robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)

What the Qur'an May Have Been
A Clue
What, then, was the Qur'an in its original form? One clue comes from Qur'an 25:1: “Blessed is He Who
has revealed unto His slave the Criterion (of right and wrong), that he may be a warner to the peoples.” 1
The word that Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall here translates as “the Criterion (of right and wrong)” is
al-furqan, which is also the name of the sura as a whole. Islamic tradition generally identifies the
Criterion, al-furqan, as the Qur'an, and Muhammad as the “warner to the peoples.” The mainstream
Qur'an commentary known as the Tafsir al-Jalalayn says that the Qur'an is “called thus [al-furqan]
because it has discriminated (faraqa) between truth and falsehood.” 2 If the furqan is that which
discriminates between truth and falsehood, then it is the criterion by which one distinguishes one from the
other. 3
In Syriac, furqan means “redemption” or “salvation.” And warner, nadhir, is a word that is constructed
from three consonants—n, dh, and r—that in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac all have the principal meaning
of “to vow.” The particular form nadhir is a verbal adjective meaning “vowed,” “votive gift,” or
“sacrifice.”
Accordingly, a more precise, albeit less traditionally Islamic, translation of Qur'an 25:1 would be
“Blessed is He who sent down the redemption on His servant that he might be a sacrifice for the
peoples.”
This is a Christian statement: It is Jesus Christ who was sent down (John 1:1, 1:14) to be a sacrifice
(Ephesians 5:1; Hebrews 10:10–14) for the redemption (Ephesians 1:7) of all people (I John 2:2). 4
Of course, it may appear preposterous on its face that the Qur'an, which contains so much polemical
material attacking orthodox Christianity, would make a Christian statement. But as we have seen, the early
historical records contain elements that seem equally odd when compared with the canonical account of
Islam's origins. These records, including official Arab inscriptions and coins bearing crosses, show that
the Arab conquerors, though generally hostile to the concepts of the divinity and redemption of Christ, had
a much freer attitude toward Christian symbols than mature Islam would later display. The Arab attitude
toward Christianity and Judaism in this era appears to have been far more fluid and in many ways more
welcoming than it would ultimately become in Islam.
Moreover, on close examination, the Qur'an itself betrays evidence of having been adapted from a
Christian text.
Ambiguous Text