An Historical Critique of Islamic Origins: A Conversation with Jay Smith

Here is the recording of Saturday's Apologetics Academy webinar session with Jay Smith on Islamic beginnings. Enjoy!

For information on upcoming sessions of the Apologetics Academy and on how you can participate, see the confirmed speaker lineup at this link.

An Historical Critique of Islamic Origins: Jay Smith to Talk to the Apologetics Academy This Saturday

As readers of this blog will probably know, I run a weekly webinar series called the Apologetics Academy. Each week, I bring in a different specialist (representing positions across the theological and philosophical spectrum) to talk about topics of interest to Christians. There is always plenty of opportunity for audience participation and discussion. The idea is to provide Christians with the opportunity to interact one-on-one with a top scholar or apologist that they probably would otherwise never have access to. Bringing in non-Christian guests also provides a unique opportunity for Christians to practice their skills in defending the faith against some of the best objections. The currently confirmed speaker line-up can be found at this link.

Participants can engage the speaker using live audio and video, submit questions anonymously, participate in the chatbox, or simply watch and listen anonymously.

The meetings usually take place on Saturdays at 8pm GMT / 3pm Eastern / 2pm Central / 12noon Pacific.

This coming Saturday (June 18th), we are blessed to have Jay Smith of Pfander Apologetics teach a webinar to our group. Jay is going to be exploring the origins of Islam.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/457736238

Doing so will immediately prompt you to download and install the Webinar platform we use, called Zoom. This should take at most a minute or two.

I hope to see plenty of you there! All are welcome, Muslim and Christian alike.

The Sacrifice of Kenji Goto

Kenji Goto was a Japanese video journalist who converted to Christianity in 1997. The media widely reported his death at the hands of Islamic State jihadists. But the story of why he traveled to Syria is a much deeper story of love and loyalty. Kenji laid down his life in an attempt to rescue his troubled friend, Haruna Yukawa. Here's Jay Smith discussing Kenji's sacrifice:

Charlie Hebdo Comes to Speaker's Corner

Here's Jay Smith discussing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons at Speaker's Corner in London.

Jay Smith's "Worlds Apart" Series

PART ONE: TESTIMONY & MINISTRY


PART TWO: WHAT IS ISLAM?


PART THREE: THE RISE OF ISLAM


PART FOUR: JESUS VS. MUHAMMAD


PART FIVE: QUR'AN VS. BIBLE (INTEGRITY)


PART SIX: QUR'AN VS. BIBLE (MANUSCRIPTS)


PART SEVEN: THE ROLE OF WOMEN


PART EIGHT: WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY?


PART NINE: CAN GOD HAVE A SON?


PART TEN: COULD GOD BECOME A MAN?


PART ELEVEN: DID JESUS DIE ON THE CROSS?


PART TWELVE: WHY DID JESUS DIE?


PART THIRTEEN: TRUE PEACE


PART FOURTEEN: VIOLENCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT


PART FIFTEEN: MUHAMMAD

Speaker's Corner: Women in Islam

Adnan Rashid vs. Jay Smith: Does the Bible Predict the Coming of Muhammad?

This is one of the infamous Hyde Park/Speakers' Corner Debates. What the debates lose in the way of formality they tend to make up for in excitement.

PART ONE:


PART TWO:

Shabir Ally vs. Jay Smith: Violence in the Qur'an and the Bible

Recently, Shabir Ally and Jay Smith debated the topic: "The Qur'an and the Bible: On the Question of Peace." Shabir is (in my opinion at least) Islam's top debater. (For all of you Zakir Naik fans, I simply must point out that Naik refuses to face Christianity's top apologists. Shabir faces them regularly.) Shabir rarely debates Muslim topics, so it was good to see him defending Islam this time. I disagree with his arguments, methodology, and conclusions, but he did a great job presenting them. (Compare Shabir's defense of Islam on the issue of violence with Nadir Ahmed's career-ending performance here.) I think Jay needed a bit more time to rebut Shabir's claims, but Jay did a great job as well. I'd like to see them do two separate debates on this issue: "Is Islam a Religion of Peace" and "Is Christianity a Religion of Peace?" This would allow a fuller discussion. However, this debate serves as a good introduction to the issue.

PART ONE:


PART TWO:


PART THREE:

Jay Smith vs. Shabir Ally Live at 2:30!

Today at 2:30 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time) viewers can watch Jay Smith debate Shabir Ally on the topic "The Qur'an and the Bible: On the Question of Peace." Jay and Shabir are among Christianity and Islam's greatest debaters, so this should be a powerful exchange of ideas.

Watch It Live!

***UPDATE*** The entire debate can now be viewed here.

Jay Smith on Geert Wilders's "Fitna"

Did Muhammad Copy from Earlier Sources?

In the "comments" section of a previous post, Bassam said that just because two texts contain the same stories, it doesn't mean that one writer copied from other sources. Bassam is correct that similarity doesn't absolutely prove copying. However, the evidence may certainly point in that direction. For instance, if a teenager hands in a paper to a teacher that is remarkably similar to that of another student, the teacher will infer copying based on the extent of the similarity.

If Muhammad were truly a prophet, then the angel Gabriel may indeed have revealed stories that are found in earlier sources. But a problem arises when some of the sources contain apparently fictional material. That is, if we have good reasons for thinking that a story was invented by a creative writer in the second or fifth century, and then we find the same story in the Qur'an, this strongly implies that Muhammad incorporated a fictional tale into the Qur'an.

Muslims, of course, will say that the story is true, and that the earlier source reporting the same story is correct. While this is possible, it requires a tremendous leap of faith on the part of Muslims. As the following video shows, the problem for Muslims who want to defend Muhammad is quite severe: