Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 42
42 It is said that in Mark (9:29) the word 'prayer' is still retained; and that if the change had been made from any bad motive, the word 'prayer' should not have been retained in Mark. But this plea does not hold good. Muslim criticism was not based on the word 'prayer', for prayer is still offered by Christians. The objection was based on the word 'fasting'. The verse that has been deleted showed that Jesus was in the habit of fasting and that he looked upon fasting as necessary for spiritual advancement, so the Law could not be regarded as a curse. In order to avoid this criticism, the whole verse was deleted from Matthew and the word 'fasting' was deleted from Mark. It is also possible that one party of the revisers thought it necessary to omit the whole verse, while another party thought it sufficient to omit only the word 'fasting'. Contradictions in the New Testament Then there are contradictions in the Gospel accounts and such contradictions also prove that the Gospels do not constitute a revelation of God or that human interference has changed the original revelation out of all recognition. Any ordinary author possessing an ordinary measure of consistency will not allow contradictions in what he writes. How then can we tolerate contradictions in a Book of God? We give here some examples: (i) With regard to the birth of Jesus we find from Matthew (1:1-22) and Luke (1:32-33) that the Messiah was to be one of ordinary human beings. Only, he was to be called son of God. From the Gospel of John (1:1), however, we find that the Messiah is the word which was ever with God and was, in fact, God, so that all have been made out of him. (ii) From Matthew (3:13-17), Mark (1:9-12) and Luke (3:21, 22 and 4:1) it appears that Jesus received baptism from John and after receiving baptism from him, he left him at once or on the same day. But in the Gospel of John there is no mention of any baptism and the meeting between Jesus and John is said to have lasted two days. (iii) From John (1:19-44) it appears that Jesus after remaining with John and his disciples for a few days went straight to Galilee. But from Matthew (4:1), Mark (1:12) and Luke (4:1), it appears that Jesus, after receiving baptism from John, went to the woods to have a trial of strength with Satan, and remained there for 40 days. (iv) From John (1:35-51) it appears that, soon after meeting John, Jesus made two of John’s disciples, one Andrew and the other un-named, his own disciples and on the way to Galilee he made Simon Peter and Nathanael his disciples. But from Matthew (4:12-22), Mark (1:12-20) and Luke (4:14-15; 5:1-11) it appears that, after meeting John and remaining for 40 day in the woods Jesus fasted, and on hearing of the imprisonment of John went to Galilee, and preached there in many places and for many days, and beside the lake at Galilee he admitted Simon Peter, Andrew, John and James as his disciples. That is to say, the place where, according to the Gospel of John, these persons were admitted as his disciples by Jesus is not the place where, according