What is the Islamic dilemma?
What is the Islamic dilemma?
Answer
The Islamic dilemma is an argument Christians present to Muslims. The term refers to a logical conflict rooted in claims that the Quran—Islam’s most sacred book—makes about the Bible. The tension comes from the Quran’s claim that the Bible is God’s Word (Quran 3:3–4; 5:46–47; 10:94). Yet it also alleges that Jews and Christians changed the Bible, leading to historical and theological errors (Quran 2:75; 3:78; 5:13). Both claims cannot be true at the same time. If the Bible is God’s Word, then it must be true. But if it’s corrupt, the Quran cannot affirm it. Christians call this contradiction the Islamic dilemma.
The Quran affirms the divine origin of Scripture in passages that mention the Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament—and the Gospel. It refers to them as guidance from God. The Quran says that God “revealed the Torah and the Gospel . . . as guidance for the people” (Quran 3:3–4). It also says that the Gospel contains “guidance and light” (Quran 5:46) and that the people of the Gospel should “judge by what Allah has revealed therein” (Quran 5:47). Historically, the only completely trustworthy record of the Gospel is the New Testament witness rooted in the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Quran’s teaching about the Bible challenges Muslims to consider what it says about Jesus Christ or risk rejecting the authority of their faith’s most sacred book. Notably, the Gospels and other New Testament writings reveal that Jesus is the eternal Son of God (John 1:1–2, 14; Colossians 1:15–17; Hebrews 1:1–3). They also teach that He died for sin (1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 5:8) and rose from the dead three days later (1 Corinthians 15:4; Luke 24:6; Acts 2:32). Jesus also taught He is the only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; cf. Acts 4:12).
These facts lead to a logical contradiction for Muslims. The Quran says the Bible is guidance from God, yet it rejects its message about Jesus. This is a self-refuting statement—that is, it contradicts itself. To be clear, it’s not another document refuting the Quran; the book contradicts its own claims. Therefore, a reader cannot accept both positions at once. If the Bible’s message is true, then the Quran’s denial of its trustworthiness is in error. If the Bible is corrupt, then the Quran’s affirmation of it is in error.
What Jesus said about Himself and what His followers preached and wrote about Him stands in direct conflict with statements in the Quran. In the Gospels, Jesus declares He is the Son of God (John 10:36), but the Quran denies that God has a Son (Quran 112:3; 19:35). The Gospels also record Jesus receiving worship as God (John 20:28), but the Quran rejects the idea that Jesus is God (Quran 4:171; 5:116). Jesus predicted His death and resurrection (Mark 8:31), but the Quran asserts that Jesus was neither killed nor crucified (Quran 4:157). Jesus said He is the only way to God (John 14:6), but the Quran teaches that salvation comes through submitting to Allah and doing good deeds (Quran 2:112).
These examples show that the Bible’s claims about Jesus and the Quran’s teachings cannot both be true at the same time. To fully embrace the Quran, Muslims must either conclude that its statements about the Bible are incorrect, which would mean the Quran contains an error, or accept its affirmation of the Bible as true and live with the resulting logical contradictions between the two books’ teachings.
The historical record further strengthens the Islamic dilemma. The New Testament offers multiple eyewitness testimonies to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection written when those who heard and saw Him were still living. In contrast, the Quran’s statements about Jesus—written over 600 years later—are internally inconsistent and lack independent textual or historical foundation.
All 66 books of the Bible are internally consistent. They are without error or contradiction in all they affirm about Jesus, people, morality, sin, salvation, history, science, and more (2 Timothy 3:16–17; John 17:17). In contrast, the Quran’s teaching cannot be harmonized with the Bible or even with itself.