I’ve been reading Nabeel Qureshi’s book No God But One: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and
Christianity (Zondervan, 2016).
The book is very good on a number of topics. Scattered throughout the work are comments on how Muslims
approach the Qur’an. This is
instructive since it is easy to fall prey to the idea that since Muslim’s have
a holy book therefore they treat it the same as Christians do their holy
Scriptures. Evangelical Christians
have spoken of various attributes of the Bible as Scripture. For example, Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994)
speaks of four characteristics of Scripture:
1.
Necessity:
The necessity of Scripture means that the
Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and
for knowing God’s will, but it is not necessary for knowing that God exists or
for knowing something about God’s character and moral law. (p. 116)
2.
Authority:
The authority of Scripture means that all
the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or
disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. (p. 73)
3.
Sufficiency:
The sufficiency of Scripture means that
Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each
stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we
need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.
(p. 127)
4.
Perspicuity/Clarity:
The clarity of Scripture means that the
Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by
all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it. (p.
108)[1]
In contradistinction to these concepts within evangelical
Christianity, Quereshi brings out the difference within Islam. Within Islamic teaching regarding the
Qur’an there is the doctrine of abrogation. Qureshi writes:
“Grasping the orality of the Quran
helps with understanding the controversial phenomenon of abrogation. While Muhammad was still alive, he
would give recitations that cancelled previous ones. In other words, he would tell his followers that certain
portions of the Quran he had relayed before were no longer to be recited as
part of the Quran. This was met
with resistance, as people asked him how the Word of God could be cancelled. The response is recorded in 2.106 of
the Quran, which asserts that Allah can substitute verses in his divine
scripture because ‘he has power over all things.’
Qureshi goes on to note how this doctrine of abrogation
comes to negate the sufficiency of the Quran:
“Not all abrogated verses were left
out of the text of the Quran, though Muslim scholars have classically taught
that there are multiple types of abrogation, including abrogation of
text-not-law and abrogation of law-not-text. In other words, they teach that Allah intended certain
verses to be recited but not practiced, and other verses to be practiced but
not recited. For these reasons,
Muslim scholars turn to the records of Muhammad’s life, the hadith, for
clarification. In addition, as we have
already seen, more Islamic practices actually come from hadith and not from the
Quran.
“This is why Muslims do not believe the Quran is sufficient for Islamic
practice, but it requires authoritative hadith. Very few Muslims believe in the sufficiency of the Quran,
and these ‘Quran only’ Muslims are often deemed heretical by mainstream Muslims.”
(pp. 109-110—bold-face added)
In a later discussion of the issue of putting apostates to
death Qureshi returns to these concepts:
“Some Muslims point out that the
Quran does not command the killing of the apostates, and arguably they are
correct. But Islam is not a sola scriptura
faith; it has always used hadith to supplement the Quran. Anyone who prays the five daily prayers
would have to admit this, because not only are the words for the prayers not
given in the Quran, even the number of daily prayers is not mentioned. The Quran mentions only three daily
prayers, and it does not delineate the words or postures for any of them. Although there are legitimate
‘Quran-only’ Muslims, they have always been an extreme minority in Islam. Most Muslims who argue against the law
of apostasy using a Quran-only approach are using reasoning that would
radically alter their Islamic practice if applied consistently.
“Alone similar lines, some peaceful
Muslims argue against the law of apostasy based on Quranic verses such as
2.256, which says, ‘There is no compulsion in religion.’ In order to say this, though, they are
also disavowing Muhammad’s example.
Muhammad did not interpret that verse in that manner, as his actions in
hadith repeatedly show. That is
why, classically, Muslim theologians have listed 2.256 among the abrogated
verses we discussed in the previous chapter. Ibn Kathir, for example, says 2.256 was abrogated by 9.29,
which tells Muslims to fight Jews and Christians. Popular Muslim scholars have vociferously defended these
traditional interpretations throughout the twentieth century.” (p.
136—bold-face added)
In light of Qureshi’s discussion it does appear that the
traditional Islamic view of the Quran does not include a notion of
sufficiency. Morevover, the vast
amount of material from hadith literature that needs to be considered for a
right interpretation of the Quran it appears that the concept of perspicuity is
also severely compromised.[2]
[1]
Grudem uses the language of “clarity” in his Systematic Theology but I like the older term “perspicuity.” Grudem himself uses the older term in a
2009 presentation “The Perspicuity of Scripture.” Available online: http://www.waynegrudem.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Perspicuity-of-Scripture-for-Themelios-Word-97-3.pdf.
[2]
The words of James White are appropriate as well: “A careful and fair
comparison of the literature of biblical exegesis produced by believing
Christian scholarship with that of believing Islamic scholarship is
striking. The intricate, complex
studies found among Muslims in the hadith
sciences is the closest parallel to the in-depth, original-language-based
exegesis of the New Testament among Christians. The Muslim battleground of debate on these issues is focused
upon Islamic tradition, while for believing Christians it is focused upon the
text of Scripture itself.” What Every Christian Needs to Know About the
Qur’an (Bethany House, 2013), 163.
