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[quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima]
[b]There isn't a single contradiction in the Quran.[/b] I know exactly the verses you are referring to, feel free to cite them and I will give you the story behind each.  The Quran wasnt revealed over night but it was revealed in 23 years and verses were revealed according to what was going on at the time and there is a clear explanation of each verse of the Quran. If you want to learn the meaning of verses, you have to read what we call Tafseer of the Quran which will tell you when a verse was revealed, why it was revealed and what the meaning is[/quote]

My husband - a Saudi Arab - and I refer to the line about Jews allegedly worshipping Ezra as a "big ole Quranic whoops."  That's why Jews don't take the Quran seriously.  If it could mess up that very basic tenet of Jewish monotheistic belief, what else did it misunderstand?

The Jews call `Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is the saying from their mouth; (In this) they are intimate; what the Unbelievers of the old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the truth. [Qur'an 9:30]

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I don't like to debate other religions but since you noted this,the Qur’an does not say that all the Jews believe that Ezra is the son of God, but there was a sect of Jews which said that Ezra is the son of God. If you translate the Arabic verse there in the Quran then you will come to know that it is a claim of some Jews and not something which forms the core belief of Judaism. it is to be noted that almost all classical commentators of the Qur'an agree in that only the Jews of Arabia, and not all Jews, have been thus accused.  According to a Tradition on the authority of Ibn `Abbas - quoted by Tabari in his commentary on this verse, some of the Jews of Medina once said to Muhammad saw, "How could we follow thee when thou hast forsaken our giblah* and dost not consider Ezra a son of God?"

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Also interesting is Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali's comments on this issue:
Of course there is no evidence in the extant Old Testament about it; but the Qur'an was not referring to what is written in the Old Testament about 'Uzayr but to the belief and assertion of some of the Jews of the time who regarded 'Uzayr as the son of God. In fact the 'ayah in question, 9:30, starts with the expression: "And the Jews say". The commentator Al-Baydawi, to whome Watt refers a number of times in his book, (fn. Watt, Muhammad's Mecca, 108, note 2 to Chapter 1 and notes 2 and 10 to Chapter III) makes it clear with reference to this 'ayah that because the Old Testament was given its present form by 'Uzayr, many of the Jews of the time considered him a "son of God" and that specifically at Madina there was a group of Jews who held that belief. Al-Baydawi futher points out that the 'ayah in question was read out and recited as usual but no Madinan Jew came forward with a contradiction (fn.Al-Baydawi, Tafsir, I, second Egyptian impression, 1968, p. 412). It is to be noted that this 'ayah is unanimously regarded as Madinan. Hence the silence of the Jews of the place on the matter is suggestive enough, particularly as they were avowed critics of the Prophet.
Not only Al-Baydawi but also other commentators mention that the 'ayah refers to the views of a particular group of the Jews. For instance, Al-Tabari bives a number of reports together with their chains of narrators specifically mentioning the leading Jews of Madina who considered Uzayr a son of God. The most prominent of those Jews were Finhas, Sullam ibn Mishkam, Nu'man ibn Awfa, Sha's ibn Qays and Malik ibn al-Sayf (fn. Al-Tabari, Tafsir, XIV, 201-204). Similarly, Al-Qurtubi mentions the same fact and the same names adding that the expression "the Jews" occuring at the beginning of the 'ayah means "some particular Jews", just as the expression "people told them" (qala lahum al-nas) means not all the people of the world but some particular people. He further says that the Jewish sect who held that 'Uzayr was God's son had become extinct by his (Al-Qurtubi's) time (fn. Al-Qurtubi, Tafsir, Pt. VIII, 116-117). (Muhammad Mohar Ali, The Qur'an and the Orientalists, Jam'iyat 'Ihya' Minhaj Al-Sunnah 2004, p. 66)
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Y[b]ou're engaging in theological acrobatics. I have read the purported answer to justify this verse, and they all appear to me no more than desperate efforts to explain something that is, in effect, a big ole whoops.  The Quranic line is very simple[/b].  It says Christians call Christ the son of god (which is in fact a key tenet of Christian faith), and in the same line and the same grammatical construct, it alleges that Jews call Ezra a son of god (which is a whoops.)

What does it matter that somewhere in Arabia or Yemen there MAY have been a tiny sect of Jews who believed something atypical? The key tenets of Jewish faith have been well formed for centuries before Islam appeared on the scene; absolute, unwavering monotheism is a cornerstone of these beliefs.  It is very curious, to say the least, that out all the millions of global Jewry, the Quran - a book for all ages that's correct about all things - chooses to focus on an (allegedly) tiny sect of Jews who worshipped Ezra (if it existed, it left no written trace of its life, certainly not in non-Muslim sources), when it should have been well aware of the fact that this belief - if it existed at all - is a deviation in Judaism. This line describes Christians correctly and it applies to all Christians. It wants to apply the same argument to Jews, but that's where the whoops comes in.

I don't consider "the silence of Jews" on the matter to mean anything. There are any number of reasons one keeps quiet: for political gain, to avoid conflict, to curry favor. How powerful were Muslims at the time? Would it have been advantageous to the Jews to argue with them or not? Why should the Jews care what someone else's scripture say? Is there evidence of Jews EVER objecting to anything the Quran said at the time?

The response you posted is so convoluted and rests on so many assumptions that one is reminded of a simple rule of logic: between a complex and a simple explanation, choose simple.  [b]The simple explanation is that whoever wrote that verse made a mistake.  I find the answers unconvincing and therefore I consider this verse a Quranic whoops.[/b]
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And that is why you are not a Muslim. Of course even presented with evidence you will continue to refute and choose to ignore the context in which the verse was revealed, while it is Quran101 that each verse has a meaning according to the context in which it was revealed. Of course the Quran is timeless and Allah in his infinite wisdom chooses to focus and cover whatever He pleases. Who are you to decide "What does it matter that somewhere in Arabia or Yemen there MAY have been a tiny sect of Jews who believed something atypical?" Obviously it mattered to the Creator of the Universe who included it in His Book.[/quote]

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