what some orientalist says

Question:

Assalamualaykum
Dear Shaykh Gabriel
Below are some links to what some orientalist has said about some verses of the Qur’an, could you respond to this and give us guidance on it
wasalam

Dhu’l Qarnayn and the muddy spring in Qur’an 18:86 – New evidence

or short version http://quranspotlight.wordpress.com/articles/summary-dhul-qarnayn-sunset-sunrise/

Answer:

`Alaykum as-Salam,

These are actually missionaries rather than orientalists, so their prime objective is to undermine belief in the Qur’an although they do use the methods of Orientalists and invariably fall into the same mistakes, such as misreading the language of the Qur’an, lack of familiarity with the canonical readings and the reliable commentaries, etc. In this particular case they rely heavily on Israelite stories adduced in some tafsirs which they then read back into the Qur’an in order to support comparisons to a supposed subtext from medieval legends and other man-made literature. This way they can perpetuate the claim that the Qur’an copies the Bible or Christian/Jewish legends etc. to achieve their goal. Among others, Ibn Kathir pares down the stories and gives one of the simplest and most reliable commentaries of which an abridgment can be read in English here: http://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_tafsir_surat_al_kahf_chapter_18.pdf

Hajj Gibril Haddad