Question: Here is a question asked by a Hindu friend. Hope you can answer it for me. According to the Muslims, the Qur’an contains the words of God. It is to be read as if God Himself had spoken the words stated in it. (It is important to emphasize this point because if the Qur’an is the word of God, then it should not contain any errors and it should hold true for all times.) However, such is not the case. One of these errors is that some of the verses in the Qur’an themselves show clearly that they were obviously spoken by Mohammed and not by God. For example:
I take refuge with the Lord of the Dawn. (113:1)
For me, I have been commanded to serve the Lord of this city, Him Who has sanctified it and to whom [Belong] all things; and I am commanded to be of those who bow in Islam to God’s Will. (27:91)
Should I seek other judge than God, when it is He who has sent down to you, the distinguishing book [the Qur’an]? (6:114)
Someone need not be a rocket-scientist to comprehend that these words are clearly addressed to God, Any sane person can see that these words are not spoken by Him but by Mohammed (sws) himself. So how can the whole of the Qur’an be considered the word of God?
Answer: I am afraid that your Hindu friend has not stated the stance of the Muslims correctly. When Muslims say that the Qur’an is the word of God, it means that whatever has been mentioned in it is divinely revealed by God. It does not mean that at all its verses are spoken by God alone. Your friend has pointed out just one of the sources of these verses – the Prophet Muhammad (sws). If he can go through the Qur’an a bit more, he will find that it contains statements from Satan, from the pagans, from the hypocrites, from the Christians, Jews etc. Similarly, it contains passages from God directly, from Gabriel and from the previous Prophets. However, the words of all these passages are revealed from God. It is because of being revealed by God that the Qur’an is called the Word of God; it is not that each word is spoken by God: neither the Qur’an nor the Muslims have ever claimed this.