The Truth of the Bible: What does the Qur'an say about it?
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Muslims
and Christians believe in the infallibility of the original biblical
manuscripts. But many adherents of Islam think that today's Bible has undergone
substantial changes with regard to its early manuscripts and their translated
versions. However, the Qur'an does not support this claim unanimously! In fact,
it makes it clear that the Bible, known as the Torah and the Injil, was
found reliable in Muhammad's (pbuh) time, the sixth century. To prove that
the twentieth century Bible is still authentic it only has to be compared with
a copy from the sixth century.
All quotations are taken from
"The Meaning of the Holy Quran" translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and
published by Armana Corporation, U.S.A., 1989.
Because of a lack of space it has not
always been possible to print whole verses. The reader is encouraged to look up
the references and their contexts in either the Qur'an or the Bible.
The Testimony of the
Qur'an about the Reliability of the Bible
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- "And if thou wert in doubt as to
what We have revealed unto thee, then ask thosewho
have been reading the book
from before thee..." (Surah
10, Yunus, verse 94).
"Those who have been reading the book from before
thee" are Jews and Christians who read the Torah and the Injil (Gospel)!
If they were reading corrupted holy books, their minds would have been
influenced by many misconceptions. It would therefore make no sense for Allah
to command those who are in doubt to ask Jews and Christians who allegedly were
misled by changed Scriptures! In order to follow the mandate in this verse it is
absolutely necessary to believe that the Scriptures before Islam are
uncorrupted!
Here the question may be asked: "Are what is known as
the Torah and the Injil in Muhammad's (pbuh) time identical with today's Bible
that contains the Old and the New Testament?" Regarding the Injil an
affirming answer has already been given on our page "The
History of the Qur'an and the Injil." The Old Testament too is
identical with the Torah as seen from the following reasoning:
The Hebrew word "Torah" means literally
"law", "instruction". It refers to the revelations given to
Moses. "The term was often applied to the Pentateuch (the first five books
of the Old Testament, e.g. 1 Chronicles16:40) as a whole; and as the
importance of the Prophets and Writings grew, it was sometimes used to describe
them all as divinely revealed instructions and traditions" (Rosemary Goring, Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions (Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 1995).
Evidence
from the Bible:
Sometimes when the law is spoken of in the Injil,
the New Testament, it is used in the all-including sense. In Romans 3 Paul quotes
verses from the book of Psalms and from the Prophets but then he concludes in
verse 19 with, "what the law (Torah) says..." (See also 1 Cor. 14:21)
Jesus himself referred to the Psalms as "the law
(Torah)" in John 10:34. Another example is found in John 12:34 where
the Jews speak of verses from Psalms89:36, Isaiah 9:7, and Daniel 7:14 as
"the law (Torah)".
Evidence
from the Qur'an:
In the Qur'an too the meaning of "Torah" (where all
39 books of the Old Testament are included) is used. This becomes clear when
one looks at the evidence found in the Qur'an, and in history:
Several verses in the Qur'an bear witness to the truth that the Torah
was unchanged at the time of Jesus.
In Surah 19, Maryam, verse 12, Yahya, who lived at the time
of Jesus was told "to take hold of the Book, (the Torah)."
Surah 3, Ali'Imran, verse 48 tells us that Jesus
was also taught in the Torah.
Numerous verses, such as Surah 34, Saba, verse 31, Surah 35,
Fatir, verse 31, attest to the truth that the Torah was uncorrupted
in the time of Muhammad (pbuh) in the sixth century A.D. The Arabic phrase "bain yadaihi" which is
used in these references to the Torah literally means "between his
hands". Dr. W. Campbell writes in his book The Quran and the Bible in the Light of History and
Science (Middle East Resources:
1994), page 37: "...usually it is an idiom for "in his
presence", or "in his power", or "in his possession,"
or "at his disposal..." (see also Surah 34, Saba', verse 12)
In the Qur'an some Jewish contemporaries of Muhammad (pbuh)
are called "those who guide and do justice in the light of truth,"
besides many others whose reputation was not so favorable in the sixth century
(Surah 7, Al Araf, verse 159, see also Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 66). The very
fact that they were commended so highly shows that they were in possession of
the uncorrupted Torah. History tells us what was part of it.
Evidence
from history:
Like in the case of the Injil, the New Testament, the
formation of an official list (canon) of the books that were part of it took a
considerable time. When finally an official list was approved it was done so in
defense against a growing number of heretical writings. The
official list merely confirmed what had been accepted by the Jews centuries
before. Then it was unnecessary
because there was a common agreement as to which writings were part of the
Torah.
After giving nine solid reasons for an early formation of the
canon of the Old Testament, the authors of An Introduction to the new
Testament [D. Carson, D.J. Moo,
L. Morris (Apollos: 1992), pages 491-92] conclude by saying,
"It appears, then, that there is adequate evidence
to support the view that there was a (closed) canon of Scripture to serve as a
model in the formation of the New Testament canon. Even if this point be disputed, there is entirely
convincing evidence that the Torah (here meaning the Pentateuch) and the
Prophets were viewed as closed collections by the first century A.D."
The Illustrated Bible Dictionary [F.F.Bruce
(Leicester: IVP, 1980)] concludes an extensive research by saying that the whole Hebrew Bible canon as we know it today
existed around 200 B.C.
More
evidence from the Qur'an
- One argument made by some against the
accuracy of the Bible involves this verse:
"All food was lawful to the Children of Israel, except
what Israel made unlawful for itself, before the Law (of Moses) was revealed.
Say, 'Bring ye the Law and study it, if ye be men of
truth.'" (Surah 3, Ali 'Imran, verse 93).
In this specific incident, the Jews are asked to
bring their own Law, the Torah. They are commanded by God to study it in order
to find the right answer to a particular question. Maududi, the renowned Islamic scholar, said, that it
addressed the difference between Muslims and Jews in regard to eating the meat
of camels, hares and coneys. In opposition to Islam, Judaism prohibits the
eating of them according to today's Torah (Deuteronomy
14:7).
"But, the open challenge of the Qur'an to them to bring
the Torah in proof thereof shows that the commandments referred to above did
not exist in the Torah at that time and were inserted afterwards; otherwise the
Jews would have at once accepted the challenge of the Qur'an and presented the
commandments thereof."
[See: S. Abdul Maududi, The Meaning of the Quran, Vol. I, 12th Edition, (Pakistan: Islamic
Publications Pvt LTD., 1992), comment on Surah 6, Al-Anam, verse 145,
(hereafter referred to as "Maududi").]
This view is problematic because it ignores the fact that
today's English translations of the Torah, such as the New International
Version, are based on the Masoretic text--the standard edition of the Hebrew
Old Testament. It was prepared by Jewish scholars, called Masoretes, mainly
from 500 to the 950 A.D. They introduced vowel points into the consonantal (consonants
only) Hebrew text. They also studied each letter, word and phrase and wrote
marginal notes commenting on proper grammar and spelling.
[See: The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 2 (U.S.A.: 1982), page 222b.]
Furthermore, the translators compared it with a number of other
sources still in existence today, the
most important of which are:
- The Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Hebrew at about 100 B.C., discovered in the late 1940's and early 1950's in Palestine. "Among the fragments discovered are complete copies or parts of every Old Testament book except Esther, and the variations in the text after a thousand years of copying are minimal.
- The Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, at about 250 B.C.
- The Syriac Peshitta, a translation of the whole Bible
into the common language of certain parts of Syria, from either the first
or second century A.D.
- The Vulgate, the entire Bible translated into
Latin at about 400 A.D.
In none of the above sources is Deuteronomy 14:7,
the verse under consideration, missing! Looking at all the evidence,
it is impossible to say that it was missing in the prophet of Islam's time and
only later inserted into the text!
- "But why do they come
to thee for decision, when they have (their own) Law before them?
-Therein is the (plain) command of Allah; yet even after that, they would turn away. For they are not
(really) people of faith" (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 43).
Maududi comments on this verse: "...sometimes, when
their own law did not suit them, they would take their cases to the Holy
Prophet in the hope that they might obtain a more favorable decree from him
than they could from their own law." (Ibid)
This shows clearly that even corrupted Jews would
never change the written Torah! They were only prepared to
conceal the meaning of it. In spite of their wickedness, they did not dare to
change the written form of the Torah! That is why, according to the Qur'an,
Allah told them to look up their own law in which is the plain command of God!
- "Let the People of the
Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge
by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than)
those who rebel" (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 47).
This command is given to Muhammad's (pbuh)
contemporaries. It is written in the "present" tense, which in the
Arabic language can also refer to the future! If the Gospel (Injil) was corrupted at that time, then
surely Allah would never have asked the people of the Gospel, the Christians,
to believe in it!
- "If only they had
stood fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation
that was sent to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness
from every side. There is
from among them a party on the right course: But many of them follow a course that is
evil" (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 69).
The fact that there were Jews and Christians
"on the right course" in Muhammad's (pbuh) time confirms the Torah
and the Gospel to be unchanged in the 6th century A.D.! Certainly, they could never have been described in
such an honorable way if they had "stood fast" by corrupted Holy
Books!
- "Say: 'O People of the
Book! Ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand
fast by the Law, the Gospel and
all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord...'" (Surah 5, Al
Ma'idah, verse 68)
- "No change can there
be in the Words of Allah. This is indeed the
supreme Felicity." (Surah 10, Junus, verse 64).
No Muslim should doubt that the Torah and the Injil are
words of Allah too! Therefore, it is
impossible for man to change them. God has the power to watch over His word and
to preserve it.
The passages above attest to the fact that the Bible,
consisting of the Torah (Old Testament) and the Injil (New Testament) was
unchanged and trustworthy in the time of Muhammad (pbuh), that is in the 6th
century A.D!
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