Excerpts from

BY JOHN FONTAIN
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Throughout me various revela ons from God have been revealed
to mankind through Prophets, of which the Qur’ān is the final
revela on. Muslims must believe in all the Books revealed from God
and taught by the Prophets, namely:
Original Suhūf revealed to Prophet Abraham;
Original Tawrāt revealed to Prophet Moses;
Original Zabūr revealed to Prophet David;
Original Injīl revealed to Prophet Jesus;
The Qur’ān revealed to Prophet Muhammed.
(Quran 87:19) “…the Suhʷf of Abraham and Moses.”

“…and to David We gave the Zabʷr”. (Quran 4:163)

We can see in the Qur’ān there is also a men on of a revela on

given to Prophet Jesus called the Injīl:

These are specific revela ons from God to the Prophets in their life me;
their contents were the direct speech of God - not wri ngs of Prophets or
scribes. This is a point that is some mes misunderstood by many,
however it should be understood that the Tawrāt is not the first five
books of the Old Testament, the Zabūr is not the Psalms and the Injīl Injīl
is not the Bible, the New Testament nor the Gospels.
The word Bible comes from the Greek word biblios meaning a
collec on of books. There are many versions of the Bible, such as the
Catholic Bible containing 73 books, the Ethiopian Bible containing 81
books, the Protestant Bible containing 66 Books and the Jewish Bible
(Tanakh) containing 39 Books.

The common Bible of today is a collec on of many individual books

and le ers, which is said to be authored by no less than 40 men,
spanning over hundreds of years and compiled close to the 3rd
Century AD in the form it is in today. The Bible is split into two
sec ons, The Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is followed
by the Jews and Chris ans of today, whereas the New Testament is
followed exclusively by Chris ans. The current followers of the Bible
claim the books within the Bible to be revela on. The Judo-Chris an
understanding of revela on is that they were authored by non
prophets with help of inspira on from God. The followers believe
that some of the books are authored by the Prophets and the
majority by later unknown scribes. This is en rely different from the
Islamic understanding of revela on. The books within the Bible are in
fact biographical/sirah accounts authored by non prophets a long
me a er the reported events were claimed to have taken place.

The English versions of the Bible are translated from The Codex
Sinai cus which is the oldest surviving complete manuscript of the
Bible in Greek, dated to the middle of the 4th century. From the dates
of the scriptures, we can see that it was many centuries a er Moses
and Jesus that the forma on of the Bible took place. This is important
because the en re Chris an faith relies on these scriptures:
scriptures that were neither seen nor confirmed by Moses or Jesus.
Personal experiences are a basis of belief in a creator but ul mately
authen c revela on is needed to prove a belief system or religion to
be true.
- The Oldest surviving text of a Gospel is
Papyrus P52 which is a small
fragment of John da ng to 138
CE. This is widely accepted
as the earliest record
of a canonical
fragment of a New
Testament
manuscript and is
housed in the John
Rylands Library
Manchester.
- The earliest
surviving
manuscript of
Mathew is Papyrus
104, which dates to
the Late 2nd
Century.
- The oldest surviving
manuscript of Mark is
Papyrus 88, and is
dated to the 4th
Century nearly 400
years a er Jesus!

- The oldest surviving manuscript

of Luke is Papyrus 4 and is dated
3rd Century. As we can see the
dates of the oldest surviving manu-
scripts are many years a er Jesus,
which guarantees inaccuracy in
a empts of preserving what Jesus
actually said and did.
This sec on is crucially important in understanding how and
where the Bible itself men ons a “Divine Revela on” given
to Jesus in his life me. When we look at the earliest
manuscripts of the Bible in Greek we find that it narrates of
a revela on revealed to Jesus in his life me called the
Euangelion. When translated into English it becomes totally
unrecognisable with transla ons of “Gospel” and “Good
News.”

The earliest English interpreta ons translate Euangelion as

Gospel which is a word that comes from the old English word
“God Spell,” some modern English interpreta ons translate
Euangelion to be “Good News.” In fact the Euangelion is the
actual name of the Revela on given to the Prophet Jesus.
This is highly significant because the Qur’ān
also confirms that Jesus was given a
Revela on called the Injīl. It is clear
from the earliest manuscripts of Mark
that Jesus was in fact preaching the Injīl
in his life me; therefore Mark’s gospel
cannot be the Injīl, as the book of Mark
was wri en a er Jesus. With the
transla ons changing the word
Euangelion into “gospel” or “good news”
we lose sight of the whole message, thus giving
it a totally new interpreta on.
According to the Bible, Jesus is speaking about a new
Revela on and not from the Old Judaic Law as we see in the
following two verses of Mark 1:21-22 that even the scribes,
who being the most learned of teachers within the
synagogue and being well accustomed with the Old Judaic
Law, were simply amazed and “astonished” at this new level
of teaching which led them to remark that he was as though
one “teaching with authority.”

When we research the usage of the word Euangelion

throughout the Bible, we see that it becomes very clear that
the Euangelion is more than just good news, and even
supports the narra ve in the Qur’ān by describing the
Euangelion as a Message, a Law and Teachings le by Word
of mouth and Le er.
Adding to this all other religious beliefs (Hinduism, Buddhism,
Sikhism) and world views are either based on the founders
teachings, primi ve historical data collec ons or biographies
and are not based on Divine Revela on (Wahī).
Contrast this with the Qur’ān the direct Word of God
revealed to Prophet Muhammad, which has been preserved
by means of memorisa on and textual wri ngs from the me
it was revealed. To date, millions of memorisers around the
world have preserved both the content and style of
recita on of the en re Qur’ān in the Arabic language,
preven ng any distor on to the original message; this topic
is covered in more depth later.
comprehension. Muslims pray directly to Him with no
intermediaries. This is the path, which will lead one to eternal
paradise and protect you from the eternal punishment of hell.

Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not,
nor is He begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.
(Quran 112:1-4)
Allah has assisted our guidance by sending messages in the
form of Divine Revela on (Wahī) to different Prophets such
as Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammed (Peace be
upon them). In reality all the revela ons contained the same
core message to Worship the One True God without
partners. The en re Qur’ān is the literal speech of God as a
final Message revealed to the Prophet Muhammad with
moral and spiritual guidance for the whole of humanity. The
Qur’ān has been fully preserved in it’s original language, in
wri ng and memorisa on for 1400 years since the me it
was revealed. Today throughout the world there are millions
of people from all na onali es and backgrounds who have
successfully memorised the Qur’ān.
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an; and We
will assuredly guard it from corruption.
(Qur’ʆn 15:9)
In this next verse of the Qur’ān, Allah is addressing the
Chris ans about Himself and the Prophets:
“We have sent thee inspiration (O Muhammad), as
We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we
sent inspiration to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and
the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon,
and to David We gave the Zabʷr. Of some
messengers We have already told thee the story; of
others We have not; and to Moses Allah spoke direct;”
(Qur’ʆn 4:163)
The way the Qur’ān has been preserved and taught today
reflects on how it was taught and preserved since the me it
was revealed. Allah said:
“We have without doubt sent down the Message; and We
will assuredly guard it.” (Qur’ān 15:9)
The Qur’ān has been memorised by Muslims since it was re-
vealed un l today. Every Muslim memorises at least parts of
the Qur’ān and many memorise it all. This is then taught to
the next genera on with a chain of transmission all the way
back to the prophet peace be upon him, this ensures
preserva on which is why, as you will see, even western
scholars have no reason to cast doubt on the
preserva on of the Qur’ān.
The same cannot be said for the previous scriptures of the
Tawrāt and Injīl which have literally been lost and replaced
with stories authored by men. This was done with ease as
the people never memorised the scriptures. They chose
which man wri en scriptures were to be included in the
Bible which were to become authorata ve for todays sects
of Judaism and Chris anity. Compila on of the Biblical
scriptures were done behind closed doors in special VIP
councils, while the Qur’ān has always been in the hearts of
the people making it impossible to be tampered with. The
Muslims were part of the preserva on of the Qur’ān. If
anyone had even tried to a empt to change a word in the
text of the Qur’ān, those who have memorised it would have
no ced. In order to make the change las ng, the
perpetrators would have had to erase the Qur’ān from the
hearts of the believers which was and s ll is impossible.
Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 AD, he was orphaned at an
early age and was raised at first by his grandfather and then his
uncle. The young Muhammad made a name for himself because of
his trustworthiness, sincerity and generosity, and his advice
became sought a er.
At the age of 40, whilst on a spiritual retreat, Muhammad received
his first revela on from God through the Angel Gabriel. This was
followed by successive revela ons over a period of 23 years;
together these revela ons are the Qur’ān.
Jesus and Mary being the two most prominent figures in
Chris anity are also men oned within the Qur’ān and the
sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. They are both held in
the highest possible regards and their legacies have been
preserved within the founda ons of Islām.
Jesus himself is recognised as being born miraculously and
having the ability to perform miracles by the permission of
God. The first such miracle ascribed to him was in infancy
when he spoke in defence of his mother who was accused
by the Rabbis of bearing the child, Jesus, illegi mately
without a husband.

The crea on of any one thing is easy for God, He can cause
anything to come into existence by a simple command, the
word 'Be.'
Chris ans o en feel that Muslims are somehow degrading
Jesus by claiming he is only a prophet. We have to understand
that the Islamic and Chris an perspec ves of prophets are
very different. Muslims believe that Allah sent over 120,000
prophets throughout me between the first Prophet Adam
and the final Prophet Muhammad peace be upon them all.
Their role was to call the people back to the worship of One
God. Certain na ons were destroyed for their heedlessness
such as the people of Lot and Noah; whilst other na ons such
as the children of Israel were given many opportuni es and
were sent mul ple prophets to call them back to the straight
path. The Prophets were the most righteous people, who
recieved divine revela on and guidance for the people.
Muslims believe that prophets were protected from
commi ng evil crimes whereas the Chris an biblical
narra ve is that prophets commi ed evil crimes, such as
Prophet Aaron worshipping a golden cow (Ex 32:1), Prophet
Lot ge ng drunk and sleeping with hisdaughters (Gen 19:30)
and Prophet David commi ng adultery with Bath Sheba and
killing her Husband (2 Sam 11:1). The Quran on the other
hand absolves the prophets from these horrendous
accusa ons and corrects these false beliefs by explaining how
the Prophets were protected from falling into such evil acts.
When Muslims call Jesus a prophet sent from God, in reality
we are not bringing Jesus down to the level of a prophet in
the Chris an sense of the term. In fact we are raising all the
prophets up to a certain level of infallibility in their role as a
prophet.
All prophets were human and natural human emo ons do
not contradict their infallibility, such as Adam forge ng,
which lead him to eat from the tree. This does not take from
the fact that the prophets are the most innocent, pure and
virtuous people.
Mary, the mother of Jesus has also been recognised as a
significant personality in Islām. She has been men oned
throughout the Qur’ān and remarkably a full chapter is
named in her honour "Surah Maryam," chapter 19.

Her status has also been recorded in the Hadith,

"Mary, the daughter of Imran, was the
best among the women (of the world
of her me) and Khadija is the best
amongst the women (of this
na on)."
(Hadith Bukhari: Vol 4, Book
55, No 642)
That being said, neither
they nor Prophets should
be taken as partners
with God, meaning they
should not be prayed
to or venerated in a
way that is only
befi ng for God
For the Qur’ān’s
account of this event
and other incidents
including the birth of
Mary, John the Bap st
and the Messiah Jesus
(peace be upon them)
along with the roles of
Zechariah and the
disciples of Jesus, read the
Qur’ān 3:35-71.
The aim of this brief study was to bring to a en on some
pivotal points that needed to be addressed. These key points
would now ul mately define the various stances within the
different churches.
In summary, this ar cle is not intended to offend but is one
which has come about through sincerity and through my
personal journey and search for the truth.
Islām is to submit to the One True God without any partners
and acknowledge all the Prophets from Adam to Muhammad
including Jesus. Muslims believe in all the previous scriptures
of the Prophets, which today no longer exist. However, the
Qur’ān is the only revela on, which has been fully preserved.
Islām is a way of life that gives equality,
jus ce and dignity to the whole of
humanity regardless of colour,
gender and ethnicity whether
European, American, African or
Asian. People from all around
the world are embracing this
religion that provides a
perfect way of life. Purifying
your soul, giving you
spirituality and providing a
direct link between the
worshipper and God with
no intermediaries.

Islām is appealing because it

is based on Proofs, Logic and
Reason and not on blind faith.
Many people from all religions are turning to Islām as it provides a
more logical explana on for life. This is because Chris anity has not
been able to withstand modern scien fic and historical scru ny
since the Enlightenment period.

“There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah

alone and Muhammed is the final Messenger”

To acknowledge that Moses and Jesus are also Prophets and

Messengers of God.
Allah forgives not the sin of joining partners with
Him; but He forgives whom He pleases other sins
than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, has
strayed far, far away from the right (Qur’ʆn 4:116)
With this I would like to invite you to embrace the religion of True
Monotheism, Islām.
Guidance is from Allah (God) alone but sincerity to acknowledge and
worship Him comes from your free choice.
www.VolunteerSierraLeone.org
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Fontain was raised as a Chris an but always believed in the
concept of One God. In 2006 he started looking into Islam a er
coming in to contact with Muslims in West Africa. A er studying
the religion he finally embraced Islam in 2008, in Cairo, Egypt. Since
then he has been ac vely involved in Da’wah work (invi ng people
to Islam). John also runs his own charity organisa on “Volunteer
Sierra Leone” which helps support over 65 Muslim schools through-
out Sierra Leone. A er researching extensively some of the oldest
scriptures of the Bible he discovered some key points that will
ul mately change the way Muslims and Chris ans view Jesus and
his Message. All of these points and more will be discussed further
in the book “Jesus & the Injeel…the Untold Story."

WWW .J ESUSANDTHE I NJEEL . COM

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