Monday, June 20, 2011

Does archeology support the Qur'an?


Does archeology support the Qur'an?     

Muslims are adamant in asserting that the Quran is the final Testament of Allah However,thr historical reliability of the qur'an  has been challenged by both archeological& manuscript evidence.manuscript,documentary and archaeological  evidence all fail to confirm many of the claims of the Muslims
Let's examine some of the external documentary sources and modern archaeology
The writings in the qur'an are influenced by the teachings of the Sabians the Jews the Christians this fact cannot be denied because Muhammad respected their views and proclaimed it in the qur'an.
Likewise floor plans from two later Umayyed (650_750 AD) mosques in Iraq demonstrate their Qiblas were oriented too far north
Surah 2:62 (Yusuf Ali )  " Those who believe ,and those who follow the Jewish and the Christians  and the sabians any who believe in Allah and the last day .and work righteousness shall have reward with their lord "
According to the Qur'an the direction of prayer (Qibla) was canonizes towards Mecca for all Muslims around 624 AD two years after the Hijra see sura "2:144 .140_150"  
Yet the earliest archaeological evidence  from mosques built at the beginning of the 8 th century suggests their sanctuary  was located a long way north of Mecca closer to the vicinity of Jerusalem
 The Qibla of the first mosque in Kufa Iraq constructed in 670 AD pointed west instead of due south

The wasit mosque is off by 33 degrees .the Baghdad mosque by 30 dagrees ,the Amr ben Al AS MOSQUE near Cairo  Egypt again pointed too far north and had to be corrected under a later governor  Jacob of Odessa a Christian writer and traveller ,was a contemporary eye-witness writing in Egypt around 705 AD his letter in the British museum maintains the Mahgraya  Greek term for arabs  in Egypt prayed facing east .towards Palestine and not Mecca .
Crucially walled .who reigned as  Caliph between 705 and 715 wrote to all the regions ordering the demolition .Could it be the Qibla only then shifted to Mecca ??
Thus the evidence points to a sanctuary located not in Mecca, but in northern Arabia or even Jerusalem until the early 8th century it cannot be that the early Muslims wrongly estimated the direction of Mecca.
Muslims were desert traders and caravaners .adept at travelling by the stars .how else did they perform the obligatory Hajj, which was also canonized at this time ??
There is a serious discrepancy between the Qur'an and the modern archaeology.
According to the Qur'an Mecca was the first and most important city in the world .Adam placed the black stone in the original Ka'aba (sanctuary ) there, while Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt the Meccan Ka'aba  centuries later (sura 2:125 -127).
Mecca was allegedly the Centre of Arabian trading routes before Muhammad's time .
Yet there is no archeological corroboration for this Such a great ancient city would surely have received a mention in ancient history
Mecca is certainly not on the overland trade routes it is a barren valley requiring a one hundred mile detour
There was only maritime Graeco-Roman trade with india after the first century ,controlled by the Ethiopian red sea  port Adulis
If Mecca was not even a viable city ,let alone a great commercial centre until after Muhammad's time, the Qur'an is seriously in doubt
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem   \
In the city centre lies the  Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem ' an imposing structure built by Abd Al Malik in 691 AD it is considered the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina
It seems to have been intended as a sanctuary rather than a mosque, as there is no Qibla and its octagonal design indicates it was used for circumambulation.
Muslims believe it commemorates the Mi'raj.the night Muhammad went up into heaven from Jerusalem to speak to Allah and Moses regarding the numbers of prayers required of believers.
Yet the inscriptions on the walls of the building say nothing of the Miraj but are polemical qur'anic quotations, aimed primarily at Christians
Perhaps this imposing building was built instead as the early sanctuary of islam before the adoption of mecca this logical given muhammad's intention to reclaim the land of his birthright
Certainly Muslims tradition suggests the dome of the rock may have been the early religious Centre for Islam the Caliph Suleiman ,who reigned up to 717 went to mecca to ask about the Hajj
He was not satisfied with the reply, and chose instead to follow Abd AL Malik travelling to the Dome of the Rock .
It was likely that the Qiblas of the early mosques were aligned to the Dome of the ROCK until the edict of Walid I in early 8th century.
The late Yahuda Nevi from Jerusalem University extensively surveyed Arabic over the Negev and Syro-jordanian deserts
Nevo's research gives a useful picture of the historical Muhammad from contemporary non-Muslim sources.
In the Arab religious texts from the earliest Sufuani period (661-684AD) there is a monotheistic creed but a complete absence of any reference to Muhammad .
Muhammad's name is only found on arab inscriptions after 690AD the formula Muhammad rasul Allah ( Muhammad the prophet of Allah) occurd first on an Arab Sassanian coin from 690 AD struck in Damascus
Can you open your eyes to see the truth?
The first appearance of the triple confession of faith including the Tawhid (Allah is one and Mohamed rasol Allah wa abduhu
In Abd al Malik's inscription at the Dome of the Rock
According to prof ,Shlomo Dov Goitein the interior of the Dome of the Rock clearly stresses the qur'anic doctrine that Jesus the Messiah was a true prophet.
Before this the muslim confession of  faith can be substantiated in sura 2:136 "we believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto Abraham.and Ishmael and Isaac .and Jacob and the Tribes .
Sura 2:136 we believe that which Mosess and  Isa received and that which the prophets received from  their lord we make no distinction between any of them and unto him we have surrendered
Note the name muhammed was not in the original Shahada hence for a full 60 years after the death of muhamed the official Arab religious confession did not include muahmmed in its shahada instead it revealed a monotheistic belief , developing Judeo-Christian concepts in a particular literary style .    
 When the muhammedan creed is introduced ,during the Marwanid period (after 684 AD ) it appears as the ony from of official religious  declaration in formal documents .
Its seems that muhamed's elevation to the status of universal  prophet did not occur until the late 7th century long after his death .
Kufic script of the late 8th century
There are some of the correction  done in the Tashkent copy of the Qur'an in comparison with 1924 edition of the qur'an in Egypt made after Hafs remember theses are only some of many examples .
The Tashkent manuscript as compared to modern  qur'an shows remarkable different in words in respect of certain verses

 
The Qur'an evidently the Qur'an underwent a transformation during the 100 years following muhammad's death Qur'an was originally to be recited and not commanded by the spirit that appeared to muhammed ,to be written down into a book .
Recognizable qur'anic writings appear on coins and on the dome of the rock during the reign of Abd al Malik from 685 AD but they differ from the official qur'anic text today .

The qur'an was not canonized during muhamed's lifetime but must have undergone process of evolution Caliph Uthman Was the person who decided what verses should remain in the book and how it was to be rewritten from the manuscripts of Hafsa  
So Othman sent a message to Hafsa saying". Send us the manuscripts of the qur'an so that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you "  
Hafsa sent it to Othman then Othman ordered Zaid bin Thabit ' Abdullah bin Al zubiar  Sied bin Al As and Abdurahman bin Harith bin Hisham to REWRITE the manuscripts in perfect copies  
Othman said to the three Quraishi men "in case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the Qur'an then write ot in the dialect of Qurish the Qur'an was revealed their tongue."
They did so. And when they had written many copies Othman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa

Note Hafsa was Mohamed's widow who had the manuscripts compiled by instructions of Abo Bakr

Othman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies be burnt ….'

Bokhari vol 6 hadith 510 -479 book 61
Hadith by sahih al Bokhari is the most trusted book after the Qur'an so it proves that all original manuscripts of Qur'an except the rewritten copy Hafsa's copy was also burnt at her death
Here one can see how the problem of having different versions of the Qur'an was fixed it was fixed by Othman standardizing one version of the Qur'an  and ordering that all other original manuscripts be burnt
Thus even the seven variations that Mohammed allowed were removed and so were the other collection made by the other companions thus from now on all oral and written tradition would have to conform to Othman's version of the Qur'an
It should be noted that the bible has never had  a wholesale burning to standardize its text in the way that the Qur'an has
The next question that we need  to ask is "did Othman and his team do any editing or selecting when they made their version of the Qur'an   ? .
The next three hadith show us that there was editing and selecting involved           

Bokhari vol 8, hadith 817 ,p,539.540 book 82
Bokhari vol6 hadith 60 p ,46 book 60 m
Mishkat  al Masabih .nook ,8 ,ch,3,last  hadith 4

Its obvious from the hadith that "Omar was convinced that stoning an adulterer was part of the Qur'an   and should not be removed the modern Qur'an   however dows not contain these verses ,so where have they gone ??
Theses verses must  have been removed by those who were in charge of the text of the Qur'an   what is clear is that Omar remembered these verses and did not think that they should be deleted while others obviously did and so today they are not in the book
Ibn Az  Zubair and Othman disagreed over whether or not  a particular verses should be included in the Qur'an   Ibn Az  Zubair believed  that the verse had been abrogated and therefore should be removed from the Quran while Othman was insistent to keep it

Othman was questioned by other Muslims as to why he didn't include the  phrase in the name of Allah the compassionate the merciful at the beginning of sura 9 his answer was that Mohamed died without explaining where sura 9 belonged
What is obvious is that some Muslims felt the phrase should have been there while Othman did not Othman's decision prevailed and so the phrase is not included in the modern Quran

This suggests the Quran we now read is not the same as that which was supposedly collated and  canonized in 650 AD  by Othman
The earliest Quranic manuscripts in our possession today dating from 790 AD would appear to reflect an evolution in the Quranic text  .
This challenges the Muslims contention that the quran contains the original and exact revelation of Allah as recited by Muhammad and hence strikes at the very heart of the Islamic faith


 now the question is
Does archeology support the bible  ????  
see the movie 



                                                thanks for  FAiTHFUL777

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for this investigation. The lack of corroboration in the stones and bones speaks volumes about the Quoran as a political instrument written in the century after Mohammad's sudden death.

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