rocks.

Gen. David Petraeus said he is outraged by the pastor's decision to burn the Quran, which he said could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here."

Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Jack Keane, an adviser to Petraeus, called it "outrageous" and "insulting to Muslims."

"It's also insulting to our soldiers in terms of what they stand for and what their commitment is to this country and to the Muslims in this country," Keane told ABC News.

But late today, Jones vowed he would go ahead with the Quran burning, even knowing the concerns of Petraeus and Keane for the safety of U.S. troops.

"What we are doing is long overdue. We are revealing the violence of Islam that is much, much deeper than we'd like to admit," Jones said in an interview with ABC News.

A Facebook page dedicated to the day, entitled "International Burn A Koran Day" has more than 8,000 fans.

"On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!" the page declares.

Over a hundred other pages have sprung up for and against the event on Sept. 11, incidentally the same day as a Muslim holiday called Eid, celebrating the last day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

Some Muslims fear that images of celebration could fuel further tensions with Americans that day. But in the meantime, in Kabul, there is word that a protest planned for Tuesday could be even larger than the one today.

Here's Acts 17's official response to "Burn the Qur'an Day":

Molly Norris Receives Death Threats for "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"

2010-05-20T22:44:00.003-05:00

"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" was proposed by Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris. She almost immediately changed her mind, however, and has fought against the event ever since. (Check out her support for the Muslim position on her website.) She even visited a mosque and has spent time with Muslims as a sign of her repentance. Yet this isn't enough. Because of her involvement, she is still a target.

Muslims Freely Distribute Information to Exiting Festival Goers

2010-09-04T22:29:00.002-05:00

You've got to love the United States, where Muslims are free to distribute information about Islam even to people who don't believe in Islam. This is the heart of the U.S. Constitution. The rights of everyone are protected. Of course, when Muslim numbers rise, such religious freedom suddenly changes, as can be seen in Dearborn (where nearly one-third of the population is Muslim).

So a few of us tried to distribute copies of the Gospel of John outside of an Arab Festival, and we were surrounded by eight Glock-carrying police officers, taken into custody, photographed, and released with a stern warning that we would be thrown in jail if we handed out any more copies of the Gospel. (But at least they didn't immediately arrest us while having a peaceful conversation, as they had done two days earlier.)

Muslims, of course, receive different treatment when they attend a festival and distribute their materials.

FOX NEWS--Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street.

Each time a new wave of people exited, the young Minneapolis residents — who hadn't eaten all day — tried to press into their hands a small, glossy card that read "Islam Explained" on one side. On the other, it had about 180 words of background on a religion whose adherents fear is being misunderstood by too many Americans as violent and depraved.

"You just want people to take the card, spend a minute reading it and say, 'Oh. They're not terrorists,'" said 27-year-old Zuleyha. She and her husband, like other Muslims, were fasting during daylight hours for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

For most fairgoers, the last thing on their mind is religion — particularly the renewed controversy over Islam in America amid tension over plans for an Islamic center and mosque a few blocks from New York City's ground zero. But volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of Islamic Circle of North America saw the mostly white, Christian fair crowd as just the type of audience that might benefit from greater understanding.

The "Great Minnesota Get-Together" is one of the largest and best-attended state fairs in the country. Every day for 12 days through Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of people stream onto the fairgrounds north of St. Paul to scarf highly caloric food, stare at farm animals, clamber onto carnival rides and enjoy concerts by country singers and classic rock dinosaurs.

"What are they doing here?" said Paulette Kahlstorf of Zimmerman, who declined a card from Zuleyha as she left the fairgrounds with her husband. "I didn't come here for that."

A minute later, Kahlstorf elaborated that she didn't have a problem with all Muslims: "Just the radical ones." And she said she didn't mind their decision to hand out the cards, which include a toll-free number that anyone can call to request a free copy of the Quran. Read More.

"Jesus or Muhammad" Tonight (10:30 P.M., EST) and Tomorrow (8:00 P.M., EST)

2010-09-04T11:34:00.002-05:00

It's that time again. Tonight (Saturday, 10:30 P.M.) we'll be discussing Muhammad's antagonism of the polytheists when he was in Mecca. We'll have another show tomorrow (Sunday, 8:00 P.M.). If you don't get ABN via satellite, you can watch live on the internet here.

French Muslims Illegally Blocking Streets in Paris, Police Afraid to Intervene

2010-09-03T12:53:00.003-05:00

The Original Burn the Qur'an Day

2010-09-01T22:39:00.004-05:00

Quite possibly the greatest video ever made.

For more posts on the preservation of the Qur'an, click here.

Description: This September 11th, a church in Florida is protesting the growing influence of Islam by offending 1.5 billion people. Specifically, they're staging a "Burn the Quran" Day. But is this the first day of its kind? In fact, is today's Qur'an the Qur'an that Muhammad intended his followers to have? Let's take a look at the evidence!

Roger Williams Revisited

2010-09-01T19:18:00.005-05:00

Our lawyer has been requesting the written statement of Roger Williams for a while, and the City of Dearborn finally gave it to us (on the last business day before our hearing). After reading it, you'll see why the city didn't want to give it to us. According to Roger's official story, Amal Alslami had to round up a few people to "break through" the Acts 17 barrier and rescue him from our midst! Here's Roger's version of things (in his written report to police). Note: All spelling and grammatical errors are in the original.

On Friday evening, June 18th, 2010, I was volunteering at the International Arab Festival located in Dearborn MI. I had come into contact with two men that were going through the festival passing out literature. They both had backpacks on and they were filled with flyers. I explained to them both that they were not any literature inside of the festival. They both said no problem and left and took the backpacks offs. I saw them both about an hour later and one of them came up to me and apologize to me and let me know that he would not pass out anything and he just wanted to talk to some of the Arabic people. I shook his hand and thanked him and as he was leaving the men and a lady surrounded me with their cameras want to know why that those guys could not pass out flyers. I told them I was not willing to talk on camera and to turn the camera off. Then one got right behind and one on either side of me. I felt I was being trapped and felt as I was being threatened. I told them I would call security and they started saying, “tell me what law we broke?” I again told them that I am not speaking to them and to please turn the camera off. At this time one the Chamber workers, Amal had been watching the whole thing and called for one of the volunteers to take pictures of each one for identification purposes. She and a few others broke through their group and escorted me out from them. We then we to the police and made a complaint.

I have tried to put everything I remember exactly as it happened. I hope I did not leave anything out. If you need additional information please contact me at the phone number and address below.

Thank you

Roger A Williams

If you need to me come up there for any court as a witness I would be more than happy to. These guys are liars and try to insight riots. I have reviewed some stuff they have placed on You tube and no of it is accurate.

Once again, here's what really happened:

Contrary to Roger's delusional-in-the-extreme version of events, we didn't ask him why Luke couldn't hand out flyers, we did not surround him, Negeen was behind some tents (rather than surrounding him), he did not tell us to stop recording (let alone twice), Amal Alslami wasn't even there, and no one had to rescue him from us.

Even more shocking than Roger's fanciful rewriting of history, prosecuting attorney William DeBiasi is relying on Roger's testimony as part of his case against us! If that isn't enough, he's also calling on Amal Alslami as a witness of our supposed harassment of Roger, since Amal initially claimed to have witnessed it. Yet Amal later told a detective that she wasn't even there! And she's about to be one of the star witnesses! This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

In any other city, Roger would be in trouble for lying. Amal Alslami would be in trouble for lying. The police would be in trouble for lying. The mayor would be in trouble for lying. And William DeBiasi would be a laughingstock for throwing justice out the window in an effort to please the Muslim community. But this is Dearborn. The rules just don't apply.

Pedophile Caught Groping Boy in Mosque

2010-08-27T00:40:00.007-05:00

I don't care what religion you are, this is disgusting. Many thanks to whoever decided to protect the young boy and shame the pedophile.

We're posting this in the name of justice. Human beings tend to ignore problems in their community until these problems are exposed. For instance, Muslim countries are being called to account for stonings, marriages to child-brides, abuse of women, etc., and we're seeing a positive result. We call on Muslims to deal with the man in this video, and to defend boys from predators.

*****UPDATE***** For some reason, this video starts playing whenever someone comes to Answering Muslims (instead of playing when someone clicks "Play"), and we've gotten some complaints as a result. So I'm replacing the embedded video with a link to it. You can watch the video here.

Updates on Our Last Hearing

2010-09-01T10:58:00.004-05:00

Michigan State Representative Tom McMillan attended our hearing. He later commented on Facebook:

"Watching in the court, two hours of debate yesterday between the city prosecutor, the judge and the defendants' attorney, it is crystal clear that the city of Dearborn has no case whatsoever and is only doing this to attack free speech of Christians."

He also commented in an article by the Detroit News:

"It seems to me they are trying to silence Christians -- not the citizens of Dearborn, some officials . . . There's nothing that warrants this persecution by the city of Dearborn."

It's nice to know that some Michigan lawmakers are paying attention to what's happening in Dearborn.

Doug Vos of the Dearborn Free Press was also at our hearing. He wrote a good editorial:

Monday morning, at the 19th District Court in Dearborn, Judge Mark Somers deliberated over a pre-trial hearing concerning an incident which occurred at Dearborn’s 15th annual Arab International Festival on Friday, June 14th. As previously reported in the Dearborn Free Press, several people affiliated with the Acts 17 Apologetics group were arraigned on July 12th, on charges of “breach of peace”. The four Christians, David Wood (a 34 year old former atheist) from Bronx, New York, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi (a 29 year old former Muslim) from Virginia, Nageen Mayel (a recent convert from Islam to Christianity), and Paul Rezkalla (18) from New York were charged with “breach of peace” or disturbing the peace. However, 18-year-old Nageen Mayel, who was operating a video camera on the night of June 14th, was also charged with “refusing to obey a police officer’s order to stop video taping”. (It was not clear at first if police intended to arrest Ms. Mayel, or just investigate her.)

The defendant’s attorney, Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), filed a Motion for a Bill of Particulars (in an attempt to clarify the specific charges) with the City of Dearborn on July 27. On August 3rd, Judge Somers converted the Motion for a Bill of Particulars into a Motion to Dismiss, giving the City of Dearborn 14 days to respond.

During the pre-trial on August 30, Judge Somers reviewed arguments from both sides and asked the attorneys for clarification on some issues, postponing any decision until he receives the additional information. Judge Somers stated that he had reviewed most of the 6 hours of video tape, and asked questions about the chronology of events. Somers indicated that in the video tapes he had reviewed, the dialogue of Dr. Qureshi was “very civil and polite”. He also requested better audio recordings of the Nageen Mayel arrest, perhaps to resolve confusion regarding the criminal complaint about Ms. Mayel. Judge Somers also requested that Assistant City Attorney William M. Debiasi provide citations for several cases that were referenced as being pertinent to this case. If the case goes to trial it would most likely begin on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. Read More.

The Christian Post also wrote a good piece on our hearing:

A district court judge in Michigan declined to dismiss a case against four street preachers who were arrested back in June after engaging in conversations with attendees of a large Arab festival.

Judge Marks Somers of 19th District Court in Dearborn heard arguments for two hours on Monday and said he needed clarification on some issues that had been raised before deciding whether or not to drop the charges against Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla, and David Wood.

Defense attorney Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, argued in court that the group did nothing wrong and that their arrest violates their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and religion.

"My clients should not stand trial for exercising their First Amendment rights," Muise said. Read More.

Coolest Shout Out Ever!

2010-08-31T22:19:00.003-05:00

All right. Imagine the coolest possible person in the world who could give Acts 17 a shout out. Then multiply the coolness by a trillion, and you're still not even close. I'll give you a hint. He's so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head. He's counted to infinity . . . twice. He uses pepper spray to spice up his steaks. The Dearborn Police are thanking their lucky stars that he wasn't there when they put their hands on Negeen.

Here it is.

Brief Review of Today's Pre-Trial

2010-08-30T21:27:00.004-05:00

Hello all! David's going to write and/or upload a more detailed review of what happened today, but here's a heads up:

As a quick review, our attorney, Robert Muise, had essentially put in a motion to dismiss the case. In order to be granted that motion, Robert needs to be able to show that there is no basis at all for a case, and that evidence wouldn't matter one way or another; if the prosecuting attorney can show that there is a basis, and that the case needs to be judged off the evidence, then the case will go on.

The judge reviewed the evidence provided by our attorney and by the city in a pretty intense, interview/dialogue form. It went on for around 2 hours (not exactly sure how long). In the end, the judge decided he needs a little more evidence. He wants more defense from the city attorney on the idea that Roger William's claims about Negeen can possibly constitute probable cause for her arrest. And he also wants better audio from us on the policeman's conversation with Negeen after she was arrested (the camcorder was left running and some of what the policeman said to her can be heard.)

None of us know what's going to happen yet; we have to wait and see what the judge says after he gets these last two pieces of evidence. My guess? He's going to dismiss the parts of the case that have to do with "crowd control" and he's not going to dismiss the parts of the case that have to do with Roger Williams.

But we'll see! Keep us in your prayers! Yours in Christ,
- Nabeel

***UPDATE*** There's a short review of the hearing in the Detroit News here.

Acts Chapter Twenty-Eight

2010-08-29T11:10:00.002-05:00

Acts Chapter Twenty-Eight (NIV)
Acts Chapter Twenty-Eight (NASB)

I. SYNOPSIS

Verses 1-10: Paul spends three months on Malta.

Verses 11-16: Paul sails to Rome.

Verses 17-31: Paul preaches in Rome.

II. SYNOPSIS

Acts 28:3-5--"When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, 'No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.' He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm." There are different kinds of miracles. Here Paul is bitten by a snake, and the natives believe that he is being judged by Justice (the goddess who punishes wrongdoers). But Paul suffers no ill-effects, showing that he has divine approval.

Acts 28:22--"But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” The Jews in Rome knew nothing about Christianity, and yet they had heard plenty of complaints.

Acts 28:23--"When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets." Throughout the Book of Acts, we've seen a constant appeal to evidence. Here Paul tries to convince Jews by pointing to Old Testament prophecies.

David and Nabeel on "Jesus or Muhammad" Tonight!

2010-08-28T21:03:00.003-05:00

Nabeel and I will be on TV at 10:30 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time). We'll be discussing Sharia and the recent Dearborn incident. If you don't get ABN via satellite, you can watch via lives streaming here.

Acts Chapter Twenty-Seven

2010-08-27T17:23:00.002-05:00

Acts Chapter Twenty-Seven (NIV)
Acts Chapter Twenty-Seven (NASB)

I. SYNOPSIS

Verses 1-12: Paul and his companions set sail for Rome.

Verses 13-38: The ship hits a storm.

Verses 39-44: The ship breaks apart at Malta.

II. KEY PASSAGES

Acts 27:33-36--"As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, 'Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.' And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves." Paul's confidence was a powerful witness to his mostly polytheistic listeners.

Acts 27:42-44--"The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land." If a Roman soldier allowed a prisoner to escape, the soldier would receive whatever sentence the prisoner was to receive. Rather than risk such punishments, the soldiers wanted to kill all of the prisoners. Since the centurion had become fond of Paul, he rejected this solution. Thus, even the prisoners were saved for the sake of Paul.

Nabeel vs. Osama Tonight at 8:00 P.M. (EST)

2010-08-27T17:55:00.001-05:00

Nabeel will have a televised debate with Osama Abdallah on the preservation of the Qur'an tonight at 8:00 (Eastern Standard Time). Be sure to watch it live on ABN.