(Dr. Naik) ‘Mathematics’ is a branch, which is closely associated with science, with which you can solve problems, etc. There are thousands of contradictions in the Bible - hundreds deal with mathematics, and I’ll first touch on few of them. It is mentioned in Ezra, Ch. No.2, Verse No.1, and Nehemiah, Ch. No.7, Verse No.6, the context that… ‘When the people returned from exile, from Babylon , when king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when he released the men from Israel , they came back from captivity’ - and the list of the people are given. The list is given in Ezra, Ch. No.2, Verse No.2 to 63, and Nehemiah Ch. No.7, Verse No.7 up to 65; the list is given with the names as well as number of people released. In these 60 Verses there are no less than 18 times - the name is exactly the same but the number is different. There are no less than 18 contradictions in less than 60 Verses, of these two Chapters. This is the list - I don’t have time to run through the list - There are no less than 18 different contradictions in less than 60 Verses. Further it is mentioned in Ezra, Ch. No.2 Verse No.64 that… ‘The total congregation, if you add up… if you add up, it comes to 42,360.’ And if you read in Nehemiah , Ch. No.7, Verse No.66, there also the total is the same 42,360. But if you add up all these verses - which I had to do my homework - this is the list of Ezra… this is the list of Nehemiah. Ezra Ch. No 2, Nehemiah

Ch.

No 7 - If you add up - I had to do my homework…if you add up, Ezra Ch. No. 2 - It does not come to 42,360 - it comes to 29,818. And if you add up Nehemiah , Ch. No. 7, even then it does not come to 42,360 - It comes to 31,089. The author of the Bible, presumed to be ‘Almighty God’, does not know simple addition. If you give this problem, even to a person who has passed elementary school, he will be able to get the right answer. If you add up all the 60 Verses, it is so easy. Almighty God did not know adding – Nauzubillah… if we presume, that this is the word of God.

Further if we read, in Ezra Ch. No. 2, Verse No. 65, it says…There were 200 singing men and women - Nehemiah Ch. No. 7, Verse No. 67…‘There were 245 singing men and women.’ Were they 200 - or were they 245 singing men and women? Context is the same - A mathematical contradiction.

It is mentioned in the 2^nd Kings , Ch. No 24, Verse No 8, that…‘Jehoiachin was 18 years old, when he began to reign Jerusalem , and he reigned for 3 months and 10 days. 2^nd Chronicles , Ch. No 36, Verse No 9, says that…‘Jehoiachin was 8 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 3 months, 10 days. Was Jehoiachin 18 years when he began to reign, or was he 8 years old? Did he reign for 3 months, or did he reign for 3 months 10 days?

Further it is mentioned in the 1^st Kings , Ch. No 7, Verse No 26, that…‘In Solomon’s temple, in his molten sea, he had 2000 baths. In 2^nd Chronicles , Ch. No 4, Verse No 5, he had 3000 baths. Did he have 2000 baths or did he have 3000 baths? – That, I leave it upon Dr. William Campbell to decide which is correct. There is a clear-cut mathematical contradiction.

Furthermore it is mentioned in the 1^st Kings, Ch. No. 15, Verse No. 33, that… ‘Basha, he died in the 26^th year of reign of Asa.’ And 2^nd Chronicles

Ch.

No 16, Verse No 1, says that…‘Basha invaded

Judah

in the 36^th years of the reign of Asa.’ How can Basha invade 10 years after his death? - It is unscientific

(Ali Sina) Okay there are errors in reporting the numbers in the Bible - clear proof that it is not the verbatim word of God. Is the Quran that is the verbatim word of God free of errors?

- 41:16 days of disaster (this is a form of plural indicating at least three days)

Does Allah's day equal to 1,000 human years (Sura 22:47 22:47, 32:5) or 50,000 human years (Sura 70:4)?

According to Sura 56:7 there will be THREE distinct groups of people at the Last Judgment, but 90:18-19, 99:6-8, mention only TWO groups (left hand and right hand).

Who takes the souls at death: THE Angel of Death 32:11, THE angels (plural) 47:27 or "It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death." 39:42

How many angels announced the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary? One angel 19:17-21 or several angels? 3:42-45

Allah can’t add simple fractions: Sura 4:11-12 and 4:176 state the Quranic inheritance law. When a man dies leaving behind three daughters, his two parents and his wife, they will receive the respective shares of 2/3 for the 3 daughters together, 1/3 for the parents together [both according to verse 4:11] and 1/8 for the wife [4:12] which adds up to more than the available estate. A second example: A man leaves only his mother, his wife and two sisters, then they receive 1/3 [mother, 4:11], 1/4 [wife, 4:12] and 2/3 [the two sisters, 4:176], which again adds up to 15/12 of the available property. For more examples see this.

There are more errors and contradictions. But as Dr. Naik has stated, all we need is one error to demonstrate it is not from God. You pick your favorite error.

(Dr. Naik) To make it easier for Dr. William Campbell, to answer to the points I have raised, I will just mention it in brief -The points that I mentioned. The first point was that -‘The creation of the Earth and the Heaven - the universe was in six, 24-hour days. Light was then before the source of light –

Point No. 10 - God said… ‘You can have all plants and all vegetation, including the poisonous plants?’

Point No. 11 - The scientific test the falsification test, of Mark , Ch. No. 16, Verse No. 17 and 18.

Point No. 12 - A woman remains unclean for double the period, if she gives birth to a daughter, as compared to a son.

Point No. 15 - Eighteen different contradictions in less than 60 Verses of Ezra, Ch. 2, and Nehemiah , Ch. 7. I did not count them as 18 different - I counted them only as one.

Point No. 17 - Are there 200 singing men and women, or are there 245 singing men and women?

Point No. 18 - Was Jehoiachin 18 years old, or was he 8 years old when he began to reign?

Point No. 21 - Is that Basha, how could he invade

Judah

, 10 years after his death?

Point No. 22 is - Almighty God - He said, I put up a rainbow in the sky, as a promise to the human kind, never to submerge the world again by water.

I have listed only 22, out of the hundreds available unscientific points in the Bible… scientific errors - And I request Dr. William Campbell to answer them. And irrespective whether he uses the ‘concordance approach’ or the ‘conflict approach’… as long as he is logical, he will never be able to prove scientifically, all these 22 aspects I have told him. We agree in Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) - to him was revealed the Injeel. This is not the Injeel - It may contain part of God - But the other unscientific portion is not the word of God.

I would like to end my talk by giving the quotation of the Glorious Qur’an, from Surah Baqarah, Ch. No. 2, Verse 79 …. (Arabic)…. ‘Woe to those who write the book with their own hands, and then say this is from Allah, to traffic with it for a miserable price. Woe to those for what they write. Woe to those for what they earn.’ Wa Aakim Dawana Anil Hamdulillahi Rabbil Aalameen.

(Ali Sina) Dr. Naik says that there are errors in the Bible. Sure there are. But he himself gives the right answer. The Bible does not claim to be the verbatim word of God. It is written by tens of authors during the course of 1500 years. So it is expected that such a book contain errors and contradictions. These contradictions, however, are in the details. The essence of the message of the Bible has remained the same from Genesis to Apocalypses. This is quite a feat. Many cathedrals in Europe have taken centuries to build. Multitudes of generations have worked on them. But there is grace, beauty and wholeness to these buildings. This shows that all its builders have followed a master plan. This could be said about the Bible. Here we have one single book written by numerous authors during a span of fifteen centuries and despite that its message has remained constant. On the other hand, the Quran is written by one person and yet the Medinan Suras are diametrically different from the Meccan ones conveying an entirely different message. Here is a comparison between the Meccan verses and the Medinan ones. They do not seem to belong to the same book at all.

Meccan Early Verses	Medinan Later verses
2:256 There is no compulsion in religion	9:123 Oh ye who believe! Murder those of the disbelievers and let them find harshness in you.
73:10 Be patient with what they say, and part from them courteously	8:12 I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off.
109:6 To you be your religion, and to me my religion	3:85 Whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be among the losers."
20:103 Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord,	2:191 kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from wherever they drove you out
2:83 Speak good to men...	9:5 Slay the idolaters wherever you find them
10:99 If it had been thy Lord's Will, they would all have believed, all who are on earth! Wilt thou then compel mankind against their will to believe!	2:193 Fight them on until there is no more fithah (opposition) and religion becomes that of Allah.
50:45 We well know what the infidels say: but you are not to compel them.	9:14 Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you (to victory) over them, heal the breasts of Believers.
29:45 Argue with people of the book, other than evil doers, only by means of what are better! and say, we believe in what has been sent down to us and sent down to you. Our God is the same as your God, and we are surrendered to Him.	9:29 Fight those who do not believe in God and the last day... and fight People of the Book, who do not accept the religion of truth (Islam) until they pay tribute by hand, being inferior"
2:62 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabeans,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.	9:30 The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!
7:199 Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; But turn away from the ignorant.	9:28 O you who believe! Verily, the Mushrikûn (unbeleivers) are Najasun (impure). So let them not come near Al-Masjid-al-Harâm (at Makkah) after this year, …
15:85 Pardon thou, with a gracious pardoning....	9:66 Make ye no excuses: ye have rejected Faith after ye had accepted it. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you…
6:108 and insult not (Revile not) those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus we made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end they return to their Lord, and we shall then tell them the truth of all that they did	3:61 If any one disputes in this matter with thee, now after (full) knowledge Hath come to thee, say: "Come! let us gather together,- our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves: Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah on those who lie!"
43:88,89 O Lord, these are people who do not believe,’ Bear with them and wish them ‘peace.’ In the end they shall know their folly.	47:4 When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives.
50:45 We know best what they say; and thou art not one to overawe them by force.	8:65, O Prophet! rouse the Believers to the fight. If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the Unbelievers.
16:90 Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.	3:28 Let not the believers take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah. except by way of precaution, that ye may guard yourselves from them. But Allah cautions you (to fear) Himself; for the final goal is to Allah.
45.14 Tell those who believe, to forgive those who do not look forward to the Days of Allah:	8:60 Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies.

The thinking majority of Christians and Jews say that the authors of the Bible were humans who were inspired by God. This is clear from the Bible itself. You can see the names of the authors on the top of their books. In nowhere in the Bible, both in the Old or the New Testament, you are led to believe that it is God that is speaking. It is always a human, giving the message of God in his own words. God is referred to in third person.

If I listen to a talk or see an event, I may go and tell my friends what I have learned. I can give the spirit, the essence of the message in my own words. But since I am using my own words and my own expressions it is very possible that I make a few mistakes. Even though the message is great, I am a human and humans err. My listeners know that. They listen to my words and take it with a grain of salt. At the same time that they listen to me and become inspired by what I tell them, they use their own intelligence too. They do not switch off their brains putting their entire trust on me. They are always on the guard to see whether what I say makes sense or maybe it is my own interpretation and misunderstanding. However the main thing is that my errors and my lapses of memory do not invalidate the message that I am delivering. I am an honest human being, but fallible nonetheless. Because of that people can tolerate my errors and use their own intelligence to grasp the essence of the message. I do not become automatically a liar if I err. That is why even if there are hundreds of errors in the Bible; the more astute Christians and Jews do not get vexed. They look at the message, not at the messenger or the words in which the message is delivered. They look at the content, not at the container. The essence of Christianity is good. It is a message of love and forgiveness. Despite hundreds of errors that exist in the Bible, this message is supreme and its value cannot be diminished.

If one message is heard by thirty people, each will relay it differently. It is impossible that all of them tell you the same story in exact same words. The details may vary but as long as you see there is consistency all of them are telling the truth. This is how you should interpret the contradictions in the Bible.

The Quran is a different story. The Quran claims that it is the verbatim word of God. Here lies the difference. If it is the verbatim word of God, it cannot have one single error. If it has a single error, it can’t be the word of God, and if it is not the word of God it is a lie.

That is why I find the effort of Muslims to brush off the criticism made against the Quran by bashing the Bible, pathetic. The Quran is the only book believed by its followers to be the exact word of God. No other book of any other religion makes this claim. That is why the Quran is in such a vulnerable position. We can find scientific errors and absurdities in all religious books but still hold to the good and the beautiful that exist in these books and overlook the bad part. This we can't do with the Quran. All we need to show that the Quran is false in its entirety is one single error. One who sits on the taller branch, falls harder.