Page 152 - World Religions I - Islam

Appendix C

Has the Bible Been Corrupted?

When Muhammad received his initial revelations, he truly expected them to compliment what had been written in
prior holy books. The Qur'an itself claims that the message being relayed to Muhammad confirmed the prior
Scriptures (Surahs 2:89, 3:3 and 5:48) - referred to in the Qur'an as the Tawrat (Torah), Zabur (Psalms), and Injil
(Gospel). After all, the Qur'an contains many references to Biblical events and characters and has a number of
similarities. Muslims view the Qur'an as the continuation, correction, and culmination of the previous holy books.

However, as vital differences emerged over time between the Qur'an and the Bible, an explanation had to be
created. Since Muslims believe that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets and that the Qur'an is the final
revelation to mankind, all prior books must be judged according to its content and doctrine. This anachronistic
conclusion results in the claim
by Muslims that the previous books have been corrupted, and that the Qur'an corrects those corruptions and
restores God's word back to its rightful status and glory.

Anachronism is a chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of persons,
events, objects, or customs from different periods of time. An example of using an anachronism to
prove the past would be to declare that Jesus ate oranges because of The Last Supper contained the fruit. In
reality, oranges were introduced to Europe by Portuguese traders from India in the 15th century and did not exist
in Israel during Christ's time.

Muslim Claims

• The concept that the prior scriptures have been distorted, corrupted, or altered, is known as tahreef.
o The idea that the Jews and Christians no longer possess the Scriptures originally given them by
God generally take the form of one or a combination of the following claims:
 The Scriptures previous to the Qur'an have become textually corrupted.
 The Qur'an abrogates all previous Scriptures.
 The Injil (Gospel) was taken into heaven with Jesus at the time of his ascent.
o Muslims defend that such claims are made on the basis of the Qur'an.
 The Qur'an makes the following accusations concerning misuse of the prior Scriptures:
• "But on account of [the Jews] breaking their covenant We cursed them and
made their hearts hard; they altered the words from their places and they
neglected a portion of what they were reminded of; and you shall always
discover treachery in them excepting a few of them; so pardon them and turn
away; surely Allah loves those who do good (to others). And with those who
say, We are Christians, We made a covenant, but they forgot a good portion of
what they were reminded of, therefore We excited among them enmity and
hatred to the day of resurrection; and Allah will inform them of Leonardo
DaVinci's famous painting what they did." - Al-Ma'idah (The Table Spread) 5:13-14
The Qur'an criticizes the handling of scripture by some Jews and Christians, but
not of the texts themselves.
• "There is among them a section who distort the Book with their tongues: (As
they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it is no part of the Book;
and they say, 'That is from Allah,' but it is not from Allah: It is they who tell a lie

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