American Journal of Islam and Society (Oct 2002)

History Testifies to the Infallibility of the Qur'an

  • Brannon Wheeler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v19i4.1908
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 4

Abstract

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Dr. Fatoohi and Prof. al-Dargazelli have produced an intriguing and farreaching comparison of the Bible and the Qur' an relating to Moses and the Israelites. Both authors are kha/ifahs of Shaykh Muhammad al-Casnazani al-Husseini of the Aliyyah Qadiriyyah Casnazaniyyah Sufi tariqah. They hold degrees in physics from Baghdad University and Durham University, and have authored numerous books, especially on Sufism, in Arabic and English. Although readers might expect this book to address literary and cultural issues surrounding the shared but different accounts of Moses and the Israelites in the Bible and the Qur'an, the authors have chosen to focus on demonstrating the Qur'an's historical accuracy. Dividing their book into IO chapters, they argue alternately that the Bible is inconsistent and historically inaccurate, while the Qur'an is consistent and confirmed by external historical evidence. The Biblical account of Moses and the Israelites is not directly compared to the Qur'anic account; rather, the Bible is used primarily as a foil to emphasize what the authors see as the Qur'an's reliability. For example, while the authors point out that the Bible appears to give various names for Moses' father-in-law (Exodus 2: I 8, 3: I, ...