Judaism v. Islam

IntroductionIn this debate I will attempt to correlate similarities between Islam and Judaism, and I will also try to explain why Islam is probably the true religion. My opponent will try to refute the teachings of Islam while I will be very defensive. My criticism of Judaism will probably be based on scriptural discrepancy, prophecies as a case for Islam, and so on.Arguments1. Allah of Islam, God of JudaismOne thing that troubles many people is the question of which God you should believe in. It is common to hear people of different religions claiming that their God is the true one, but the God of such-and-such a religion is false. Philosophically speaking, such a discussion is a low-level one. If you define God as the highest conceivable being, then regardless of your Faith, you cannot logically define Him as say, a caused being. If He was caused, then the cause that caused God was obviously greater than God, hence the use of the term God is totally wrong in this case.Nonetheless, in Judaism and Islam, we do not have to argue about whose conception of God is the true one. In both the Tanakh and the Qur'an, one reads that God neither begets nor was He begotten, God is above everything, et cetera. Muslims and Jews agree upon many similar qualities of God. However, certain people always try to place a distinction between 'God' and 'Allah,' as if we were dealing with two different beings. Now, compare the English and the Arabic translations of Genesis 1:1 below:[Genesis 1:1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth[Genesis 1:1] Fee al-badi' khalaqa Allahu as-Samaawaat wa al-ardIt is obvious that the term for God in Arabic is simply Allah, hence theists who repeatedly attack Muslims' usage of the term are blaspheming according to their own religions. To conclude, both Islam and Judaism have very similar views on God, and where they differ is in terms of scripture, not conception of God.2. Honesty of the Prophet Muhammad*Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), a strongly moral man who lived in Arabia 14 centuries ago, is recognized as the last Prophet in Islam. He received the last scripture from God (i.e., the Holy Qur'an), and this scripture remains original to our very modern times. Muslims do not believe that he authored the Qur'an, but that God taught it to him through the angel Gabriel (peace be upon him). [1] I have a few points to make.1: The Prophet never liedThe beloved Prophet, prior and during his Prophethood, was known to be a very humble and moral man. He helped the poor, contributed to improving his community, and did innumerable other very honorable deeds. One of the very good qualities he possessed was honesty. He was known as one who never lied. This is evidential due to the fact that after he received Prophethood, his new enemies (polytheists etc.,) called him a madman, madman, and many such things. One thing they did not call him was a liar."Once the chiefs of the Quraish were sitting and talking about him. Nadhar bin Harith, the most experienced of them all, said, “O Quraish! You have not been able to find any plan to meet the calamity that has fallen upon you. Muhammad grew up from childhood in your presence. He was the most liked, honest and faithful among you. Now when he has grown to maturity and has presented these things to you, you say, he is a magician, a soothsayer, a poet, a mad man. By Allah! I have heard his Message, he is none of these things. A new calamity has fallen upon you." [2]By definition, an honest man never lies. A lie, by definition, is a statement told by someone who is certain that he does not tell the truth. If, however, he knows that he is not telling the truth, yet persists on doing it, then he lies. But the fact is that Prophet Muhammad had full certainty that the Qur'an was revealed to him by God. Even his enemies acknowledged that he believed in that. This is an irrefutable fact.2: The Prophet claimed that he received a revelation from GodAccording to the Prophet, the Qur'an was revealed to him by God. This is known throughout all the hadith we have about his lifetime. So, since he never lied, which there is strong evidence for, why did he claim that the Qur'an got revealed to him? Can we say that a circle is squared? No, that is a logical fallacy. Can we, then, say that the Prophet never lied, claimed that the Qur'an was revealed to him by God, but that it is not true? No, that is fallacious. If indeed he did not lie, yet claimed that the Qur'an is from God, then why try to find error in that? Moreover, he did not see visions because the Qur'an was revealed to him throughout a period of around 23 years, and he was commonly as healthy as other people. In fact, there are reports in hadiths that at a certain old age, he had gray hairs in so few numbers that you could count them. That tells us something about his well-being.3: No evidence that the Qur'an had a human authorIn ancient Arabia, the Arabs used to narrate all kinds of events. In the hadith (i.e., narrations of the Prophet) we read about his life to the smallest details. We read how many gray hairs he had. We read how a person greeted another person. However, in no hadith, especially no authentic hadith, do we read about anyone ever aiding the Prophet in authoring the Qur'an, or writing it by themselves. If someone actually did that then surely there would be some sort of evidence for that. There's none.Moreover, the Qur'an is a consistent and reasonable from the beginning to the end. It neither has internal contradictions, historical errors, scientific errors, or any other error one could come up with. The ancient Greeks made wrong scientific claims, the ancient Romans made wrong scientific claims, and even the Bible (hereby also the Torah) had and still have many scientific errors. Why does an ancient book like the Qur'an not have any such errors? What kind of a human could find time in a very busy and often repressive lifetime to sit and cherry pick scientific facts and distinguish them from errors? Did the Prophet think, "The Greeks claim the earth is the center of the heavens and the earth, but my telescope tells me otherwise"? No, by no stretch of imagination could he have done that. And even if he did, then how could he have done it for about a thousand of other scientific points?3: The Old Testament confirms the validity of the ProphetLastly, it is important to notice that the Old Testament holds numerous statements about the coming of the Prophet. [3] In Deuteronomy 18:18, God speaks to Moses and tells him that a Prophet like him is to come, who will not speak of his own, but what God commands him. This fits to Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, the Prophet is linked to earlier Jewish Prophets who are also recognized in Judaism. This point will be elaborated on.ConclusionIn this round I conclude that the Prophet did not author the Qur'an, nor is there evidence that anyone else did. This points us toward a miracle, and that is a miracle from God. I will establish more evidence for Islam and a case against Judaism in the following rounds. I apologize for the short time.References*30 minutes to respond after this section, had a lot of work today. Excuse me please.[1] Finality of the Prophethood, Syed Abul A’la Maududi: http://www.prophetmuhammadforall.org...[2] Prophet Muhammad: Honesty and Truthfulness: http://norasensation.wordpress.com...[3] http://www.debate.org...