I was having a chat with a Muslim the other day, and one of the things he kept on insisting was that not only do Catholics and Muslims worship the same god,…
Which I would agree with.
…but The Koran and The Bible are perfectly compatible with each other.
Not quite. There are many similarities in content and concept, but the Bible and the Koran were geared toward serving different needs. The Hebrew Bible is basically a set of oral traditions and national history of the People of Israel and it’s relationship with God. The New Testament came out of the Roman occupation of Palestine, in a period when Judaism and Jews were going through lasting changes in philosophy and politics.
In contrast the Quran is a response to the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible, both of which were meant to be the same revelation God gave to Muhammad, but humans corrupted it and distorted it, whether by accident or intentionally. Because these distortions happened when the revelation was put to paper, Muhammad’s revelations were given orally, so that the Word of God would come to people as directly as possible, and copied down practically verbatim.
Apparently, because “The Bible has been changed” , anything in The Bible contradicting anything in The Koran is simply an error that needs to be overlooked.
And that’s the catch, if you’re not a believer.
I’m neither Christian/Catholic nor Muslim, but I do know that Catholics believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, a notion that Muslims reject, because they only think that he was a Prophet Of God. I mentioned this passage:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
But apparently that is an error is well. Can anyone help me out? Show me clear proof that Jesus himself declared that he was god/the son of god (something that Muslims insist he never did), and also prove to me that The Bible hasn’t been changed beyond recognition.
PS: I have often heard it said by Muslims that Islam is a tolerant religion, and the proof of that are centuries old Churches and Synagogues in Islamic countries, because Sharia protects minorities, and the Dhimmi Tax is only there to secure that protection. Is it true?
People often make very broad, one-sided generalisations about this question–either Islam has to be a bloodthirsty religion and oppressed Christians and Jews, or Islam has to be completely peaceful and Christians and Jews lived with Muslims in harmony.
But if you’re looking back at a
global history of about 1500 years, like any comprehensive view of history, the answer is likelier to be both/and, than either/or.
You will find very successful Christian and Jewish communities throughout Islamic history, communities that frankly wouldn’t be allowed to thrive in Europe during the same time period. The records found in Cairo
geniza are excellent examples. You will also find that converting to Islam had social and economic incentives, and advantages not available to someone that remained one of the People of the Book. Interestingly Islamic rulers may have been tolerant of Christians and Jews, but not of dissenters within their own religion; sometimes Shiites, Druze, and Bahai were dealt with more harshly than POTB. Sometimes Islamic scholars justified extending dhimmi status to Zoroastrians and Hindus. And sometimes, Christians and Jews were violently persecuted.
You cannot dismiss the outcomes of one event over another’s, and you cannot take an event out of context. Religion is not the
only thing happening in these periods and regions, so to say “Muslims did X, so therefore Islam is Y” completely ignores what was going on politically, demographically, economically, etc.
(You should also know that the dhimmi tax was sometimes just a way to keep steady cash following in.

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