The True Furqan

The True Furqan (Arabic: الفرقان الحق‎, romanized: al-Furqān al-ḥaqq) is a book written in Arabic mirroring the Qur'an but incorporating elements of traditional Christian teaching.

The True Furqan
AuthorAl Saffee, Al Mahdee
Original titleal-Furqān al-ḥaqq
TranslatorAnis Shorrosh
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish, Arabic
GenreReligion
PublisherWine Press Publishing, Enumclaw, WA
Publication date
June 1999
Media typePrint (Hardback), Online edition
Pages366
ISBN9781579211752
OCLC52725049

Reception

According to Baptist News, Al-Mahdy, a member of the executive committee of "Project Omega 2001" released The True Furqan in April 1999 saying that Muslims "have not received the true message of the gospel".[1] The book is attributed to authors who go by the pseudonyms of "Al Saffee" and "Al Mahdee", and was translated into English by Anis Shorrosh, who calls it "a tool to liberate Muslims",[2] and who believes that Muhammad is "the antichrist".[3] It contains 77 numbered chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue.[4] According to Shorrosh, The True Furqan is an attempt to respond to the challenge in the Quran that none can create a work like it,[5] and incorporates a Christian rather than Islamic message.[6] "This book apparently reproduced the Quranic style so effectively that some who recited it aloud in public areas were thanked by Arab Muslims for having recited the Quran itself."[7]

Christian missionary Dr. Ray Register characterized the book as an effective tool for "pre-evangelism" to help "critique the Quran and popular Muslim attitudes toward Jesus and ethical living." [8] American Thinker editor and publisher Thomas Lifson wrote that the book "presents Christian theology in a way that it can be understood and digested by Muslims."[9] but says that some Muslims are offended by the book because they feel that the work mocks Islam and tries to deceive Muslims into accepting The True Furqan.

It has been described as "Christian propaganda" since its second verse "starts talking about the Holy Trinity, a thoroughly un-Islamic concept."[10] and The American Muslim called the book a "hoax", saying it represented "a desperate measure to find some way to convert the infidel Muslims since a few hundred years of concerted effort have brought so little success".[11] Other critics called it "poor in quality and ridiculous in content" and "a pathetic attempt to distort the Quranic teaching by reproducing what looks like Quranic verses."[12]

Islamic scholars at the University of Tehran have argued that The True Furqan uses a flawed methodology in its attempt to answer the challenge of the inimitability (Taḥaddi) of the Quran.[13]

Michael R. Licona draws a parallel between The True Furqan and the Gospel of Barnabas, in that each attempts to emulate the style of the scriptures of one religion in order to advance the doctrinal claims of the other, albeit with the respective roles of Christianity and Islam reversed.[14]:99

Some Islamic believers feel The True Furqan was created by the American or Israeli governments as part of a conspiracy. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Usbūc claimed in its December 6, 2004 edition that "The True Koran [sic] was drafted with direct Israeli participation and with direct instructions from U.S. President George Bush."[15] The US State Department strongly rejects allegations of any US government participation in the creation of The True Furqan.[15] According to the translator Anis Shorrosh, "there was no Israeli involvement in the preparation of the book."[15]

Censorship

The importation of the book into India is prohibited.[16][17]

References
  1. C.S. Arthur, "New book answers challenge issued by Islam's holy book", Baptist News, 28 May 1999
  2. Anis Shorrosh's home page
  3. Yohanna Katanacho, "Palestinian Protestant Theological Responses to a World Marked by Violence", p. 5 (also in Missiology 36, no. 3 (2008))
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Surah 17:88 (none can create a work like the Quran), Surah 11:13 (none can produce ten Surahs like the Quran), Surah 2:23 (none can create a single Surah like the Quran)
  6. Yohanna Katanacho, "Palestinian Protestant Theological Responses to a World Marked by Violence", p. 6 (also in Missiology 36, no. 3 (2008)).
  7. Qureshi, Nabeel (2014). Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. p. 229. ISBN 9780310515029.
  8. Ray Register, "Discipling Middle Eastern Believers", St Francis Magazine Nr. 2 Vol. V (April 2009) Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, p. 41
  9. Lifson, Thomas, "The most controversial book you never heard of", American Thinker, 27 Dec 2005
  10. Whitaker, Brian "The Nashville Qur'an" Guardian 8 February 2007
  11. Sheila Musaji, "The ‘True Furqan’ Qur'an Hoax", The American Muslim
  12. The Middle East, abstracts and index, Library Information and Research Services, vol. 4, 2005, p.456
  13. NajarZadegan, Fath Allah; Haftador, Hassan Rezaee; Shahmoradi, Muhammad Mahdi (January 2017). "The Methodology of Assessing the "The True Furqan's" Challenge of the Qur'an" (PDF). Man in India. 97 (14): 367–378.
  14. Licona, Michael (2009). "Using the Death of Jesus to Refute Islam" (PDF). Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. 2 (1): 87–110.
  15. State Department Press Release, "A New American Koran?", 21 April 2005 Archived 14 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Notification No. 78 /2005-Customs (N.T.) (Archived from the original on 24 April 2015.)
  17. Suroor, Hasan (2012-03-03). "You can't read this book". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
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