Isaiah 9 shows us that Jesus is God

As Christians, we lavish titles on Jesus.  Jesus is Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace.  Why do we do this?  Where do these titles come from?  In Isaiah it says:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 Isaiah 9:6 ESV 

Some may say that these names are not used in the New Testament.  How do we know that these titles apply to Jesus?

When Jews would read Isaiah 9:6, they read it as part of a greater passage, Isaiah 9:1-7.  Its last verse says:

Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

 Isaiah 9:7 ESV 

The passage is prophetic, telling of something great to occur.  A throne of justice and righteousness is to be established.  This throne is to be established forever; the passage is Messianic.  The last verse of the passage says the one to accomplish it is God (or more specifically "The Lord of Hosts").

In the book of Matthew, this passage is applied to Jesus.  Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:1-2, claiming that Jesus, who resided in Naphtali, fulfilled the prophecy in the Isaiah verses:

5 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

  Matthew 4:15-16 ESV

Here, Jesus is identified as this great light.  But from Isaiah 9:7, the one who is the Great Light is the same person who is identified as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.  It then follows that these titles directly apply to Jesus.

The titles Mighty God and Everlasting Father especially can apply only to the Lord of Hosts (God) himself.   Therefore Matthew says here not only that Jesus is the promised Messiah, but identifies Jesus as God.  

Have you spent time to get to know the Prince of Peace?  

Solomon, his army of birds and a hoopoe

Solomon, the wise son of David, according to Islam was also a prophet of Allah:

"Surely We gave knowledge to Dāwūd and Sulaimān, and they said, “Praise belongs to Allah who made us excel many of His believing servants." Quran 27:15, Usmani

According to the Bible, Solomon was blessed with unimaginable wisdom.   According to the Quran, Solomon was apparently also given another gift, understanding of the speech of birds and animals:

'And Sulaimān inherited (the traits of) Dāwūd and said, “O people we have been taught the speech of birds, and all sorts of things are given to us. Indeed, this is the evident grace (of Allah).” ' Quran 27:16, Usmani

Now Solomon had an army with a mixture of humans, jinns (genies) and birds:

"And mustered for Sulaimān were his forces from among the Jinns and the humans and the birds. So all of them were kept under (his) control," Quran 27:17, Usmani

In Surah 27:18-19, Solomon then encountered "the valley of the ants":

"until when they reached the valley of the ants, one of the ants said, “O ants, enter your dwelling places, lest Sulaimān and his armies crush you unknowingly.” " Quran 27:18, Usmani

Solomon, hearing the ant speak, talks with her:

So he (Sulaimān) smiled, laughing on her speech and said, “My Lord, enable me to become grateful to Your favor that you have bestowed on me and on my parents, and to do good deeds that You like, and admit me, with Your mercy, among Your righteous servants.” Quran 27:19, Usmani

Solomon could apparently understand the language of ants.  This is very funny.

Solomon also supposedly had been taught by Allah the language of birds.  In this story, Solomon inspects his army of birds.  He could not find one of his birds, the hoopoe:

"And (once) he (Sulaimān) checked the birds and said, “How is it with me that I do not see the hudhud (hoopoe)? Rather he has disappeared."  Quran 27:20, Usmani

This picture shows a hoopoe.

In the next verse, Solomon promises to punish the absent bird, with a "severe torment", and to execute the poor hoopoe unless the bird gives Solomon a good reason for his absence.

Soon after this, the hoopoe appears with a spy report from the land of Sheba.  Solomon listens to the bird's report but does not fully believe the hoopoe:

"He (Sulaimān) said, “We shall see whether you have told the truth or you are one of the liars."  Quran 27:27, Usmani

Poor hoopoe.

One problem in the above story is that ants can't speak.  It is physically impossible for them to generate speech.  Ants communicate by transmitting vibration and leaving chemical scent (pheromones).  Biologists have found they also at times generate sounds by rubbing together their hind legs, but this is far from speaking.

The obvious problem, who honesty believes that anyone can communicate in the language of the ants and birds?  This is Islam.  Many myths like this have found their way into the Islamic literature.  The Bible has no such obvious fabrications in its account of the life of Solomon.

Are we born good?

Islam teaches that every person is born Muslim.  In the Islamic doctrine of "original disposition" or fitra, it is thought that a person naturally inclines to their creator Allah and is born with a mind that naturally follows Islam.  It is the people around us--our family, friends and society--that overpower our innate tendency to follow Allah and cause us to sin.  Muslims are born sinless or into a state of "fitra" (c.f. Wikipedia).  This Islamic doctrine denies the Christian doctrine of Original Sin, the idea that we received sin from our parents at birth.

Let us look at the concept of fitra in context of the Islamic creation story.  In the Quran, the first man Adam was not created on earth but created in heaven, and then fell down to earth:

"Then, Satan caused them to slip from it, and brought them out of where they had been. And We said, “Go down, all of you, some of you the enemies of others; and on the earth there will be for you a dwelling place and enjoyment for a time.” " Quran 2:36, Usmani

Adam had sinned and this verse says that he was kicked out of God's sight.  But Adam learned some words through which he repented:

"Then ’Ādam learned certain words (to pray with) from his Lord; so, Allah accepted his repentance. No doubt, He is the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful."  Quran 2:37, Usmani

Even though Adam prayed and was forgiven, he still wasn't allowed back into Allah's abode.  Allah did send guidance to Adam:

We said, “Go down from here, all of you. Then, should some guidance come to you from Me, those who follow My guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve."  Quran 2:38, Usmani

This verse says we need guidance to the righteous path to find the way back to Allah.  There are problems with this idea.  If we are born into a state of "fitra", why do we need a guide in order to bring us back to heaven?  Shouldn't every newborn start out in heaven?  Instead, every day in their daily prayers, Muslims recite Surah al Fatihah where they ask for guidance (see Quran 1:6).  

Even the prophet Muhammed prayed this surah.  So even Muhammad needed guidance.  How can this prophet be expected to guide us when he himself needs guidance?  Is Muhammed qualified to do this?

In the bigger picture, if man is born sinless, then why does the Hadith say that all men are sinners?:

Anas (RAA) narrated that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:  “All the sons of Adam are sinners, but the best of sinners are those who repent often.”  Related by At·Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah with a strong chain of narrators.  Book 16, Hadith 41

Why does the Quran ascribe sinlessness only to Jesus (Quran 19:19-20)?

Is it that our family, friends and society really change our predisposition toward Allah?   Are people more powerful than God, that they can change our basic nature?  

As Christians, we believe we can do no such thing.  People are innately sinful.  People do not have the power to remove our faith, just as they don't have to power to give us faith.  The Holy Spirit can change someone's heart and take someone from the hellfire into the kingdom of God.  Jesus takes our sin and then we become righteous:

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

This is not because of anything I or another human does to us, but it is God's work.

(Argument is from Al Fadi "Only Jesus is Sinless Islamic Original Win Dilemma")

Two Contradictions in Allah's Creation Story

The literary perfection of the Qur'an is a widely-held tenet of Muslims.  The Qur'an is written with “clear proofs” or “clear signs”; the Qur’an is meant to be clear.  But it is easy to show the Qur'an often uses imprecise language historical inaccuracies and, in places, flatly contradicts itself.  This makes the Qur’an anything but clear. 

Below I point out two contradictions in the Qur’an on the topic of Allah’s creation.

Was Satan Created from Water or Fire?: The Qur'an claims that Allah created every living creature from water (Qur'an 24:45).  Some versions of Qur'an state this verse with not "every living creature" but "every animal".  Clarifying the language, the Arabic is actually "every daaba" which means that every living creature is created of water.

But notably, this verse forgets about Satan.  Satan was created from fire.   In the following verse, Satan thought he was better than man so he refused to prostrate himself before Adam.  This is Satan’s response:

He said, “I am better than him. You created me from fire, and created him from clay.” Qur'an 38:76, Usmani

In surah 18:50, Satan (Iblis) is described as a jinn.  Jinns are living creatures (Qur’an 51:56).  According to this hadith, Jinn are said to have lived on the earth, and can actually become Muslims.   

The jinn are even known to have sex with women:

In them there will be maidens restraining (their) glances, whom neither a man might have touched before them, nor a Jinn. Qur'an 55:56, Usmani

(Aside: Al Tabari’s commentary on this verse says that, “When a man has intercourse with his wife and does not name [Allah], the jinn coils around his urethra and has intercourse along with him.”  This is a disgusting thought, and shows Muslims can be a very superstitious lot.  Reference is here. )

So the Qur'an has an apparent contradiction here.  Either the language of the Qur'an is imprecise or Mohammed somehow forgot that Satan was created from fire.

More information on the contradiction on Satan’s creation is here.

Do All Living Creatures have Two Legs or Four Legs?: Muhammad seems to exclude insects and spiders as not being part of his creation in surah 24:45.  

Allah has created every moving creature from water. So, some of them move on their bellies; and some of them move on two legs, and some of them move on four. Allah creates what He wills.  Surely, Allah is powerful over everything. Qur'an 24:45, Usmani

The context in this verse at the start is "every living creature".  The verse mentions creatures that "walk on their bellies", creatures with two legs and with four legs, but no mention of creatures with six or eight legs.  There is no mention of the centipede.  These too are Allah's creation.  The context of the verse is all living creatures. This leads to an apparent contradiction.  The omissions impact the literal quality of the verse.

Another point, the English versions of the Qur'an say that "some of them MOVE on their bellies".  However, the language issue is that the Arabic actually uses the word “yamshi” for "walk".  This is a problem because snakes don't walk.

Do you think these examples are consistent with literary perfection of the Qur'an?