Eye of the Needle in the Quran

"Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matt. 19:24)

Anyone familiar with the Bible has read this verse which appears in three of the gospels.  The Quran which is famous for taking things from the Bible and misapplying them for the sake of Islam puts a different spin on this camel illustration.  "Indeed, those who deny Our verses and are arrogant toward them - the gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters into the eye of a needle." (Surah 7:40)  Therefore us kafirs (unbelievers), rich or poor, do not have much chance of getting into Allah's little paradise unless we buy into Muhammad's wild religion.

Most English Qurans are translated in a similar fashion with the exception of the version translated by Muhammad Asad that CAIR distributes.  Theirs reads "...they shall not enter paradise any more than a twisted rope can pass through the eye of a needle."  This feeds the controversy in which some have claimed there was a so-called needle gate in Jerusalem that a loaded camel could not enter unless it was unloaded.  No such gate has ever been found.  Cyril of Alexandria claimed this was a translation error for the word camel which should have been translated rope or cable.  George Lamsa made the same claim in his translation of the bible.