- 1.

"That was a wrong interpretation" Just like any other text (religious or otherwise), the Qur'an is open to different interpretations, some which can be wrong. Let me give you an example: O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying or in a state of janabah, except those passing through [a place of prayer], until you have washed [your whole body]. And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and your hands [with it]. Indeed, Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving. [4:43] The literal interpretation of this verse is that alcohol is not haram as long as the person doesn't pray in a state of intoxication. Now, if a Muslim were to use this verse as a justification to drink alcohol, neither understanding the context in which the verse was revealed nor consulting the Qur'anic commentary, then what would be the consensus? It would be that he has a wrong interpretation, because if he had done a little more research he would have learned that the Qur'an banned alcohol in stages, not cold turkey. The following two verses were revealed with several years separating each verse: They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought. [2:219] And then finally: O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. [5:90] In a non-religious context, if I were to take the US constitution and look at Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, I would find this: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. If I were to ignore the context in which this part of constitution was written (the ThreeFifths Compromise) and the subsequent amendments which outlawed slavery, and say that since a slave is three-fifths of a free man, and since all slaves in the US were black, using deductive logic would it be correct to assume that black men are only equal to three-fifths of everyone else? You would have a wrong interpretation here and you would look like a racist idiot.

- 2. "You need to be a scholar in Fusha Arabic to understand" - 12. "You need to learn the texts from a proper scholar." I took a course in Modern Hebrew, does that make me qualified to offer a scholarly opinion on the Biblical texts or the Talmud? Of course not, so how do people who skim over translated parts of the Qur'an believe they are entitled to offer an uneducated opinion on it? If I was a non-English speaker who had knows enough English to pass the TOEFL or IELTS, does that make me capable enough to analyze and offer serious opinions on the works of Shakespeare for example? If I offered my opinion on whether The Merchant of Venice is anti-Semitic or actually meant to make the reader feel sympathy for Shylock, would any scholars of English or even its native speakers pay me much attention or put much value to my opinion seeing that I barely speak/understand English? Would it be fair for me to label these critics as elitists or their opinions as flawed or invalid because they wont take into consideration the opinions of an unqualified individual? This statement reminds me of a Daily Show skit where Aaasif Mandvi asks a Fox News presenter why she doesn't believe that global warming is real despite all the statistics that prove otherwise. She answered by saying that these statistics are suspicious because they are published by scientists and only other scientists are allowed to review these findings. 3. "Different cultures in different times have different moralities." 15. "Girls used to reach puberty much earlier back then" 20. "But Aisha and the Prophet PBUH lived a happily married life." 33. "Child marriages were common back in those days."

This is partially correct. Different cultures in different times have different morals. This however, does not apply to Islam. Islam has encompassed countless cultures across time, yet there has never been an instance where Islamic morals were changed or "reformed". In Islam, morals are inflexible, they are absolute. If I steal money from the non-Muslim rich to give to the Muslim poor, thinking that it will give me hasanat I will be thrown in hell. If I was caught and I lived in a country where Shariah was implemented properly, then I would have my right hand cut off as a penalty for theft. Back to the issue of child marriages in the time of the Prophet, not only were they common in his days but up until 1950s America (the famous country singer Loretta Lynn married at the age of 13 a man who was 28 years old, with her parents blessing), but there is also a lot of scholarly debate regarding this issue. Please [refer to this link for the strongest arguments]( http://absoluteverdict.blogspot.com/2012/04/hazrataishas-real-age-at-marriage-time.html) against Aisha being 9 years old at the time of consummation.

- 4. "But what about the Golden Age of Islam?" Are you talking about the age where Islam was in absolute control politically yet sciences, arts and people flourished, while in Europe Christianity was in control yet the intellectual stagnation had reached such an extent it was called the Dark Ages? Are you talking about the age where the Jewish people thrived and gave birth to some of the greatest Jewish philosophers and legislators in the history of Judaism, like Maimonides? Are you talking about the age where some of the greatest strides in sciences and arts were made? Where Algebra was invented? Where evolution was theorized to be the origin of species in Ibn Khaldun's alMuqadimmah? Where Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was the first to recognize the potential of airborne diseases among other things and who wrote the Canon of Medicine in 1025, a medical encyclopedia which was employed by Western universities as a medical authority up until 1650? That Golden Age? Yeah what about it? - 5. "But Islam gave women rights!" This statement is completely correct: ~Islam forbade the Arabian practice of burying female infants alive and cursed those who have done so. ~Adam and Eve both have equal blame in succumbing to Satan's temptation and eating from the forbidden tree, unlike in Judeo-Christian traditions where the blame is set on Eve for being the one to tempt Adam ~In Islam, Adam and Eve were both created from a single soul, unlike in Christianity where eve is created from Adam's rib ~The first university in the Islamic world, the University of Al Karaouine was founded by a woman, Fatima al-Fihri, in 859 CE. ~The Prophet's first wife Khadijah was a twice-divorced businesswoman who was exceedingly wealthy in her own right. Khadijah was the one to propose to the Prophet. ~Aisha, the Prophet's third wife, was a renowned hadith scholar and military leaders. ~The Prophet once said: "How splendid are the women of the Ansar; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in their faith. ~Ibn Rushd (Averroes), the famous Islamic philosopher and Qadi (Islamic Judge), stated women to be equal to men in all respects and possessing equal capacities to shine in war and peace. He has cited women warriors among Greeks, Arabs and Africans. ~Birth control is permissible in Islam as long as it's used with the women's permission ~Abortion is allowed in Islam as long as the embryo is less than 120 days in gestation ~Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan are Muslim majority countries and have all had elected female Heads of State ~In Islam, women are not punished for rape. According to the following hadith: During the time of Muhammad punishment was inflicted on the rapist on the solitary evidence of the woman who was raped by him. Wa'il ibn Hujr reports of an incident

when a woman was raped. Later, when some people came by, she identified and accused the man of raping her. They seized him and brought him to Muhammad, who said to the woman, "Go away, for God has forgiven you," but of the man who had raped her, he said, "Stone him to death." (Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud)

- 6. "Those fundamentalists do not represent Islam." I am not even going to judge the soundness of judging a religion and its 1.5 billion adherents based on the actions of a few individuals for fear of having people accuse me of falling back on the "No true Scotsman" logical fallacy. I will instead adapt this attitude and judge all atheists based on the actions of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot, all Germans based on the actions of Adolph Hitler, all American military members based on the actions of the perpetrators of the My Lai massacre and the various acts of cruelty they committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and all Iranians based on Ahmadinijad and his bigotry. Oh, and all Jamaicans smoke weed because Bob Marley smoked weed and all Japanese people are Samurais or sumo wrestlers. - 7. "But how do you explain all the scientific knowledge in the Qur'an?" - 31. "But modern science agrees with Islam" Although there have been many verses in the Qur'an that have scientific interpretations that agree with modern science, I personally dislike this approach as the miracle of the Qur'an is literary, not scientific. If the Qur'an was revealed to a society composed of Einsteins and Newtons and thus valued scientific knowledge, then we would view the Qur'an as a book of science. However, the Qur'an was revealed to the Arabs, who valued their Arabic language above all and who spent all day drinking and writing poetry. They would have poetry festivals, where poets from all over the Arabian Peninsula would come to display their new works of poetry and "battle" with other poets. Consequently, the Qur'an must be viewed as a literary masterpiece first and foremost, and any scientific interpretations which come along must be viewed as a plus, but not as a basis for proving that "Islam is true". - 8. "The world was more peaceful back during the days of the Caliphate." - 10. "You can't even create a fly." - 18. "This photo of a half-buried giant skeleton proves that Islam is true." - 30. "Can you see the wind?" - 44. "Even the Bible and other religious texts have prophesied the coming of Muhammad." In my opinion, when Muslims use such trivial points to argue for the existence of Allah or as basis that Islam is the correct religion, then they are insulting the Qur'an. Muslims should consider the Qur'an itself as the only proof of Islam being the true religion, not the appearance of the word Allah on a piece of toast or something someone else said or did as evidence.

- 9. "Produce a surah like it." - 13. "Muhammad couldn't read and write, so how could he have known?" I'm assuming that the person is referring to the verse in the Qur'an where God challenges people to come up with even a single verse that can compare to a Qur'anic verse. I have never understood the fixation that people (Muslims and non-Muslims alike) have with this verse. I have always viewed it as Qur'anic "swagger", with God demonstrating his superiority over humans and not meant to be taken seriously. This fixation reminds me of Abu Jahl and his fixation with Zaqqum, the tree of hell. He would always ask the Prophet that if a tree was made of wood and hell was made of fire, then how did Zaqqum not burn up? I'd like to add that the people who think that they can produce a verse comparable to anything in the Qur'an, the Arabs at the time of the Prophet (who had the most expertise in the Arabic language and literature) tried and failed. Most Arabs who came into contact with the Qur'an were left speechless/amazed: Regarding the theories that Muhammad is the author of the Qur'an, other than the usual "he was illiterate and not known for poetry arguments", I present to you the following arguments to show why the Prophet couldn't have written the Qur'an. Firstly, there are several places in the Qur'an where God admonishes the Prophet or says that his actions were wrong: ~ The Prophet had himself adopted Zayd bin Haritha and called him Zayd bin Muhammad, announcing this in front of the Kaaba for all to hear, long before he became a Prophet. However, God stated in the Qur'an that this practice was wrong and ordered that it be nullified ~ When the Prophet was eagerly trying to teach the principles of Islam to Meccan nobles (hoping that if they converted the tortures inflicted upon the early Muslims would ease) a blind man named Abdullah bin Umm Maktoum came and interrupted him several times, wanting to learn the Qur'an. The Meccan nobles were so disgusted that a "low-class" person was in their presence that they got up and left. The Prophet was annoyed at this and so turned away from Abdullah bin Maktoum and frowned. Then Allah sent the verses from the Qur'an admonishing his actions. ~After the battle of Uhud, when the Prophet found his beloved uncle Hamza killed and mutilated (His ears, nose and lips were cut off and his liver was partially eaten), the Prophet swore that he would avenge his death by mutilating those that had mutilated him. Allah then sent down a verse saying mutilation of corpses was not allowed in Islam. ~When the Prophet allowed the taking of captives and trading them for ransom, Allah revoked his measure and said "Had there not been a previous sanction from God, you would have been sternly punished for that which you have taken" [The Spoils: 67-68] ~When the Prophet tried in vain to get his beloved uncle Abi Talib to convert on his deathbed, and cried bitterly when he refused, Allah sent a verse admonishing him because it's not for him to decide who gets to got heaven or hell Allah even commanded the Prophet to tell his followers: "Say: I am no prodigy among the prophets; nor do I know what will be done with me or you." [Al-Ahqaf: 9]

The Jewish tribes mocked him really as a relentlessly of this verse, saying that this proved he was a useless man as he did not even know what will happen to himself in the afterlife. If the Qur'an was really the work of Muhammad, why would he include this verse that would undermine him in such a way? - 11. "But it's just a theory." This reminds me of a quote by Isaac Asimov: "Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.' And I have to say, I completely agree with him. Some Muslims, in their effort to "stand up for their religion" (or so they believe), attempt to discredit what the other side is saying without valid reason. This is not only unhelpful to Islam and the Islamic cause, it is also detrimental to society and actually contradicts the teachings of Islam. In the Qur'an, Allah asks people several times to reflect on the origins of man and the universe: "Say: 'Travel in the land and see how He originated creation" [The Spider: 20] "Let man consider from what he is created. He is created from a gushing fluid that issued from between the loins and the ribs." [The Morning Star: 7] "Will they not reflect on the camels and how they were created; and heaven and how it was raised on high; the mountains and how they were set up, the Earth and how it was leveled flat?" [The Overwhelming: 17-19] I will quote the following paragraph by Dr Mostafa Mahmoud because I feel it sums up Islamic attitudes towards science perfectly: "There is no taboo against error. Islam rewards anyone who expends an intellectual effort and errs; it doubles that reward to him who hits on the truth." - 14. "That's not Islam, that's culture." Arab culture and backwardness =/= Islam For example, in Palestinian Muslim society, a divorced woman is seen as a very bad thing, and it is rare that such a woman get married again. How can we blame this on Islam when all the Prophet's wives (other than Aisha) were divorcees? How can we blame this on Islam when, during the time of the Prophet, as soon as a divorced woman completed her idda (waiting period) she would be bombarded by marriage proposals from the sahabis who considered it an honor? This is just one example, there are many other things I can go into detail about if anyone requests.

- 16. "Syariah and secularism can coexist." Yes of course they can coexist. Here in Kuwait for example, everything (business transactions, banks charging interest, etc) is dealt with through secular civil court, which in turn is based on French civil code. The only things that are done through Shariah courts are inheritance, marriage and divorce (and even marriage and divorce cases have to go through civil courts too). Jordan has the same system except its civil court is based on British civil code. - 17. "But those countries didn't implement Syariah the right way." - 22. "But those aren't really Islamic countries." If a country were to implement Shariah in the correct way, then interest would have a much bigger punishment than adultery according to the hadith: A dirham of riba (usury) which a person consumes knowingly is worse than committing zina (adultery) 36 times. (Sahih Ahmed) However, interest is employed by every bank in the Muslim world, even in Saudi Arabia and Iran. So how can we say that these countries are "Islamic" or "implementing shariah the right way" when they consume interest, which is one of the major sins that Allah has condemned many times in the Qur'an? In Saudi Arabia, the royal family steals obscene amounts of wealth from the people, yet the illiteracy rate is something like 15%, unemployment at 10% and 22% of Saudis are considered to be poor. How is it that the richest country in the world has such figures? How can we then say that Saudi Arabia implements Shariah correctly when there is such a vast divide between the rich and poor? The Prophet refused to give a servant to his own daughter Fatima (who was so overworked her hands bled from the blisters covering them) saying that these belonged the Muslim people and that God would punish him if he showed favoritism towards his daughter: Narrated Ali: Fatima went to the Prophet complaining about the bad effect of the stone hand-mill on her hand. She heard that the Prophet had received a few slave girls. But (when she came there) she did not find him, so she mentioned her problem to 'Aisha. When the Prophet came, 'Aisha informed him about that. 'Ali added, "So the Prophet came to us when we had gone to bed. We wanted to get up (on his arrival) but he said, 'Stay where you are." Then he came and sat between me and her and I felt the coldness of his feet on my abdomen. He said, "Shall I direct you to something better than what you have requested? When you go to bed say 'Subhan Allah' thirty-three times, 'Alhamdulillah' thirty three times, and Allahu Akbar' thirty four times, for that is better for you than a servant." (Book #64, Hadith #274)

- 19. "But there are differing opinions among the ulama regarding that issue" Just like for every other topic/field on the planet, there are things that scientists/scholars are unanimous about and there are something which are subject to much debate. For example, in the field of astronomy and cosmology, scientists are unanimous about the heliocentric view of the Solar System, but there is significant debate regarding the existence of dark matter, as there is no direct observational evidence to prove it. In the field of biology, evolution is accepted to be true by the vast majority of biologists, but there are huge differences of opinion on whether race and intelligence are determined by evolutionary factors or by environmental factors. These differences of opinion among the ulema are important because they are a symptom of healthy intellectual discourse and civilized arguments. - 21. "Circumstances in the world has changed, so that rule no longer applies." The Prophet used camels and horses exclusively as modes of transport. Does that mean we should make it part of Sunnah to ride camels and horses instead of cars or bicycles? The Prophet used to go into battle using swords exclusively; does that mean in the 21st century, we have to use swords when we go into battle even if the enemy is using the latest technology? Of course not. In many of his hadiths, the Prophet stressed on practicality and flexibility: Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab: Narrated Abu Mas'ud Al-Ansari: Once a man said to Allah's Apostle "O Allah's Apostle! I may not attend the (compulsory congregational) prayer because so and so (the Imam) prolongs the prayer when he leads us for it. The narrator added: "I never saw the Prophet more furious in giving advice than he was on that day. The Prophet said, "O people! Some of you make others dislike good deeds (the prayers). So whoever leads the people in prayer should shorten it because among them there are the sick the weak and the needy (having some jobs to do)." Sahih Bukhari (1:03:090) The above hadith shows that although the Prophet himself prayed long prayers, he did not impose this on everyone else. In addition, even the most fundamental aspect of Islam, the salat, is subject to alteration depending on the situation. For example if you are travelling, then you are allowed to shorten the prayers. We have been given the convenience to shorten the prayers while travelling and postpone fasting when sick or travelling. The shortening of the prayer was initially during the times of war, and when there was time of peace, people asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) about shortening of the prayer during travel when there is no war. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "It is a gift from Allah which he has bestowed upon you; so you should accept it" (Muslim).