The Holy Quran in the eyes of fair-minded Christian writers

January 1, 2012 · Quran

Authors

Zia Shah MD Affiliation: The Muslim Times Website: http://themuslimtime… He is a physician practicing in Upstate New York. He is the Chief Editor of Muslim Times and also of the monthly, Alislam eGazette, with a subscription of more than 40,000. He is also Chair of Religion and Science for the Muslim Sunrise, the oldest Muslim publication in North America. He has authored more than 400 articles on Islam, Christianity and Religion & Science. Follow in Twitter: @ZiahShah1

The famous British historian Thomas Carlyle writes:

“One other circumstance we must not forget: that he (Muhammad) had no school-learning; of the thing we call school-learning none at all. The art of writing was but just introduced into Arabia; it seems to be the true opinion that Muhammad never could write! Life in the Desert, with its experiences, was all his education. What of this infinite Universe he, from his dim place, with his own eyes and thoughts, could take in, so much and no more of it was he to know. Curious, if we will reflect on it, this of having no books. Except by what he could see for himself, or hear of by uncertain rumor of speech in the obscure Arabian Desert, he could know nothing. The wisdom that had been before him or at a distance from him in the world, was in a manner as good as not there for him. Of the great brother souls, flame-beacons through so many lands and times, no one directly communicates with this great soul. He is alone there, deep down in the bosom of the Wilderness; has to grow up so, — alone with Nature and his own Thoughts.”"

Read an article with several quotes in Alislam.org

The featured picture is of the famous German philosopher Goethe, who was so impressed by Islam and so close that he can be called almost a Muslim. In 2011 Goethe was voted the greatest German.

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ziahshah
January 24, 2012

The beauty of the Quran in the eyes of John Davenport
John Davenport wrote in an Apology to Mohammed and the Koran:

Among many excellences of which the Koran may justly boast are two eminently conspicuous; the one being the tone and awe and reverence which it always observes when speaking of, or referring to, the Deity, to whom it never attributes human frailties and passions; the other the total absence throughout it of all impure, immoral and indecent ideas, expressions, narratives, etc., blemishes, which it is much to be regretted, are of too frequent occurrences in the Jewish Scriptures. So exempt, indeed, is the Koran from these undeniable defects, that it needs not the slightest castigation, and may be read, from beginning to end, without causing a blush to suffuse the cheek of modesty itself.

(John Davenport. An apology for Mohammed and the Koran, Published in 1869. Pages 80. The book is available on archive.org and in eBook format on Barnes and Noble website)

PDF file of the book is now available in the Muslim Times.

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ziahshah
January 24, 2012

German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Holy Quran
To communicate the beauty of the Holy Quran to the non-believers let me quote from the experience of German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He said, “As often as we approach the Quran, it always proves repulsive anew; gradually, however, it attracts, it astonishes, and, in the end forces admiration.”

(It is quoted in several books. For example: RVC Bodley. The Messenger. Double Day and Company Inc, 1946. Page 237. And: John Davenport. An apology for Mohammed and the Koran, Published in 1869. Pages 67. The book is available on archive.org)

As the Non-Muslim readers give up their preconceived notions and begin to understand the book better, they may certainly relive Goethe’s experience. A
French surgeon Maurice Bucaille certainly did. After an extensive review of what the Quran had to say about the issues pertaining to science, he wrote in the Bible, the Quran and the Science, “In view of the state of knowledge in Muhammad’s day, it is inconceivable that many of the statements in the Quran which are connected with science could have been the work of a man. It is, moreover, perfectly legitimate, not only to regard the Quran as the expression of a Revelation, but also to award it a very special place on account of the guarantee of authenticity it provides.”

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ziahshah
January 24, 2012

Prof. Laura Vaccia Vaglieri, professor at the University of Naples, had to say:

“For the book, besides its perfection in form and method, proved itself beyond imitation even in its substance. In it, among other things, we read a forecast of future events, and a description of events which had taken place centuries before but were generally ignored. There are frequent references to the laws of nature, to various sciences, both religious and secular. We find there vast stores of knowledge which are beyond the capacity of the most intelligent of men, the greatest of philosophers and the ablest of politicians. For all these reasons the Quran could not be the work of an uneducated man, who had spent all his life in the midst of an unrefined society far away from men of learning and religion, a man who always insisted that he was but a man just like any others, and, as such, unable to perform miracles unless he had the help of Almighty God. The Quran could have its source only in Him Whose knowledge comprehends everything in heaven and earth.”

Laura Veccia Vaglieri. An Interpretation of Islam. First published in 1957. Goodward books, 2004. Page 42-44.

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The Muslim Times’ Response to an Anti-Islam Film – For Christians, To be Born Again in Islam! linked to this post.

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