The law of Abrogation (Change) in the Quran teaches that the last or latest commands cancel out the first or earlier commands if one contradicts the other. The irritating pebble in your shoe here is that there are two halves in the Quran. The Mecca half and the Medina half. The Medina half (chapters 1-19) erase out the Mecca half ( Chapters 20-104). There are hundreds of these abrogations in the Quran. This is a very slippery slope to climb, as it means the last words out of the prophets mouth can abrogate, change, cancel out the earlier erroneous prophecy he just made. It is like someone making a promise to you one week and feel they have the right to break it the next week just because suddenly they did not want to keep it. How serious can you take a prophet who makes erratic promises that can change like the latest weather forecast. That is exactly how immature children act.
In Surah 5:17 we see a seismic change in Mohammed’s attitude towards those who disagree with him regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ. As quickly as ther flip of a light switch he goes from tolerance to intolerance
“In blasphemy indeed are those that say that Allah is Christ the son of Mary. Say: “Who then hath the least power against Allah, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all every – one that is on the earth? For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He creates what He pleases. For Allah hath power over all things” (Cf. also Surah 5:72-73, 116).
Here we see Mohammed’s Rubicon, once in power there was no turning back. This is a far cry from what the Quran says in Surah 29:46, “And do not debate with the People of the Scripture except in the best manner possible, except those among them who do wrong. And say, “We believe in what was revealed to us, and in what was revealed to you, and our God and your God is One, and to Him we are submitters.”
In Islam it became quintessentially offense for Allah to have a son; and for any Christian to believe so was to make him an unbeliever. From this point onward tolerance in Islam morphed into intolerance and gradually into dominance across Arabia then North Africa and on into India.
Some wonder why the Ten Commandments do not appear in the Quran. It is suspect that the Quran mentions the crossing of the Red Sea eight to nine times but not the giving of the Ten Commandments which were given by God only forty days later. The answer is simple; in Islam there is only one absolute commandment and that is, “Whatever It Takes.” Islam advanced like a mighty juggernaut by crushing all human rights and anything else that hindered its expansion. To this day no head is too honorable to roll, no covenant too sacred to break, no individual promise to sacrosanct to trample under their thundering boots. Like a blitzkrieg it must vanquish all individualistic thinking and subjugate the populace into group thinkers.
Islam still dreams of bulldozing if not at first by persuasion, by military force all which stand in its path toward global domination. Promises, treaties, covenants are all as temporary as egg shells and pie crusts. They are to be broken at the whim of any new sultan who begins to feel the balance of power tilting in his favor. Where is the solid rock for any culture for any individual to stand upon if at any time a new leader may come along and dictatorially make a fatwa that says, “Because I believe that my religion is superior to yours, I have decided not to keep any of my previous promises of toleration.”
The claim to be “unchangeable” and to “abrogate” at will are like oil and water, they do not mix. Such whimsical promises remind you of the Nonaggression Pact Hitler signed with Stalin promising that he would not invade Russia, (August 22, 1939). Two years later when the balance of power tipped in his favor, ( June 22, 1941), Hitler’s promise was not worth the paper it was written upon and millions died. How contrary to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:37, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”
The problem is not that these abrogations are progressive in revelation but that they are contrary. It is what Jesus called, “straining an ant and swallowing a camel,” (Matthew 23:24). You can force a square peg to fit into a round hole only if you bang on it hard enough and long enough. It is called, Do or Die.” Such is the power of persuasion in Islam.
Surah 2:106 says, “We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring forth [one] better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah is over all things competent?” (Cf. Surah 16:101)
This is a contradiction of Surah 6:93 where the Quran says, “Who is guilty of more wrong than he who forgets a lie against Allah, or saith: I am inspired, when he is not inspired in aught; and who saith: I will reveal the like of that which Allah hath revealed ? If thou could see, when the wrong doers reach the pangs of death and the angels stretch their hands out (saying): Deliver up your souls. This day ye are awarded doom of degradation for that ye spoke concerning Allah other than the truth and used to scorn His portents.”
Another example is when Mohammed was caught having sex with one of his slave girls. He is caught in the act by his third wife Aisha. He made an oath to her that he would not do this again. But very conveniently he gets a new and improved revelation that abrogates the old saying that now it was OK for him to change his earlier oath.
Here it is in Surah 66:1-2 “ O prophet! Why do you prohibit what Allah has permitted for you, seeking to please your wives? Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Allah has mandated for you the dissolution of your oaths. And Allah is your Master. And He is the Knower, the Wise.”
Abrogation is Quran-a-virus at its worst. So much for a book that claims to have been divinely, infallibly, eternally written in heaven and without one erroneous stoke. Millions of curious seekers are still asking this primary question, Where is that first perfect Quran that came down from heaven to earth from which all the other Quran’s are infallibly copied word for word, letter for letter, dot for dot? It is as futile as searching for something that is not there.
Here are some surahs (chapters) that should have been abrogated, Surahs 8:39, 9:29 -30; 47:4. (Not enough space to quote them here). These are violent verses telling their devotees to “fight against all people,” which includes all people who are not Islamic. As of the timing of this article radicals are carrying out this command in Nigeria, Israel, Myanmar, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.… No God given equal rights here, no God given freedom of conscience here. How different from the Bible which says. “ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Ephesians 5:25, Luke 6:28, I Peter 3:7; Malachi 2:15,).
Mohammed is not a true prophet. He is the founder of the world’s most intolerant religion. He was a caravan robber, led troops into battle. After the Battle of Khaybar in Medina (628 AD) he abrogated his promise and had 600-900 Jews who would not accept him as genuine prophet put to the sword. His religion is not one of peace and he certainly was not merciful to his enemies.
In modern Islamic countries we see what is called the 99-1 rule working very well. Meaning that if a propagandist says something false to 100 people and only one person questions him on it and the 99 just blindly believe: then the propagandist wins. Immediately the 99 jump on the one and beat him into submission until his flesh turns green. In the Middle and Far East that works very well, but not in our Western culture where freedom of speech and human rights are written in our constitutions and guarantee every citizen the freedom to critique the claims and validity of another person’s religious, philosophical and political beliefs. Critiquing the 99 is not a hate crime. Remember Martin Luther, Queen Elizabeth 1st, Winston Churchill, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela, Jesus Christ who stood alone against the world and were right and the 99 wrong.
Jesus Christ is a prophet of peace and is merciful even to the most unloving who call out to him. As was prophesied before he was born “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1: 76-79). Put Jesus promise to the test. Repent of your sins and ask him to come into your heart. He is the gentle persuader and only a prayer away.
In the meantime stay away from Islam, it is a deadly Quran-a-virus. Wash your hands from it frequently.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Bryant