The charge that the Prophet plagiarized the
Bible is unfounded due to the following reasons:
First, there are hundreds of references in the
Qur’an relating to the incidents that occurred deep
in the past that are not found in the Bible. For
example, Adam’s repentance in Paradise and God’s
acceptance of it, which essentially refutes the core
Christian concept of original sin. The Qur’an also
mentions various incidents of Prophets not found
in the Bible, such as Abraham’s being thrown into
a fire only to be saved by God and Abraham’s
construction of the holy place of worship, the
Kaaba, at Mecca. It also recounts many crucial
parts of the histories of Noah and Jesus, some of
which completely contradict the Biblical account.
Where did Muhammad get all of this information?
For sure, it could not have been the Bible. How
can anyone argue with his right mind that he
plagiarized the Bible?
As for the charge that he learned the whole
Qur’an from the Christian monk Bahira, this would
be an absurd accusation on two counts, at least.
First, the meeting between the Prophet and the
monk was only for a brief moment in time and
when the Prophet was only 12 years old. The
monk invited the caravan in which the Prophet
was travelling in for a dinner while the caravan was
en route to Syria. It would be inconceivable for the
Prophet to have learned all of what he needed to
learn from Bahira in one short meeting. Moreover,
there is no historical record of his learning the
Bible from Bahira, although there are records of
the monk’s predicting the prophethood of
Muhammad that he learned from Jewish –Christian
Scriptures
Second, vast portions of the Qur’an (including
many of its longer chapters, such as Chapters 5, 8,
9, 24, 33, 48, etc.) deal with the political and social
issues the Prophet faced in Medina for over ten
years. How could these chapters be dictated to him
by Bahira? It is mind boggling that such an
argument was forwarded by a French author who
claimed the Prophet learned the whole of the
Qur’an from Bahira in one short sitting.
As mentioned, there are many claims that the
Prophet learned a lot of the historical references of
the Qur’an from Christians or Jews who lived
during his time. One such argument states that
there were two Christian missionaries who would
visit Mecca during the annual fairs, from whom the
Prophet may have received knowledge. However,
these Christians had passed away long before the
Prophet Muhammad was alive and so it would be
impossible for them to have taught him.
http://www.mercyprophet.org/mul/node/6800
Ten Questions and Answers
about the Prophet Muhammad
May the Blessings and Peace of Allah be upon Him
