Da Vinci Code in the Light of the Quran and Bible

𝐃𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞

Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR

Contents

Foreword 4

Introduction 5

Chapter 1 – Is Jesus the son of God 6

Chapter 2 – Christmas 9

Chapter 3 – Is Jesus God? 11

Chapter 4 – Original sin 20

Chapter 5 – Is the Bible God’s word? 24

Chapter 6 – Marriage of Jesus 30

Chapter 7 – Sabbath day 33

Chapter 8 – Dan Brown’s fallacy 34

Foreword

All praise is to Almighty God alone and peace be on all his messengers.

In this booklet, we analyze the world’s best-seller “Da Vinci code” in the light of the Quran and the Bible. Some people may wonder why I am saying “Quran”. The reason is because We Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was one of the mightiest messenger of Almighty God, He was born miraculously without any male intervention, he gave life to the dead, he healed those born blind and lepers.

We believe in his virgin birth, which many modern day Christians including the bishops of the Anglican Church deny. In fact, no Muslim can be a Muslim if he denies Jesus because he has denied the clear text of the Glorious Quran.

I will not be dealing with History as Islamic doctrines and Christian doctrines are not simply based on history. It would be much more preferable to analyze the topics in the light of the sacred scriptures of these two religions. Even Dan Brown doesn’t consider history to be very authentic. His view on History

“Meaning that history is always written by winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books – books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, “what is history, but a fable agreed upon?” ‘He smiled. ‘By its very nature, history is always a one-sided account.’ (Da Vinci Code, pg. 343)

Even Brown doesn’t consider History to be fair. Now I am not saying that whatever history says is false, but it is not always true. Therefore, the foundation of this booklet is the sacred scriptures of the two religions, Islam & Christianity.

Introduction

The best-seller “Da Vinci Code” happens to be the second novel of the British novelist Dan Brown. The novel was a smash hit in 2004. More than 60.5 million copies have been printed (as of May 2006) and the book has been translated in 44 languages.

The book happens to be a very controversial one. It has 95% fiction and around 5% or so controversy. It hits to some of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity. Brown has spoken everything from the Historical records.

In this booklet, we shall be discussing all the major topics touched by Dan Brown in the light of the Quran and Bible.

The Holy Quran says

“Say: “O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you:” (Quran 3:64)

The Bible says

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 1:18)

So let us analyze the topics that Dan Brown has touched in the novel in the light of Quran and the Bible.

I would like to make it very clear to the reader that I am not a supporter of Dan Brown in anyway, but what is true in the light of the sacred scriptures, we have to appreciate and accept. While I was reading, the novel I was astonished to see that many things that Brown touched were exactly what we Muslim say though Brown was speaking from historical point of view and from other early writings of the disciples. I do not support everything what Brown says but whatever conclusions I have drawn are from the Bible and the Quran. As Dan Brown said in his interview

“The vast majority of devout Christians understand this fact and consider The Da Vinci Code an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate.”

Chapter 1

Is Jesus The Son Of God?

“Teabing Declared, ‘until that moment

in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal

prophet … a great and powerful man, but a man

nonetheless, A mortal.’

‘Not the son of God?’

‘Right,’ Teabing Said. “

(Da Vinci Code pg.315)

Lets see what the Holy Quran has to say. The Quran says

“He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;” (Quran 112:3)

Furthermore the Holy Quran condemns this idea of God begetting a son in very strong terms.

“They say: “((Allah)) Most Gracious has begotten a son!”

“Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!”

“At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin,”

“That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.”

“For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son.” (Quran 19:88-92)

Because begetting is an animal act and one cannot attribute such lowly functions to Almighty God who is the creator of the universe. In the catechism of the church it says

“Jesus is the only begotten son of God, Begotten not Made”

Lets see what the bible has to say.

According to the bible, God has got sons by tons. It’s mentioned in the Bibles:

“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men……” (Genesis 6:2)

“……when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men….”(Genesis 6:4)

“……Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:” (Exodus 4:22)

“…….for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” (Jeremiah 31:9)

“……..which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” (Luke 3:38)

“ I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day

have I begotten thee.” (Psalms 2:7)

God also says to David

“²⁶ He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’ ²⁷ I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. (Psalms 89:26-27)

So we can see that from the above quoted verses that in the idiom of the Jews. Every Righteous person is the son of God. But the common verse quoted to show the difference between Jesus and other “sons” of God is

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

King James Version goes to the ancient manuscripts. But if we read the RSV (Revised Standard Version), revised by thirty-two scholars of the highest eminence backed by fifty cooperating denominations. They say:

“Yet the King James Version has grave defects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the development of Biblical studies and the discovery of many manuscripts more ancient than those upon which the King James Version was based, made it manifest that these defects are so many and so serious as to call for revision of the English translation” (Preface RSV)

And in the RSV this blasphemous word “begotten” has been expunged as a fabrication, as an interpolation. This is how the verse reads in RSV.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (RSV, John 3:16)

This word “begotten” is not there in the most ancient manuscripts. Its not there even in some other versions like NIV and Good News Bible.

“Son of God” only means a righteous servant of God, a peacemaker, the one who obeys God, the one who is led by the spirit of God. Who says so? Jesus says so

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mathew 5:9)

^“9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (Mathew 5:9, NIV)

Paul testifies the same thing.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

See what John (the supposed author of the fourth gospel writes)

¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

“Son of God” does not prove anything. It only means a righteous servant of God as Jesus (pbuh) and Paul both testify.

It is the term, which was frequently used in Semitic languages like Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic etc, but Alhumdulillah we have dropped this term in Arabic because of the misunderstanding that was created.

Even in Arabic, son of something, father of something only meant metaphorical. Like there was a companion of the Prophet (pbuh) by the name of “Abu Huraira”. “Abu Huraira” literally means father of the kitten. He was given the name because he loved cats. It doesn’t mean he literally gave birth to a kitten.

If someone calls Jesus the son of God in a sense of a righteous person, as a peacemaker then there is no problem. But he is not the begotten son of God as the Christian says.

Chapter 2

Christmas

The pre-Christian God Mithras – called the Son of God and the Light of the World – was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus.

(Da Vinci Code pg.314)

The celebration of birthdays is a pagan custom. The people mentioned in the Bible who celebrated their birthdays are Herod and Pharaoh. Both of them were pagans.

“Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday..” (Genesis 40:20)

“On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much” (Mathew 14:6)

Today we people too have adopted these pagan customs of birthday and in them, we very often find dancing etc.

As far as the Christmas is concerned, there is no mention of it in the Bible. The Christians did not use to celebrate the birthday of Christ for the first three centuries. Infact, we do not even have any historical evidence that Jesus was born on 25 December.

According to the Christians, Jesus is God (The subject is dealt with in the next chapter). So when they say it’s the birthday of Jesus, they say it’s the birthday of God. Can you imagine, celebrating birthday of God? Furthermore, The Bible also forbids cutting of trees, which Christians usually do on Christmas.

“For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.” (Jeremiah 10:3)

God according to the Bible also considers those customs in which people cut down trees to be worthless.

Islamic Viewpoint

There is not direct verse or Sahih Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) which deals with the issue of celebrating birthdays. Based on the above information, the Muslim scholars (Many of them) say its haram (forbidden) for the Muslim to celebrate birthdays. Whereas there are, other scholars who consider it Makruh (discouraged).

I as far my view is concerned, I agree with the first group of scholars who consider it to be haraam (forbidden) as far as celebrating the birthdays of Prophets of god or of anyone else who is not physically alive in this world to commemorate them.

As far as celebrating birthdays of individuals is concerned who are alive today simply for fun and enjoyment, I personally discourage it because it’s a pagan custom and secondly there are other haraam (forbidden) activities involved in it many times like dancing, music etc.

Chapter 3

Is Jesus God?

‘At this gathering,’ Teabing said, ‘many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon – the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of sacraments, and, of course, the divinity of Jesus’

‘I don’t follow. His divinity?’

‘My dear,’ Teabing chuckled, ‘until that moment in history, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a mortal prophet . . . a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal’

(Da Vinci Code pg.315)

This topic “Is Jesus God?” has been discussed and debated over and over by Muslims and Christians. In fact, a separate book can be written on this very topic. I’ll deal with it briefly.

The Quranic viewpoint.

The Holy Quran is very clear on this topic. The Quran says

“They do blaspheme who say: “(Allah) is Christ the son of Mary.” But said Christ: “O Children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.” (Quran 5:72)

“They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” (Quran 5:73)

Islam strictly believes in One God who is without any partners. The best definition of God Almighty, which one can give you from the glorious Quran, is

1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

4. And there is none like unto Him. (Quran 112:1-4)

Jesus Christ (pbuh) hold a very high position in the house of Islam. We in Islam believe him to be one of the Mightiest messengers of Almighty God, we believe that he gave life to the dead with God’s permission; we believe that he healed those born blind and lepers with God’s permission.

We believe that he was the Messiah translated Christ. We believe that he was born miraculously without any male intervention, which many Christians today including the Bishops of the Anglican Church deny it, but we Muslims believe it.

Before we say whether Jesus is God or not. We may ask a counter question; did he claim to be God? The Buddhists say that Buddha is God incarnate i.e. God in human form. I say ask these Buddhists, did Buddha say “I am God” and the answer is No! Millions of Germans marched and they said that Hitler is second God incarnate. I say ask these Germans, Did Hitler say I am God incarnate.

The answer is No! Simple easy. Before we impose divinity on anyone, let the person speak for himself. Now we may ask the question, did Jesus say, “I am God” The answer is No! There is not a single unequivocal statement in the complete Bible where Jesus Christ (pbuh) himself said “I am God” or where he says “Worship me.”

There are certain statements that can be assumed but in context when we read them, they are clarified. The Christian may say, well for God he doesn’t need to say “I am God” but we find in the Old Testament, God repeatedly saying “I am God” Just consider these following verses

I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. (Isaiah 45:3)

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,” (Isaiah 45:5)

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”(Psalms 81:10)

“I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” (Isaiah 43:11)

See how Almighty God clearly says that he is the only savior unlike as the Christians that Jesus is the personal savior. We find God repeatedly saying “I am God” in the Old testament, but he NEVER even said once in the New Testament. Why is that so? God clarifies about himself to the human beings. The Old Testament even denies that God is “man” or “son of man”.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man,” (Numbers 23:19)

Jesus calls himself a man in the Bible

“As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.” (John 8:40)

He even calls himself “Son of Man”

“Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” (Luke 9:44)

On the contrary, what Christians attribute to Jesus (pbuh), Jesus says

“…for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28)

“My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all^”(John 10:29)

Jesus denies any equality with Almighty God. Jesus Christ (pbuh) even asks people NOT to call him “good”

“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:” (KJV, Mathew 19:16-17)

Qualities of God

If Jesus Christ (pbuh) is “God” then lets see the qualities of this “God”

A. Powerless “God”

“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:30)

Can you imagine God coming in this world and telling us that he himself cannot do anything?

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been GIVEN to me.” (Mathew 28:18)

See what he says “given to me” something that he himself did not own. Given by whom? Obviously God!

B. Ignorant “God”

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32)

Can you imagine God being ignorant of the hour? God created the Day of Judgment and he doesn’t even know about it. Can you imagine?

C. Brothers and Mother of “God”

⁴⁶While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁷Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you. (Mathew 12:46-47)

Now this is interesting, God has mother and he has brothers, but yet they aren’t God but Jesus is, as per the Christians. Mary gave birth to other children as well and she even gave birth to “god” but yet his (Jesus’) brothers aren’t God nor is Mother Mary God, but Jesus is according to the Christians!

D. “God” tempted by the Satan and he was hungry?

where for forty days he (Jesus) was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (Luke 4:2)

The Bible tells us that God cannot be tempted

“…For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;” (James 1:13)

Can you imagine God being tempted by Satan, his own creation?

E. Thirsty “God”

“Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28)

F. Weeping “God”

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)

Can you imagine God (The maker of this universe) weeping?

G. “God” came out of a woman and got circumcised?

“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him (Jesus), he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.” (Luke 2:21)

The very fact that Jesus was given birth is alone sufficient to convince any rational thinker that Jesus Christ is not god. Just look at a born baby and see how tiny it is, how helpless is it, God used to be like that at one time? The babies then get breastfed by their mothers; you mean to say “god” used to get breastfed? When a baby is few months old, people play around with him and try to make the baby feel good. People use to play around with “god”?

Can you imagine God Almighty being circumcised? Can you just even think that someone cut foreskin of God’s private part? How insulting is it to God Almighty. Today surgeons circumcise the babies; previously it was the job of the barbers to circumcise the baby.

Just imagine, if you were that barber two thousand years ago, would you EVER think that the child you are circumcising is your God He is your Allah?

One can go on with these things, just sit, and contemplate about it.

Does God eat?

There was another interesting passage in the novel.

‘And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual – the mitre, the altar, the doxology and communion, the act of “God-eating” – were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions’ (Da Vinci Code, pg.314) (emphasis are mine)

In the above passage, Dan Brown is telling us that God does not eat. The Holy Quran says

“Say: “Shall I take for my protector any other than Allah, the Maker of the heavens and the earth? And He it is that feedeth but is not fed.” (Quran 6:14)

In other words, the Quran is telling us that anyone who eats can never be God because when we eat, we excrete. For that, we have to find a toilet, if we do not find one then we have run behind a bush or a rock and God Almighty Doesn’t do that. He doesn’t go around finding toilets or running behind the rock or a bush. The Quran speaks more specifically about Jesus (pbuh)

“Christ the son of Mary was no more than an apostle; many were the apostles that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!” (Quran 5:75)

See how the glorious Quran says “They had both to eat their (daily) food.” We all eat food, but no “They had both to eat their (daily) food.” And you (Christians) are worshipping Jesus Christ as God, mother Mary as the Mother of God (as the Catholics say).

Did Jesus eat according to the Bible?

“⁴¹And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he (Jesus) asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him (Jesus) a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he (Jesus) took it and ate it in their presence.” (Luke 24:41-43)

God has a God?

“Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ (John 20:17)

Imagine if a man came to you and said that he has a God. Would you take that man to be your God?

We can discuss much more on this subject, but I think this should convince any sincere, truthful, and logical Christian.

Jesus Christ (pbuh) describes his identity.

“Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.” (John 7:16)

“⁴⁹For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (John 12:49-50)

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24)

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Anyone that is sent by God is a Prophet of God.

Testimony of Peter

“”Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” (Acts 2:22)

Jesus Christ (pbuh) healed the blind man, the story can be found in John 9. There was a man who was born blind, Jesus mixed the saliva with mud and rubbed his eyes with it, and he could see. So the Jews got hold of him and asked him.

“Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” (John 9:17)

A blind man who was healed testifies that Jesus was the Prophet! He did not say well this man is God or anything such, he simply said that he is a Prophet of God.

The religion of Jesus

Now this may be interesting to some people. What was the religion of Jesus Christ (pbuh). Was he a Christian?

He never claimed to be a Christian, infact he never even heard the word “Christian” in his life. It is not a Greek/Aramaic word. The Hebrew word for “rub, massage, anoint” is “Masaha” from which we get the Hebrew word “Messiah” in Arabic as “Maseeh” Which when translated into Greek becomes “Christoss” i.e. the anointed one, and when we chop of the “oss” we are left with “Christ”. The word “Christianity” doesn’t even exist in the Bible. The word that is found in the Bible is “Christian” which was used first time by the people who did not believe in Jesus.

“and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (Acts 11:26)

The word “Christian” is nowhere to be found in gospels. So the question arises what was the religion of Jesus if not Christianity.

Suppose we get hold of Jesus Christ (pbuh) in his second coming and ask him what is his religion. Will he say “Christian”? No! He never heard the word in his life. If Christian, then which Christian Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah’s Witness? He never heard either of those words. When we ask him this question, we’ll expect him to say “My religion is total submission to God’s will” and one short word for this in Arabic language is “Islam”

Now someone may say, well how can this be his religion because Islam came into existence only 1400 years ago and did not even exist at the time of Jesus?

The answer is that it is a GRAVE misconception that Islam started 1400 years ago. Infact, Islam is there since man first set foot on the earth and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was not the founder of this religion, infact he was the final messenger of God to whom was revealed the Holy Quran.

Islam (Submission to God’s will) was the religion of ALL the Prophets of God, they all taught human beings to submit their wills to Almighty God. Jesus too did the same. See what the Bible says

“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:30)

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Anyone who says “not what I will but what God wills” in Arabic that person is called a Muslim. Jesus Christ (pbuh) also commanded his followers to submit their wills to the will of God.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mathew 7:21)

The Holy Quran too testifies that Jesus Christ and his disciples were Muslims

“When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: “Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah.” Said the disciples: “We are Allah.s helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.” (Quran 3:52)

In a nutshell, Jesus Christ (pbuh) was one of the mightiest messenger of Almighty God who submitted his will to God and asked people to do the same. In other words, he (Jesus) was a Muslim and he commanded his followers to become ones as well.

Chapter 4

Original Sin, status of woman and childbirth

Meaning of original sin according to Catholic Encyclopedia

“Original sin may be taken to mean: (1) the sin that Adam committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam.”

Dan Brown writes:

“The power of female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posted a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean. It was man, not God, who created the concept of “original sin”

(Da Vinci Code pg.321-322)

Let us analyze the passage in the light of Islam and the Bible.

What Brown is referring here is

“To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)

So we can see that from the above verse pregnancy is the curse to the woman according to the Bible.

In the Holy Quran in Surah Araf ch.7 verses 19-27, Adam and Eve are addressed about a dozen of times. But there is not a single verse in the entire Quran which singles out Eve (pbuh). The blame in the Holy Quran is put equally on both.

Lets see what The Holy Quran has to say about pregnancy and childbirth.

Remember the statement of Dan Brown “The power of female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred,”

This is true in the case of Islam. God Almighty says in his Last Testament to Mankind.

“…and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you):…” (Quran 4:1)

“And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning:” (Quran 31:14)

“And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning:” (Quran 46:15)

The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him) said :

“Volume 8, Book 73, Number 2:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

A man came to Allah’s Apostle and said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man said. “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man further said, “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man asked for the fourth time, “Who is next?” The Prophet said, “Your father. “

In short, 75% of the love and companionship goes to the mother and only 25% goes to the father. What has uplifted the mother?? As the Glorious Quran describes, the pregnancy has uplifted the woman in Islam, it does not degrade her like the Bible.

Lets analyze this statement of Brown in the Light of Quran and the Bible

“It was man, not God, who created the concept of “original sin”

Original sin in Islam

In Islam, there is no such concept as “Original sin”. The Holy Quran clearly says

“Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear bear the burden of another.” (Quran 6:164)

Every human being is responsible for the sins that he does, No human being will be held responsible for the sin, which Adam and Eve did. As I showed above, the pregnancy uplifts the woman, and there is not a single verse in the entire Quran, which puts the blame only on Eve (pbuh).

Original sin in the Light of Bible

The Bible says

²⁰ The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. ²¹ “But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.(Ezekiel 18:20-21)

The above verses of the Bible clearly deny the dogma of Original sin. The Bible says

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin..” (Deuteronomy 24:16)

The same message is also repeated in II Chronicles 25:4 and II Kings 14:6.

Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) considered children to be innocent and NOT born in sin. Jesus Christ (pbuh) said

“When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these..” (Mark 10:14)

Some people may insist that the Christians are supposed to follow only the New Testament, but Jesus Christ (pbuh) said

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁹Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mathew 5:17-19)

So the Christian is supposed to follow all the Laws of the Old Testament.

Major Francis Yeats-Brown, DFC (August 15, 1886 – December 19, 1944) was an officer in the colonial Indian army and the author of the celebrated memoir The Lives of a Bengal Lancer. He writes in his book “Lives of a Bengal Lancer”

“”NO HEATHEN TRIBE HAS CONCEIVED SO GROTESQUE AN IDEA, INVOLVING AS IT DOES THE ASSUMPTION, THAT MAN WAS BORN WITH A HEREDITARY STAIN UPON HIM: AND THAT THIS STAIN (FOR WHICH HE WAS NOT PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE) WAS TO BE ATONED FOR: AND THAT THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS HAD TO SACRIFICE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON TO NEUTRALISE THIS MYSTERIOUS CURSE.“

The question arises; did Adam and Eve ask me before eating the apple? If they did not ask me before eating the apple how can I be held responsible?

Suppose your great great grandfather commits a murder and I want to punish you for that, what will you think of me? I am sure you will think this person is a loony he is mentally unstable. I am asking, how can God be unjust? How can he punish you and me for what Adam and Eve did?

This concept of Original sin is illogical and does not go into the logical mind of a human being and it is against the teachings of the Bible and the Quran. For salvation Jesus Christ (pbuh) said

¹⁶Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” ¹⁷“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” (Mathew 19:16-17)

Jesus Christ (pbuh) said

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”(Mathew 5:20)

Chapter 5

The Bible

‘The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God.

The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man

created it as a historical record of tumultuous times,

and it has evolved through countless translations,

additions and revisions. History has never had a

Definitive version of the book.’

‘Okay.’

(Da Vinci Code pg.312-313)

According to Christian Scholars Bible is written by 40 different authors in a period of about 1600 years. The Christians boast of 24,000 manuscripts but out of the 24,000 no 2 are identical according to the scholars. And he rightly says that it has gone through revisions. No wonder the Christian Scholars are revising the Bible again and again. The preface of RSV reads.

The Bible says

“How can you say, `We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.” (RSV, Jeremiah 8:8)

See these different translations of I John 5:7

“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (KJV, I John 5:7)

“For there are three that testify:” (NIV, I John 5:7)

“And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth.” (RSV, I John 5:7)

All three are telling us a different thing. Its not simply the difference of a Translation as some Christians may claim. RSV and NIV are from older manuscripts than KJV.

Lets see what does the Holy Quran have to say:

“For each period is a Book (revealed).” (Quran 13:38)

By name there are only four revelations mentioned in the Holy Quran. Taurat, Zaboor, Injeel and the Quran revealed to Prophet Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them) respectively.

The “Taurat” we believe is not the “Torah” which the Jews and Christians believe today. Similarly, “Zaboor” which we believe is not present Psalms which is associated with the name of Prophet David (pbuh). And the Injeel which we believe is “Injeel-e-Eesa” i.e “Gospel of Jesus.”

And there is no such thing in the Bible as Gospel of Jesus. The Gospels in the Present day Bible are “according to” Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus (pbuh) did not write a single word during his life and nor did he instruct anyone to write anything.

All the revelations that came before the Quran have got corrupted by the passage of time. They have not maintained their purity. The Quran says.

“Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say:”This is from Allah,” to traffic with it for miserable price!- Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby” (Quran 2:79)”

Before someone puts forward an argument, that its talking about “ANY BOOK”. We are to remind that its NOT talking about ANY BOOK. In context if you read, the whole passage is talking about the Jews.

The Present Bible

The present Bible, which the Christians believe, it may contain certain portions, which we may consider to be from God. For Instance

“I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” (Isaiah 43:11)

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 45:5)

Who is this “I” here? It is God !

But it also contains the words of the Prophet. For instance:

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’

²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart..” (Mathew 5:27-28)

Who is this “I” here? It’s the Prophet of God, Jesus Christ (pbuh).

Note : It is not God dictating that Jesus said such and such thing. Its the writing of other people.

There is a Bible which is called “red-letter Bible” in which every word uttered by Jesus (pbuh) according to Christians is in red whereas the rest is in black. These words in red ink are of Jesus’ i.e. Prophet of God. If we have to make a red-letter Quran in which every word is of Muhammad (pbuh). Then there will not be a single letter which will be in red.

The Bible also contains the words of the Historians and supposed “eyewitnesses”

For instance, Consider the Pentateuch i.e. the first five books of the Old Testament i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Only in these, five books the expression

“And Lord said unto Moses” , “And Moses said unto the Lord” is repeated no less than 700 times. Indicating that it is not God writing, nor is it Moses (pbuh) writing. Its in third person, somebody else is writing.

The Bible also contains Pornography.

Now this may be shocking to many Christians. But it is reality. For instance, consider the following chapters of the Bible.

Ezekiel 16, Ezekiel 23, Song of Solomon etc. Let me quote just one passage here.

Ezekiel 23.

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. ³ They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. ⁴ The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians-warriors ⁶ clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.

⁷ She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. ⁸ She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.

⁹ “Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. ¹⁰ They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

¹¹ “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. ¹² She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. ¹³ I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

¹⁴ “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, ¹⁵ with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. ¹⁶ As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷ Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

¹⁹ Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses

Can such things exist in the book of God? Please just sit back and think about it. No decent human being can read this passage to his mother or his sister. No preacher can read this passage to his congregation.

The Human Origin in the Bible

It is not only that we Muslims or Dan Brown say that Bible is a product of man. But the Bible proves this itself. Consider the following passage.

¹Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ²just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)

Who is writing the prologue of the gospel? Its Luke!

Out of the 27 books of the New Testament, 14 are written by Paul, Corinthians, Galatians, Thessalonians, Philippians etc. Read the following verses

“¹Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:” (I Corinthians 1:1-2)

Who is this writing? It is obviously Paul. Its not God. God does not write letters to churches.

Many verses of the Bible also fail to pass its own test.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (II Timothy 3:16)

The Bible tells us that anything that is from God should serve one of the four purposes.

1. Doctrine

2. Reproof

3. Correction

4. instruction in righteousness

There are many things in the Bible that cannot be fit into any of the four categories. Like the passage, I quoted from Ezekiel. Where does it fit in? There are other passages for instance.

‘One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.’ (Judges 16:1)

Now where does this fit in? Is it a doctrine that every man should go and spend a night with a prostitute? Is it a reproof that after going and spending a night with the prostitute he got punished by God? Is it correction? Is it instruction to the righteous that he should go into a prostitute? The same person is glorified in the Book of God.

The Catholics and Protestants have a different Bible. One Catholics’ has 73 books and Protestants’ has 66 books because the Protestants consider seven book of the Catholic Bible to be Apocrypha i.e. Doubtful.

So from the above evidences we can surely conclude that Bible per se is not the word of God as Dan Brown rightly writes. Some portions may be the word of God, but entire is not the word of God, it has been changed with the passage of time by human beings.

Chapter 6

Marriage of Jesus (pbuh)

One of the MOST controversial topics, which Brown has touched in his novel, is the marriage of Jesus Christ (pbuh) with Mary Magdalene and he also says the couple had children. Brown writes

“Unfortunately for the early editors, one particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene.’ He paused. ‘More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ.’

(Da Vinci Code pg. 329)

According to Brown he (Jesus) also had a daughter by the name of Sarah (Da Vinci Code pg. 342)

Dan Brown in his novel backs the claim of Jesus being married with certain reasons. First, he says that it was unnatural for a Jewish man to remain unmarried, and since Jesus Christ was a Jew, so he could not have remained unmarried.

He then goes on to quote other writings of the disciples like Gospel of Peter etc. which tell us that he (Jesus) was married. Thirdly, he says that nowhere do the gospels in the current Bible mention that Jesus was unmarried.

I have summarized the reasons that Brown gave briefly, they are from chapter 58 and 59 of the novel.

As far as Islam is concerned, there is no direct verse in the Quran nor a Sahih Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which confirms the marriage of Jesus (pbuh) or denies it. The Quran is silent on this issue.

Therefore, being a Muslim I can neither confirm nor deny the marriage of Jesus Christ (pbuh). We have already discussed the religion of Jesus Christ (pbuh), his religion was total submission to God’s will Mark 14:36, John 5:30 and 1 short word for it in Arabic is “Islam”.

The basic message of Oneness of God, about the hereafter is the same of all the Prophets of God. The other details kept on changing with the passage of time, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the final messenger, and now even the other details have been fixed. The Quran says

“This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Quran 5:3)

Bible too does not have a single verse that says that Jesus never married. Bible too is silent on this issue.

In fact, when we read John 20, it tells us that after the alleged “crucifixion” (Muslims do not believe in it and this topic can be discussed separately) she (Mary Magdalene) goes to the tomb on the third day to anoint Jesus (pbuh) and she doesn’t find him. Jesus comes up to her, she doesn’t realize that its Jesus, she supposed him to be a gardener.

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). (John 20:16)

One word “Mary” was sufficient for her to recognize Jesus (pbuh) so she rushes forth towards and Jesus replies

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, (John 20:17)

Now why would an outsider lady who is not a wife or a close relative of Jesus rush and embrace Jesus, in those days it wasn’t the culture that people can easily kiss, hug or embrace any women like that. Nor is it today in the Muslim countries of the world. So this verse suggests according to the Bible, that she could have been married to Jesus (pbuh).

Based on all of the above i.e. The Biblical viewpoint, the Quranic viewpoint, the early writings of the disciples. What I believe that its very much possible that Jesus (pbuh) could have been married. I expect many people, Muslims and Christians to oppose me on that. I do not want people to misunderstand me, therefore I said “POSSIBLE”. I neither affirm nor deny the marriage of Jesus.

Monasticism

As far as Islam is concerned, its totally against monasticism i.e. remaining unmarried throughout your life in order to come close to God. The Holy Quran says

“We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy. But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah.” (Quran 57:27)

God has made us in such a manner that sex hormones are liberated everyday in the body. Human beings are sexual by nature. Monasticism is something that is against the nature of human being. Today if everyone wants to get close to God, then what would happen? Human beings will become extinct from this world in hundred years or so.

If not so, then at least it demands for the extinction of God Loving people. Furthermore, its even insult to our parents, according to this concept we are born because our parents were not close to God. If everyone adopts this belief of coming closer to God, then how a society would be established on God’s laws as the Christians regularly pray for it.

⁹“This, then, is how you should pray: ” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Mathew 6:9-10)

If everyone adopts this idea of coming close to God then a society can NEVER be established on God’s laws. Since, the best and God loving men and women will not get married and only the worst of the people will continue to populate this earth.

The Christians mainly get this idea of monasticism from the following verses of the New Testament.

¹⁰The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. ¹²For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” (Mathew 19:10-12)

As Muslims we do not believe that Jesus taught that men should remain unmarried because of what the Quran says in 57:27 (read above) and because of the logical reasons I have provided. The Christians also get this idea from the teachings of Paul. (Muslims do not regard Paul as a Prophet, Muslims do not believe in any Prophet between Jesus and Muhammad (pbuh) )

¹Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. (I Corinthians 7:1)

Chapter 7

Sabbath Day

“‘Originally’, Langdon said, ‘Christianity honoured the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan’s veneration day of the sun.’ He paused, grinning. ‘To this day, most churchgoers attend the services on Sunday morning with no idea that they are there on account of the pagan sun god’s weekly tribute – Sunday.’”

(Da Vinci Code pg. 315)

We all that the Jewish Sabbath day is Saturday. Jesus Christ (pbuh) did not come to change the laws of the Jews But to fulfill. Jesus Christ (pbuh) said , Its mentioned in the Bible

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mathew 5:17-20)

According to the above passage the Christians are suppose to follow all the laws of the Jews. A similar message is even given in the Holy Quran.

“And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: “O Children of Israel! I am the apostle of Allah (sent) to you, CONFIRMING THE LAW (WHICH CAME) BEFORE ME……” (Quran 61:6)

So according to the bible as well as according to the Holy Quran the Sabbath day of the Christians should be Saturday and not Sunday because the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday Jesus Christ (p.b.u.h) said that anyone who even breaks one of the least commandments mentioned in the law shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Chapter 8

Dan Brown’s fallacy

Dan brown uses a fallacy that just because he found some other historical documents that go against the mainstream teachings of Christianity, therefore, all faiths must be like this. He writes

“..every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith – acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. (Da Vinci Code pg. 451)

Lets analyze this paragraph.

He should have said that the things that we BELIEVE to be true rather. There are many things which we cannot prove but NOR can we disprove them like the existence of angels. There is no scientific proof that angels exist but on the contrary there is no scientific proof either that, the angels do not exist.

Before we believe what is True or not, we should see the credentials of the person who is giving us the information. Suppose my mother has a heart problem, I cannot take the advice of a layman on the street.

But if a famous, qualified cardiologist gives me the advice, I would take it. Even though I may not have checked up in the medical books what he is saying is write or wrong, but since he is a famous, qualified person in the field, I’ll take his advice.

Similarly, once I know the credentials of the source that it is from God. I do not need further proofs to verify whether every statement mentioned is True or not. The Holy Quran speaks about itself and its origin in various places.

“2. By the Qur’an, full of Wisdom,-

3. Thou art indeed one of the apostles,

4. On a Straight Way.

5. It is a Revelation sent down by (Him), the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful.” (Quran 36:2-5)

“1. ((Allah)) Most Gracious!

2. It is He Who has taught the Qur’an.” (Quran 55:1-2)

The Holy Quran speaks about itself and its author. This we do not find with other religious scriptures like the Bible etc. In fact, the word “Bible” does not even exist in the Bible. It comes from the Greek word “Biblios” meaning “a book”. The word “Bible” is nowhere in the Bible nor does the Bible claim to be a revelation from Almighty God.

The Quran has mentioned amazing scientific miracles 1400 years ago which no human being could have thought at that time. I’ll just mention a couple of them. For more details check out our site

The Scientific Miracles of the Qur’an

1. Big Bang Theory

“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? (Quran 21:30)

“The creation of the universe is explained by astrophysicists in a widely accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the ‘Big Bang’. It is supported by observational and experimental data gathered by astronomers and astrophysicists for decades.

According to the ‘Big Bang’, the whole universe was initially one big mass (Primary Nebula). Then there was a ‘Big Bang’ (Secondary Separation) which resulted in the formation of Galaxies. These then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon, etc. The origin of the universe was unique and the probability of it occurring by ‘chance’ is zero.”

The Quran mentions this Big Bang Theory 1400 years ago.

2. Every living thing created from water.

The same verse of the Quran also speaks about another scientific miracle.

“….We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” (Quran 21:30)

Imagine in the deserts of Arabia 1400 years ago, a man who couldn’t sign his own name comes up and is telling us that every living thing is created from water and today we know that cytoplasm the basic structure of a living cell contains more than 70% water.

Who could have mentioned this in the Quran? It can be none else than the creator of the universe i.e. Almighty God. There are many others speaking about water cycle, botany, zoology, physiology, biology, astronomy, genetics, geology and other issues including embryology.

Even the greatest scientists in the field of embryology like Professor Keith Moore have confirmed that the Quran is in perfect agreement with latest discoveries in embryology. Dr. Keith Moore had earlier authored the book, ‘The Developing Human’.After acquiring new knowledge from the QUR’AN, he wrote, in 1982, the 3rd edition of the same book, ‘The Developing Human’.

The book was the recipient of an award for the best medical book written by a single author. This book has been translated into several major languages of the world and is used as a textbook of embryology in the first year of medical studies.

Brown further goes onto say

‘..The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religion.’ (Da Vinci Code pg. 451-452)

As far as the Quran is concerned, yes it is a book of guidance for the whole of humanity. The Quran says

“1. A.L.M.

2. This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah. “ (Quran 2:1-2)

Note : “Allah” is the Arabic word for Almighty God. Its even found in Arabic Bibles.

Based on my study, I would say that this is not true in the case of the Bible. Now Christians may think that I am simply being biased, but I’ll give my reasons for that.

First of all, Bible doesn’t claim to be a book of guidance.

Secondly, according to the teachings of St. Paul the whole Law is nailed to the cross and it save you. So how can it be guidance?

“know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)

“²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:20)

Jesus Christ (pbuh) spoke exactly opposite to it

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Mathew 5:17-20)

Jesus says that not even “one jot or title” is to go away from the Law but Paul has done with whole Law.

Thirdly, there are many teachings in the Bible which no Christian ever follows. Just consider couple of these examples. I do not mean any offence to any Christian reader, but this is only the analysis of the passage of the novel.

“For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'(Mathew 15:4)

Which Christian follows this teaching today? And can you follow it? May be you have a quarrel in the family and the son may say something wrong to parents, then should he simply be killed? And it doesn’t put forth any conditions for it either.

Another example, suppose if a thief enters into your house and your father goes and fights with the thief and tries to drive him out of the house and the thief gets hold of your father and your mother comes and get hold of the thief to save your father. After your father kicks the thief out of the house, he tells you to go and chop of the hand of your mother.

What will you think? You would be like well father are you joking or what, and your father tells you well that is what God has inspired me to do, go chop the hand of your mother. I am sure you would say that father this is not an inspiration by God, its devilish act to chop of my mother’s hands just because she saved you from the thief, won’t you? Of course, you will! You can never call this thing guidance from God. But now read the Bible

“¹¹ If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, ¹² you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.” (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)

Can any Christian or Jew follow that teaching today? There are many such examples in the Bible and other religious scriptures, but this is not the case with the Quran, a Muslim can follow anything that the Quran teaches. Most of the laws are for the individuals, while others are the state laws e.g. death penalty to the murderer etc. and today many of these laws are still practiced in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia.

Brown further writes

“If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that?” (Da Vinci Code pg. 452)

You may be able to do so in the case of Buddhism and others, because they were written centuries later. Historically, first record of Buddha’s life written was after 400 years. The first record of Jesus Christ (pbuh) was written after 70 years that is what the Christian scholars say, the discovery of older manuscripts of these gospels reveal the forgeries done by people (Check chapter 5 – of this booklet and see different translations of I John 5:7).

But this is not in the case of the Quran. Whenever the verses were revealed, the Prophet (pbuh) asked the scribes to write it down. So the Quran was all compiled at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) only.

Some Christian polemics may say, well what about the third Caliph Usman (RA). Didn’t he burn all the copies of the Quran and so on and so forth? Dr.Zakir Naik (World famous orator on Islam and Comparative religions) responds to this allegation.

Question:

There were many versions of the Qur’an all of which were burnt by Usman (r.a.) except for one. Therefore is it not true that the present Qur’an is the one compiled by Usman (r.a.) and not the original revelation of God?

Answer:

One of the most common myths about the Qur’an, is that Usman (r.a.), the third Caliph of Islam authenticated and compiled one Qur’an, from a large set of mutually contradicting copies. The Qur’an, revered as the Word of Allah (swt) by Muslims the world over, is the same Qur’an as the one revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It was authenticated and written under his personal supervision. We will examine the roots of the myth which says that Usman (r.a.) had the Qur’an authenticated.

1. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself supervised and authenticated the written texts of the Qur’an

Whenever the Prophet received a revelation, he would first memorize it himself and later declare the revelation and instruct his Companions (R.A. – Radhi Allahu Taala Anhu) – May Allah be pleased with him who would also memorize it.

The Prophet would immediately ask the scribes to write down the revelation he had received, and he would reconfirm and recheck it himself. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an Ummi who could not read and write. Therefore, after receiving each revelation, he would repeat it to his Companions. They would write down the revelation, and he would recheck by asking them to read what they had written.

If there was any mistake, the Prophet would immediately point it out and have it corrected and rechecked. Similarly he would even recheck and authenticate the portions of the Qur’an memorized by the Companions. In this way, the complete Qur’an was written down under the personal supervision of the prophet (pbuh).

2. Order and sequence of Qur’an divinely inspired

The complete Qur’an was revealed over a period of 22½ years portion by portion, as and when it was required. The Qur’an was not compiled by the Prophet in the chronological order of revelation. The order and sequence of the Qur’an too was Divinely inspired and was instructed to the Prophet by Allah (swt) through archangel Jibraeel. Whenever a revelation was conveyed to his companions, the Prophet would also mention in which surah (chapter) and after which ayat (verse) this new revelation should fit.

Every Ramadhaan all the portions of the Qur’an that had been revealed, including the order of the verses, were revised and reconfirmed by the Prophet with archangel Jibraeel. During the last Ramadhaan, before the demise of the Prophet, the Qur’an was rechecked and reconfirmed twice.

It is therefore clearly evident that the Qur’an was compiled and authenticated by the Prophet himself during his lifetime, both in the written form as well as in the memory of several of his Companions.
3. Qur’an copied on one common material

The complete Qur’an, along with the correct sequence of the verses, was present during the time of the Prophet (pbuh). The verses however, were written on separate pieces, scrapes of leather, thin flat stones, leaflets, palm branches, shoulder blades, etc.

After the demise of the prophet, Abu Bakr (r.a.), the first caliph of Islam ordered that the Qur’an be copied from the various different materials on to a common material and place, which was in the shape of sheets. These were tied with strings so that nothing of the compilation was lost.

4. Usman (r.a.) made copies of the Qur’an from the original manuscript

Many Companions of the Prophet used to write down the revelation of the Qur’an on their own whenever they heard it from the lips of the Prophet. However what they wrote was not personally verified by the Prophet and thus could contain mistakes. All the verses revealed to the Prophet may not have been heard personally by all the Companions.

There were high possibilities of different portions of the Qur’an being missed by different Companions. This gave rise to disputes among Muslims regarding the different contents of the Qur’an during the period of the third Caliph Usman (r.a.).

Usman (r.a.) borrowed the original manuscript of the Qur’an, which was authorized by the beloved Prophet (pbuh), from Hafsha (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet’s wife. Usman (r.a.) ordered four Companions who were among the scribes who wrote the Qur’an when the Prophet dictated it, led by Zaid bin Thabit (r.a.) to rewrite the script in several perfect copies. These were sent by Usman (r.a.) to the main centres of Muslims.

There were other personal collections of the portions of the Qur’an that people had with them. These might have been incomplete and with mistakes. Usman (r.a.) only appealed to the people to destroy all these copies which did not match the original manuscript of the Qur’an in order to preserve the original text of the Qur’an.

Two such copies of the copied text of the original Qur’an authenticated by the Prophet are present to this day, one at the museum in Tashkent in erstwhile Soviet Union and the other at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

5. Diacritical marks were added for non-Arabs

The original manuscript of the Qur’an does not have the signs indicating the vowels in Arabic script. These vowels are known as tashkil, zabar, zair, paish in Urdu and as fatah, damma and qasra in Arabic. The Arabs did not require the vowel signs and diacritical marks for correct pronunciation of the Qur’an since it was their mother tongue.

For Muslims of non-Arab origin, however, it was difficult to recite the Qur’an correctly without the vowels. These marks were introduced into the Quranic script during the time of the fifth ‘Umayyad’ Caliph, Malik-ar-Marwan (66-86 Hijri/685-705 C.E.) and during the governorship of Al-Hajaj in Iraq.

Some people argue that the present copy of the Qur’an that we have along with the vowels and the diacritical marks is not the same original Qur’an that was present at the Prophet’s time. But they fail to realize that the word ‘Qur’an’ means a recitation.

Therefore, the preservation of the recitation of the Qur’an is important, irrespective of whether the script is different or whether it contains vowels. If the pronunciation and the Arabic is the same, naturally, the meaning remains the same too.

6. Allah Himself has promised to guard the Qur’an

Allah has promised in the Qur’an :

“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption).”
[Al-Qur’an 15:9]

Even one of the staunchest critics of Islam like Sir William Muir testify that the Quran has maintained its purity.

THERE IS PROBABLY NO OTHER BOOK IN THE WORLDWHICH HAS REMAINED TWELVE CENTURIES (now fourteen) WITH SO PURE A TEXT.”

Some people may still argue but what about the hadith of the Prophet (pbuh). They were written after more than hundred years.

Yes, they were written that late, but in case of Hadith we have something called as “isnad” i.e. unbroken chain of narrators from the Muhaddis (The writer of the hadith) to the Prophet. There is a different science of Hadith, we have the biography of all the narrators, and when the scholars of the hadith check whether the hadith is true or not.

They simply check the isnad i.e. the chain of narrators, if its broken anywhere or if even one narrator in that chain is a liar, they simply ‘cross’ that hadith and consider it fabricated one. One of the greatest scholars in the present times, who expired recently, is Al-Sheikh Nasir Ud Deen Albanee. There will never be a conflict between the Quran and the Sahih (authentic) Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh).

Therefore, Mr. Brown you cannot find true “documentation that contradict Islamic belief” because what we Muslims believe and practice (Most of it except for the few innovations which ignorant Muslims practice) was practiced at the time of the Prophet (pbuh). In fact, we derive the teachings of Islam from the Prophet (pbuh) and there is no conflict between the Quran and what Prophet (pbuh) said.

Dan Brown further writes

“. Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that we have proof the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faith understand the stories are metaphorical” (Da Vinci Code pg. 452)

I urge Mr.Brown to go and get the proof that Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin birth. Hard and fast proof, ok? Not simply hypothesis, which is merely based on assumptions. The Holy Quran tells its reader in the very beginning

“1. A.L.M.

2. This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah.

3. Who believe in the Unseen, are steadfast in prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them;” (Quran 2: 1-3)

But that unseen is something that is told to us by God Almighty and is not something irrational. The miracles are attributed to Almighty God. God Almighty can do anything he intends. The Quran says

“Doer (without let) of all that He intends” (Quran 85:16)

The Quran says about Jesus after mentioning his virgin birth in 19:16-33.

“34. Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute.

35. It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget a son. Glory be to Him! when He determines a matter, He only says to it, “Be”, and it is.” (Quran 19:34-35)

It is very easy for God to create million human beings without a human father.

Brown said

“Those who truly understand their faith understand the stories are metaphorical”

Can Brown wish to tell us who are these people who “truly” understand their faith?

No Muslim scholar can deny the virgin birth of Jesus (pbuh). In fact, a Muslim cannot be a Muslim if he denies the virgin birth of Jesus. Anyone Muslim who denies the virgin birth of Jesus, he has denied the clear text of the Quran, which is Kufr (disbelief). Muslims do not understand this to be metaphorical, though there are Christian sects or the Christians may call them “cults” consider this to be metaphorical, but the mainstream Christians do not consider it metaphorical.

The Holy Quran says

“Say: “O ye men! Now Truth hath reached you from your Lord! those who receive guidance, do so for the good of their own souls; those who stray, do so to their own loss: and I am not (set) over you to arrange your affairs.” (Quran 10:108)

Allah Knows Best.

References:

The Scientific Miracles of the Qur’an

Paul the False Apostle

Scientific Qur’an Miracles: Backbone and Ribs

Some of the Many Scientific Facts found in the Noble Quran

Astonishing Series of Who Told Prophet Muhammed?

Proof from History of Moon Splitting Into Two

Miracles of the Qur’an

Miraculous Prophet Muhammed Peace be upon him

Science And Hadith | Number Of Joints In Human Body

Some of Miracles of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him