The Qur’an is facing a blistering attack from contemporary scholarship. The mounting archaeological case against Islam.
Muslims are adamant in asserting that the Qur’an is the final true word of God. However the historical reliability of Islam has been challenged by contemporary scholarship. Manuscript, documentary and archaeological evidence all fail to confirm the claims of Islam. In the last issue (Isa Masih no. 6, p8-9) we exposed the gaps in qur’anic manuscript evidence, and revealed apocryphal sources for much of the Qur’an’s borrowed mythology. Here, we explore the mounting case against Islam from external documentary sources and modern archaeology.

Much of what the Qur’an maintains is at odds with historical data from the 7th-8th centuries. Specifically:

1. The Jews retained a relationship with the Arabs until at least AD 640, not 624 AD.
2. Mecca was not the first and most important city in the world; it was unknown until the end of the 7th century and was not even on the international trade route.
3. The Qibla (direction of prayer) was not fixed towards Mecca until the 8th century but to an area further north, possibly Jerusalem.
4. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was possibly the original sanctuary.
5. Muhammad was not known as the Seal of the Prophets until the late 7th century; the creeds from Muhammad’s time contain a monotheistic religion but no Muhammadan formulae.
6. The earliest we even hear of the Qur’an is not until the mid-8th century.
7. The earliest qur’anic writings on coins and on the Dome of the Rock do not coincide with the current qur’anic text.

This suggests the Qur’an we now read is not the same as that which was supposedly collated and canonized in 650 AD by Uthman. The earliest qur’anic manuscripts in our possession today (dating from 790 AD) would appear to reflect an evolution in the qur’anic text. This challenges the Muslim contention that the Qur’an contains the original and exact revelation of Allah, as recited by Muhammad and hence strikes at the very heart of the Islamic faith. The Qur’an has in the past been protected by a kind of doctrinal embargo- but can Muslims ignore the mounting tide of evidence to the contrary?