Muhammad & Allah Fickle? #15

Muhammad & Allah Fickle?

Hoping to garner Jewish support for those military campaigns, Muhammad had yet another vision that his Allah wanted Muslims to do their praying (salla or sallatun) facing (Qibla)  the then Christian city of Jerusalem. 

Muhammad stopped this practice when he realized there was no hope that the Jews would join Islam.  Henceforth Muhammad and his Allah stopped the practice of facing Jerusalem and ordered all prayers to henceforth be said while facing in the direction of Mecca.  Yusuf Ali points out in footnote 141, commenting on Surah 2:142, Muhammad chose Jerusalem for this purpose, but later on, when they proved stubborn in rejecting his apostleship, he came up with a complete change in the direction of prayer; that is, towards Mecca rather than Jerusalem.

In Surah 2:106 the Qur'an teaches, "And for whatever verse We abrogate or cast into oblivion, We bring a better or the like of it; knowest thou not that God is powerful over everything?"  But didn't Allah say in Surah 10:65, "There is no changing in the Words of Allah," after this abrogation clause?

Apparently then, the Qur'an teaches that some verses that Allah has brought down have been abrogated - that is, they are no longer binding or applicable. Apparently, Allah changed his mind about some of the verses he gave through his prophet. In this Allah is different to the God of the Bible, "with whom there is no shadow of turning" (James 1:17), who is "the Lord, who changeth not" (Malachi 3:6), whose Word "endureth forever".   The real God has infinite wisdom and cannot contradict Himself.

The Islamic Doctrine of Abrogation - is a Contradiction in the extreme.  It basically says -on one hand Allah is firm and unchanging in what he says - but on the other hand if it helps Muhammad's cause or Muhammad's life style, Allah will change his words to suit Muhammad.  This is a doctrine which is spurned by many Muslims who believe it reflects most unfavorably on the supposed textual perfection of the Qur'an.  The uninspired Muhammad sometimes forgot his own revelations, and had to do a "tap dance" and quickly issue new "revelations" that excused and justified himself.  See Surahs 2:106 above, and also 87:6-7, and 6:68  

The fact is that there are 225 verses in the Muslim Qur'an, which are cancelled out by later ones

The biggest contradiction in the Qur'an (Koran) is that it says the Qur'an can be contradicted at any time. God can change his mind, and change verses in the Qur'an, with or without telling Muslims. This principle is called the "Doctrine of Abrogation."

The doctrine arose from a practical dilemma. Muhammad wanted to marry his daughter in law, but he had already "revealed" the suras that prohibit Muslims from marrying their daughters in law. Muhammad's solution was the doctrine of abrogation - the idea that Allah, through Muhammad, can change his mind about anything at anytime and Muslims have to shut up and obey:

Furthermore, this Muslim doctrine of abrogation extends so far as to dismiss all previous revelation, given in the Jewish-Christian Bibles. Thus Muslims see no problem in that the Qur'an has re-written biblical history with stories and historical accounts that contradict the Bible. To deal with the contradiction between the Bible and the Qur'an, Muslims throughout history have claimed that the Jews and Christians have corrupted their Bible so that the original Bible no longer exists. No matter what evidence for the truth and reliability of the Bible and Torah is provided, Muslims refuse to face the possibility of the truth of the present Bible as we know it.

As related in Zamakh-shari, part I, p. 303 - Muhammad very frequently stated something to his followers with the claim that it was revealed to him through the angel Gabriel. Just as frequent though, Muhammad would tell them that God had changed his mind and invalidated it. Thus the infidels used to say, "Muhammad utters something today and abolishes it tomorrow" (refer to ).

In Asbab al-Nuzul, p. 19, the Suyuti says that,

"Ibn ’Abbas himself said, ‘Sometimes the revelation used to descend on the prophet during the night and then he forgot it during daytime, thus God sent down this verse: 2:106."  ( that says, "Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it.")

Is it acceptable or sensible to think that God changes His mind during the night? Ibn ’Abbas is not the only one who insists on that because ibn ’Umar says,

"Two men read a Surah which the apostle of God had taught them, yet one night they rose up to pray but they failed to remember one word of it. The next morning, they went to the apostle of God and related it to him. He told them, ‘It is one of those, which have been abrogated, thus, forget about it.."’ (Refer to the Itqan, 3:74). 

There is no changing the words of God;
that is the mighty triumph.
-- Surah 10:64

And recite what has been revealed to you of the Book of your Lord,
there is none who can alter His words;
and you shall not find any refuge besides Him.
-- Surah 18:27

Compare the above with these:
Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?
-- Surah 2:106

When Muhammad was accused by his opponents of giving contradictory statements in the Qur’an, as a result, he is said to have received the following  revelation that Allah replaced some of the text of the Qur’an with a later text:

And when We exchange a verse in place of another verse --
and God knows very well what He is sending down --
they say, 'Thou art a mere forger!'
Nay, but the most of them have no knowledge.
-- Surah 16:101