Shining God's Light on the Koran

This article is part of an on-going series contrasting the Judeo-Christian Bible with the Koran on a variety of topics. Previous articles include: "Was Abraham a Jew or a Christian?", Idolatry 101, 102, 103, Oneness, Unbelievers, God's Character, The Resurrection, The Proclamation, The Judgment, The Creation of Man, The Creation of Woman, and The Fall of Man: Part 1-The Command, Part 2 – The Disobedience, Part 3 – The Consequence, Part 4 – Its Ramification, Right Dividing (Interpreting) the Word – Part I, Part II Part III, Mortality versus Immortality, Worship, Adam or Jesus?, God Begat a Son, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Does God Love the Wicked?, and Misquoting Scripture, Deliberate Deception.

God’s New Earth Day

Recently, the extreme environmentalist and those duped by them celebrated Earth Day. The earth is neither “living”, eternal or divine. The radical environmentalists are trying to save what will one day be destroyed, I wrote of it in my article regarding the ramification of the Fall of Man. In that article I wrote that the god of Islam would remanufacture the earth. A comment was made that the term, “restore the earth,” applied to water causing the land to grow vegetation after a drought has ended with new rainfall. This seemed like a plausible explanation of the term restore until I discovered something different in the Koran. We will begin with the anonymous comment that was posted to my article.

ANONYMOUS COMMENT

“The verses you cite from the Qur’an have nothing to do with the recreation of the planet Earth, as you imagine it. Instead the verses have to do with the recreation of man (i.e., the hereafter, the Day of Judgment). The pagan Arabs could not believe that mankind would be resurrected. In the two verses you cite in the 30th Surah, 11 and 27, Allah (swt) is trying to tell the Arabs through the Qur’an that His recreation of them will be just as easy for Him as was their original creation.

‘As for verse 57:17, when Allah (swt) refers to the earth reviving after its “death,” He means soil that has dried out (such as a desert or a land that has undergone a drought), which can come back to life (support new plant life) after rainfall.

‘Please don’t take the Qur’an at face value; doing so will only result in misunderstanding such as this. To understand the Qur’an well requires study in the historical, linguistic, and theological context. While that road is more difficult and lengthier, It produces more gems of understanding. Keep up your study of the Qur’an; insha’allah (if God wills), one day you too may become a Muslim.”

THE KOANIC ACCOUNT

“On that day We shall roll up the heaven like a scroll of parchment. Just as We brought the First Creation into being, so will We restore it. This is a promise We shall assuredly fulfill (1).”
“Are the disbelievers unaware that the heavens and the earth were but one solid mass which We tore asunder, and that We made every living thing from water? Will they not have faith (2)?”

COMMENTARY ON THE KORAN & ANONYMOUS COMMENTS

“Rolling up heaven like a scroll of parchment” is not some drought taking place on earth. The observable universe is thirty billion light years in diameter and no one knows how far beyond this the universe extends. To roll this up like a scroll of parchment would take some doing. The sun in the sky is eight hundred thousand miles in diameter. There are other stars much larger. The star Herculis is six hundred and ninety million miles in diameter (3). Then the universe must be put away. This is what happens when scrolls are rolled up; they are put away. Presumably the universe will condense into a solid spherical mass.

Just as the god of Islam brought about the first creation so he will restore it. We read that the heavens and the earth were one solid mass which was torn apart and heaven and earth came from that. This would mean that the universe would not go to nothing. The Koran does not show that everything is created from nothing. This would mean that sin would still be a part of the renewed earth and heaven. To get sin out of the universe it would have to be reduced to nothing.

Restore would mean bringing back to the original condition without destroying the original work. Perhaps the original creation had sin in it as an integral part of it.

THE BIBICAL ACCOUNT

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea (4).”

“And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the tree (5).”

“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (6).”

COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT

The phrase “Wherein dwelleth righteousness” implies that the current universe does not have righteousness dwelling within it. When Adam sinned this brought sin not only into the human race, and the world, but also into the furthest reaches of the universe. The first heaven and the first earth are passed away means that the current heaven and earth will disappear in a fervent heat. God does not have to recycle. No amount of refining of the current universe would eliminate sin from the elements. Therefore, the entire universe will be reduced to nothing. God will then make a new universe out of nothing.

Would you like to enter into the new heaven and the new earth? Those who are born again will do so. Jesus shed His blood and received the wrath of God against Himself for you and me. You can invite Jesus into your heart right now. You can pray this simple prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ forgive me of my sins and come into my heart.”

REFERENCES

1. The Koran, Page 233 Paragraph 21:103
2. The Koran, Page 229 Paragraph 21:27
3. Collier’s Encyclopedia, Volume 18, Page 181
4. The Holy Bible, Revelation 21:1
5. The Holy Bible, Isaiah 34:4
6. The Holy Bible, II Peter 3:10-13