assalam alaykum my question is for Mr
Yousef I have a Christian friend and we
always have discussions on uh Islam and
Christianity and whenever we have a
discussion on the Bible she always tells
me that if you say the Bible has been
changed by people and is not the exact
true word then how come I get so much of
Peace when I read the Bible she says
that when she reads it she feels closer
to God how do I counter this
question I don't know if I'm in the
right place to tell you this or not we
got a lot of fans here that like the
idea of having debates with people we
got a lot of aat fans and we love him
very much and Dr zacher Knight's fans
are here I'm in the heart of that so
what I say may not go over real well but
I have to tell you something I'm not not
a big fan of debating with the people
over the Bible now you can debate with
them about a lot of things what do you
believe about God that's I'm right here
come on let's debate all day long but
when you start to criticize the Bible
you got a problem you got a real big
problem because the very beginning of
this book right here when it tells
you there's no doubt in this book it's a
source of hiah for those that have tawa
for Allah and then it continues to tell
you but it's only going to be for those
that have the tawa for Allah then they
have to believe in the the Unseen they
have to establish regular worship they
have to pay their zaka then they have to
believe that this is coming down to
Muhammad andam and they have to believe
in the book that came
before then at the end of the same Sur
it's telling you that these people they
say those that are on the right belief
we believe in
Allah and that means his books or book
and you have to you you have to
understand that the bible really was
from
Allah so if I criticize even what maybe
one or two words are still there from
Allah I would be criticizing Allah's
word it's not a good idea I don't see
that as being a good challenge to attack
it because a lot of what I understand
today I got from the Bible and I
found clarification and Confirmation in
the Quran in fact I continued my studies
of the Bible in the Greek and in the
Hebrew for two and a half more years
after I was a Muslim I didn't stop until
I completed my degree in because I I
just had something inside of me knowing
that I there's something here and it
finally came to me and then I was able
to put the Bible down and
relax I found out there really is no
contradiction in the
Bible except where it contradicts
itself
duh and when I real realiz that I said
then the only way I'm going to
understand the Bible is to go to the
book without the contradiction and it
says in here about the unbelievers
haven't they considered if it was from
other than a law they'll find within it
many
contradictions go ahead find one go
ahead there's a clear contradiction here
I want you to listen real close to this
contradiction God is not a
man God is not the son of man you hear
that
now that sounds like I'm reading out of
doesn't it
huh it sounds like that doesn't it God
is not a man and God is not the son of
man that's in the
Bible that's in Numbers Chapter 23:
19 I know you want to write that down
for your Christian
friend Go and show them it's in the Old
Testament
numbers 23: 19 then take them up to to
the New Testament in Luke
Chapter what 3 chapter 3 last verse 38
look at it the last verse said Enos is
the son of Seth and Seth which was a
brother to Cain and Abel Seth is the son
of Adam and Adam is the Son of
God who Adam is the Son of God now their
argument will be yeah but but that's has
a little s and when we talk about Jesus
we use a big
S I got news for you in the semetic
languages which includes Arabic Aramaic
Hebrew there are no capital letters
there's no upper lowercase letters so
that's a moot point it doesn't work but
what I suggest you to do is don't don't
try to upset her let me explain why the
overall picture of this if I'm going to
debate with him and I finally convinced
them the Bible is not from God if I did
which well I already give you the
argument the other side but if I said
okay now what do you think she said I'll
never pick it up again I will never go
to the Bible to find any piece again I'm
never going to do it I'm totally away
from it do you think that makes her a
Muslim that's not called a shahada is it
is
it it sound to me like she left
something but you didn't give her
anything so what I do is try to
encourage them to read in the Quran what
do you think it is that she likes to
read I'll tell you what it probably is
she's probably reading Psalms she could
be reading out of Jeremiah she could be
reading Ecclesiastes all of these have
very good Parables and teachings in
there some are so much like the sun of
Muhammad s alaihi wasallam you'd be
surprised the one in there about how do
you worry about the speck in somebody
else's eye when you have a a log in your
own eye is from the Sunnah as well as
from the
Bible the one about the camel going
through the door thing again the same
thing so a lot of the things if you're
going to criticize the Bible you're
criticizing the Quran and the sunah both
so I really encourage you to find what's
good about what she says and encourage
her to consider what Islam says the same
thing the Bible says God is one it says
it real clear so why do I want to argue
with her about that that wouldn't make
sense uh the example chapter 12: 29 in
Mark they asked Jesus about oh good
Master what is the what's the greatest
commandment and he said according to
what survives in the Bible today he
tells them no o Israel because remember
according to him he only came to the
lost sheep of the tribe of Israel no oh
Israel the Lord thy God is one
Lord and you have to worship him with
all your heart and all your love and and
all your might so if this is a teaching
that they have what do I have that's
different than that do I want to attack
them on exact I convince them put all
that out of your mind and then come over
to me and I'm going to retach you the
same thing again that doesn't make any
sense and you're like cutting somebody
off and sinking their ship and not
giving them anywhere to go as shik
Jaffer was telling us before when we
talked about Building Bridges he said
you don't have to build any Bridges the
bridges are there just have to help the
people clear the way to see the get on
the bridge and come on over to Islam
because you got to remember that the
best of the Christians are coming into
Islam because they're doing what their
book told them to do which we mentioned
earlier and that is to submit to God on
his terms and ask oh God your will be
done on Earth as it is in heaven if
they're sincere about that what's the
logical conclusion the Bible tells them
I didn't mean to turn this into a speech
you want me to stop
here yeah I'll wrap that up there then
another time we'll go on I'll tell you
the rest of that one the idea is though
don't don't make a big deal out of it
don't attack their book and attack them
they're the closest to us really and I'd
like to see them know more about us take
it easy might take him a long time my
dad was a hard cell it was not easy it
was a hard sale case but he made a
shahad so just be patient with her pray
for her and it's Allah that's going to
guide her not you anyway
okay I would just add one point just a
point of
reason that she is judging the Bible as
being guidance or source of guidance or
true based on the fact that she gets
peace from
it you see so we just I would only try
to explain to her that uh when we're
going to try to determine the rightness
or wrongness of a thing we don't do it
according to how we feel about it
emotionally because if a Hindu reads the
bavid Gita and he gets peace and
serenity from it or somebody else reads
mind
camp and gets peace and serenity out of
it you know we we don't equate these you
know we have to look objectively is this
the truth or is it not the truth so we
need to look at things not from an
emotional perspective and how I feel but
what is the objective reality here what
is the book which really hasn't been
changed it claims it's not been changed
and we have proof for that whereas the
other book it is not Muslims who are
saying the book has been changed it is
Christian scholarship
who have said the book has been changed
you know so we use some practical
Criterion for
determining as opposed to getting caught
up in the emotions so we try to get them
to a logical perspective then we can
also help them along and as our brother
pointed out that uh the fact that we
don't or we believe that the Quran the
the Bible has been changed because the
Quran tells us that changes have taken
place but it doesn't mean that
everything in it is not correct that's
the point we respect it uh respect what
is in it of the truth that has come and
that's why Allah declared them to be
closest to us why we're able to marry
their women why we able to eat their
Slaughter etc etc because of what they
still carry in their scriptures of Truth