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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

A Qur'an Search Engine verifies that the expression "Lo!" occurs in a total of 1363 verses (though it occurs several times in many of those verses) in the Pickthall translation of the Qur'an.

The expression "Ho!" occurs only once.

Then entire King James Bible uses the expression "Lo!" only 159 times.

When one reads the Qur'an, one of the first things striking things that comes to ones attention is the enormous frequency with which the Prophet uses the phrase "Lo!" which means "Behold!" and is equivalent to the Greek New Testament word EETHOU (OR idou). "Lo!" is said at least once per page of the Qur'an, and occassionally three or four times in the same paragraph in Surah 4 verse 109.

A quick glance and Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Old and New Testament confirms the fact that the phrase "Lo!" is only used 127 times in the entire Old testament, and only THIRTY ONE times in the entire New Testament.

Each reader will subjectively interpret such statistics as they see fit.

Next, consider a different use of text searching abilities to locate all references to the Psalms within the Qur'an:

[3:184]

YUSUFALI: Then if they reject thee, so were rejected messengers before thee, who came with Clear Signs, Books of dark prophecies, and the Book of Enlightenment.

PICKTHAL: And if they deny thee, even so did they deny messengers who were before thee, who came with miracles and with the Psalms and with the Scripture giving light.

SHAKIR: But if they reject you, so indeed were rejected before you messengers who came with clear arguments and scriptures and the illuminating book.

[4:163]

YUSUFALI: We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.

PICKTHAL: Lo! We inspire thee as We inspired Noah and the prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon, and as We imparted unto David the Psalms;

SHAKIR: Surely We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nuh, and the prophets after him, and We revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and Isa and Ayub and Yunus and Haroun and Sulaiman and We gave to Dawood

[17:55]

YUSUFALI: And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: We did bestow on some prophets more (and other) gifts than on others: and We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms.

PICKTHAL: And thy Lord is Best Aware of all who are in the heavens and the earth. And we preferred some of the prophets above others, and unto David We gave the Psalms.

SHAKIR: And your Lord best knows those who are in the heavens and the earth; and certainly We have made some of the prophets to excel others, and to Dawood We gave a scripture.

[21:105]

YUSUFALI: Before this We wrote in the Psalms, after the Message (given to Moses): My servants the righteous, shall inherit the earth."

PICKTHAL: And verily we have written in the Scripture, after the Reminder: My righteous slaves will inherit the earth:

SHAKIR: And certainly We wrote in the Book after the reminder that (as for) the land, My righteous servants shall inherit it.

[34:10]

YUSUFALI: We bestowed Grace aforetime on David from ourselves: "O ye Mountains! Sing ye back the Praises of Allah with him! and ye birds (also)! And We made the iron soft for him;-

PICKTHAL: And assuredly We gave David grace from Us, (saying): O ye hills and birds, echo his psalms of praise! And We made the iron supple unto him,

SHAKIR: And certainly We gave to Dawood excellence from Us: O mountains! sing praises with him, and the birds; and We made the iron pliant to him,

[35:25]

YUSUFALI: And if they reject thee, so did their predecessors, to whom came their messengers with Clear Signs, Books of dark prophecies, and the Book of Enlightenment.

PICKTHAL: And if they deny thee, those before them also denied. Their messengers came unto them with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), and with the Psalms and the Scripture giving light.

SHAKIR: And if they call you a liar, so did those before them indeed call (their messengers) liars; their messengers had come to them with clear arguments, and with scriptures, and with the illuminating book.

We find in total half a dozen references to the Psalms.

Notice what is saidin 34:10 about the mountains and birds singing the Psalms.

Yet, it is curious that the Qur'an does not cite a single Psalm, and no Psalm is used (to my knowledge) in Islamic worship.

Furthermore, artefacts such as the Qum'ran fragments, prove that the Psalms were in existence, unchanged from what we have to day, and certainly unchanged in the time of Mohammed. So, whatever familiarity Mohammed had with the Psalms, was the same text that we now have. Yet there is a strong intimation in the Qur'an and in Islamic thought even today, that the scriptures of the Jews are somehow so corrupted, that it is not even worth discussing or studying them.

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