Judaism v. Islam

In this round, I will rebut my opponent's opening arguments against Islam, as well as refute his objections in the third round if there is enough room for that.Rebuttals Contention 1: The Qur'an states that the Torah, Bible, and the Qur'an from from GodWhen making a statement about an event, the grammar can imply that the event is past tense or present tense. If I say that it rained, but the sky is clear and blue, then I am speaking of two events: the former (i.e., it rained) is described using the past tense of "to rain," while "the sky is clear" is described using the present tense of "to be." Clearly the rain does not happen while the sky is clear, since "it rained" suggests that it happened in the past, while "the sky is clear" suggests that it is happening right now.[Qur'an 7:154] When the anger of Moses was appeased, he took up the tablets: in the writing thereon was guidance and Mercy for such as fear their Lord. There's a clear distinction between the Torah in its original form, and the Torah we have today. Muslims do not have to believe in the current Torah. What the Qur'an says is that we have to believe that the Torah was sent by God, but nowhere does it make it necessary for a Muslim to believe in the current Torah whatsoever.Additionally, my opponent asks whether or not I know that God said in the Torah that He would preserve His Word. This doesn't matter at all, because I am not forced to believe in the Torah in order to be a Muslim. If I wish to, I can accept the parts which agree with Islam. In fact, one does not have to pick between the Qur'an and the Torah, but accept that while we take the Qur'an as the highest priority and the verbatim word of God, we can still believe in the parts of Torah that are deemed as true by Islam.Nevertheless, the Word of God is in no way merely the physical Word of God. The Torah doesn't claim that the written word will remain written and unchanged. It rather says that the Word of God will be preserved, but that is possible in many ways. Imagine I have a message that people should hear of. If I say it will be preserved, why does the message have to be preserved in only say, one essay or one book? Why can it not be preserved in the minds of people and be passed on orally throughout generations?Clearly God's Word can be preserved without the Torah being preserved. The Torah contains words of God, but is not the Word of God. In fact, since the Qur'an has never been altered (so that we cannot distinguish between the original and the fake), it is easy for Muslims to argue that the Word of God was passed on from being written in the Torah to being written in the Gospel, and lastly to be written in the Qur'an. So if one changes a word in the written form of the Qur'an, that doesn't actually change God's divine Word. Just like if someone manipulates a picture of me, he doesn't actually manipulate me (i.e., my essence), but a reflection of myself.The contention is affirmed in its true meaning: The Qur'an accepts that it is from God, while the Injeel and the Torah were from God.Contention 2: The Qur'an is wrong in the formation of the spermThe more reasonable interpretation of this contention should be: The Qur'an is wrong about the location of the emission of the sperm. I have many objections to my opponent's contention (which is a myth, not a fact). I will split the responses into several points.P1: Wrong interpretation by ProPro states that the male testicles are far below the backbone and the ribs. While this is true, it has nothing to with the Qur'anic verse. The Qur'an doesn't say that the sperm gushes out, but the semen, which contains sperm but no more than 5% of it. The fact is that sperm mixes with seminal fluids before is gushes out from the penis, and this fluid is referred to in the Qur'an as "water gushing out." There is not a single mentioning of specifically sperm, how it is produced, where it is formed, etc. On the other hand, the Arabic word "Maain" is simply used to refer to the entire fluid that gushes out of the body after the seminal fluids and the sperm have been mixed.Furthermore, it is laughable how those who object to the Qur'anic verse by scientific means actually have a scientifically wrong opinion on the matter too. Fact is, the semen is neither stored nor produced in the testicles. The sperm is. Those two fluids mix somewhere in/near the abdomen, which is far above the testicles (which Pro agrees with).P2: Semen becomes a full mixture in the abdomenSperm has to travel through a complex process before it mixes with the seminal fluids and can finally gush out from the body. Take a look at the following picture and description of the process: http://tinyurl.com...More specifically, read this carefully (from same source): http://tinyurl.com...P3: "Between" is not a mathematical termDefinition of between: in, to, through or across the space dividing two people, places, times etc [1]One will have a hard time finding a strict mathematical definition of this term. The fact is that something can be between two objects even though it is not directly between them with the strictest measurements. The space which separates two objects, as is clear by definition, is referred to as 'between.' Look at this: http://tinyurl.com... Notice how the lower square is not directly between the left and right ones at all, but there is nothing wrong with saying that it is between them, because clearly the space between the left and right square is 'between.'There's more to say. Even in mathematics, one can deal with approximates. The number 0.999 is often referred to as 1. The number Pi is often shortened to 3,14, even though it has far more decimals. Are all the mathematical tests which say that Pi should be used as 3,14 wrong? Not the least. It is an approximate number, thereby a correct one too.P4: The area between the chest and the backbone contains the abdomenAs I have made evident, the space dividing two objects is called 'between.' If one takes a simple look at the human body, it is clear that the main front part is the chest (i.e., ribs) and the main back part is the backbone. http://tinyurl.com...So since we can deal with approximates in mathematics and science, there's nothing wrong with the Qur'an stating that the semen gushes out from the area between the chest and the back. The entire space goes down to almost the testicles, hence it is totally correct to refer to it as the Qur'an does. Remember, your head is not directly between your shoulders either - but to say that it is is actually correct. Contention 3: The Qur'an contradicts itselfThere are two words in play here: contradiction and contradistinction. By definition, a contradiction is a logical impossibility, where two opposites are true at the same time (while they cannot be). However, a contradistinction is a term used to distinct between two different things, which can be true at the same time, but are used to contrast one another.For instance, it is a contradiction to say that the human body consists of bones and at the same time say that the human body does not consist of bones at all. It is illogical. A contradistinction, however, is for example Pro coming to me with one question over 3 years, and I give different answers all three times: Mirza, what does the human body consist of?1st year: Bones2nd year: Flesh3rd year: WaterAlthough every year I give different answers, none of them are contradictory, nor are they mutually exclusive. We consist of bones, flesh, water, but not only of either one of them. Similarly, the Qur'an says we were created from nothing (period before clay), then God created life/humans from clay, which continued through sperm. All of these are true.Clay creation: http://tinyurl.com...Water creation: http://www.springerlink.com...And naturally, sperm. Science agrees with Islam, and there's no contradiction.Reference[1] http://www.thefreedictionary.com...