How Do The Contradictions In The Bible Compare To The Contradictions In The Quran?

What contradictions are you referring to in the Bible? We believe the Bible is God’s Word and is flawless in the original writings. Archaeology has only served to prove the Bible right, not demonstrate the Bible in wrong. From textual criticism we know the copy of the Bible we hold in our hands is 99.9% accurate to what was originally written down. There is no doctrinal question that is debatable because of textual ambiguity.

The Quran is a completely different type of book. Rather than being written by multiple authors in multiple languages and fitting together in agreement, it was written by one author and written down hundreds of years after his life. It is filled with contradictions. One resource I ran across pointed out over 100 internal contradictions in the Quran. Here are a few. Remember the Quran claims in Surah 39:23, 28 to be free from
all contradictions.

  1. Surah 41:9, 10, 12 say it took God eight days to create the world. Surah 7:51 and Surah 10:3 says it took God seven days to create the world.
  2. The Quran has contradictory accounts of Mohammed’s reception of the Quran. We are first told Allah came to Muhammed in the form of a man and that Muhammed saw him (Surah 53:2-18; 81:19-24). We are told it was the “holy spirit” who came to Muhammed (Surah 16:102; 26:192-194). We are told it was angels who came down and gave the Quran to Mohammed. (Surah 15:8). Which one is right?
  3. The Quran differs if a day is a thousand years or fifty thousand years in God’s sight. (Surah 32:5; 70:4).
  4. Surah 2:58 and 7:161 the same quotation is given with conflicting wording. This is a problem because Muslims claim the Quran is absolutely perfect even in its quotations.
  5. At first Muhammad told his followers to face Jerusalem in prayer. Then he told them since God was everywhere they could face any way they wanted. Then he changed his mind yet again and directed them to pray toward Mecca (Surah 2:115 versus 2:144). Many scholars believe that the changes in direction were dependent on whether he was trying to please the Jews or the pagans.
  6. Who was the first to believe? Abraham or Moses (Surah 6:14 versus 7:143)? You can’t have two “firsts.”
  7. Muhammad first started out saying that his followers could defend themselves if attacked (Surah 22:39). Then he commanded them to go to war on his behalf (Surah 2:216–218). This was to gain wealth by robbing caravans. But as his army grew, so did his thirst for plunder (Surah 5:33). So he ordered wars to persecute other religions as well as to gain more wealth (Surah 9:5, 29). Allah’s will seems to change according to Muhammad’s success in killing and looting.