What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an

James White demonstrates in depth research in this presentation of the Koran and Islam. I learned many things that I did not know concerning what Muslims believe about Jesus Christ. I found this book very helpful for my own preparation to teach about Islam. Mr. White presents the material with a genuine desire to present the gospel of Christ to Muslim people.

James White does an excellent job in explaining the content of the Quran while providing a documented argument against the claims of Muslims. This resource will prove to be of increasing value as our encounters with Islam increases over the next decade.

The Koran claims it is clear and makes everything understood. Yet it takes dozens of volumes of commentary and biography to explain, and even then hundreds of verses are totally obscure.
Partly because he usually just refers to something or someone without explaining why. "You know what happened to X so do this." Except readers don't know who X is, what happened to him, or what connection tells you why you should do this. And won't find out by reading the Koran, since it never tells you. You are just expected to know.
Why are Mohammad's stories and quotes from the Bible wrong? Because he is not quoting the Bible itself, nor Christians. Instead he passes along things he has heard from Gnostics, Nestorians and other pseudo Christian cults that he can`t tell from Christians. Similarly he accepts tales from the Talmud, at third or fourth hand, as being from the old Testament. What he doesn't understand, like the Trinity, he makes up an interpretation for he can understand. Thus the Trinity is three gods, the Father, the Son, and Mary. Many pagan gods of the Ka'aba were in families, so that made the Trinity one of those. Which he then accused Christians of worshipping, and if they protested that this was not what they meant, they were called liars.
To make matters worse, it was organized 20 or so years after Mohammad died. From scattered memories, a few lines on a palm leaf, or shoulder bone. In no discernable order. With verses spoken years apart put into single chapters. No wonder it is an indecipherable mess.

This book is simple to understand, as James White is a near perfect speaker/writer. After reading this I seriously have no doubt that the Qur'an was simply written by a man who gathered info from around him under the assumption that the words he used were from Allah himself.

If you're having difficulties with the "tons of religions" in our modern day, read this to see why it's false. If you debate Muslims or have Muslim friends, read this and share it with them.

It was a great read and used many Muslim sources. It was so good that I sat down and read it within a few days and thoroughly enjoyed it. White quoted the many verses relevant to the Christian when approaching Islam and better helped me understand how to dialogue with Muslims. I was encouraged at the end and want to explore more of the hadith and read the Qur'an for myself.

This book presents a clear, fair analysis of what the Qur'an says regarding Jewish and Christian faith. Using detailed research, numerous direct quotes, and Islamic teachings and interpretation, it presents the information with as little bias as possible.

Well researched book. I highly recommend it for Muslims more than Christians. Their current views simply will not stand up to scholarly research.

For the Christian, there are tons of interesting tidbits.

Examples, Qur'an says the Christian Trinity is The Father, Son and MARY. Mary also is "Moses' sister", obviously confusing Mary(Miriam) mother of Jesus with Mary(Miriam) of the Old Testament.

This is written with you the reader to understand what the Quran says that is not correct when applied to Holy Scripture.
James is an amazing writer that takes a difficult subject and brings it to the reader with clear understanding.

After reading Dr. White's book here on the Quran, I felt that the book was directed more to a Moslem who might be reading over the shoulder of a Christian than to the christian directly. The subject was interesting and fairly discussed but a lot more could have been revealed. Recommended.

This is an informative book! well worth the read and a great introduction into the Christian/Islamic diologe by one of the top apologist of our day.

James White shows us the Dividing Lines between these to faiths.

I have been involved in Christian-Muslim dialogue and debate for about four years at this point. I've heard a lot debates, read a lot of books, listened to a lot of speakers and engaged in a lot of firsthand conversations with Muslims about the issues that divide us, and what the truth really is. The quest for truth leads us to listen ever more closely to what the other side has to say, try to read their literature, understand their language and get into their mindset to see what they really think and how to formulate a proper response to them.

With that regard, I think Dr. James White has exemplified how Christians should speak to Muslims in accordance with their respective worldviews. What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an is not just another in a long line of polemical works designed to aid Christian evangelists and missionaries in reaching out to Muslims. Granted, it is that, but at the same time, it is so much more than that. This new book lays out many of the pertinent issues concerning the Qur'an. White has gone out of his way in learning Arabic, studying secondary Islamic sources such as the ahadith and tafaasir (if you don't know what those words mean, don't worry, the book comes with a glossary), and listening to lectures by Islamic scholars in order to figure out how Muslims regard their own holy text, as well as how they interact with the Christian Bible. White expands upon many of the arguments that Muslims and Christians have long thrown at each other in their polemic discussions from as far back as the earliest encounters between the two faiths. In addition, he also utilizes new information, based on academic works that have come out in the past few years, in order to update our knowledge of Islam, and bring new arguments and evidence onto the table.

The first couple of chapters of the book provide the basic background information necessary to understand the Qur'an. White begins in chapter 1 by tracing the early years of Islam, during the lifetime of its founder, Muhammad. He takes it for granted that Muhammad is a real historical figure, and that much of what is contained in the Islamic tradition regarding him is reliable, although he does note in passing the publication of recent works that challenge that consensus (pg. 20). A lot of the material is based on direct quotations from sira (biographical) literature, and White does note varying accounts of the same anecdotes as found in different sources (such as the contradictory accounts of the reasons behind Muhammad's death in pp. 46-47).

This is followed by a discussion of the Islamic view of the Qur'an in chapter 2, which goes into how the book is arranged, as well as the theology behind its origins. The main thing to be noted from this section is how the Qur'an is considered the direct speech of God as dictated from an eternally pre-existent heavenly tablet to Muhammad, who acts merely as a passive recipient and reciter of the revelation. This is in stark contrast from the Christian view of revelation where multiple authors write the various books of the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Granted, this view of the Qur'an is not universally held by all Muslims, but it is the orthodox viewpoint in Sunni Islam, which cannot be challenged without grave consequences.

The rest of chapters go into the various topics that frequently come up in Christian-Muslim dialogues. White goes into the Islamic doctrine of God, discussing the Qur'anic view of God's oneness (tawheed) in chapter 3, and how the Qur'an accuses of Christians of shirk (idolatry) for their belief in the Trinity. Critically important to this discussion is chapter 4, where White goes through the relevant Qur'anic texts, and shows that its author did not understand the Christian doctrine of God, and frequently misrepresents it (a stunning thing if this was, in fact, the direct speech of God as opposed to the fallible ideas of Muhammad).

Chapter 5 goes into the Qur'anic references to Jesus, where White shows that the Qur'anic person of Isa ibn Maryam is completely different from the Jesus of the New Testament, such that we could only conclude that the former is not a real person, but an argument. As White notes, none of Jesus' statements in the Qur'an (with one exception) have any identifiable historical context, rendering them completely divorced from reality (p. 107). This discussion is continued in chapter 6, which discusses the Islamic denial of the crucifixion, a denial that is based on a single verse (Surah 4:157), which is far from clear in its context, contradicts other verses in the Qur'an, has no unanimous interpretation among Muslim exegetes, and contradicts everything that we know from both Christian and non-Christian historical sources regarding Jesus' death. The Islamic viewpoint at this point is essentially reduced to fideism, as all the contemporary accounts are nullified by a source coming six centuries later that claims that these eyewitnesses were in fact deceived by Allah into thinking that Jesus died (which has some very troubling implications for the nature of God in Islam that we do not have time to get into here).

Chapter 7 is also important to consider for those who want to discuss the Gospel with Muslims. White talks about the Islamic view of salvation. While Islam stresses the mercy of God, White notes in this chapter how Islam fails to harmonize God's mercy with God's justice, leaving the conflict between the two attributes hanging in mid-air. This is, of course, contrasted with the Christian perspective, where these attributes are magnificently brought together at the cross of Christ. These differences (along with the aforementioned denial of the crucifixion and atonement) must always be kept at the forefront when discussing the differences in viewpoint on salvation, in order to clear up the barriers of communication that presently exist between the two faiths.

Chapter 8 is, I would argue, the most significant chapter in the entire book from an apologetic perspective. Christians must note that every appeal to the Bible is quickly short-circuited by the fact that Muslims regard the Bible as having been corrupted. This is an accusation that, funny enough, is nowhere to be found in the Qur'an. On the contrary, the Qur'an and the earliest Muslim commentators on it took it for granted that the text of the Bible, while misunderstood and neglected, had not been altered textually. The viewpoint that the text of the Bible had been corrupted wholesale came somewhat later, became popular through the polemics of Ibn Hazm during the tenth century, and is now standard fare in almost all Muslim polemics against Christianity, even though some Muslim scholars to this day (such as Mahmoud Ayoub) challenge this and assert that the Qur'an merely accuses the Jews and Christians of misinterpreting the text, not corrupting it. White here makes copious use of the research put forward by Gordon Nickel, whose recent book is perhaps the most scholarly and comprehensive work out on this topic to date (see below). Once the integrity of the Biblical text can be established, there is not much left standing in the way towards vindicating every other doctrine of the Christian faith over against the Islamic claims to the contrary.

Chapter 9 discusses the Islamic claim that Muhammad is found in the Bible. This claim comes to many Christians as a surprise, yet Muslims the world over take it for granted that the Bible contains references to Muhammad, whether they've actually read the Bible or not. The common texts put forward by polemicists such as Ahmed Deedat are examined and shown to be quite contrary to the Islamic claims, as they cannot be utilized in support of Islam without completely mangling them out of their context. The Qur'an's claim that Muhammad in the Bible is shown to be one of the most blatant errors found in its text, and is stands as a witness to its fallibility.

The last two chapters deal with the common claims Muslims make about the Qur'an's perfection. Chapter 10 talks about the parallel texts found within the Qur'an, showing that they are consistent with a human author reciting to different audiences, but are inconsistent with a divine recitation coming from an eternally pre-existent heavenly tablet. There are also clear parallels between it and apocryphal texts such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, as well as Jewish sources such as the Babylonian Talmud. White shows that the author of Qur'an clearly did not know the difference between the biblical stories and later post-biblical legends. Finally, chapter 11 talks about textual variants in the Qur'an, showing how Islamic tradition itself testifies against the claim of a uniform Qur'anic text, and makes use of the most recent published works on Qur'anic textual criticism such as Stephen Powers and Keith Smalls on Qur'anic textual criticism (again, see below) to finally put this claim to rest.

One note I should make note of about this book is that while it is detailed, it is not exhaustive. The book's title is What Every Christian NEEDS to Know About the Qur'an, meaning that there are many other issues that, while germane to the discussion of Islam, are not essential to know. For example, White stays out of the contemporary political debates. Although brief references to the dhimma system are made (such as in p. 120), he largely avoids the question of whether or not Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion. This is for the better, not only because there are already a flood of books on this topic out in the market, but also because discussing it does little to advance the cause of Christian-Muslim theological debate. There are many other topics that he could have discussed, but chose only to mention in passing, if at all. No mention is made, for example, of Islam's substandard view of women , or of the troubling implications of the doctrine of taqiyyah and the view that Allah is the "Greatest of Deceivers" (Khair-ul-Makireen). White had an opportunity to discuss this doctrine when he touched upon Surah 3:54, but instead chose to pass over it and move on (pp. 114-115). While I'm not faulting him for this, per se, I do think it is pertinent to take the doctrine of taqiyyah into account when discussing the tactics of Muslim missionaries, both here in the west and around the world.

Another thing that I should note about this book is that it is not the kind of book one would read casually if one does not already have some prior experience in dealing with Muslims. In fact, if you are learning about Islam for the first time, I would suggest reading a shorter book first (such as Mateen Elass's Understanding the Qur'an: A Quick Christian Guide to the Muslim Holy Book) before diving into this one. While the first couple of chapters begin smoothly enough, the learning curve tends to become a bit steeper from chapter 3 onwards, as White uses a lot of his academic tools in analyzing the Qur'anic texts, quoting from many secondary Islamic sources, exegetic the Arabic text and applying a classic Van Tillian presuppositional methodology in internally critiquing the Islamic perspective. For those who do not already have a basic grasp of Islamic terminology, expect to turn the page towards the glossary at the back quite often.

For those who are in the front lines of Christian-Muslim dialogue and debate, however, this book is an extremely valuable resource. This is where White's scholarship shines the brightest. Dividing Line junkies such as myself are aware of Dr. White's "reading habits" (for the uninitiated, Dr. White is a bicyclist who listens to audio books during his morning exercises), and we see the result of that in this book. The endnotes are especially valuable for the academically-inclined, as there are copious references that one could follow to obtain more information there. Other than the references to the primary hadith collections such as Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, White quotes some very important scholarly works, such as the recently published book by Dr. Gordon Nickel, entitled, Narratives of Tampering in the Earliest Commentaries on the Qur'an, as well as Keith E. Small's Textual Criticism and Qur'an Manuscripts. These are the types of works which Christians need to utilize in future discussions with Muslims, and by presenting the materials in a more accessible format, White makes it easier to bring these evidences to a popular level.

In his endorsement of Dr. White's book, pastor Thabiti Anyabwile calls What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an "a game-changer for Muslim-Christian dialogues about the Qur'an, the Bible and our claims to truth." I am inclined to agree with pastor Anywabwile on this. This book is a necessary part of every Christian evangelist and apologist's library, especially given the accelerating efforts by Muslims to propagate Islam in the west through da'wah. I also highly recommend this to every Muslim, as White shows how a Christian, armed with all the tools and knowledge that a religious scholar may have on the two faiths, can provide a fair yet compelling critique of the Islamic worldview.

James White ha s done an outstanding job reviewing the history, complexity and faith of Islam. Written with for anyone interested in understanding the Generous Quran. Christians will gain an understanding of the faith of the east, he utilizes all the major Tafsir sources and relates to the Christian understanding. As in all if Dr. Whites books be prepared to think critically, study deeply and learn the truth.

This work is what I would consider better suited to the person with some basic understanding of Islam. It certainly appeared to be well researched, and I particularly appreciated what, in my view, is an even-handed approach to dealing with the Muslim faith. For me, as an Islamic "newbie", I would've preferred a greater exposition of some of the basic tenets, before getting into the details. For example, the consistent rendering in the Qur'an of the word "We", as apparently spoken by Allah, left me confused, given the emphasis on the monotheism and "say not three". Perhaps, though, I missed the explanation of the word in that context.

If you have some experience with the Muslim faith, or know something of the Qur'an, then I imagine that this book will be a good read for you.

What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an presents an introduction to and a critique of Islamic scripture (Qur'an) and tradition (ahadith) as they touch on matters pertaining to orthodox Christianity. Author James R. White is a Christian theologian who has engaged in debates with Islamic scholars. As befits a scholar, White’s tone throughout is measured and reasonable, and his arguments are nuanced and fair-minded.

The first three chapters introduce readers to Muhammad, the Qur'an, and Islamic monotheism (tawhid). In these chapters, and throughout the book, White’s presentation hews closely to Islamic beliefs that are shared by all Muslims (Sunni and Shia). He bases his description of Muhammad’s life and early Islamic history in the Qur'an and ahadith. In other words, he utilizes the same sources that Islamic theologians utilize. This leads Christian readers directly to the textual sources of the Muslim faith and assures them that White’s critiques are based on authoritative texts Muslims themselves acknowledge.

The next four chapters focus on areas where the Qur’an and ahadith either misinterpret or contradict orthodox Christianity—or both. Chapter 4 demonstrates that the Qur'an critiques a Trinitarian doctrine that no orthodox Christian holds. Chapter 5 demonstrates the fundamental contradictions between what the Bible and the Qur'an say about Jesus. Chapters 6 and 7 turn to the doctrine of salvation, showing that Muslims deny that Christ died on the cross to graciously atone for people’s sins.

When Christians point out these misinterpretations and contradictions to Muslims, Muslims respond by claiming that Christians have “corrupted” their Bible, either by misinterpreting or rewriting the New Testament. The final four chapters thus turn to issues of translation, literary sources, and textual criticism. These are the most technical chapters in the entire book, but they also repay careful study. They demonstrate that Christians have not in fact “corrupted” their Bible and that the textual transmission of the Qur'an is not as clean as Muslims commonly believe.

For Christian readers, the effect of White’s overall argument is a shoring up of the intellectual defenses of their faith in Jesus Christ against Muslim assaults on the same. For Muslim readers the effect may be to raise a troubling question: Can we trust an allegedly inspired book that makes false statements about other religions and rests on questionable textual foundations?

I recommend What Every Christian Should Know About the Qur'an to both Christian and Muslim readers, though especially the former. We live in an age of great conflict between these two religious communities. Rather than focusing on a small minority of terrorists who commit violence in the name of Islam (against the wishes of the vast majority of Muslims, by the way), we should focus our critique on the doctrines and practices that all Muslims hold in common. Doing so is less exciting, perhaps, than the evening news, but it is also more helpful to the long-term project of winning Muslim hearts and minds.

What can you say except another excellent book by Christian apologist Dr. James R. White. Sensitive to Muslims, yet faithful to the truth of God's Word, Dr. White writes this as a teacher and the reader feels like he's in school. I learned a lot about the Qur'an and Islam. Thank you, Dr. White and may God continue to bless your ministry!

While the ideas expressed in this book are difficult to handle mainly because the auther didn't identify the threads needed to make his thesis conclusive. I got bored quickly however the title is intreging.

Book ranking - 8 out of 10

Book Title and Author

The book What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an was written by James R. White, who is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an elder at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. He has authored a number of books in the category of apologetics. Some of them include The God Who Justifies and The Forgotten Trinity.

Author's Main Purpose

The author states his 3-fold purpose on pg. 11.

1) To honor Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, my King, through the defense of His gospel
2) To bless the people of God by providing sound biblical and historical responses to Islamic claims in general and of the Qur'an in particular
3) To be used of God to bring the glorious message of salvation in Jesus Christ to the precious Muslim people who honor the Qur'an

Later he author says it is his "hope that with the material in this book, you will be encouraged to engage in open and frank dialogue with Muslims, who regularly are eager to do likewise" (pg. 14).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ("The Qur'an and Muhammad of Mecca") is a historical sketch of the upbringing of Mohammed, his religious journeys, his early infidelities as a young prophet and then the events surrounding his death. It is a brief biography of his life that sets the stage for the writing of the Qur'an. The so-called morality of Mohammed is outlined and questioned bravely.

Chapter 2 ("The Qur'an: A Brief Introduction") includes a very helpful chart and explanation for how the Qur'an is divided and should be read.

Chapter 3 ("Allah: Tawhid, Shirk, the Mithaq and the Fitra") gives a helpful explanation of the monotheistic beliefs of Islam and their parallels to Christianity.

Chapter 4 ("Say Not Three": The Qur'an and the Trinity)" is a look at the Qur'an's rejection of the Bible's teaching on the trinity. The Qur'an rejection is based upon the claim that a belief in the trinity of God is an acceptance of polytheism.

What Every Christian Quran

Chapter 5 ("Jesus in the Qur'an") details the relationship between Jesus and the teaching of the Qur'an. The author shares a number of passages that refer to Jesus and the Islamic faith's claim on the equality between Jesus and Mohammed.

Chapter 6 ("The Qur'an and the Cross") speaks to the denial by the Qur'an about the historicity of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, it's meaning and other facts surrounding this event.

Chapter 7 ("The Scales: Salvation in the Qur'an") points out a number of similarities between the Bible and Qur'an's teaching on salvation. There are a plethora of literal references in this chapter dealing with the Qur'an's teaching of predestination, forgiveness and justice.

Chapter 8 ("Did the "People of the Book" Corrupt the Gospel?") shows how the Qur'an teaches about Jews and Christians and gives a helpful historical background on how they came to be known as "the people of the book."

Chapter 9 ("Prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible") seeks to dispel the myth that Muhammad is prophesied of in the Bible. A careful examination is taken of those Biblical passages that Muslims use to prove their views on the references to Muhammad.

Chapter 10 (The Perfection of the Qur'an? Parallels and Sources") and Chapter 11 ("The Perfection of the Qur'an? Transmission and Text") discuss the claim by Muslims of the perfection and inerrancy of the Qur'an.

Why You Should Read This Book

First, I am very encouraged that the author is seeking to go to original sources to understand Islam. He is not going to study or quote only Arabic commentators but to look at the primary source: the Qur'an itself. Too often authors establish ideas by looking at other people's studies on their subject. That is doing research and thinking lazily and through the minds of secondary sources. The best way for someone to draw a conclusion is to look at an original source and draw facts from there. And the author does an exceptional job of this.

Second, the glossary in the back is very helpful. Concise and helpful definitions are given of common words used when referring to the religions practices referred to the Qur'an and applied by many Muslims.

What I Wish Was or Wasn't In the Book

It would have been nice to get some evangelistic helps. In other words, the author is a well-known apologist and yet offers very little instruction on how to witness to a Muslim. It would have been helpful to flag certain doctrines or dogmas that are real "hang-ups" for Muslims. It would have been helpful to get a list or charts of verses to use for Muslims that they would accept as truth.

Is It a Book I Would Recommend to Someone Else?

It's tough to discern if this is a good book for everyone. There are times when the author gets a wee bit technical for the average readers. I would recommend it is a resource to be used and referred to as needed but necessarily a book that needs to be read cover-to-cover.

I would like to thank Bethany House for providing a free copy for an unbiased review.