SHARI'AH LAWS ARE PLAGIARIZED FROM THE BIBLE!
Sheikh Sultan M. As-Salameh, Cairo
[This essay from the Sheikh is acknowledged with thanks. His use of the "Tolerance in Islam" seems to be a gentle
sarcasm for the unaware Muslims]
The “Muslim Ummah” is practicing much of the Judeo-Christian beliefs largely from the Old Testament. The 'religion' considered and practised as Islam today has degenerated from the time of Prophet Muhammad (S). In the beginning there was a very simple Deen, Al-Islam revealed to the Prophet (S), which was fully encapsulated in just one Book, the Qur'an.
For example, the covering of the head for women which has become a point of much discussion in the West, is actually not found in the Qur'an. Therefore, it is not a part of the original teachings of the Prophet. Rather it has been taken from the Christian Bible and incorporated into Islam.
Similarly many of the beliefs that are considered Islamic are actually derived from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. After all the exalted Prophet many Muslim scholars were converts from Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. These scholars sought to seek common grounds between them. Hence, they were allowed to incorporate their old beliefs from Christianity and Judaism into Islam to such an extent that the practiced ‘Islam’ of today is often a verbatim manifestation of the Bible. None of these Biblical teachings were known to the Prophet and they cannot be found in the Qur'an at all but the scholars of Islam are unanimous in accepting these beliefs as part of Islam today.
Other than the head covering for women, our other practices like:
- The circumcision of males
- The punishment of stoning to death for adultery
- The punishment of stoning to death for apostasy
- The wearing of beards for men
- The dietary prohibition of many types of food
- The displaying of holy writings on the wall
- The belief that woman is created from man
- The collection of religious tithes or Zakaat
- The injunction against graven images like statues, sculptures and other representations of human and animal life forms
- The religious injunction that menstruating women are spiritually unclean
- The ritualized blessing of "Amen"
- The animal sacrifice (Aqeeqah) for the birth of children
are all derived from the Christian and Jewish Scriptures. This list is by no means exhaustive. These beliefs are not found anywhere in the Qur'an which is in fact the earliest and only teaching of Prophet Muhammad (S). But these teachings can be found in very exact detail in the Christian Bible and the Jewish Scriptures. The Christian West should, therefore, credit it to the great tolerance and absorption of the early scholars and generations of the Muslim Ummah, many of whom were converts from Christianity and Judaism, that they were able to bring with them a vast spectrum of Christian and Jewish beliefs which were accepted and are practiced by Muslims as part of Islam today.
Therefore, there is no need for the Judeo-Christian world to be apprehensive about Islam. Our common heritage should bind us together instead of dividing us.
I would like to begin with the issue of the wearing of the head covering for women. In light of the post September 11th events, this issue has been frequently highlighted in the Western media involving Muslim schoolgirls prohibited from wearing the head covering in France and elsewhere.
01. HEAD COVER FOR WOMEN ORIGINATES FROM THE BIBLE:
As I mentioned before the wearing of the head covering for women is not part of the Prophet’s teachings and is not found in the Qur'an. It is a belief and a practice that was taken by the early Muslim scholars from the Christian Bible.
Revised Standard Version
1Cor 11:5 -- but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head-it is the same as if her head were shaven.
11:6 For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil.
11:10 That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels.
11:13 Judge for yourselves; is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
So the commandment for a woman to cover her head is in the Bible. This belief has seeped into the Muslim belief and has now become part and parcel of the practice of Islam today. The West has no problem with Catholicism putting its nuns in head cover. In Europe today Catholic schools still encourage young girls to take up the wearing of the Catholic head cover.
Unfortunately under the guise of modernity, a vast majority of Christians themselves today are not following the teachings of the Bible - the large majority of Christian women do not cover the head. Hence, it is the Muslim Ummah who are very good Christians because they still uphold these Bible teachings.
02. CIRCUMCISION IS DERIVED FROM THE BIBLE:
The Sunni and Shi'a ‘Muslims’ believe circumcision to be mandatory and they practise it universally. The truth is God and the Prophet never asked the Muslims to circumcise anyone. God says that He made the human in a perfect shape:
Al-Qur'an 40:64 "God it is Who appointed for you the earth for a dwelling place and the sky for a canopy, and fashioned you and perfected your shapes, and hath provided you with good things. Such is God, your Lord. Then blessed be God, the Lord of the Worlds!"
Indeed God has made us perfect - including the foreskin on the male. There is no need for the human to improve on God's creation - even as an option or an exercise of free will. But where does the Muslim belief in circumcision come from? Once again the answer lies in the Bible. The Covenant of Circumcision in the Bible states:
Gen 17:14.13 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.
17:24.16 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
This is the Covenant of Circumcision. Later Muslims have found this belief acceptable and have incorporated it into their Muslim practices.
03. "THE ISLAMIC STATE":
It is the vogue now for the Christian West to raise alarm about the so-called 'Islamic State'. They should not really be afraid. Very often what these Islamic states are doing is implementing nothing more than what is already in the Christian Bible. Very often all the precepts and beliefs for the Islamic State particularly the Shariah Law are based almost entirely on Biblical teachings. They are not found in the Qur'an at all and therefore do not form part of the Prophet's teachings. An Islamic State under Shariah Law is an euphemism for Biblical Theocracy. This reflects the tolerance of the Muslim faith in accepting and incorporating Biblical teachings into Islam.
Head cover for women, circumcision for converts and other beliefs are all ideas borrowed from the Bible. What has happened is that over time the ideas from the Jewish and Christian theological texts have influenced the Muslim beliefs. In fact this event has also been foretold in the Qur'an:
Al-Imran 3:100 O ye who believe! If ye obey a party of the people of the Book, they will make you disbelievers after your belief.
3:101 How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom God's revelations are recited, and His messenger is in your midst? He who holdeth fast to God; he indeed is guided unto a right path.
The Prophet brought the Qur'an to the whole Ummah. But it is a credit to the great tolerance and understanding of Islam that the Muslim Ummah has picked up the Biblical teachings. The fervor to set up and Islamic State is nothing more than establishing the Biblical Theocracy. Let the Lord's Kingdom come!
04. PUNISHMENT FOR ADULTERY:
The recent cases of stoning women to death for adultery in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are laws that are not from the Qur'an. God and the Prophet never taught Muslims to stone anyone to death as part of the Shariah Law. The words Shariah Law are not even mentioned in the Qur'an. The truth is the law for stoning to death as punishment for adultery is taken from the Bible. The Bible states explicitly:
Deut 22:20 - 21 But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
22:22 If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
22:23-24 If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.
Hence the law of stoning people to death is Biblical which has been accepted by the Muslims who came after the Prophet as evidence of a great tolerance in Islam for absorbing and upholding Biblical teachings. The Christian West should not hold the Muslim Ummah in disgust for upholding Biblical laws.
Lev 20:10 If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.
This is Biblical too. The Shariah Laws of Islam come from the Bible. What does the Quran say?
An-Nur 24:2 The adulterer and the adulteress, scourge ye each one of them (with) a hundred stripes. And let not pity for the twain withhold you from obedience to God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day. And let a party of believers witness their punishment.
Indeed the Qur'an prescribes a punishment for adultery. But the punishment meted out is a scourge of 100 lashes.
05. THE PUNISHMENT OF APOSTASY:
The United Nations Charter on Human Rights guarantees freedom of religion. This right is also guaranteed in the Qur'an. God and the Prophet guarantee all humans that they have the right to believe or disbelieve as they choose. No man has the right to deny anyone his right to freedom of religion. But the human will be held accountable for whatever he chooses to believe.
The Biblical teachings however say that anyone who blasphemes or becomes an apostate from his faith must be punished with death. The following is clear from the Bible:
Leviticus 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, [and] all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name [of the LORD], shall be put to death.
Included among those who must be put to death are those who bring teachings contrary to the accepted faith or who promote changing the religion.
This would include the deviants. The Bible punishes them with death as follows:
Deuteronomy 13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
Deuteronomy 13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
13:7 [Namely], of the gods of the people which [are] round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth;
13:8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
13:9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
13:10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Again it is the great tolerance and flexible nature of Islam today that these Biblical teachings have been absorbed and are practised as part of the Islamic Shariah Law. In the Shariah Law of Islam, any Muslim who changes his religion believes in other religions or even practises a faith different from the mainstream can be put to death.
Under the Shariah Law anyone who changes his religion must be put to death. Although this is not part of the Prophet's teachings in the Qur'an, present day Muslims have absorbed such teachings from the Christian Bible to show their proximity to the Christian faith. Hence, there should not be a cause for difference between Islam and the Christian West. We have much in common with each other.
The Prophet no doubt taught us in the Quran that anyone has the freedom to believe or disbelieve as they choose. The Quran is very clear.
4:137 Surely (as for) those who believe then disbelieve, again believe and again disbelieve, then increase in disbelief, God will not forgive them nor guide them in the (right) path.
Belief followed by disbelief followed by belief and then again followed by disbelief and further disbelief is a question of choice. God will decide what best to do with the individual and his choice of belief. There is no earthly punishment prescribed in the Qur'an for those who believe or disbelieve.
The list is very long. I will not belabor you and take up too much of your valuable time. Just to give you a concise picture I will list some other beliefs that the Muslims practise today which are not found in the Qur'an but which are taken from the Christian Bible.
Unfortunately, because of the ignorance of the general Ummah as well as the ordinary Christian people, these beliefs are manipulated by some clever people as excuses to create a rift between the West and Islam.
06. THE TALIBAN'S DESTRUCTION OF STATUES IN BAMIYAN:
We all recall the huge hue and cry when the Taliban destroyed priceless ancient treasures in Bamiyan. Under the guise of religion, the Taliban insisted that the statues of the Buddha were idols and had to be destroyed. The Taliban based their actions on Islamic beliefs that have actually been absorbed from the Christian Bible. The Prophet never taught Muslims in the Qur'an that statues must be destroyed. But it is Biblical teaching that graven images must be destroyed.
Deuteronomy 27:15 Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol-a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands-and sets it up in secret.
Deuteronomy 4:16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,
17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,
18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
The Muslims have absorbed these Biblical teachings which forbid the making of graven images from stone carvings and other forms. Again this reflects the immense capacity of 'Muslims' to tolerate and learn from the Christian Bible. The Qur'an does not say anywhere that statues or graven images are forbidden or that they must be destroyed. The Christian West has to take account of these truths and give due credit to Islam for giving fresh life to the Biblical teachings. Islam's proximity to the Bible is much deeper than what the Christian West would like to acknowledge.
07. THE WEARING OF BEARDS:
The Christian West has also been disturbed by the Islamic practice where men wear beards. After the September 11 event, many Muslim men with beards have been the subject of suspicion and summary searches by police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the West. These are again not the teachings of the Prophet or the Qur'an. Instead, the wearing of beards for men is taken again from the Christian Bible. Today's Islam has deemed it fit that Muslim men should uphold this religious practice from the Bible. The Christian Bible makes it clear.
Leviticus 19:27 Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
Leviticus 21:5 Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
2 Samuel 10:5 When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back."
Hence, the Taliban were not creating anything new when they insisted that men should wear beards. Such teachings are found in the Christian Bible. No doubt the Prophet and the Qur'an make no mention about the wearing of beards for men but it is the evolution of Islam after the Prophet that attests to Islam's greatness as a religion that has absorbed much from its neighbors, particularly the Christian Bible and the Jewish Scriptures.
Muslim scholars over time have themselves debated if the Muslims should continue to uphold these Biblical teachings which are not found in their own Qur'an. Indeed they are bound by the restrictions in the Qur'an which are equally clear:
Qur'an 2:120 And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely God's guidance; that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from God, nor any helper.
The Muslims are told in the Qur'an that they should not follow the path of the Christians and the Jews. Despite such warning, it is to their great risk and adventurous tolerance that the Muslim scholars have decided to still accept and practice the teachings of the Christian Bible. The Muslim scholars, in the interests of preserving harmony and peace with their Christian brothers and sisters have decided that the Biblical teachings are acceptable and should be closely upheld by good Muslims. Therefore, the fear by the Christian West is misplaced and unfounded.
CONCLUSION
I would like to state that both Muslims and the Christian West should study and take cognizance of the vast area of similarity between the Muslim beliefs and Christian Biblical teachings. In this age of high tensions, paranoia and fear of everything that is deemed Islamic, the Christian West should appreciate the fact that for one thousand years, the Muslim scholars have already shown a great tolerance towards Christianity by learning and absorbing many parts of the Christian Bible into their Islamic faith. All the things that I have listed above that are taken from the Christian Bible cannot be found in the Muslim's own Qur'an.
In the light of the evident flexibility in Islam today, I hope that the Muslims all over the world will make the effort to show their Christian brothers and sisters that a great amount of our Islamic faith is drawn from the Christian Bible. At the same time I urge the Christian West as well as the Jews to give Islam the due credit for basing much of its practical faith in their Christian Bible and Jewish Scriptures. We have more that is common between us than actually divides us.
Shariah Laws Are Plagiarized From The Bible
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Originally Posted by enoch
