An Exchange With Mr. Sam Shamoun [1] Mr. Shamoun’s First Message Hello Fellow Colleagues, I saw your response to my points which were sent to you by one Faisal. For the most part you gave some good answers. Yet you also misquoted the Holy Scriptures and evaded several main arguments. Needless to say, I am going to write a rebuttal to your attempted rebuttal soon, Lord willing. When it is done I will let you know. Suffice it to say by responding you have now helped sharpened my defense, exposing several potholes in Islamic Apologetics, helping me to establish that the Quran contains gross contradictions and errors which cannot be reconciled. All in all yours is the best out there and I am impressed by the quality of your work. Keep up the great work. Hopefully we can still be friends and respect each others' differences. Your Friend, Sam August 5, 2000 My Response My dear Mr. Shamoun, Greetings, It was indeed a pleasant surprise to hear from you. Your final remarks made it even more pleasant. I assure you from the depths of my heart that you shall, insha'Allah , always find my doors open for any and every healthy exchange of ideas and thoughts. My brother, you write: "Hopefully we can still be friends and respect each others' differences.", why not? We can definitely do that. In fact, I really do not have a single friend with whom I have no differences (and I can't imagine having one). I really do not see why you or Mr. Katz or Mr. Newton should be exceptions. I, however, agree with you that for a good, lasting and meaningful friendly relationship, we would need to show some respect and empathy toward the others' ideas. Unfortunately, that is precisely what I have found lacking in the Christian-Muslim debates, in general, and those posted on the internet, in particular. Rather than understanding the other's minds and beliefs, we, as a whole, have generally concentrated on objecting and condemning the other. This attitude, as you would agree, has contributed in the present confrontational environment that exists between the two (three -- if we include the Jews in it) montheistic creeds. I really think, this environment can drastically be changed if we succeed in replacing the prevalent attitude of hatred and self-righteousness with that of appreciation of the other's mind, empathy and understanding. I assure you that I would always be willing to participate in any such activity, which helps in bringing the more reasonable in the two creeds closer and in developing an environment, which promotes the desired ideals. I would further like to add here that I have been trained in an environment where academic differences do not amount to hatred and severing of friendly relationships. I have great regards for all those who are working to propagate what they hold to be God's truth. I see this to be a great common factor between all of us. A factor, which, in my heart, is much greater to overcome any differences that we may have between us. You write: Needless to say, I am going to write a rebuttal to your attempted rebuttal soon, Lord willing. When it is done I will let you know. I would eagerly look forward to that. I assure you that your rebuttal shall find my heart and mind absolutely open and receptive to any and every truth, which the Almighty guides me to understand. A rebuttal of my writings has never offended me in any way. I have always tried to take a rebuttal of my ideas and writings, as a potential opportunity to get closer to God's truth. I would, insha'Allah, have absolutely no reservations in accepting and proclaiming my mistakes and correcting them without delay. I pray to God -- the Merciful -- that He keeps my heart and mind open to His truth – from wherever it comes -- for as long as He allows me to breathe His air. You write: Yet you also misquoted the Holy Scriptures and evaded several main arguments. I assure you, I have never intentionally misquoted anything. However, I am not clear from committing mistakes. I may have unintentionally misquoted something in my referred writing. I shall, insha'Allah , make emends as soon as the specific problem is effectively and convincingly brought to my notice. As far as evading any arguments is concerned, I would normally ignore an argument which I perceive to be baseless, self-evidently incorrect and not deserving of my attention due to a reason, which is obvious for an academic mind. Nevertheless, I may have been mistaken in my perception and shall stand corrected as soon as you would specifically point-out the referred problem. You write: Suffice it to say by responding you have now helped sharpened my defense, exposing several potholes in Islamic Apologetics, helping me to establish that the Quran contains gross contradictions and errors which cannot be reconciled. If that is true, then I would, indeed, have made a great contribution, in clarifying the truth. Your statement makes me wait even more eagerly for your article. You write: All in all yours is the best out there and I am impressed by the quality of your work. Keep up the great work. I am honored by your comment. May the Lord guide me and all seekers of the truth to the path of His liking. My fondest regards to you and those around you. Moiz Amjad (The Learner) August 5, 2000 P.S. Would you have any objections if I post this email as a part of our exchange on the topic of the contradictions in the Qur'an? Mr. Shamoun’s Second Message Hello Moiz, Sorry for not being able to respond to all your points in this letter. But needless to say, I agree with all your statements wholeheartedly. You have my permission to post my emails, specifically my response to your points. One point of clarification: Faisal did not comment (at least from what I read) on the fact that the paper I had sent him was my material I planned on using against Shabir in my debate. There I was using Shabir's methodology against, namely his uncritical use of sources and scholars. Hence, my aim was not to "prove" a contradiction in the Quran, although feel there are, but rather to show Muslims what happens when Shabir's method is used against Islam. Much like Christians have responded and rebutted the claims put forth by Shabir, I had no doubt that there would Muslims who would also respond to my challenge against Islam. All in all, please allow for at several weeks before responding since as you probably can tell from looking at Answering Islam I write quite extensively. Once it is done you will be informed. God bless you my friend and brother in humanity. Thank you for the letter. Sam August 6, 2000 My Response Thank you for allowing me to post our exchange on the web. Your clarification regarding the background of your writings is quite pertinent and, at least to me, quite understandable. I hope to hearing from you soon. Regards Moiz Amjad August 6, 2000 Home Page [1] Mr. Sam Shamoun is the author of the Mistakes in the ‘Alleged Mistakes in the Qur’an’, posted at: http://www.understanding-islam.com/rq/q-070.htm .