Offer: $1 million for Finding "Jerusalem" in the Koran

For at least four years, Jamal Badawi, an Egyptian-born Canadian professor of management at St. Mary University in Halifax, Canada, who sidelines as an apologist for radical Islam, has made a standing offer: "a million dollars to anyone who finds the word of 'holy war' in the Qur'an." Of course, Badawi is right: the Islamic scripture includes neither the words harb muqaddasa nor any synonyms.

In the same spirit, I offer a million dollars to anyone who finds the name "Jerusalem" (Iliya, Al-Quds, Bayt al-Maqdis), in the Koran. Metaphors, similes, allegories, allusions, deductions, and implicit references do not count (and specifically, not 17:1), only an accepted proper name referring to that city, using the standard Egyptian text. Ar-ruh al-qudus in 5:110 and 16:102 may look like Al-Quds but it means holy spirit and has nothing to do with Jerusalem.

And, to be perfectly clear, I will be the one and only judge of all entries to this competition. (January 4, 2006)

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