The American Muhammad by Schmidt Alvin

Author:Schmidt, Alvin [Schmidt, Alvin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780758640291
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

PRODUCED NEW “BIBLES” (SCRIPTURES)

Being of the mindset that the Bible, both Old and New Testament, was textually corrupted, Muhammad brought forth his own “Bible,” the Koran. According to him, his scripture had its inception from the time the angel Gabriel instructed him, “Recite!”21 Muslim scholars say the first five verses of K 96 mark the beginning of Islam, and K 2:97; 3:3; 4:105; 15:9 are complementary, corroborating verses. Upon receiving revelations “sent down” (a common expression in the Koran), Muhammad dictated them to scribes. They recorded them on “shoulder bones of sheep, on oyster shells, on bits of wood and stone, on strips of leather. Some of the inscriptions were on flimsy palm branches and odd sheets of parchment.”22 Many of the recordings were loosely dropped into a box without numbering them.23

Ali Dashti says that shortly after Muhammad’s death in A.D. 632, Omar, a confidant of Muhammad, asked Abu Bakr (first caliph to succeed Muhammad) to compile and edit the Koran which consisted of scattered fragments. Omar made his request because animals were eating copies that existed on palm-fronds.24 But Bakr demurred. So, when Umar succeeded Bakr as caliph (634-644), he authorized Uthman to compile and edit existing versions of what Allah had revealed to Muhammad during his last twenty-two years of his life (610-632).25 When Uthman had finished revising and editing, he ordered all pieces of the older Koranic forms be burned, except Hafsah’s, one of Muhammad’s wives.26 But later her copy too was burned when Marwan was governor of Medina.27

Uthman’s completion date (mid 650s) is commonly accepted as the Koran’s first published appearance. Some scholars, however, argue, “There is no hard evidence for the existence of the Koran in any form before the last decade of the seventh century, and the tradition which places this rather opaque revelation in its historical context is not attested before the middle of the eighth.”28 Regardless of when the printed Koran appeared, Muslims see it as their sacred book which, as Muhammad intended, supplanted the Bible.

The founder of Mormonism, similar to founder of Islam, also produced his own “Bible,” the Book of Mormon. And similar to Muhammad, he too believed the Bible was corrupted, arguing, “I believe the Bible as it read when it came from the pen of the original writers. Ignorant translators, careless transcribers, or designing and corrupt priests have committed many errors.”29

As is well-known, Smith produced his “Bible” (Book of Mormon) by transcribing the golden plates that he said were given to him by the angel Moroni at Hill Cumorah. When the first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed in 1830, its front page read, “By Joseph Smith, Junior, Author and Proprietor.” When it appeared, he bragged, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.”30

Smith also produced two other “Bibles.” As noted earlier, they are Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

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