[hereiamguy]

I consider religious texts to be metaphors, tales of wisdom, and sometimes outright fiction.

thats interesting because many non-practicing muslims believe that too.
the truth is legitimacy of Islam is not dependent on authenticity of religious textures. and we know exactly what is a metaphor and what is not.

let me tell you something you might find interesting enough to investigate.

what makes islam legitimate is how our Creator, Allah (SWT) has laid out numerous Signs in this universe for us to observe, analyze and ponder upon. The Qur'an, and indeed previous religious texts that were abrogated, basically help us in recognizing Allah, our purpose of life and the Day when we hand over our answer sheets.

The Qur'an asks us to look around at the perfect solar system, the galaxy, the interchanging of Day and Night, the Stars, the dead earth coming back to life through rain, the various animals on earth, fruits, our own bodies, minds and last but not least our birth and death.

Who designed and put this system in place?
Who keeps it running?
why did He do it?
what purpose we serve in this system?

contrary to what atheists might wish to believe, science does accentuate the answers to these questions given by Islam. i am a control system engineer, and it is impossible to build a system that runs on its own without a starting condition, a trigger, reference , source of energy,and a-priori system model. you cant remove even one of them from the equation.the governing equations we discovered for the interplanetary motion, who put them in place?why was it inverse of 'r' squared and not 'r' cubed?

so you see science helps us study the signs around us that Qur'an wishes us to study. but these signs do not require a mighty intellect or a degree in science to identify. they are simple things that any unlettered man can even see. we also have an in built mechanism that tells us when we have identified a Sign. no light bulbs flash on and off. we just know. this in built system was designed by our Creator so that we can identify Him. if we reject this recognition we witness a feeling known as 'emptiness'. the cure for that is not music or parties or adventure trips etc. the cure is remembrance of Allah. it is the only long lasting proven way of curing 'emptiness' which has no side effects.

you may notice that i havent talked about authenticity of texts.

another thing you may notice is maths and justice. how are they related?
if i take out something from LHS of equation then in order for equation to be balanced the RHS must adjust as well. this is how it works in nature right?

But Hitler killed millions of Jews. yet he died in a bunker after committing suicide. no matter how much we malign and hate him today is he around to see this?was he prosecuted?was he made to feel the horror every one of his victims and their families and those who suffered fghting under him felt?
how about the nazis who actually carried out the holocaust?a nazi for example killed hundreds in Gas chamber yet he was shot by soviets. how is that justice?one shot, seconds of pain. but on the other hand hundred victims who died painful deaths?
what about the victims families?what about their pain?was it repaid?

so you see something is missing in this world. yet nature tells us it isnt so. so there has to be life after death so that those people who did evil in this world and went relatively unpunished can now be punished.( and for those who did good they can be rewarded).
what in reality is happening to Hitler wherever he is buried is that his conscious awake soul is being tortured continuously as though it is on his physical body. its not a dream, its another world which you and i cant (but horses near graveyards can ) sense or see.

when he will be resurrected he will face all of his victims. one by one. his good deeds will be given to them, their evil deeds hung on his neck and he will be thrown into Hell fire to be punished for all eternity. why eternity?one possible explanation is that had he lived eternally he would have continued to do what he was doing at his peak.if he is sent back right now he would do it again and again.

you will again notice i havent touched the scriptures yet. this is basic logic.

now coming to Qur'an. why is it authentic? It is because of the miracles of the Qur'an: the prophecies in it which all came true , the language, the preservation, the Signs which we talked about, the definition of human nature that was never discovered by any philosopher, among others.
It is mainly the Signs which create and affirm our belief that the Qur'an is from Allah.

but on an academic level how is it preserved?it is preserved by large scale memorization since the day it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad PBUH. even now this has not changed. nobody could alter the Quran because there were just too many narrators.unless you wish to tell me that different narrators at different time periods and different locations lied about the exact same thing?

then we move to Hadith or sayings of the Prophet (PBUH). there werent as many narrators as of the Qur'an so some people slipped in fabrications. but we found them and sifted them from the truth. so for the true words there is no reason to suspect them unless one is saying the same narrators they trust to have memorized the Qur'an perfectly and passed it down to next generation perfectly made mistakes with the hadith?that is again illogical. you dont reject one of them. you either accept both or reject both.

so forgive me for saying but i do not think the Islamic scriptures and sayings have any problem of authenticity.
but that doesnt form the basis of my belief.

as for metaphors. we interpret the Qur'an according to how the Prophet (PBUH) taught us and how his immediate students and next two generations understood it. Why? because that was commanded by Allah (SWT). to authenticate this claim again refer to the above para about authenticity of Qur'an. so the metaphors we know and the real incidents we know as well. one again must not think 'how is this possible'...because Allah (SWT) can do anything. He made the rules of nature and universe. we just discovered some of them and which we know as science : ). 2 centuries ago people wouldnt know how it was possible for you and to communicate. now it is possible. but then again we will never be able to work out how to make the dead alive. so scrutinizing the possibility of something that Allah (SWT) has stated in the Qur'an is not a wise approach.

forgive me for going way off topic. you just seemed like an educated person so perhaps you may find the above writing interesting. if you do, i suggest you read an English translation of the Qur'an.

enjoy your stay here.