By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
We live in a world saturated with falsehood and corruption; there are not many who deserve our trust. But sheker is not something new. Last week, this column discussed the illogic inherent in the foundational claims of Christianity and Islam—that Hashem gave one Torah and made a promise to one nation in front of millions, then privately changed His mind but only told one person.
We continue to examine the silliness of these religions, and how they collapse under scrutiny. For instance, the Quran claims that it was not Yitzchak but Yishmael whom Avraham was ready to sacrifice in the Akeida. The “problem” is that by the time Muhammad made this claim, the Torah had already been in existence for 2,000 years, with multiple scrolls disseminated around the world stating that the son of the Akeida was Yitzchak. It had even been translated into Greek by the order of King Ptolemy, 900 years before the dawn of Islam, reiterating Yitzchak’s status.
Other absurd or inaccurate claims in the Quran include Haman being an advisor of Pharaoh; the mother of the Christian deity being the same person as Moshe’s sister Miriam; Pharaoh’s wife pulling Moshe from the Nile; and 75 people going down to Mitzrayim. If the Quran was given by the angel Gavriel as Muhammad claimed, why is it so full of errors? It is obvious that the book’s very human writers simply overheard Jews telling assorted stories of Tanach.
Among the Jewish people, only a person of great wisdom and good character traits, one who is in control of their desires, can qualify as a prophet. To us, Olam Haba means basking in the radiance of the Shechinah. Muhammad, lehavdil, was an illiterate warlord by his own admission, and the paradise he promises his faithful is a harem of many beautiful women—with many eager terrorists motivated to die in the name of Islam as a result. (No word on what faithful women receive when they die.)
The navi Yirmiyahu tells us that when Mashiach comes, the nations will admit that their ancient faiths were totally false: “Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and say, ‘Our fathers gave us nothing but lies as an inheritance, emptiness with no benefit.” Soon the day will come when all will recognize the falsity of the belief systems they inherited from their ancestors, and see the truth of Torah.
