Book Review Blurb – What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an

Book ranking – 8 out of 10

Book Title and Author

The book was written by James R. White, who is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an elder at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. He has authored a number of books in the category of apologetics. Some of them include The God Who Justifies and The Forgotten Trinity.

Author’s Main Purpose

The author states his 3-fold purpose on pg. 11.

1. To honor Jesus, my Lord, my Savior, my King, through the defense of His gospel

2. To bless the people of God by providing sound biblical and historical responses to Islamic claims in general and of the Qur’an in particular

3. To be used of God to bring the glorious message of salvation in Jesus Christ to the precious Muslim people who honor the Qur’an

Later he author says it is his “hope that with the material in this book, you will be encouraged to engage in open and frank dialogue with Muslims, who regularly are eager to do likewise” (pg. 14).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 (“The Qur’an and Muhammad of Mecca”) is a historical sketch of the upbringing of Mohammed, his religious journeys, his early infidelities as a young prophet and then the events surrounding his death. It is a brief biography of his life that sets the stage for the writing of the Qur’an. The so-called morality of Mohammed is outlined and questioned bravely.

Chapter 2 (“The Qur’an: A Brief Introduction”) includes a very helpful chart and explanation for how the Qur’an is divided and should be read.

Chapter 3 (“Allah: Tawhid, Shirk, the Mithaq and the Fitra”) gives a helpful explanation of the monotheistic beliefs of Islam and their parallels to Christianity.

Chapter 4 (“Say Not Three”: The Qur’an and the Trinity)” is a look at the Qur’an’s rejection of the Bible’s teaching on the trinity. The Qur’an rejection is based upon the claim that a belief in the trinity of God is an acceptance of polytheism.

Chapter 5 (“Jesus in the Qur’an”) details the relationship between Jesus and the teaching of the Qur’an. The author shares a number of passages that refer to Jesus and the Islamic faith’s claim on the equality between Jesus and Mohammed.

Chapter 6 (“The Qur’an and the Cross”) speaks to the denial by the Qur’an about the historicity of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross, it’s meaning and other facts surrounding this event.

Chapter 7 (“The Scales: Salvation in the Qur’an”) points out a number of similarities between the Bible and Qur’an’s teaching on salvation. There are a plethora of literal references in this chapter dealing with the Qur’an’s teaching of predestination, forgiveness and justice.

Chapter 8 (“Did the “People of the Book” Corrupt the Gospel?”) shows how the Qur’an teaches about Jews and Christians and gives a helpful historical background on how they came to be known as “the people of the book.”

Chapter 9 (“Prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible”) seeks to dispel the myth that Muhammad is prophesied of in the Bible. A careful examination is taken of those Biblical passages that Muslims use to prove their views on the references to Muhammad.

Chapter 10 (The Perfection of the Qur’an? Parallels and Sources”) and Chapter 11 (“The Perfection of the Qur’an? Transmission and Text”) discuss the claim by Muslims of the perfection and inerrancy of the Qur’an.

Why You Should Read This Book

First, I am very encouraged that the author is seeking to go to original sources to understand Islam. He is not going to study or quote only Arabic commentators but to look at the primary source: the Qur’an itself. Too often authors establish ideas by looking at other people’s studies on their subject. That is doing research and thinking lazily and through the minds of secondary sources. The best way for someone to draw a conclusion is to look at an original source and draw facts from there. And the author does an exceptional job of this.

Second, the glossary in the back is very helpful. Concise and helpful definitions are given of common words used when referring to the religions practices referred to the Qur’an and applied by many Muslims.

What I Wish Was or Wasn’t In the Book

It would have been nice to get some evangelistic helps. In other words, the author is a well-known apologist and yet offers very little instruction on how to witness to a Muslim. It would have been helpful to flag certain doctrines or dogmas that are real “hang-ups” for Muslims. It would have been helpful to get a list or charts of verses to use for Muslims that they would accept as truth.

Is It a Book I Would Recommend to Someone Else?

It’s tough to discern if this is a good book for everyone. There are times when the author gets a wee bit technical for the average readers. I would recommend it is a resource to be used and referred to as needed but necessarily a book that needs to be read cover-to-cover.

I would like to thank Bethany House for providing a free copy for an unbiased review.