Did you know that in 1543 Martin Luther had a significant role in the publication of a Latin edition of the Qur'an? He wrote the preface and Philip Melanchthon wrote a 'warning to the Christian Reader'. Melanchthon had a number of points to raise, one of which was to 'compare types of teachings' between religions. This is what he found:
- Mohammed 'says nothing in favor of the forgiveness of sins'.
- 'He spews forth blasphemies upon the Son of God'.
- 'He does not teach what sin is'.
- 'nor does he demonstrate the causes of human misfortune'
- 'He is incapable of saying anything about true prayer in faith'.
- 'Finally, he completely rejects that teaching which belongs to the Gospel'.
I really need to get round to reading the Qur'an at some stage, but I suspect if I did I would come up with a different list. Nevertheless I think Melanchthon's list is better than one that I would write. I probably would never have thought of observing the lack of an explanation for 'causes of human misfortune' (how important is that for living life?) or teaching on 'true prayer in faith' (what a blessing that is!).
(Quotes from "Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and the Publication of the Qur'an" by J Paul Rajashekar and Timothy J. Wengert, in Lutheran Quarterly Vol 26 (2002) pp. 221-228)
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