Is the Quran Based on the Bible? from Planck's Constant

Muslims would like infidels to accept two mutually exclusive notions:

Islam is a sister religion to Judaism and Christianity because, they insist, the Quran is based on the Torah and the Gospels; and

The Torah and the Gospels that exist today are corruptions of the original holy texts.

Among themselves, Muslims say that the Quran is based on the original, pure, unadulterated "Tawrat" (Torah) and on the original, pure, unadulterated "Injeel" (Gospel), original text portions of which can be found in the Quran today, but uncorrupted versions of the originals are no longer extant.

So when Muslims want Christians or Jews to convert, they point out that Islam is just an extension, a natural progression, a fulfillment of the Bible. Non-Muslims are informed that Muslims believe in the same prophets, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, that the Quran is the final installment of God's Word as revealed in the older holy books.

Thus the deception: to the People of the Book (as Jews and Christians are called), Islam is presented as just another Abrahamic faith that shares their common values and spiritual traditions and that recognizes their Holy Books. Among themselves, Muslims see the People of the Book as poor deluded souls who believe in vile, corrupt, miscreant and unholy texts and who must, in the end, be either persuaded to see things the Muslim way or be subjugate and pay a tax.

Infidels of the other kind, such as Buddhists and Hindus, do not have a choice of maintaining their faith and paying a tax; for them the choice is either conversion or death.

So when one asks a Muslim, "Is the Quran Based on the Bible?" - the answer depends on who is asking. If it's an infidel, then the Muslim will deceive and answer, "Yes." If it's a Muslim asking, then his fellow Muslim will tell him the truth and answer, "No."

In a related matter, a number of Muslim readers by email have castigated me for calling Islam a religion of violence because of passages I quote from the Quran. They inform me that there are violent passages as well in the Bible and so I should not accuse Islam of being a violent religion without also calling Christianity or Judaism a violent religion.

Here, when it suits them, the violent passages in the Bible they point to are the uncorrupted and original texts. But why can't I use the argument that the pure, original Holy texts do not contain violent passages?

Actually I don't care if the Bible has barbaric verses. 2,000 years ago the Rabbis deemed the Laws in the Old Testament as too barbaric and amended Jewish Laws, specifically those that dealt with capital punishment. So while Jews had the good sense to realize that the Torah was written in savage and primitive times and needed to be re-interpreted for different times, Mohammed forced the old barbarisms to be written in stone, never to be changed.

Thus Muslims to this day will stone a woman for adultery or cut off a hand for thievery and then ask the infidel not to blame Islam because, in truth, isn't this exactly what is called for in the Torah? Why blame the Quran for savagery when the Bible is just as savage? Of course, there is a big difference: Modern Jews and Christians do not stone women for adultery nor do they cut off the hand of the thief.

Civilized Jews and Christians ignore the barbaric parts of the Bible; those that do not are usually put in a mental institution or in prison. Any American Christian or Jew who follows the instruction to put to death a child who disobeys him will be called a psychopath and a murderer. In Muslim cultures, Honor killing is de rigueur. It is a great dishonor to allow a child to live who marries against the parent's wishes, or who apostates, or who dresses as an infidel, etc.

A Christian or Jew who follows the savage laws in the Bible is called a savage and is punished by the law. A Muslim who follows the savage laws of the Quran is called a righteous man and is rewarded by the law.

Sane, civilized, decent people do not follow the violent parts of the Bible. Sadly, sane, civilized, decent Muslims must follow the violent parts of the Quran, to do otherwise is blasphemous and punishable by death.

Source: Islam World