• 50 Old Test. people found and corroborated in extra-Biblical material
• Noah's Flood-138 accounts of flood found (i.e. Gilgamesh Epic, Tab11)
• Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) found in Summerian/Babylonian tablets
  • Abraham = name found on Babylonian inscription
  • Field of Abram in Hebron = 918 BC by Shishak=Egypt, Karnak walls
  • Doors of Sodom:2200-1600BC = heavy = Gen.19:9, 900-600BC = arch/curtains (security)
  • Beni Hasan Tomb: Asiatics went to Egypt/famine
  • Joseph's price: (20 shekels) Gen.37:28=1,700 BC, earlier cheaper
• Jericho's walls fell outwards (Kathleen Kenyon) = Joshua 6:20, and Northern wall intact (Rahab's dwelling was there Joshua 2:15)
• David=s Water shafts used by Joab (II Sam.5:6-8; I Chron.11:6) found by Macalister, Duncan & Kenyon.
  Daniel not 2nd but 6th BC, East India Inscription (6th cent.) = Dan.4:30 account of Nebuchadnezzar's building.
• Cylinder Inscription of Nabonidus (539BC) Balshazzar = Nabonidus= son, last Babylonian king, unknown to Herodotus 450 BC
• Nabonidus Chronicle (555-539 BC) co-regency of Nabonidus and Balshazzar, answering why Daniel was 3rd (Daniel 5:16).
• 27 New Testament people have been found in extra-Biblical material.
  • LUKE'S accuracy:
  • (Erastus)= Corinth treasurer (Rom16:23) pavement found in 1929 with name.
  • (Meris) = Philippi a "district" of Macedonia proved by inscriptions.
  • (Politarchs)= civil authority of Thessalonica (Acts 17:6) 19 inscriptions use it, 5 in Thesselonica
  • (Praetor)= Philippian ruler instead of Duumuir, Praetor used earlier.
  • (Proconsul)= title for Gallio (Acts 18:12) - corroborated by Delphi Inscription (52 AD) Gallio held this position for 1yr.
  • (Quirinius) = governor of Syria at Jesus' birth = an inscription from Antioch
  F.F. Bruce states,

Where Luke has been suspected of inaccuracy, and accuracy has been vindicated by some inscriptional evidence, it may be legitimate to say that archaeology has confirmed the New Testament record.

We shall probably never prove that Abram really existed...but what we can prove is that his life and times, as reflected in the stories about him, fit perfectly within the early second millennium, but imperfectly within any later period.

Sir Frederic Kenyon mentions,

The evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish the authority of the Old Testament, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting.

William F. Albright (a renowned archaeologist) says,

The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the 18th and 19th centuries, certain phases which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history.

Millar Burrows of Yale states,

On the whole, archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the scriptural record.

Joseph Free confirms that while thumbing through the book of Genesis, he mentally noted that each of the 50 chapters are either illuminated or confirmed by some archaeological discovery, and that this would be true for most of the remaining chapters of the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testaments.
Nelson Glueck (a Jewish Reformed scholar and archaeologist) probably gives us the greatest support for the Bible when he states,

To date no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single, properly understood biblical statement.

QIBLA

• (S.2:144-150) change from Jerusalem to Mecca in 624AD (all Qiblas to Mecca)
• Wasit, Baghdad and Kufa=West, Al>As=East-Syrian Caliphal Palaces=Jerusalem
• Jacob of Edessa 705 AD mentions in letter=Saracens prayed towards Jerusalem

DOME OF THE ROCK:

• by Abd al-Malik in 691AD, nothing written about >Mi'raj= on inner ambulatory
• Inscriptions Polemical and not same as in Qur'an!(i.e. Shahada adds >no partners=) (variant verbal forms and extensive deviancies)
• no Qibla, octagonal, suited for circumambulating, maybe 1st, or many sanctuarys?

NEVO'S INSCRIPTIONS:

• -Arabic, and religious after 661 AD
• no Muhammad formula untill 690 AD
• then Tawhid, Muhammad rasul Allah (Muhammad formula) Jesus = man, basically polemical
• Muhammad formula found on Protocols suddenly in 691AD, but not accepted until 724AD.

Note: compared to the Biblical archaeological evidence, there is no archaeological evidence for Adam, Abraham, or Ishmael in Arabia! CONCLUSION: What does this evidence tell us concerning the historicity of Islam?:

1. that the Hijra was more-than-likely not towards Medina, but towards Palestine;
2. that the Qibla was not fixed towards Mecca until the eighth century, but to an area much further north, and possibly Jerusalem;
3. that the Jews still retained a relationship with the Arabs until at least 640 A.D.;
4. that Jerusalem and not Mecca was more-than-likely one of a number of cities which contained the first sanctuaries for Islam, as Mecca was not only unknown as a viable city until the end of the seventh century, but was not even on the trade route;
5. that the Dome of the Rock was a likely position of a sanctuary in the late 7th c.
6. that Muhammad wasn't known as God's universal prophet until the late 7th c.
7. that terms >Muslim=/>Islam= were not used until the end of the seventh century;
8. that 5 daily prayers and the Hajj were not standardized until after 717 A.D.
9. that the earliest we even hear of any Qur'an is not until the mid-eighth century;
10. that the earliest Qur'anic writings don't coincide exactly with the current Qur'anic text.

The Qur'an gives authority to the Bible:

• argument of corruption began with Ibn Hazam (1064), so a much later polemic. 2:136 no difference between Taurat, Injil and the Qur'an 4:136 admonishing the Muslims to Believe in preceding scriptures. 5:46-47 Christians must believe in their scriptures and judge by them. 5:68 Christians must stand fast by the Gospel. 10:94 Muslims, if in doubt ask those who read the book before thee. 21:7 apostles were inspired, so Ask them: they possess the message. 29:46 don't dispute with Christians, believe in their scriptures
• Qur'an endorses the Torah and the Gospel. Why is there is no warning? 2:140 says (of the Jews), '...who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they have from Allah...?'
• not a challenge of corruption but a ringing endorsement to the Bible=s credibility! God does not change His Word (found in both the Qur=an and the Bible): Qur'an: 10:64 ='No change can there be in the words of Allah.' 6:34: 'There is none that can alter the words of Allah.' (see also Suras 3:2,78; 4:135; 18:26; 35:42; 50:28,29) Bible: Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; Revelation 22:18-20.
• a recurring theme, so why would the Bible be different?