The charge of plagiarizing the Bible?

The charge of plagiarizing the Bible?

The charge that the Prophet plagiarized the

Bible is unfounded due to the following reasons:

First, there are hundreds of references in the

Qur’an relating to the incidents that occurred deep

in the past that are not found in the Bible. For

example, Adam’s repentance in Paradise and God’s

acceptance of it, which essentially refutes the core

Christian concept of original sin. The Qur’an also

mentions various incidents of Prophets not found

in the Bible, such as Abraham’s being thrown into

a fire only to be saved by God and Abraham’s

construction of the holy place of worship, the

Kaaba, at Mecca. It also recounts many crucial

parts of the histories of Noah and Jesus, some of

which completely contradict the Biblical account.

Where did Muhammad get all of this information?

For sure, it could not have been the Bible. How

can anyone argue with his right mind that he

plagiarized the Bible?

As for the charge that he learned the whole

Qur’an from the Christian monk Bahira, this would

be an absurd accusation on two counts, at least.

First, the meeting between the Prophet and the

monk was only for a brief moment in time and

when the Prophet was only 12 years old. The

monk invited the caravan in which the Prophet

was travelling in for a dinner while the caravan was

en route to Syria. It would be inconceivable for the

Prophet to have learned all of what he needed to

learn from Bahira in one short meeting. Moreover,

there is no historical record of his learning the

Bible from Bahira, although there are records of

the monk’s predicting the prophethood of

Muhammad that he learned from Jewish –Christian

Scriptures

Second, vast portions of the Qur’an (including

many of its longer chapters, such as Chapters 5, 8,

9, 24, 33, 48, etc.) deal with the political and social

issues the Prophet faced in Medina for over ten

years. How could these chapters be dictated to him

by Bahira? It is mind boggling that such an

argument was forwarded by a French author who

claimed the Prophet learned the whole of the

Qur’an from Bahira in one short sitting.

As mentioned, there are many claims that the

Prophet learned a lot of the historical references of

the Qur’an from Christians or Jews who lived

during his time. One such argument states that

there were two Christian missionaries who would

visit Mecca during the annual fairs, from whom the

Prophet may have received knowledge. However,

these Christians had passed away long before the

Prophet Muhammad was alive and so it would be

impossible for them to have taught him.

https://www.mercyprophet.org/mul/node/6800

Ten Questions and Answers

about the Prophet Muhammad

May the Blessings and Peace of Allah be upon Him

By Ibrahim H. Malabari