Part I A: Is blind Faith the answer?

Every semester I teach Intro to REL or REL of the world, I have an introductory first class that explains what is expected of the students.  During this introduction I ask my students many questions.  One of those questions is “What is Faith?”  There are a wide range of answers; some answers are of a personal nature; others are more academic in nature.  

              Most answers are correct on one level or another.  For the purpose of this work I am going to broaden the scope of the word faith to mean three things. Something that covers a broad basis because it makes the most sense in getting to the root issues for man and society.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for without having seen the full evidence realized.  “Seeing is believing” as they say, and faith is believing without seeing fully.  

              This brings about some problems in interpretation.   Some may interpret faith to be “blind faith” which usually has a negative connotation (rightly so).  Some may focus on the word substance, which by definition, is weighty or substantial and interpret correct faith to mean something that is provable empirically.

              There are many examples of blind faith found in science, religion and life overall.  A good example that is also somewhat informative; allowing us to have a better understanding of two religions points of view concerning the historical Jesus are found in the Biblical record and the Qur’anic record.    The Biblical record tells us that Jesus was crucified and rose again.  There are secular sources that corroborate the crucifixion; there is also the biblical record of those stating Jesus was seen alive after the crucifixion.  

              In the Qur’anic revelation it states that Jesus was not crucified, but ascended into heaven with Allah.  The Hadiths state that Judas was transfigured to look like Jesus and was crucified in Jesus place.  The record of Jesus found in the Quran is over a half millennium more recent than the biblical record and there is no historical evidence from outside sources, that are earlier than the Qur’an, to back it up.  What is more, the Hadiths are considerable more recent than the Qur’an, ranging from at least 25 years later to over a century later.

              Secular scholars and free thinkers may interpret both these examples as blind faith, but is that accurate?  The biblical record, records eye witnesses to the account.  This along with some outside sources such as Josephus and Roman governmental records make the account at its foundation more than blind faith.  Thus, one who believes this record has some substance behind their faith.  The Qur’anic record does not have the correct timing to get the record right (being over 500 years late), nor does it have other valid sources to back it up.  The Hadiths are not a valid source for backing up the record of the Quran because the purpose of the Hadiths is to be an explanation or illumination of the Quran. Thus, the foundation of the Qur’anic record by definition appears to be blind faith based.  

              Does this mean that the Biblical record is correct on everything or the Qur’anic record incorrect on everything?  That example alone doesn’t merit such a statement about the Biblical record; there must be further analysis of the material to come to any conclusion.   It does give us something to go on concerning having faith in the record of the Quran.   

              The first thing a believer must come to grips with is that the Qur’an has to be the only authoritative source on everything it addresses (which it states about itself).  Secondly the believer must admit that they are unable to reasonably explain why all of recorded history up until the Qur’an is in error concerning what happened to Jesus (and many other topics concerning the Jews).  The believer must also put aside reason and intellect and believe solely, by blind faith, the message of the Qur’an (unless the believer chooses cognitive dissonance).   Does this make everything in the Qur’an a falsehood?  By no means, it just means that we don’t necessarily know which things are facts and which things are false without doing extensive research.  What it leads a reasonable, thinking human to believe is that the Qur’an cannot be a copy of a perfect book found in heaven.  That is of course, unless all of history is wrong.