Essalam Alaikum!
A few months back, I contacted our local Mosque and was invited to come in to get some information. A nice Muslim man gave me a copy of the English translation of the Qur'an and proceeded to hand me several pamphlets, each one followed by a lengthy explanation. I returned home, read the pamphlets and then the Qur'an. These are my observations:
ISLAMIC VERSUS JUDEO-CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
1) The Qur'an has only one version; the Bible several, causing confusion. [True, there are various translations of the Bible into modern tongues. However, if one doesn't understand Arabic, one will never be able to read the true Qur'an according to Muslims; thus, leaving non Arabic speaking people reliant upon interpretations of the passages in the Qur'an].
2) Muslims claim the difference is that Allah begets not and is not begot - no confusing Trinity. [True, but it's also confusing to accept that Muhammad [Peace and Blessings be Upon Him], after being spoken to by Archangel Gabriel went on to sack cities, murder their inhabitants, and take slaves as wives to satisfy his salacious appetite - not exactly an exemplary character to follow].
3) Islam is simple. [What makes Islam difficult are the different ways to cleanse one's body e.g. "Marital intercourse" is described as being "defiled", requiring total washing. However, farting requires a rudimentary wash. The actual washing is a complex step by step procedure more advanced than anything you'd see on E.R., some requiring the use of perfume afterwards. There are scores of prayers, all of which are the most obsequious, servile, fawning, redundant concoctions anyone could ever imagine - all of which must be learnt in Arabic. The rituals require more complex step by step procedures.]
4) Muslims take the posture that Islam is the more mature faith, not squabbling over its saints, and that even the Bible, in Deuteronomy 18:18, proves Muhammad [PBUH] and not Jesus [PBUH] was referred to as the Prophet to come.
5) Muslims propose that Islam was spread peacefully over 3 continents disregarding the fact that although Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their faiths as long as they paid tax, "Jizyah", because according to strict Muslim doctrine compulsory conversions are forbidden; yet that did not stop Arab warriors from demanding of pagans that they "accept Islam or die."
6) In Surah 56, we see Islam provides a class system for heaven, i.e. the really, really pious get "Thrones encrusted (with gold and precious stones)...". Also, wine flows; however, no one gets drunk or crapulous. Those less pious, but good all the same, are rewarded with "companions ... undefiled", but no wine - just "water flowing constantly" and loads of fruit. This begs the question, are women rewarded with "companions ... undefiled"? What happens to a "companion" once defiled; does it get recycled?
ON WOMEN
"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has given the one more strength than the other and because they support them from their means..." (Qur'an 4:34)
"O Prophet! Enjoin your wives, your daughters, and the wives of true believers to draw their cloaks over them. That is more proper, so that they may be distinguished and not be harassed." (Qur'an 33:58-61)
"...As to women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), refuse to share their beds (next), beat them (as a last resort)..." (Qur'an 4:34)
PROPHETS IN ISLAM
Muslims accept many biblical characters as prophets beginning with Adam [PBUH] and Noah [PBUH]. Lot [PBUH] is one of their most notable prophets, for according to the Qur'an, Lot [PBUH] preached against homosexuality in Sodom which supports Muslim hatred of homosexuals. However, Muslims do not recognise the Bible's account in Genesis of Lot's [PBUH] two daughters making their father drunk and having sex with him in order continue the human race as the 2 girls believed no man was left after the destruction of Sodom. I found in Surah 26:170-171 the reference to Lot's [PBUH] wife as follows "So we delivered him and his family, - all, Except an old woman who lingered behind". Later, in Surah 27:57, Muhammad [PBUH] seems to get it right by calling the woman Lot's [PBUH] wife only to be referred to again later as "an old woman who was among those who lagged behind" [Surah 37:135] indicating to me that Muhammad [PBUH] is getting this information from many sources piecemeal rather than from one divine source as he claimed. The "prophets" Noah [PBUH], Lot (Lut) [PBUH], Abraham [PBUH] and Moses [PBUH] are referred to sketchily in a jumbled mix throughout the Qur'an without any semblance of transition or order.
PREJUDICE
"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, "We are Christians": because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant." (Qur'an 5:82)
"Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews We forbade them good things which were (before) made lawful unto them, and because of their much hindering from Allah's way,..."
(Qur'an 4:160)
"And to those who were Jews We made unlawful all of those who have claws, and of oxen and sheep We made unlawful to them the fat of both, except such as was on their backs or the entrails or what was mixed with bones: this was a punishment We gave them on account of their rebellion, and We are surely Truthful." (Qur'an 6:146)
Muhammad [PBUH] unwittingly shot himself in the foot as we find him criticising the Jews in Surah 45:16-17, where he says "...We favoured them above the nations... it was only after knowledge had been granted to them that they fell into schisms." [Needless to say, we all know about the Sunni and Shia - Muslim murdering Muslim over the last 1400 years. I think any "schism" among Jews pales by comparison.]
Homosexuals are to be driven out as they were in Sodom which is illustrated in Surah 7:81 "For you practise your lusts on men in preference to women..."
BECOMING A MUSLIM
The Shahadah is a declaration of faith. A person must recite the Shahadah to convert to Islam. Simply declare: "I testify that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad [PBUH] is the Messenger of Allah" and presto; you are a Muslim.
SUMMARY
Muslims claim the Qur'an to be intact just as it was revealed to the Prophet. After reading the whole text I can only surmise that the reason there are so many repetitions of variations upon the same theme is that after collecting all the information he could obtain interspersed with the usual rhetoric of "how merciful, all knowing, and capable of destroying entire civilisations that Allah is", Muhammad [PBUH] couldn't do any editing himself because he was illiterate and probably impatient to get the "word" out asap; so, he left it as is - an inordinate mess. Islam seems to have usurped Judeo-Christianity by plagiarising an infinitesimally small portion of it and wrapping it all up in its own version substituting "God" with "Allah".
Most Muslims see their faith as peaceful. Jihadists can justify mass murder by cherry picking verses taken from the Qur'an out of context, the full content of which would explain the real intent which only justifies taking a life in self defence.
The Bible is a tome rich in parables and history some of which has proven accurate. The Qur'an's 680 pages of redundant meanderings could have been condensed to 25 pages. It is amateurish and quite useless as a reference unlike its predecessors. I am flabbergasted that westerners could take it seriously.
Wa Salaam,