The Quran cannot be Translated

In discussions with Muslims, this situation sometimes arises when you make a good point:

You are asked aggressively, ‘do you know Arabic?’ Then you are told triumphantly, ‘You have to read it in the original Arabic to understand it fully’.


This causes us to ask some questions:

• How can Muslims claim the Quran is a revelation for all people when only a minority of people worldwide understand Arabic?
• The Quran quotes people who never spoke Arabic.  Isn't the Quran already in part already a translation in its original Arabic?

Deceiving Western Women Into Islam

The stories told in this video are all too common.
The façade of truth only has to last as long as it takes to get married and get a green card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77SIsskUmW8

The speaker in this video has made his own Quran translation that is more honest than those produced by Muslims.

Can the Quran Be Translated?

Many Muslims claim the Quran can't be translated. 
At the same time the Quran contains many quotations from people like the Pharaoh or the Hebrew prophets who never spoke Arabic. 
So in principle parts of the Quran ought to be able to be represented in other languages more accurately than the Quran represents them.

Usually when Muslim say the Quran cannot be translated it is because there is a passage they do not want to discuss.  It is basically a trick.  If you ask them to explain the passage in English, they will be able to do so--but if they can explain it then they can translate it.

At What Age did The Virgin Mary Mary Joseph?

Muslims are often embarrassed by the commonly held view that Mohamed married Aisha, one of his many wives, when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9.  There are more details but that is not the topic here.

In any case one way Muslims deflect from this is to claim that Mary was very young, and Joseph was very old, when they were married.  Evidently there is something in the "Catholic Encyclopedia" that gives credibility to this notion.  Then again Catholics have an interest in preserving the non-Biblical idea of the "ever-virginity" of Mary, and this idea that Joseph was very old helps justify this notion.  So for example, if Joseph were a young, healthy man when they got married, it would be not be as plausible that Mary remained a virgin forever.  In contrast if he were, say 99 years old and could barely able to stand, then yes, there is no danger to her virginity.


But, if you think about it the title "virgin" applies to people of a certain age.  You do not call a baby a "virgin", nor a small girl.  This is only given to persons of appropriate maturity.
Therefore we can say that the virgin Mary was not a young child when she was married to Joseph.

Let me show you something  from Mark chapter 5:

23 ...and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. ...

39 And when he was entered in, he saith unto them, Why make ye a tumult, and weep? the child is not dead, but sleepeth ...

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But he, having put them all forth, taketh the father of the child and her mother and them that were with him, and goeth in where the child was.

42 And straightway the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed straightway with a great amazement.
41 And taking the child by the hand, he saith unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.
42 And straightway the damsel rose up, and walked; for she was twelve years old. And they were amazed straightway with a great amazement.

Now contrast this with Luke chapter 1:

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

So the twelve year old girl was called "Little daughter", "child",  "damsel", while Mary was called "virgin".

God Does not Change

The favorite argument of non-scholar Muslims is that Jesus is God, and therefore (any number of contradictions).

Here is one of them:

6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Malachi 3:6

The assertion is that Jesus (who is God) changed in that :

• he became mortal, and God is immortal
• Jesus did not know the day or the hour of his return, neither do the angels in heaven, but the Father does.

My suggestion is that this is taking the word "change" hyper-literally.

If I close my eyes, do I change?

If I change my shirt do I change?

I may have answers for the questions above, because I understand these concepts.  But when it comes to God, is it possible that he can take on a human nature and not change?

We really do not know enough about God to answer that, nor do we know what "change" means in this context.  It actually appears that in this context "change" refers to the principles of God, so that the Jews were not judged or destroyed through their disobedience and falling away.

"How Do You Pray?"

I was asked this once.
This simple question brings many opportunities for success and failure.
For example, it is not a given whether you pray to God, to Jesus or the Holy Spirit, or to Mary.  In Muslims' view of Christianity, they are all at about the same level.  At the same time it opens the door to present a lot of teaching of Jesus against what the Pharisees did, and that is similar to what Islam currently does.  How did Issa's teachings became so contrary to Islam?  This is a question for Muslims.

Concerning prayer, Jesus presented God as a loving father (unlike Islam).

There is no special vocabulary used to address God in the Bible (they did not do the equivalent of going from normal speech to a sort of royal 'thee', 'thou', 'thine' when talking to God.  Prayer is like normal conversation.

There is no specific position prescribed, such as kneeling or facing a certain direction (although Paul mentions  'lifting holy hands').

Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.
(1 Timothy 2:8)

Prayer is done anywhere and everywhere and in different ways.

Praying, for the sake of to be seen to be praying, is discouraged, the same way as fasting to be openly seen is discouraged.  (In contrast Muslims have a well-known season of fasting.)

Jesus called for praying in secret and fasting in secret.

This link documents various body positions that have been documented in the Bible:

https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/practical-christian-living/posture-during-prayer

Concerning, umm... Female Things.

Muslims make a big deal of women and their periods.  This may be part of a larger scheme to cause a loss of self-esteem in women along with their unflattering attire that is prescribed.  One time I heard of a young lady who was killed outside a mosque because she had an accident when her period started while in mosque.

Women's menstrual cycles go entirely without mention in the New Testament.
There is a woman who had an issue of blood in Mark 5, but this was a chronic disease condition which was healed when she touched the clothes of Jesus.

We have the definitive statement:

²⁸ There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:28)