ٱلۡبَيِّنَٰتِ
the clear proofs · Q 2:87
Resources
The apparatus behind every page: dates, terms, sources, and the record of what has been corrected.
What this part holds
Everything on this website that is not argument is here: the tools a reader needs to check the argument, and the record of how the argument has been tested. None of it is decoration. The timeline sets every gospel, letter, council and manuscript on one line from the birth of Jesus to the Qur’an, so that the distance between an event and its earliest record can be seen at a glance. The glossary defines the Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac terms and the vocabulary of New Testament scholarship that the articles use without stopping to explain. The source library indexes every work cited, by kind, with the pages that lean on it.
The second half is the website answering for itself. The FAQs give the questions people search for most, each answered in under sixty words and linked to the page with the evidence. Objections and replies states the strongest Christian objections to this website’s case, in the form a Christian apologist would accept, and answers each. Responses to named articles does the same for four published articles, claim by claim. The corrections log records every error found on the website, with what the page said and what it now says, so that a reader can see the website has been wrong and how it put the matter right.
How to use it
Read the articles with the glossary and the timeline open; every date and term in them is here. If an article’s source list names a work, the source library gives its edition and the other pages that use it. If you think an article is wrong, the contact page says how to report it and what a useful report contains. If you are a Christian reader with a reply, the objections and responses pages are where the best replies are published and answered, and a good one will end up there.
Reference
Did the Qur’an borrow its stories?
The charge that the Qur’an copied Mary and Jesus from the infancy gospels, stated fairly and answered.
Reference
Manuscripts of the extracanonical gospels
Thomas, the infancy gospels and others: what survives, in what language, and when it was copied.
Reference
Responses to named articles
Four published articles on the Gospel and Islam, their claims stated fairly and answered.
Questions about the resources
Where can I check the sources used on this website?
Every article lists its sources at the foot, and the source library indexes all of them by kind, from the Qur’an and the Greek New Testament to the commentaries, the church fathers, the critical scholarship and the manuscripts, with the pages that lean on each.
Is there a timeline of the gospels and the Qur’an?
Yes. The timeline runs from the birth of Jesus to the Qur’an and beyond, with every gospel, letter, council and manuscript dated, so the distance between an event and its earliest record can be seen at a glance.
How do I report an error on this website?
Through the contact page, giving the page, the sentence and the source that shows it is wrong. A report that is right is corrected on the page and recorded in the corrections log with what the page said and what it now says.
Has this website ever been wrong?
Yes, and the corrections log says where: scanning errors in the printed gospel text, two broken links, and a count of Thomas sayings that was revised. The log is kept newest first and never pruned.
Where are Christian objections answered?
On Objections and replies, which states each objection in the form a Christian apologist would accept and answers it, and on Responses to named articles, which answers four published articles claim by claim. The FAQs give the short answers.
What do Injīl, taḥrīf and muhaymin mean?
Injīl is the Qur’an’s word for the revelation given to Jesus. Taḥrīf is alteration, of meaning or of text. Muhaymin, “guardian”, is what the Qur’an calls itself over the earlier scripture (5:48), and gives this website its measure. These and sixty other terms are in the glossary.
Where this leads
The study began with a question and ends with its answers. The FAQs give the short ones; The Islamic Dilemma, answered gives the whole case in one page, and is the place to start again.