27th December 2004

The article Is The Bible In Our Hands The Same As During The Time Of Muhammad^(P)? is updated with the hadith of Hudhayfah bin al-Yaman concerning the state of Christian scripture during the advent of Islam. The article is also tweaked to incorporate some important suggestions made by our readers.

The article is in the section Examining The Qur'an.

Often one hears from revisionists and Christian missionaries about the denial of Islamic contribution to the Western science. We have put two articles of interest that specifically refute such nonsense.

Rebuilding The Past: Western science owes much to Islam’s golden age - a debt that is often forgotten. To help redress the balance, Fuat Sezgin has reconstructed a host of scientific treasures using ancient Arabic texts. Alison Abbott reports in the top scientific journal Nature.

The Arab Roots of European Medicine, David W. Tschanz, Saudi Aramco World, May/June 1997, Volume 48, Number 3. The title is self-explanatory!

These articles are linked from the section Refutation Of Christian Polemics.

19th December 2004

Addition of a Review of The History Of The Qur'anic Text From Revelation To Compilation: A Comparative Study With The Old And New Testaments (M. Mustafa al-A‘zami, UK Islamic Academy: Leicester, UK) by Murad Wilfried Hoffman, Muslim World Book Review, 2004, Volume 24 (Issue 4). Shaykh al-A‘zami's work throws new light, especially, on the issues of Qur'an's compilation, dotting and addition of diacritical marks.

The article Is The Bible In Our Hands The Same As During The Time Of Muhammad^(P)? is given a minor update with an addition of a reference of Alfred Guillaume that deals inconclusively with the "version" of Gospels around c. 700 CE.

The article is in the section Examining The Qur'an.

8th December 2004

Is The Bible In Our Hands The Same As During The Time Of Muhammad^(P)? This article has undergone some serious revision, given the fact that we now have a much better idea about the development of the Christian biblical canon.

The article is in the section Examining The Qur'an.

12th November 2004

A link to the article Biblia Hebraica Quinta and the Making of Critical Editions of the Hebrew Bible, Richard D. Weis, TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, 2002, Volume 7, is added.

Weis explains the current situation with regards the critical editions of the Hebrew Bible, namely, Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Biblia Hebraica & Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Hebrew University Bible and Oxford Hebrew Bible. We know that some of these critical texts are the basis of modern day translation of the Bibles. Are the modern day critical editions of the Bibles based on editorial judgment or are they the "inerrant", "infallible" and "eternal" word of God? You read and decide!

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

7th November 2004

In the mind of Christians, the number 666 puts a potrait of the Beast mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Interestingly enough, the papyrus P¹¹⁵, the second-best witness to the Book of Revelation, gives the number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation as 616! Which one is the "true" number of the Beast? What other numbers were used for the Beast in the New Testament in the New Testament manuscripts? How are these numbers interpreted? This issue is discussed in papyrus P¹¹⁵.

It is to be pointed out that the Christians in the Middle Ages thought the number 666 in the Book of Revelation represented Prophet Muhammad^(P) and in the modern age it is the Pope!

The article is in the section The New Testament Manuscripts.

1st November 2004

Addition of the latest papyri of the New Testament, viz., P¹¹⁶ (6th century CE), P¹¹⁷ (4th/5th century CE) and P¹¹⁸ (3rd century CE) in List Of Papyri Of The New Testament.

We have also added links to the images of the papyri P³⁷, P³⁸ , P³⁹, P⁴⁰, P⁴⁵, P⁴⁶, P⁷⁵ and P⁸⁷.

The article is in the section The New Testament Manuscripts.

26th October 2004

A quick update of the article On The Textual Sources Of The New International Version (NIV) Bible. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when a human touch is involved in supposedly the "Word" of God! One of our readers sent us a striking picture of the committee for the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament involved in discussions dealing with textual variants in the Greek New Testament. This has been added.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

25th October 2004

Ramadhan Mubarak to our readers! May Allah accept our fastings and prayers. Ameen!

Often we hear that the Bible of Christians was "inspired" by God. On the other hand, we know that throughout the history, Christianity never agreed on any one canon that can be called the Bible. Different Christian sects have different Bibles containing different number of books which they consider as "inspired".

What about the modern Bibles? What are their textual sources? Can these textual sources be considered "inspired" or "original"? Such issues are dealt with in the article On The Textual Sources Of The New International Version (NIV) Bible. It should be added that the arguments made against the "inspiration" or "originality" of textual sources of the NIV Bible are also valid for RSV, NASV and other Bibles based on "eclectic" sources. Please note that the article is not about translations of the Bible; it is about their textual sources.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

1st October 2004

The Qira'at Identified In Qur'anic Manuscripts has been updated with information about Qira'at in the second century AH Qur'anic manuscript "MS Or. 2165" in the British Library, London. This manuscript has been (wrongly!) claimed as the "oldest Qur'anic manuscript" in the UK.

The second century Qur'anic manuscript "MS Or. 2165" in the British Library, London, has a very similar script like that of "MS Paris Arabe 328a" from the first century of hijra. They both were written in hijazi script and both are in the reading of Ibn ‘Amir. It is believed that these two manuscripts were written during the Umayyad times in Syria.

This material is in the section The Qur'anic Manuscripts.

28th September 2004

A mix of old and new canons this time. Addition of 10 more canons of, viz., Josephus, Philastrius, Theodoret, Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, Hugo of St. Victor, Oecolampadius, Calvin, Westcott & Hort and RSV in The Canons Of The Old Testament & The New Testament Through The Ages. That brings the total to 87 canons.

Errors were corrected in the Complutensian Polyglot. The body of canons is now separated to show the advent of Islam as well as Reformation in the Europe.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

13th September 2004

Addition of 7 more canons of, viz., Tertullian, Chrysostom, Leontius, Anastasius, Alfric, Alexius and John of Salisbury in The Canons Of The Old Testament & The New Testament Through The Ages. That brings the total to 77 canons.

Errors were corrected in the canons of Jerome and John of Damascus.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

9th September 2004

Addition of 6 more canons of, viz., Clement, Irenaeus, Junilius, Nicephorus, Ebed Jesu and Karlstadt in The Canons Of The Old Testament & The New Testament Through The Ages. That brings the total to 70 canons.

As usual please do not forget to go through the useful notes and references at the end. If you find any errors please do not hesistate to email us. More canons would be added in the due course, insha'allah.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.

16th August 2004

We add a separate sub-section for the Qur'anic manuscripts that are dated to first half of the first century of hijra (i.e., before 50 AH / 670 CE). They do not fall into the category of the ‘Uthmanic Qur'ans. Currently four manuscripts are listed and we believe there exist more. We will provide images of those that are not available as soon as we are able to obtain them, insha'allah.

This material is in the section The Qur'anic Manuscripts.

7th July 2004

Addition of a fragment of the famous "Blue" Qur'an present in Beit al-Qur'an, Bahrain. Also updated is the Qur'anic manuscript from 1st / 2nd century of Hijra at Beit al-Qur'an with a better image and references.

This material is in the section The Qur'anic Manuscripts.

3rd July 2004

We present a display of what is widely held to be the ‘Uthmanic manuscript of the Qur'an in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This manuscript is also known as the Samarqand manuscript. It has five images (~800 kb!) and will take some time to load. The discussion about the dating of the manuscript will be added later, insha'allah.

This material is added in the section The Qur'anic Manuscripts.

1st July 2004

We present PERF No. 731: The Earliest Manuscript Of Malik's Muwatta' Dated To His Own Time. This contains information about the characteristics of script. On a later date, we would like to put an analysis of this manuscript and comparing with the current available transmission of the Muwatta'.

This article is added in the section Issues Concerning Hadith.

Alhamdulillah, we already have the earliest Arabic papyrus PERF No. 558 (22 AH) and perhaps the earliest Qur'anic manuscript on Islamic Awareness (first half of the first century of Hijra).

27th June 2004

Taking the a cue Qur'an-only writer the Christian missionaries have claimed that the Muwatta' is "a collection hadiths" and that the "versions" of the Muwatta' are "drastically different" from one another. The article On The "Versions" Of Malik's Muwatta' checks the authenticity of such a claim.

This article is added in the section Issues Concerning Hadith.

A mailing list for informing the updates of Islamic Awareness is now up and running. Those of you who are not subscribed and would like to subscribe, please email us mentioning "subscribe" in the subject.

20th June 2004

We add some interesting links that will be of some benefit to the readers of Islamic Awareness.

Revisionism and Islam have been in fashion for some time but the revisionists' methodologies are often quite hard to find on the web. On Revising Bigotry by Professor Khaled Abou El-Fadl provides a witty insight into the methodologies of the revisionists. Revisionism rests on several peculiar assumptions and these assumptions the author highlights in a very lucid way. The article includes a commentary on Daniel Pipes, Ibn Warraq and Ibn Rawandi who rather digently use the works of Crone, Wansbrough, Nevo et al.

An interesting and devastating critique of the book Crossroads To Islam: The Origin Of Arab Religion And The Arab State (Yehuda D. Nevo and Judith Koren, 2003, Prometheus Books: Amherst, NY) in Bryn Mawr Classical Review by Colin Wells.

These two articles is linked from the section The Islamic Inscriptions.

It appears that the Christian missionary activity and deception to intimately linked. The Stealth Crusade, Mother Jones, May/June 2002, looks into some of the nefarious activities of the missionaries to convert Muslims to Christianity by hook or by crook.

This article is linked from the section Refutation Of Christian Polemics.

9th May 2004

The age of globalization and cheap labour has brought about outsourcing, i.e., sending jobs overseas. Christianity has already outsourced the forgiveness; now it is the turn of prayer. We present a link to the article Outsourcing Religion, On A Wing And A Prayer, Asia Times Online, 1st May 2004.

This article is linked from the section Refutation Of Christian Polemics.

1st May 2004

The Story Of Abraham And Idols In The Qur'an And Midrash Genesis Rabbah checks the claim that Qur'anic story was borrowed from the Midrash as well as some other sources.

This article is in the section Refutation Of The Borrowing Theories Of The Qur'an.

22nd March 2004

Addition of 8 more canons of, viz., Eusebius, Epiphanius, Jerome, Rufinus, Greek Orthodox Church, Ethiopic Church, 39 Articles of Church of England and Westminster Confession of Faith in The Canons Of The Old Testament & The New Testament Through The Ages. That brings the total to 64 canons. Please note that we have now added a separate category of books that are described as "Present and fit for ecclesiastical or catechetical purposes, but does not constitute as an apocrypha". Before the Reformation, the term "apocrypha" was used not in the modern sense but as a designation for heretical books. This category takes care of this important distinction.

As usual please do not forget to go through the useful notes and references at the end. If you find any errors please do not hesistate to email us. More canons would be added in the due course, insha'allah.

The article is in the section Canon Of The Bible.